Persuasive Letter on a Geoscience Issue Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Persuasive Letter on a Geoscience Issue - Essay Example According to the news item, the study of measuring the rate and extent of melting ice sheets in Greenland would be to determine how the oceans actually respond to changes in temperatures. More importantly, it emphasized that the results would provide crucial information regarding â€Å"what might happen in the future as the Earth continues to warm† (University of Buffalo par. 3). This is believed to be the most relevant implication that the study could have revealed to the readers. Despite the article being published in a publication that predominantly caters to science as the field of endeavor, it is deemed pertinent to disclose information that would benefit the general public. The rest of the information which were revealed in the news included â€Å"illuminating the history of Greenlands ice sheet†¦ (and) providing geologists with an important new tool: A method of using Arctic fossils to deduce when glaciers were smaller than they are today† (University of Buf falo par. 5). The next crucial concern after being informed about this was: so what? What is the relevant implication of knowing that glaciers were smaller in today’s generation than in 3,000 or 5,000 years ago? This is the information that should have been added in the article to apprise the readers on any potential dangers or any significant courses of action to prepare for the event when and if the glaciers would totally be melted. The article was silent on any implication of the noted study. In fact, it ended by asserting that through the study of amino acid dating, it would allegedly â€Å"help scientists better understand the history of ice -- and climate change -- on Earth† (University of Buffalo par. 16). It is observed that there has been voluminous information that have already been disseminated regarding historical information on life on earth; as well as

Nonaligned Movement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Nonaligned Movement - Essay Example As the world continues to trail towards policies that aim to resolve the problems of capitalist overproduction, there is a growing propensity to establish avenues that will resolve it. These avenues are neo-colonialism, liberalization, trade multi-lateral agreements (i.e. GATT-WTO), and securing the cooperation of third world nations in order for their smooth operation. However, the current global order is also characterized by hard-core terrorism, of which the Muslim fundamentalists are culprits, socialist-led movements that rattle the global system, global poverty, and third world underdevelopment. All of these characterize the politics of the 21st century and NAM's relevance vis--vis all these is the concern of this paper. Today's world politics may be described as turbulent. Turbulent in a sense that problems besetting world imperialism have driven the first world nations to modify certain imperialistic tactics out of a pursuit to dispose effectively their problems of overproduction. The world hegemony has transformed itself into a new pattern, in which although the Cold War has ended for more than fifteen years now, imperialist tactics want to maintain their domination in the world. This is due to the inherent character of the capitalist system in which these states are founded, and the likewise inherent character of the imperialist order to dominate the world economy in the epoch of neo-colonialism. Laying down this position, it is important to link the political schemes of imperialist states with their economic activities since there is a great connection between the two as exemplified by the construct of political economy (Gilpin, 1987). The political pursuits of states in the 21st century are geared towards improving the capitalist market and disentangling themselves from a boom-bust market existence like what Japan has experienced with its Bubble economy during the 90's (Brenner, 2003). This is caused by the very capitalistic character of the system, both locally and globally. The 21st century laissez faire allows industrialized nations to thrive for more lucrative outcomes of globalization, in which all nations, including poor ones, are participants (Bonner, 2004). It may be pointed out that newer and more effective political trends are introduced by the economically leading nations in addressing the boundless problem of economic surpluses, the natural outcomes of unplanned and massive production in the capitalist structure. In resolving this problem, the presence of regional organizations preempts leading nations ion performing unlikely conducts like direct domination, which were the thriving occurrences of the world history in the past (Keohane and Nye, 2004). Regional organization, thus, act like 'world police' that check on the conduct of nations whose 'proper behavior' exemplify their being carriers of democracy. Democracy, being the leading political ideology, has beset a new trend in dealing with world conflicts. Alongside the presence of international organizations that allow nations to become members of the international community, the thriving presence of democracy allows them to bid adieu to the conduct of direct domination prevalent during bygone eras. However, it needs a thorough scrutiny to say that with the new trend of 'world pacification,' only mutual friendship and cooperation exist among states

The importance of the theory of Keynesian Economics

The importance of the theory of Keynesian Economics The theory of economics called Keynesian Economics, or Keynesianism, is named after the British economist John Maynard Keynes. Keynes lived from 1883 1946, and was considered the greatest and most influential economist of the 20th century. (Kangas, 1996). It was the use of the Keynesian Theory of economics by the government that was a strong influence of the Great Depression coming to an end. Because of this, he is known as the father of modern economics. (Kangas, 1996). When Keynes first suggested the use of his theory to help solve the problems of the Great Depression, he was not met with the same enthusiasm. Because of the incredible size and widespread effects of the Great Depression, many felt that any cause of such devastation must be as complicated as the results. Keynes, however, had a simple explanation of the cause of the Great Depression. In fact, upon sharing his theory with President Franklin Roosevelt, the President dismissed his words by saying that such a theory is too easy. (Kangas, 1996). The theory for which was considered too easy (Kangas, 1996) by President Roosevelt was actually fairly simple. In regards to the explanation of slumps in the economy, Keynes had a simple reasoning. Keynes explained that in any normal economy, the level of employment is high, and therefore the earnings of the people are spent as usual, meaning there is a circular flow of money in the economy. With this circular flow, the money spent by one person becomes the income of another person, and those earnings are spent and become the earnings of the previous person. However, when something happens in the economy to worry consumers and shake their confidence, those consumers will then decide to save their money instead of spending it to prepare for whatever lies ahead. Unfortunately the saving of that consumer will affect other people because the money saved instead of spent is no longer given to the intended person. When people save instead of spend, it affects others that are no longer gett ing the expected income, and they will then start saving themselves. It becomes a viscous circle which makes the times and economy more difficult. (Kangas, 1996). With the obviously negative effects that a slump would cause within an economy, Keynes devised a cure for the problem. The cure for this problem, which is also considered to be quite simple, is for banks to increase or expand the supply of money. By doing so, the people would have more money, which would increase confidence in the economy by the consumer now having more earnings. With the increased confidence, people would begin to spend, which would re-establish the circular flow of money. (Kangas, 1996). The larger problem of the Great Depression, however, was much larger than that of a recession, or slump. Keynes belief of the depression was that it was actually a recession that had fallen into something called a liquidity trap. (Kangas, 1996). A liquidity trap is due to those people that choose to save their money rather than spend, and will continue to do so regardless of how much the supply of money is increased by the government. Due to the lack of consumer spending, Keynes believed that the government should then be the one doing the spending, since the consumers were not. This idea of increasing government spending was considered a final effort by the government to reestablish the circular flow of money. (Kangas, 1996). In Keynes own words, he called this last-ditch effort by the government, priming the pump. (Kangas, 1996). Although in the end Keynes theories were used to end the Great Depression, they were at first rejected. To many economists, the end of the Great Depression was caused by World War II, in which the United States started spending massive amounts of money on defense. Because of this, many say that wars are good for the economy. (Kangas, 1996). Wars are considered to cause an economic boom due to the massive amounts of spending during the war, which is in extent the definition of Keynesian spending. With Keynesian spending, the U.S. went to the greatest economic boom ever, from the greatest depression ever, all due to the theory of Keynesian Economics. The use of Keynesian Economics during this time was so successful that President Nixon declared, We are all Keynesians now. (Kangas, 1996). This view of Keynesian Economics was dominant from the 1940s to the 1970s, until others began to challenge this theory. (Boyes Melvin, 2008, p.347). In an explanation of Keynesian Economics by Alan S. Blinder (2008), he defines Keynesian Economics as a theory of total spending in the economy (called aggregate demand) and its effects on output and inflation. Upon researching Keynesian Economics, there appear to be many principal ideas to the theory. The first idea, or belief, is that aggregate demand is influenced by a host of economic decisions both public and private and sometimes behaves erratically. (Blinder, 2008). These economic decisions are based on things like spending and taxes. Many economists believe that both taxes and spending affect aggregate demand. (Blinder, 2008) Another belief of Keynesian Economics is that changes in aggregate demand, whether anticipated or unanticipated, have their greatest short-run effect on real output and employment, not on prices. (Blinder, 2008). This idea is shown when inflation slowly rises as unemployment falls. This belief of Keynesians is that what can be seen in the short run is not necessarily the same as the long run. Also, due to the rigidity of prices, any changes or fluctuations in spending, whether by government spending, investment, or consumption, will cause a change or fluctuation of output. For example, if there is an increase in government spending, then an increase in output should occur, as long as the other areas of spending are constant. (Blinder, 2008). In addition, this model of Keynesian economics also has a multiplier effect. With this multiplier effect, output increases by a multiple of the original change in spending that caused it. (Blinder, 2008). For this multiplier to work, however, it must not be less than zero. Also, in yet another belief of Keynesians is that prices, and especially wages, respond slowly to changes in supply and demand, resulting in periodic shortages and surpluses, especially of labor. (Blinder, 2008). In this belief, it is stated that flexibility is limited in terms of wages and prices, no matter the arrangements. (Blinder, 2008) These beliefs are all included in the theory of Keynesian Economics. Although this theory was greatly used during the 1940s to the 1970s, it became much less commonly used, and was replaced with other economic theories. Since then, however, the theory of Keynesian Economics had made a comeback. The main reason for this comeback was due to the ability of this theory to explain the events that have happen since the end of the Great Depression better than many other economic theories. (Blinder, 2008). In conclusion, the theory of Keynesian Economics was an extremely important part of the history of the economy. This theory was an enormous part of the end of the Great Depression. It also was a key in giving an explanation to the various changes in the economy, such as slumps and recessions. While not all economists may agree that this theory is the way to correct problems in the economy, it was very obviously the correct theory needed for its time. Because of the importance of this theory, the creator of the theory, John Maynard Keyes, is considered the father of modern economics. (Kangas, 1996).

Caffeine is a Psycoactive Drug Essay -- essays research papers fc

Have you ever been so tired that you’ve dozed off at work? Or tried to stop yourself from falling asleep while you’re driving or even worse – got caught sleeping in class? These instances could have been prevented by doing what 90% of Americans do every day – by consuming CAFFEINE. If anyone here feels you can’t make it though your day without a cup of coffee, you are probably addicted to it (I’ll discuss more on that later). Here’s an interesting fact: both words caffeine and coffee are derived from the Arabic word â€Å"QAHWEH.† The origins of the words reflect the spread of the beverage into Europe through Arabia and Turkey from North-East Africa. Coffee began to be very popular in Europe in the 17th century and today it’s the most popular psychoactive drug in the world. Almost everyone in our society today uses caffeine regularly, in one form or another. According to Jennifer Warner of WebMD Medical News, nearly 90% of adults and 76% of children drink some kind of caffeinated beverage every day. More than half of all American adults consume more than 3 cups of coffee. Also, a 1994 survey by the Agriculture Department found that on average, 64 gallons of soda are consumed by children and teenagers every year. Researchers have found that soft drinks have surpassed tea as the second leading source of caffeine for adults while being the top source of caffeine for children. People are not only getting their caffeine from coffee, soda and tea, but from other sources such as energy beverages, caffeinated water, herbal supplements and chocolate. You may not realize how much caffeine you are consuming on a daily basis because caffeine is not listed as an ingredient on the food or drink label, and the Nutrition Facts label does not show how much caffeine is i n the product. In addition, beverages marketed as high-energy drinks may contain more than one type of caffeine extract, and in herbal sources, caffeine may not be listed as an active ingredient. So you can see why half of American adults consume more than 300mg of caffeine per day. All you need to consume to get that amount are just 2 mugs of coffee and a couple of cookies. If you sit down and calculate your caffeine consumption during a typical day, you may be surprised. Many people consume a gram or more of caffeine every day and don’t even realize it. Now that the widespread u... ...nd the globe, is a mild drug stimulant, has the potential to become addicting and gives people the opportunity to be social. The bottom line is that caffeine is the most widely accepted and legal way to get that all important energy boost. So, the next time you down that can of Red Bull or take that last sip of cappuccino from Starbucks, take comfort in the fact that you’re getting your fix legally Works Cited †¢ Bealer, Bonnie K., and Bennet A. Weinberg. The World of Caffeine: The Science and Culture of the World's Most Popular Drug. New York: Routledge, 2002. 208-212. †¢ Centre College. "Students get a Caffeine and Culture Boost." Yubanet.com 14 Feb. 2005. . †¢ Gordon M. Wardlaw. Contemporary Nutrition: Issues & Insights. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003. P 556. †¢ HSW Media Network. â€Å"How Caffeine Works.† HowStuffWorks.com. 28 Dec. 2004. . †¢ Jennifer Warner. â€Å"Caffeine Sources Shifting† CBSNEWS.com 28 Dec. 2004. WebMD Inc. . †¢ T.R. Reid. "Caffeine." Nationalgeographic.com. June 2000. .

Most Dangerous Game Essay Essay

â€Å"The most dangerous game† by Richard Conell is a short story about a stimulating hunt that a professional hunter who is tired of hunting animals and wants to try something more strenuous and amusing – hunting humans. It presents two characters that have experienced the dangers and thrills of hunting throughout their whole life. Just by reading the title of this story, you can figure out that a large number of conflicts occur. After all, it is a dangerous game that will include two players, hunters in this case, battling each other and only one has to survive. This essay will contemplate and revolve around examples of conflicts that were manifested in the story. There are two types of conflict: external and internal. External conflict is a struggle that occurs between a character and outside forces, which can be the environment. Whereas internal conflict is a mental or emotional struggle that occurs within a character. The conflicts encountered during the story are definitely a struggle for â€Å"Survival of the Fittest†. You could say that the main conflict was the fight for survival between the protagonist and antagonist (man versus man). Sanger Rainsford, the main character, suffered many conflicts. He came across a conflict with nature, a conflict with general Zaroff, a conflict with himself, and a conflict with fate. Not only did Rainsford experience these conflicts, but also his opponent general Zaroff. The conflict with general Zaroff versus Rainsford is the most apparent and obvious conflict. Zaroff uses Rainsford as his quarry to accomplish an entertaining yet dangerous game. Rainsford has to survive in the hunt against Zaroff and his cohort in crime, Ivan. He has to use his wit and knowledge to outsmart Zaroff who has been playing the â€Å"game† a lot longer than he has. Rainsford thought of strategies that he used in the past while hunting animals to escape and triumph over the general’s bloodcurdling and amusing game. He had to do anything and everything just to survive, which caused more conflicts to interfere. He had shown his tenacity to live by making traps. The two characters had to face each other in the ultimate test for survival. General Zaroff says, â€Å"It’s a game you see. I suggest to one of them that we go hunting. I give him a supply of food and an excellent hunting knife. I give him three hours to start. I am to follow, armed only with a pistol of the smallest caliber and range. If my quarry eludes me for three whole days, he wins the game. If I find him, he loses! † Rainsford said, â€Å"Hunting? General Zaroff, what you speak of is murder. † However, Rainsford ended up winning the game by killing Zaroff and sleeping on his bed. Rainsford resolved the conflict throughout the story and the suspense was eased from there. Hence, a hunter uses tricks against another hunter to stay alive. That’s exactly what Rainsford did in order to clinch the victory of this dangerous game. The second type of this conflict occurred at the beginning of the story where Rainsford and his partner Whitney debate about hunting. Rainsford finds hunting to be the greatest sport and shows no empathy for his prey. He believes that the world is made up of two classes – the hunter and the hunted, while Whitney disagrees with his point of view. Throughout the story, Rainsford experiences karma and the fear of being hunted. Many of Rainsford’s actions had to be carefully thought of, that is why he had internal conflicts. The most important conflicts on this story were with his inner self (Human versus self). During the game, he is internally debating the decisions as he is hoping to survive. One of the decisions he had to come up with rapidly was to decide which island to swim to. After General Zaroff had explained the game to Rainsford, he had to also make another decision. He had to also decide what traps to put out. Rainsford kept battling his pretty strong emotions, namely fear, in his fight against Zaroff. Rainsford realizes the painful way that being hunted isn’t fun, whether it’s a beast or human. The General also experienced conflict within himself at the time when he treats life as a game â€Å"God made me a hunter†. He realized that hunting animals began to bore him so he decided to move on to the next stage, hunting humans. Boredom is an internal conflict Zaroff tries to overcome through his twisted game. Ultimately, it leads to his demise. Character versus Nature is a conflict that also shows the character struggling to survive against the natural elements. Rainsford had a conflict with the sea when he fell off his yacht. He had faced many hardships and had to do it to survive or the waves take him away. He also had to survive on an unknown island running in the jungle blindly in the mist and the black sky to escape from the General. Surviving in the jungle at night itself presents special challenges and conflicts to Rainsford. Character versus society is a type of conflict when a character fights against the social traditions or rules. This conflict only entails the General that decided to buy his own island for his own leisure. To hunt humans is permanently unacceptable in society. Zaroff violates that rule and creates his own rule to keep himself indulged. Character versus fate is the last conflict that will be proclaimed in this essay. Zaroff and Rainsford both fought against destiny from the commencement of the hunt. Who was going to win this dangerous game? Who was going to outsmart whom? Albeit the general is more experienced than Rainsford when it comes to hunting, he still lost to the hunt. Rainsford set up traps to outsmart his foe and used his skills to evade the hunt. He reached his destiny by putting all his effort in this survival game. Each conflict pinpointed in this essay was resolved at the denouement of this story. Sanger Rainsford and General Zaroff had overcome many conflicts in this short story. Rainsford was the only character that made the precise decisions each time. Suspense was the key to all of these conflicts and they changed Rainsford’s life.

Sociological Imagination -Teen Pregnancy

Sociological imagination is defined by C. Wright Mills as the â€Å"vivid awareness of the relationship between experience and the wider society†. It is the process of looking at your own life in the context of your society or community. This paper is looking at teenage pregnancy and the impact on society, and will provide a sociological imagination analysis of the individual and social impact. Being an un-married and pregnant teenager can be an incredibly challenging and scary experience especially if that child does not have a support structure. The national Campaign to prevent teen and planned pregnancy (NCPTP) reports that 3 out of every 10 children under the age of 20 become pregnant at least once, and 67% of those new families are in poverty, of which 52% are on welfare (â€Å"the national†, n. d). Being a teenage mother comes with a plethora of issue for the individual and for society. Teenage mothers lack a level of maturity that comes with age and experiences, they may try to hide the pregnancy, not take care of themselves and continue with risky behavior that could jeopardize the health of the infant and the mother. Their lack of maturity may led them to believe that everything will be alright, that they can be a great mother, that their boyfriend will eventually see the light and step up to the plate. But this is rarely the case, more often than not the child is born of low birth weight, premature or with other health conditions. Those children will probably suffer abuse, perform poorly in school and use the welfare system to help support themselves; it can become a vicious and publicly expensive cycle that is very difficult to break. A teenage mother from a lower class broken family may have a completely different experience than that of an upper class family. She may experience poor nutrition, neglect and herself be the result of a teenage mother. A lifestyle of this nature may also lead to self esteem issues, drug use and other criminal behaviors. It is not uncommon for young women in this scenario to be a member of a family on welfare, and it may actually seem normal to them to become pregnant early and to go on welfare. What we experience in our lives become normal for the small society around us and sometimes it is very difficult to move outside that circle, especially if there is abuse or a financial challenge holding them there. She has no life experience or a proper understanding of the responsibilities involved in raising a child. She is just following in the footsteps of those around her. This lack of maturity, education and vision limits how she views the impact on society. She is so caught up in her world with limited exposure outside her environment that the negative impact on society may not even cross her mind. The costs of the programs she uses like welfare need to be paid by someone, and that someone is the tax payer. In 2010 463,000 children were in foster care and it is more likely that the teenagers in foster care will end up as teenage parents; those children are also more likely to end up in foster care themselves (â€Å"teen pregnancy†, 2010). In 2004 the taxpayers needed to pay 2. 3 billion dollars to cover these costs (â€Å"teen pregnancy†, 2010). If you take this one step further and look past the total costs and go down to the individual that pays their taxes to support these programs, you may see more and more family struggle to cover the bill. It would benefit all involved if more effort was placed on education and programs to help control teenage pregnancy, and maybe we should all take a look at how sexual our society has become. References Teen pregnancy and child welfare (2010, August). Retrieved on April 30, 2011 from, http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/why-it-matters/pdf/child_welfare.pdf The national data to prevent teen and unplanned pregnancy (n.d). Retrieved on April 29, 2011 from, http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/national-data/default.aspx