Seventeen and Maybelline

Talisha Jackson Professor Benjamin Foster Writing 121 10/29/2012 Seventeen and Maybelline Seventeen is a cheap, popular magazine whose pages are full of various fashion or cosmetic tips, articles, and advertisements. Seventeen also focuses on the unknown details of popular stars, movies, celebrities and television shows. Maybelline Cosmetics is a well-known, expensive brand of makeup which is owned by L’Oreal. I will be analyzing both the Seventeen magazine and a Maybelline advertisement, to decide if the particular ad could be placed in the magazine.On the cover of the 2012 August edition of Seventeen is the Filipino actress Shay Mitchell. She is shown smiling while leaning against a white wall her arms are firmly crossed in front of her, showing off her blue bracelets and ring. Her brown hair is being blown back by an unknown force, revealing her blue and purple earrings which match her bracelets, purple lopsided shirt and purple flower patterned denim jeans. Right next to S hay in bold teal letters is the television series she’s in â€Å"Pretty Little Liars†, and under that in smaller plain text, is â€Å"Spoiler Alert! The wild plot twist she didn’t even see coming. Shay’s head is slightly covering the magazine’s title â€Å"Seventeen†, and surrounding her are the main topics of this edition. Such as: â€Å"Redo-Your-Room—For Free†, â€Å"Back-To-School Preview†, â€Å"805 Fashion & Beauty Ideas†, â€Å"Free nail polish†, â€Å"Best Jeans for your Body & Budget†, and â€Å"The Guy’s Secret Thoughts (what he’s not telling you)†. They’ve also posted the URL for their website in small orange print at the bottom right corner. August is the month where most students in high school or college are getting ready for going back to school, or are already back in school.Three of the main articles in this edition are about cheap ways to redo your entir e appearance. The ‘Back to School Preview’ article is full of pictures of women who are promoting make-up or hair products, and telling the readers ways to achieve these unique styles and what to buy. Such as the Hot Chocolate style â€Å"Upgrade your everyday earth tones with rich chocolaty color on eyes and lips. You get an A+ when the finish is matte. † The article tells the reader to buy MAC Pro Longwear ($20) and NARS Pure Matte Lipstick ($25) n order to achieve this look. Judging by the time this edition came out, some of the main topics, and the fact that this section of the article tells the reader that she’ll get â€Å"An A+ when the finish is matte† is safe to say that this magazine targets women in high school through college who want to get the best deals on clothing/cosmetic products and are interested in changing their look. Unlike most magazines, Seventeen does not have a table of contents. It does, however, number its pages which tot als up to 175 pages.Within these pages are advertisements for cosmetic products such as Covergirl, Maybelline, Pantene, and NYC. Covergirl dominants these with 5 full page ads, two of which are located in the first couple pages of the magazine. Pantene and Maybelline aren’t too far behind with 2 full page ads each, and NYC is in last place with 1 full page ad. The first thing you see when you open the magazine is the CoverGirl ad for their ‘Clean’ brand of cosmetics. This ad features Taylor Swift, whose skin looks gray and contrasts with her bright blue eyes and salmon colored pink lips.In quotations under Taylor is â€Å"why do I love clean? Because it’s sensitive to my skin† and under that a small description of the product. The other cosmetic ads are similar only promoting other products like eye shadow, mascara, primer, nail polish, etc. The cosmetic advertisements within the magazine itself reveal that the readers are interested in make-up, but only products which enhance their features and hide their blemishes’. Seventeen attempts to incorporate all different kinds of young women into their magazine.In the first 51 pages alone they have 49 models who are a minority, and 58 who are Caucasian. These models claim almost equal time as both the main model in the advertisement and as the supporting models. This edition of Seventeen doesn’t include one article or advertisement promoting weight loss or any form of dieting. Instead they have a small article written by an editor who promises that the Seventeen magazine will â€Å"not edit a model’s face or body†, â€Å"always features models who are real and healthy looking†, and to† celebrate all different types of bodies and people†.Although skinny models dominant the magazine itself, models of all different shapes and sizes have their place somewhere in its pages. Seventeen includes everyone in its pages, and caters to any type of young women who is into fashion. The women are not the only thing that ranges. Being a cheap magazine, Seventeen’s advertisements promote not only expensive brands such as Express and American Eagle but cheaper brands such as Target and Jcpenny.One of their main articles is about shopping for jeans on a budget, which delivers the readers some options for picking out jeans to match their funds. This ‘article’ is seven pages long, shows seven different brands of jeans and how much they cost. In the Aeropostale ad they show three women running arm and arm. The first female on the left of the ad is wearing floral jeans, the girl in the middle is wearing acid green skinny jeans and the last girl is wearing coral colored skinny jeans.All of those jeans cost around $25, while the adjacent ad’s jeans average around $55. Throughout the magazine, Seventeen has also added in several coupons, like buying a pair of Aeropostale jeans for $20, and another one for 20% off your entire purchase at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. They’ve also placed a coupon for free mini nail polish, and tips on how to redecorate their room for free. These show that the readers of the magazine include people from all different income levels and don’t cater to one particular income level.Advertisement is a multi-billion dollar industry which is always looking for new ways to sell the consumers a product they usually don’t need. It plays with the consumer’s wants, needs, fantasies, and insecurities to market their item, while promising that it’ll be faster, better, and more efficient than the rest. When pertaining women fashion, dieting and cosmetic products dominant much of the advertising world. The advertisements promise that if the readers wear this particular item, or use these products they’ll be attractive. The Maybelline New York advertisements’ are no different.This particular ad for Maybelline presents their new lineup o f anti-aging products, named â€Å"Instant Age Rewind†. The advertisement plays with the whole minimal effect by not including a model, not having a background and not adding any words other than the ones on the make-ups’ packaging. This in terms draws the reader’s eyes to only their products, and allows the reader to come up with their own descriptions. They probably went this way since their original â€Å"Age Rewind† advertisement was banned in the UK, for their model looking perfect through the use of Photoshop.On every bottle or tube of the five â€Å"Age Rewind† products, clearly displaces the words â€Å"Instant† and the word â€Å"New†. The word Instant promises that the effect will happen instantaneously. That as soon as the customer puts the product on their face, they’ll instantly look younger. The word new either means that this is an entirely new product, or a slight modification of a previous product. Other than à ¢â‚¬Å"New†, there is no other weasel word, which means that the product promises to instantly make the customer appear younger, and not â€Å"Virtually instant†.Both of these words will help market their product by promising the readers a brand new product which will instantly make them look younger. In the ad the five â€Å"Age Rewind† products are lined up left to right, starting with the â€Å"Finishing Powder†, then the â€Å"Skin Transforming Primer†, â€Å"The Eraser†, â€Å"Radiant Firming Makeup†, and ending with the â€Å"Conceal†. Just by reading the names of the products, you already have a slight perception of what the product is suppose to do. The â€Å"Skin Transforming Primer† is supposed to hide every blemish, wrinkle, and age spot while making the customer look younger. The Eraser† is supposed to ‘erase’ all of the blemishes hopefully permanently, and the â€Å"Radiant Firming Makeupâ €  is supposed to firm the consumers face while giving it a radiant glow. Whether these products do this or not, the titles themselves is enough to sell to people who want to look younger. All of these products are either packaged in glass or plastic, with a burgundy colored plastic lid, top, or cover. The burgundy color helps attract the attention of possible customers, while standing out from the rest of the cosmetic products, which are normally red, yellow, or purple.Burgundy is a more mature color than most of the other color choices, which will help in attracting the older generation of women. Maybelline’s â€Å"Instant Age Rewind† products are aimed at the older generation of women who want to reverse time and look younger. The Anti-aging products are aimed at women in their late 30s and beyond. The ad will not fit in with the Seventeen magazine, which is aimed at women in their late teens to early twenties. Seventeen’s readers are more worried about hi ding pimples rather than turning back the wrinkles they don’t have. Therefore this will not be a product they’re interested in.

Gay Adoption in the US Essay

Specific Purpose: To inform my audience about the debate regarding gay men and lesbian couples adopting children in the United States. Thesis: Social stigma, legal hurdles, and agency biases are the main points surrounding the gay adoption controversy. Introduction: In 2011, 400,540 children in the US were in the foster care system, waiting to be adopted according to the Children’s Bureau page at the Administration for Children and Families webpage. However, an entire demographic is being excluded from giving these children a home: gay and lesbian couples. Just as there is controversy surrounding same-sex marriage, there is also controversy surrounding same-sex adoption. Some believe that the children are better off in foster care than to be adopted into a homosexual household. Others argue that gay and lesbian parents can provide stable, loving homes for these children. Regardless of your view point, the number of gay adoptions in the U.S. has increased from just 8% to 19% from 2000 to 2009 and still continues to grow, according to a 2014 article found at the Adoptive Families webpage page, titled Adoptions by Same-Sex Couples Still on the Rise written by Elise Rosman . With the increasing number of adoptions and the controversy that sur rounds it, it is important to know the main facts for both sides before forming a conclusion. Social stigma, legal hurdles, and agency biases are the main points surrounding the gay adoption controversy. Transition: Social stigma and public opinions are a very large part of the debate regarding adoption by gay and lesbian couples. I. And many people have strong opinions on both sides of this debate. a. There are many people who believe that placing children into same-sex families is a harmful practice, in regards to the child’s well-being. i. Timothy J. Daily of the Center for Marriage and Family Studies claims â€Å"The evidence demonstrates incontrovertibly that the homosexual lifestyle is inconsistent with the proper raising of children. Homosexual relationships are characteristically unstable and are fundamentally incapable of providing children the security they need†¦.† ii. Many people fear that a child being raised in a same-sex household will subjected to bullying, humiliation, and other forms of social ridicule. b. However, on the flip side, there are many who believe that gay and lesbian parents will be able to provide perfectly  stable homes for adoptive children. i. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, â€Å"Not one credible study has ever found that somebody’s sexual orientation alone makes him or her more likely to provide an unstable home†¦. Time and again mainstream groups have said that gay and lesbian parents are as likely to provide supportive, healthy homes as heterosexual parents†¦Ã¢â‚¬  ii. Also, many people fail to recognize that gay and lesbian parents may be more able to understand the challenges that their adopted children will face. They may be able to help their children in figuring out their identity and coming to terms with their out-of-the-norm situation c. Public opinion is an important part in the debate about gay marriage and gay adoption, considering they appear on election bills and those of us over eighteen get the option to vote in favor or not. i. If you look at this graph from a November 2012, USA Today/Gallup poll you can see that the majority about 61% of Americans in 2012 were in f avor of gay and lesbian people being legally able to adopt. Which is an increase from the 54% in the 2009 poll. Transition: But, sometimes social stigma isn’t the only thing keeping gay couples from adopting. II. There are often many legal hurdles that hinder prospective gay and lesbian couples from being able to adopt. a. Most states do not have laws specifically against gay adoption i. According to Scott Ryan, Sue Pearlmutter, and Victor Groza in their article â€Å"Coming out of the Closet: Opening Agencies to Gay and Lesbian Adoptive Parents â€Å" published in the Social Woek Journal, Recently overturned was the 1977 law in Florida banning gay adoption. This law was put into effect because of the Save Our Children movement, aimed at â€Å"protecting† children from homosexuality ii. To clarify: most states allow gay singles to adopt. But laws against gay marriage make it nearly impossible for gay couples to jointly adopt b. However, more and more states are allowing joint adoptions by same-sex couples. i. The increasing acceptance for gays and lesbians in our society, as well as the increasing number of states allowing gay marriage, will likely make it more acceptable and easier for gay couples to adopt. Transition: While legal issues are a big factor surrounding gays and adoption, they also have to face biases from the adoption agencies. III. There are many struggles they have to face when deciding to adopt. a. Most gay couples seeking to adopt are restricted to domestic adoptions, or adoptions within US borders. i. This is because many countries, including  China and Thailand, won’t knowingly place children with gay couples b. Gay couples might be wary to try and adopt through private adoption agencies, because many of these private agencies are affiliated religiously. c. Another factor influencing the number of gay and lesbian couples who are able to adopt is the attitudes, biases, and even misinformation of the adoption professional. d. Gay men and lesbian women often encounter barriers when they pursue adoption. i. Adoption workers are supposed to make decision about placement of a child using the best interest standard. 1. However, this standard does not take in to account ones intrapersonal, interpersonal, and organizational views and beliefs. Transition: Many gay and lesbian people face bias and struggles when trying to adopt though an agency. Conclusion: As you can see much like the issue of gay marriage, the controversy surrounding same-sex couples adopting is one with firm believers on both sides of the debate. As some of you probably know, the adoption process is not an easy one, and for gay individuals and couples, it’s even harder. Whether its agency biases, legal hurdles, or social stigma, same-sex couples looking to adopt have faced, and will continue to face, many challenges. However, as our society becomes progressively more accepting of gay couples, we will likely see an increase in the amount of gay parents in America. Whether you believe it is socially acceptable or not it is important to consider the 400,000 children in the foster care system and decide for yourself, should same-sex couple and individual be able to adopt? Bibliography Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) FY 2011 data, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children’s Bureau, www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb How Many People are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender?. (n.d.). Williams Institute. Retrieved November 11, 2013, http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/research/census-lgbt-demographics-studies/how-many-people-are-lesbian-gay-bisexual-and-transgender/ Kinkler, L. A., & Goldberg, A. E. (2011). Working with what we’ve got: Perceptions of

Matisse, Kandinsy, Dix, Duchamp, Dali Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Matisse, Kandinsy, Dix, Duchamp, Dali - Essay Example Composition VII is a complex painting on a grand scale. The abstract name suggests how the painter is attempting to draw parallels to musical symphonies. Kandinsy’s close friendship with music composer Schoenberg further bears out this hypothesis. Just as Schoenberg’s music is typified by its atonality, Kandinsy’s work creates a similar mood. This affective mood is achieved through the use of dissonant colors, shapes and object orientations. This very abstract work raises suggestions of chaos and doom. Produced before the break of the First World War, it could be taken as a harbinger of events to unfold. But the underlying message seems to be that destruction is followed by renewal. Invoking Christian symbolism, Kandinsy is perhaps implying the great hope that lies beyond impending apocalypse. In sum, the painting is intriguing and intellectually satisfying. No other painter captured the horrors of war as Otto Dix had done. Based on his first hand experiences dur ing the First World War, Dix produced some of the most vivid, graphic and provocative war sceneries ever. Where it suits him, Dix abstracts the idea of destruction into various manifestations. Though his images belong to what he saw during the Great War, it could equally apply to any war ever fought. This is so because human suffering is a constant across wars of various epochs. As one of the paintings sadly conveys, it is worms which are the real winners in any war. Dix also captured the cultural atmosphere during the inter-war years.

Planning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Planning - Essay Example The supervisor I am going to write about is the person whom I used to report while working as a marketing executive in the marketing department of a company. This particular manager lacked all essential managerial skills. The most fundamental skill a manager should have is the ability to lead a team. This particular manager seriously lacked this skill. I am now going to explain all the requisite skills a good manger should have in relationship to the manger I used to work under who gravely lacked all those skills. Planning is definitely the first step in attaining an objective. It can be defined as setting goals and determining a course of action for attaining those goals. A manger must take the available resources, time and objectives into account while planning. A successful planning can not be formulated without a lucid understating of the competitive environment. Furthermore, planning also requires allocation of resources and time for implementation of the plan. This particular manager had a total lack of skill in planning. For example, the marketing department was given a yearly budget of US$ 5 million for carrying out marketing and promotional activities. It was then the responsibility of the Marketing Department to allocate the resources for electric media advertising, press advertising and so forth. But surprisingly my manager allocated an equal amount for all marketing activities. I think this way of distribution of resources really catastrophic for the company. My manager did not do any strategic or tactical planning for the set goals. The manager also did not formulate any contingency plan. At the end of the year, the sale of the company fell off by 12% even though the sale of the particular industry increased by 20%. This result did not come to me as a surprise as it is exactly what I could foresee when my manager "planned" the company's marketing activities at the beginning of the year. In think, planning is done so that a goal can be attained effectively using the least amount of available resources. An ideal manager would have certainly considered the objectives the company wanted to acquire. He then would have allocated resources for the gaols accordingly. But setting a realistic goal and rational allocation of resources can never ensure success. Constant monitoring of activities has to be conducted. Assessment of the actions should also be done from ti me to time. Organizing calls for development of a structure of the company matching the objectives of an organization. A manger also has to place personnel so that the objectives of the organization can be successfully achieved while organizing. The right person has to be in the right place. A good manager knows about the strengths and shortcomings of his subordinates. A visionary manager knows who is good at what and then places his subordinates accordingly considering his strength. But deplorably my manager proved himself as awful in organizing as in planning. My manger obviously lacked people skill. Neither did my manager know how to communicate his ideas to others nor was he interested to listen to what others might have to say. Free flow of information sharing is a must for success. Not surprisingly, my manager failed to place the tight person in the right place. Consequently, there always was a credibility gap between the manager and other staffs. Leadership can and does make a meaningful in every aspect of a company.

Software Engneering Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Software Engneering - Essay Example It also takes into account the external elements that interact with the system. 3. Use Case Diagram: It is an object oriented paradigm where the entire scenario is described as actors who interact with the system and scenarios that form processes of the system. It is largely used in object oriented systems as a model to map the requirements of a system. 4. Sequence diagram: It is a depiction of the various objects of a system and the sequence of interactions among them with respect to time and sequence so that one gets a clear notification of what takes place before a specified process. The aspects that are modelled by this diagram are the very sequence of operations in the system. It takes into account time factors for judgement and enables one to understand the sequence that one desires to follow for achievement of the objectives. (c) Using one or more of the ways of describing operation logic from your answer to question 1(a), discuss how you might specify how a potential buyer will review/amend the list of properties of

Margaret Thatcher and her political career Term Paper

Margaret Thatcher and her political career - Term Paper Example The political career of the formidable Margaret Thatcher began in the voting of the year 1950 and 1951, when she ran for a parliamentary seat on a Conservative ticket. During these elections, she was not only the female candidate in the race, but she was also the youngest, at twenty-five; although she lost in both elections to the Labor party candidate, she managed to reduce significantly their majority in this constituency. Despite not being able to participate in the 1955 general elections, Thatcher, in the same year ran for the Orpington seat in a by-election in which she was also defeated, but in this case, the margin of defeat was quite narrow. This brought a realization that she could only win in a constituency where the Conservative party was downright dominant. To realize her ambition, she went looking for one such constituency, and consequently, she was selected to run as the Conservative candidate for Finchley, where she was elected Member of Parliament in the 1959 general elections. She made her first speech when she defended her bill, which required members of the local authorities to hold their council meetings in public. She displayed her strong will and character by going against the official position of her party by voting for the restoration of birching, which was a form of corporal punishment using a birch rod. From the outset of her career in politics, she declared herself a friend of the Jewish community; moreover, she was not only a founding affiliate of a pro Jewish group in her constituency, but she was also a member of the pro-Jewish association of the conservative party. However, despite this friendship she was of the opinion that Israel had to give up some of the land it had occupied in order to bring peace in Palestine. Moreover, she considered some of the actions of the Israeli government, such as the bombing of Osirak, as a severe abuse of international law. In 1961, Thatcher was agreed an endorsement to the front bench by the Macmillan governm ent of the time, and in this new capacity, she served as the Parliamentary Undersecretary at the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance. However, when the Conservatives failed to win the elections in the voting of 1964, she developed into the spokesperson for Housing and Land.2 Here, she showed her strong support for her party’s stand on allowing those tenants living in council houses to be allowed to buy their residences. In 1966, she was selected into the shadow treasury lineup where she was strongly in opposition to the policy of the Labor party which set compulsory price and income management, she stated that such policies would not help the economy and that they would, in fact, damage the economy. At a party conference in 1966, Thatcher criticized the high taxation policies of the Labor government, stating that they were going against the established order of British society and turning towards socialism, and perhaps they would later turn towards communism. Her main argument for this position was that low taxes encouraged people to work harder to earn an income. She was among the small number of Conservative MPs to hold up the bill whose purpose was to decriminalize homosexuality in men. Moreover, she was also among those who voted in agreement of a bill to decriminalize abortion. She further gave her support for the maintaining of the death penalty but voted against the easing of the laws concerning divorce. These stances serve to show that while she was progressive in some of her views, she was extremely conservative in others. Edward Heath led the Conservative party to triumph in the 1970 general elections, and this proved to be an opportunity for her, as she was appointed Secretary for Education and Science. In her new position, she came to draw much public attention through her promotion of cutting spending in the education system. One of the most controversial moves during her first few months was the abolition of milk for schoolchildren at no cost3; therefore, because

Compare the Ways the British and French Ruled Their Respective Essay

Compare the Ways the British and French Ruled Their Respective Mandates. What Are Some of Their Legacies in the Region Today - Essay Example The British and French rule in the Middle East A look into history proves that before the 1st World War, Britain and France were rivals in nature and were worried about the increasing influence of each other in the Arab and African region (Brainard, 2004). While the British developed a north-south axis of power, to balance the equation, the French developed a firm east-west axis of power. However, as both of them realized the benefits of supporting mutual interests, they came together by the beginning of the 20th century through assisting Suez Canal construction by Egypt, the Sykes-Picot agreement and the alliance in the First World War. The period thereafter witnessed a considerable change in the strategy adopted by both. They decided to divide the Middle East into a large number of countries. This helped them balance the power without conflict, and also, it ensured that they could continue their exploitation without considerable amount of opposition from the territories. Similariti es and dissimilarities between he French and British rule in the Middle East Evidently, both the British and the French tried to rule their own regions through established elites, though the British seemed more willing to move their mandates ahead and towards a better qualified form of independence, and the only exception in this connection is Palestine (‘Iraq: Initial contacts with the British’). In Palestine, for the first time in British history, it had to end its rule without establishing a government behind it. In other words, one can say that the British only wanted protectorates and mandates like Egypt and Palestine as permitted by the League of Nations. So, the British allowed the territories under its rule to have their own domestic political policies though the British continued their military bases and controlled their foreign policies. This is evident in the case of Egypt and Iraq. For example, though the British got support from the Arabs in its campaign ag ainst the Ottomans starting in Basra, the British soon realized the fact that the Arabs would not support them in the long term. Though 1919 saw the British getting the responsibility to administer the area from the League of Nations, soon they found widespread unrest and rebellion, and they realized the fact that the only way to bring the situation under control was to make a puppet government, and the victim selected for the purpose was Hashemite ruler Faysal as it was thought that being a descendant from Prophet Muhammed, he would be accepted by all factions. In addition, as he was not from Iraq, it was thought that he would not feel confident enough to rule without the help of the British. The strategy worked out and there were a number of treaties ensuring proper flow of oil and total control of the regimes affairs. Almost a similar picture one can see in the case of Egypt too. Though the British allowed monarchs to rule Egypt, the period after the construction of Suez Canal (1 859-69) saw the British dethroning Ismail, and it was followed by widespread resentment against the foreign domination. So, the British had to capture the control Egypt again, and thus made a protectorate. Later on,

Compare and contrast Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Compare and contrast - Assignment Example A recent study demonstrates that Latin American countries are lagging behind many of the world’s education system, as most students are unable to receive a higher education. In fact, only one in three students manage to receive a secondary school education, with many countries in developing nations such as Ecuador struggling to maintain funding for secondary teachers and schools. Another major problem is the high level of students who repeat a grade or who drop out of school before completing sixth grade. Rural areas face the challenge of many students having to work during harvesting season, further taking them away from school. However, it was stressed that the real problem for the region is not access to education, rather its poor quality. While the United States faces many deficiencies in education, including high drop-out rates in low income areas and relatively poor teacher quality, the base test scores indicate that the United States outscores most Hispanic countries. Yet, the similarities aren’t as striking as one might imagine, particularly when considering the structure of the systems. For instance, both share a similar University and Community College structure. The majority of Latin American countries also provide free and mandated primary and secondary education for all

Romanticism And Realism Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Romanticism And Realism - Assignment Example Therefore, even though not necessary or fundamental to Romanticism, but so extensive as to be normative, was a sturdy solid belief and awareness in the significance of nature. It later on, â€Å"allowed it to push painting about out of the focus of art.† Romanticism, for a time, dominated art, particularly in France during the later periods of the 1700s and the early 1800s. Then, at about the middle of the nineteenth century, the effect of many societal dynamisms caused artistic palate to change from idealistic romanticism to realism, starting in France in the 1850s. Realism in France emerged subsequent to the 1848 Revolution. These realists put themselves straight against romanticism. The emotional and exaggerated qualities of Romanticism began to break up European art. (S. Decline of Romanticism: End of the Century, Turn of the Century. Akadà ©miai Kiadà ³, 1970, p. 1) After a time of a loosened form of the expression and depiction of subjects in art, there was a tightening that occurred. At large, realists concentrated more on ordinary, run-of-the-mill characters, situations, places, problems, and objects, all in a "true-to-life" method or approach in depicting it. Realists discarded exaggerated or melodramatic portrayal or depiction of emotion, grand subjects, in favor of commonplace motifs or themes. After a time, artists like Monet and others started to feel that actual realism did not truly present the creative nature of the emotion. They grew exhausted of producing art for the rich and desired something much more. Simplicity substituted technique and method. Thus, they showed the impression of the scene, allowing the realism to be interpreted by the viewer. This movement that arose from Realism is known as Impressionism. Realism during the 1800s also supported an art movement called Naturalism, as a response to the exaggerated representations of themes in Romanticism. Indeed, Romanticism and realism were

Solid and Hazardous Waste Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Solid and Hazardous Waste Assignment - Essay Example Agricultural waste comprises mainly slurry and farmyard manure with significant quantities of straw, silage effluent, and vegetable and cereal residues. Most of this is spread on land. Certain types of waste are defined as hazardous because of the inherent characteristics (e.g. toxic, explosive). The three largest waste streams in this category are oils and oily wastes, construction and demolition waste and asbestos, and wastes from organic chemical processes. Non-controlled waste includes waste generated from agriculture, mines and quarries and from dredging operations. In 1998–99 over 470 million tons of wastes were generated in the UK. The mean production of daily household and commercial waste in EU Member States in 1993–96 was approximately 370 kg/capita/annum, ranging from 350 to 430 kg (Waste Statistics). Most people lack of understanding on â€Å"hazardous waste†; it doesn’t always mean that when waste is hazardous it is harmful, though most can be . Hazardous waste defines that a waste has a property which might make it harmful to human health and the environment. Most, but not all, wastes produced by humans can be classified as hazardous. That is why, authorities and government agencies concerning environmental issues are stepping forward to the control and proper disposal of hazardous waste. Domestic wastes that are, may be, hazardous are the following: asbestos, pesticides and garden chemicals and medicine, fluorescent tubes and lamps, oils and oil filters, plastics, paints and coatings, household batteries and car batteries, discarded electrical equipment like TVs and radios, and computers, computer monitors and CRTs, fridges and freezers, discarded energy saving light bulbs (CFLs), Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), HCFCs, Cathode ray tubes, and tires and rubber. Environmental impact on the disposal of municipal solid wastes (MSWs) Many options may be taken by management of environmental agencies to dispose hazardous wastes, pa rticularly incineration and landfills. However, several potential health risk

The Nature of Science Essay Example for Free

The Nature of Science Essay Science plays an important role in development of mankind, its cultural and technological progress. Science helps humanity to understand natural phenomena and biological changes, evolutionary processes and shifts. Science can be defined as a particular way of knowledge and perception of the world and human beings based on historical information, hypotheses and experiments. Biology and Earth Sciences allows researchers to understand the evolution of species, explain natural phenomena and predict possible changes in the Universe. In fact, the revolutionary changes are invariably prompted by contradictions which occur when the previous concepts are applied to particular phenomena, and it is in the attempts to remove these contradictions that the changes are made. Science can be seen as the criterion of truth. Science is logic of discovery as well as of confirmation. Seeking to reconstruct what happened in the past, Biology and Earth Sciences must and do take as data only presently available written reports, and the presently surviving physical remnants of antiquity; and part of the interest of the research lies in its relevance to present and future situations somehow related to those of the past (Gierer 2000). Science is not a self-contained or self-sustaining activity. The most important it is conducted only in a community that has reached a certain level of intellectual development, which involves and implies social organization, culture, art, and religion, as well as philosophy. Biology and Earth Sciences are closely connected with and depend upon historical progress and cultural development of society which determine that main trends and direction in experiments and research. For instance, during the Middle Ages, Biology and Earth Sciences were influenced by inquisition and dominance of theological doctrines while at the end of 17th-18th century these sciences flourished because of new economic conditions and separation of church and the state. These examples show that Biology and Earth Sciences are part of a culture and cannot exist apart from it. For a long time, people supposed that Earth was flat and the stars related directly to the earth. When humans mastered the cosmos (1961), it has opened a new era in scientific discoveries and the evolution of knowledge. A link between culture, society and biology is evident in current analysis of social settings and impact of biological perquisites on humans: â€Å"One way of asserting the relevance of â€Å"biology for understanding human social behavior is to propose that our understanding of human activities can be greatly enhanced by specific consideration of humans as evolved species shaped by processes of natural selection† (Freese et al 233). In Earth Sciences, scientists can achieve control in the laboratory where results are reproducible. In both Biology and Earth Sciences, the course of science may solve the puzzles researchers have encountered in the application of their theories, anomalies and contradictions arise. For instance, â€Å"serious scientific debates about the neo-Darwinist synthesis as the overarching explanation of the origins of our species are, in the larger scheme of things, disagreements over details† (Freese et al 234). Today, Earth scientists argue about the impact of global warming on population and climate change. These research fields are determined by cultural conditions and historical importance for the mankind. In many cases, changes in philosophical and cultural paradigms paralyze the advance of knowledge producing a crisis which is only removed when eventually a revolution occurs in the thinking and practice of scientists with the introduction of a new conceptual scheme (Gierer 2000). In sum, the nature if science is determined by historical, cultural and philosophical paradigms and the discoveries of the scientists made during a particular period of time. Accepting these restraints on his freedom, the scientist secures to himself the protection given by the community of others who accept the same canons of science and scientific knowledge. References Gierer, A. (2000). On Modern Science, Human Cognition and Cultural Diversity.   Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin. Retrieved 20 March 2007 www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/Preprints/P137.pdf Freese, J., Li, Jui-Chung Allen, Wade, L.D. (2003). The Potential Relevances of Biology to Social Inquiry. Annual Review of Sociology, 29, pp. 233-235.

Psychological Aspects of Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism Essay Example for Free

Psychological Aspects of Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism Essay Though the most of the teachings followed by the different sects of Buddhism vary and conflict with each other, the general core values set by Buddha are still followed by all Buddhists. In regard to this we examine two Buddhism sects namely Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism. Whilst Theravada is psychologically oriented, Mahayana is idealistically oriented. The two sects have varying perceptions of the reality and the world besides the concept of being. There are many inherent differences between the two sects of Buddhism though the two seem to broadly agree on the original teachings of Buddha. Firstly, Theravada Buddhism denies the existence of any true being behind any given phenomenon and consequently avoids making metaphysical statements unlike Mahayana which teaches an Eternal Absolute included in many names. In this sense, Mahayana holds that all beings in all forms are identical with the absolute in their cores. Moreover, Mahayana sees Gautama as seeing through the projection of the absolute though it holds or possess a mortal frame of illusion which is frail. On the other hand, Theravada consider Gautama as a natural teacher or a superman at most. In the teachings of Theravada, liberation can only be achieved through an individual’s effort as opposed to the teaching of Mahayana which holds that liberation can be achieved through the help of outside assistance and deliverance through the power of others (Paul, 1999, 45). Moreover, Theravada Buddhism teaches it followers to set their ultimate goal to be the achievement of nirvana as opposed to the case of Mahayana which its ultimate goal is defined in following the ways of bodhisattva in leading all other human beings especially the sentient beings to liberation. In addition, Theravada Buddhism sees Hinayana as the final exit from the world while the same to Mahayana Buddhism is considered as achieving consciousness of an individual absolute nature and gaining mental aloofness state from all suffering. As seen in the teachings of Mahayana Buddhism, it attitudes are organized in such a way that an individual or a follower should endeavor to help the world and unselfish to it. On the contrary, Theravada attitudes are such that it followers should always endeavor to defeat the world through analysis strategies employed on its elements and through using knowledge and experience of an individual conduct. Mahayana Buddhism sometimes referred to as Northern Buddhism or the great wheel (vehicle) is mostly found in china, Vietnam, Japan, Korea and Nepal. It is usually followed by monks and lay. In essence, the Monks follow the rules set by Vinayas and which constitutes the prescriptions for monastic life in the Tipitaka also known to be Theravada sacred canon. However, they do this via the interpretation of Mahayana. In addition, the Monks also take vows to strive attain bodhisattva, with those who pursue esoteric practices of Tantric Buddhism taking Tantric initiations and vows (Michael, 2003, 56). In essence, Mahayana Buddhism is founded on speculations of metaphysical nature in respect to the nature of reality or what can be termed as enlightenment in addition to the core values set by Buddha. The general idea of Mahayana Buddhism is that when one achieves enlightenment, such a person returns to the world as a Bodhisattva to join other human beings. In this context, this branch of Buddhism emphasizes that the duty of a Buddhist who has achieved enlightenment is compassionately work in an effort to help end the sufferings of other Buddhists. In addition, Mahayana Buddhism holds the argument that through enlightenment, all creatures which can be considered as sentiment will finally achieve Buddhahood (Christopher, 1999, 23). Mahayana Buddhism is commonly divided into philosophical schools which are known to be influential not only to the Mahayana Buddhism but also to the Shankara and Advaita Vedanta as well. In this regard, the dialectic school also known as Madhyamika constitute one of the two schools of Mahayana. In essence, this school emphasizes negation of every possible phenomenological reality through logical reducto-ad-absurdum means in an effort to achieve Shunyata which can be seen as ineffable absolute or void and which is considered as the only reality. The concept of Shunyata was introduced in an effort to refute the delusions caused by separate enduring egos. Moreover, the concept was adopted to emphasize the ways in which everything in the universe is connected to each other. The second school is a consciousness doctrine also known as Vijnanavada. This school uses mediation process in an effort to prove that consciousness constitutes the ultimate reality. Unlike the other school, Vijnanavada has a number of occult and metaphysical conceptions including an emanationist which psychologically oriented but similar to Samkhya which is on the contrary cosmologically oriented. Mahayana Buddhism is centered on the noble Bodhisattva ideal which guides the enlightened Buddhists while dealing with the sentimental beings. In definition, a bodhisattva can be seen as a being who is in constant search of means of achieving or attaining Buddhahood in order to benefit sentiment beings. The conception of bodhisattva was developed from the idea of a Buddhist who differs with the ultimate goal of extinction also referred to as nirvana so that such a person can often make his or her way back to the world of suffering and help end the suffering of sentient beings (Michael, 2003, 59). In essence, the idea of bodhisattva is considered as demonstrating selfishness in the doctrine of Mahayana Buddhism largely because a bodhisattva having not reached nirvana, postpone enlightenment so as to help the sentient beings. On the other hand, Theravada Buddhism is seen as the oldest surviving school of Buddhist school and began first in India. It is also known as Hinayana and is relatively close to original Buddhism and conservative as compared to Mahayana Buddhism. Different from the teachings offered by Mahayana, Theravada emphasizes on the concept of Vibhajjavada or Pali which is literally used to mean the teaching of Analysis. According to this teaching, insight comes from the experience of the aspirant coupled by reasoning instead of by blind faith and critical investigation. Despite this teaching, the scriptures adopted by Theravada Buddhism emphasizes on the need to heed to the advice of the elders or the wise. In essence, heeding to the advice given by the elders and evaluation of one’s experience are considered to be the two vital tests on which the judgment of practices adopted by any given follower should be based. In Theravada Buddhism, the cause of human suffering and existence is identified as tanha or a craving which constitutes all the defilements inclusive of sensual desires, anger, ill will, jealousy, fear, hatred among others. In this context, the level of defilement can be coarse, subtle or medium. In essence, the phenomenon of defilement in Theravada Buddhism is seen as arising temporary, taking hold for a short time and then vanishing all together. In this respect, the doctrine of Theravada Buddhism believes that defilements are harmful not only to the person who commits them but also to others and that they are the force behind all the inhumanities committed by any given human being. Moreover, the followers of Theravada Buddhism holds the believe that defilements constitutes habits which are born out of ignorance afflicting the minds of the unenlightened human beings. Being under the influence of defilements, human beings are believed to cling to them by ignoring the established truth. On the other hand, these defilements are considered to be nothing but taints afflicting the mind of human beings consequently creating stress and suffering. Furthermore, the doctrine of Theravada Buddhism believes that the unenlightened human beings tends to cling to their bodies with the assumption that it is their self while on the contrary it present itself as an impermanent phenomenon which is formed on air, fire, water and earth. In this context, it is believed that the body will decompose and disperse after death. Moreover, it is believed that the mental defilements’ continuous and frequent manipulation and instigation of human mind prevents it from seeing the true nature of reality. These defilements according to Theravada Buddhism are further strengthened by unskillful behavior and that if a human being follow a noble eightfold path, he or she can weaken or overcome these defilements. The doctrine of Theravada Buddhism believe that those who are unenlightened experience the world through imperfect six senses inclusive of the ears, the eyes, nose, tongue, mind and tactile sense. They then goes on to use the mind which is by then clouded by much defilement in forming their interpretations, perceptions of reality and conclusions. In essence, the conclusion reached is based on the perceptions of these individuals in regard to the reality. On the other hand, the five physical senses are inactive to unenlightened person and consequently, the defilements are further strengthened unlike in the case of an enlightened person where the senses are wholly active thus suppressing any defilement. In order for any human being to overcome the stress and suffering caused by these defilements one must strive to overcome the defilements first. The defilements in this context are believed to be initially restrained through mindfulness in regard to preventing them from taking over the bodily and mind action. To uproot them therefore, one need to undertake internal investigation and to analyze and at the same time understand the experience and the true nature of such defilements through the use of jhana. The process of uprooting the defilements need to be performed on each kind of defilement if optimal results are to be achieved. Consequently, the mediator will realize four noble truths as believed by the Theravada doctrine which will help him in achieving enlightenment and overcome the defilements completely (Prebish, 1994, 67). In essence, the doctrine of Theravada Buddhism consider enlightenment and Nibbana as their ultimate goals. In this sense, Nibbana is thought of as the perfect bliss through which a person is freed from the cycle of birth, illness, aging and death. The doctrine believe that each and every person should be held personally responsible for their own liberation and self-awakening. In this context, every individual is the one responsible for the consequences of his or her actions as well as those specific actions. As such, by simply believing and striving to learn the truth as provided for by the original Buddhism, an individual cannot fully be awakened but rather he or she must strive to know and conceptualize such reality through direct experience. In this regard, the individual has to follow the teachings of Buddha in respect to the noble eightfold path in an effort to individually discover the truth. According to the doctrine of Theravada, gods, Buddhas, or even deities are not capable of offering awakening to any human being and as such are incapable of lifting from freeing them from the samsara cycle of birth, ageing and death. According to the beliefs held by followers of Theravada Buddhism, Buddhas are only teachers while the gods and deities are subject to anger and other forms of defilements (Robinson, 2005, 46). Theologically, Theravada Buddhism is founded on the four noble truths which are also referred to as the four sublime truths. In essence this can be disseminated as defining the problem, the cause of the problem, the solution to such a problem and the methods and ways that must be followed to attain that solution. Firstly, Theravada Doctrine takes suffering or Dukkha as one of the four noble truths. In this regard, we can have inherent suffering which includes all forms of suffering undergone by an individual as a result of worldly things . On the other extreme, we can have suffering that results from change and finally suffering that is caused by one’s failure of recognizing that he or she is an aggregate definite with an identity that is unsusceptible to change. Secondly, we have the cause of the suffering referred to as Dukkha Samudaya and which can be defined as a craving that leads an individual to worldly bondage and attachment thus causing suffering for such an individual. In this regard, Kama Tanha is the act of craving for any given pleasurable object as a result of the body senses. On the other hand, Bhava Tanha is when an individual crave to be attached to a particular ongoing process such as the longing for existence. Still, Vibhava Tanha is when an individual crave to be detached from any given ongoing process such as the longing for self annihilation. The third truth called Dukkha Nirodha can be seen as a cessation for suffering. According to this truth, it is impossible for one to adjust the entire world in order to fit in his or her taste in an effort to free from suffering. On the other hand, one must adjust his or her mind through detachment process so that any occurring change will have no effect on the peace of mind of such an individual. In other words, the elimination of the craving or the cause will help in eliminating the result. The final truth is a pathway to freedom from suffering and is known as Dukkha Nirodha Gamini Patipata. It is commonly known as the noble eightfold pathway towards Nibbana or freedom. It constitutes the right intention, speech, actions livelihood among other right things that an individual needs to do to free from suffering. According to the doctrine of Theravada Buddhism, all conditioned phenomena including physical qualities, knowledge, theories adopted and the physical characteristics are subject to change with time. This is referred to as Anicca which can also be taken to mean impermanence. Moreover, the teachings of Theravada holds that suffering or Dukkha is caused by craving in the sense that whatever is craved for is subjected to change, transition and perishing. In this regard, the impermanence of the craving object causes sorrow and disappointment in the long run. Since individuals are the one involved in labeling the objects to be liked and those to be disliked on one hand and the comforts and discomforts in the world on the other hand, they are the ones who create suffering in the first place. In this context, if an individual succeeds in overcoming the tendency to label thing in the world, he or she will be free from suffering (Prebish, 1994, 68). Still, Theravada Buddhism uses the concept of anatta in referring to the lack of unchanging and fixed identity. In this regard no specific phenomenon constitutes any individuals’ essential and permanent self. In essence, any human being is composed of five aggregate elements. First, there is the rupa which includes the feelings and other forms of sensations also known as vedana, sanna which includes all the perceptions held by an individual, sankhara which is the mental formations arising from the perceptions and vinnana or the consciousness. All of this cannot be identified as ones’ self but rather together forms the core of an individual. The realization of anatta, dukkha and anica enables one to achieve freedom and to reach nibbana, a state in which one is complete and ultimately free. In regard to meditation, Theravada Buddhism sees it as a way of positively reinforcing the mind of the individual in question. In this respect, mediation is categorized into two. Samatha which in literal terms mean making something skillful includes the acts of achieving visualizing or tranquilizing reality through meditation. Vipassana can be defined as insight or abstract understanding through meditation. In essence, samatha helps one to skillfully concentrate the mind while vipassana helps in seeing through the veil of ignorance (Paul, 1999, 47). In conclusion, while it is easy to disseminate the psychological orientation and aspects of Theravada Buddhism, it is hard to identify the psychological perspectives of Mahayana Buddhism. This is because as stated earlier Mahayana is idealism as opposed to Theravada Buddhism which is psychologically oriented. The teachings of Mahayana Buddhism are those of metaphysically assisting other human beings to achieve enlightenment though the one helping need not have fully achieved it himself. In other words, it teaches it followers to be unselfish to the others and to the world as a whole. It teaches its followers to strive to attain enlightenment and to help others who have not attained it do so. On the other hand, Theravada teaches its followers to strive to overcome the world through individual efforts other than relying on external assistance. In essence, Theravada Buddhism encourages its followers to find effective means of overcoming their defilements and thus to free themselves from sufferings. It holds that the suffering undergone by any individual starts with that individual himself and thus he or she is the only one who can liberate himself from such suffering. Work Cited: Christopher Brown. Can Buddhism Save? Finding Resonance in Incommensurability. Cross Currents, Vol. 49, Summer 1999, pp. 23 Michael Pye. Skilful Means: A Concept in Mahayana Buddhism. London, Routledge Publishers, 2003, pp. 56, 59 Paul Groner. A History of Indian Buddhism: From Sakyamuni to Early Mahayana. China, University of Hawaii Press, 1999, pp. 45, 47 Prebish Charles. Buddhism: A Modern Perspective. United States, Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994, pp. 67, 78 Robinson R. Buddhist Religions: A Historical Introduction. Belmont, California: Wadsworth, 2005, pp. 46.

Theology Essay: Church State Relations

Theology Essay: Church State Relations Church-State Relations and Secularization Throughout history there has developed a variety of relationships between Christian churches and governments, sometimes harmonious and sometimes conflictual. The major forms of relationships between Christian churches and governments are in large measure grounded in various perspectives in the Christian Bible. The Christian Bible is not a single book, but a collection of books written over more than a millennium and containing very diverse perspectives on religion and government. One perspective, represented by the Psalms, which were hymns sung in the Temple in Jerusalem, exalts the king to an almost divine position, sitting at the right hand of God (Ps 110:1) and receiving the nations of the earth for an inheritance (Ps 2:8). Coronation hymns celebrate the king’s special relationship to God. This perspective dominates the self-understanding of the kings of Judah, the southern part of ancient Israel. In sharp contrast, the prophet Samuel denounces kings as crooks and oppressors who are allowed by God only as a concession to human sinfulness. Samuel warns the tribes of Israel that if they choose to have a king, the king will draft their young men into his army and put the young women to work in his service. In this trajectory, prophets, armed only with the conviction that they have been called by God to proclaim the Word of God, repeatedly stand up to the kings of ancient Israel and denounce their sinfulness. Thus Samuel condemns Saul, Nathan condemns David, and later prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah condemn the kings of their times. Meanwhile, in the Gospel of John, Jesus tells the Roman governor Pontius Pilate that his kingdom does not belong to this world (Jn 18:36). This suggests a separation of responsibilities between civil governance and religious leadership. Repeatedly in the gospels, when people want to make Jesus a king, he slips through their midst and escapes. His mission is to proclaim the reign of God, not to establish a worldly kingdom. There are also various covenants that set forth the relationship of God and God’s people (Gen 9:8-17; 15:18-21; Ex 20; Deut 5); a covenant in the ancient Middle East was a solemn agreement that bound both parties to observe certain obligations. The covenant with Noah was made by God with all of creation. The covenant with Abraham initiated a relationship with Abraham and his descendants forever. The covenant made with Moses at Mt. Sinai became the central framework for the relationship of the people of Israel to God. The Book of Deuteronomy renews and reflects upon this covenant a generation later, as Moses is at the end of his life. These four options would shape, respectively, later Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Calvinist views of the proper relation between church and state. The political theologies of the later Christian tradition consist in large measure of a series of conflicting appropriations of these perspectives. One can read the major political options taken by later Christian communions as developing one or more of the biblical trajectories. The Byzantine Orthodox tradition and some aspects of the Roman Catholic tradition continue the tradition of sacred kingship. Later strands of the Roman Catholic tradition view earthly rulers as prone to corruption and in need of repeated rebuke by religious leaders, such as popes. The Lutheran tradition focuses on Jesus’s statement to Pilate that his kingdom is not of this world and concludes that there are two kingdoms: the kingdom of God, which is ruled by the gospel, and the kingdom of this world, which is ruled by civil governments. The Calvinist tradition focused on covenant in a way that none of the earlier traditions had done, placing covenant at the center of relationships both with God and with other human beings. In this lecture, I will not discuss the original biblical texts themselves, but I would like to explore the way in biblical perspectives have guided later Christian political theologies. Divine Kingship The ideology of the Judean monarchy, with its lofty view of the monarch as favored by God and called to mediate divine justice in the world would shape the Byzantine Orthodox tradition’s view of the Emperor as a sacred figure with responsibility for the empire and the church together. Psalm 110 proclaims: â€Å"The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool† (110:1). That is, God says to the king: be enthroned beside me. This strand of the Bible sees God as entrusting a special responsibility to the king, which included particular care for the rights of widows and orphans, who were usually the most vulnerable persons in the ancient world. In this perspective, kings are divinely chosen beings with both rights and responsibilities of proper rule. This perspective would influence later Eastern Christian views of church-state relations. For example, after Constantine had unified the Roman Empire in the early fourth century and made Christianity legal, the fourth-century bishop Eusebius of Caesarea in Palestine described the Emperor who was formally only a candidate for reception into the church, as receiving, â€Å"as it were, a transcript of divine sovereignty† from God and directing the administration of the entire world, including the church, in imitation of God (Life of Constantine). That is, Constantine had a divinely given responsibility to govern not only the Roman Empire but also the Church. This view of a sacred emperor would shape the self-understanding of Byzantine Emperors until the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and the self-understanding of the Russian Czars until 1917. All of the first seven ecumenical councils—meetings of bishops from throughout the worldacknowledged by the Byzantine Orthodox and C atholics were called by Roman Emperors and were presided over by them or their legates. If the pope did not wish to have a council, pressure would be applied. In the sixth century CE, the Byzantine Emperor Justinian wanted to call a council, but Pope Vigilius disagreed with him. Justinian had Vigilius kidnapped by the Byzantine police while he was saying Mass and held until he agreed to the council. Then the council was held in Constantinople, where Justinian wanted it, not in Sicily, where Pope Vigilius wanted it. At the end of the council Vigilius did not like the idea of condemning men who had died two centuries earlier in communion with the church. Justinian applied further pressure to the Latin clergy, and Vigilius eventually accepted the Condemnation of various bishops from two hundred years earlier. The model of sacred kingship would also dominate early medieval Western views of kings and emperors from the eighth to the eleventh centuries. During the first millennium of Christian history, lay rulers, inspired by the ideology of the Judean monarchy, regularly called bishops and popes to account for their misdeeds and had recognized authority to depose unworthy ecclesiastical leaders and appoint new ones. In one year alone, 1046, Emperor Henry III, imbued with the divinely given mission of sacred kingship, deposed three popes (Sylvester III, Benedict IX, and Gregory VI) and appointed a new pope, Clement II. Before his death in 1056, Henry would appoint three more popes. There is certainly the danger of abuse of power here, but there was also a genuine concern that the papacy not be dominated by corrupt Roman nobility. This tradition leaves a heritage that challenges Christian political leaders to accountability to God for the way they enforce justice in this world and charges them with responsibility for good governance of the Church. During the first millennium popes from Gelasius I onward would insist on a distinction between sacred and secular authority in order to limit the role of Emperors in the church. Like Samuel and other prophets who challenged the pretensions of biblical monarchs, Augustine rejected Eusebius’s exaltation of a Christian Roman Emperor and the entire model of sacred kingship. Like Samuel, Augustine thought earthly rulers were largely thieves and saw monarchy as a tragic necessity because of human sinfulness and not as directly willed by God. Augustine believed that no form of government could assure true justice in this world, and he questioned: â€Å"Justice removed, what are kingdoms but great bands of robbers? What are bands of robbers but little kingdoms?† Empires in principle are not Christian. This perspective would buttress the Gregorian Reform in the eleventh century, when a series of popes and reformers would reject the model of sacred kingship. Pope Gregory VII, echoing Samuel and Augustine, insisted that kings are largely thugs and oppressors who need to be called to accountability by religious leaders and who can be deposed by papal autho rity. The inability of either popes or emperors completely to dominate Europe would lead to new distinctions between secular and sacred in the twelfth century and in later medieval and early modern thought. From about the year 1100 on, emperors and pro-imperial apologists insist on a distinction between the sacred and the secular to limit the power of the papacy in politics. The suspicion of great empires as great robbers that need to be called to account by religious leaders would inform the battles of popes against emperors and kings for centuries and hovers in the background of Pope John Paul II’s challenge to the Soviet Empire on his trip to Poland in 1979 and his eloquent defense of human rights against oppressive governments around the world. The claim of papal authority over kings and nations could manifest itself in dangerous ways as well. In Psalm 2, God promises the king: â€Å"I will give you the nations for an inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession. You shall rule them with an iron rod; you shall shatter them like an earthen dish.† Even though never fulfilled in ancient times, that promise, buttressed by the conquest narratives of the Hebrew Bible, lived on in Christian memory, and fifteenth-century popes saw themselves as the trustees of this inheritance. In 1452, as the Portuguese were inaugurating their journeys of discovery and conquest, Pope Nicholas V granted to the king of Portugal the right to conquer and enslave the entire non-Christian world: â€Å"In the name of our apostolic authority, we grant to you the full and entire faculty of invading, conquering, expelling and reigning over all the kingdoms, the duchies . . . of the Saracens, of pagans and of all infidels, wherever they may be found; of reducing their inhabitants to perpetual slavery, of appropriating to yourself those kingdoms and all their possessions, for your own use and that of your successors† (Nicholas V, Dum Diversas, 1452; quoted in Peter Schineller, A Handbook of Inculturation, 34). In 1493 and again in 1494, shortly after the discovery of the New World, Pope Alexander VI drew a line on the map of the Americas, marking a partition between the areas that Spain and Portugal could dominate. The dream of empire, inspired by biblical promises, would shape centuries of modern colonial history. Reformation During the Reformation, the two major Protestant traditions rejected both the Byzantine Orthodox and the Roman Catholic models, but they drew sharply contrasting visions of politics from the Bible. Citing the Gospel of John, where Jesus denies that his kingdom belongs to this world, Martin Luther used the distinction between two kingdoms as a central principle structuring his theology. Luther insisted that God rules God’s own people by the Gospel and God rules those outside the church by the Law (â€Å"Secular Authority: To What Extent It Should be Obeyed,† in Dillenberger, 368). However, Christians remain sinners throughout their lives, and so God also rules Christians by the Law insofar as they are sinners and part of a sinful society. Luther shared Augustine’s and Samuel’s skepticism about earthly rulers, but he interpreted Paul’s Letter to the Romans (chapter 13) as calling the Christian to obey even rulers whose policies offend a Christian cons cience. He insisted on freedom to preach the Word of God, but he generally trusted governmental authorities to rule the temporal realm. In the later history of Lutheranism, contrary to Luther’s intention, the Lutheran church was generally subservient to the state, and the state often supervised ecclesiastical governance. In contrast to all the earlier models, John Calvin placed the covenant at the center of his political theology, with implications that would echo through much of European and American history. For Calvinists, covenants governed relations not only between God and Christians but also between earthly rulers and their subjects. In various countries the Calvinist tradition developed a forceful critique of monarchy based on the mutual obligations of each party. For Calvin, God alone is truly king, and all humans are radically fallen and subject to constant temptations to idolatry. No figure, whether pope or emperor or king or even a Protestant preacher, can claim infallible, final authority. Since rulers are forever tempted to rebel against God, all earthly power must be limited. Calvin distrusted democracy because a majority can be just as tyrannical as an individual, and he thought democracy could easily lead to sedition. He judged that in a fallen world, no single figure can be trusted, and thus all political powers must be checked by the self-interest of others. He advocated a mixture of aristocracy and democracy, a model that would be very influential on political developments in North America. Calvinists often suffered attacks and persecutions. After the St. Bartholemew’s Day Massacre in France, when Roman Catholics murdered thousands of Protestants, Theodore Beza, Calvin’s most faithful disciple, proclaimed the sovereignty of the people, the right of revolution, and the binding nature of a constitution. Presbyterians in Scotland insisted on mutual responsibilities of the covenant as a way of limiting the powers of the Stuart monarchs. When Mary Stuart accused John Knox of grasping for power, he denied the charge and insisted: â€Å"My one aim is that Prince and people alike shall obey God.† (Ernst Troeltsch, The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches, vol. 2, p. 634). The rebellion against King Charles I began in Scotland with the proclamation of the National Covenant. Precisely because covenants spelled out mutual obligations for both ruler and the ruled, they could become the basis for rebellion and revolution when the terms were judged to have b een violated. Through reflection on covenants in the Hebrew Bible and on natural law, Calvinists influenced early modern theories of government based upon a social contract and thus relying upon the consent of the governed. Calvin saw the Gospel as a transformative social power, and there is a militant utopianism in Calvin’s vision of Christianity that would change the world. Geneva was to be the New Jerusalem. Puritans frustrated by the Stuart monarchs in England brought this energy and vision to New England, determined to build the city on the hill to inspire the world. Puritans understood themselves as the new Israelites fleeing slavery and coming to the Promised Land. As in earlier papal and imperial models, there was a negative side to the appropriation of biblical promises. Remembering that the ancient Israelites were instructed to destroy other tribes lest they tempt them to worship other gods, Puritan settlers viewed Native Americans as temptations to sin and sought to exterminate them or, at least, contain them in separate areas, reservations that were called â€Å"praying towns† (Richard Slotkin, Regeneration through Violence: The Mythology of the American Frontier 1600-1860, 40- 42). When the Puritan Revolution in England failed in 1660, Puritans in America gave up hope for Europe and saw themselves as the millennial people, with a divine mission to convert the world after the failures in Europe. Secularization and Religious Freedom in North America Thus far we have seen the major models of church-state relations through the 17th century. Every pre-modern government with which I am familiar looked to religion for a source of legitimation. Emperors, kings, sultans, aristocrats all claimed to rule by the will of God. In China emperors ruled through the Confucian notion of the Mandate of Heaven. Buddhist kings cultivated harmonious relationships with Buddhist monasteries to demonstrate their devotion and piety. All this came under suspicion in early modern Europe. During the 16th and 17th centuries, European Christians, both Protestant and Catholic, fought a series of bitter and bloody wars of religion. Each side claimed to be fighting on behalf of God; each side assumed that an empire, a nation, or a smaller polity should be unified in its religious belief and practice. Only a small minority of Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries believed in religious freedom for each individual according to the person’s own conscience. Because religious convictions were so strong, and because religion was embedded in manifold political, social, and economic relations, the conflicts were relentless and merciless. The Thirty Years’ War in Germany, which raged from 1618 to 1648, began as a religious conflict among Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists. By the end the war was more political than religious, with Catholic France intervening on the side of the Protestants to weaken the Holy Roman Emperor; but the damage had been done. There were atrocities against civilian populations on all sides. This was the bloodiest war on the continent of Europe prior to World War I. Meanwhile, about the same time, England went through an extremely vicious, bloody civil war, which killed a higher percentage of the population of England than did World War I. In the wake of these wars of religion, thinking people increasingly began to question whether religion could or should be trusted with the task of legitimating any form of government. Enlightenment thinkers began to reflect on the virtue of religious tolerance, of respecting the liberty of conscience of others in matters religious. They also began to reflect on the possibility of separating church from state. About this same time, in the British colonies in North America, some began to question the wisdom of government regulation of religion. In New England Roger Williams surveyed the bitter history of religious conflicts in Europe since the time of Constantine and concluded that imposing religious loyalties was a violation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Williams interpreted Jesus’s parable of the wheat and the weeds as forbidding Christians to attack those with whom they disagreed. Williams daringly judged the Emperor Constantine, who legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire, to have been more of a danger than Nero, who had persecuted Christians. Under Nero, Christians had heroically suffered and died; with Constantine, Christians took power, became corrupted, and began to impose Christianity by governmental authority. Williams also argued that it was unjust for the King of England to pretend to have the right to give away lands where Native Americans had lived for centuries. Fo r Williams, the fact that Native Americans had different religious practices did not deprive them of their right to their homeland. In 1635 Williams was banished from Massachusetts as a dissenter. The following year he moved south, where he purchased land from Native American Indians and established a new community, Rhode Island, as a â€Å"haven for the cause of conscience,† founded on the principle of religious liberty for all. His ideal of religious freedom or, in his phrase, â€Å"soul liberty† was fiercely opposed by the Puritans in Massachusetts but would stand as a model for later generations. About the same time, Lord Baltimore founded Maryland as a refuge for Catholics fleeing persecution in England. Purchasing land from Native American Indians, he intended the colony to be a home for followers of all Christian paths, and the charter founding the colony offered equal rights in religious freedom to all. In 1649 the Maryland Assembly passed a Toleration Act offering freedom of conscience to all Christians. The example of guaranteeing religious freedom spread to other colonies as well, with similar charters of religious liberty in New Jersey in 1664, in Carolina in 1665, and in Pennsylvania in 1682. There was increasing momentum in the colonies to end government interference in religious practice and to accept a variety of forms of faith. The Americans who fought the Revolutionary war were struggling for religious liberty as well as for political liberty. The quest for religious freedom came from both the tradition of dissenting Protestantism and also Enlightenment ideals of religious toleration. Many of the founders of the United States of America were strongly influenced by the European Enlightenment, with its suspicion of Christianity, its critique of the wars of religion, its deist faith, and its doubts about any claims for supernatural revelation. Thomas Jefferson thought that the alliance of clergy and political officials inevitably led to tyranny, and he believed that clergymen should not be allowed to any hold political office. On occasion he excoriated them as â€Å"the real Anti-Christ.† In return, some New England preachers attacked Jefferson himself as the Anti-Christ and warned that if he were elected president, he would commandeer all Bibles and establish houses of prostitution in the churches. Je fferson and George Washington, like many of their contemporaries, were deists, for whom the natural religion of humankind provided the ultimate answer to the conflicts among particular religions. For both, religious freedom was indispensable for human progress. As military commander, Washington forbade the celebration of the English anti-Catholic feast, Pope’s Day, on November 5, 1775, at a time when he was seeking support from French-speaking Catholics in Canada. Ben Franklin was deeply influenced by Deism and is often considered a deist; but he shaped his own idiosyncratic view of natural religion, with a plurality of deities under the direction of one supreme deity. Franklin, Jefferson, and Washington would quietly attend Christian church services without believing traditional theology; more radical deists such as Thomas Paine, Ethan Allen, and Elihu Palmer, rejected Christianity more thoroughly, criticizing the Bible for its multiple contradictions and substituting a reli gion of nature for Christian practice. While many of the founding fathers were deists of one form or another, American Protestants also contributed strongly to the revolution and interpreted the establishment of the new nation in religious terms. Indeed, the evangelical revival movement known as the First Great Awakening in the early eighteenth century did much to foster communication among the colonies, to establish awareness of a new shared American identity in contrast to the British, and also to arouse evangelical Protestant hostility to Anglican and Catholic forms of worship, thereby paving the way for revolt against the British king. The Puritan practice of interpreting the settlement in North America as a fulfillment of promises in the Book of Revelation was influential on supporters of the Revolution. In Virginia the Church of the England was the established Church, and all other forms of worship were forbidden. The young James Madison was deeply shocked by the imprisonment of traveling Baptist preachers who openly expressed their religious beliefs in Virginia; he would later become one of the leaders in the quest for full religious liberty. Madison asserted, â€Å"Torrents of blood have been spilt in the old world, by vain attempts of the secular arm to extinguish religious discord. . . . Time has at length revealed the true remedy.† The remedy for Madison and his colleagues was full religious liberty and the separation of church and state. The founders of the new nation resolved that the bitter religious wars of Europe should not be replicated on American soil. George Mason was the chief author of Virginia Declaration of Rights, which declared â€Å"all men should enjoy the fullest Toleration in the Exercise of Religion according to the Dictates of Conscience.† The Bill of Rights for the Commonwealth of Virginia, approved on June 12, 1776, was a landmark achievement, the first such list of rights in history. On July 4, 1788, a parade in Philadelphia celebrated the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Clergy from various Christian denominations marched together and with them, arm, in arm, a Jewish rabbi. One observer, Dr. Benjamin Rush, commented, â€Å"There could not have been a more happy emblem contrived, of the section of the new constitution, which opens all its powers and offices alike, not only to every sect of Christians, but to worthy men of every religion.† Two years later George Washington visited the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, which still stands as the oldest synagogue in the United States. The Jewish community thanked him and the new government for â€Å"generously affording to all liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship†; Washington, in reply, affirmed that the U.S. government â€Å"gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance,† and he went on to distinguish the religious toleration granted by the British and o ther European governments (often on condition that Jews â€Å"improve†) from the American recognition of religious liberty as an inherent natural right. In principle, followers of all religious traditions were to be fully equal citizens in the United States of America. Secularization in the United States was not hostile to religion but allowed a free range of religious debate. One can read the history of the United States in terms of four Great Awakenings, each of which was linked to a movement of social or political reform. Alexis de Tocqueville would note the paradox that in Europe churches were established but languishing. In the United States, by contrast, no church was established, and all were flourishing. The free competition among Protestant churches called forth creativity and vitality. France and the Papal Reaction A few years after the American Revolution, another revolution began in France, which became far bloodier both in attacking established religion and also in devouring its own children. Because the Catholic Church was intimately intertwined with the ancien regime, the old way of life in France, the French Revolution targeted Catholic bishops, priests, nuns, churches and monasteries. Many Catholic leaders were killed, churches were turned into museums—as is the case with the Pantheon in Paris to the present day—monastery farmlands were confiscated by the French Republic and put up for sale to support the Revolution and its armies. The model of secularization in France was very, very different from that in the United States. Because the Catholic Church had been so powerfully established for centuries, the program of secularization aimed to eliminate the influence of the Catholic Church from the political sphere for the sake of laicità ©. This heritage lives on to the prese nt day, continuing to shape relations between the French government and religions. Catholic leaders in Europe saw the French Revolution as a direct attack upon the Catholic Church, and this prompted a profound suspicion of modernity and its newly proclaimed democratic ideals. Napoleon, after all, had humiliated Pope Pius VII, taking him as a virtual prisoner into France in 1808. Napoleon, in the presence of the pope, crowned himself emperor, thereby signaling that the pope had no role whatsoever to play. Many thought that this would be the end of the papacy. After the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, the victorious European powers gathered at the Congress of Vienna to plan the future of Europe. The pope sided with the forces of reaction. It was commented that the victorious European leaders had â€Å"forgotten nothing and learned nothing.† In this context, the papacy returned to a position of prominence and renewed vigor, albeit on the side of the forces of reaction in Europe. In this atmosphere, a French Catholic priest, Felicità © Robert de Lamennais, sought to accept the ideals of democracy, separation of church and state, and freedom of speech, of the press and of religion into Catholicism. He argued against the interference of governments in religious matters and supported revolutions to transform society. Pope Gregory XVI vigorously condemned him and the ideals of modernity. Pope Gregory condemned democracy, freedom of religion, separation of church and state, and freedom of the press. In a wordplay on the French term for railroads, â€Å"chemins de fer† (roads of iron), he even condemned railroads as â€Å"chemins de l’enfer†Ã¢â‚¬â€the roads of hell. His successor, Pope Pius IX, was originally more positively disposed toward the reform movements in Europe, but after the Revolution of 1848 killed his Priume Minister and forced him to flee Rome in disguise, Pope Pius turned vehemently against the ideals of the modern world. In 1 864 Pope Pius IX issued the Syllabus of Errors, which repeated earlier papal condemnations of modern ideals, and concluding by a famous condemnation of the notion that â€Å"the Roman Pontiff can, and ought to, reconcile himself, and comes to terms with progress, liberalism, and modern civilization.† During this time the Italian movement known as the Risorgimento was fighting to unify Italy into a modern nation. The pope had ruled the central portion of Italy, known as the Papal States, for centuries. By the time of the pontificate of Pius IX, this territory was reduced to the city of Rome, which was effectively defended by French troops. When in 1870 Prussia invaded France, the French troops were called home and the Italian General Garibaldi was able to capture Rome for the new Italian nation. In protest, the pope declared himself a â€Å"prisoner of the Vatican† and refused to leave its precincts for the rest of his life. This precedent was followed for decades. The loss of temporal power profoundly transformed the papacy. For centuries popes had been not only spiritual leaders but also the temporal governors of Rome and central Italy. As such, they were involved in constant political squabbles and frequently papal armies fought in battles for land and power. Popes intervened on the side of their own families and were perceived as partisan political leaders. The papal states were long thought to be necessary to preserve the independence of the pope from domination by a temporal ruler. In 1870 the worst nightmare of the popes came to pass. Pope Pius IX lost all the temporal possessions except for the Vatican itself. Pius refused any negotiations with the new Italian natgion. Finally, in 1929 Pope Pius XI would sign a Concordat with Benito Mussolini, officially establishing the relationship between the Holy See and the nation of Italy. Paradoxically, however, the loss of the Papal States was one of the greatest possible blessings for the papacy. Once freed from the responsibilities of ruling the central portion of Italy, popes were eventually able to become respected moral and spiritual leaders on an unprecedented global level. This came to fruition in the middle and late 20th c. Pope John XXIII, who served as pope from 1958 to 1963, was beloved by many, many people beyond the borders of the Catholic Church. He was, in a sense, the grandfather to the world, a kindly, spiritual man who spoke vigorously for peace and the welfare of the poor. During the Cuban missile crisis in the fall of 1962, when the United States and the Soviet Union came the closest they ever did to nuclear war, Pope John XXIII served as an intermediary, passing messages between them. Pope J

Freudian Analysis of Marigolds Essay -- Marigolds

Freudian Analysis of Marigolds  Ã‚   Most of the time there is a moment in life where one realizes they have lost all innocence and gained some compassion.   â€Å"Marigolds† shows how one young girl transferred from a child to young adult through her life experiences.   Throughout this story another young, but at the same time old in her prime, lady’s experiences are revealed:   the author’s.   In this short story, â€Å"Marigolds,† Eugenia Collier’s subconscious is unmasked through symbolism, diction, and Lizabeth’s actions. In the beginning, the author explains how this young girl, Lizabeth, lived in the culturally deprived neighborhood during the depression.   Lizabeth is at the age where she is just beginning to become a young woman and is almost ready to give up her childish ways.   Through this time period she was confused and could not quite understand what was happening to her.   In the end she rips Miss Lottie’s marigolds among the ugly place in which she lived.   The marigolds were the only things that make the place a bit beautiful to the eye.   In this scene the marigolds represent the only hope the people had for themselves in this time of depression.   This could reveal how the author has experienced a loss of hope in times of need.   In her explanation of how Lizabeth had torn up the flowers and destroyed all hope in that time of depression, might explain that she has also destroyed hope in a time of pain and grief.   Later she writes, â€Å"And I too have planted ma rigolds.†Ã‚   This could mean she has learned from her experiences and that she has finally found hope and always tries to seek the good within the bad and the ugly.   On another note, it could mean she just wants to act out on something, but she can’t, so she writes about her... ...her and even her mother because she says â€Å"†¦nor did I notice my mother’s absence, for she always worked until well into the evening.†Ã‚   Since she had Lizabeth go to her brother instead of her parents, it may have described the way she dealt with her problems.   Not wanting to go to her parents for help.   As one can see, the actions of Lizabeth can tell a lot about the author. Finally, the impact of harsh times during the depression affected Eugenia Collier considerably.   Through that experience she did grow up and made a realization that may have taken others a very long time to conceive.   I did learn more about the author just by reading what she had to say through â€Å"Marigolds.†Ã‚   The symbolism, diction, and Lizabeth’s actions and reactions to things helped to reveal her subconscious and could make one aware of the difficulties and hardships during this era.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

A Modest Proposal Concerning the Environment Essay -- Environment Envi

A Modest Proposal Concerning the Environment * Based on Jonathan Swift’s â€Å"A Modest Proposal† (1729). It is a melancholy object to those who travel through this great country to see isolated corners of this fair realm still devoted to protecting the environment. The wretched advocators of these ideals are frequently seen doling out petitions and begging at their neighbours’ doors to feed their obsession, which keeps them in the contemptible poverty that they so richly deserve. I think it is agreed by all parties that it is an eyesore to see these people blockading the roads to prime tree-cutting land and bombarding our most respectable government with impractical proposals. It is not so Herculean a task to discourage these self-named â€Å"environmentalists† in their follies by paying them no heed. However, a new generation of them has sprung up. Citing how it is in fact profitable to protect the environment, they try to pull blindfolds over the public’s eyes. Therefore, whoever could find an easy and economically sound method of reclaiming these lost souls would deserve to be made the head of our nation at the very least. But my intention is very far from being confined to converting the people who are currently obsessed with protecting the environment; my aims are much more marvellous, and shall take in the whole number of people capable of falling in love with nature. Now, sustainable development and quality of life are crucial to the well being of our nation. Thus, I have pondered many a year on this very important matter and have consulted a very knowing Canadian of my acquaintance at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The amount of natural resources in this country being usually reckoned infi... ...rs with them. This will lead to the unity of a strong nation. Fifthly, we can achieve our ideals of obtaining sustainable development and a high quality of life; we will also be able to save the lost â€Å"environmentalist† souls from wandering past these ideals. There are many other advantages to my humble proposal, such as having fewer issues to worry about and having the knowledge that we humans can harness Nature. As you all know, knowledge is power. I can no more think of any objections that might be raised against this proposal, but I can assure you that I stand to gain nothing from these necessary suggestions, as I own neither lakes nor rivers, and I do not have any stocks in the biotechnological market. I have no other motive than to bring about the public good of my country, by advancing our trade in the exploitation of nature.

History of the Computer :: Computers Technology Historical Essays

History of the Computer COMPUTER Generally, a computer is any device that can perform numerical Calculations --even an adding machine, an abacus, or a slide rule. Currently, however, the term usually refers to an electronic device that can use a list of instructions, called a program, to perform calculations or to store, manipulate, and retrieve information. Today's computers are marvels of miniaturization. Machines that once weighed 30 tons and occupied warehouse-size rooms now may weigh as little as three pounds (1.4 kilograms) and can be carried in a suit pocket. The heart of today's computers are integrated circuits (ICs), sometimes called microchips, or simply chips. These tiny silicon wafers can contain millions of microscopic electronic components and are designed for many specific operations: some control an entire computer (CPU, or central processing unit, chips); some perform millions of mathematical operations per second (math oprocessors); others can store more than 16 million characters of information at one time (memory chips). In 1953 there were only about 100 computers in use in the entire world. Today hundreds of millions of computers form the core of electronic products, and more than 110 million programmable computers are being used in homes, businesses, government offices, and universities for almost every conceivable purpose. Computers come in many sizes and shapes. Special-purpose, or dedicated, computers are designed to perform specific tasks. Their operations are limited to the programs built into their microchips. These computers are the basis for electronic calculators and can be found in thousands of other electronic products, including digital watche (controlling timing, alarms, and displays), cameras (monitoring shutter speeds and aperture settings), and automobiles (controlling fuel injection, heating, and air conditioning and monitoring hundreds of electronic sensors). General-purpose computers, such as personal computers and business computers, are much more versatile because they can accept new sets of instructions. Each new set of instructions, or program, enables the same computer to perform a different type of operation. For example, one program lets the computer act like a word processor, another lets it manage inventories, and yet another transforms it into a video game. Although some general-purpose computers are as small as pocket radios, the smallest class of fully functional, self-contained computers is the class called notebook computers. These usually consist of a CPU, data-storage devices called disk drives, a liquid-crystal display (LCD), and a full-size keyboard--all housed in a single unit small enough to fit into a briefcase.