A close reading of Life is a dream by Pedro Calderon De La Barca Essay

A close reading of Life is a dream by Pedro Calderon De La Barca - Essay Example II. Spanish Society Spanish society, in the Golden Age, was concerned about what was real and what was false. At a time when politics were unstable in Spain, De La Barca sought to capitalize on this national anomaly of sorts. As Clotaldo, the jailer of Segismund said in the play, â€Å"Dreams are rough copies of the waking soul.†1 Therefore, what people dreamed about was not necessarily in vain. They were having dreams for a reason. With the idea that life was a dream, De La Barca was playing with notions of whether the consciousness present in life actually existed in Golden Age Spain. De La Barca, in his play, predicted that Segismund would one day grow up to revolt against his father the King. In chaining Segismund to the floor in a prison, he thought that he could keep his son sequestered, far enough away so that he could not hurt the King. However, this sense of fatalism that the King had felt in terms of his son growing up in the future to one day kill him, scared the Ki ng so much that he decided to do something about it (by chaining up his son). However, as one shall see, the idea of fatalism is a key Spanish value that we shall examine in the next portion which we will be reading. III. Spanish Values Spanish values included an unshakeable sense of fatalism, as Segismund speaks about the illusion and reality present in life—a dualism, if one will. He also speaks of the inevitable end of the world with precocious wit, intimating with a fatalistic sense that his suffering is only temporary. â€Å"Whether wake or dreaming, this I know, How dream-wise human glories come and go; Whose momentary tenure not to break, Walking as one who knows he soon may wake, fairly carry the full cup, so well Disorder'd insolence and passion quell, That there be nothing after to upbraid Dreamer or doer in the part he play'd, Whether To-morrow's dawn shall break the spell, Or the Last Trumpet of the eternal Day, When Dreaming with the Night shall pass away.†2 The Spanish people also believed very much in destiny (â€Å"el destino†) and how it related to their outlooks on life. Believing in destiny, many people in Spanish culture had the specific idea that one was supposed to be somewhere at a specific time in order to fulfill their destinies. As Segismund describes in this soliloquy, â€Å"Once more, you savage heavens, I ask of you— I, looking up to those relentless eyes That, now the greater lamp is gone below, Begin to muster in the listening skies; In all the shining circuits you have gone About this theatre of human woe, What greater sorrow have you gazed upon Than down this narrow chink you witness still; And which, did you yourselves not fore-devise, You registered for others to fulfil!†3 With the idea that values were important in Golden Age Spain—as well can one imagine—also important was the idea of having social mores. These were prescriptive ideals which were vanguards of the values of th e people, which will now be discussed at length. IV. Spanish Social Mores Spanish social mores in the Golden Age were very strict. That is why the King warned Segismund once he approached the kingdom with rage and anger after having been chained up for so many years: â€Å"Beware! Beware! Subdue the kindled Tiger in your eye!†4 The Golden Age was an era of restriction and prudence. If ladies wanted to visit with their beaus, they had to be accompanied by chaperones—

Women's History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Women's History - Essay Example Even in cabinet or parliaments, women are underrepresented. It should be noted that population wise, the number of women in this world is more than the number of men. Yet they were deprived of equal opportunities in political circles with men. The conditions of the women were not so good in the past also. It should be noted that slavery and other social evils were prevailing not only in America but also in other parts of the world during past few centuries. Slavery was hyperactive during the period 1600-1820. Women community struggled more than male community because of slavery related problems as well as other social evils. Participation in politics was only a distant dream for women during the past. This paper analyses the political roles of women during the period 1600-1820. Carol Berkin in her article, â€Å"The Effect of Slavery on African American Women Lives† clearly explains the social and political life of women in America during 1600-1820. ‘Denied by any legal abilities to control the conditions of their life, women labored according to their master’s demands. Women were vulnerable to brutal punishments and to the separation of their families. They had no choice but to accept the marginal food and clothing† (â€Å"Berkin, p.59). These facts clearly illustrate the typical lives of black women during the period of 1600-1820 in America. Many people have the illusion that the conditions of white women was so good in America during this period. In fact white women also faced lot of discriminations during this period even though they never faced harsh experiences as faced by the black women explained above. When talking about women in Africa and other countries of the global south (formerly known as the Third World), feminists often point out that these women must manage multiple forms of disadvantage or oppression. Not only do they suffer the universal subordination shared by women across the world, but also they must contend wit h living in poorer or less-developed countries(Women, Politics, and Power, p.27). Even today, African women are leading pathetic life compared to women in other parts of the world. They were forced to look after their family single handedly. African males treat their counterparts as inferior citizens. They never allow women to work in the mainstreams of social or political life. The case is not much different in Asia or Europe. In all these regions, the participation of women in politics was negligible during 1600-1820. Women all over the world started to get some kind of recognition in politics from the latter parts of 19 th century onwards. Women’s modern-day participation in politics begins with the acquisition of voting rights (suffrage). The first country to fully enfranchise women, and the only country to give women’s suffrage in the 19th century, was New Zealand in 1893. In 1902, Australia was the second country to give women’s suffrage and was followed b y a variety of Western and Eastern European states. By 1945, 46% of the world’s countries allowed women to vote (Women, Politics, and Power, p.16). These statistics clearly suggest that women started to get voting rights only during the latter periods of 19 th century. Before that, it was unimaginable for women to think in terms of participating in politics. Discrimination against women was evident even in some of the most civilized societies during the 1600-1820 period. Women were used only for the reproductive work during this period. In majority of the countries, women were treated as commodities rather than human beings in this period. It should not be forgotten that the conditions of women is not so good even at present in some of the Middle Eastern countries. Even

Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman (cited) Essay Example for Free

Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman (cited) Essay Willy and Nora: Tragic Heroes or Home-wreckers? No one has a perfect life. Despite what Aaron Spelling and his friends in the media might project to society today, no ones life is perfect. Everyone has conflicts that they must face sooner or later. The ways in which people deal with these conflicts can be just as varied as the people themselves. Some procrastinate and ignore their problems as long as they can, while others attack problems to get them out of the way as soon as possible. The Lowman and Helmer families have a number of problems that they deal with in different ways, which proves their similarities and differences. Both Willy Loman, the protagonist of Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman and Nora Helmer, protagonist of Henrik Ibsens A Dolls House experience an epiphany where they realize that they were not the person the thought they were: while Willys catharsis brings about his death, Noras brings her to a new life; hers. Both characters flaws bring about their departure from their respective families as well. They are both overly concerned with the appearances they and their families present to society: as a result they both project false images to others. From their appearance, both seem to be involved in stable marriages and appear to be going places. Willys job as a traveling salesman seems stable (although we never know what it is he sells) when he tells his family that he knocked em cold in Providence, slaughtered em in Boston (Miller 1228). It is not until Willys wife, Linda tells us that he drives 700 miles and when he gets there, no one knows him any more, no one welcomes him (Miller 1241). If thats not enough to convince readers of his failure on the job, the fact that he gets fired after working for the same company for 36 years cements his incompetency in the business world to readers. While Nora does not work in the business world, (few woman, if any did over 120 years ago) her failure to take care of her responsibilities becomes quite evident as well. See more: citing an essay When the play opens and Nora enters with a Christmas tree and presents for the children, she gives off the impression of a good mother trying hard to prepare a great Christmas for her family. Upon further analysis we see that Noras duties, in general, are restricted to caring for the children, doing housework, and working on her needlepoint. Nora cannot complete these duties even with the full-time help of Anne Marie, a housekeeper who cleans up after Nora just as much as the children. When Nora and Kristine are having a discussion towards  the start of the play, Nora informs her friend that, Im so happy and relieved [with my marriage]. I must say its lovely to have plenty of money and not have to worry. Isnt it? (Ibsen 1119). The rosy picture she painted of her family and marriage are in stark contrast to the stranger of a man (Ibsen 1168) she refers to her husband as. We realize that she had not been living her life at all; rather the life that her husband wanted her to live. Whi le both Willy and Nora succeed in giving of the appearance of being competent, efficient and helpful family members who contribute to the well being of their respective families, they prove otherwise as the plays progress. While the two plays take place nearly 100 years apart, are set on different continents and each have completely different family members, both engage in lies and deceit that hurt their families; after which each protagonist leaves their family. Not only does Willy lie about his performance on the job, he lies about his faulty car as well. He tells his family that the Studebaker keeps malfunctioning when in reality we find out through Linda that he has been deliberately trying to kill himself. The biggest way in which Loman deceives his family is by cheating on his wife while away for work in Boston. When his eldest son discovers his fathers unfaithfulness, he loses all trust for his father, and Biffs life pretty much goes downhill from there. Willy Lomans lies, deceit, unfaithfulness have resulted in huge problems for his family. Nora also starts trouble in her household through lies and deceit. Noras crime of forgery is not even a crime in her mind; she does not realize that the law does not take into account peoples motivations behind their actions. While she knows that Krogstad has been associated with shady law practices, she does not realize that his crime was on the same level, if not less illegal than the one that she has committed. When Tourvald opens the letter and finds out about her crime, he goes ballistic, and cannot believe that his own wife could be capable of such a crime. This is ultimately the reason / situation that helps Nora realize that she must leave her family in order to begin to live her own life. But Nora even lies about the little things in life such as the eating of macaroons (Ibsen 1126). Her husband forbade her from eating them on account that they will rot her teeth, and when she is seen eating them in her house, she says that they are a gift from Kristine, which is a lie. Both Willy and Noras lies and deceitfulness frustrate their families to the  point where each protagonist much leave their family; although Willys departure is his death, Noras is the start of her real life. Both main characters also use an escape mechanism to leave reality when they realize that their lives are on the wrong path. When Loman starts to realize that his pride and joy in life, Biff, is a lazy bum (Mille r 1218) he begins to talk to himself (Miller 1221). These mental lapses bring Loman to a happier place and time, when his kids were young and innocent and he thought that the best part of his life lay still ahead. This acts almost as a defense mechanism against the pains of reality for Willy. In the final scene, after Biff tells his father that he is a dime a dozen and that the Loman name really doesnt mean much, Willy engages in the ultimate escape mechanism; suicide. Although it may appear on the surface to be a selfish and coldhearted move to spite his family, he actually did it so that his family may live a better life with money he thinks they will receive from his life insurance policy. When faced with the harsh pains of reality, Nora also uses defense / escape mechanisms to ignore the problems at hand first, then to conquer them in the end. She believes that she has done nothing wrong, and that if what she has done is illegal, that her good intentions will nullify the illegality of her forgery. When Krogstad informs her otherwise, tells her the possible repercussions of her act, and ultimately gives her an ultimatum, this is her first touch of reality outside of the dolls house that she lives in. To cope with the harshness outside of this dolls house, she immediate ly retreats back inside and attempts to distract herself with Christmas decorations (Ibsen 1133). She uses the tree and presents to distract her from her problems, and tells the nursemaid Anne Marie that shes too busy to play with her kids who want to see her because she must try to distance her mind from the subject at hand. Here she is only making the problem worse by not dealing with it. When she finally realizes that her main duty [is] to [her]self (Ibsen 1166), and that she has been living life according to what her father and husband have wanted rather than what she has wanted, Noras epiphany is complete. She knows that the only possible solution that can work for her is to leave right away. Willy and Nora both escape their problems first by drifting away with mental distractions, then when they fully realize their problems, they both must physically leave their families. For Willy this means death, for Nora, the  start of (a new) life. Willy and Nora share a fatal flaw: they try to make others happy before making themselves happy. All that Willy ever wanted in life was to be well-liked and for his sons to follow in his footsteps. Their lives focused too much on fulfilling others rather than themselves, and in the end this flaw led to their departure from each of their respective families. When Charley asks Willie when the hell are you ever going to grow up? and Biff declares that we never told the truth in this house for 10 minutes (Miller 1280) we realize that Willy will never grow up and that he must leave his family because he will never grow up and that nearly his whole life has been a farce. Similarly, when Nora tells her husband that the only way he (and her) can only change if Tourvald has his doll taken away (Ibsen 1168) we realize that Noras life too has been a farce and that she must leave in order to begin her own life.

Understanding How The Internet Works Information Technology Essay

Understanding How The Internet Works Information Technology Essay The Internet has been around since the early 1970s. It was the name given to the system that connected together the computers of various Military Institutions, select group of research laboratories, commercial companies and universities through dedicated leased 1ines. With the advent of newer and. faster computers, organizations conducting research and/or active commercial development, felt a greater need to communicate data to their concerns, through some fast, reliable network system. Therefore, slowly and steadily, more and more organizations (specifically, computers) were connected to the Inter net. In the early 1980s with the evolution of mini-computers, and the emerging IBM desktop personal computer, the need to connect systems was growing at a remarkable pace and consequently by late 1980s, literally hundreds of thousands of computers were connected to the Internet. It was virtually becoming a seemingly impossible task to determine exactly how many computers were communicating on the Internet. To further strengthen the cause of this promising network, countries outside the United States were also busy setting up their own internal networks and were getting connected to the Internet backbone. Suddenly, the vast distances that information once had to travel with aids such as the facsimile, telex and even the courier service were short-circuited by the Internet. Here, information traveled at nearly the speed of light, finding the least busy gateway to its destination, ensuring that the message was fully intact by using error correction techniques, employing etiquettes by compres sing itself so as to create more room on the network for more data traffic and once reaching its destination, informing its source, that it has safety reached its intended place and with complete message intact. The system was also intelligent enough to know exactly when and where an error has occurred when the data which was sent did not reach its destination. What is Internet? Internet is a computer-based worldwide information networks. The Internet is composed of a large number of smaller interconnected networks. These networks may link tens, hundreds, or thousands of computers, enabling them to share information with each other and to share various resources, such as powerful supercomputers and databases of information. The Internet has made it possible for people all over the world to effectively and inexpensively communicate with each other. Unlike traditional broadcasting media, such as radio and television, the Internet is a decentralized system. Each connected individual can communicate with anyone else on the Internet, can publish ideas, and can sell products with a minimum overhead cost. The Internet has brought new opportunity for businesses to offer goods and services online. In the future, it may have an equally dramatic impact on higher education as more universities offer Internet-based courses. The networks from which the Internet is composed are usually public access networks, meaning that the resources of the network can be shared with anyone logging on to, or accessing, the network. Other types of networks, called intranets, are closed to public use. Intranets are the most common type of computer network used in companies and organizations where it is important to restrict access to the information contained on the network. How the Internet Works? The Internet is based on the concept of a client-server relationship between computers, also called client/server architecture. In a client/server architecture, some computers act as information providers (servers), while other computers act as information receivers (clients). The client/server architecture is not one-to-one-that is, a single client computer may access many different servers, and a single server may be accessed by a number of different client computers. Prior to the mid-1990s, servers were usually very powerful computers such as mainframe or supercomputers, with extremely high processing speeds and large amounts of memory. Personal computers and workstations, however, are now capable of acting as Internet servers due to advances in computing technology. A client computer is any computer that receives information from a server. A client computer may be a personal computer, a pared-down computer (sometimes called a Web appliance), or a wireless device such as a handhel d computer or a cellular telephone. To access information on the Internet, a user must first log on, or connect, to the client computers host network. A host network is a network that the client computer is part of, and is usually a local area network (LAN). Once a connection has been established, the user may request information from a remote server. If the information requested by the user resides on one of the computers on the host network, that information is quickly retrieved and sent to the users terminal. If the information requested by the user is on a server that does not belong to the host LAN, then the host network connects to other networks until it makes a connection with the network containing the requested server. In the process of connecting to other networks, the host may need to access a router, a device that determines the best connection path between networks and helps networks to make connections. Once the client computer makes a connection with the server containing the requested information, the server sends the information to the client in the form of a file. A special computer program called a browser enables the user to view the file. Examples of Internet browsers are Mosaic, Netscape, and Internet Explorer. Multimedia files can only be viewed with a browser. Their pared-down counterparts, text-only documents, can be viewed without browsers. Many files are available in both multimedia and text-only versions. The process of retrieving files from a remote server to the users terminal is called downloading. One of the strengths of the Internet is that it is structured around the concept of hypertext. The term hypertext is used to describe an interlinked system of documents in which a user may jump from one document to another in a nonlinear, associative way. The ability to jump from one document to the next is made possible through the use of hyperlinks-portions of the hypertext document that are linked to other related documents on the Internet. By clicking on the hyperlink, the user is immediately connected to the document specified by the link. Multimedia files on the Internet are called hypermedia documents. Accessing the Internet Access to the Internet falls into two broad categories: dedicated access and dial-up access. With dedicated access, the computer is directly connected to the Internet via a router, or the computer is part of a network linked to the Internet. With dial-up access, a computer connects to the Internet with a temporary connection, generally over a telephone line using a modem-a device that converts a computers digital signals into signals that can be transmitted over traditional telephone lines. Digital signals are made up of discrete units, while most telephone lines are analog, meaning that they carry signals that are continuous instead of discrete. Once a signal has traveled over the telephone line, a second modem is required at the other end of the line to reconvert the transmitted signals from analog to digital. Great many companies, called Internet Service Providers (ISPs), provide dial-up or dedicated access to the Internet for a modest fee. Examples of ISPs are America Online (AOL ), the Microsoft Network (MSN), and CompuServe. Todays User Today, with the evolution of the desktop personal computers which now pack the processing power of the minis and main frames of the late 70s and early80s and are still growing more powerful rivaling the processing power of the workstation, PCs have taken a new turn in their applications. Gone are the days when PCs were being used for mediocre word processing, small scale accounting on a spreadsheet or standalone databases. Users are now programming and creating their own applications. For instance, use of graphical software is on an exponential rise, desktop publishing is being sought after, and various management tools are being employed. Nowadays, the average user of computers has become much more demanding. The world has become much more computer literate, and whether one likes it or not, computers have either already invaded our life or is about to. It is inevitable that in the next five years there will not be a person who has, not come across a computer. Need for a Global Communication System The need to communicate is expanding. People from ordinary walks of life to hard core computer users, are communicating with each other electronically. More and more databases are coming on line. Information from relatively simple services such as electronic mail to reading research articles by some physicist thousands of miles away are all available on line which has facilitated the user to achieve tasks in no time only through the courtesy of the Internet. What is Money? At first sight the answer to this question seems obvious; the man or woman in the street would agree on coins and banknotes, but would they accept them from any country? What about cheques? They would probably be less willing to accept them than their own countrys coins and notes but bank money (i.e. anything for which you can write a cheque) actually accounts for by far the greatest proportion by value of the total supply of money. What about I.O.U.s (I owe you), credit cards and gold? The gold standard belongs to history but even today in many rich people in different parts of the world would rather keep some of their wealth in the form of gold than in official, inflation-prone currencies. The attractiveness of gold, from an aesthetic point of view, and its resistance to corrosion are two of the properties which led to its use for monetary transactions for thousands of years. In complete contrast, a form of money with virtually no tangible properties whatsoever electronic money s eems set to gain rapidly in popularity. All sorts of things have been used as money at different times in different places. The alphabetical list below, taken from page 27 of A History of Money by Glyn Davies, includes but a minute proportion of the enormous variety of primitive moneys, and none of the modern forms. Amber, beads, cowries, drums, eggs, feathers, gongs, hoes, ivory, jade, kettles, leather, mats, nails, oxen, pigs, quartz, rice, salt, thimbles, umiacs, vodka, wampum, yarns, and zappozats (decorated axes). It is almost impossible to define money in terms of its physical form or properties since these are so diverse. Therefore any definition must be based on its functions. Functions of Money Specific functions (mostly micro-economic) Unit of account (abstract) Common measure of value (abstract) Medium of exchange (concrete) Means of payment (concrete) Standard for deferred payments (abstract) Store of value (concrete) General functions (mostly macro-economic and abstract) Liquid asset Framework of the market allocative system (prices) A causative factor in the economy Controller of the economy Causes of the Development of Money Money originated very largely from non-economic causes: from tribute as well as from trade, from blood-money and bride-money as well as from barter, from ceremonial and religious rites as well as from commerce, from ostentatious ornamentation as well as from acting as the common drudge between economic men. One of the most important improvements over the simplest forms of early barter was the tendency to select one or two items in preference to others so that the preferred items became partly accepted because of their qualities in acting as media of exchange. Commodities were chosen as preferred barter items for a number of reasons some because they were conveniently and easily stored, some because they had high value densities and were easily portable and some because they were durable. These commodities, being widely desired, would be easy to exchange for others and therefore they came to be accepted as money. To the extent that the disadvantages of barter provided an impetus for the development of money that impetus was purely economic but archaeological, literary and linguistic evidence of the ancient world and the tangible evidence of actual types of primitive money from many countries demonstrate that barter was not the main factor in the origins and earliest development of money. The Invention of Banking and Coinage The invention of banking preceded that of coinage. Banking originated in Ancient Mesopotamia where the royal palaces and temples provided secure places for the safe-keeping of grain and other commodities. Receipts came to be used for transfers not only to the original depositors but also to third parties. Eventually private houses in Mesopotamia also got involved in these banking operations and laws regulating them were included in the code of Hammurabi. In Egypt too the centralization of harvests in state warehouses also led to the development of a system of banking. Written orders for the withdrawal of separate lots of grain by owners whose crops had been deposited there for safety and convenience, or which had been compulsorily deposited to the credit of the king, soon became used as a more general method of payment of debts to other persons including tax gatherers, priests and traders. Even after the introduction of coinage these Egyptian grain banks served to reduce the need for precious metals which tended to be reserved for foreign purchases, particularly in connection with military activities. Precious metals, in weighed quantities, were a common form of money in ancient times. The transition to quantities that could be counted rather than weighed came gradually. On page 29 of A History of Money Glyn Davies points out that the words spend, expenditure, and pound (as in the main British monetary unit) all come from the Latin expendere meaning to weigh. On page 74 the author points out that the basic unit of weight in the Greek speaking world was the drachma or handful of grain, but the precise weight taken to represent this varied considerably, for example from less than 3 grams in Corinth to more than 6 grams in Aegina. Throughout much of the ancient world the basic unit of money was the stater, meaning literally balancer or weigher. The talent is a monetary unit with which we are familiar with from the Parable of the Talents in the Bible. The talent was also a Greek unit of weight, about 60 pounds. Many primitive forms of money were counted just like coins. Cowrie shells, obtained from some islands in the Indian Ocean, were a very widely used primitive form of money in fact they were still in use in some parts of the world (such as Nigeria) within living memory. So important a role did the cowrie play as money in ancient China that its pictograph was adopted in their written language for money. (page 36) Thus it is not surprising that among the earliest countable metallic money or coins were cowries made of bronze or copper, in China. In addition to these metal cowries the Chinese also produced coins in the form of other objects that had long been accepted in their society as money e.g. spades, hoes, and knives. Although there is some dispute over exactly when these developments first took place, the Chinese tool currencies were in general use at about the same time as the earliest European coins and there have been claims that their origins may have been much earlier, possibly as early as the end of the second millennium BC. The use of tool coins developed (presumably independently) in the West. The ancient Greeks used iron nails as coins, while Julius Caesar regarded the fact that the ancient Britons used sword blades as coins as a sign of their backwardness. (However the Britons did also mint true coins before they were conquered by the Romans). These quasi-coins were all easy to counterfeit and, being made of base metals, of low intrinsic worth and thus not convenient for expensive purchases. True coinage developed in Asia Minor as a result of the practice of the Lydians, of stamping small round pieces of precious metals as a guarantee of their purity. Later, when their metallurgical skills improved and these pieces became more regular in form and weight the seals served as a symbol of both purity and weight. The first real coins were probably minted some time in the period 640 630 BC. Afterwards the use of coins spread quickly from Lydia to Ionia, mainland Greece, and Persia. Paper Money In China the issue of paper money became common from about AD 960 onwards but there had been occasional issues long before that. A motive for one such early issue, in the reign of Emperor Hien Tsung 806-821, was a shortage of copper for making coins. A drain of currency from China, partly to buy off potential invaders from the north, led to greater reliance on paper money with the result that by 1020 the quantity issued was excessive, causing inflation. In subsequent centuries there were several episodes of hyperinflation and after about 1455, after well over 500 years of using paper money, China abandoned it. Bills of Exchange With the revival of banking in Western Europe, stimulated by the Crusades, written instructions in the form of bills of exchange came to be used as a means of transferring large sums of money and the Knights Templars and Hospitallers functioned as bankers. (It is possible that the Arabs may have used bills of exchange at a much earlier date, perhaps as early as the eighth century). The use of paper as currency came much later. Goldsmith Bankers During the English Civil War, 1642-1651, the goldsmiths safes were secure places for the deposit of jewels, bullion and coins. Instructions to goldsmiths to pay money to another customer subsequently developed into the cheque (or check in American spelling). Similarly goldsmiths receipts were used not only for withdrawing deposits but also as evidence of ability to pay and by about 1660 these had developed into the banknote. Virginian Tobacco In Englands American colonies a chronic shortage of official coins led to various substitutes being used as money, including, in Viriginia, tobacco, leading to the development of paper money by a different route. Tobacco leaves have drawbacks as currency and consequently certificates attesting to the quality and quantity of tobacco deposited in public warehouses came to be used as money and in 1727 were made legal tender. Gold Standard Although paper money obviously had no intrinsic value its acceptability originally depended on its being backed by some commodity, normally precious metals. During the Napoleonic Wars convertibility of Bank of England notes was suspended and there was some inflation which, although quite mild compared to that which has occurred in other wars, was worrying to contemporary observers who were used to stable prices and, in accordance with the recommendations of an official enquiry Britain adopted the gold standard for the pound in 1816. For centuries earlier silver had been the standard of value. The pound was originally an amount of silver weighing a pound. France and the United States were in favor of a bimetallic standard and in 1867 an international conference was held in Paris to try and widen the area of common currencies based on coins with standard weights of gold and silver. However when the various German states merged into a single country in 1871 they chose the gold standard. The Scandinavian countries adopted the gold standard shortly afterwards. France made the switch from bimetallism to gold in 1878 and Japan, which had been on a silver standard, changed in 1897. Finally, in 1900, the United States officially adopted the gold standard. With the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 Britain decided to withdraw gold from internal circulation and other countries also broke the link with gold. Germany returned to the gold standard in 1924 when it introduced a new currency, the Reichsmark and Britain did the following year, and France in 1928. However the British government had fixed the value of sterling at an unsustainably high rate and in the worldwide economic crisis in 1931 Britain, followed by most of the Commonwealth (except Canada) Ireland, Scandinavia, Iraq, Portugal, Thailand, and some South American countries abandoned gold. The United States kept the link to gold and after the Second World War the US dollar replaced the pound sterling as the key global currency. Other countries fixed their exchange rates against the dollar, the value of which remained defined in terms of gold. In the early 1970s the system of fixed exchange rates started to break down as a result of growing international inflation and the United States abandoned the link with gold in 1973. Intangible Money The break with precious metals helped to make money a more elusive entity. Another trend in the same direction is the growing interest in forms of electronic money from the 1990s onwards. In some ways e-money is a logical evolution from the wire transfers that came about with the widespread adoption of the telegraph in the 19th century but such transfers had relatively little impact on the everyday shopper. The evolution of money has not stopped. Securitization, the turning of illiquid assets into cash, developed in new directions in the 1990s. One much publicized development was the invention of bonds backed by intangible assets such as copyright of music, e.g.Bowie bonds, named after those issued by the pop star David Bowie.

Is the Cause of Terrorism Islam, or Foreign Policy? :: September 11 Terrorism Essays

Was the Cause of September 11 Islam or Foreign Policy? George W. Bush has taken a stand on the true nature of Islam, calling it, for instance, a "religion of peace." As strange as this is to hear from the president of the United States, Bush's declarations have given rise to a good deal of useful public discussion about Islam. Unfortunately, this discussion has too often accepted the confused terms of the president's rhetoric: Is there, or is there not, something wrong in the nature of Islam? Salman Rushdie ("Yes, This is About Islam," New York Times 11/2/01) and Jonathan Ebel ("Territory is Not Mind," Sightings 11/15/01) both make some useful points in the process of taking up the question, but somehow leave standing the president's fundamental misconception that a religion has an essence. Surely it is not fair to say that September 11 is "about" Islam. Violent hatred and intolerance can be adduced in too many corners of the religious world to imagine that it comes, simply, from the doctrines of one holy book or another. At the same time, it is difficult for me to blame Salman Rushdie, especially, for perceiving something within Islam today that is prone to violence. His non-violent, literary attack on Islam was, after all, taken by some Muslims to justify very real threats to his life. And, he marshals some reasonable evidence that many Muslims do believe that Islam is on board with the September 11 terrorists. Still, we ought not to declare that September 11 is "about" Islam, especially if this means that we ignore "foreign policy, humanity, global society, and the just ordering thereof"-- which Ebel says are obviously what September 11 is also "about." Ebel's list implies that a larger, broader causal story needs to be told, rather than simply to say that Islam gave us the horrors of September 11. I agree wholeheartedly. Believing too simplistic a causal story carries both moral and practical flaws. If Islam itself -- or something in its nature -- was the cause of the attacks, we could only prevent further attacks by preventing further Islam. In this way, such a simplistic belief would tend to sanction persecution if not genocide against Muslims. From a practical standpoint, we will have to understand the details of the real, long-term causal story if we wish to minimize the threat of repeated terrorism in America.

Taiwan Earthquake - The 9-21 Earthquake (September 21 1999) :: essays research papers

Taiwan Earthquake - The 9-21 Earthquake (September 21 1999) CNN: A special news report-This morning, there was an earthquake registering 7.6 on the Richter scale shaked Taiwan at 1:45am on September 21,1999. The epicenter is a mile under the ground in Nantou near Puli. There are many buildings crushed, and even a twelve floor-high rise building suddenly became a two floor- high rise building (the first to the sixth floors dipped into the underground, and the seventh to the twelfth floors went diagonally down and damaged the road.) As of press time the Disaster Management Center said 2,034 people were confirmed dead. Another 6,536 were injured and 2,308 were trapped, while 208 were still listed as missing. The number still increases, Taiwan has many earthquakes, and although most are centered under the sea and cause no damage. Some have brought disaster to the island, but this time is the biggest earthquake in Taiwanese history. Taiwanese call it the 9-21 earthquake because it happened on September 21 1999. I was at my work place, I had heard the news: there was a building crushed in Taipei because of a serious earthquake was registering 7.6 happened in Taiwan about an hour ago. I was so happy and careless because my entire family dose not live close to Taipei and I did not have any bad information about central Taiwan. During my lunch break, there was updating news from CNN station: the epicenter of this earthquake is in Nantou near Puli. My heart was stony and cold, after I knew the epicenter was in my grandmother’s hometown-Puli. Nantou County is approximately 200km south of Taipei, and it is the only place not around the ocean in Taiwan. There are only mountains around Nantou, and Puli is a small town in Nantou County. There are about two thousand people in Puli, and its wine, rice noodles, and beauty are the most famous things in Taiwan because Puli has very good and clean spring water, and the air quality is the top of the line- no pollution. Moreover Puli is a small town, and all the people in Puli are like a big family. People know everything in the town, and they knew me since I was born. It is a very different environment and experience in Puli than in America, and I love it very much. It was hard to believe that Mother Nature punished Puli and Taiwan so badly.

Criticism on the Poem Do Not Go Gentle

The first poem that Dylan Thomas ever published, when he was only eighteen, was an early version of â€Å"And Death Shall Have No Dominion. † The cycle of life and death formed a constant underlying theme throughout his poetry since that earliest effort. In â€Å"Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night,† a moving plea to his dying father, death takes on a new and intensely personal meaning for Thomas. David John Thomas was an important influence throughout his son Dylan’s life. A grammar school English teacher, he had a deep love for language and literature which he passed on to his son. In a 1933 letter to a friend, Dylan Thomas describes the library he shared with his father in their home. His father’s section held the classics, while his included modern poetry. It had, according to Thomas, everything needed in a library. â€Å"Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night† was in all likelihood composed in 1945 when D. J. Thomas was seriously ill; however, it was not published until after his death on December 16, 1952. Thomas sent the poem to a friend, Princess Caetani, in the spring of 1951, telling her that the â€Å"only person I can’t show the little enclosed poem to is, of course, my father who doesn’t know he’s dying. After his father’s death, the poem was included in the collection In Country Sleep. Ironically Dylan Thomas himself died just a year later. The poem discusses various ways to approach death in old age. It advocates affirming life up until the last breath, rather than learning to accept death quietly. Poem Summary Lines 1-3 The first tercet introduces the poem’s theme; it also introduces the two recurring refrains that end alternate stanzas. Although these two lines, the first and the third, both state Thomas’s basic theme about resisting death, they contrast in several ways. Each of the predominant words in line one finds its opposite in line three. â€Å"Gentle† is paired with â€Å"rage,† â€Å"good† with â€Å"dying,† and â€Å"night† with â€Å"light. † The tone of the two lines also is quite different. Line one is subdued; the verbs are deliberately simple, vague. Thomas uses the predicate adjective â€Å"gentle,† making it describe the personality of the individual, rather than the more obvious choice â€Å"gently,† an adverb which would only refer to the action of the verb. â€Å"Good night† when it refers to dying becomes a paradox for Thomas, meaning a good death. Although this line may be an exhortation to resist death, its entire tone is gentle. Compare this to the beginning of line 3 where â€Å"rage† is repeated twice. Here the poet urges a furious resistance to death. The second line introduces Thomas’s advice to those who near death. The idea of burning is frequently associated with the passion of youth; however, Thomas wants the elderly to cling as passionately to their lives as anyone would. The phrase â€Å"close of day† establishes a connection with the â€Å"good night† of the previous line, while the words â€Å"burn† and â€Å"rave† move the reader into the third line of the stanza. Line 4 The next four stanzas describe four different types of old men and examine their attitudes and feelings as they realize that death is approaching. The first type Thomas mentions are the wise men. They may be considered scholars or philosophers. Perhaps because of this, intellectually they accept the inevitability of death. Thomas begins the line with the word â€Å"though,† however, to indicate that their knowledge has not prepared them to accept the reality of death. Line 5 This line explains why the wise men are unable to act in accordance with their knowledge. Scholars are known and measured by their words. These men have many words still left unwritten or unspoken, so their goals have not been accomplished. Thomas ends this line in mid-thought, leaving the rest of the idea to the next line. This parallels the unfulfilled lives of the wise men, with their messages only partially delivered. Line 6 In many villanelles, the refrains simply serve as a chorus. Here, Thomas makes it an integral part of the meaning of the stanza. Lines 7-8 â€Å"Good† seems to be used in a moral sense here, describing men who have lived worthy, acceptable lives. The phrase â€Å"last wave† presents readers with a dual image. The men themselves are a last wave, the last to approach death; they also seem to be giving a final wave to those who they are leaving behind. â€Å"Crying,† as well, has two meanings here. In one sense, it simply means speaking out, but it also carries the sense of weeping and mourning. Like the wise men, the good men have not accomplished what they wished to in life. Their actions failed to stand out. Thomas uses rhyme for different purposes here. Rhyming â€Å"bright† at the end of line 7 with â€Å"might† in line 8 erves to emphasize both words and link the two stanzas. Also, the rhyming of â€Å"by,† â€Å"crying,† and â€Å"dying† unites this stanza, while the use of â€Å"deeds† and â€Å"danced† is an example of alliteration. Line 9 The intensity of the refrain contrasts with the nature of the good men as Thomas has presented them. They seem passive, their actions weak. Now at the end of life, they must finally behave passionately, finally be noticed. Lines 10-12 Thomas’s wild men are very different from the good, quiet men in the previous stanzas.  The image, â€Å"caught and sang the sun,† is joyous and powerful when compared to frail deeds. These men have lived live fully, not realizing that they, too, will age and die. Since Thomas himself cultivated an image as a wild Celtic bard, this stanza seems ironically prophetic about his own death. Line 13 The word â€Å"grave† carries two meanings here: seriousness and death. These are the men of understanding; paradoxically, although they are blind, they are able to see more clearly than those with sight. Lines 14-15 The mentions of blindness are references to his father. Thomas spoke of this blindness again in the unfinished elegy he wrote after his father’s death, describing him as: Too proud to die, broken and blind he died †¦ An old kind man brave in his burning pride. In this stanza, Thomas contrasts light and dark imagery; for instance, the term â€Å"grave† is countered by â€Å"gay,† just as â€Å"blind† is contrasted with â€Å"sight. † Lines 16-17 While the last stanza referred to Thomas’s father only obliquely, this stanza is addressed to him. The â€Å"sad height† refers to his closeness to death. There are Biblical overtones to Thomas’s request in line 17, as he asks for a final blessing or curse; the patriarchs delivered such parting messages to their sons. As in many Bible verses, with their parallel structure, blessings and curses are paired together. If this line is read as iambic pentameter, however, the emphasis will fall on the words, â€Å"bless† and â€Å"now. † The image of â€Å"fierce tears† shows contrast: the tears acknowledging the inevitability of death, while the use of â€Å"fierce† indicates resistance until the end. â€Å"I pray† reinforces the Biblical imagery; however, the prayer is addressed to his father, the agnostic, rather than God.