Pearl Harbor - Warning Signs essays

Pearl Harbor - Warning Signs essays On November 26, 1941 a fleet of Japanese ships under the command of Chuchi Nagumo moved into a position 200 miles northwest of Honolulu, Hawaii. Their instructions, providing good weather, were to attack Pearl Harbor with maximum efficiency, dealing the U.S. a mortal blow (Stinnent 292) by destroying all battleships and airplanes in the vicinity. Nine days later, with good weather, Pearl Harbor saw the first wave of a crippling Japanese attack. 183 bombers, fighters and torpedo planes unleashed the initial and most killer wave of hostile fire. Just an hour and a half later the second wave of Japanese aircraft were returning to their respective carriers, while the U.S. forces at Pearl Harbor were not only shocked but also suffered damage in large amounts. 2,403 U.S. personnel were lost along with 188 airplanes. Eighteen U.S. ships were sunk or damaged. The most famous, the Arizona sank with most of its 1,300 men onboard. The Japanese lost a little fewer than 100 men and sixty airplanes, a very small loss compared to that of the U.S. Although the U.S. lost no aircraft carriers, the Japanese surprise attack hit the U.S. forces in the Pacific hard. The beautiful waters of a harbor known by the Hawaiians as Wai Momi (pearl waters), because of the pearl oysters that once lived there, were stained with a clear Japanese victory. Without a doubt the men stationed at Pearl Harbor had little, if any, clue that they were going to be attacked. This is clearly exhibited by ratio of U.S. loses to Japanese losses. However, there is strong evidence that suggests that high ranking officials in the U.S. government not only knew about the attack, but also provoked its happening. The first thing that must be considered when understanding the attack on Pearl Harbor is the position Franklin Delano Roosevelt was in. Roosevelt and his state department realized the danger of Nazi success. If the Nazis happened to captu...

Nigersaurus - Facts and Figures

Nigersaurus - Facts and Figures Name: Nigersaurus (Greek for Niger lizard); pronounced NYE-jer-SORE-us Habitat: Woodlands of northern Africa Historical Period: Early Cretaceous (110 million years ago) Size and Weight: About 30 feet long and five tons Diet: Plants Distinguishing Characteristics: Relatively short neck; hundreds of teeth in wide jaws About Nigersaurus Yet another Cretaceous feather in the cap of the globetrotting paleontologist Paul Sereno, Nigersaurus was a rather unusual sauropod, possessing a relatively short neck compared to the length of its tail; a flat, vacuum-shaped mouth packed with hundreds of teeth, arranged in about 50 columns; and almost comically wide jaws. Putting together these odd anatomical details, Nigersaurus seems to have been well adapted to low browsing; most likely it swept its neck back and forth parallel to the ground, hoovering up any vegetation within easy reach. (Other sauropods, which had much longer necks, may well have nibbled on the high branches of trees, though even this remains a matter of some dispute.) What many people dont know is that Paul Sereno didnt actually discover this dinosaur; the scattered remains of Nigersaurus (in northern Africas Elrhaz formation, in Niger ) were described by a French paleontologist in the late 1960s, and introduced to the world in a paper published in 1976. Sereno did, however, have the honor of naming this dinosaur (after studying additional fossil specimens) and publicizing it to the world at large. In typically colorful fashion, Sereno described Nigersaurus as a cross between Darth Vader and a vacuum cleaner, and also called it a Mesozoic cow (not an inaccurate description, if you ignore the fact that a full-grown Nigersaurus measured 30 feet from head to tail and weighed up to five tons!) Sereno and his team concluded in 1999 that Nigersaurus was a rebbachisaurid theropod, meaning it belonged to the same general family as the contemporary Rebbachisaurus of South America. Its closest relatives, however, were two intriguingly named fellow sauropods of the middle Cretaceous period: Demandasaurus, named after the Sierra la Demanda formation in Spain, and Tataouinea, named after the same bleak Tunisian province that may (or may not) have inspired George Lucas to invent the Star Wars planet Tatooine. (Yet a third sauropod, the South American Antarctosaurus, may or may not have been a kissing cousin as well.)

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

Crowdfunding - Essay Example The four main types of crowdfunding are donation-based crowdfunding, reward-based crowdfunding, lending-based crowdfunding and equity-based crowdfunding. In this type of funding, there are no financial returns to the contributors or investors. In many cases, this type of crowdfunding is used for raising money for charitable projects. Some of these projects include disaster relief and medical bills (Nesta, 3). For example, an organization such as the Red Cross might conduct a campaign aimed at getting people to donate. Such donations have no returns attached to them. The donors are satisfied when a given project is completed. The motivation for the donors is non-monetary. Many organizations that use this type of crowdfunding rely on their websites to get contributors, although other outlets such as social media may be used. In this type of funding, the donations are gathered and assigned to a given project (Gadja &Walton, 8). This then helps get more donations because the funders understand that their money will be used for a specific purpose. In the end, the donors may give repeated donations if the organization keeps on updating the m of the progress of the ongoing project. Examples of such platforms include JustGiving (England), Startme (South Africa) and m-changa (Kenya) (Gadja &Walton, 8). This type of funding involves people contributing to a given business or project in exchange for some type of reward. In many cases, this reward is in the form of product or service offered by the organization seeking the funding (Nesta, 3). This is the most popular type of crowdfunding and is mainly used for creative and entrepreneurial projects. Usually, this model allows for the rewards to be given to the contributors based on the amounts contributed; the more a person donates, the better the rewards received. The donation is usually higher than the monetary value of the reward given, and this

Assignment worksheet Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Worksheet - Assignment Example They are drawn to express beauty and the message of solemnity and calmness in the surroundings. The art work has primary colors of red, blue, green. There is definitely harmony in using these colors are red which is the dress worn by the Madonna gave focus to the theme of the art work and blue is used as her drape which provides subdued hues to the red. The touch of green as a backdrop for the landscape is also harmonious as it gives balance to the color complimented by the light blue sky and white cloud. The cream color of the angels with touch of brown was very appropriate as a complementing color highlighting the harmonious relationship of the figures. The sense of space is depicted though fine lines and smaller figures which create the impression of a far location. The more prominent and bigger figures at the center clearly depict nearness and closer perspectives to the viewers of the art work. The actual texture of the art work appears basically smooth. The visual texture shows balance in lines, color, and spaces to give the perfect illustration of the Madonna in the meadow, with angels tending and giving her company. The visual weight and emphasis is carried by the Madonna as manifested in the color (red and blue) and size (biggest among the illustrations in the painting) with darker lines to create the space illusion that it is closer to the viewer than the rest of the landscapes, except for the angels which appear to be closest to the viewer of the painting. The artist expressed a symmetrically balanced work through the illustration of mountains on both the left and right side of the painting; the clouds also on the left and right side of the painting, the angels being two to provide symmetry, trees and shrubs on the left and rights side, and the focal point, which is the Madonna is strategically located at the center with her right

Pragmatism in Government Essay Example for Free

Pragmatism in Government Essay The character of politics makes consistency pretty close to impossible, partly because politicians are human and human nature is inconsistent, and partly because the voters dont really want consistency. As voters, we have the luxury of holding politicians to standards we would almost certainly be unable to meet if we were in their positions. And when they fail, we revile them for their hypocrisy, which is as pointless as reviling a dog for having a moist nose. Now, all of this may make Auntie sound awfully cynical. Should we have no moral standards at all for politicians? Should we throw principles by the wayside and let ome kind of shifty situational ethics fgleaf naked greed and power grabbing? Not at Just for illustration, take the issue of saving people from oppressive dictators, which is unquestionably a worthy concept, right up there with protecting children from pedophiles or saving animals from being abused and mistreated. But no matter how worthy an end is, its moral righteousness alone can never Justify evil means employed in achieving it. Its not wrong, cold, or cynical to carefully calculate the cost of achieving a noble end, its responsible, and responsibility is what we should be emanding from ourselves and the leaders we elect to represent us. Costs come in many forms. We may not always agree on the totals, or even what should be counted as cost in such an equation, but the greater the potential for harm from an action, the more stringently we should perform the analysis. If, for example, saving people from an oppressive dictator requires unpopular political decisions, economic pressure that involves some level of pain and suffering on both sides, diplomatic actions that require quids-pro-quo wed rather not give, possibly even strained relations with another party whose good will has value for us, etc. thats one calculation. If it requires military action, thats another cost accounting entirely. Military action, even for noble motives, has enormous potential for doing harm if something goes wrong, if errors are made, or the logistical or tactical situations change. And the intensity and impact of that harm is likely to be enormous as well. The consequences can be grave, long-lasting, and far-reaching, so the costs have to be calculated with extreme care and with maximum possible integrity. Those potential costs, and the likelihood of their being required, have to be factored into the equation. Lets take the other examples, protecting children from pedophiles and saving animals from abuse † each of these goals is indisputably good. What is required to achieve them, however, must be calculated, and each voter, and each elected official, will calculate differently. How effectively will any given measure reduce the risk of children being victimized? What are the costs of each measure, both short-term and long-term? . who bears those costs and n It, tor example, the measure under consideration involves restricting or denying civil rights and liberties granted under the Constitution, how do we choose whose rights will be curtailed? How much will that reduce the risk to children, and how much will it cost all of us to ensure that only those we are certain pose such a risk are denied their civil rights? I saw an amusing bumper sticker recently that said Liberals treat dogs like people, and conservatives treat people like dogs. Although I cant agree with such blanket characterizations (l have known liberals who mistreat dogs, and whose treatment of people wouldnt give dogs much to hope for, and conservatives who rescue dogs and exhibit deep compassion and care for people,) it provokes considerable thought. What are our priorities, and how do we choose to act on them? What should we expect our elected leaders to do with our priorities? First, it helps to remember that our elected officials are balancing my priorities against my neighbors priorities, not to mention the priorities of those who gave big money to their campaigns. And not only our priorities, but our beliefs about what means can and should be used to address them, will differ widely. What if the policy or legislative action that an elected leader truly believes is right also happens to address a priority of a donor who gave them a lot of money? On the other hand, what f the means of implementing that policy or action would go against the donors ideas of what is acceptable? What if those means address a priority of mine, but would require a sacrifice from my neighbor and seem a little doubtful to me? The reason so many people think of issues in black and white is that its easier. By establishing a rigid framework of right and wrong and tying everything to that framework and ignoring the complexities, they free themselves from having to do all those calculations. Its reprehensible enough in a voter, because after all, we have the ultimate responsibility for our government. But in an elected official, whose actions have immediate and far-ranging consequences, taking the black/white shortcut is deeply irresponsible. An elected leader cant be consistent and still be responsibly considering all the aspects of her actions. What she has to be, is thoughtful, cautious, and open-minded† willing to admit mistakes and work to correct them, but less likely to make them because she considers each action thoroughly. And we as voters need to stop reflexively chastising those we elect for inconsistency or hypocrisy, and start holding them accountable for how carefully and completely hey calculate the costs of their decisions, and their willingness to abide by those decisions. Thanks for bringing up such an interesting question, Jeniece, and for putting it to Auntie Pinko! It seems that the question is based on a false dichotomy. Ideology and pragmatism arent an either-or, its a case of apples and oranges. The liberal call tor a pragmatic response to Iraq is not necessarily a choice between idealism and the ends Justify the means, while Clintons support of NAFTA was both pragmatic AND ideological, no matter how misguided (Clinton is a neoliberal after all). The response seems to confuse ideology and values. Ideology is political theory, the basis of policy and, when misguided the lense through which problems and opportunities are viewed. Pragmatism (in the sense used in both the question and the response) is tantamount to realpolitik, which is the practice of politics without moral or ethical values. I myself have an issue with the American political system because it IS largely bereft of ideology outside the leitmotif of neoliberal economics and neoconservative foreign policy. The GOP and the DLC indeed propound the above ideologies and to a great extent base their world-view through ideologically-tinted glasses, but it is a alse ideology in more ways than one. What is worse is that neither group actually articulate their ideology in political discourse with the electorate it is hidden through rhetorical flourish and spin. Neoliberalism is a false ideology because it was created ex post facto in order to justify a pre-existing condition (laissez faire capitalism, free marketism, greed, abuse, etc. ). It was created in Mt. Pellegrin on the basis of the Austrian School of economic theory and it is wholly divorced from democratic principles (the common weal, etc). Neoconservatism is philosophically based on a serially mendacious ndividual (Leo Strauss) that Justifies manipulation and lies. Nevertheless, America NEEDS ideologies because, for too long our political discourse has been driven by relatively unimportant, short-term and specific issues such as abortion, gun control, immigration, and the like. Neither party has expressed a long- term goal and of course strategies to achieve said goals while both parties have gone their merry way maintaining a situation of corporate corruption and the tyranny of special interests. This makes American political discourse something of a bad Joke and party affilliation little different from being a fan of a sports team. cepting, of course, those earthshaking issues such as Terry Schiavos cerebral cortex. Politicis in a democracy is indeed the balancing and negotiation between sides, groups and individuals. The responses confusion between values and ideology clouds the issue in a democracy with ideologically-driven parties (that articulate said ideologies) the compromises take on a different meaning and scope. The absence of ideo logy turns our body politic into a trade show and keeps the electorate from fighting for a better future. Hear, Hear, from the OTHER District of Columbia, Washington State. The Columbia River restricts access, Just like the security forces in D. C. ) Here our politics has shitted over the years as well, even though, tortunately, we are rather progressive. Pragmatism is an important factor in the decisions politicians make, and sometimes utopians lose sight of the dangers and difficulties in making things turn out right. Even so, I agree with the utopians regarding their goals and commitment. The main questions involve what to do about the fact that not everybody agrees, at least in the short term, on the issues. I urge utopians to maintain their goodwill, while nderstanding reality as much as possible. Fighting for justice and a well-adjusted society requires patience and effort, which can often cause people to quit working for a better future. I urge steadfastness to principle here. Idealism is good, as long as you realize that not everybody is idealistic. Progress in human affairs is difficult and somewhat uncertain. But we do have evidence of its existence. Lets stick to our beliefs, through thick and thin. Remember to use your head to help your heartfelt beliefs come to realization, because finding the answers to problems takes thinking and effort.

Langston Hughes is America Essay -- Biography Biographies Essays

Langston Hughes is America      Ã‚   " The poet's life is the focusing glass through which passes the determinants of the shape of his work: the tradition available to him, his understanding of "Kinds", the impact of special experiences (travel, love, etc.)." (Fielder 1431). Langston Hughes did not have an easy life. Being a young black male during the 1920's, Hughes was constantly being discriminated against by the color of his skin. Because of that harsh reality, most of his work was centered around the African American's fight for racial equality. One good example of this is shown in his poem "I, Too". Hughes writes about being discriminated against because he was black.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Around the time of the twenties, there was a big boom of African American culture. Out of this came the renaissance of Harlem, a hot spot for African American poets, musicians, and dancers. White America would flock to these hot clubs that infested Harlem. They would go for the great food and the entertainment. Big clubs such as the Cotton Club on Lenex Avenue would not allow blacks t...

Leadership styles case study

1. Northwest Center for Families (NCF) practices transactional leadership. This is because its director, after attending the conference on dual relationships in social work, has already created a clear structure on what she wants her subordinates to do and if they do not follow, necessary punishment has also been in-placed. She did this by sending out a memo prohibiting dual relationships in social workers’ relations with clients, which when disobeyed will result to their termination. Employees were even advised to report non-sanctioned interaction between them and their clients. The director’s directive also mentioned that employees should eat lunch only in the office when the construction of the new employee lounge is done. 2. Southeast Social Services (SSS), on the other hand, practices transformational leadership. This is because its director has primarily regarded and involved his subordinates in his plans regarding the problem of dual relationship in social work by calling a meeting. Here, he shares his experiences and thoughts about the conference and his personal mission to address the problem at hand. He motivates everyone and encourages the organization to be one in solving the problem, thus being more efficient in their profession and service. 3. I recommend that a health care or human service organization adopt or practice transformational leadership. This is because an organization involved in healthcare or human services needs a competent, professional, skillful, and personable leader. He or she must possess familiarity with the programs of the organization and the knowledge and skills to implement these. Furthermore, he or she must possess values and awareness on others’ welfare and situations (Rudnick, 2007). Since the healthcare and the human services fields require utmost and voluntary service, employees should be given proper, sensitive, and sensible motivation for them to function for the community and not be intimidated by rules of a tyrannical leader. In this sense, a transformational leader can ensure employees’ loyalty to the organization’s mission (Rudnick, 2007). Â   Â