Ethics in computing or Data Protection Act Research Paper

Ethics in computing or Data Protection Act - Research Paper Example This requires safeguarding data through viable planning. This may require data reliable data back up and protection. These protections required for data are regulated by the data protection Act (1998). While these Acts seemed comprehensive at the time of legislation, they have come to show that there are a number of loop holes that can be exploited by various interest groups to achieve their ends (Strobl, Cave, &, Walley, 2000). According to Strobl, Cave, &, Walley, (2000), data protection is a regulation that places me in an awkward position while doing my project on data bases. This act made it very important for me to ensure I introduce structures geared at protecting the information of the data subjects. To ensure that I never contravened the data protection Act or anybody using the databases does not override the data protection act, I ensured that the available controls provided by the existing file systems are upgraded and if possible combined to improve the level of security of the data (Per Arne Godejord, 2008). While this was not only focused on ensuring that the data inside were protected and that the data subjects rights are upheld, I had to ensure that I had in place proper structures for Access control and auditing. However, I had to come up with plans to ensure that the authentication and encryption processes are always up to date. Updating the programs helped me maintain the integrity of the files. Though it is a requirement of the data protection act to ensure that, the personal data are fairly processed. I had to ensure that I carried out a vulnerability assessment and compliance. This is in line with the requirement of that Act that any personal data be processed in fair and lawful manners. Vulnerability assessment and compliance is important in ensuring that data are not processed against the wish of the data subject. After assessing vulnerability, I also configured

Defining And Evaluating Existentialism

Defining And Evaluating Existentialism Existentialism is a Humanism, to be human is defined by an existence (physical existence) that precedes its essence (true nature). As such, if existence is problematic, and it is towards the development of a full existentialist theory of what it is to be human that Sartres work logically evolves. In relation to what will become Being and Nothingness, Sartres early works can be seen as providing important preparatory material for an existential account of being human. But the distinctiveness of Sartres approach to understanding human existence is ultimately guided by his ethical interest. Thus the nature of Sartres topics of analysis, his theory of the ego and his ethical aims all characterise the development of an existential phenomenology. The general concern of existentialism is to give an account of what it is like to exist as a human being in the world. Existentialism is a philosophical movement emphasizing individualism, individual freedom, and subjectivity. Epistemologically, it is denied that there can be an absolutely objective description of the world as it is without the intervention of human interests and actions. The world is a given and there is no epistemological scepticism about its existence; it has to be described in relation to ourselves. There is no fixed essence to which beings have to conform in order to qualify as human beings; we are what we decide to be. The issue of freedom and choice are of crucial importance in existentialism. Sartre thinks that authentic choices are completely undetermined. If we make our decisions merely by reference to an external moral code or set of procedures, then we are, similarly, not arriving at authentic choices. Key Points of Jean Paul Sartres (1905 1980) existentialist Philosophy: 1.Existence precedes and rules essence Satires ethical behavior acknowledges our freedom in the world. We cannot hide behind the safety of tradition, culture and the moral code. Among the most famous and influential existentialist propositions is Sartres dictum, existence precedes and rules essence, which is generally taken to mean that there is no pre-defined essence to humanity except that which we make for ourselves. Since Sartrean existentialism does not acknowledge the existence of a god or of any other determining principle, human beings are free to do as they choose. To live according to these principles means to live in bad faith and is unethical Since there is no predefined human nature or ultimate evaluation beyond that which humans project onto the world, people may only be judged or defined by their actions and choices, and human choices are the ultimate evaluator. The concept of Existence preceding essence is important because it describes the only conceivable reality as the judge of good or evil. If things simply are, without directive, purpose or overall truth, then truth (or essence) is only the projection of that which is a product of existence, or collective experiences. For truth to exist, existence has to exist before it, making it not only the predecessor but the ruler of its own objectivity. 2. Anguish In Sartres Existentialism, anguish is the feeling one gets when one recognizes that one is responsible not only for oneself, but for all of mankind. Along with many of the other emotional states described by existentialists, anguish can be paralytic, and one of the goals of existentialism is to push people toward action even in the face of these emotions. 3. Bad faith Satre basically not acknowledging that as a human being our existence precedes our essence in the world and so not acknowledging our own ability create our self through our choices. The bad faith stories, young woman and a waiter, the young woman delaying her moment of choice in a way that for inauthentic and the waiter failing to acknowledge to be a waiter and he has his choice to choose not to be a waiter. Both the young woman and the waiter put essence before existence but they are slightly different in their choices. 4. Being in itself Being in itself is the self-contained and fully realized being of objects. It is to be contrasted with the being, or existence, of people. from the young woman story Ivich treats both Delarue and her own body as being-in-itself. According to Sartre, human beings want to attain being in itself while retaining their freedom, a tendency he dubs the desire to be God. 5. Being for others Being for others, in Sartrean existentialism, is that part of human existence that is social and socially defined. From the story of waiter he treat him/her self first and primarily as a being-for-others. One path to bad faith is to view all of ones existence as disclosed through others. 6. Being for self To act in good faith we must treat self and others primarily. Existentialism is not a complete philosophy and many arguments can be made against it. An accountant also a human being, sometimes he do accounting and sometimes do other things. A Existentialism, is that part part, though inseparable from the rest of human existence that is self-defined. Viewing human existence as entirely self-defined is one way toward bad faith. 7. Despair Sartre defines despair the feeling resulting from the realization that there is no sure footing in the world, and we can never know the results of our actions beforehand. Criticisms Existentialism is not a perfect and complete philosophy and many arguments can be made against it. The philosopher Marcues criticized that if avery one is already free and they are walking on the roads they why bother to fight for freedom? The opponents of existentialism assert that it fosters the particularization of human beings, stripping them of a universal sense of identity, which is entirely consistent with the claims of existentialists that the only universal allowed for human beings is their fundamental freedom. An another view is simply that existentialists are insane, which, many existentialists would reply, is correct, but, they would retort, only if you considered a lack of desire to live the traditional office life as reducible to insanity. Conclusion The existentialism is not a complete philosophy. It is philosophy which combines with Virtue ethics and deontology. Existentialist understanding of what it is to be human can be summarised in his view that the underlying motivation for action is to be found in the nature of consciousness which is a desire for being. It is up to each agent to exercise his freedom in such a way that he does not lose sight of his existence as a facticity, as well as a free human being. In so doing, he will come to understand more about the original choice which his whole life represents, and thus about the values that are thereby projected. Such an understanding is only obtained through living this particular life and avoiding the pitfalls of strategies of self-deceit such as bad faith. This authentic option for human life represents the realisation of a universal in the singularity of a human life. Existentialism declares that the individual must choose his way; there is no predetermination. Since the universe is meaningless and absurd, people must set their own ethical standards. The universe does not predetermine moral rules. Each person strives toward a unique moral perfection. Existentialists believe that morality depends on the individual, rather than a supreme being.

Roman Life :: essays research papers

-BREATH- Since a Roman’s life is very busy and complicated, I picked a couple sub topics for my report. I picked daily meal routines like breakfast, lunch, and dinner, the Forum, Roman school, the public baths, and houses. -BREATH- Most sources say Romans ate three meals a day. The first two would be very small. -BREATH- The very poor people would be glad to even enjoy one meal a day. -BREATH- Breakfast, called ienaculum, would consisit of bread dipped in watered down wine. Sometimes a little honey would be used or dates and olives. -BREATH- Lunch, called prandium, if eaten at all, would be made up of fruits, bread, cheese, or leftovers from the previous night. -BREATH- Dinner, called cena, was the main meal of the day, served in the late afternoon. For the lower class, cena consisted of vegetables and olive oil. For the high class, it would be a seven-course meal. The typical dinner had three courses. -BREATH- The 1st course, called gustus, was appetizers. Mulsum (MULSUM!!!), wine mixed with honey, would be served along with salad, eggs, shellfish, mushrooms, etc. -BREATH- The 2nd course, the meat course, or called lena, would provide pork, poultry, fish, animals hunted, or exotic birds served with veggies. -BREATH- The final course, called the secundae mensae or second table was given its name because at dinner parties, the entire table was removed after the first 2 courses, and a new one was put in its place for desert. This course had fruits, honey cakes, nuts, and wine. -LONG BREATH- For my next sub topic is the Forum. The Forum was the main marketplace and the buisness center, where the ancient Romans went to do their banking, trading, clothes shopping, and marketing. -BREATH- It was also a place for public speaking. The ancient Romans were great speakers and loved to talk. They thought the job of an orator was not to argue, but to argue persuasively. People browsing the Forum would stop and listen, then go back and shop, and maybe leave a sacrifice at a temple or two. -BREATH- The Forum was also used for religous ceremonies and festivals. It was a very busy place! -LONG BREATH- My third topic is Roman school. In school, the goal of education in ancient Rome was to be an effective speaker. The school day began before sunrise, as did all work in Rome. Kids brought candles to use until daybreak. There was a rest for lunch and the afternoon siesta, and then back to school until late afternoon.

Olympian Destiny vs. Personal Choice Essay

An Analytical Essay on the Tragedy of Oedipus in Sophocles’ â€Å"Oedipus the King† Debates on whether men control their fates or whether their fates are already dictated by another force are not new and has definitely not ended. Still, even if arguments on the subject has been exhaustingly discussed, there is still no conclusion formed of whether humanity really make their own choices or if there is a greater or heavenly force which deprives humanity of that choice. Such circumstance is depicted in Oedipus the King, one of the trilogies in a famous Greek tragedian’s plays. Sophocles, who is known to be one of the pioneers of tragedies (as a drama) in the world, writes of the sad and terrible fate of Oedipus who is the ruler of Thebes after he saves the people of Thebes from a â€Å"monster†. The play revolves around a prophecy that Oedipus wants to kill his own father and make his own mother as a wife. This leads to this essay’s purpose which is to discuss on whether Oedipus was destined to have such end or whether he was the one who actually made his own fate. In Oedipus the King, trouble brews in Thebes as the people are in pandemonium over a sickness that spreads over the city. Oedipus who is the present ruler of the city after defeating the Sphinx asks help from an oracle to decipher why Thebes if suffering such fate. The oracle reveals that Olympus is angry over the murder of Thebes’ past King and the city can only be restored to its proper order when the King’s murderer has been caught. This rather ominous scene sets the play in motion as the court of Thebes starts to investigate and prod on who is the possible murderer of the dead King. Through much explanation, interrogation and prodding, it is found out that it is Oedipus himself who has killed the King, making the prophecy of Apollo true—that Oedipus will kill his father and marry his own mother. Because Thebes needs to be saved and because Creon cries out for Oedipus to respect the desires of Olympus, Oedipus willingly exiles himself from Thebes and eventually (in the next and last part of the trilogy, Oedipus at Colonus) dies alone. The trilogy that Sophocles has written is known to be the Oedipus plays even if one of the plays played out with the King already dead. However, it is quite evident that in all the plays, Oedipus plays an important part because his fate serves as background of all the plays and his fate becomes a catalyst for all the other scenes in the plot. This fate that brings down such grief to Oedipus and his family is connected to Apollo’s prophecy that was predicted by an oracle in Delphi. Oedipus recounts this prophecy when he talks to Jocasta, his queen and wife (and unbeknownst to him, his mother) over the reason why he self-exiled himself from Corinth: And so I went in secret off to Delphi. / I didn’t tell my mother or my father. Apollo sent me back without an answer, / so I didn’t learn what I had come to find. But when he spoke he uttered monstrous things, / strange terrors and horrific miseries— it was my fate to defile my mother’s bed, / to bring forth to men a human family that people could not bear to look upon, / to murder the father who engendered me. (Sophocles 945-954) This excerpt points to the fact that it is Apollo who passed the knowledge of the prophecy and Oedipus is well aware of the said prophecy. Thus, it would seem that the fate of Oedipus is already determined but there is a possibility that although he made unconscious and innocent choices and decisions, Oedipus is still well aware that all the things that he will do leads to something greater and sadder. This something greater and sadder is his tragic fate that would result in the death of his own father and would result in an immoral relationship with his own mother. This premise neither proves nor negates whether Oedipus’s life was created out of the decisions, actions and choices he made or whether his life was already created by another force for him. Both arguments may be correct but the other holds more weight based on the text itself. With regards to the tragedy of Oedipus’ fate created by his own choice, it can be shown in how the Chorus of the play described Oedipus that he was a man who had his own power from his mental strength which resulted in his ability to be very cunning: You residents of Thebes, our native land, / look on this man, this Oedipus, the one who understood that celebrated riddle. / He was the most powerful of men. All citizens who witnessed this man’s wealth / were envious. Now what a surging tide of terrible disaster sweeps around him. (Sophocles 1805–1811) The Chorus described Oedipus as having feats that he alone did without the help of any other force or power—this would of course show that Oedipus’ total worth as a character and individual was not just created by the Olympian gods alone. Oedipus also had a hand in the making of his own totality as a person. Thus, his characteristics which lead to his â€Å"crimes† were the culmination of all these characteristics. For example, he is cunning and that is why he was able to defeat his father in battle and he was able to solve the Sphinx’s riddle. Because of these two circumstances, he killed his father and he won the queen of the city who is his mother. Apollo merely prophesised Oedipus’ fate—the sun god did not provide the weapon which would kill Oedipus nor did he provide the answer to the riddle. Thus, Oedipus was able to the things he has done based on his own judgement and discernment as a person. On the other hand, the premise that Oedipus is the victim of the tragedy of fate manufactured by the Olympian gods still holds more weight compared to whether he is a victim of his own misplaced judgements and actions. This can be proven by the following lines delivered by the Chorus of the play: In everything / our loftiest traditions consecrate, those laws engendered in the heavenly skies, / whose only father is Olympus. They were not born from mortal men, / nor will they sleep and be forgotten. In them lives an ageless mighty god. (Sophocles 1034-1040) The lines explain that men’s laws and the traditions that they exalt, whether good or bad and advantageous or remiss, is created by the heavens. Therefore, men are but putty in the hands of the gods and goddesses of Olympus. Whatever human beings do, it is determined already by the hands of the gods. If this supposition is correct, it just means that Oedipus’ entire life was created by the gods and it is up to the gods on how his life will end; even if the Queen Jocasta believes otherwise: â€Å"Fear? What should a man fear? It’s all chance, chance rules our lives. Not a man on earth can see a day ahead, groping through the dark. Better to live at random, best we can† (Sophocles 1068–1078). When the queen declared such judgement, she was not able to consider that even if chance rules humanity’s lives; chance is also something which the heavens also control. Though men make decisions in certain circumstances, those circumstances were also created by pre-determined fate: Oedipus had to be there at the exact same time his father was at the crossroads; Oedipus had to take the path going to Thebes; Oedipus had to solve the riddle by the Sphinx, etc. Thus, although Oedipus can make his own decisions which lead to his tragic fate, his tragic fate was already determined by his hands not his own. It was determined, based on the Greek mythologies, by the Fates. Works Cited Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. Ontario: General Publishing, Ltd. , 1991.

MHS Reflection

The most impressive part is having interview with one of the employees-Yin Pong. She is an ex-mentally ill person but she is confident and cheerful. During the interview, she repeatedly expresses that she enjoys working in bakery and feels an immense gratitude that she can be employed. At that moment, I think the role of social enterprises is essential in Hong Kong society as they can provide opportunities of self-reliance to the disadvantaged. In Hong Kong, many disadvantaged are seeking for these helps and it can also decrease the ruder of the families and society.I find that their products are valuable although the prices of the products are quite expensive as they use high quality of ingredients for their baking to achieve quality assurance. It is also an essential element helping them to compete in the market. Besides, I appreciate the spirit of bakery. They hope their customers keep patronizing are because of the appreciation of their baked product, but not the sympathy for the employees with disabilities or the support to their organization (Ting Way Group of Hospitals).The employees completely get good senses of fulfillment from successful work. It is no doubt that training employees with disabilities is a difficult job as they need to give much patience, care and time for their employees. To help bakery to survive in the market, it is not just their well-handled management, but also their selflessness to employees. The role of social enterprises is one of the steps to lead Hong Kong to be a caring socio ¶y'. Our supports are dispensable.

Profile of Richard Wade Farley, Mass Murderer

Profile of Richard Wade Farley, Mass Murderer Richard Wade Farley is a mass murderer responsible for the 1988 murders of seven co-workers at the Electromagnetic Systems Labs (ESL) in Sunnyvale, California. What sparked the murders was his relentless stalking of a co-worker. Richard Farley - Background Richard Wade Farley was born on July 25, 1948, at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. His father was an aircraft mechanic in the Air Force, and his mother was a homemaker. They had six children, of whom Richard was the eldest. The family frequently moved before settling in Petaluma, California, when Farley was eight years old. According to Farleys mother, there was much love in the house, but the family displayed little outward affection. During his childhood and teen years, Farley was a quiet, well-behaved boy who required little attention from his parents. In high school, he showed an interest in math and chemistry and took his studies seriously. He did not smoke, drink, or use drugs, and entertained himself with playing table tennis and chess, dabbling in photography, and baking. He graduated 61st out of 520 high school students. According to friends and neighbors, other than occasionally roughhousing with his brothers, he was a non-violent, well-mannered and helpful young man. Farley graduated from high school in 1966 and attended Santa Rosa Community College, but dropped out after one year and joined the US Navy where he stayed for ten years. Navy Career Farley graduated first in his class of six at Naval Submarine School but withdrew voluntarily. After finishing basic training, he was trained to be a cryptologic technician - a person who maintains electronic equipment. The information that he was exposed to was highly classified. He qualified for top-secret security clearance. The investigation into qualifying individuals for this level of security clearance was repeated every five years. Electromagnetic Systems Laboratory After his discharge in 1977, Farley purchased a home in San Jose and began working as a software technician at Electromagnetic Systems Laboratory (ESL), a defense contractor in Sunnyvale, California. ESL was involved in the development of strategic signal processing systems and was a major supplier of tactical reconnaissance systems to the US military. Much of the work that Farley was involved in at ESL was described as being vital to the national defense and highly sensitive. In included his work on equipment that enabled the military to determine the location and strength of enemy forces. Up until 1984, Farley received four ESL performance evaluations for this work. He scores were high - 99 percent, 96 percent, 96.5 percent, and 98 percent. Relationship With Fellow Employees Farley was friends with a few of his co-workers, but some found him to be arrogant, egotistical and boring. He liked to brag about his gun collection and his good marksmanship. But others who worked closely with Farley found him to be conscientious about his work and generally a nice guy. However, all of that changed, starting in 1984. Laura Black In the spring of 1984, Farley was introduced to ESL employee Laura Black. She was 22 years old and had been working as an electrical engineer for just under a year. For Farley, it was love at first sight. For Black, it was beginning of a four-year-long nightmare. For the next four years, Farleys attraction to Laura Black turned into a relentless obsession. At first Black would politely decline his invitations, but when he seemed unable to comprehend or accept her saying no to him, she stopped communicating with him as best she could. Farley began writing letters to her, averaging two a week. He left pastries on her desk. He stalked her and cruised by her home repeatedly. He joined an aerobics class on the same day that she joined. His calls became so annoying that Laura changed to an unlisted number. Because of his stalking, Laura moved three times between July 1985 and February 1988, but Farley found her new address each time and obtained a key to one of her homes after stealing it off of her desk at work. Between the fall of 1984 and February 1988, she received approximately 150 to 200 letters from him, including two letters he sent to her parents home in Virginia where she was visiting in December 1984. She had not provided him with her parents address. Some of Blacks coworkers tried to talk to Farley about his harassment of Black, but he reacted either defiantly or by threatening to commit violent acts. In October 1985, Black turned to the human resources department for help. During the first meeting with human resources, Farley agreed to stop sending letters and gifts to Black, following her home and using her work computer, but in December 1985, he was back to his old habits. Human Resources stepped in again in December 1985 and again in January 1986, each time issuing Farley a written warning. Nothing Else to Live For After the January 1986 meeting, Farley confronted Black at the parking lot outside of her apartment. During the conversation, Black said Farley mentioned guns, told her he no longer was going to ask her what to do, but rather tell her what to do. Over that weekend she received a letter from him, stating he would not kill her, but that he had a whole range of options, each getting worse and worse. He warned her that, I do own guns and Im good with them, and asked her not to push him. He continued on that if neither of them yielded, pretty soon I crack under the pressure and run amok destroying everything in my path until the police catch me and kill me. In mid-February 1986, Farley confronted one of the human resource managers and told her that ESL had no right to control his relationships with other individuals. The manager warned Farley that sexual harassment was illegal and that if he did not leave Black alone, his conduct would lead to his termination. Farley told her that if he were terminated from ESL, he would have nothing else to live for, that he had guns and was not afraid to use them, and that he would take people with him. The manager asked him directly if he was saying that he would kill her, to which Farley answered yes, but he would take others, too. Farley continued to stalk Black, and in May 1986, after nine years with ESL, he was fired. Growing Anger and Aggression Being fired seemed to fuel Farleys obsession. For the next 18 months, he continued to stalk Black, and his communications with her became more aggressive and threatening. He also spent time lurking around the ESL parking lot. In the summer of 1986, Farley began dating a woman named Mei Chang, but he continued to harass Black. He was also having financial problems. He lost his home, his car, and his computer and he owed over $20,000 in back taxes. None of this deterred his harassment of Black, and in July 1987, he wrote to her, warning her not to get a restraining order. He wrote, It might not really occur to you how far Im willing to go to upset you if I decide thats what Im forced to do. Letters along this same line continued over the next several months. In November 1987 Farley wrote, You cost me a job, forty thousand dollars in equity taxes I cant pay, and a foreclosure. Yet I still like you. Why do you want to find out how far Ill go? He ended the letter with, I absolutely will not be pushed around, and Im beginning to get tired of being nice. In another letter, he told her that he did not want to kill her because he wanted her to have to live to regret the consequences of not responding to his romantic gestures. In January, Laura found a note from him on her car, with a copy of her apartment key attached. Frightened and fully aware of her vulnerability she decided to seek the help of an attorney. On February 8, 1988, she was granted a temporary restraining order against Richard Farley, which included that he stay 300 yards away from her and not contact her in any way. Revenge The day after Farley received the restraining order he began to plan his revenge. He bought over $2,000 in guns and ammunition. He contacted his lawyer to have Laura removed from his will. He also sent a package to Lauras attorney claiming that he had proof that he and Laura had a secret relationship. The court date for the restraining order was February 17, 1988. On February 16, Farley drove to ESL in a rented motor home. He was dressed in military fatigues with a loaded bandoleer  slung over his shoulders, black leather gloves, and a scarf around his head and earplugs. Before leaving the motor home, he armed himself with a 12-gauge Benelli Riot semi-automatic shotgun, a Ruger M-77 .22-250 rifle with a scope, a Mossberg 12-gauge pump action shotgun, a Sentinel .22 WMR revolver, a Smith Wesson .357 Magnum revolver, a Browning .380 ACP pistol and a Smith Wesson 9mm pistol. He also tucked a knife in his belt, grabbed a smoke bomb and a gasoline container, and then headed to the entrance of ESL. As Farley made his way across the ESL parking lot, he shot and killed his first victim Larry Kane and continued shooting at others who ducked for cover. He entered the building by blasting through the security glass and kept on shooting at the workers and the equipment. He made his way to Laura Blacks office. She attempted to protect herself by locking the door to her office, but he shot through it. He then shot directly at Black. One bullet missed and the other shattered her shoulder, and she fell unconscious. He left her and moved on through the building, going room to room, shooting at those he found hidden under desks or barricaded behind office doors. When the SWAT team arrived, Farley managed to avoid their snipers by staying on the move inside the building. A hostage negotiator was able to make contact with Farley, and the two talked on and off during a five-hour siege. Farley told the negotiator that he had gone to ESL to shoot up equipment and that there were specific people he had in mind. This later contradicted Farleys lawyer who used the defense that Farley had gone there to kill himself in front of Laura Black, not shoot at people. During his conversations with the negotiator, Farley never expressed any remorse for the seven individuals killed and admitted that he did not know any of the victims except for Laura Black. Hunger is what finally ended the mayhem. Farley was hungry and asked for a sandwich. He surrendered in exchange for the sandwich. Seven people were dead and four injured, including Laura Black. Victims Killed: Lawrence J. Kane, 46Wayne Buddy Williams Jr., 23Donald G. Doney, 36Joseph Lawrence Silva, 43Glenda Moritz, 27Ronald Steven Reed, 26Helen Lamparter, 49 Wounded were Laura Black, Gregory Scott, Richard Townsley, and Patty Marcott. Death Penalty Farley was charged with seven counts of capital murder, assault with a deadly weapon, second-degree burglary, and vandalism. During the trial, it became evident that Farley was still in denial about his non-relationship with Black. He also seemed to lack an understanding of the depth of his crime. He told another prisoner, I think they should be lenient since its my first offense. He added that if he did it again, then they should throw the book at him. A jury found him guilty of all charges, and on January 17, 1992, Farley was sentenced to death. On July 2, 2009, the California Supreme Court denied his death penalty appeal. As of 2013, Farley is on death row in San Quentin Prison.

Profile of Camarasaurus

Profile of Camarasaurus True heavyweights like Brachiosaurus and Apatosaurus get all the press, but pound for pound, the most common sauropod of late Jurassic North America was Camarasaurus. This medium-sized plant-eater, which weighed only about 20 tons (compared to near 100 tons for the largest sauropods and titanosaurs), is believed to have roamed the western plains in sizable herds, and its juveniles, aged and ailing were probably a prime source of food for the hungry theropods of its day (the most likely antagonist being Allosaurus). Name: Camarasaurus (Greek for chambered lizard); pronounced cam-AH-rah-SORE-us Habitat: Plains of North America Historical Period: Late Jurassic (150-145 million years ago) Size and Weight: About 60 feet long and 20 tons Diet: Plants Distinguishing Characteristics: Large, boxy skull; hollow vertebrae; single claw on front feet Paleontologists believe that Camarasaurus subsisted on more challenging fare than its larger sauropod cousins since its teeth were adapted to slicing and shredding especially tough vegetation. Like other plant-eating dinosaurs, Camarasaurus may also have swallowed small stonescalled gastrolithsto help grind down food in its massive gut, though direct evidence for this is lacking. (By the way, this dinosaurs name, Greek for chambered lizard, refers not to the stomach of Camarasaurus but to its head, which contained numerous large openings that probably served some kind of cooling function.) Does the unusual prevalence of Camarasaurus specimens (especially in the stretch of the Morrison Formation spanning Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah) mean that this sauropod vastly outnumbered its more famous relatives? Not necessarily: for one thing, just because a given dinosaur happens to persist in the fossil record speaks more about the vagaries of the preservation process than the size of its population. On the other hand, it only makes sense that the western U.S. could support a larger population of medium-sized sauropods, compared to smaller herds of 50- and 75-ton behemoths, so Camarasaurus may well have outnumbered the likes Apatosaurus and Diplodocus. The first fossil specimens of Camarasaurus were discovered in Colorado, in 1877, and quickly purchased by the famous American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope (who was probably afraid that his arch-rival Othniel C. Marsh would beat him to the prize). It was Cope who had the honor of naming Camarasaurus, but that didnt prevent Marsh from bestowing the genus name Morosaurus on some very similar specimens he discovered later (and which turned out to be synonymous with the already-named Camarasaurus, which is why you wont find Morosaurus on any modern lists of dinosaurs). Interestingly, the profusion of Camarasaurus fossils has allowed paleontologists to investigate this dinosaurs pathologythe various diseases, ailments, wounds and contusions that all dinosaurs suffered at one time or another during the Mesozoic Era. For example, one pelvic bone bears evidence of an Allosaurus bite mark (its not known whether or not this individual survived this attack), and another fossil shows possible signs of arthritis (which may or may not, as in human beings, have been an indication that this dinosaur reached old age).

A List of Programming Contests and Challenges

A List of Programming Contests and Challenges Link to C TutorialsLink to C TutorialsLink to C# Tutorials Not every programmer wishes to test his programming skills in a contest but occasionally I get a new challenge to stretch me. So here is a list of programming contests. Most are annual but some are continuous and you can enter at any time. The experience of stepping outside your programming comfort zone is entirely beneficial. Even if you dont win a prize, youll have thought in new ways and be inspired to have another go. Studying how others solved the problem can also be educational. There are many more contests than I have listed here but Ive winnowed these down to ten that anyone can enter. Most important of all you can use C, C or C# in these. Annual Contests International Conference on Functional Programming (ICFP). This has been running for a decade and happens in June or July each year. Though its based in Germany, anyone can enter using any programming language, from any location. Its free to enter and your team isnt limited by size. In 2010 its from June 18-21The BME International is an intense free to enter contest that takes place in Europe once a year for teams of three, and you have to bring your own computers and software. This year, the 7th took place in Budapest. This has had some interesting challenges in the past- how about driving a car over a virtual terrain? Other past tasks included controlling an oil-company, driving an assembly line robot and programming for secret communication. All programs were written in one 24 hour intense period!International Collegiate Programming Contest. One of the longest-running  - this started in 1970 at Texas AM and has been run by the ACM since 1989 and has IBMs involvement since 1997. One of the bigger contests it has thousands of teams from universities and colleges competing locally, regionally and ultimately in a world final. The contest pits teams of three university students against eight or more complex, real-world problems, with a gruelling five-hour deadline. The Obfuscated C contest has been running for nearly 20 years. This is done on the internet, with email submissions. All you have to do is write the most obscure or obfuscated Ansi C program in under 4096 characters length according to the rules. The 19th contest took place back in January/February 2007.The Loebner Prize is not a general programming contest but an AI challenge to enter a computer program that can do the Turing test, ie talk to a human sufficiently well to make the judges believe they are talking to a human. The Judge program, written in Perl will ask questions like What time is it?, or What is a hammer? as well as comparisons and memory. The prize for the best entrant is $2,000 and a Gold Medal.Similar to the Loebner Prize is the Chatterbox Challenge. This is to write the best chatter bot- a web-based (or downloadable) application written in any language that can carry on text conversations. If it has an animated display that syncs with text then that is even better- you get more points! International Problem Solving Contest (IPSC). This is more for fun, with teams of three entering via the web. There are 6 programming problems over a 5 hour period. Any programming language is allowed.The Rad Race - Competitors in teams of two have to complete a working business program using any language over two days. This is another contest where you have to bring along equipment, including a router, computer(s), cables, a printer etc. The next one will be in Hasselt, Belgium in October 2007.The ImagineCup - Students at school or college compete by writing software applicable to the set theme which for 2008 is Imagine a world where technology enables a sustainable environment. Entries started August 25th, 2007.ORTS Competition. ORTS (open real-time strategy game) is a programming environment for studying real-time AI problems such as path-finding, dealing with imperfect information, scheduling, and planning in the domain of RTS games. These games are fast-paced and very popular. U sing the ORTS software once every year there is a series of battles to see whose AI is best. The International Obfuscated C Code Contest (abbreviated IOCCC) is a programming contest for the most creatively obfuscated C code. It started in 1984 and the 20th competition started in 2011. Entries are evaluated anonymously by a panel of judges. The judging process is documented in the competition guidelines and consists of elimination rounds. By tradition, no information is given about the total number of entries for each competition. Winning entries are awarded with a category, such as Worst Abuse of the C preprocessor or Most Erratic Behavior, and then announced on the official IOCCC website. Theres no prize except if your program is featured on the site then you won!Google Code Jam. Running since 2008, its open to anyone aged 13 or other, and you or a close relative dont work for Google or a subsidiary country and you dont live in a banned country: Quebec, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Syria, Burma (Myanmar). (The contest is prohibited by law). Theres a qualification round and three oth er rounds and the top 25 travel to a Google office for the Grand Final. Continuous or Ongoing Contests Hutter Prize. If you can improve on the compression of 100 MB of Wikipedia data by 3% or better then you can win cash prizes. Currently, the smallest compression is 15,949,688. For every 1% reduction (minimum 3%) you win â‚ ¬500.Project Euler. This is an ongoing series of challenging mathematical/computer programming problems that will require more than just mathematical insights to solve. computationally the problems should be solvable in less than a minute. A typical problem is Find the first ten digits of the sum of one-hundred 50-digit numbers.Sphere Online Judge. Run at Gdansk University of Technology in Poland, they have regular programming contests - with over 125 completed. Solutions are submitted to an automatic online judge that can deal with C, C and C# 1.0 and many other languages.Intels Threading Programming Problems. Running from September 2007 until the end of September 2008 Intel have their own Programming Challenge with 12 programming tasks, one per month that can be solved by threading. You get awarded points for solving a problem, coding elegance, code execution timing, use of the Intel Threading Building Blocks and bonus points for posting in their problem set discussion forum. Any language but C is probably the preferred language. Codechef is Indias first, non-commercial, multi-platform online coding competition, with monthly contests in more than 35 different programming languages including C, C and C#. Winners of each contest get prizes, peer recognition and an invitation to compete at the CodeChef Cup, an annual live event. Annual Contests Hewlett Packard (HP) Codewars is for high school students and takes place every year on Hewlett-Packards Houston campus. its been run every year since 1999. Not only do students get the high-tech HP environment, a wide range of programming challenges, large amounts of good programmer food (pizza and caffeine), music, plus loads of giveaways. There are trophies for the top competitors in each of two classifications, plus loads of exciting door prizes like computers, scanners, printers, software, and accessories. This is the ultimate high school computer programming competition. Dont forget the About C, C and C# Programming challenges. No prizes but you get fame!

Perception of The Vietnam War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Perception of The Vietnam War - Essay Example However, America’s involvement in Vietnam began long before the decision to send troops into the region. Near the beginning of 1950, the Ho Chi Minh regime in Vietnam had been recognized as the governing body by Communist China, and the Soviet Union3. Thus, the Truman administration was faced with the decision of whether to allow communism to extend throughout Vietnam, or to attempt to fight it. Three key sources will be examined as part of this discussion, which take different perspectives and approaches to discussion on the war. These are, Vietnam Wars 1945-1990, A Rumor of War and the movie Platoon. This article focuses on the perceptions of the Vietnam War as portrayed in these three sources and argues that to understand the way that the Vietnam War occurred, and its true cost, it is important to examine many different perspectives. The first aspect of this argument is to understand the way that Vietnam veterans were treated, and the attitudes of the country to war. Becaus e of the high controversy that surrounded the Vietnam War, many veterans felt ostracized and mistreated on their return to America. To help mitigate this, some books and movies, such as the ones being discussed in this article, attempted to portray the Vietnam War in a different light. Platoon attempted this by showing harsh reality of the war from the American perspective, without glamorizing the events through propaganda. The film tells the story of a young, naive soldier, Chris Taylor, who enters the war full of high hopes and the desire to serve his country. The director uses the experiences of Chris to enlighten the audience about the confusion that soldiers felt during the war, and to create a connection between the people that viewed the movie, and the soldiers. The approach of personalizing the soldier that was used in Platoon, was also used in the book A Rumor of War, which is a war memoir written by Philip Caputo about his own experiences in the war. Both of these sources take a highly personal and emotionally charged approach to explain the difficulties that soldiers faced during the war. In addition, this perspective helps viewers to sympathize with the soldiers, and to better understand the role that they played in the war. One of the biggest contentions about Vietnam is the politics, specifically, whether the United States should ever have become involved in the war. This approach is considered differently in the sources. In Platoon, Stone does not address the morality of the presence of Americans in Vietnam. His characters do discuss the desire to go home, it is not because of the morality of the war, but because of how bad it is for them. As Chris comments â€Å"Someone once wrote: â€Å"Hell is the impossibility of reason.† That’s what this place feels like. Hell.† Thus, for the soldiers, the politics of the war matter little; they are all involved in their own personal, and deadly, hell. In A Rumor of War, the author expr essly states â€Å"This book does not pretend to be a history. It has nothing to do with politics, power, strategy, influence, national interests or foreign policy†4. In contrast, The Vietnam Wars 1945-1990 focuses almost exclusively on the political aspect. This is indicated by the fact that the author opens the introduction with the question â€Å"Why are we in Vietnam?†5 This question suggests a very different focus to the book, one that is expanded on throughout the introduction and then the rest of the

Benjamin Franklin and the Economy of the Colonies Essay

Benjamin Franklin and the Economy of the Colonies - Essay Example Reacting to the advocates of the Stamp Act who claimed that the Seven Years War had been waged to the detriment of Britain to protect the interests of Native Americans, Franklin referred once again to the fur trade subject: â€Å"The last war was begun, not ‘for the immediate protection’ of all Americans, but for the protection of British trade, carried on with British manufactures among the Indians in America† (Greene 1995, 261). Franklin also commented on the dispatching of Braddock’s army by the Crown to America as a way to safeguard British trade and that the â€Å"trade with the Indians, though carried on in America, is not an American interest† (Greene 1995, 261). The war had been waged to create new markets for English producers and traders, and, as argued by Franklin, should justly shoulder the burden of maintaining the army (Isaacson 2003) that at the time inhabited the colonized lands. Economic Structure of the Colonies In a working colonia l economy, the capitalist interconnectedness of the colonies and the mother country generally resulted in a colonial imbalance of trade. The colonies pay for the products of the mother country and are pushed to produce those unprocessed materials needed by the colonial capitalists. In this process they are backed up by the new capital and investment of the balances of the mother country (Beer 1958). Hence, in the southern settlements, tobacco mostly was being generated to supply revenues for the British products the plantation owners needed; yet, since the trade left the British with a positive balance, its capitalists had by the 1770s at least ?4,000,000 spent in southern planting activities (Wahlke 1962, 1). To pay for the fees on these arrears, according to Wahlke (1962), southern planters were forced to continuously broaden their agricultural activities and to take part in the secondary operations of the fur trade and land assessment. Evidently, the northern colonies were a sour ce for iron, whale products, furs, and lumber, and these Britain greatly required sustaining her autonomy of European supplies. Through payments, the loosening of trade limitations and the rewarding of preferred places in the main market, Britain tried to persuade these businesses, in part because it needed these materials and in part to deflect northern capital from reaching into manufacturing, shipping, and shipbuilding (Greene 1995). Yet, the policy was a failure. The northern colonies were purchasing more and more volumes of British products and services, and were hence heavy debtors in the direct trade (Greene 1995). Obviously, these economic systems only benefited the British capitalists and merchants in terms of favorable balances. The colonies in turn were increasingly buried in debt. In the system of mercantilism, colonies were obliged to support the mother country in gaining an export surplus, economic independence, and favorable balance of trade. Colonies were obliged to provide supplies which would otherwise have to be acquired from non-colonial reservoirs, produce exports by the manufacture and trade of goods in high demand in other markets, and supply a market for the exports of the mother country (Greene 1995). In return, the mother country would furnish the settlements with military protection, and centralized regulation of the economy. But mercantilism was ‘not an American interest’

Critical analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Critical analysis - Essay Example The O- ring seal let gases emanating from the so rocket booster. These gases lay on the propellant tank which is outside and also the booster strut. This took place in January 28 1986. The remains of the shuttle fell into the Atlantic Ocean just off Florida’s cost. The compartment where the crew was together with fragment of the space shuttle was only recovered after a long search of the ocean was conducted. When exactly the crew passed away is unknown but it is believed that a number survived when the space craft initially broke up. The only problem for those who survived was the fact that the shuttle lacked a means of escape .It is for this reason that they were captive in the space shuttle as it impacted with the ocean surface .This was too violent for any of them to survive. The shuttle space program was halted for 32 months due to the disaster. The Rogers commission was formed by the then president Ronald Regan. The commission laid blame on NASA’S decision making s ystem and and its organizational culture for the disaster. NASA was aware that the design of the Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters (SBRs) by Morton Thiokol had a lethal defect in the O-rings .This hadn’t been addressed since 1977.They also failed to head to warnings from engineers concerning the launch in the prevailing low temperature that fateful morning. These technical concerns weren’t shared with the superiors. It is interesting to note the vehicle never received certification to run in the low temperatures of that morning The O- ring together with other key components hadn’t been tested to ensure that they would operate in the launch conditions of that morning. The launch had many viewers since it had Christa McAuliffe .She was to be the first teacher, female, in space .So hyped was the launch that just an hour after the Disaster 85% of Americans had gotten wind of the news .It is worth noting that the challengers disaster was a reference point when it comes t o issues of engineering safety and ethics in the work place. The concerns about the O-Ring A look at the space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters Design (SRBS) will help us understand where the flaw lay. To begin with this unit makes part of the vehicle for space transportation system. It is made up of six sections connected in 3 factory and field joints. Factory joints had an insulation made up of asbestos-silica .This was applied at the joints to cover them. The field joints were assembled at the Kennedy space centre in the building used for vehicle Assembly .The field joints relied on two O-rings made of rubber .There was a primary one and a secondary one which acted as a backup. After the disaster, field joints adopted a 3 O-ring system. All the SRB joint seals were to contain high pressure gasses resultant from the combustion of the solid propellant that lay within. All the propellant is supposed to emanate from the nozzle at the end of the rocket. At the time of the shuttle design, a Mc Donnell Douglass report highlighted the record of solid rockets when it came to safety .It was safe to abort in most failure types. There was one though in which aborting would have been dangerous. Hot gasses would burn through the forced casing. If the burn through was to take place next the liquid hydrogen/oxygen tank, aborting a launch

Good Intentions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Good Intentions - Essay Example To impose themselves as volunteers in villages in Latin America where they do not understand anything is sheer hypocrisy displayed by the Americans. In fact, charity should begin at home but that is not the case with these volunteers who want to associate with their kith and kin who belong to the middle class not the poor at all. Illich argues that North American volunteers in Latin America are there as a result of the quest to invade Mexico under the guise of benevolent gestures. In actual fact, the volunteers in Latin America are there to create â€Å"social disorder† as aptly put by the author. Once this social disorder has been created, the targeted audiences would tend to view themselves in light of the ideals that have been disseminated to them by the people who have been working as volunteers. The intention is good but unethical at the same time given that there is a hidden agenda behind the whole initiative that is destructive to other nations. The volunteers want to seduce the people they purport to help to share the same ideals of America that based on affluence and education. In other words, the volunteers want to impart a lifestyle full of American ideals to people who obviously cannot match the standards. These people are better off if they follow their usual way of life. In other words, the good intentions of the volunteers amount to dominance of other countries. The US wants other people to believe that there is â€Å"heaven on earth† through their policies across the globe. To a larger extent, I strongly agree with Illich because most of the volunteers who operate in poor areas have a hidden agenda. First and foremost, they would be concerned with imparting their values and ideals on weaker nations. This would put them in a position to dominate these nations that are poor. It can be seen that these volunteer groups have good intentions but upon a closer

Full-time Faculty Criteria Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Full-time Faculty Criteria - Essay Example Professors that are charismatic are better able to connect with their students. Another important criterion that candidates must have is excellent credentials. The minimum educational attainment a college professor must have is a master’s degree, even though a doctorate degree is preferable. The reason that college professors must have a graduate degree is because these individual have to be experts in their fields in order to be able to teach young aspiring students about a subject matter. The third most important criterion that universities look for in college professor candidates is their professional experience. In order for a college professor to be able to teach students about how the knowledge obtained in a course can be applied to the real world the professor must have extensive industry experience. The experience gained in the field can help the professor formulate examples of how different concepts, ideas, and theories can be used in the workplace. A fourth factor th at is considered by universities when hiring a new college professor is the person’s research abilities. Most universities received millions of dollars in research grants that can only be obtained if they have professors on staff that can perform the required research studies.

Analysis of John Adams Quincys Quote about a Leader Essay - 16

Analysis of John Adams Quincys Quote about a Leader - Essay Example In the contemporary work settings, what fails most of the businesses is not lack of finances or assets. It is the lack of an effective leader who can inspire the followers to visualize success and lead them through as they pursue the company’s goals and objectives. John Adams’ Quincy’s quote indicated above touches on the core of leadership; inspiration. As Adair (2009) puts it, to lead effectively is not just to be at the forefront. Good leadership is evaluated based on various parameters including the ability to inspire and bring out the best from the followers. Quincy says to become a leader one must be able to inspire other people to dream more; to imagine great things. A good leader stimulates their team to set goals and objectives that may sound ridiculous. The leader should instil confidence and a sense of belief amongst the followers. This makes the team develop the resilience that no matter what challenges they go through, they never lose focus and determination on their set goal. For example, in a situation where workers have virtually no substantial plans other than working for the company in the same capacity for years, a Human Resource Manager (leader) may inspire such staffs not only through the words they speak but also actions. In the end, the staff may feel rejuvenated after they are challenged to seek for more out of their lives (Northouse, 2010). Consequently, Quincy talks about learning as an art of demonstrating leadership. A learner is both a learner and a teacher. The behavioral theory of leadership maintains that leadership is as a result of behavior learning. The theory posits that good leaders can be trained and inspired by their mentors (Hoffmann, 2007). The behavioral theory bases its arguments on the ability of humans to learn through observation, hearing or even modelling. This means that leaders can be a source through which followers retrieve skills and knowledge of how to do or how not to do. An influential person with a strong ego is likely to influence learning and behavior change than others.

Full-time Faculty Criteria Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Full-time Faculty Criteria - Essay Example Professors that are charismatic are better able to connect with their students. Another important criterion that candidates must have is excellent credentials. The minimum educational attainment a college professor must have is a master’s degree, even though a doctorate degree is preferable. The reason that college professors must have a graduate degree is because these individual have to be experts in their fields in order to be able to teach young aspiring students about a subject matter. The third most important criterion that universities look for in college professor candidates is their professional experience. In order for a college professor to be able to teach students about how the knowledge obtained in a course can be applied to the real world the professor must have extensive industry experience. The experience gained in the field can help the professor formulate examples of how different concepts, ideas, and theories can be used in the workplace. A fourth factor th at is considered by universities when hiring a new college professor is the person’s research abilities. Most universities received millions of dollars in research grants that can only be obtained if they have professors on staff that can perform the required research studies.

The Social Cost of Carbon Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5250 words

The Social Cost of Carbon - Essay Example The adverse impacts may be in the form of poorer health outcomes, loss or harm to biodiversity, economic weakening of agricultural, timber, water and energy industries, as well as the loss or destruction of coastal resources. The important feature of these detrimental effects is that they are not borne by the immediate parties in any economic transactions. In economists’ terminology they are ‘externalities’; however, they are experienced by the wider society (Putnam, 2007). In choosing the carbon reduction policy to be implemented, the social cost of carbon can be used at least in theory, as an indicator of whether society would be benefited by using the policy. Thus, if a social cost of carbon at  £70 per tonne is accepted, a carbon reduction policy that reduces emissions at more than  £70 per tonne would be rejected. However, the â€Å"social cost of carbon has been criticised as being too uncertain to provide the basis for policy decision making† (Putnam, 2007, p.28). It has been argued that it is not possible to monetarily assess climate change damage such as loss of ecosystems and large-scale population displacement, because of the difficulty in establishing the upper limit of the costs. Hence, for policy decision making, a single financial evaluation of the social cost of carbon should be avoided. The Government and Committee on Climate Change is also required to include the factor of sustainable development, because an exclusive emphasis on carbon reduction may result in adverse outcomes in other environmental areas such as biodiversity. For example, it is essential to consider certain substitutions and transactions between â€Å"the need to reduce carbon emissions, the impacts on local wildlife, and the financial costs of minimising such impacts† (Putnam, 2007, p.28), when planning key renewable energy projects such as wind farms and tidal barrages. A fairly recent and

Asoka Has Contributed Many Significant Contributions Religion Essay

Asoka Has Contributed Many Significant Contributions Religion Essay Asoka has contributed many significant contributions to the development of Buddhism. Asoka became the first Buddhist emperor, and he conversed to Buddhism in 261 BCE and was then known as Dharmasoka. Asoka contributed to the development of Buddhism in three important ways. First he applied basic principles of Buddhism to his rule through government and foreign policies. Second and the most significant contribution, Asoka supported missionaries, he sent them throughout the kingdom in order to spread the teachings of Buddhism. Third, Asoka was able to maintain Buddhism as a major religious tradition in the kingdom. Asoka was able to contribute interfaith dialogue; he maintained positive dialogue with people of other religions because he believed all religions are good. Asoka believed the first precept (Ashismsa) and generosity were very important in witnessing the faith. Asoka taught people about Buddhism in different ways to help them best understand all the Buddhist teachings. For ex ample Asoka taught the educated through writing on edicts and pillars, whereas he taught the uneducated through ministry, stories and paintings. Asoka strengthens Buddhism through Viharas, he built these shrines in order for the Sangha to worship in and practice their faith. Asoka established social welfare support because Asoka believed it was important to support all his people. An example of a social welfare that Asoka did was he grew medicinal herb gardens and shade areas for all the people. Most importantly Asoka believed that everyone should be treated with friendliness. Asoka has been a big part in the development of Buddhism and has contributed many important and significant contributions that are still being used and continued to be followed today. Assess the impact on Buddhism of the significant person or school of thought identified in the previous question. The contributions of Asoka to Buddhism have had a great impact on the Buddhism community. Asokas contribution of the missionaries has impacted Buddhism significantly, it allowed Buddhism to expand beyond Mauryan Empire. A positive impact Asoka had was religious tolerance, as now the Buddhism religion is being respected and is expanding to other neighbouring kingdoms. For example, Asoka sent his son and daughter to Sri Lanka with the missionaries and the impact this had was Sri Lanka converted to Buddhism. Asoka contributions impacted his kingdom significantly. Through Asoka the Sangha and Lay people were able to unite through worshiping in the temples and shires. If it wasnt for Asoka building the Viharas, people wouldnt have been able to unite together and worship their religious tradition. Buddhism is now publicly worshiped and this is due to one of Asokas contributions. Examples of Asokas contributes that are impacted by public worship of Buddhism is the stupas, temples and rock e dicts which are everywhere in the kingdom and visible to the public as they have the Buddhist teachings on them. People were impacted by Asoka as they saw him as a true witness to the faith. This is because Asoka showed how to correctly live the Buddhist life according to the ethics of Buddhism. Also Asoka influenced the people around him to adapt Buddhist teachings to their way of life, this is an ethical decision. The significant impact Asoka left on the Buddhism community is his conversion from a harsh person and a murderer to living by Buddhist ethical standards, which is a very big deal for both Asoka and his people. Through rock edicts, stupas and missionaries Asoka was able to promote Buddhist education as equal access to knowledge. The most important impact Asoka left from his contributions was the importance of social welfare as he showed his people how important social welfare in Buddhism and the care for others is. This was shown through Asokas examples of social welfare, some of these examples include, medicinal herb gardens, hospitals, planting trees and lastly treating everyone friendly and with fairness. People have witnessed Asokas ruling over the kingdom as being a true example for all people of what the lived expression of Buddhism should be through his witness to the faith and this has all significantly impacted all the people of his kingdom and other people from his neighbouring kingdoms who are now Buddhist because of him. Islam In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful,to You lone do we turn for help. Guide us along the straight path. To what extent does this quotation expresses a significant person/school of thoughts distinctive Islamic answer to the enduring questions of human existence? Islam is the submission to Allah. There is a division in adherents in Islam; the two main sects are the Sunni and the Shia. The shiites believes that the accurate leadership of Muslims after Muhammads son-in-law continues through a line of religious teachers. Sunnis support the dominance of the caliphs, which is the line of rulers elected by the people to guard the visionary legacy in the running of community relationships. Islam adherents believe that there is only one God, called Allah. The stimulus above the to you lone do we turn for help. Guide us along the straight path shows this meaning, that there is only one true god and that the adherents are to follow that one god, in order for their questions about human existence to be answered and to be lead on the correct path. The stimulus above is from the Quran, the holy book for Muslim adherents. Sayyid Qutb was a significant person who helped answer the fundamental questions by expressing his distinctive Islamic answers to the questions of human existence. Sayyid Qutb answered those questions through his new interpretation of the principal teachings. His new interpretation was that he wanted everyone in state of Hakimiyya, and this only exists under the Sharia law. Sayyid Qutbs principal teachings to his adherents include Jihad, Jahiliya/Hakimiyya, and submission to the will of Allah which is very important (away from western influences), centrality of Allah through Tawhid (oneness) and Aquida (belief in god) and lastly Sharia law. Sayyid Qutb had a radical practice of Islam which he influenced his adherents to follow. He expressed to the adherents that it was important to have modest life styles of living, and living free from negative influence of the west, namely sexual freedom and materialism. By the adherent following Muhammads way of life, they are helped by Allah and guided to the right path. Sayyid Qutb answered the questions of human life through his philosophy. His philosophy was Hakimiyya, Jahiliya, Jihad, and in order to be in the state of Hakimiyya adherents need to overcome Jahiliya by Jihad. Sayyid Qutb philosophy answers those questions as they express the importance of submission to Allah and he showed adherents how to live to God. The stimulus means to be submitted to Allah, and to only believe in the one true God. Sayyid Qutb was born in Musha, Egypt in 1906, and in 1916 he attended a school in his local village. In 1919 Sayyid Qutb dropped out of school for two years, and he then moved to Cairo in 1920 where he finished his high school education. In 1929 he attended Dar Al-Alum University. Between 1939-1948 Sayyid Qutb worked as a university teacher, he also wrote many articles that reflected the Liberal values. In 1948, Sayyid Qutb, he went to America, achieved a Masters Degree education, and he also wrote a book Social in Islam building an Islamic idea of Tawhid. In 1949 he wrote another book called In the shades of the Quran, which was a commentary on the Quran. An example from the book In the shades of the Quran is There is nothing hindering people to seek the mercy of Allah. All they have to do is to seek it directly from Allah without mediation or intercession except heading to Him in obedience, hope, confidence and submission.  [1]  This quote from the book helps adherents understa nd how important the submission to Allah is, and also in the stimulus above it helps adherents find answers to their questions about human existence. Sayyid Qutb joined Islamic brotherhood. In 1954 Sayyid Qutb was first arrested and jailed for conspiracy to overthrow the ruling Egyptian government through the use of lesser Jihad which he encouraged. He was released from prison in 1964. A year later in 1965 he published another book called the Milestone. In this book he criticised the west because he didnt like the way they were living, and because of that his philosophy about. An example of a quote from the book Milestone is ..as a family is the basis of the society, and the basis of the family is the division of labour between husband and wife, and the upbringing is the most important function of the family, then such a society is indeed civilised  [2]  . In this quote Sayyid Qutb is emphasising that Islam and the Islamic style of living encourages this kind of family. By becoming this family adherents are living the right way of life according to Allah. Sayyid Qutb was rearrested and jailed again on charges of conspiracy aga inst the ruling government, which was implemented through Milestones. In 19966 Sayyid Quote was executed by hanging. As shown in the stimulus above, Sayyid Qutb is an example to the adherents on the right way of life and the right path to take. Sayyid Qutbs philosophy is all about Hakimiyya, and the way to achieve it, his philosophy also consists of Jahiliya and Jihad. He wanted all of the adherents in society to be Hakimiyya, which means for adherents to accept the Sharia and live under it, Hakimiyya is the goal in life. In reference to the stimulus above by being in the state of Hakimiyya you submitting to Allah and following the one true God. Jahiliya is thesubmit to materialism and sexual freedom. In Jihad, there is greater Jihad which is individual struggle to submit to the will of Allah and lesser Jihad which is holy war, and the use of military means. Sayyid Qutb mostly focused on the greater Jihad. His philosophy is all about being in the state of Hakimiyya and overcoming Jahiliya. Sayyid Qutb lived his philosophy and he showed the right way to live to the submission to the will of Allah, in reference to the stimulus this is important in order of walking the right path. Sayyid Qutb has impacted many people, both followers of his philosophy and opposers of his philosophy. The impacts his left on his followers include he brought a new and more relevant understanding of Islam and how it should be lived and he died as a martyr for Islam. He is a model of living his Islamic principles, in spite of the personal consequence even death. Opposers of his philosophy believe that he is a poor example of what Islam should be, also there were protests against him and many Muslims didnt want him known as a significant person. His radical views are seen as examples to other people as there are many radical groups that exist today and follow his philosophy. In reference to the stimulus, Sayyid Qutb is seen as a person who was able to answer the questions about human existence to all adherents. People who follow his philosophy see him as a good example on the way to live to the submission to the will of Allah, and praying to the only true God. Sayyid Qutb has radically interpreted the Quran and he has affected many adherents. His philosophy, Hakimiyya, Jahiliya and Jihad, has answered all the questions that each adherent asks themselves about the existence of life. The meaning behind the stimulus is that there is one true God, and adherents should only follow that one God, also that they should live to the submission of Allah. The Tawhid gives adherents their beliefs and encourages them to live the proper way of life and following in Muhammads footsteps. Sayyid Qutb is a significant person who was able to distinctively answer the enduring questions of human existence.

Contemporary American Lit Essay -- essays research papers

Andre Dubus, Raymond Carver and Shirley Jackson have changed the landscape of contemporary fiction both culturally and stylistically. All three comment about the affect upon the individual whose life circumstances have caused them to act the way that they do. When reading their short stories you can't help but notice that Dubus and Carver have very similar styles. Their use of the first person narrative allows them to step back from the story and have less of an interpretive influence. Their lack of total control leaves the reader to use her own logic and rational, while dealing only with perceptions. The first person narrator does not presume to have insight into each characters feelings and emotions. The minimalist details that emanate from this narrative place an importance on our individual perception. This style throws the reader directly into the middle of a scene without any background information or direction. Without a narrative presence telling the reader what to think abo ut a situation and with only fragments of details, we have to rely on what the narrator may or may not know. The reader is immediately put on guard to question the situation. While not all the stories are in first person, a majority of them are. None of these authors appear to be intellectual writers. Dubus' characters are rarely able to escape into abstraction: they exist, at times irritatingly, in the here and now, they drink, commit adultery and break, often beyond repair. Like Carver, his sto...

Lung Cancer Essay -- essays research papers

Smoking is the most preventable cause of death in our society. During 1995, approximately 2.1 million people in developed countries died as a result of smoking. One tobacco use is responsible for nearly one in five deaths in the United States. Lung Cancer mortality are about 23 times higher for current male smokers and 13 times higher for current female smokers compared to a lifelong never-smoker. In addition to being responsible for 87% of lung cancers, smoking is also associated with cancers of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, pancreas, uterine cervix, kidney, and bladder. Smoking accounts for at least 29% of all cancer deaths, is a major cause of heart disease, and is associated with conditions ranging from colds and gastric ulcers to chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and cerebrovascular disease. Women have a better chance in getting lung cancer then men do. This year the disease will kill 68,000 women in the United States, more than one and a half times as many as breast cancer. Even if a woman smoked for awhile and quit, her chances are much greater then a man that smoked 2 times longer then the woman did. Scientists still don’t know all the reasons why this happens. With 23 million women still smoking. Lung cancer will remain a deadly epidemic threatening the lives of millions of women. Second hand smoke, also called environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), is a human carcinogen. Each year about 3,000 nonsmoking adults die of lung cancer as a result breathing the sm...

Only the Good Die Young

Portia Francis Comp & Literature Feb 11, 2013 â€Å"Only the Good Die Young† vs. â€Å"Make Much of Time† The tone in â€Å"Only the Good Die Young† and â€Å"Make Much of Time â€Å"are very different. Both the song and the poem speak of men tempting women to lose their virginity and â€Å"carpe diem† live life to the fullest, â€Å"Make Much of time† has a much softer tone, versus , â€Å"Only the Good Die Young† has a much more aggressive one. In â€Å"Make Much of Time† the writer, although a â€Å"carpe diem† poem takes a much gentler approach to the women he is encouraging.Herrick refers to us, â€Å"Gather ye roses while she may† to show that in the 1500’-1600s women married much earlier and time was of the essence. He uses phrases ,like â€Å" this same flower that blooms today will soon be dying, †and â€Å"when youth and blood are warmer† to support his idea that women should not wait unti l they are older and choose to marry and ultimately give up their virginity. He speaks â€Å"having once lost your prime† to support his tone to women.. Herrick, in my opinion, is encouraging young women to marry before they are too old, which is relatively young but not missing out on the most important thing in their life..He uses words like â€Å" Rosebuds† and â€Å"smiles today† and having â€Å"lost but once your prime† to create a more gentle tone. On the other hand Billy Joel writes a â€Å"more in your face â€Å" carpe diem poem. He sites â€Å"Don’t let me wait, Catholic girls start much too late†. He seems to be putting on the pressure with the young women and pointing the finger to the reasons why. He seems to be more concerned with his personal satisfaction† after speaking of her, â€Å"Brand new soul† and â€Å"Cross of gold† after her confirmation, â€Å"But did she ever say pray for me? To me, this ind icates that he knew his thoughts were lustful and in a round–bout way, he acknowledged his feelings and wanted resolution. The songs title lends to his aggressiveness â€Å" Only the Good Die Young†, because no woman is going to die if she doesn’t give up her virginity. Lastly, the in in the song â€Å" And they say there’s a heaven for those who wait. Some say its better but I say it ain’t. † Seals the deal that he main concern is his own satisfaction and again attempts to inflict the guilt on the young woman who would not immediately please him.

Stefan’s Diaries: The Craving Chapter 24

November 13, 1864 I am cursed. It is obvious now. Maybe that's what being a vampire means. Maybe tragedy and evil come with the hunger and the fangs; it isn't just having to live off human blood. It is the unending aloneness, being cut off from real life and from real relationships. Death will always be there to separate me from those I loved. There is a scroll of names in my head, and the list kept getting longer every day. Rosalyn was the first to die because of me. Katherine couldn't stand that I was engaged, so she killed the girl. Even Katherine's blood was on my hands. Though she came into my and my brother's lives and turned them upside down. She died as a result of my actions. I should never have tried to reason with my father, never tried to convince him of a different viewpoint. As soon as he confided in me about the vampire hunt, I should have done everything I could to get Katherine out of town. Pearl. She, too, could have escaped. I don't know exactly what her story was, but she seemed far more peaceable than Katherine. Alice the barmaid. All the humans I fed on in New Orleans. Too many to name, even if I had bothered learning their names. They were just unlucky folk who accidentally crossed my path when I was hungry or needed something. Callie. She died because I was stupid enough to think that she would be rewarded for helping out two vampires. The Sutherlands. Bridget, Lydia, Mrs. Sutherland, and Winfield. A normal family who just happened to catch the attention of one insane, vengeful vampire. And now Lexi. Lexi should have stayed in New Orleans in her hostel for the undead, safe in her own world where she could continue her own version of doing good. She will be the next to die unless I figure out how to save her. I have spent too much time in New York bemoaning my fate, moping, feeling cursed. By standing idly by, by complaining, I am letting evil occur all around me. Now is the time for action, for justice. I must channel my loneliness and despair into rage. I must stop being a coward, as I've always been, in both life, when I let my father bully me into a marriage I didn't want, and in death, when I've allowed Damon to torture me and kill the people I love. Never again will I let others bend me to their will. From now on I will fight. And I will free Lexi, if it is the last thing I do. I crumpled the piece of paper in my fist, growling with anger. How had he taken her? I hadn't heard a thing, even with my vampire senses. The servants, a couple of mice and rats in the walls, but nothing else. The vampire Lucius had come in complete silence and managed to seize – or disable – Lexi before she was able to cry out. What speed, what Power this beast must have! But for all of the vampire's ancientness, for all that he was a â€Å"direct descendant from Hell,† for all of the monster he was, he had, with that single piece of paper, revealed one very human weakness about himself. He had a very petty need to gloat. If Damon were in his place, I would have come downstairs and seen Lexi dead on the floor. But the beast wanted me to know that everyone around me was in danger, to scare me before he killed me. Now there was only one thing on my mind. If Lexi was still alive, it was my duty to go after her and save her. And if she wasn't alive†¦ it was my right and pleasure to kill Klaus's foot soldier. This I swore. What was it he had said in the prison? An eye for an eye. He took something valuable from me and Damon, our wives and their family, because we had taken Katherine from him. But the Sutherlands were human, of no importance and very easily disposed of. His beloved Katherine died in a church fire. What if†¦ The words struggled to the surface of my brain. What if he planned on killing Lexi the same way? Suddenly I felt like I had a chance again. But which church? There had to be hundreds in the city. I ran outside. The smell of decay hung heavy in the air, as though Lucius had unwittingly laid a path for me. I followed it south, feeling as though I were gaining strength with each step that brought me closer to where Lexi might be – and who I should be. I had tried to stay away from humans, and that hadn't worked. I had tried living with them, with disastrous results. But I had never tried a more moderate path. I would never be human, but I could help them, as I'd helped Bridget that night in the park. I could never live among humans, but I could find companionship among humans like Mrs. Sutherland and vampires like Lexi. Those ties would tether me to this world and keep me honest. I ran past a brick town house and grabbed a pigeon in midflight from the air, tearing into its neck for extra fuel. The stench was stronger now, and I saw an Irish Catholic church just two streets away. I knew people had actually been worried about this particular structure being torched, as had been done to others during the religious riots in Pennsylvania. But the place was quiet, with several old women sitting in the front pews, and oddly, the scent of decay that had permeated the air outside so strongly had evaporated. There was no odor of anything besides candles and incense burning at the altar. I slunk into a back pew and regarded the rose oculus window. The scene depicted a grieving Mother Mary in lapis lazuli blue as the sun, a bloody garnet, rose behind her. I closed my eyes and thought, hard. Why had Lucius thrown me off his scent? Was I wrong to assume that he wanted to bait me, so I could arrive at the correct church just as he put the match to the powder keg? What church would he choose – and why? Then it hit me: I was being stupid. The vampire had done due diligence and found out exactly where my bride's family lived; he wouldn't have just chosen a random church to burn down. He would have picked the chapel in which I was married. I knew the truth of this deep in my bones. But just as surely I knew that I couldn't go after him by myself. And there was only one person who was capable of helping me. Damon. Damon, who had trapped me into the stupid marriage that got the Sutherlands all killed. Damon, who had killed Callie. Damon, who swore to make my life a living hell for all eternity. But in the end I needed him. I had seen him control his powers in ways I could not. And I would need all the Power I could get on my side if I was to find a way to defeat an old one. Lexi had rescued us from prison, and surely even someone as debased and fallen as Damon would recognize that we owed her. The only problem was finding him. And now, I think I'm ready for a drink was what he had said. For most vampires that only meant one thing. For my brother, well, he could easily have meant hitting the bottle as well as draining a person or two. But where? In the weeks between following me to New York and â€Å"finding† me at the Chesters' ball, he had, as Lexi said, been sweeping the New York society scene as an Italian count. He had probably talked – or compelled – his way into any number of private clubs or restaurants. I wracked my brains, trying to remember the prattle Bridget had bored me with, about who was seen where with whom, and where was the latest place to go, and how there was an oyster bar serving genuine Pimm's Cup, just like in England. For lack of any better idea, I went there first. It was a lovely place in an otherwise unwholesome area at the southern seaport. Uncertain-looking sailors wandered from pool of streetlight to pool of streetlight, gathering in twos and threes to quietly discuss the seedier side of import and export, laugh loudly, and sing old drinking songs. Among all of this rotting seaweed, though, fancy livery and decorated carriages were parked: society men lured by the oysters, Pimm's Cups, and the dangerous aspect of the place. Inside there were quite a few of the young men I had seen at the Chesters' ball, as well as at my own wedding. Even Bram was there, but he was keeping to himself and looked ill. His face was ashen and his eyes sunken, and he wore black ribbons around his sleeves for mourning. His drink was untouched and he just stared sadly out the windows at the river. I turned my back to him, not wanting him to call out that a murderer – as he no doubt thought I was – was in their midst. I beckoned for the hostess to come over. â€Å"Has D – uh, the Count DeSangue been by here tonight?† I asked. The girl looked me up and down, face flushing with excitement. â€Å"With him accused of murder and this being his favorite place and me being his favorite girl, what on earth would make me tell you something like that?† I could see by the thick scarf she wore around her neck that she wasn't just warding off the cold night air – this had definitely been one of Damon's haunts. I started to reach into my pocket for bribe money. She saw where I was going and shook her head. â€Å"Not on your life, love. Not for Damon.† â€Å"You have no idea who he is, or what you're getting involved in,† I growled, grabbing her wrist. Her face fell and she tried to struggle out of my grasp. â€Å"Listen to me. I'm Stefan Salvatore – the other man accused of murdering the Sutherlands. Neither one of us did it, all right? We're both on the run from the police. Now tell me where he is.† I didn't compel her. I didn't exactly threaten her. But she nodded mutely and I relaxed my grip. â€Å"I don't know,† she said, rubbing her wrist. â€Å"I know he liked a drink at some of those fancy uptown places like the Skinny Black Cat and Xerxes' Repose. He even had his own table at the Twenty-Two Club.† At that moment a waitress came out. â€Å"Are you talking about the count?† she asked, an excited grin spreading across her face. I sighed. â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"Well, he once took me to Strange Fruit just a few blocks down.† â€Å"He took you on a date?† the hostess said, envy apparent in her voice. The waitress nodded proudly. â€Å"Thank you,† I said, meaning it. Lexi or Damon would have compelled the women to forget me at that point. I sighed, thinking about how much easier life would be if my Powers were stronger and my will weaker. I checked Winfield's pocket watch. It was five A.M.; an hour had passed since Lexi and I had first entered the mansion. Time was ticking by far too quickly for my liking, and every minute seemed to seal Lexi's fate more completely. Seconds later I was standing inside the door of Strange Fruit, a large, low, dark bar with giant wooden fans slowly turning overhead. The sailors who couldn't get into the oyster bar were there, along with every type of shady personality, lost soul, and criminal genius that managed to stay just this side of the law. Damon sat at a small rickety table by himself in just his shirtsleeves, a half-empty bottle of bourbon before him. â€Å"Nursing your wounds?† I asked, walking over. He didn't even bother looking surprised. â€Å"A minor setback, brother. Don't forget I have those dowry checks. As soon as things quiet down a bit I, and they, are out of this town.† â€Å"Doubtful any bank would cash a check for a suspected murderer.† â€Å"You really need to stop thinking like a human and start thinking like a vampire. There is no bank teller I can't compel.† He stretched languorously and poured some drink into his glass. Then he offered the glass to me, and chugged a big swallow directly from the bottle. â€Å"I need your help,† I said, pushing the glass away. I handed him the piece of paper and filled him in on what had happened. He squinted his eyes as he read it. â€Å"So?† I looked at him, gape-mouthed. â€Å"He has Lexi,† I repeated. Then, afraid he was too drunk to understand what that meant, I pointed out the obvious. â€Å"We have to save her!† â€Å"Mm.† He thought about it for a moment. â€Å"Nope.† He made a big show of slowly kicking his legs back up onto the table, as if he had been in the midst of an important activity when I had interrupted him. â€Å"What is wrong with you?† I demanded. â€Å"You saw him – he'll destroy her!† â€Å"So what?† Damon asked. â€Å"It was her choice to come to New York. No one asked her to come up here.† â€Å"She got us out of prison – â€Å" â€Å"We, excuse me, I was doing, just fine in that department. You forget. We could have gotten out on our own. We didn't need her for that. She was meddling. If further meddling got her captured, well, that's her own damn fault.† The anger that had ignited in me upon finding the note from the beast was now stoked into a rage that almost had me turning into full vampire mode. For just a moment, I didn't care who saw me. â€Å"You,† I said, trying to calm down, trying to put the blackness I felt into words. Damon sat up and looked me in the eye almost eagerly, waiting for the fight. â€Å"You are†¦ you are†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I spat. â€Å"I am what you made me,† Damon said dully, lifting his glass as though to toast me. I grabbed his shoulders. â€Å"No. You don't have to be a heartless killer. Even Katherine wasn't that.† Damon's eyes flashed. â€Å"Don't speak to me about who Katherine was! I knew her better than you did.† I shook my head. â€Å"Even you know that's not true. You loved her more, but I knew her just as well. All Katherine wanted was for the three of us to be together forever. She would not have wanted us to be at odds, fighting. She would not have wanted this.† The surprise and anger on his face at what I'd said was almost worth it. Almost. â€Å"I'm going to save Lexi. Or die trying. And if by some miracle I don't die – I never want to see you again.† And before he could prepare some witty comeback or some threat, I banged my way out into the night, leaving my brother behind forever.

Buddhism Essay Essay

One of the Buddha’s most significant teachings is that everyone is different, and hence each individual’s path to enlightenment is unique. For this reason, Buddhists acknowledge that they must take inspiration from a variety of sources to complete their individual journey to Nirvana. Belief in the concept of enlightenment is therefore important within Buddhism with different branches and schools giving varying emphasis to the many teachings of Buddha and his close followers, while some believe in Bodhisattvas, from whom they take motivation, all believe in shaping their individual effort to achieve enlightenment. Throughout this essay, the Buddha’s teachings on belief and enlightenment, how the four Noble Truths and Buddhist practices relate to belief and enlightenment, and the positions of the two major branches of Buddhism – Theravada and Mahayana – will all be analysed to determine the role of belief in Buddhism, and hence prove or disprove the a bove comments on enlightenment and belief for Buddhists. Enlightenment or _Nirvana_ is a supreme state; free from suffering, individual existence and all worldly concerns; such as greed, hate and ignorance. It is the ultimate goal of all Buddhists, breaking the otherwise endless cycle of death and rebirth known as samsara. Theravada Buddhism (â€Å"Doctrine of the Elders†) teaches that by refraining from all kinds of evil, purifying the mind and having a deep thirst for knowledge, â€Å"†¦ a Theravada Buddhist can reach the state of perfection and enter Nirvana.† (Oracle ThinkQuest, 2012) This knowledge comes almost entirely from the Tipitaka, meaning â€Å"three baskets†. This collection of scriptures contains slightly different versions between the two schools, but is considered to comprise of the most accurate accounts of the Buddha and his close disciples. It is important to note that Theravada Buddhists believe that due to the requirements for enlightenment, monks and nuns are significantly more likely to achieve Nirvana than lay people who should therefore focus on gaining good karma enabling them to be a monk or nun in their next rebirth. Mahayana Buddhism has a variety of scriptures, many of which have been written by high ranking monks since the time of the Buddha, in order to keep the teachings up to date with the culture of the period. Notably, they also  believe that all people have the capability to become enlightened. Apart from the different scripture emphasis, Mahayana Buddism is significantly diverse to Theravada due to the belief in multiple Buddhas and Boddhisattvas. Boddhisattvas are people of deep compassion who are said to delay entering Nirvana in order to help guide others to enlightenment. As such, Mahayana Buddhism adds to the Theravadan definition of Nirvana being the absence of self-centeredness (and therefore the absence of suffering) and the state of spiritual perfection, displayed by total compassion and concern for others. Two well-known Buddhist quotes which summarise the Buddha’s position on beliefs and enlightenment are: â€Å"Don’t blindly believe what I say. Don’t believe me because others convince you of my words. Don’t believe anything you see, read, or hear from others, whether of authority, religious teachers or texts. Don’t rely on logic alone, nor speculation. Don’t infer or be deceived by appearances.† â€Å"Find out for yourself what is truth, what is real. Discover that there are virtuous things and there are non-virtuous things. Once you have discovered for yourself give up the bad and embrace the good.† The above quotes help explain why Buddhists dislike teachings being referred to as beliefs. The first quote highlights the need for scepticism when reading the teachings. The second quote goes further by explaining the individuality of Nirvana, and the idea that not all teachings apply to everyone. Because followers of Buddhism are encouraged to challenge ideas presented and ascertain their own understanding of the major teachings, it is offensive to refer to this knowledge as belief, since `belief’ often refers to faith or trust in an idea(s) which has not been personally experienced. Hence Buddhists only believe in Nirvana, and the basic principles to reach their goal. Theravada and Mahayana both agree with the Buddha’s view that anyone can attain Nirvana, and one can do it within one’s present life if the Buddha’s instructions are followed carefully and applied sincerely. The two main branches of Buddhism have the same Four Noble Truths and interpret these  teachings in a similar manner. The only relevant difference is that Mahayana Buddhists have Bodhisattvas to aid in follower’s quests for Nirvana, whereas Theravada Buddhists believe that since this path is unique, it is the individual’s task to determine how to incorporate the Buddha’s teachings in their own lives. As stated on BuddhaNet, _†Theravada Buddhism places great emphasis on the clergy (Sangha) as the only ones capable of attaining Nirvana__.†_ (Lyall, 2008). As such, the role of the laity (lay people: normal householders) in Theravada Buddhism is to support the clergy and lead a good life according to the Buddha, in the hope of a better rebirth. Whilst it is not taught that a lay person cannot reach enlightenment, as this would be going against a popular teaching of the Buddha, it is perceived as highly unlikely. In return for the lay people’s support, it is common for the monks to teach the laity, provide advice and conduct ceremonies such as marriages. In contrast, the Mahayana Teachings encourage both the laity and the clergy to become Boddhisattvas and attain enlightenment in their current life. Especially in the case of the laity, belief in the possibility of enlightenment at some stage in the many rebirths a person can undergo, is vitally important and an integral part of not only the religion, but the various cultures the religion exists within. The Four Noble Truths are the essence of the Buddha’s teachings. Similar to a doctor’s method for analysing a health issue, the Buddha has diagnosed the problem (suffering) and identified the cause (of the suffering) within the first and second Noble Truths. The third Noble Truth is the description of a cure, while the fourth is the prescription and instructions to recover. Buddhists believe in the Four Noble Truths in the hope of getting closer to enlightenment and find these teachings realistic and hopeful, rather than pessimistic. The first Noble Truth, suffering (Dukkha), describes suffering as presenting itself in many forms of which some are obvious, such as old age, sickness and death (which Buddha encountered immediately after leaving his palace), and others more subliminal. Buddha explained the problem in a more profound way, teaching that all human beings are subject to desires and cravings but acquiring satisfaction from these desires and pleasure is temporar y and will not last without becoming monotonous. The origin of suffering (Samudaya) is the second Noble Truth, and consists of Buddha’s  claims to have found the cause of all suffering – desire (tanha) – which comes in three forms (which have had various names including the Three Roots of Evil, the Three Fires and the Three Poisons). These forms are the ultimate source of suffering, and are; greed and desire, ignorance or delusion, and hatred and destructive urges. The way to extinguish desire is to liberate oneself from attachment, as is explained in the third Noble Truth – Cessation of Suffering (Nirodha). This truth states that attaining enlightenment involves extinguishing the three fires of greed, delusion and hatred and could be considered as a `definition’ for Nirvana. The path to the cessation of suffering (Magga) is the fourth Noble Truth and is often referred to as the Eightfold Path because Buddha outlined a set of eight principles to follow. These are the right understanding, intenti on, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration. Theravada Buddhism, being the more traditionalist branch, follows the practices that have been passed down by senior monks since the Buddha’s time. These traditions or practices include living in forests and performing both sitting and walking meditation. As part of their early training, Theravadan monks and nuns generally live in huts called `kutis’ situated in forests. These huts are built on stilts to keep animals and insects out and have a path for walking meditation. Older monks and nuns are not required to live in the forest, often residing in monasteries. Early each morning and evening, the monks and nuns from a particular school meet together for meditation and recitation. After these ceremonies, which are called _pujas_, they are required to study the Dharma. An important ritual carried out by people entering the temples is to wash their feet with water which has been carried up to the monastery from a stream, generally found below in the forest. The goal of the monks and nuns is to become an _Arhat_, a person free of suffering, through the meditation. Once free of suffering they can continue on their path to Nirvana. Different forms of Mahayana Buddhism have different religious practices. These practices are often heavily influenced by the culture of the society the Buddhist school(s) resides in. Tibetan Buddhist temples are heavily â€Å"†¦decorated with many kinds of Buddha images and wall hangings called  _thankas_.† Big prayer wheels, containing mantras written on strips of rice paper, are set into the walls of the temple while smaller, handheld versions are also common. Tibetan monks generally live in these temples and in between turning the prayer wheels and studying the various teachings, they hold various festivals. These festivals incorporate an array of prayer flags and other colourful decorations to celebrate significant periods. Japanese and Chinese monasteries are very similar to the Tibetan’s, but often with less vibrant, colourful decorations and less festivals. The monks and nuns recite Sutras and sit in meditation together regularly, akin to their Tibetan counterparts. The idea of studying, reciting and meditation in Mahayana Buddhism is to endeavour to accelerate the monks and nuns journey’s to enlightenment, in order that they can become Bodhisattvas and assist others as they near their journey’s end. Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism are very similar with regard to the fundamental teachings. They both accept Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) as the Teacher, have identical Four Noble Truths (and therefore Eightfold Path), share ideas on the origins of the world, practice their faith similarly and accept many comparable Buddhist concepts. The only outright difference is the scriptures they most value and consider authoritative, which affect the general path members of each branch follow to attain Nirvana. Belief in the concept of enlightenment is therefore important within Buddhism with different branches and schools giving varying emphasis to the many teachings of Buddha and his close followers, while some believe in Bodhisattvas, from whom they take motivation, all believe in shaping their individual effort to achieve enlightenment. BIBLIOGRAPHY BBC, 2009a. BBC – Religions – Buddhism: Meditation [WWW Document]. BBC Religions. URL http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/customs/meditation_1.shtml BBC, 2009b. BBC – Religions – Buddhism: The Four Noble Truths [WWW Document]. BBC Religions. URL http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/beliefs/fournobletruths_1.shtml Dr. C. George Boeree, 2000. Buddhist Meditation [WWW Document]. Shippensburg University. URL http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/meditation.html GCSE RE site, 2011. Revision: Buddhism [WWW Document]. GCSE RE Site. URL http://www.mmiweb.org.uk/gcsere/revision/buddhism/keybeliefs/6_theravada.html Goldburg, P., Blundell, P., Jordan, T., 2009. Investigating religion. Cambridge University Press, Port Melbourne, Vic. Gunasekara, V., 2012. Basic Buddhism [WWW Document]. URL http://www.vgweb.org/bsq/basbud.htm#ch5 Gursam, L., 2009. The Importance of Meditation [WWW Document]. URL http://www.lamagursam.org/importance_of_meditation.html Harderwijk, R., 2011. The Four Noble Truths [WWW Document]. View on Buddhism. URL http://viewonbuddhism.org/4_noble_truths.html Heckert, L., 2012. An Overview of Buddhist Meditation [WWW Document]. Johansson, R., Tillekeratna, A., De Silva, L., 2012. Buddhist Studies: Nirvana [WWW Document]. URL http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/dharmadata/fdd43.htm Lyall, G., 2008. Buddhist Studies: The Rise of the Mahayana [WWW Document]. BuddhaNet. URL http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhistworld/maha2.htm Nikaya, S., 2012. The Fourth Noble Truth [WWW Document]. BuddhaNet. URL http://www.buddhanet.net/cmdsg/truths5.htm Oracle ThinkQuest, 2012. Buddhism: Buddha [WWW Document]. Oracle ThinkQuest Library: Projects by Students for Students. URL