The Controversy of Gay Parenting Essay - 972 Words

The Controversy of Gay Parenting Gay parenting is an issue that affects a great number of people worldwide. Although the number is a minority, the issue still causes heated debate. People who are in favor of Gay, Lesbian, and Bi-Sexual parenting rights claim that as long as there is a commitment to parenthood then successful parenting is achievable as a homosexual or bi-sexual. Since within a gay couple there is no chance for accidental pregnancy, the couple must make a conscious decision to become a parent. People opposed to homosexual parenting argue that homosexual couples are not capable of having long enduring strong relationships required for the successful upbringing of children. They claim it is in the childs best interest to†¦show more content†¦In no way would it not be planned, unwanted, or unexpected. Fairbanks also argues, it takes love to make a family and sex is not a part of the equation. The author is clearly very level headed regarding this issue. He doesnt make outlandish remarks or accus e anyone as being the cause of the problem. He attempts to touch the readers heartstrings instead of raising anger. The evidence he presents is quite valid and believable. He brings forth one fact from the American Bar Association as well as three references to pop culture, which anyone can recognize. The author opens with reference to a quote from Jean Kerr; Now the thing about having a baby#8230;is thereafter you have it. Fairbanks argument is that this quote doesnt sink in with potential gay parents anymore than it does with many straight ones. In other words, he believes that no matter what the sexual orientation people simply dont realize all that is involved in having children. Parenting is to be taken seriously. It is hard work which necessitates selflessness, responsibility, and commitment that few people#8230;are always prepared to give. Here the author is trying to put homosexual couples on the same playing field as heterosexual couples. To define what it takes to be a goo d parent allows the reader to become subjective no matter what the point of view regarding gay parenting. I feel the method Fairbanks used was excellent in forcing myself to look at the trueShow MoreRelated A Study on Gay Parenting Essay1090 Words   |  5 PagesHomosexuality has been a sensitive subject in society for a long time, and in recent years, it has sparked both support and controversy in areas such as legalizing gay and lesbian marriage and various other matters that have arisen surrounding the movement towards equality of treatment and integration into society. One of these matters that has garnered attention is gay parenting. With some states now allowing same-sex marriage or unions, the next step being taken is starting a family. There has beenRead MoreShould Same-Sex Couples Be Allowed to Adopt? Essays838 Words   |  4 Pageslegal in most places which makes this dream for some impossible. This caused controversy between same-sex couples and the general public who believes that same-sex adoption should remain illegal. Ultimately, same-sex adoption should be legal. The same-sex controversy is one of the many results from the slow process of gay marriage becoming legalized in various states across the United States of America. The fight for gay marriage is predated way back to the Stonewall Riots of 1969 (â€Å"The StonewallRead MoreGay Adoption874 Words   |  4 PagesThe issue of adoption has caused much controversy in the United States. There are people who are for it and people who are against it. Each side uses many arguments to defend in what they believe. People who believe that gay adoption is bad say that letting homosexuals adopt children is bad for the children and it harms them. According to a study done by Paul and Kirk Cameron, children in 48 out of 52 families being raised by homosexuals experience problems that include hypersexuality, instabilityRead MoreSame Sex Marriage And Parenting999 Words   |  4 PagesSame-Sex Marriage and Parenting Same-sex marriage and same-sex parenting are comparatively new controversial topics in today’s world and its â€Å"mainstream† morality. I was not exposed to any homosexual â€Å"lifestyle† while growing up. While I know that I am firmly traditional in my theological views, nevertheless, I firmly believe that traditional marriage and traditional parenting are devotional commitments between a man and a woman. Therefore, same-sex marriage and same-sex parenting are to me, issuesRead MoreSame Sex Marriage And Marriage948 Words   |  4 PagesSame-sex marriage and same-sex parenting are comparatively new controversial topics in today’s world and its â€Å"mainstream† morality. I was not exposed to any homosexual â€Å"lifestyle† while growing up. I know that I am strongly traditional in my theological views, nevertheless, I vigorously believe that traditional marriage and parenting are devotional commitments between a man and a woman. Therefore , same-sex marriage and parenting are to me, issues of a society with strong traditional cultural identitiesRead MoreGay Parenting Essay939 Words   |  4 Pageseach passing moment. Although homosexual marriage is not allowed in some states, the anatomy of the person, whether male or female, hardly allows them to reproduce without sperm or ovaries. Since gays are not capable of reproducing, then adoption is their next option or sperm donors. The big controversy is whether or not homosexuals should be allowed to adopt children or whether the â€Å"step-parent,† which is actually the co-partner, can adopt the birth mother’s child. Adoption is another route forRead MoreSame Sex Marriage And Parenting938 Words   |  4 PagesSame-Sex Marriage and Parenting Gay and lesbian couples wish to get married for many of the equivalent reasons that heterosexual couples wish to for love, constant companionship, and to create a nuclear family environment. A survey of same-sex marriage and same-sex parenting reveals several challenges facing gay and lesbian couples, most noticeable being the stereotyping their lifestyles, parenting, and gay beliefs. In the United States, marriage egalitarianism has started to structure itself.Read MoreSynthesis Essays1243 Words   |  5 PagesGay/Lesbian Families Adoption is an extremely sensitive subject,(insert dash) especially for individuals who are Gay or Lesbian. There is much controversy on the topic. There are a variety of ways to which it isn’t possible for a couple to adopt. Infertility is becoming a greater problem in our time. In Gerald P. Mallon’s article, â€Å"Assessing Lesbian and Gay Prospective Foster and Adoptive Families: A Focus on the Home Study Process,† in 2007. He introduces a few different ways gay men and lesbianRead MoreThe Controversy Surrounding Same Sex Parenting1255 Words   |  6 Pages â€Å"There is no scientific basis for concluding that lesbian mothers or gay fathers are unfit parents on the basis of their sexual orientation† (Armesto, 2002; Patterson, 2000; Tasker Golombok, 1997). Ever since gay and lesbians have been parents people have questioned how the parents’ sexual orientation impacts child and adolescent development. Opponents of same-sex parents argue that sexual orientation has a negative impact on child development, while proponents argue that the relationship betweenRead MoreThe Debate Over Same Sex Parenting1435 Words   |  6 Pages The debate over same-sex parenting and same sex couples being capable of raising healthy children in the United States is a contentious one, speakers on both sides continue to work hard to have their voices heard. Some believe that being raised by same sex couples will cause the children to pursue same sex relationships in the future. The supreme court has been working towards equality and listening to arguments on the rights for same-sex couples to not only marry but to adopt and raise children

Collective Behavior - 11901 Words

Chapter I: The Study of Collective Behavior A. What Is Collective Behavior? As we review these pages for the final time sections of Los Angeles are in flames in response to a jury verdict exonerating police whose beating of an African American man was captured on videotape. Supporters and opponents of abortion take to the streets daily. Mexico City searches for answers to a gas explosion that leveled a 40 square block area. The number of men wearing pony tails and one earring and the number of people saying and understanding yo, dude seems to be increasing. These diverse actions fall within the area sociologists call collective behavior. Some fields in sociology are relatively easy to define and their meaning can be grasped immediately,†¦show more content†¦Quarantelli and Russell Dynes, has had a world-wide impact. The center has served as a clearing house and international model for other research centers and researchers. Its research has been useful to disaster planning and control efforts. As we will note in chapter III the research on disasters has revealed some counter-intuitive findings. Apart from its direct usefulness, knowledge of collective behavior is relevant to you as an educated person and as a participant in a democratic society. It calls attention to some of the most basic questions about human beings. There is the question posed by Hobbes: how is social order possible? How fragile is the social order and what happens when it breaks down? There is the question raised by Freud: how rational is modern man in an industrial urban setting? There is the question posed by Karl Marx: how do societies change? Does history follow a pre-determined path? Are individuals simply pawns of some more profound historical necessity or do persons make their own history? Why are social reform efforts frequently unsuccessful or limited in their impact or duration? Of course in this short text we can not begin to do justice to these questions, but the study of collective behavior offers one way to approach them. As a social science field its eclectic nature gives it some distinctive elements. Those concerned with ever greaterShow MoreRelatedStudy of Collective Behavior by Sociologists1307 Words   |  5 PagesCollective behavior can be observed in many forms. In the view of sociologist Neil Smelser, â€Å"collective behavior is the relatively spontaneous and unstructured behavior of a group of people who are reacting to a common influence in an ambiguous situation†. (Stolley, 2005) Other sociologists define collective behavior as spontaneous activities that involve large numbers of people violating established norms. This fluidity makes it more difficult for sociologists to generalize about people’s behaviorRead MoreCollective Behavior11916 Words   |  48 PagesChapter I: The Study of Collective Behavior A. What Is Collective Behavior?   As we review these pages for the final time sections of Los Angeles are in flames in response to a jury verdict exonerating police whose beating of an African American man was captured on videotape. Supporters and opponents of abortion take to the streets daily. Mexico City searches for answers to a gas explosion that leveled a 40 square block area. The number of men wearing pony tails and one earring and the number ofRead MoreThe Theory Of Collective Behavior Essay1219 Words   |  5 Pagesand others by engaging in various types of collective action, such as protesting in the streets, that dramatize those grievances and concerns and demand that something be done about them.† (Ruud Kreisi Hanspeter, Saul.A. Sarah, Snow.A. David, pg 3) The theories of social movements are discussed below. Theory of collective behaviour: Collective behaviour bears an intimate relation to social change. In broader sense, collective behaviour refers to the behaviour of two orRead MoreCollective Behavior And Their Theories Essay1745 Words   |  7 PagesQuestion 1: Discuss collective behavior and their theories. Collective behavior according to Smelser is relatively spontaneous and unstructured behavior of a group of people who are reacting to a common influence in an ambiguous situation. Another definition given in the book Sociology: Comprehensive edition indicates that collective behavior refers to relatively unplanned and relatively unstructured behavior by large numbers of individuals acting with or being influenced by other individuals. TheRead MoreCollective Behavior Theories1765 Words   |  8 PagesRobert Park first coined the term collective behavior in the early 1900s. In class, it was taught that his definition included social unrest, crowds, sects, publics, mass movements, crowd mind, propaganda, and fashion as forms of collective behavior. Collective behavior has shaped our everyday lives in more ways than most of us care to think about. Collective behavior is defined as any event in which a group of people engages in unusual behavior. Unusual may have a negative connotation for someRead MoreCommon Forms Of Collective Behavior1511 Words   |  7 Pages Collective behavior is a term sociologists use to refer to a miscellaneous set of behaviors in which large numbers of people engage. More specifically, collective behavior refers to relatively spontaneous and relatively unstructured behavior by large numbers of individuals acting with or being influenced by other individuals. Relatively spontaneous means that the behavior is somewhat spontaneous but also somewhat planned, while relatively unstructured means that the behavior is somewhat organizedRead More Collective Behavior Essay481 Words   |  2 Pagesnbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;This event is an example of a social movement. This was simply an organized group of people that gathered for the purpose of resisting change (In this case, the strategies discussed by the aforementioned institutions) through their collective action. Specifically, this type of social movement is called a resistance movement, because this group was in opposition to change of a certain aspect of our society. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The main reason why activists gathered in protestRead MoreThe Collective Behavior within an Organization624 Words   |  3 PagesOrganizational culture is a way to describe the collective behavior within an organization, the values, norms, language, symbols, status, and beliefs and habits. We can also view organizational behavior as the collection of behaviors within an organization that cause those members to perceive their organization and others. In fact, organizational culture affects the way individuals and groups interact with each other, clients, stakeholders and the public. Because people are so individualistic, itRead MoreAn Example Of Experiencing Collective Behavior1875 Words   |  8 Pages16. An example of experiencing collective behavior in life is one particular moment during college. At my time at USM, I participated in multiple protests across campus. The first being the students of Missouri protest. This protest was run by the group USM f uture, a student run organization that focuses on bringing more diversity to USM. Maine is a very white populated state with little diversity. I’ve noticed that most of my classmates are white and some classes, I tend to be the only person ofRead MoreCollective Behavior and the Assertion of Individuality: A Study956 Words   |  4 Pagesare engaged in collective behavior. THESIS: Those who are able to overcome collective behavior and allow for their individuality to determine their own outcomes exemplify the best of human nature. The most convincing piece of evidence to reinforce this assertion is found at the beginning of the 15th chapter of Thios Societys Myths and Realities: An Introduction to Social Change. Deviation from collective behavior, which the author defines as spontaneous and unstructured behavior (Thio, p. 474)

The Amber Spyglass Chapter 10 Wheels Free Essays

â€Å"Yeah,† said the red-haired girl, in the garden of the deserted casino. â€Å"We seen her, me and Paolo both seen her. She come through here days ago. We will write a custom essay sample on The Amber Spyglass Chapter 10 Wheels or any similar topic only for you Order Now † Father Gomez said, â€Å"And do you remember what she looked like?† â€Å"She look hot,† said the little boy. â€Å"Sweaty in the face, all right.† â€Å"How old did she seem to be?† â€Å"About†¦Ã¢â‚¬  said the girl, considering, â€Å"I suppose maybe forty or fifty. We didn’t see her close. She could be thirty, maybe. But she was hot, like Paolo said, and she was carrying a big rucksack, much bigger than yours, this big†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Paolo whispered something to her, screwing up his eyes to look at the priest as he did so. The sun was bright in his face. â€Å"Yeah,† said the girl impatiently, â€Å"I know. The Specters,† she said to Father Gomez, â€Å"she wasn’ afraid of the Specters at all. She just walked through the city and never worried a bit. I ain’ never seen a grownup do that before, all right. She looked like she didn’ know about them, even. Same as you,† she added, looking at him with a challenge in her eyes. â€Å"There’s a lot I don’t know,† said Father Gomez mildly. The little boy plucked at her sleeve and whispered again. â€Å"Paolo says,† she told the priest, â€Å"he thinks you’re going to get the knife back.† Father Gomez felt his skin bristle. He remembered the testimony of Fra Pavel in the inquiry at the Consistorial Court: this must be the knife he meant. â€Å"If I can,† he said, â€Å"I shall. The knife comes from here, does it?† â€Å"From the Torre degli Angeli,† said the girl, pointing at the square stone tower over the red-brown rooftops. It shimmered in the midday glare. â€Å"And the boy who stole it, he kill our brother, Tullio. The Specters got him, all right. You want to kill that boy, that’s okay. And the girl – she was a liar, she was as bad as him.† â€Å"There was a girl, too?† said the priest, trying not to seem too interested. â€Å"Lying filth,† spat the red-haired child. â€Å"We nearly killed them both, but then there came some women, flying women – â€Å" â€Å"Witches,† said Paolo. â€Å"Witches, and we couldn’ fight them. They took them away, the girl and boy. We don’ know where they went. But the woman, she came later. We thought maybe she got some kind of knife, to keep the Specters away, all right. And maybe you have, too,† she added, lifting her chin to stare at him boldly. â€Å"I have no knife,† said Father Gomez. â€Å"But I have a sacred task. Maybe that is protecting me against these – Specters.† â€Å"Yeah,† said the girl, â€Å"maybe. Anyway, you want her, she went south, toward the mountains. We don’ know where. But you ask anyone, they know if she go past, because there ain’ no one like her in Ci’gazze, not before and not now. She be easy to find.† â€Å"Thank you, Angelica,† said the priest. â€Å"Bless you, my children.† He shouldered his pack, left the garden, and set off through the hot, silent streets, satisfied. After three days in the company of the wheeled creatures, Mary Malone knew rather more about them, and they knew a great deal about her. That first morning they carried her for an hour or so along the basalt highway to a settlement by a river, and the journey was uncomfortable; she had nothing to hold on to, and the creature’s back was hard. They sped along at a pace that frightened her, but the thunder of their wheels on the hard road and the beat of their scudding feet made her exhilarated enough to ignore the discomfort. And in the course of the ride she became more aware of the creatures’ physiology. Like the grazers’ skeletons, theirs had a diamond-shaped frame, with a limb at each of the corners. Sometime in the distant past, a line of ancestral creatures must have developed this structure and found it worked, just as generations of long-ago crawling things in Mary’s world had developed the central spine. The basalt highway led gradually downward, and after a while the slope increased, so the creatures could freewheel. They tucked their side legs up and steered by leaning to one side or the other, and hurtled along at a speed Mary found terrifying – though she had to admit that the creature she was riding never gave her the slightest feeling of danger. If only she’d had something to hold on to, she would have enjoyed it. At the foot of the mile-long slope, there was a stand of the great trees, and nearby a river meandered on the level grassy ground. Some way off, Mary saw a gleam that looked like a wider expanse of water, but she didn’t spend long looking at that, because the creatures were making for a settlement on the riverbank, and she was burning with curiosity to see it. There were twenty or thirty huts, roughly grouped in a circle, made of – she had to shade her eyes against the sun to see – wooden beams covered with a kind of wattle-and-daub mixture on the walls and thatch on the roofs. Other wheeled creatures were working: some repairing a roof, others hauling a net out of the river, others bringing brushwood for a fire. So they had language, and they had fire, and they had society. And about then she found an adjustment being made in her mind, as the word creatures became the word people. These beings weren’t human, but they were people, she told herself; it’s not them, they’re us. They were quite close now, and seeing what was coming, some of the villagers looked up and called to each other to look. The party from the road slowed to a halt, and Mary clambered stiffly down, knowing that she would ache later on. â€Å"Thank you,† she said to her, her what? Her steed? Her cycle? Both ideas were absurdly wrong for the bright-eyed amiability that stood beside her. She settled for – friend. He raised his trunk and imitated her words: â€Å"Anku,† he said, and again they laughed, in high spirits. She took her rucksack from the other creature (â€Å"Anku! Anku!†) and walked with them off the basalt and on to the hard-packed earth of the village. And then her absorption truly began. In the next few days she learned so much that she felt like a child again, bewildered by school. What was more, the wheeled people seemed to be just as wonderstruck by her. Her hands, to begin with. They couldn’t get enough of them: their delicate trunks felt over every joint, searching out thumbs, knuckles, and fingernails, flexing them gently, and they watched with amazement as she picked up her rucksack, conveyed food to her mouth, scratched, combed her hair, washed. In return, they let her feel their trunks. They were infinitely flexible, and about as long as her arm, thicker where they joined the head, and quite powerful enough to crush her skull, she guessed. The two finger-like projections at the tip were capable of enormous force and great gentleness; the creatures seemed to be able to vary the tone of their skin on the underside, on their equivalent of fingertips, from a soft velvet to a solidity like wood. As a result, they could use them for both a delicate task lik e milking a grazer and the rough business of tearing and shaping branches. Little by little, Mary realized that their trunks were playing a part in communication, too. A movement of the trunk would modify the meaning of a sound, so the word that sounded like â€Å"chuh† meant water when it was accompanied by a sweep of the trunk from left to right, rain when the trunk curled up at the tip, sadness when it curled under, and young shoots of grass when it made a quick flick to the left. As soon as she saw this, Mary imitated it, moving her arm as best she could in the same way, and when the creatures realized that she was beginning to talk to them, their delight was radiant. Once they had begun to talk (mostly in the wheeled people’s language, although she managed to teach them a few words of English: they could say â€Å"anku† and â€Å"grass† and â€Å"tree† and â€Å"sky† and â€Å"river,† and pronounce her name, with a little difficulty) they progressed much more quickly. Their word for themselves as a people was mulefa, but an individual was a zalif. Mary thought there was a difference between the sounds for he-zalif and she-zalif, but it was too subtle for her to imitate easily. She began to write it all down and compile a dictionary. But before she let herself become truly absorbed, she took out her battered paperback and the yarrow stalks, and asked the I Ching: Should I be here doing this, or should I go on somewhere else and keep searching? The reply came: Keeping still, so that restlessness dissolves; then, beyond the tumult, one can perceive the great laws. It went on: As a mountain keeps still within itself, thus a wise man does not permit his will to stray beyond his situation. That could hardly be clearer. She folded the stalks away and closed the book, and then realized that she’d drawn a circle of watching creatures around her. One said, Question? Permission? Curious. She said, Please. Look. Very delicately their trunks moved, sorting through the stalks in the same counting movement she’d been making, or turning the pages of the book. One thing they were astonished by was the doubleness of her hands: by the fact that she could both hold the book and turn the pages at the same time. They loved to watch her lace her fingers together, or play the childhood game of â€Å"This is the church, and this is the steeple,† or make that over-and-over thumb-to-opposite forefinger movement that was what Ama was using, at exactly the same moment in Lyra’s world, as a charm to keep evil spirits away. Once they had examined the yarrow stalks and the book, they folded the cloth over them carefully and put them with the book into her rucksack. She was happy and reassured by the message from ancient China, because it meant that what she wanted most to do was exactly, at that moment, what she should do. So she set herself to learning more about the mulefa, with a cheerful heart. She learned that there were two sexes, and that they lived monogamously in couples. Their offspring had long childhoods – ten years at least – growing very slowly, as far as she could interpret their explanation. There were five young ones in this settlement, one almost grown and the others somewhere in between, and being smaller than the adults, they could not manage the seedpod wheels. The children had to move as the grazers did, with all four feet on the ground, but for all their energy and adventurousness (skipping up to Mary and shying away, trying to clamber up tree trunks, floundering in the shallow water, and so on), they seemed clumsy, as if they were in the wrong element. The speed and power and grace of the adults was startling by contrast, and Mary saw how much a growing youngster must long for the day when the wheels would fit. She watched the oldest child, one day, go quietly to the storehouse where a number of seedpods were kept, and try to fit his forecl aw into the central hole; but when he tried to stand up, he fell over at once, trapping himself, and the sound attracted an adult. The child struggled to get free, squeaking with anxiety, and Mary couldn’t help laughing at the sight, at the indignant parent and the guilty child, who pulled himself out at the last minute and scampered away. The seedpod wheels were clearly of the utmost importance, and soon Mary began to see just how valuable they were. The mulefa spent much of their time, to begin with, in maintaining their wheels. By deftly lifting and twisting the claw, they could slip it out of the hole, and then they used their trunks to examine the wheel all over, cleaning the rim, checking for cracks. The claw was formidably strong: a spur of horn or bone at right angles to the leg, and slightly curved so that the highest part, in the middle, bore the weight as it rested on the inside of the hole. Mary watched one day as a zalif examined the hole in her front wheel, touching here and there, lifting her trunk up in the air and back again, as if sampling the scent. Mary remembered the oil she’d found on her fingers when she had examined the first seedpod. With the zalif ‘s permission she looked at her claw, and found the surface more smooth and slick than anything she’d felt on her world. Her fingers simply would not stay on the surface. The whole of the claw seemed impregnated with the faintly fragrant oil, and after she had seen a number of the villagers sampling, testing, checking the state of their wheels and their claws, she began to wonder which had come first: wheel or claw? Rider or tree? Although of course there was a third element as well, and that was geology. Creatures could only use wheels on a world that provided them with natural highways. There must be some feature of the mineral content of these stone roads that made them run in ribbon-like lines over the vast savanna, and be so resistant to weathering or cracking. Little by little, Mary came to see the way everything was linked together, and all of it, seemingly, managed by the mulefa. They knew the location of every herd of grazers, every stand of wheel trees, every clump of sweet grass, and they knew every individual within the herds, and every separate tree, and they discussed their well-being and their fate. On one occasion she saw the mulefa cull a herd of grazers, selecting some individuals and herding them away from the rest, to dispatch them by breaking their necks with a wrench of a powerful trunk. Nothing was wasted. Holding flakes of razor-sharp stone in their trunks, the mulefa skinned and gutted the animals within minutes, and then began a skillful butchery, separating out the offal and the tender meat and the tougher joints, trimming the fat, removing the horns and the hooves, and working so efficiently that Mary watched with the pleasure she felt at seeing anything done well. Soon strips of meat were hanging to dry in the sun, and others were packed in salt and wrapped in leaves; the skins were scraped clear of fat, which was set by for later use, and then laid to soak in pits of water filled with oak bark to tan; and the oldest child was playing with a set of horns, pretending to be a grazer, making the other children laugh. That evening there was fresh meat to eat, and Mary feasted well. In a similar way the mulefa knew where the best fish were to be had, and exactly when and where to lay their nets. Looking for something she could do, Mary went to the net-makers and offered to help. When she saw how they worked, not on their own but two by two, working their trunks together to tie a knot, she realized why they’d been so astonished by her hands, because of course she could tie knots on her own. At first she felt that this gave her an advantage – she needed no one else – and then she realized how it cut her off from others. Perhaps all human beings were like that. And from that time on, she used one hand to knot the fibers, sharing the task with a female zalif who had become her particular friend, fingers and trunk moving in and out together. But of all the living things the wheeled people managed, it was the seedpod trees that they took most care with. There were half a dozen groves within the area looked after by this group. There were others farther away, but they were the responsibility of other groups. Each day a party went out to check on the well-being of the mighty trees, and to harvest any fallen seedpods. It was clear what the mulefa gained; but how did the trees benefit from this interchange? One day she saw. As she was riding along with the group, suddenly there was a loud crack, and everyone came to a halt, surrounding one individual whose wheel had split. Every group carried a spare or two with it, so the zalif with the broken wheel was soon remounted; but the broken wheel itself was carefully wrapped in a cloth and taken back to the settlement. There they prized it open and took out all the seeds – flat pale ovals as big as Mary’s little fingernail – and examined each one carefully. They explained that the seedpods needed the constant pounding they got on the hard roads if they were to crack at all, and also that the seeds were difficult to germinate. Without the mulefa ‘s attention, the trees would all die. Each species depended on the other, and furthermore, it was the oil that made it possible. It was hard to understand, but they seemed to be saying that the oil was the center of their thinking and feeling; that young ones didn’t have the wisdom of their elders because they couldn’t use the wheels, and thus could absorb no oil through their claws. And that was when Mary began to see the connection between the mulefa and the question that had occupied the past few years of her life. But before she could examine it any further (and conversations with the mulefa were long and complex, because they loved qualifying and explaining and illustrating their arguments with dozens of examples, as if they had forgotten nothing and everything they had ever known was available immediately for reference), the settlement was attacked. Mary was the first to see the attackers coming, though she didn’t know what they were. It happened in midafternoon, when she was helping repair the roof of a hut. The mulefa only built one story high, because they were not climbers; but Mary was happy to clamber above the ground, and she could lay thatch and knot it in place with her two hands, once they had shown her the technique, much more quickly than they could. So she was braced against the rafters of a house, catching the bundles of reeds thrown up to her, and enjoying the cool breeze from the water that was tempering the heat of the sun, when her eye was caught by a flash of white. It came from that distant glitter she thought was the sea. She shaded her eyes and saw one – two – more, a fleet of tall white sails, emerging out of the heat haze, some way off but making with a silent grace for the river mouth. Mary! called the zalif from below. What are you seeing? She didn’t know the word for sail, or boat, so she said tall, white, many. At once the zalif gave a call of alarm, and everyone in earshot stopped work and sped to the center of the settlement, calling the young ones. Within a minute all the mulefa were ready to flee. Atal, her friend, called: Mary! Mary! Come! Tualapi! Tualapi! It had all happened so quickly that Mary had hardly moved. The white sails by this time had already entered the river, easily making headway against the current. Mary was impressed by the discipline of the sailors: they tacked so swiftly, the sails moving together like a flock of starlings, all changing direction simultaneously. And they were so beautiful, those snow white slender sails, bending and dipping and filling – There were forty of them, at least, and they were coming upriver much more swiftly than she’d thought. But she saw no crew on board, and then she realized that they weren’t boats at all: they were gigantic birds, and the sails were their wings, one fore and one aft, held upright and flexed and trimmed by the power of their own muscles. There was no time to stop and study them, because they had already reached the bank, and were climbing out. They had necks like swans, and beaks as long as her forearm. Their wings were twice as tall as she was, and – she glanced back, frightened now, over her shoulder as she fled – they had powerful legs: no wonder they had moved so fast on the water. She ran hard after the mulefa, who were calling her name as they streamed out of the settlement and onto the highway. She reached them just in time: her friend Atal was waiting, and as Mary scrambled on her back, Atal beat the road with her feet, speeding away up the slope after her companions. The birds, who couldn’t move as fast on land, soon gave up the chase and turned back to the settlement. They tore open the food stores, snarling and growling and tossing their great cruel beaks high as they swallowed the dried meat and all the preserved fruit and grain. Everything edible was gone in under a minute. And then the tualapi found the wheel store, and tried to smash open the great seedpods, but that was beyond them. Mary felt her friends tense with alarm all around her as they watched from the crest of the low hill and saw pod after pod hurled to the ground, kicked, rasped by the claws on the mighty legs, but of course no harm came to them from that. What worried the mulefa was that several of them were pushed and shoved and nudged toward the water, where they floated heavily downstream toward the sea. Then the great snow-white birds set about demolishing everything they could see with brutal, raking blows of their feet and stabbing, smashing, shaking, tearing movements of their beaks. The mulefa around her were murmuring, almost crooning with sorrow. I help, Mary said. We make again. But the foul creatures hadn’t finished yet; holding their beautiful wings high, they squatted among the devastation and voided their bowels. The smell drifted up the slope with the breeze; heaps and pools of green-black-brown-white dung lay among the broken beams, the scattered thatch. Then, their clumsy movement on land giving them a swaggering strut, the birds went back to the water and sailed away downstream toward the sea. Only when the last white wing had vanished in the afternoon haze did the mulefa ride down the highway again. They were full of sorrow and anger, but mainly they were powerfully anxious about the seedpod store. Out of the fifteen pods that had been there, only two were left. The rest had been pushed into the water and lost. But there was a sandbank in the next bend of the river, and Mary thought she could spot a wheel that was caught there; so to the mulefa ‘s surprise and alarm, she took off her clothes, wound a length of cord around her waist, and swam across to it. On the sandbank she found not one but five of the precious wheels, and passing the cord through their softening centers, she swam heavily back, pulling them behind her. The mulefa were full of gratitude. They never entered the water themselves, and only fished from the bank, taking care to keep their feet and wheels dry. Mary felt she had done something useful for them at last. Later that night, after a scanty meal of sweet roots, they told her why they had been so anxious about the wheels. There had once been a time when the seedpods were plentiful, and when the world was rich and full of life, and the mulefa lived with their trees in perpetual joy. But something bad had happened many years ago – some virtue had gone out of the world – because despite every effort and all the love and attention the mulefa could give them, the wheel-pod trees were dying. How to cite The Amber Spyglass Chapter 10 Wheels, Essay examples

A socio cultural environment Essay Example

A socio cultural environment Paper A socio cultural environment is a sum of practices, customs, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that occur within population. It is influenced by cultural norms, demographic information and religious information. International organizations often do an inspection of a socio cultural environment before entering target market, because it helps the company to modify products and services appropriately. There are a lot of details that are important to understand, in order to do business in Venezuela and Japan (Verne, l. 1. , Beamer, L. , 201 1). In Venezuela, the business etiquette says that people should be greeting the most important person or the oldest person first. Interesting is that most Hispanic people have two last names one from their father and one from their mother. We should use the fathers surname when addressing someone. Venezuela has more flexible attitude towards time. People could be late, as well as business meetings or social events can begin late (Hefted, G, 2013). Business companies in Venezuela are hierarchical. Decisions, ideas and recommendations are generated from the top. Status is very important here, so people should show respect to their supervisors and colleagues as well. In this society, business relationships are based on the trust and the knowledge of each other. This is why personal contacts and networks are extremely important in making business deals. Working on friendships will improve ones success in the business environment. Venezuelan usually do not separate work from private life. Sometimes they may not trust someone first, so it is very important to take the time to develop interpersonal relationships with your future business partners. We will write a custom essay sample on A socio cultural environment specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on A socio cultural environment specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on A socio cultural environment specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Business in Venezuela is conducted mainly in Spanish. A lot of people from Venezuela do have the knowledge of English, but it is better to bring an interpreter to business meetings if someone does not have the best knowledge of Spanish. It may be surprising to someone, that Venezuelan do not hesitate to interrupt, argue and criticize when it is needed during a discussion. Exchange of arguments and ideas is considered positive and constructive. In this society, people prefer dealing with immediate issues and do not deal with the future too much. People should not be surprised if their Venezuelan colleague is in their personal space. Many people from Latin America use a close physical proximity as a way of communicating to each other (Businesslike. CZ, 2010). Japan, on the other hand, has completely different traditions and customs. When you meet your business partner a handshake is appropriate. The Japanese handshake is not strong and with little or no eye contact, which is completely different from Venezuelan way of greeting. Some Japanese can do so called bow. It is a gesture of respect and is highly appreciated by Japanese people. The deeper the bow is, the greater respect a person shows (Verne, l. L. , Beamer, L. , 2011). Very important component of conversation in Japan is nodding. When a person listens to some speech, he/she should nod, because it is a way to show that a person is listening and understanding the speaker. For people from Venezuela, it would be probably very interesting that Japanese value silence. It is an expected form of non-verbal communication. Long eye contact is considered rude in Japan as well as standing in a personal space of some person. Touching is also absolutely inappropriate. Japanese do not like exhibiting in public, which means it is not good for example to hug someone in public. During the business meeting it is suitable to sit erect and with both feet on the floor. People should never sit in any other position (Hefted, G. , 2013). When it comes to hierarchy, both personal and business relationships are hierarchical, which means that older people have higher status than young people, man have higher status than women and in business environment senior executives have of course higher status than junior executives. It is always very important to send a manager of the same position to meet with Japanese colleague, because titles are extremely important in Japan. Work is always done in groups. Everyone must consult everything before he/she is making some decision. We are talking about decision-making by consensus and it is a very long and slow process in Japan. Business meetings are formal in Japan, so there is usually no space for humor. But Japanese as well as Venezuelan, put emphasis on establishing friendships and good relationships, so it is good to spent 10 minutes with polite conversation before the business meeting starts. Harmony is extremely important in this society. That is why saving face is necessary. Japanese people want to avoid unpleasantness, misunderstanding conflicts and confrontation. It is not good to say no during the business meeting. Instead of no, it is better to say This could be difficult and try to find another solution. People should count on the fact that it takes several meetings to conclude a contract (Verne, l. 1. , Beamer, L. , 201 1). Everyone should be prepared to give and receive a gift during the first business meeting. Gifts are usually given in the end of first meeting. Not avian a proper gift for your business partner could destroy the cooperation. The ritual of gift giving is actually more relevant than the gift itself. Wrapping of the present is also very important. Japanese can sometimes refuse the gift once or twice, but then they will accept it (Hefted, G. , 2013). An understanding of these differences, which have a big impact on countrys development, is the key to effective cross-cultural communication. What can work in one country, might not necessarily work in the other one.

thirty years war Essay

thirty years war Essay thirty years war Essay Why did the Thirty-Years War start in the Czech Lands? Background: The Peace of Augsburg Not stabilized the religious structure of Germany Failure to recognize Calvinists, the ecclesiastical reservation The Bohemian Crisis Two-thirds of the population of Bohemia was Protestant and a mere one-tenth Roman Catholic Letter of Majesty of July 1609 Freedom of conscience for all Bohemian subjects Liberty of worship for the nobles and those towns which belonged to the crown Control of ecclesiastical organization within the kingdom to rest with the Estates Matthias, later became the emperor, confirmed the Letter of Majesty and was crowned king of Bohemia In 1617 the Archduke Ferdinand of Styria, a hard-line Catholic, had been designated heir to the thrones of Bohemia and Hungary Initially Ferdinand consented that he guaranteed the Letter of Majesty Of the ten Deputies Ferdinand appointed to rule Bohemia, only three were Protestant Later, Ferdinand asserted two new Protestant churches at Klostergrab and Brunau were illegal in the sense of being on royal land The Defenestration of Prague In May 1618, the Protestant nobles decided to confront the Deputies in person. They singled out two Catholic regents, Jaroslav Vorstia von Martinitz and Wilhelm Slawata in Prague Castleln, accused them of plotting to subvert Bohemian religious liberty, and then threw them and a secretary out of a window . The rebellion grew as the Bohemian estates, controlled by Hussites and Protestants, formed a provisional government They began canvassing Protestant Europe for allies and initiated a program of repression against Catholicism The conflict moved toward war, after the death of Emperor Matthias in May 1619 and the Imperial and Bohemian succession of Crown Prince Ferdinand as Emperor Ferdinand II The

Spelling Tips Our 10 “Most Wanted” Homophones

Spelling Tips Our 10 â€Å"Most Wanted† Homophones Spelling Tips: Our 10 â€Å"Most Wanted† Homophones Homophones- i.e., words that sound the same but differ in spelling and meaning- can cause a lot of confusion when you’re not sure which term to use in your written work. Some mix-ups are definitely more common than others, though, so here’s our list of ten prominent â€Å"reoffenders.† Keep an eye out for them when you’re next writing something! 10. Than/Then Only one letter separates these terms, but each one has a distinct meaning. â€Å"Then† is used when referring to time: Call me at eight. I’ll be ready by then. Or when discussing consequences: If you struggle with spelling, then you might want to hire a proofreader! â€Å"Than,† meanwhile, is used primarily for making comparisons: I’m better at grammar than spelling. 9. Hear/Here â€Å"Hear† and â€Å"here† are very different words: while â€Å"hear† means â€Å"sense a sound† or â€Å"listen,† â€Å"here† means â€Å"in this place.† Keep in mind that â€Å"hear† contains â€Å"ear,† which is what you listen with! 8. Affect/Effect These are very easy to confuse, since both refer to change. The important distinction is that â€Å"affect† is a verb (i.e., the act of changing something), but â€Å"effect† is usually a noun (i.e., the result). 7. Where/Were/We’re Although they look similar on the page, you won’t want to confuse these terms in your work. â€Å"Where† refers to locations, â€Å"were† is the past tense of â€Å"are,† and â€Å"we’re† is short for â€Å"we are.† 6. Our/Are Mixing these up is common if English isn’t your first language, as they sound similar despite having very different meanings: â€Å"our† is a possessive pronoun meaning â€Å"belonging to us,† but â€Å"are† is a present tense form of the verb â€Å"to be.† 5. Now/Know In this case, the words look similar but are pronounced differently, as well as being importantly distinct in their use. â€Å"Now† means â€Å"at this time,† while â€Å"know† is a verb meaning â€Å"understand.† 4. There/Their/They’re Like â€Å"where,† â€Å"were† and â€Å"we’re,† these homophones are commonly confused due to being similarly spelled. To ensure clarity, remember that â€Å"there† means â€Å"in that place,† â€Å"their† means â€Å"belonging to them,† and â€Å"they’re† is an abbreviation of â€Å"they are.† 3. It’s/Its Although apostrophes are often used to indicate possession, the possessive pronoun â€Å"its† doesn’t need one. If you’re forming a contraction of â€Å"it is† or â€Å"it has† (i.e., â€Å"it’s†), however, you should use an apostrophe to show that letters have been omitted. 2. Too/To Another common error is mixing up â€Å"too† (an adverb meaning â€Å"also† or â€Å"excessively†) and â€Å"to† (a preposition that often indicates direction or duration, as well as being used in combination with infinitive verbs). Even if you know the difference between these homophones, keep in mind that it’s easy to make a typo! 1. Your/You’re At the top of our list of â€Å"most wanted† homophones are â€Å"your† and â€Å"you’re,† simply because they’re so commonly mistaken in day-to-day writing (just check social media if you don’t believe us). Remember, though, that â€Å"your† is a possessive pronoun that means â€Å"belonging to you† (e.g., â€Å"Your spelling is outstanding!†), while â€Å"you’re† is a contraction of â€Å"you are† (e.g., â€Å"You’re a great speller!). Believed to be armed and dangerous. Report to your local proofreader immediately.

Molecular and ellular Biology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Molecular and ellular Biology - Essay Example Genes may be incorporated into bacteria, plants or animals. In this process recombinant DNA (rDNA) technology is used to incorporate gene of interest into organisms and that organism in which gene is inserted is said to be genetically engineered. Through this process off springs with unique characters are produced. Recombinant DNA is also referred to as Chimera. By the combination of two different strands of DNA a new strand of DNA is obtained. The first step in genetic engineering involved the production of hormone insulin which is important and helps the cells to properly absorb sugar. In recombinant DNA technology recombinant DNA is made by splicing a small fragment of a foreign DNA into a small molecule that can replicate on its own such as bacterial plasmid as a result a clone of inserted DNA can be obtained. AN organism that receives a foreign DNA is called transgenic organism and these organisms can be used in research or in commercial applications such as production of human insulin in transgenic bacteria (which receives genes from human responsible for the production of insulin). This application gives the idea that how important DNA recombinant technology is.(Recombinant DNA technology). Two classes of enzymes play an important role in DNA recombinant technology. Restriction endonucleases: They recognize specific sites on DNA and cleave DNA at that site into smaller fragments. DNA ligases: They link the foreign DNA with the vector DNA. Cloning of DNA involves the following steps: 1: First step in making recombinant DNA is to isolate donor and vector DNA. 2: Cloning vector is cleaved with restriction endonucleases. 3: gene of interest is obtained by cleaving chromosome of foreign DNA with the same restriction endonuclease into smaller fragments. 4: Fragments are ligated to the cloning vector by DNA ligase as a result a recombinant vector is obtained. 5: This recombinant DNA is introduced into the host cell where it replicates and produces copies of recombinant DNA. (Lehninger, Principles of Biochemistry fourth edition). Recombinant DNA technology in the synthesis of insulin: Insulin is an important hormone which regulates the storage of carbohydrates in the body. It is secreted by the beta cells present in the pancreas islets of langerhans. Insulin is a small protein and is composed of two polypeptide chains which are linked together by disulfide bonds. When blood glucose level is high insulin is secreted into the blood stream and removes excess of glucose from the body. Human insulin is the only known protein which can be produced in bacteria by DNA recombinant technology in a way that its structure and composition resembles the original molecule. In diabetes patients problems are associated with the production of insulin due to which sugar increases to dangerous levels which could be life threatening. These patients are treated with insulin which is produced in another organism. Although insulin can be produced in animals whose insulin resembles human insulin in terms of composition with minor variations like bovine and porcine insulin but, it was observed that when bovine and porcine insulin were injected into the patient’s body antibodies were produced against them thereby, neutralizing it’s action and producing inflammatory response at the site of injection. These problems suggest that a suitable vector like E.coli could be used to produce insulin. E.coli is a common inhabi tant of the human digestive tract and is a key organism used in the production of insulin by genetic engineering. Following are the steps involved in the production of insulin from a bacterial host. 1: Isolate gene: The gene that produces insulin in human is isolated and is