The Da Vinci Code Chapter 100-101

CHAPTER 100 Bishop Manuel Aringarosa's body had endured many kinds of pain, and yet the searing heat of the bullet wound in his chest felt profoundly foreign to him. Deep and grave. Not a wound of the flesh†¦ but closer to the soul. He opened his eyes, trying to see, but the rain on his face blurred his vision. Where am I? He could feel powerful arms holding him, carrying his limp body like a rag doll, his black cassock flapping. Lifting a weary arm, he mopped his eyes and saw the man holding him was Silas. The great albino was struggling down a misty sidewalk, shouting for a hospital, his voice a heartrending wail of agony. His red eyes were focused dead ahead, tears streaming down his pale, blood-spattered face. â€Å"My son,† Aringarosa whispered,† you're hurt.† Silas glanced down, his visage contorted in anguish. â€Å"I am so very sorry, Father.† He seemed almost too pained to speak. â€Å"No, Silas,† Aringarosa replied. â€Å"It is I who am sorry. This is my fault.† The Teacher promised me there would be no killing, and I told you to obey him fully. â€Å"I was too eager. Too fearful. You and I were deceived.† The Teacher was never going to deliver us the Holy Grail. Cradled in the arms of the man he had taken in all those years ago, Bishop Aringarosa felt himself reel back in time. To Spain. To his modest beginnings, building a small Catholic church in Oviedo with Silas. And later, to New York City, where he had proclaimed the glory of God with the towering Opus Dei Center on Lexington Avenue. Five months ago, Aringarosa had received devastating news. His life's work was in jeopardy. He recalled, with vivid detail, the meeting inside Castel Gandolfo that had changed his life†¦ the news that had set this entire calamity into motion. Aringarosa had entered Gandolfo's Astronomy Library with his head held high, fully expecting to be lauded by throngs of welcoming hands, all eager to pat him on the back for his superior work representing Catholicism in America. But only three people were present. The Vatican secretariat. Obese. Dour. Two high-ranking Italian cardinals. Sanctimonious. Smug. â€Å"Secretariat?† Aringarosa said, puzzled. The rotund overseer of legal affairs shook Aringarosa's hand and motioned to the chair opposite him. â€Å"Please, make yourself comfortable.† Aringarosa sat, sensing something was wrong. â€Å"I am not skilled in small talk, Bishop,† the secretariat said,† so let me be direct about the reason for your visit.† â€Å"Please. Speak openly.† Aringarosa glanced at the two cardinals, who seemed to be measuring him with self-righteous anticipation. â€Å"As you are well aware,† the secretariat said,† His Holiness and others in Rome have been concerned lately with the political fallout from Opus Dei's more controversial practices.† Aringarosa felt himself bristle instantly. He already had been through this on numerous occasions with the new pontiff, who, to Aringarosa's great dismay, had turned out to be a distressingly fervent voice for liberal change in the Church. â€Å"I want to assure you,† the secretariat added quickly,† that His Holiness does not seek to change anything about the way you run your ministry.† I should hope not!† Then why am I here?† The enormous man sighed. â€Å"Bishop, I am not sure how to say this delicately, so I will state it directly. Two days ago, the Secretariat Council voted unanimously to revoke the Vatican's sanction of Opus Dei.† Aringarosa was certain he had heard incorrectly. â€Å"I beg your pardon?† â€Å"Plainly stated, six months from today, Opus Dei will no longer be considered a prelature of the Vatican. You will be a church unto yourself. The Holy See will be disassociating itself from you. His Holiness agrees and we are already drawing up the legal papers.† â€Å"But†¦ that is impossible!† â€Å"On the contrary, it is quite possible. And necessary. His Holiness has become uneasy with your aggressive recruiting policies and your practices of corporal mortification.† He paused. â€Å"Also your policies regarding women. Quite frankly, Opus Dei has become a liability and an embarrassment.† Bishop Aringarosa was stupefied. â€Å"An embarrassment?† â€Å"Certainly you cannot be surprised it has come to this.† â€Å"Opus Dei is the only Catholic organization whose numbers are growing! We now have over eleven hundred priests!† â€Å"True. A troubling issue for us all.† Aringarosa shot to his feet. â€Å"Ask His Holiness if Opus Dei was an embarrassment in 1982 when we helped the Vatican Bank!† â€Å"The Vatican will always be grateful for that,† the secretariat said, his tone appeasing,† and yet there are those who still believe your financial munificence in 1982 is the only reason you were granted prelature status in the first place.† â€Å"That is not true!† The insinuation offended Aringarosa deeply. â€Å"Whatever the case, we plan to act in good faith. We are drawing up severance terms that will include a reimbursement of those monies. It will be paid in five installments.† â€Å"You are buying me off?† Aringarosa demanded. â€Å"Paying me to go quietly? When Opus Dei is the only remaining voice of reason!† One of the cardinals glanced up. â€Å"I'm sorry, did you say reason?† Aringarosa leaned across the table, sharpening his tone to a point. â€Å"Do you really wonder why Catholics are leaving the Church? Look around you, Cardinal. People have lost respect. The rigors of faith are gone. The doctrine has become a buffet line. Abstinence, confession, communion, baptism, mass – take your pick – choose whatever combination pleases you and ignore the rest. What kind of spiritual guidance is the Church offering?† â€Å"Third-century laws,† the second cardinal said,† cannot be applied to the modern followers of Christ. The rules are not workable in today's society.† â€Å"Well, they seem to be working for Opus Dei!† â€Å"Bishop Aringarosa,† the secretariat said, his voice conclusive. â€Å"Out of respect for your organization's relationship with the previous Pope, His Holiness will be giving Opus Dei six months to voluntarily break away from the Vatican. I suggest you cite your differences of opinion with the Holy See and establish yourself as your own Christian organization.† â€Å"I refuse!† Aringarosa declared. â€Å"And I'll tell him that in person!† â€Å"I'm afraid His Holiness no longer cares to meet with you.† Aringarosa stood up. â€Å"He would not dare abolish a personal prelature established by a previous Pope!† â€Å"I'm sorry.† The secretariat's eyes did not flinch. â€Å"The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.† Aringarosa had staggered from that meeting in bewilderment and panic. Returning to New York, he stared out at the skyline in disillusionment for days, overwhelmed with sadness for the future of Christianity. It was several weeks later that he received the phone call that changed all that. The caller sounded French and identified himself as the Teacher – a title common in the prelature. He said he knew of the Vatican's plans to pull support from Opus Dei. How could he know that? Aringarosa wondered. He had hoped only a handful of Vatican power brokers knew of Opus Dei's impending annulment. Apparently the word was out. When it came to containing gossip, no walls in the world were as porous as those surrounding Vatican City. â€Å"I have ears everywhere, Bishop,† the Teacher whispered,† and with these ears I have gained certain knowledge. With your help, I can uncover the hiding place of a sacred relic that will bring you enormous power†¦ enough power to make the Vatican bow before you. Enough power to save the Faith.† He paused. â€Å"Not just for Opus Dei. But for all of us.† The Lord taketh away†¦and the Lord giveth.Aringarosa felt a glorious ray of hope. â€Å"Tell me your plan.† Bishop Aringarosa was unconscious when the doors of St. Mary's Hospital hissed open. Silas lurched into the entryway delirious with exhaustion. Dropping to his knees on the tile floor, he cried out for help. Everyone in the reception area gaped in wonderment at the half-naked albino offering forth a bleeding clergyman. The doctor who helped Silas heave the delirious bishop onto a gurney looked gloomy as he felt Aringarosa's pulse. â€Å"He's lost a lot of blood. I am not hopeful.† Aringarosa's eyes flickered, and he returned for a moment, his gaze locating Silas. â€Å"My child†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Silas's soul thundered with remorse and rage. â€Å"Father, if it takes my lifetime, I will find the one who deceived us, and I will kill him.† Aringarosa shook his head, looking sad as they prepared to wheel him away. â€Å"Silas†¦ if you have learned nothing from me, please†¦ learn this.† He took Silas's hand and gave it a firm squeeze. â€Å"Forgiveness is God's greatest gift.† â€Å"But Father†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Aringarosa closed his eyes. â€Å"Silas, you must pray.† CHAPTER 101 Robert Langdon stood beneath the lofty cupola of the deserted Chapter House and stared into the barrel of Leigh Teabing's gun. Robert, are you with me, or against me? The Royal Historian's words echoed in the silence of Langdon's mind. There was no viable response, Langdon knew. Answer yes, and he would be selling out Sophie. Answer no, and Teabing would have no choice but to kill them both. Langdon's years in the classroom had not imbued him with any skills relevant to handling confrontations at gunpoint, but the classroom had taught him something about answering paradoxical questions. When a question has no correct answer, there is only one honest response. The gray area between yes and no. Silence. Staring at the cryptex in his hands, Langdon chose simply to walk away. Without ever lifting his eyes, he stepped backward, out into the room's vast empty spaces. Neutral ground.He hoped his focus on the cryptex signaled Teabing that collaboration might be an option, and that his silence signaled Sophie he had not abandoned her. All the while buying time to think. The act of thinking, Langdon suspected, was exactly what Teabing wanted him to do. That's whyhe handed me the cryptex.So I could feel the weight of my decision.The British historian hoped the touch of the Grand Master's cryptex would make Langdon fully grasp the magnitude of its contents, coaxing his academic curiosity to overwhelm all else, forcing him to realize that failure to unlock the keystone would mean the loss of history itself. With Sophie at gunpoint across the room, Langdon feared that discovering the cryptex's elusive password would be his only remaining hope of bartering her release. If I can free the map, Teabingwill negotiate.Forcing his mind to this critical task, Langdon moved slowly toward the far windows†¦ allowing his mind to fill with the numerous astronomical images on Newton's tomb. You seek the orb that ought be on his tomb. It speaks of Rosy flesh and seeded womb. Turning his back to the others, he walked toward the towering windows, searching for any inspiration in their stained-glass mosaics. There was none. Place yourself in Sauniere's mind, he urged, gazing outward now into College Garden. What wouldhe believe is the orb that ought be on Newton's tomb? Images of stars, comets, and planets twinkled in the falling rain, but Langdon ignored them. Sauniere was not a man of science. He was a man of humanity, of art, of history. The sacred feminine†¦the chalice†¦the Rose†¦the banishedMary Magdalene†¦the decline of the goddess†¦the Holy Grail. Legend had always portrayed the Grail as a cruel mistress, dancing in the shadows just out of sight, whispering in your ear, luring you one more step and then evaporating into the mist. Gazing out at the rustling trees of College Garden, Langdon sensed her playful presence. The signs were everywhere. Like a taunting silhouette emerging from the fog, the branches of Britain's oldest apple tree burgeoned with five-petaled blossoms, all glistening like Venus. The goddess was in the garden now. She was dancing in the rain, singing songs of the ages, peeking out from behind the bud-filled branches as if to remind Langdon that the fruit of knowledge was growing just beyond his reach. Across the room, Sir Leigh Teabing watched with confidence as Langdon gazed out the window as if under a spell. Exactly as I hoped, Teabing thought. He will come around. For some time now, Teabing had suspected Langdon might hold the key to the Grail. It was no coincidence that Teabing launched his plan into action on the same night Langdon was scheduled to meet Jacques Sauniere. Listening in on the curator, Teabing was certain the man's eagerness to meet privately with Langdon could mean only one thing. Langdon's mysterious manuscript has touched a nerve with the Priory. Langdon has stumbled onto a truth, and Sauniere fears its release.Teabing felt certain the Grand Master was summoning Langdon to silence him. The Truth has been silenced long enough! Teabing knew he had to act quickly. Silas's attack would accomplish two goals. It would prevent Sauniere from persuading Langdon to keep quiet, and it would ensure that once the keystone was in Teabing's hands, Langdon would be in Paris for recruitment should Teabing need him. Arranging the fatal meeting between Sauniere and Silas had been almost too easy. I had inside information about Sauniere's deepest fears.Yesterday afternoon, Silas had phoned the curator and posed as a distraught priest. â€Å"Monsieur Sauniere, forgive me, I must speak to you at once. I should never breach the sanctity of the confessional, but in this case, I feel I must. I just took confession from a man who claimed to have murdered members of your family.† Sauniere's response was startled but wary. â€Å"My family died in an accident. The police report was conclusive.† â€Å"Yes, a car accident,† Silas said, baiting the hook. â€Å"The man I spoke to said he forced their car off the road into a river.† Sauniere fell silent.† Monsieur Sauniere, I would never have phoned you directly except this man made a comment which makes me now fear for your safety.† He paused. â€Å"The man also mentioned your granddaughter, Sophie.† The mention of Sophie's name had been the catalyst. The curator leapt into action. He ordered Silasto come see him immediately in the safest location Sauniere knew – his Louvre office. Then he phoned Sophie to warn her she might be in danger. Drinks with Robert Langdon were instantly abandoned. Now, with Langdon separated from Sophie on the far side of the room, Teabing sensed he had successfully alienated the two companions from one another. Sophie Neveu remained defiant, but Langdon clearly saw the larger picture. He was trying to figure out the password. He understands the importance of finding the Grail and releasing her from bondage. â€Å"He won't open it for you,† Sophie said coldly. â€Å"Even if he can.† Teabing was glancing at Langdon as he held the gun on Sophie. He was fairly certain now he was going to have to use the weapon. Although the idea troubled him, he knew he would not hesitate if it came to that. I have given her every opportunity to do the right thing.The Grail is bigger than any one of us. At that moment, Langdon turned from the window. â€Å"The tomb†¦Ã¢â‚¬  he said suddenly, facing them with a faint glimmer of hope in his eyes. â€Å"I know where to look on Newton's tomb. Yes, I think I can find the password!† Teabing's heart soared. â€Å"Where, Robert? Tell me!† Sophie sounded horrified. â€Å"Robert, no! You're not going to help him, are you?† Langdon approached with a resolute stride, holding the cryptex before him. â€Å"No,† he said, his eyes hardening as he turned to Leigh. â€Å"Not until he lets you go.† Teabing's optimism darkened. â€Å"We are so close, Robert. Don't you dare start playing games with me!† â€Å"No games,† Langdon said. â€Å"Let her go. Then I'll take you to Newton's tomb. We'll open the cryptex together.† â€Å"I'm not going anywhere,† Sophie declared, her eyes narrowing with rage. â€Å"That cryptex was given to me by my grandfather. It is not yours to open.† Langdon wheeled, looking fearful. â€Å"Sophie, please! You're in danger. I'm trying to help you!† â€Å"How? By unveiling the secret my grandfather died trying to protect? He trusted you, Robert. Itrusted you!† Langdon's blue eyes showed panic now, and Teabing could not help but smile to see the two of them working against one another. Langdon's attempts to be gallant were more pathetic than anything. On the verge of unveiling one of history's greatest secrets, and he troubles himself with a woman who has proven herself unworthy of the quest. â€Å"Sophie,† Langdon pleaded. â€Å"Please†¦ you must leave.† She shook her head. â€Å"Not unless you either hand me the cryptex or smash it on the floor.† â€Å"What?† Langdon gasped.† Robert, my grandfather would prefer his secret lost forever than see it in the hands of his murderer.† Sophie's eyes looked as if they would well with tears, but they did not. She stared directly back at Teabing. â€Å"Shoot me if you have to. I am not leaving my grandfather's legacy in your hands.† Very well.Teabing aimed the weapon. â€Å"No!† Langdon shouted, raising his arm and suspending the cryptex precariously over the hard stone floor. â€Å"Leigh, if you even think about it, I will drop this.† Teabing laughed. â€Å"That bluff worked on Remy. Not on me. I know you better than that.† â€Å"Do you, Leigh?† Yes I do. Your poker face needs work, my friend. It took me several seconds, but I can see now that you are lying. You have no idea where on Newton's tomb the answer lies. â€Å"Truly, Robert? You know where on the tomb to look?† â€Å"I do.† The falter in Langdon's eyes was fleeting but Leigh caught it. There was a lie there. A desperate, pathetic ploy to save Sophie. Teabing felt a profound disappointment in Robert Langdon. I am a lone knight, surrounded by unworthy souls. And I will have to decipher the keystone on my own. Langdon and Neveu were nothing but a threat to Teabing now†¦ and to the Grail. As painful as the solution was going to be, he knew he could carry it out with a clean conscience. The only challenge would be to persuade Langdon to set down the keystone so Teabing could safely end this charade. â€Å"A show of faith,† Teabing said, lowering the gun from Sophie. â€Å"Set down the keystone, and we'll talk.† Langdon knew his lie had failed. He could see the dark resolve in Teabing's face and knew the moment was upon them. When I setthis down, he will kill us both.Even without looking at Sophie, he could hear her heart beseeching him in silent desperation. Robert, this man is not worthy of the Grail.Please do not place it in his hands.No matter what the cost. Langdon had already made his decision several minutes ago, while standing alone at the window overlooking College Garden. Protect Sophie. Protect the Grail. Langdon had almost shouted out in desperation. But I cannot see how! The stark moments of disillusionment had brought with them a clarity unlike any he had ever felt. The Truth is right before your eyes, Robert.He knew not from where the epiphany came. The Grailis not mocking you, she is calling out to a worthy soul. Now, bowing down like a subject several yards in front of Leigh Teabing, Langdon lowered the cryptex to within inches of the stone floor. â€Å"Yes, Robert,† Teabing whispered, aiming the gun at him. â€Å"Set it down.† Langdon's eyes moved heavenward, up into the gaping void of the Chapter House cupola. Crouching lower, Langdon lowered his gaze to Teabing's gun, aimed directly at him. â€Å"I'm sorry, Leigh.† In one fluid motion, Langdon leapt up, swinging his arm skyward, launching the cryptex straight up toward the dome above. Leigh Teabing did not feel his finger pull the trigger, but the Medusa discharged with a thundering crash. Langdon's crouched form was now vertical, almost airborne, and the bullet exploded in the floor near Langdon's feet. Half of Teabing's brain attempted to adjust his aim and fire again in rage, but the more powerful half dragged his eyes upward into the cupola. The keystone! Time seemed to freeze, morphing into a slow-motion dream as Teabing's entire world became the airborne keystone. He watched it rise to the apex of its climb†¦ hovering for a moment in the void†¦ and then tumbling downward, end over end, back toward the stone floor. All of Teabing's hopes and dreams were plummeting toward earth. It cannot strike the floor! I can reach it! Teabing's body reacted on instinct. He released the gun and heaved himself forward, dropping his crutches as he reached out with his soft, manicured hands. Stretching his arms and fingers, he snatched the keystone from midair. Falling forward with the keystone victoriously clutched in his hand, Teabing knew he was falling too fast. With nothing to break his fall, his outstretched arms hit first, and the cryptex collided hard with the floor. There was a sickening crunch of glass within. For a full second, Teabing did not breathe. Lying there outstretched on the cold floor, staring the length of his outstretched arms at the marble cylinder in his bare palms, he implored the glass vial inside to hold. Then the acrid tang of vinegar cut the air, and Teabing felt the cool liquid flowing out through the dials onto his palm. Wild panic gripped him. NO! The vinegar was streaming now, and Teabing pictured the papyrus dissolving within. Robert, you fool! The secret is lost! Teabing felt himself sobbing uncontrollably. The Grail is gone.Everything destroyed.Shuddering in disbelief over Langdon's actions, Teabing tried to force the cylinder apart, longing to catch a fleeting glimpse of history before it dissolved forever. To his shock, as he pulled the ends of the keystone, the cylinder separated. He gasped and peered inside. It was empty except for shards of wet glass. No dissolving papyrus. Teabing rolled over and looked up at Langdon. Sophie stood beside him, aiming the gun down at Teabing. Bewildered, Teabing looked back at the keystone and saw it. The dials were no longer at random. They spelled a five-letter word: APPLE. â€Å"The orb from which Eve partook,† Langdon said coolly,† incurring the Holy wrath of God. Original sin. The symbol of the fall of the sacred feminine.† Teabing felt the truth come crashing down on him in excruciating austerity. The orb that ought be on Newton's tomb could be none other than the Rosy apple that fell from heaven, struck Newton on the head, and inspired his life's work. His labor's fruit! The Rosy flesh with a seeded womb! â€Å"Robert,† Teabing stammered, overwhelmed. â€Å"You opened it. Where†¦ is the map?† Without blinking, Langdon reached into the breast pocket of his tweed coat and carefully extracted a delicate rolled papyrus. Only a few yards from where Teabing lay, Langdon unrolled the scroll and looked at it. After a long moment, a knowing smile crossed Langdon's face. He knows! Teabing's heart craved that knowledge. His life's dream was right in front of him. â€Å"Tell me!† Teabing demanded. â€Å"Please! Oh God, please! It's not too late!† As the sound of heavy footsteps thundered down the hall toward the Chapter House, Langdon quietly rolled the papyrus and slipped it back in his pocket. â€Å"No!† Teabing cried out, trying in vain to stand. When the doors burst open, Bezu Fache entered like a bull into a ring, his feral eyes scanning, finding his target – Leigh Teabing – helpless on the floor. Exhaling in relief, Fache holstered his Manurhin sidearm and turned to Sophie. â€Å"Agent Neveu, I am relieved you and Mr. Langdon are safe. You should have come in when I asked.† The British police entered on Fache's heels, seizing the anguished prisoner and placing him in handcuffs. Sophie seemed stunned to see Fache. â€Å"How did you find us?† Fache pointed to Teabing. â€Å"He made the mistake of showing his ID when he entered the abbey. The guards heard a police broadcast about our search for him.† â€Å"It's in Langdon's pocket!† Teabing was screaming like a madman. â€Å"The map to the Holy Grail!† As they hoisted Teabing and carried him out, he threw back his head and howled. â€Å"Robert! Tell me where it's hidden!† As Teabing passed, Langdon looked him in the eye. â€Å"Only the worthy find the Grail, Leigh. You taught me that.†

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Transportation Planning - Essay Example Much emphasis should be placed on the issue of transport planning with a view of expanding the planning boundaries from the conceptual to a practical based perspective. The rational Planning theory was a planning theory propounded after the World War two. It was majored in the core areas of knowledge in planning that were perceived to be essential to practice (Barrett 9). It led to development of the generic planning model in capitalistic democracies and was taken from views from different social disciplines in addition to the political and economic factors. It was used as an approach in solving problems in the public sphere (Brooks 39). Later, it was taken to the public policy due to its guiding principles. The rational planning theory had the following steps; a) the end to reductions and expansion, b) it calculated course of action, c) it evaluated the consequences, d) it provided alternatives to the existing challenge; e) it considered the implications of the existing alternate (J ohnson 67). This theory describes the problem solving mechanism in the transport planning. It was engineered with a view of serving the interest of the public and thus very populous (Brooks 47). Advocate Planner theory is based on the legal advocacy system as an analogy, where a member of a community approaches the planning authority and argues on the behalf of the public interest. Social learning theory puts emphasis on the responsibility of the planning authority to uniting the stakeholders and sharing the information with a view of learning from them (Barrett 22). This helps to develop social structures that meet the social expectations of the stakeholders. Transitive planning theory emphasized that the members of the community and the civic leaders be at the center of the planning process if at all the plan was to be implemented (Brooks 107). Communicative planning theory asserts that planners had to alert the members of the community (Johnson 21). This is believed to encourage

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

Vignette - Essay Example These workers who are mostly Mexicans and Hispanics have not been arriving to the north. It is pointed out from the article that the mass-production farms are feeling the crunch of the increase in local small farms. Because of the decrease in the source of cheap labor, their produce is becoming more expensive than the local farm produce which used to be more expensive. It is cited in the article that â€Å"local farm sales are becoming more stable, predictable and measurable† (Johnson, 2012). The growing trend is that the Hispanics, who used to be low-wage laborers, are now becoming farm entrepreneurs through the support of training programs for beginning farmers. These farmers are not only provided with the agricultural know-how but also given guidance with regards to the distribution and marketing of their produce. Several economic concepts and implications can be derived from this article about small-scale farmers. One concept is about the risk that an entrepreneur takes in making an investment (Adomait & Maranta, 2011). It can be observed that the low-wage Hispanic farm laborers are taking a risk in becoming an entrepreneur. They are investing their time and effort at farming although they are not sure if the investment is worth it. It is a risk to be working on one’s own when one has no experience at being an entrepreneur. The laborer is taking this risk in the hope that he can benefit from its expected return. Like the Hispanic farmer, Narendra Varma, the former Microsoft manager described in the article is also taking a risk. He invested $2 million from his savings to a 58-acre project of small plots and new farmer training near Portland. Since this venture may be a high risk investment for him, he obviously expects a higher rate of return, maybe higher than if he just invested his money in the bank. One thinks that if the trend towards entrepreneurship continues, the economy will be

Equality and Diversity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Equality and Diversity - Essay Example On the other hand diversity is used as a contrast to equality or an addition. It brings out the fact that individuals are recognized, besides group differences, directing positive value on the existing diversity in the community, and treating people as individuals. Therefore, diversity depicts an array of characteristics and conditions. In terms of children set up, it involves identifying and valuing the benefits of all individuals enabling them to fulfill their potential irrespective of their backgrounds. This is because diversity incorporates both the non-visible and the visible differences. Diversity encompasses the idea of respecting other individual’s differences basing on race, culture, national origin, region, ethnicity, socio-economic differences, family structure, and health values. Inclusion on the other hand is all about fellow children staff, visitors and administration. It actually involves the removal of barriers to learning and participation. Inclusion therefore promotes equality and eliminates discrimination. Embracing of diversity, equality, and inclusivity brings forth the proper upbringing of children with varied ideas, experience, and creativity whilst giving every child the opportunity to develop individually. ... se equality and diversity is vital as we are living in an increasingly diverse society thus the need to respond sensitively and appropriately to the issue of diversity. Each school is to set out a frame work of policies which stipulates the procedures and guidelines for ensuring equality. Therefore, before exploring the policies in a school gaining understanding of the relevant legislation and their purpose is important. The rights of all children are enshrined in the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989). In addition other legislations that affect children include; Children Act (1989); Children Act (2004); Education Act (1996); Sex Discrimination Act (1975); Race Relations Act (1976) Race Relations (Amendment) Act (2000) and Amendment Regulations (2003); Disability Discrimination Act (1995); and finally The Equality Act (2010)(Casey, 2005:45-59). Discussion Bradford Play Strategy Group was a voluntary group tasked with working with over 600 children age d 5 years and above to 22 years. This is because the above age bracket is highly vulnerable to injustices of equality, diversity and inclusion. The organization had 80 play practitioners and various agencies that took part in the communities’ goal of alleviating discrimination to disabled children, ethnicity and sampling different playing facilities and commenting on their experiences. The staff was recruited from diverse cultural backgrounds. Was ensured that the staff had adequate training on equality legislation and inclusion for play or childcare and had the challenge of putting this training in practice. This ensures that the staffing is composed of a multi disciplinary team. To ensure inclusion and equality it is very important to parents and also it builds links with the community

Equal Time Rule Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Equal Time Rule - Essay Example Discrimination on the basis of casts and sects has an overwhelming influence on the projection of events; for instance Republicans  were not at all bothered when episodes of  Law and Order  featuring Fred Thompson were run by cable networks, nor did other candidates ask for extra time after there was a parade of candidate appearances on Saturday Night Live. But a Trump declaration of a candidacy on  The  Apprentice had an immense impact (Podlas. 2009). The loosened government  Ã‚  restrictions on media ownership, and the Telecommunications Act 1996 passed by Congress  Ã‚  which allows companies to own even more media outlets  facilitates a candidate to receive more coverage than others. This media consolidation  has given birth to broadcasting monopolization allowing candidates and parties to receive more coverage than others.  Most of the nation’s newspapers are owned by the Hearst, Knight Ridder, and Gannett corporations, whereas many radio stations are possessed by Clear Channel Communications. The Walt Disney Corporation along with the Disney Channel and Viacom owns CBS, MTV, ABC and ESPN. Media consolidation limits consumers’ choices and eliminates the competitiveness due to restricted or manipulated news coverage by corporate owners. Kimberlianne Podlas. 2009. "â€Å"I’m a Politician, But I Don’t Play One on TV†: Applying the â€Å"Equal Time† Rule (Equally) to Actors-Turned-Candidates" retrieved on November 7’ 2011, retrieved from:

Discuss the role of purchasing function in cost control and value Assignment

Discuss the role of purchasing function in cost control and value implementation for a business. Include examples to illustrate your answers - Assignment Example The goal is increasing the value of what they offer and eliminate any non-value adding activities. A function that is poised to deliver this value due its crucial role on organisations going forward is purchasing. Through inputs such as analysis of markets, contract sourcing and negotiations, the purchasing function plays a value adding role to organisations. The outputs of an effective purchasing function include good quality on products, services offered and materials procured. Through these outputs the purchasing function is better placed to deliver a competitive edge that is much needed in the business environment of today. Procurement and purchasing functions in the modern organisations go beyond the traditional buying role by paying attention to the bigger organisational objectives. Through the shift of focus, the purchase function can add value by placing emphasis on supplier quality and reliability. Extraction and automation of key processes in procumbent for example can release time for the workforce to attend other functions of sourcing which may be central to the needs of the business (KPMT, 2012). Balancing long-term visions with short term goals is another way through which organisations can harness value from the purchasing function. In driving value for the organisation purchasing function can no longer wait for the exit of a supplier or rush for speciality materials in the final hours of a product launch (Santala and Syrjanen, 2010). ATMI is one organization that has eye on the long terms objectives but with tools in place to respond to changes in the short term. It is able to give value by aggressively managing risks, analysing markets and feeding the entire system short term changes needed in the long term plans. Success in the purchasing function appreciates the need for sourcing strategically and purchasing tactically. Value can be unlocked out of the purchasing function by focussing on strategic sourcing and

A Bronx Tale Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A Bronx Tale - Essay Example As the young man enters high school he is attracted to an African American girl, Jane, who causes conflict both internally and externally for him as he deals with peer pressure, personal angst, and family expectations. The 1960’s was a time of change for racial issues in America. Their where appeals by African American leaders protesting segregation in the United States and the role and status of the black community was transforming. This film is set in the thickest era of the racial segregation issue within the country. In the city of New Jersey there was a heavy population of Italian/Americans that lived alongside African Americans and the constant threat of violent encounters kept tensions high within both communities. African Americans were fighting for their right to vote and to end segregation and in the midst of it all a common paranoia was that anyone who seemed to be of white decent was a threat. This would explain why in the movie there were times where upon immediat e contact there were unavoidable confrontations. African Americans were often subjected to lower positions when they were employed. This would explain the next scene described. The first African American shown in the film is a black bartender at the neighborhood pub which the gangsters frequent. This depiction of an African American in a service position is accurate and represents the lower societal classification of African Americans in the United States in the1960s. The film’s next portrayal of African Americans is a segregated school bus driving through the Italian neighborhood. One Italian boy says, â€Å"They don’t live here.† Another Italian boy says, â€Å"That’s how it starts.† The neighborhood boys taunt and yell at the bus passengers, inciting one African American boy on the bus to make an obscene gesture at the neighborhood boys. This portrayal reveals the territorial nature of segregation as well as the lack of respect and understanding among different ethnicities. It also shows that the prejudices were mutually held, however the African American prejudice against Caucasians was probably in response to the Caucasians’ initial prejudice which was rooted in slavery. This theme of divisiveness is reinforced in a later scene when the teenage Calogero walks the African American girl home but stops before crossing into the African American neighborhood, a block from her actual house. The reason that Calogero stopped was another example of the lines in the sand that were drawn to keep the two communities separate. Some African American males yell at the Sicilian boy and one African American young man throws a rock at his back as he walks away. When several African American boys peacefully ride their bicycles through the Italian neighborhood the group of Italian boys attacks them. While Calogero abstains from participating, he suffers though guilt by association and is accused of wrong doing by Jane, whose brother was one of the boys who was attacked. Later the group of Italian boy’s fire shots and hurl fire bombs at an African American drugstore where several African Americans are gathered. One fire bomb is hurled back at them and ignites the car into an explosion, killing all of them. The film’s violent portrayal of racism during this era is accurate. The unease and distrust between different races of people was heightened by the general malice and mistrust of the American government and the leaders’ decision-making abilities. The need to belong and be accepted by one’s peers was greater during this time of uncertainty and change. Inter-racial relationships were uncommon and disapproved of. This again showed the power that racism had over the people of the United States at the time. There is

Business Essay Example for Free

Business Essay Convenience Internet marketing enables you to be open for business around the clock without worrying about store opening hours or overtime payments for staff. Offering your products on the Internet is also convenient for customers. They can browse your online store at any time and place orders when it is convenient for them. Reach By marketing on the Internet, you can overcome barriers of distance. You can sell goods in any part of the country without setting up local outlets, widening your target market. You can also build an export business without opening a network of distributors in different countries. However, if you want to sell internationally, you should use localization services to ensure that your products are suitable for local markets and comply with local business regulations. Localization services include translation and product modification to reflect local market differences. Cost Marketing products on the Internet costs less than marketing them through a physical retail outlet. You do not have the recurring costs of property rental and maintenance. You do not have to purchase stock for display in a store. You can order stock in line with demand, keeping your inventory costs low. Personalization Internet marketing enables you to personalize offers to customers by building a profile of their purchasing history and preferences. By tracking the web pages and product information that prospects visit, you can make targeted offers that reflect their interests. The information available from tracking website visits also provides data for planning cross-selling campaigns so that you can increase the value of sales by customer. Relationships The Internet provides an important platform for building relationships with customers and increasing customer retention levels. When a customer has purchased a product from your online store, you can begin the relationship by sending a follow-up email to confirm the transaction and thank the customer. Emailing customers regularly with special, personalized offers helps to maintain the relationship. You can also invite customers to submit product reviews on your website, helping to build a sense of community. Social Internet marketing enables you to take advantage of the growing importance of social media. An article on the Harvard Business School Executive Education website highlighted the link between social networking and online revenue growth. According to the article, a group of consumers that responded most strongly to the influence of social networks generated increased sales of around 5 percent. You can take advantage of this type of influence by incorporating social networking tools in your Internet marketing campaigns.

Efficiency of Window Systems

Efficiency of Window Systems Review of Window Shopping: A Study of Desktop Window Switching. ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Warr, A., Chi, Ed H. , Harris, H., Kuscher, A., Chen, J., Flack, R. and Jitkoff. N. (2016) Window Shopping: A Study of Desktop Window Switching. In Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 16). ACM, New York, NY, USA. pp 3335-3338. ABSTRACT This is a review of a research article by Warr et al (2016), of Google Inc, Window shopping: A Study of Desktop Window Switching, which is an investigation into the efficiency of window systems. Having multiple windows open is commonplace but users often have problems switching between windows. This report presents an experiment used to evaluate window switching interfaces that are being considered for a new operating system. Its focus is an understanding of the effects of switching on user performances in terms of time to switch and errors in selection. The experiment compares three different styles of window switching interfaces and their effects on user performances. The interfaces chosen were the Cards interface, the Exposà © interface and the Mosaic interface. The results from the experiment suggest that the Mosaic interface allows faster selection than the Cards interface and is less erroneous than the Exposà © interface. SUMMARY OF ARTICLE The report outlines some windows research since the 1980s to the present time. Early research (Bly el al. 1986) showed that even though tiled window systems were faster than overlapping windows, users still preferred overlapping windows. Their conclusion being that it is imperative to create window systems that are both efficient and meet their user preferences. Research by Card and Henderson (1987) argued for designs that reduce the time and cognitive load of switching tasks. Hutchings et als (2004) study showed that users often have 8 or more windows open at any time with a median activation time of 3.8 seconds. Other research looked at arranging and grouping windows. These research works inspired Warr et al to investigate three window switching interfaces. The chosen interfaces were The Cards Interface: These resemble playing cards with small conceptual representation of the window and small amounts of information. They are spread like a stack of cards with the most recent window showing at the front. The Exposà © interface: This arranges the windows in a map, based on their size and original position. The Mosaic Interface: In this interface the windows are paced in order of most recent left to right in a grid form with the windows scaled to size of grid cell. The report details the design and procedures used in the experiment. They used a 3X3 mixed factorial design for the experiment.   This being the three user interface types by three different number of windows open at a time namely 3, 6 and 9 windows. The experiment was carried out to prove two hypothesises about window switching. Hypothesis 1: That the Mosaic interface allows windows to be selected faster than the Cards and Exposà © interfaces Hypothesis 2: The Mosaic interface would have less errors in selection than the Cards and Exposà © interfaces. The experiment was carried out in a lab using 42 participants (27 female and 15 male) ranging in age from 18-60. The participants were volunteers and were selected on the basis that they used laptops as their main computing device, hadnt used any of the selected interfaces previously and on average had more than one window open at any one time. They developed an application which prototyped the interfaces and allowed them to control and gather the data. Trials were carried out using each of the interfaces and selected number of windows. The participant were instructed to switch to predefined windows and the time taken to select the correct window and any errors in selections were recorded. The details of the conditions used are defined. The article displays the results for selection time and errors and shows them in table and graphical format for each interface and number of windows. Using a number of statistical tests the results allowed for partial acceptance of both hypothesis. They suggested that the Mosaic interface allows quicker window selection than the Cards interface that the Mosaic interface has fewer selection errors than the Exposà © interface. In the discussion they imply that the Mosaic interface was faster because the need to scroll in the card selection made it inefficient especially as the number of windows increases. Also in the Exposà © interface as the number of open windows increases the size of the thumbnails in the Exposà © interface decreases making them more difficult to distinguish. There wasnt much difference in number of erroneous selections between the interfaces except the Exposà © interface at the greater number of open windows. They surmise that was due to the fact the thumbnails were small and hard to distinguish. The limitations applied in conducting the experiment makes this a worst case scenario. They conclude that the Mosaic interface enables fast, less error prone window selection. DISCUSSION The article is well laid out. It summarises some similar research previously carried out in window switching although they say that this is the first comparative study of these specific window overview schemes (p 3336). Their reference material is fairly old. The most recent being a study of their own presented at the CHI conference in 2011. The aim of the experiment, investigating the efficiency of three window interfaces, and the reason for it are well defined. It presents the experiment in distinct sections outlining the design of the experiment, how the participants were chosen, the materials used, the procedures, their interpretation of the results and conclusion. They conclude that the Mosaic interface is the faster and the least error prone of the three chosen interfaces. This is internally valid as it was in a controlled environment however how transferable this is in the real world where prior knowledge and familiarity may affect the results is not measured. It also ignores user preferences that Bly et al considered important. There is no measure of the user experience in this experiment. Purposive sampling of participants appears to have been used. They did not include a group with prior knowledge of the interfaces and were careful throughout the experiment to alleviate any learning effects. This may have been for quick and economic reasons even though participants received a gift card. The sample size may be small because of the criteria used to select the participants and there is no explanation as to why there are almost twice as many women. The data collected from this group cant really be used to generalise about the interfaces. The results may be biased towards non experienced users. They could however be used as a control reference for any future research to externally validate these interfaces with other users. The authors of the article are affiliated to Google inc and Warr, Chi and Harris have published many articles in areas relating to computer interface design. Their previous works has been cited many times. This paper was presented to the CHI 16 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. This is a top conference for HCI where the future of how people interact with technology is discussed. It is a conference for top researchers, designers and corporations. This was an ideal place to present this research paper and may prompt further research in this area. A good knowledge of statistics is required to understand the results as presented in the article. The researchers appear to be confident in their methods and choice of statistical tests but without a knowledge of statistics it is difficult to know whether their choice of statistical tests are biased. In their discussion they explore the reasons why the Mosaic interface may have been faster than the Cards interface. The put forward three credible explanations for this. These factors could be explored in any future studies. They acknowledge the fact that the experiment may not reflect real life scenarios. CONCLUSION Warr, Chi, Harris, Kuscher, Chen, Flack, and Jitkoff presented a detailed experiment in window switching interfaces that were being considered for a new operating system. They suggest that the Mosaic interface allows faster selection than the Cards interface and less erroneous than the Exposà © interface from the results they obtained. The results may not transfer to the general population and does not study the ergonomics of the interfaces and ignores user preferences. However they may inspire further research in the area of window switching. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bly, S. A. and Rosenberg, J. K. 1986. A comparison of tiled and overlapping windows. Proc. CHI86, ACM Press, 101-106. Card S. K. and Henderson, A. 1987. A Multiple, Virtual-Workspace Interface to Support User Task Switching. Proc CHI87, ACM Press, 53-59. Hutchings, D. R., Smith, G., Meyers, B., Czerwinski, M., Robertson, G. 2004. Display space usage and window management operation comparisons between single monitor and multiple monitor users. Proc. AVI04, ACM Press, 32-39.

The Debate on Whether Alcoholism is a Disease or Not Essay -- Alcoholi

The Debate on Whether Alcoholism is a Disease or Not Many specialists today are in a debate on whether alcoholism is a disease or not. I looked up the word disease in the new American Webster dictionary. It stated that a disease is a condition ill health, or malady. Malady is defined as any disordered state or condition. Alcoholism causes illness and disorder. Someone who is an alcoholic has a dependency on the drug alcohol. If you are dependent on alcohol, you can acquire many illnesses both physical and mental. Physical illness from alcoholism can include stomach problems, digestive problems, headaches, kidney problems, liver disease, problems with nervous system and trouble with immune system, just to name a few. Mental illness can include depression, anger, irritability, lack of concentration, and low self-esteem. Some alcoholics believe that in order to have a good time doing something they have to be under the influence of alcohol. Therefor if they do not have alcohol then they think life sucks and is no fun. This can also limit what a person can do because you may not be able to do some things under the influence of alcohol with out getting a punishment. For instance if you wanted to go somewhere in a car and you're an alcoholic then you will be breaking the law if you are drunk driving. Some people do not know why they have to drink in order to have fun. Maybe its because their friends drink and they do not have friends who do not drink. You can ask people, why do you drink. Many answers can come from this question. Because I like to drink, because it makes me feel good and sometimes it's, I do not know. So, let us look at the reason for alcoholism. Alcoholism usually comes from years of the use of alcohol but you can become an alcoholic at a young age. You may not be physically dependent at a young age but you can definitely become mentally dependent. Many specialists say that alcoholism is hereditary. In alcoholics anonymous, it is said that if you have an inherited alcoholic gene then you are at high risk of being an alcoholic. One sign that you might have this gene is if you have a black out while over consuming alcohol. It is said that if you black out then you are an alcoholic. A black out is a period while drinking that you can vaguely remember or not recall whatsoever. I do not believe this because there can be... ...it can definitely be defined as a disease. It is a disease that is brought on by influences of society, family and pressure. In my mind, alcoholism is a man made disease. Of course man tries to fix it but I think alcoholism is unstoppable. It may be stopped in one case but it just keeps coming. As one alcoholic recovers, there is ten new alcoholics being born. Not in the sense of a newborn baby, but in the sense as a person being defined as an alcoholic. There will always be alcoholism as long as there is alcohol. I think if society would focus more on alcohol as being negative, it would help stop some cases of alcoholism. I think any beer company sponsoring a sport event is ridiculous. This type of advertisement should be banned. I think this would make alcohol less acceptable by the public. I really do not understand why America accepts alcohol and not one other drug. I think alcohol is the number one gateway drug out there. People do things when they are drunk that they would not regularly do sober. Someone may try doing and illegal drugs because they are drunk. So, in order to stop this disease we need to kill it at its roots and that would mean get rid of alcohol altogether.

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 Essay examples -- Disabili

The path to enacting the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is the history of the disability rights movement and its struggle to attain a better chance for equality not unlike other minority groups. The Disability community came to realize that the problem they were fighting was discrimination. The Disability community came face to face with some of the same problems and challenges that every individual who is in the minority faces. However, a disabled individual was not considered to be in a minority therefore could not be afforded the protections under the Civil Rights Act. A growing sense of unrest or change in mood galvanized and empowered the Disability community to fight for its civil rights. Federal laws that were enacted prior to the ADA gave precedent for giving disabled individuals rights as a minority group under the Civil Right Act of 1964 such as the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Fair Housing Act of 1988. The 60’s, 70’s and 80’s was a p eriod of growth for the Disability movement building its way to comprehensive disability rights legislation in incremental steps. President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) programs to assist the aged and people with disabilities. The thinking concerning programs like SSI and SSDI near the time of enactment of the ADA was that these programs created â€Å"disincentives† for the disabled to enter into the workforce (NCD). In fact in administrations beginning with President Nixon’s administration programs were targeted such as these for deregulation. President Nixon vetoed the Rehabilitation Act in 1972 and signed a weaker version of the Rehabilitation Act in 1973. It took until 1978 in the ... ....com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX2687400149&v=2.1&u=cuny_baruch&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w&asid=8cf19a43ddef5ea2cb064ded30e16f8e Gale Document Number: GALE|CX2687400149 â€Å"H.R. 2273--101st Congress: Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.† www.GovTrack.us. 1989. December 1, 2013 http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/101/hr2273 â€Å"S. 933--101st Congress: Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.† www.GovTrack.us. 1989. December 1, 2013 http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/101/s933 United States. Congress. House. Committee on Education and Labor. Legislative History of Public Law 101-336, the Americans With Disabilities Act: Prepared for the Committee On Education And Labor, U.S. House of Representatives, One Hundred First Congress, Second Session. Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 1990. The Disability Rights Movement: From Charity to Confrontation By Doris Zames Fleischer, Frieda Zames

Letter to the Editor Essay -- Comment on World Poverty

Dear Editor, I was disgusted to read the letter from Mr I Amok, and the points he made on poverty. Where he said, â€Å"poverty isn’t that bad, only a few people are really poor†. I think that he hasn’t studied countries enough because countries in Africa have people that can’t even afford food, clean water and clothing as it is stated in the booklet where it said, "our water hole dried up". Where he said people just want us to â€Å"feel sorry for them†, they just want us to help them because it was our fault in most cases that they got in that situation, because when we were a empire they were self dependent but we told them to grow cotton but as the years have gone on the cotton market has crashed and they are no longer self dependent. He also said â€Å"charity begins at home because not everyone can afford a car†. A car is not important compared to food. People can live without cars, but people cant live without food it is not possible. World poverty is a growing issue I think mr I. Amok should be educated more on this situation. He may not realise all factors that are involved. In my opinion poverty is a massive factor in the third world countries and everywhere else that it affects and mr I. Amok does not understand it as he has shown in the letter. He goes that he heard somewhere that there is enough food in the world to feed everyone, this is true but the problem is the 20% of rich people in the world use 80% of the resources the... ...his. This would get them up and running so the could begin to plan for the future. Another way in which we could help if we were really desperate to help, is the could have a fair trade week were everywhere only sold products that fairly traded and this would help us to understand and it might even give the companies the urge to fair trade if they don’t all ready do so. I think our contribution to aid has helped the these countries but we cant just keep giving them it because could just stop everything and depend on our aid which would put them in a even worse position which we or they don’t wont to happen, although this may sound harsh we should give them aid if they are desperately in need of it so they don’t become dependent on the aid. I hope I have helped all the readers and especially Mr.Iamok. Yours truly,

Asia & Australia in World Affairs Essay

In as much as the unsuccessful Taiping Rebellion of 1850 played a significant role in ending China’s isolationist outlook, it also paralleled the socialist ideals put forth by Marx and Engels in the Communist Manifesto of 1848 to manifest itself in the communist seizure of power in China in the 20th century Student: Ben McCosker Teacher: Mr Hart Due Date: Thursday 24 March 2005 Against the backdrop of a passive and inflexible Chinese state devastated by the foreign incursions of the 1840 Opium War, the Taiping emerged to overthrow the Confucian Qing Dynasty and establish an egalitarian community based on the quasi-Christian beliefs of its leader, Hong Xiuquan. In their struggle to â€Å"adopt institutions of equality and communism† (Newsinger, J, 2000), Hong and his followers paved the way for the formation of the People’s Republic of China in October 1949 by tapping into the passionate anti-Manchu nationalism among the peasantry. In as much as the unsuccessful Taiping rebellion of 1850 played a significant role in ending China’s isolationist outlook, it also paralleled the socialist ideals put forth by Marx and Engels in the Communist Manifesto of 1848 to manifest itself in the communist seizure of power in China in the 20th century. While Hong’s dream for a ‘Kingdom of Heavenly Peace’ was not brought to fruition in his lifetime, his recognition and attacks upon dynastical weakness awakened an oppressed nation to rebellion and served as the catalyst for social and political reform in the 20th century. On the eve of the communist seizure of power in China, Mao Zedong spoke of the tireless efforts of Chinese reformists, including the Taiping, when he said that â€Å"I have witnessed the tremendous energy of the masses. On this foundation it is possible to accomplish any task whatsoever†. This essay will investigate the interconnection between the Taiping Rebellion of 1850 and the communist seizure of power in the 20th century against the backdrop of their shared socialist underpinnings. The exploitation of the peasant class and unerring belief in China as ‘Zhongguo’, or the centre of existence, were the main criticisms that Hong held of the feudalist Qing dynasty, led by Dao Guan. Hong disapproved of the Chinese system of reform, which historically had encompassed a series of deteriorations and restorations of dynastic houses with the aim of perfecting systems of the past rather than instituting true change. As an unsuccessful scholar of the civil service, Hong came under the influence of Christian missionaries and after suffering from an intense fever in which he claimed to have been visited by God, he proclaimed himself as â€Å"God’s Chinese Son† and declared a mission against the Confucian ideals and incompetent rule of the Qing Dynasty. In the context of 19th century China, where revolt was endemic and hatred for the gentry class was widespread among the peasant population, Hong’s call for revolution quickly gathered support. When rallying for the defeat of the Manchus, Hong would preach his distorted version of Christianity; â€Å"I have received the immediate command from God in his presence; the will of Heaven rests with me† (Xiuquan, H, 1850, quoted in Spence, 1996, p.67). Discontent with the unequal treaties and proliferation of Western activities among some sections of Chinese society, Hong and his Taiping rebels questioned not only traditional Confucian principles, but also the right of foreigners to rule, highlighting the powerful anti-Manchu theocracy that underpinned the revolution and encouraging the recognition of Chinese superiority. Spreading through the eastern valley of the Chang River, the Taiping movement captured Nanjing in 1853, before undergoing reform at the hands of Hong Rengan in 1859. Rengan understood the problems of Chinese society far more profoundly than his contemporaries and played a vital role in bringing Hong Xiuquan’s original ideas to maturity. Under Rengan, the Taiping continued to dominate the Qing resistance, capturing the port of Ningpo in 1862, until the death of Hong in 1864 and the resulting fragmentation of Taiping units. Although a technical failure, the Taiping rebellion played an integral role in changing the way Chinese government functioned. Under the Manchu government, as one poor peasant woman argues, â€Å"we were vulnerable and exploited†¦our anger was a cause of our government’s lack of power and increase in corruption† (Kong, H, 1870). With the rise and fall of the Taiping Rebellion, China was forced to adopt a broader and less centralised world view and relax its foreign policy, thereby ending the reign of the indolent and corrupt nobility of the Qing Dynasty. The egalitarian aspirations of the Taiping closely mirrored the ideals expressed by Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels in their publication â€Å"The Communist Manifesto†. Marx and Engel’s seminal work also formed the ideological foundation for the communist seizure of power in 1949, clearly identifying the Taiping rebellion as the antecedent to the Chinese communist state. Marx began the Communist Manifesto with the words â€Å"A spectre is haunting Europe–the spectre of Communism†; little did he know that less than two years after writing these words, this ‘spectre of Communism’ would be spreading ferociously across the Chinese mainland. With the capture of Nanjing in 1853, Hong and his followers built an autonomous state based on the principles of laissez faire, supported by the twin pillars of communalism (essentially a debased form of communism) and equality. This doctrine of ‘communalism’ involved the appropriation of all private property by the Taipings and its redistribution among the Chinese based on their needs, a concept that emerged in both the Communist Manifesto and the communist seizure of power almost a century later. Although it is almost certain that the Taiping rebels were oblivious to the socialist movement in the Western world, the similarities between the rebellion and the struggles of the proletariat in Europe are unmistakeable and are representative of the self-development of the Chinese people, culminating in the Communist seizure of power in 1949. The communist seizure of power in 1949 was not in itself the embryonic Chinese interpretation of European socialism it was perceived to be, but rather a fulfilment of the ideals espoused by the proto-communist Taiping rebels almost a century earlier. When viewed objectively, the Heavenly Kingdom of the Taipings is not so distant from the classless egalitarianism that Mao Zedong instituted on 1 October 1949 with the seizure of power by the Chinese Communist Party. Indeed, the doctrinal pillars upon which Hong built his Heavenly Kingdom have been described as â€Å"a primitive form of communism† (Hooker, R, 1986) and some have gone as far as to say that â€Å"the communist revolution may have been but a realisation of an underground movement in China [The Taiping Rebellion] which began in the mid eighteen-hundreds† (Ny, G, 1991). Like the Taiping Rebellion, the communist seizure of power was an example of western ideals being adapted to the Chinese condition and similarly , both revolutions started in the agrarian centres of the South before moving north towards the political epicentre of the Chinese state, Beijing (Peking). Both revolutions shared common egalitarian elements, the most notable of which was the immersion of women into society as the social and economic equals of men. Under Hong’s leadership, all members of Taiping society were seen as â€Å"brothers† and â€Å"sisters†, which both established equality among the sexes and discouraged the formation of relationships among those with administrative positions. This was a radical departure from the traditional Confucian philosophy promoted by the Qing Dynasty, which preached women’s inferiority and subservient role to men. Indeed, under the Manchu government, the practice of foot binding was still widespread, as women had to bind their feet to be eligible for marriage in the eyes of the law. Like the Taiping rebels, the Chinese Communist Party realised that the liberation of women was integral to the true emancipation of the country as an egalitarian nation; so in a parallel for the Fun Yu-Lan, or ‘rules of the Heavenly Kingdom’ laid down by Hong Rengan, the communist government enacted legislation that revolved around the protection of women including the Chinese Marriage Law of 1950 and the Labour Insurance Regulations Law of 1951. In their contextualisation of Western theologies, both the Taiping Rebellion and the communist seizure of power banished the traditional androcentric beliefs of their preceding governments, instituting systems of equality in their place. Sun Yat-Sen’s ‘Three People’s Principles’, as published in the Guomindang Manifesto of 1924, itself a forerunner to the ideals of the CCP, reflect the original motives of the Taiping rebels; increased power for the people (democracy), equality among the citizenry (people’s livelihood) and the development of a national identity for China (nationalism). The shared social institutions and egalitarian precepts of both uprisings serve only to illustrate the fact that the Taiping Rebellion of 1850 was the philosophical forerunner to the Communist seizure of power in the 20th century. While the Taiping philosophy was sound in itself, a combination of inadequate military strategy, diplomatic incompetence, ideological inconsistencies and insufficient resources condemned the rebellion to failure while its latter-day counterpart, the Chinese Communist Party, thrived due to more consistent and efficient management. The very basis of the Taiping movement, Hong’s distorted version of Christianity, detracted from the authenticity of the rebellion in the eyes of foreign onlookers, which meant that the Taiping were unable to forge valuable alliances with more conventional Christian powers in the west. This oversight had fatal implications in the summer of 1864, when the Taiping looked to foreigners for support, but encountered the opposition of Westerners opposed to Hong’s bastardised version of Christianity. Mao Zedong, Li Dazhao and the other leaders of the CCP had the benefit of viewing revolutionary precedent through the failure of the Taiping Rebellion, t hus it can be seen that the ‘lessons’ of the Taiping were able to be applied to CCP strategy, lessons which resulted in Mao’s inclusion of peasants against the Marxist model and drive for agrarian revolution over urban uprising. Both conflicts arose from a strong desire from the proletariat for social and political reform, but it was the Chinese Communist Party that most effectively gathered the people’s support, while largely avoiding the corruption and poor foreign policy that plagued the Taipings. While the Chinese Communist Party remained a tightly-networked organisation in its struggle for power, the Taiping force was split into various factions before capturing Nanjing in 1852, which had the two-fold consequence of denying the rebels the opportunity to conquer Shanghai and also foregoing the continued pursuit of the Manchus after capturing Nanjing, which, as Larlee argues, â€Å"proved to be a fatal flaw in the rebellion† (Larlee, D, 2000). The failure to adequately support the Northern Expedition of 1852 resulted in Western Powers, already antagonised by the suppression of opium from Taiping-controlled China, to forge allegiances with the Qing Dynasty, a movement which ultimately ended t he Taiping rebellion. Like its communist progeny in the 20th century, concubinage amongst leaders was prevalent in the upper echelons of the Taiping leadership, which invoked doubt in the peoples’ minds over the capacity of the rebels to institute true change. Finally, in 1860, intervention by foreign powers came in the form of a British Envoy led by Frederick Bruce, who supported Prince Gong (the leader of the opposing Manchu government) in his quest to â€Å"purge the country of the sinful rebels† (Poon, 2000). After the death of over 25 million Chinese citizens (McEvedy, 1978) and the devastation of 16 provinces, The Taiping Rebellion was finally suppressed in 1864, ending 16 years of reform but paving the way for the Communist Seizure of Power in the 20th century. Philosophically, the Taiping Rebellion of 1850 and the Communist Seizure of Power in the 20th century shared remarkable similarity in their egalitarian goals and quest to overthrow oppressive rule. Both were born out of a socioeconomic situation of deprivation and shame, with drought, famine, and overt foreign influence common to both uprisings. The Rebellion cannot be judged objectively on its failure as a revolution alone, as its primitive implementation of socialist ideals and reformation of China’s isolationist outlook manifested itself in the communist seizure of power 100 years later. Its failure to institute permanent reform reflected not only the ideological flaws of Hong and his followers, but also the society’s resistance to change, a result of hundreds of years of dynastical rule. As â€Å"one of the early tremors of a communist earthquake† (Franz, M, 1999), the Taiping rebellion played an integral role in the Communist seizure of power in the 20th century. Bibliography Charles, G, 2001, Taiping Rebellion[ONLINE], Available from: URL: http://www.lcsc.edu/modernchina/u3s1p3.htm (accessed 4/3/05) Childs, R, 1987, Leading the Chinese Revolution, The MacMillan Company Ltd, Wellington China, Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopaedia, 2005, http://encarta.msn.com Cohen, J, 2004, Reader’s Companion to Military History – Taiping Rebellion[ONLINE], Available from: URL: http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/mil/html/mh_051600_taipingrebellion.htm (accessed 22/2/05) Diagonal Media Group, 2003, Hong Xiuquan – Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopaedia[ONLINE], Available from: URL: http://www.phatnav.com/wiki/index.php?title:Hong_Xiuquan (accessed 16/2/05) Dowling, M, 2002, The Electronic Passport to the Taiping Rebellion[ONLINE], Available from: URL: http://www.mrdowling.com/613taiping.html (accessed 4/3/05) Garcia, S, Bart, C & Hart, S, 2005, History[ONLINE], Available from: URL: http://samaratx.tripod.com/id6.htm (accessed 5/3/05) Heng, X, 1997, The Changing Role and Status of Women in China[ONLINE], Available from: URL: http://www.1990institute.org/publications/pubs/ISUPAP8.html (accessed 4/3/05) Hooker, R, 1996, Ch’ing China : The Taiping Rebellion[ONLINE], Available from: URL: www.esu.edu:8080/~dee/CHING/TAIPING.htm (accessed 3/3/05) Larlee, D, 2000, The Taiping Rebellion[ONLINE], Available from: URL: http://mutton.editthispage.com/stories/storyreader$18 accessed 22/2/05) Maher, J, 2001, China’s Confession[ONLINE], Available from: URL: www.chinasoul.com/e/e-wk/episode4.htm (accessed 4/3/05) Meisher, M, 1999, Mao’s China and After – A History of the People’s Republic. The Free Press, New York Ny, G, 1991, The Indian Mutiny and the Taiping Rebellion : Armed Conflicts Against Change, Washington University Press, St. Louis Poon, L, 2000, East and South East Asia on the Eve of European Expansion from the late 18th Century to 1860 : An Introductory Survey[ONLINE], Available from: URL: http://homepage.mac.com/stray/ib/history/historyHLregional/option.pdf (accessed 4/3/05) Reilly, J, 1997, God’s Chinese Son[ONLINE], Available from: URL: http://pages.prodigy.net/aesir/gcs.htm (accessed 5/3/05) Revision Notes UK, 2005, Effects of the Taiping Rebellion[ONLINE], Available from: URL: http://www.revision-notes.co.uk/revision/815.html (accessed 4/3/05) Rius et. al. 1980, Mao for Beginners, Writery and Readery, London Seiler, M, 1997, The Taiping Rebellion – The Destruction of the Chinese Culture[ONLINE], Available from: URL: http://sun.menloschool.org/~sportman/westernstudies/second/24/gblock/matts (accessed 3/3/05) Spence, J, God’s Chinese Son, Norton, New York

Pleasures of Reading Essay

Some people get pleasure from picnics and tours. Others like to discuss various topics and find pleasure in it. But the reading of books provides us with such pleasure as we do not get from any other activity. Great is the blessing of books. Books are written by learned persons. They contain the best experiences and thoughts of their writers. Literature is said to mirror society. Writers put in their books not only their own ideas and feelings, but also what they observe and find in society. The books of the past reflect the condition of the times in which they were written. By reading books written by great thinkers, we come in contact with their minds. Books enable us to know the best of different countries. So, if we want to keep abreast of the great minds of all ages, we must read books. When we are alone, books are our best friends. They entertain us in our spare moments. Good novels, books on poetry and short stories, give great enjoyment. At times we become so absorbed in our books that we forget even our important engagements. Loneliness is no trouble for a reader. If we are in a cheerful mood, our joy is increased by reading. When we are in a depressed and dejected mood, books console and soothe our troubled minds. They provide us with the best advice and guidance in our difficulties. Indeed, books are out best friends as they help us in our need. Books contain grains of wisdom. They give us sound moral advice. That is why all great men of our country have liked to read the Gita and the Ramayan. The example of Rama and Sita is cited, whenever we want to emphasize noble deeds and their results. We call a bad man by the name of Ravan. It is through the reading of books that we learn to love virtue and hate sin. The reading of good books develops and elevates our character. Now-a-days the world is changing fast. A man cannot remain in roach with the changes in his own country, or in the world, without reading the latest literature. One who wants to be respected in cultured society must keep himself well-informed. Good magazines, newspapers and other books provide us with valuable upto-date information. It gives us great pleasure to feel that our knowledge is upto-date. We get great satisfaction when we feel ourselves to be well-informed and capable of moving in any educated society. Reading of good books is the key to the store-house of pleasure. It was the English author Bacon who said that reading makes a full man. No one can question the truth of this saying. But we cannot derive full advantage from reading, if our choice is not good. Some books are such that instead of doing any good, they do positive harm to the readers. Such books must be avoided. Cheap books, not in cost but in contents, should not be read, even if they provide some amusement and entertainment. It is the reading of good books alone which bestows upon us the maximum benefit. The advantages of reading – the pleasures of reading novels; they carry us into a different world and enlarge our experience; suspense and our tendency to identify ourselves with the hero – other kinds of books are also delightful. The advantages of reading are well known. Reading enables us to pass examinations and get jobs, and enhances our general ability and competence in any field of life. But the pleasures of reading are as important as its uses. In fact, books cannot be really useful unless they are first enjoyed. There can be few more delightful ways of spending a holiday than reading a good novel. One source of pleasure afforded by novels is that they make us escape for a time from the drab, humdrum circumstances of our lives. Romantic novels, of course, transport us into an exciting world poles apart from our own. But even realistic novels bring us into contact with experiences different from our own. Our personal experience in real life is limited and much of it is commonplace. Reading fiction is delightful, partly because it indirectly provides us with several experiences for which we have no opportunities in actual life. Another source of the pleasure of reading novels is suspense. A novel with a good plot makes us eager to know, from beginning to end, what is to happen next. It is because of this quality of suspense in some novels that we are unwilling to lay them aside till we have read them to the end. Again, as everybody knows, another reason why reading novels is pleasant is that we tend to identify ourselves with the hero or the central character, and experience his joys and sorrows for the time being. This mainly accounts for our pleasure in reading biographies. While fiction is usually considered to be a delightful form of reading, other kinds of writing too impart pleasure. Apart from plays which resemble fiction, books of travel and light essays are enjoyable. Poetry appeals to our feelings and sense of beauty. Reading even serious or heavy books – books on science or philosophy – is not without its joy for those who are interested in the subjects concerned. All knowledge is pleasure, and reading a book on the dullest or the most unpleasant subjects can be pleasurable, provided one is intensely interested in it.

Music and Dance Essay

Filipinos are known as great musicians worldwide. This is seen in their dedication and intense love for music. Early Filipinos already developed their own music through their endemic songs and instruments. The Magellan expedition in 1521, witnessed among the Cebuanos instruments of timbale, and cymbal and other forms of drums. The most popular music instrument found in the country is the kudyapi a metal stringed instrument shaped like a boat, Tingguian nose flute called kalalen, the Muslim xylophone called kulintang. Negritos of Bataan and Zambales have the musical instrument called ban, the Visayans had a guitar looking which they called gangsa and the toltogan, a bamboo drum. Aside from instruments, our ancestors also expressed themselves through their songs with dance like; tagumpay, Tagalog sog of victory, Mang-ay-uweng, an Igorot’s labor song, Kinnallogong which is an Ilocano dance of a man facing a woman, tudub a harvest song together with dandansuy, balitaw the two popular song and dance in Agusan, Other Philippine ethnic dances are the following; Bonog- Cordillera dance portraying hunting, Salisid- Cordillera courtship dance, Palok- cordillera tribal dance, Idudu- Cordillera tribal dance which is a common among Itneg or Tinguian society, Lumagen- Kalinga traditional thanksgiving dance, Bendayan- Benguet dance commemorating the arrival of the headhunters and Binaylan- Agusan ritual dance which originated from the Bagobo tribe. Dressing and Ornamentation The ancient Filipinos have their own attire and their own fashion. The men in the barangay society wore the kanggan, described as a black or blue collarless, short-sleeve jacket. They also wore a bahag a strip of cloth wrapped around their heads was also used which is called putong. They also had jewels such as pendant, gold necklaces, gold teeth, gold armlets that were called kalombigas and gold anklets filled with agates, carnelian and other gems. The women had their own way of dressing themselves same as the men. They wore wide-sleeve jacket called baro or camisa, in their lower part they wore a skirt, a piece of colored cloth, which they called as tapis or saya by the Tagalog and Patadyong by the Visayans. Women wore jewelry consisted of gold necklace,  gold bracelets, large gold earrings and gold rings and teeth. In Visayans, the most tattooed Filipinos settled; they developed a social representation through body marks of various designs representing animals, flowers and geometric representations. There were two reasons: first, to enhance their physical body beauty, and second, for men to show their war records, the more enemy a warrior killed in the battle, the more tattoo was inched in his body. The women were less tattooed than men. When the Spaniards came to Visayas and upon seeing such people they called pintados r painted people, they called the island as Las Islas Pintados or Island of Painted People. A Cat Disease A disease that causes chronic gastrological disorders, IBD, is envisioned in a spectrum of severities. Cats can vomit heavily, and suffer from continuous diarrhea. Reasons for the disease are yet unknown. Bacterial infections, gastrological irritation, lack of vitamins are often quoted as factors contributing to the development of the disease. Veterinarians, treating IBD in cats, usually prescribe medicine and advice on the dietary management as well as make surgical choices. If untreated, IBD, can be fatal for cats. Research – conducted mostly by pet owners – shows that a cat’s diet can be critical. Further research will include inspection of several vaccines. So far, grain-free, raw meat diet has already proved to be largely beneficial. The Meteor Show The much advertised meteor show this summer was a memory ot behold. The air was crisp and cool. I did not even feel a hint of a breeze  on my skin as I lie on my back in the darkness. The warm temperature of the water against the cooler air created a drifting airy fog that whispered over the lake. Darkness enveloped the sky as only a slight curve of the moon shone in the night; consequently, this made the perfect stage for the breathtaking view of twinkling stars. In the still of the night many galaxies glittered from the depths of the sky as I felt hypnotically drawn into the mesmorizing show above me. Broad irregular bands of light from the Milky Way stretched across the sky while the big and little dipper shined brightly. As predicted, the meteor show began with various sized meteors cascading to the earth’s atmosphere about every fifteen to thirty seconds. Shots of light, followed by orange and white mist, describes the presence of the meteors. The panoramic view made it possible to witness several meteors at a time while marveling at each one. An event like this may only happen once in a lifetime, so I will cherish this moment and it will remain as one of my fondest memories. My First Time In The Emergency Room I went to the Emergency Room for the first time when I was thirteen years old. It all came about when I was skateboarding in front of my grandma’s house and I tried to do a trick. I almost pulled it of, but I messed it up in the end and headed to the ground with my hands down. My right wrist was twisted the wrong way in the air when I landed hard on the ground, it just broke it. At first it did not hurt at all, but when I looked down at my warped and twisted wrist , all of a sudden excruciating pain rushed through my wrist and I came unglued. Rolling around on the ground yelling and cussing in pain, my parents saw what happened and came running to my aid. My dad started moving it around saying, â€Å"it’s not broken,† as my mom was saying over and over again we need to go to the emergency room to get the real diiagnosis. After about fifteen minutes of yelling and screaming, I finally got up and held my wrist as I walked to the car. The whole way to the ER the pain got worse and worse. Later I foound out the  increase in pain was due to massive swelling against the broken bone. I had to sit in the waiting room for almost and hour which seemed loke forever. After waiting impatiently, I finally got into the doctor’s office where I got an X-Ray and found out my wrist was truley broken.

Argintina

Religon Historically, the Catholic religion played a very important part in politics and law. Before changes were made to the Constitution in 1994, the two top leaders of Argentina had to be Roman Catholic. Today, although officially 90% of Argentinians are Roman Catholic, fewer than 20% attend church regularly. Most go for weddings, funerals and major feast days. Many Argentinians make annual pilgrimages to holy sites and local shrines. The most popular place is LuJ ¤n, 65 km west of Buenos Aires. Each year, thousands of people make the pilgrimage on foot from Buenos Aires to onour the Patron Saint of Argentina, the Virgin of LuJ ¤n.According to tradition, in 1620 a statue of the Virgin was being carried from town to town in a cart. The cart got stuck at LuJ ¤n, Buenos Aires Province, and could not be moved. The people built a chapel for the Virgin to protect the statue. Today there is a large basilica where the chapel once stood. Did you know? Buenos Aires has the second larg est Jewish population (300,000) in the Americas after New York. Most provinces and cities have a patron saint. In the northern Salta province, people make pilgrimages to honour â€Å"Our Lord of the Miracles† on September 15.In 1592, a statue of Jesus Christ was washed up out of sea and was carried inland to the Salta City. This statue, the people of Salta believe, has saved them from earthquakes and other dangers. During the fiesta, people parade through the streets of Salta City carrying the statue of Jesus Christ. Another important pilgrimage site is Itati, in Corrientes Province on the Parana River, where people honour the Virgin of Itati every July 16. The statue of the Virgin was carved by a Guarani artist. Although the Constitution states that the federal government is Roman Catholic, it also guarantees freedom of religion for all.Argentina has many Jews and Muslims, as well as members of Russian, Greek and Syrian Orthodox churches and Protestant denominations. Some in digenous people follow the customs of the Catholic Church, others have kept their traditional beliefs. Many of the Colla people in the northwestern provinces of Salta and Jujuy attend Catholic churches and also follow traditional forms of worship. In Catamarca province, there is an annual festival to honour Pachamama, who represents mother earth. 3. language Although Argentina's official language is Spanish, Argentinian Spanish is different rom the Spanish spoken in Spain.In some ways it sounds more like Italian than Spanish. There are also many other languages spoken in Argentina, including Italian, Mapuche, Guarani, Aymara, Toba and Quechua. Did you know? In the Chubut Valley in Patagonia there is a Welsh settlement founded in 1865. For four generations, the settlers spoke Welsh, but the language is now dying out in this area. You can distinguish Argentinians from other Latin Americans by their use of â€Å"che†. It comes from the language used by the Mapuche and means â₠¬Å"man. † It is used as people in Canada might say, â€Å"hey† or â€Å"you know† or â€Å"eh.For example, an Argentinian might say, â€Å"Che, veni† (â€Å"Hey you, come here†) to get someone's attention. Another important difference between the Argentinean way of speaking Spanish and the Spanish spoken in Spain is the use of â€Å"vos† instead of â€Å"tu† (you ) and a very strong pronunciation of â€Å"y† and â€Å"II† as â€Å"sh†. A special slang, called lunfardo, originated in the slum neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires in the late 19th century. Today most Argentinians are familiar with at least a few words of lunfardo. Lunfardo contains elements of Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and other languages, but with a distinctive wist.One of the most common ways to change a word is to reverse the syllables. For example, in lunfardo, â€Å"tango† becomes â€Å"gotan. † Argentinians love to discuss two topics , sports (especially f?tbol) and politics. Most people have strong opinions on these subjects and will discuss them with a passion. It is not unusual to find several conversations going on at once at a social gathering. 4. Education Education is highly valued in Argentinian society. The Argentine National Council of Education sets a standard curriculum that is followed by schools throughout the ountry, because it is believed that a national education system promotes unity.Kindergarten is optional for children aged four and five. Mandatory education begins at age six and ends at fourteen. Public primary schools are free, but there are no public school buses and students must buy their own books and uniforms. The uniforms look like white laboratory coats and are worn over regular clothes. Private schools are often sponsored by churches or organizations and charge tuition fees. For children with special needs, there are separate programs. Did you know?The Nobel prizes have been awarded to five Argentinians: Carlos Saavedra Lamas (1936) and Adolfo P ©rez Esquivel (1980) for peace, Bernardo Houssay (1947) for medicine, Luis Federico Leloir (1970) for chemistry and C ©sar Milstein (1984) for biology. school between 1 p. m. and 5 p. m. When students arrive, they raise the flag and sing the national anthem. During each session, they get three breaks of 10 minutes each for recess. In rural areas, some children go to school on horseback. Some large estancias have their own one-room schoolhouse for children living on the ranch.Unless students need to work full-time to help their families, they may continue their education at secondary school. Those who want to go to university must attend secondary school for at least five years and take the bachillerato (baccalaureat) exam. Commercial and vocational schools are available for those who want careers in commerce, agriculture, fashion or technical occupations such as automotive mechanics. Schoolteachers are trained in a n escuela normal (teachers' college). People who leave school to work may return when they are in their twenties to finish their secondary school studies.Night classes are also available for those who work during the day. Argentina has about 50 universities. About half are public and tuition is free. The others are Catholic or private universities that charge fees. The University of Buenos Aires is the largest university in South America, with 140,000 students. The oldest university in Argentina is Cordoba, founded by the Spanish in 5. Culture The earliest inhabitants of Argentina were nomadic tribes of hunter-gatherers, who had fought the Incas and lived simply until the arrival of Europeans in the 1 500's. The first Spanish settlement was Santa Fe in 1573.Buenos Aires was founded seven years later. At first the Spanish were unenthusiastic by the lack of gold and silver. Later they realized the potential of Argentina to supply food and animals to the cities in Peru and Bolivia. Hug e areas of land estancias were given to settlers, and the Indians worked under a forced-labour system. After Napoleon's invasion of Spain, the country was left to fend for itself and began to foster a growing sense of independence, the Creoles (native-born) population even fought off British invaders. Following Napoleon's defeat the Spanish attempted to seize their colonies back.By 1816, the eep division between Argentina and its mother country had become quite evident, and a party of separatists decided to declare the country's independence. One of the new patriots, Jose de San Martin, crossed the Andes to achieve independence for Chile and then headed to Peru to free Lima from the Spanish domain. Along with Simon Bolivar, Martin is credited with breaking off Spanish rule. The cattle ranchers became wealthy; and one of them Rosas, became a despotic leader and during his 20 year reign of terror many of the indigenous tribes were wiped out.This trend continued as sheep were introduce d and needed more land. During the 19th century, the British invested heavily in the opening up of the country by railways. A middle class evolved and industrialization advanced during World War II. The which had violent opponents and charismatic leaders such as Peron and his second wife Evita. During the 1970's a repressive government fought a war against left-wing guerrillas and as a distraction occupied the Falklands (Malvinas) in 1982. Thatcher's British forces defeated General Galtieri's conscripts and the Junta came to an end.The re-introduction of democracy was the best result of the war. The 21st has seen a evere blow to the Argentine economy, and in two months the presidency changed five times. The current president is seeking a way to strengthen the once great country. Tourism is being promoted as a way to gain foreign currency. There has never been a better time to vist the country. Argentina's culture has been greatly affected by its immigrant population, mostly European . Sadly they contributed to the demise of native cultures. The European immigrant groups each adopted different roles.The Basque and Irish controlled sheep rearing, the Germans and Italians established farms, and the British invested in developing the infra-structure. More than one-third of the country's 32 million people live in Buenos Aires, the capital, which along with other urban areas accounts for almost 90% of the total population. The main indigenous peoples are the Quechua of the northwest and the Mapuche in Patagonia. Other can be found in the Chaco and the northeast. There are strong Jewish and Anglo-Argentine communities throughout the country; plus Japanese, Chileans and Bolivians; and pockets of Paraguayan and Uruguayan residents.The universal language of Argentina is Spanish, but many natives and immigrants keep their mother tongues as a matter of pride. In Buenos Aires a city slang called lunfardo is used. Argentina has religious freedom, although the official religi on is Roman Catholic. All over Argentina fine handicrafts can be found. The gauchos produce silver buckled belts, spurs, stirrups and the mate gourds from which they drink their mate through a silver straw. The indigenous groups produce wood carvings, weavings and textiles such as ponchos.Argentina is one of the few South American countries with a thriving cinema and TV industry. Since the end of dictatorship and military rule the arts have flourished. Tango is the quintessential music and dance of Argentina, but ther folkloric traditions persist. There is even a home-grown rock music industry. The Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires is reputed to be one of the best and most outstanding theatres in the world. One cannot omit the national obsession with football but motor racing and polo also form part of the national psyche.Fiestas & holidays The main holiday period is January to March (when the schools are closed), one should book along time ahead during this period. Easter and July are a lso busy times. The 10 November Dia de La Tradicion are like a gaucho games, with displays, music, and plenty of asado meat. The following is a selection of the special regional events occurring annually in Argentina: January Sea Festival, Mar del Plata; Jineteada (breaking in horses) and Folklore Festival, Diamante, Prov. Entre Rios; Chaya Doma (breaking in horses) and Folklore Festival, Intendente Alvear, Prov. La Pampa; Folklore Festival, Cosquin, Prov.Cordoba. February Carnival, especially interesting in Gualeguaychu in the Province of Entre Rios and Ituzaingo in Corrientes; Pachamama (Mother Earth) Festival, Amaicha del Valle, Prov. Tucuman; Trout Fishing Festival, Rio Grande. February-March Festival of Tango, Buenos Aires March Grape Harvest Festival, Mendoza. March-April Holy Week, Salta; Festival of Our Lady Del Valle, Catamarca. July Poncho Week, Catamarca; Simoca Fair, Simoca, Prov. Tucuman; Santiago Week, Santiago del Estero; Dorado Fishing Competition, Formosa. August Sn ow Festival, Rio Turbio, Prov. Santa Cruz; Jujuy Week, Jujuy; Dorado Festival, Posadas, Prov.Misiones; Snow Festival, Bariloche. September Chamam © Music Festival, Corrientes; Agriculture Festival, Esperanza, Prov. Santa F © October Fiesta de la Cerveza (beer festival), Villa General Belgrano; Festival of Tango, Buenos Aires November Sea Salmon Fishing Contest, Comodoro Rivadavia; Tradition Week (gaucho shows), San Antonio de Areco. December Gaucho Festival, Gral. Madaria, Prov. Buenos Aires; Trout Festival, San Junin de los Andes, Prov. Neuqu ©n. Argentina's economy has traditionally been based on agriculture, but the industrial and service sectors have also grown in importance in recent years.Livestock (cattle and sheep) and grains have long been the bulwark of its wealth; its cattle herds are among the world's finest. As an exporter of wheat, corn, flax, oats, beef, mutton, hides, and wool, Argentina rivals the United States, Canada, and Australia. Its other agricultural pr oducts include oilseeds, lemons, soybeans, grapes, and tobacco. Argentina is the world's largest source of tannin and linseed oil. The Pampa is the nation's chief agricultural area; however, since the 1930s there has been a great rise in production in other areas, especially in the oases of the Monte and the irrigated valleys of N Patagonia.Although Argentina has a variety of minerals, they are of local importance and are not completely adequate to support the country's industries. Domestic oil and gas production has made the nation self-sufficient in energy; ipelines connect the oil and gas fields with Buenos Aires and other major refining centers. Argentina also exploits its ample hydroelectric resources. The large coal field of S Patagonia has low-grade coal. Food processing (in particular meatpacking, flour milling, and canning) is the chief manufacturing industry; motor vehicles, textiles, chemicals, petrochemicals, and steel are also major products.Argentina's principal import s are machinery, motor vehicles, chemicals, metals, plastics, and other manufactured goods. The chief trading partners are Brazil, the United States, China, and Chile. Argentina is a member of Mercosur. In recent decades Argentina has experienced both inflation and recession. Privatization and other economic reforms begun by President Menem in the early 1990s produced unprecedented economic growth, but significant economic problems remained, including high unemployment and a massive national debt (due to freehanded government spending and widespread tax evasion).The economy was hurt by Brazil's recession and currency devaluation in the late 1990s, but the pegging of the peso to the dollar combined with Argentina's own economic problems resulted in economic collapse in 2001. The economy did not begin to grow strongly again until 2003. The ancestors of most Argentineans of today originally came from Spain and Italy, with smaller percentages coming from other European nations and Middl e-Eastern countries. The country also has a Jewish population of about 350,000, the fifth-largest in the world, and a similar number of Syrian Lebanese people.There are some indigenous communities that live in the northeast areas of Argentina and in the Patagonian region. Argentina has recently received an important intake of immigration from neighbouring countries, mainly Paraguay, Chile, Bolivia and Uruguay. The immigration from Per? is also significant. Gaucho is a traditional word meaning country man of South America from Indian and Spanish descent. Till the beginning of this century, there were gauchos in Argentina who spent their days working and riding their horses around the large â€Å"estancias†(similar to Australian stations), and looking after cattle that roamed the Pampas.Gauchos often featured as heroes in last-century poems, stories and folkloric songs. Food way to eat beef is the â€Å"asado† (barbecued beef ribs), whereas whole sides of beef or kid may be spit roasted for large gatherings. Also popular are â€Å"empanadas† which are crescent-shaped pies usually filled with meat or corn, and â€Å"Locro,† a type of stew made with corn, beans, potatoes and peppers. The national drink is â€Å"mate† (pronounced mat-A), a green tea made from the leaves of â€Å"yerba mate†, a national herb. Clothing City people dress in garments similar to those worn by Australians.Rural workers may wear the traditional gaucho clothing: a wide brimmed hat, a poncho, and a loose pair of trousers tucked into boots. Economy Primary Industry Argentina is rich in natural resources with a geological and climatic situation articularly suitable for developing forestry, agriculture, mining and fisheries. It also boasts of large petroleum, gas and uranium reserves. Agriculture: Argentina is famous for its agricultural production. With over 54 million head of cattle, Argentina's beef is renowned around the world.Annual production of cereals and oilseeds exceeds 70 million tonnes, which makes Argentina one of the main exporters of these products and their derivatives. One of the country's largest sheep grazing regions, which is also one of the largest regions for growing fruit and vegetables, is found in Patagonia, in the south. The typical farms associated with this production are surprisingly similar to those found in Australia. Mendoza on the western border is the centre of wine production. Argentina is the worlds fifth-largest producer of wine.Most Argentineans drink wine with every meal, a traditional custom introduced by the European immigration. Exports are continually growing, Mining: The Andean Mountains provide Argentina with rich mineral deposits. Some of the minerals which are being mined at present are, copper, tin, lead, zinc, gold, silver, and uranium. The main exploitation of copper and gold, Minera de la Alumbrera, in the Province of Catamarca, is an Australian venture. Gas and Oil: are importan t resources being increasingly exported to the neighbouring countries and to the world market. Together with mining products they make out for 15% of total exports.Top Manufacturing Sector The industrial sector includes manufacturing and construction. Among Argentina's manufactured goods are processed food, textiles, clothing, metallic and non-metallic mineral products, wood products, paper, pharmaceutical products, chemicals and petrochemical products, aluminium, steel, cars, electrical machinery and appliances, achine tools, turbines, cranes, agriculture machinery, and space and nuclear products. Construction, engineering and consultancy activities have developed to an important stage, extending to the Latin-American market and other countries.Top Transport Land: Public transport includes buses, railways and subways. Most of Argentina's goods are transported by truck although railways are becoming increasingly important in the transportation of domestic cargo. Air: The most widely -known national airline is Aerolineas Argentinas which has been operating for more than 60 years. It covers nearly all the domestic routes and has also an important continental and inter-continental network. There are also other private airlines that have been between Sydney and Buenos Aires, with a short stopover in Auckland, New Zealand.Water: There are numerous coastal and international ocean and river companies that offer freight or passenger transport. Several Ocean Lines serve the route between Australian and Argentinean ports. Top Communications Postal and telecommunications services are run by private enterprises which have been operating in free competition since the beginning of 2000. The first post office opened in 1814. Satellite tracking stations and digital technology provide domestic and international telephone communications linked to every country in the world. There are about 40 television stations and 200 radio stations in Argentina.Export Argentina's exports, whi ch reached 30 billion $1JS in 2003, are composed of 24% primary agricultural commodities, 13% fuels and minerals, 36% processed agricultural products and foodstuffs, and 27% industrial products. 7. People (ethnic backgrounds) Argentines have a reputation in South America for being arrogant. In my experience they have a well deserved reason for national pride. Argentina is the 8th largest country in the world, stretching from deserts at the Bolivian border, to tropical jungles at Iquazu Fallsto the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere – Mt.Aconcagua, a 22,831 foot extinct volcano – to a Darwinian paradise, Tierra del Fuego,Just 600 miles from the Antarctic continent – see Maps of the Argentine provinces. Its history spans the millennia from the greatest age of the dinosaurs, the magnificent Inca Empire, the golden age of Spanish Imperialism and the stablishment of the third wealthiest democracy in the Western hemisphere. Despite American commentators who st ress that â€Å"†¦ Argentina is an economic basket case†¦ † due to the mercurial whims of political and economic elites – a situation to which no nation has ever had an immunity – I find no evidence of â€Å"national depression. What I experience is a thriving society that is aware of the insecurity of economic good times but in love with life. The buzz of Buenos Aires's Manhattan with an Italian awareness of the present – fathers and mothers with young children on their arms, professionals onducting business in a sidewalk caf ©, small shops selling AR$60,OOO chinchilla fur bedspreads (US$18,OOO), food markets offering only organically raised poultry – they don't say it's organic, it Just is – and thousands of people at the weekend Feria de Mataderos.Two hour lunch breaks are the norm. Restaurants, which normally don't open for dinner until 9:00 pm, are not full until 1 1 pm. A true â€Å"porteno† (native born resident of Buenos Aires) will have a distinct Italian lilt to their Spanish and say â€Å"ciao,† not â€Å"adios,† when saying â€Å"good-bye. † Cordoba is Old Spain – the intellectual eart of the nation. It's a city of eight universities, and the birthplace of the Jesuit philosophy of the social contract between rulers and the ruled – which is still in lively national debate.The Inca Empire still touchesSaltaSalta the Beautiful, as it's justifiably known, bears the splendor of Colonial monuments, with archaeological proof of thriving indigenous cultures and the reality of street children eager to shine your shoes. Indigenous language communities founded 6,000 years ago are very much alive in the rugged, semi-arid yet stunning landscape of theAndean orld class vintages using irrigation technology first perfected by indigenous people over 3,000 years ago. Argentine vineyards are the highest in the world – up to 5,000 feet – with 350 days of warm sunshine.TheArgentine Mesopotamiais a floating land of Jungles, massive rivers, the incomparable Iguazu Falls, splendid cities, mate plantations, magnificent ruins and giant, delicious fish. Patagonia,the vast region that conjures visions of another reality, is another reality. Welsh, German, English, French, Spanish, Eastern Europeans and indigenous cultures thrive on the Atlantic and Andean edges of this land. The long Atlantic coast is home to internationally protected wildlife sites, fishing villages and modern petroleum shipping ports.The flat sparse interior is dotted by multi-thousand acre estancias (ranches), many of which have been owned by the original families for generations, with millions of sheep and a few gauchos. Welsh villages, the first European settlements in Patagonia, are complete with trim, vine covered cottages, pocket gardens and afternoon tea. In the Andean west, are the finest ski resorts and fruit growing lands in South America. 8. Family/culture There is no typical Argentinian family. Family life differs according to many factors, such as religion, region, ethnic background and income.Traditionally, fathers were considered the head of the family, mothers were in charge of the household, and young married couples lived with their parents in quarters built onto the house. Now, most Argentinians believe that women have the right to a career as well as marriage and family. Some families have hired help to do domestic chores. Young married couples usually find a place of their own rather than living with parents. Did you know? In Buenos Aires, a cosmopolitan city of over 13 million residents, there is a saying that a Porteno â€Å"speaks Spanish, eats Italian, dresses like a Frenchman and thinks he is an Englishman. Sixty percent of Argentinians own their homes and often build additional rooms rather than moving to larger houses. Most Argentinians live and work in urban areas. About a third of the population lives in and around Buenos Aires. In small cities and the suburbs, people live in single- family homes, but in Buenos Aires, most people live in apartment buildings. The apartments have modern facilities, but rent and electricity are very expensive. Rent can take a large portion of monthly earnings for some families.Housing construction has not kept pace with the number of Job seekers heading into the cities. The housing shortage has resulted in the growth of villas miserias, shacks made of pieces of wood, tin and other materials found by residents. There is no running water, sewage system or electricity in these areas, and the residents often suffer health problems because of contaminated water. There are still large farms or estancias in Gauchos, who wear the traditional baggy pants and flat-topped hat, still work on ome cattle ranches.In Patagonia the estancias may be sheep ranches. In other areas, the estancias may have vineyards, orchards or fields of grain. Some very large estancias are like little vill ages, with their own chapels and schools. Sometimes the wife and children of the owner live in the city while the children are at school. The 300,000 indigenous people in Argentina live in small rural communities or in the cities. One important group is the Wichi, who live in the marshy area near the river Pilcomayo in the north of the country and Mapuche in the Neuqu ©n province.Although many indigenous Argentinians have preserved their traditional way of life, others have adopted a more European lifestyle 9. Government Argentina has seen some interesting events in respect to government and politics (too detailed to elaborate on as part of this article, but certainly worth further research if you are interested) and following a period of military dictatorship which ended in 1983, Argentina returned to the 1853 Constitution which was further amended in 1994. Government in Argentina is now operated via a representative, republican federal system which is similar to the federal syst em in the USA.The government in Argentina is formed of two separate legislative branches which are executive and bicameral and of these two houses, the Senate has 72 seats and the Chamber of Deputies has 257 seats. Argentina is further divided into a Federal Capital (the City of Buenos Aires) and 23 Provinces. The Federal Government of Argentina is lead by the President. Until the change to Constitution in 1994 (referred to above), it was necessary that the President be a Roman Catholic. Changes to the Constitution also permitted the reelection of the President for a further 4 year period as opposed to the original 6 year period.Each Province within Argentina has its own Governor, Chamber of Deputies and Senate. The Federal Capital in Buenos Aires, has an elected Mayor allowing for self government. The balancing of power in the government of Argentina is not straightforward. The primary reason for this being that 70% of the population falls under the remit of the Federal Capital and the provinces of Santa Fe, Buenos Aires and Cordoba. Consequently they are able to provide a powerful counterweight to the Federal government, particularly if they are controlled by the opposition.In respects to Political Parties in Argentina, the spectrum of parties is broad and diverse and at least 20 parties are represented in the Congreso. Local parties have considerable power within some of the provinces. The Sapag familys Partido Popular Neuquino in Neuquen for example has driven some of Argentina's most progressive social policies. A recent concern for the government in Argentina is the lack of interest that the younger generation take in government and politics and their resulting voting apathy. No doubt however, the same concern exists for a significant number of countries. 10. 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