A Few Words about our Oldest Science

A Few Words about our Oldest Science Astronomy is one of those subjects that just reaches out and grabs you the first time you step outside under a sky full of stars. Sure, its a science, but astronomy is also a cultural practice. People have watched the skies since the first person looked up and wondered about what was up there. Once they got the hang of observing and noticing what was happening in the sky, it wasnt long before people figured out a way to use the sky as a calendar for planting, growing, harvesting, and hunting. It aided in survival.   Noticing Sky Cycles It didnt take long for observers to notice that the Sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Or, that the Moon moves through a monthly cycle of phases. Or, that certain spots of light in the sky move against the backdrop of stars (which appear to twinkle due to the action of Earths atmosphere).. Those wanderers, which look more disk-like, became known as planets, after the Greek word planetes. From Earth, with the naked eye, you can seeMercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The others require a telescope, and are quite faint. The point is, these are things you can see for yourself.   Oh, and you can also see the Moon, which is one of the easiest objects to observe. Study its mottled surface and it will show you evidence of ancient (and recent) bombardments. Did you know that the Moon was created when Earth and another object collided early in solar system history? And, if we didnt have a moon, there might not be life on Earth?   Thats a fascinating aspect of astronomy that most of us dont think about! Star Patterns Help you Navigate the Sky If you watch the sky a few nights in a row, youll notice star patterns. Stars are more or less randomly arranged in three-dimensional  space, but from our point of view on Earth, they appear in patterns called constellations. The Northern Cross, also known as Cygnus the Swan, is one such pattern. So is Ursa Major, which contains the Big Dipper, and the constellation Crux in the Southern Hemisphere skies. While those are merely a trick of perspective, those patterns help us make our way around the sky. They add order to an otherwise chaotic-seeming universe. You Can Do Astronomy You dont need much to do astronomy: just your eyes and a good dark sky sight. Oh, you can add in binoculars, or a telescope to help magnify your view, but they arent necessary when youre getting started. For thousands of years, people did astronomy without any fancy equipment at all.   The science of astronomy began as   people went out and observed each night and made notes of what they saw. In time, they DID build telescopes, and eventually attached cameras to them, to record what they saw. Today, astronomers use the light (emissions) from objects in space to understand a great deal about those objects (including their temperatures and motions in space). To do this, they  use ground-based AND space-based observatories to study the far distant reaches of the universe. Astronomy concerns itself with studying and explaining everything from nearby planets to the earliest galaxies that formed not long after the universe was born, some 13.8 billion years ago.   Making Astronomy a Career To do Big Astronomy, people need a solid background in math and physics, but they still need a basic familiarity with the sky. They need to know what stars and planets are, and what galaxies and nebulae look like. So, in the end, it all still comes down to that basic activity of going out and looking up. And, if you get hooked, you can take it at your own speed, learning the constellations, the names and motions of the planets, and eventually peering out to deep space with your own telescope and binoculars.   Deep down, were all astronomers and were descended from astronomers. So, when you go out tonight and look up, think about this: youre carrying on a tradition as old as humanity. Where you go from there - well, the skys the limit!

Texas Lottery Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Texas Lottery - Essay Example Thesis: It is right for Texas law to restricts the lottery commission from introducing new forms of gambling. Texas Lottery runs by the Texas government thus it is often criticized as a typical gambling which has a negative impact on the society. In 1991, the legislation to create a state lottery was introduced and Texas population approved the Lottery. Since that time, the Texas Lottery communion has introduced a lot of new forms of gambling including Mega Millions, Looto Texas, Daily 4 (The Texas Lottery 2008). The goals of the Texas laws are to restrict gambling in the state and protect citizens from "exploitation" by the Lottery commission. Also, Texas laws regulate the gambling industry and stipulate strict norms and principles for the Lottery. The advisability of legalizing the Lottery in order to generate revenue for the state must be assessed in terms of the equity of gambling as a tax source, i.e. the regressivity of taxes, and the efficiency of raising revenue through gambling taxes, i.e. the cost-effectiveness of the Lottery legalization (Dee 2004). Thus, current laws do not accomplish their goals and permits emergence of new forms of Lottery and gambling. Daily 4. is an example of this process. The right thing is that the Texas laws legalize the Lottery and reduce illegal gambling in Texas (Sandberg 2008).

Human resources ( Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Human resources ( - Essay Example Further, performance management also entails the individual performance of the employees and accountability for individual performance enhances overall excellence in company management (Pulakos 113). One of the greatest challenges for managers is handling relationships with employees and talking about their performance. Since performance management expects excellent performance from employees, it might be difficult for managers to challenge employees whom they have a close relationship with. Sometimes it’s hard to tell off a friend for her performance due to fear of rejection or conflict. When a manager fails to undertake responsibilities of performance management by avoiding the conversation on some members, a question of proper performance management arises (Armstrong 77). There are several factors that lead to failure in performance management in the organization as a result of mistakes made by managers. To begin with some managers overlook the essence of conversation with employees for their poor performance and rather concentrate on the process of improving performance in the organization. The second mistake made by managers includes failure to outline a clear link between the strategy and the execution of the task. Thirdly, managers fail to put a distinction between good performance and poor performance such that no consequences are applied for poor performance. Finally, managers may leave the responsibilities of performance management to HR department thus employees feel uninspired and lose focus on objectives (Sydor 45). The biggest concern involved in performance management involves the skills and competency of handling performance. Many people fail on managing performance because they don’t possess the required skills or they don’t understand what performance management requires. For instance when a person is assigned the role of performance management and has

Classical Criminology Theory Essay Example for Free

Classical Criminology Theory Essay What is the classical school of criminology and what are the main points of this theory. Cesare Beccaria was a key thinker of this theory and is also considered by some the founder of modern criminology. Classical school of criminology theory placed emphasis on human rationality and free will. Second off this theory unlike the others researched the prevention of crime not the criminals. Also, according to this theory, crime was the result of people choosing to do so with the possibility of the consequences be evident. The classical theory of Beccaria and others is what our constitution was based upon so as you can see, it has great significance to our society. Humans are believed to act in their own best interests. We have our own free will and we also have a rational side to us. This was the basis of the classical criminology theory. Being the case, this theory emphasized laws that would stress non criminal actions would be in the best interest of society. Punishment and deterrence was an important factor in this theory because the punishment had to reinforce deterrence so people could rationalize the self benefits of criminality from the consequences of criminality. Due to the fact that Beccaria believed that bad laws led to criminality, a lot of his emphasis was based on preventing crime and swift punishment when crime was committed. In his eyes punishment is justified only to defend the peace of society and that society would be motivated to abide by it. This meant that punishment was to treat the criminal, incapacitate them from repeating criminal acts and deter would be criminals. To incorporate these ideas Beccaria believed that punishment should be swift, certain, deterrence, proportional to the crime, clear and based on positive and negative reinforcement. Swift punishment is believed to deter the most. According to Beccaria, when punishment promptly follows the crime, the punishment will be reinforced in a persons mind before they act criminally. A certain punishment is also a form of deterrence because the less would be criminals think they can get a way with, the more they will weigh in the consequences of that action. General deterrence is used for the purpose of setting and example for society. Laws should also be clear I defining  crimes. This will prevent judges from interpreting the law and only allow them to decide if the law has been broken. Lastly, the most effective way in preventing crime is to enact clear laws that reward good behavior and punish bad behavior. The theory of proportionality is another relationship between crime and punishment. The belief is that punishment can only deter if the punishment is proportional to the crime. The punishment must coincide with the crime in that the more serious the crime the more serious the punishment. Lastly, punishment existed to deter people from committing crime and the punishment should out way the gains of committing the act. Beccaria was a believer in that crime was due to unjust laws not because of the people committing the acts. fit the crime. He argued that if the punishment was more excessive than the crime it would be an abuse of power by the state and it would also create more crime. Beccaria was considered the founder of the classical school of criminology. He emphasized human rationality and free will, preventing crime and deterrence of crime. The classical criminology theory was different from the other theories that were introduced to us because it focused on the reasons why people commit crimes not on the deviant behaviors themselves. Beccaria and his followers had a great impact on our country it is what our constitution and current laws are based upon. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Cesare Beccaria. http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/b/beccaria.htm Keel, Robert. Rational Choice and Deterrence Theory. http://www.umsl.edu/~rkeel/200/ratchoc.html Siegel, Larry. Criminology. Canada: Thomas Learning, Inc, 2003.

Greek Politics Essay -- Political Democracy Governmental Essays

Greek Politics At the foundation of the widely differing systems devised by democratic peoples, there is one essential conviction, expressed in the word democracy itself: that power should be in the hands of the people. Although democracy today has been slightly inefficient in this idea, with the wealthy, elite class challenging this right, â€Å"it nevertheless claims for itself a fundamental validity that no other kind of society shares†¦.† To completely understand the structure of democracy, one must return to the roots of the practice itself, and examine the origins in ancient Greece, the expansion in the Roman Empire, and how these practices combined make what we recognize as today’s democratic government. Democracy began with the Greeks in the various city-states. Political thought also began in Greece. The â€Å"calm and clear rationalism of the Greek mind† started this way of thinking. Rather than focusing on the religious sphere, the Greeks chose to concentrate on the self and all things visible. They attempted to enter the world of the light of reason. â€Å"Democratic ideology and democratic political thought – the one implicitly, the other explicitly – sought to reconcile freedom and the pursuit of one’s own good with public order.† A sense of the value of the individual was thus one of the primary conditions of the development of political thought in Greece. Political life expressed a shared, ordered self- understanding, not a mere struggle for power. This ideal led to the birth of a new government, a self-governing community – the Greek city-state. A city-state is â€Å"an aggregation of free human beings, bound together by common ties, some of which may be called natural ties, some artificial.† Natural ties are those such as race, language, religion, and land – the territory occupied by the city-state. Artificial ties include law, customs, government, commerce, and self-defense. A governing body does not need all of these ties to become a city-state; however, all must have a reasonable amount of artificial ties. Every community must possess some form of law, otherwise the people are bound together only by natural ties, and thus, they are not a governing body. The Greek polis enabled the people to express their individualism. The polis was â€Å"ideological and it was reflective† in allowing a person to be a part of the political society a... ...w York: Worth Publishers, Inc., 1999). 1. Light. 2. Light. 14. Light. 27. Light. 2. Bibliography Adcock, F.E. Roman Political Ideas and Practice. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1966 Agard, Walter R. What Democracy Meant to the Greeks. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1942. Barker, Sir Ernest. Greek Political Theory: Plato and His Predecessors. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1960. Easton, David. The Political System: an Inquiry into the State of Political Science. New York: Alfred A. Knopf Inc., 1971. Farrer, Cynthia. The Origins of Democratic Thinking: the Invention of Politics in Classical Athens. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988. Fowler, W. Warde. The City State of the Greeks and Romans. London: MacMillian & Co. Ltd., 1963. Hollister, C. Warren. Roots of the Western Tradition: A Short History of the Ancient World. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996. Light, Paul C. A Delicate Balance. New York: Worth Publishers, Inc., 1999. Rhodes, Henry A. â€Å"The Athenian Court and the American Court System.† Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000.

Professional and Managerial Ethics Caselet Essay

Limaha Inc. is a world-renowned toilet manufacturer founded in 1967. Limaha led the innovation of advanced bathroom utilities and mainly caters to First Class airports and 5-star hotels. The recent Asian economy boom has led to increased demands of Limaha toilet bowls for the business expansion of their loyal clients. In response, the company has decided call for this unprecedented increase in production that must be met as soon as possible.Jenny Panaguiton, the purchasing manager of Limaha’s main office, was tasked to choose a supplier of premium porcelain to be used in the production of their patented No Pressure toilet bowls. This production will include a big production contract with a new posh hotel in the country’s capital whose construction is about to end with the installation of their bathroom fixtures. After careful analysis from 20 suppliers by the purchasing department, Jenny was presented and left to decide between two suppliers: O Mang China and Teddy B. Solutions. O Mang China offered superior porcelain at a high price. This price along with other costs necessary to deliver the porcelain to the production plants was estimated to exceed the company’s budget. Although Limaha can choose to go ahead and allocate more capital for this transaction, it could result to lower company profits if the previously agreed sales price of No Pressure toilet bowls is not increased. If Limaha decides to charge a higher price on their new product, there is a high possibility that the hotel client would back out from the contract and change to another toilet manufacturer for confirmed business ventures next year. Teddy B. Solutions, on the other hand, offered a lower price for the porcelain materials which is well within the company’s budget. Christopher Barrido, the company’s Vice President for Production even greatly encouraged Jenny on choosing Teddy B, as the really low price of the porcelain would bring significant favorable variances in their division’s costs. Not only would their division have a pretty image in front of the Board, there would even be a possible salary increase. He even promised Jenny of a bright future in the company if she makes the right decision. Jenny, however, doubts their VP’s motives, as Christopher would not normally recommend any supplier and would just leave the Purchasing Department on their decisions. She thinks Christopher’s actions have something to do with the generous gifts Christopher has been receiving recently from his long-time friend and classmate, Teddy B. Teddy B’s proposal is highly attractive when just considering the company’s profits. However, the production team who reviewed the samples from Teddy B showed results that were a far cry from O Mang’s porcelain. Materials from Teddy B produced inferior quality toilet bowls. The production team voiced out their concerns through Pie Bread, the production manager. Pie greatly discouraged the use of Teddy B materials to Christopher Barrido, arguing that the use of such materials would greatly affect their quality, and the name of Limaha Inc. could be tarnished through this. They were also very concerned that the hotel might withdraw previous arrangements with Limaha because of the fact that these inferior toilet bowls were simply not appropriate for the posh hotel. Christopher just won’t have any of Pie’s arguments. He argued that the employees under her department were only exaggerating about the quality of the samples. Teddy B has long been in the business of supplying porcelain, so he argued that the problem is not on the materials, but on the workers handling the production who are not being efficient enough to produce at the expected quality. Pie and Christopher’s debate had been long, and word travelled that Pie was even threatened of demotion if results with the Teddy B samples still would not improve. Needless to say, people from production are now pointing daggers to the purchasing department, as their decisions could cause them their jobs. And so Jenny tried to negotiate the price offer of O Mang China and asked for any other possible alternatives their company could have. Its owner, Osmong, however presented her a very outrageous offer. Osmong is her former lover from a very bad and traumatic relationship.  Osmong, feeling bitter, is still deeply in love with Jenny even after she broke up with him six months ago for a number of undisclosed reasons. Since the breakup, Jenny has vowed to never reconcile with this man again. In a desperate attempt to get Jenny back, Osmong offered to significantly reduce their price to go lower than that of Teddy B, if and only if, she agrees to go back together with him again. This new price would mean that there would be no need for a price increase on the No Pressure toilet bowl, and they could even attract more potential long-term customers because of their high-quality products at a really low price.  To add to the list of her worries, Jenny received a note to come to a private meeting in a nearby cafà © with Bea Wing, Limaha’s Internal Auditor. The meeting had been really stressful, as the topic was Teddy B’s alleged recent romantic interest with Jenny. Teddy has been sending Jenny many gifts and invitations to dinners since the start of the year, and they had gone to a few dates. Jenny, however, just treated their relationship as platonic, and concluded that nothing can come out of their business meetings. Bea however would not believe any of it. Bea had been married to Teddy B for three years. Sadly, a gap in their relationship has formed due to their busy schedules. She noticed her husband’s special attention to Jenny, and thought that a possible divorce could be coming to her soon if Jenny continues to â€Å"lead him on† with her business partnerships. Bea thinks that this new materials supplying contract could be the last straw. She later vowed, that if Jenny makes one wrong move on choosing her husband and destroy her marriage, she would definitely destroy her life. Jenny was visibly shaken, given that Bea really has the power to do so, with a few alterations on her department’s financial statement, and some words with Board of Directors regarding her process of choosing the material suppliers. Jenny really has a lot riding in this decision. The company profits, the production employees, her personal relationships, her co-workers, and her own job are at stake in this one important decision of choosing the supplier of porcelain for the No Pressure toilet bowl model. She could not afford to lose her job now, given that it is the only way for her to pay for the medical bills of her five dogs in the hospital. This one decision could make  or break her life. Even more so, she’s not even sure if it is right. What do you think would be the best action to take?

Son by Yiyun Li - 1141 Words

Son, written by Yiyun Li. Karolina Strà ¶mberg 10SPC Han are an ethnic group native to East Asia. Han is the majority ethic group of the chinese population and by that one can think that maybe the name Han (in the story) was decided because he is not so different from others as he thinks he is. That his mother will wait at the airport for him with a photo album that contains pictures of woman that he can marry. A diamond bachelor has usually passed the optimum marriage years, but is much valued because he is successful in his career and has status in society. Many women desire such bachelors. In this content filial duty (duty of a son)is for Han to marry a woman and having a son to make his mother and the†¦show more content†¦Hans mother does not condemn him. She tells him that God knows everything, he understands everything and he loves you. She wants her son to start believing, not only in God but also in himself. The final note is that whatever Han will do in his life hi s mother will always love and support him. The narrator is a third person although we look through Hans eyes. That might influence my understandings and judgement but mainly it makes me understand more about why Han thinks and acts the way he does. In the beginning of the story I felt sympathy for Hans mother because she tried so hard and did not get any response from Han. Although in the end my mind has changed and I does not longer see Hans mother as the â€Å"Weaker† individual. Instead I see Han as a broken man who should loveShow MoreRelatedSon by Yiyun Li1131 Words   |  5 PagesSon, written by Yiyun Li. Karolina Strà ¶mberg 10SPC Han are an ethnic group native to East Asia. Han is the majority ethic group of the chinese population and by that one can think that maybe the name Han (in the story) was decided because he is not so different from others as he thinks he is. That his mother will wait at the airport for him with a photo album that contains pictures of woman that he can marry. A diamond bachelor has usually passed the optimum marriageRead MoreHomecoming Essay751 Words   |  4 Pages Throughout the novel â€Å"Homecoming,† the effects of the slave trade on the characters are explored. For example, Quey, the son of Effia, feels the pressure of carrying on his father’s slave industry in the midst of struggling with his identities. According to Quey, â€Å"he was one of the half-caste children of the Castle, and, like the other half-caste children, he could not fully claim either half of himself, neither his father’s whiteness nor his mother’s blackness. Neither England nor the GoldRead MoreLiving Here Was Nothing Special968 Words   |  4 PagesSampler there is an essay called â€Å"Orange Crush† written by Yiyun Li where she compares two drinks. She first starts off by talking about the orange drink her dad makes. She says, â€Å"My father, who believed that thrift was one of the best virtues, saved the dried peels in a jar;when we had a cough or cold, he would boil them until the water took on a bitter taste and a pale yellow cast, like the color of water drizzling out of a rusty faucet.† Li does not make this drink come off as satisfying but as repulsiveRead MoreA Comparative Tragedy Study of Fatalism and Determinism: Oedipus Rex and Thunderstorm2489 Words   |  10 Pagesexample of the â€Å"tragedy of fate.† Sir Maurice Bowra’s idea that the gods force on Oedipus the knowledge of what he has done strongly supports the idea of fatalism (390).Through his priests at Delphi, Apollo told Laius that he would be killed by his own son, and later told Oedipus that he would kill his father and marry his mother. At the beginning of the play Apollo tells Creon that Thebes will be saved from the plague only when the murderer of Laius is found and expelled. Although everyone in this playRead MoreBelonging Essay4112 Words   |  17 PagesAF Jones, Lloyd Mister Pip AF Joyce, J ames Ulysses AF Kafka, Franz Metamorphosis AF Kesey, Ken One flew over the cuckoo’s nest AF Keneally, Thomas The chant of Jimmie Blacksmith AF King, Stephen Carrie AF Lee, Harper To kill a mockingbird AF YA Li, Yiyun A thousand years of good prayers AF London, Jack White fang AF McCaffrey, Kate Destroying Avalon YA McCaffrey, Kate In ecstasy YA McCullers, Carson The heart is a lonely hunter AF Malouf, David Remembering Babylon AF Marchetta, Melina Looking forRead MoreLiterary Analysis of No Name Woman6151 Words   |  25 Pagesanalysis, you are expected to demonstrate your ability to see more, to uncover or create richer, denser, more interesting meanings in the literary works. More short stories on our class website: Culture Li Yiyun’s short story: â€Å"Immortality† http://wotan.liu.edu/~lbai/Immorality%20(Yiyun%20Li)0001.pdf Dale Minami: â€Å"Asian Americans as a movement† http://wotan.liu.edu/~lbai/AsianAmericans0001.pdf Adopted From Korea and in Search of Identity http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/us/09adopt.html