Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Ian Brady and Myra Hindley and the Moors Murders

Ian Brady and Myra Hindley and the Moors Murders In the 1960s, Ian Brady and his girlfriend, Myra Hindley, sexually abused and murdered young children and teens, then buried their bodies along the Saddleworth Moor, in what became known as the Moors Murders. Ian Bradys Childhood Years Ian Brady (birth name, Ian Duncan Stewart) was born on January 2, 1938, in Glasgow, Scotland. His mother, Peggy Stewart, was a 28-year-old single mother who worked as a waitress. His fathers identity is unknown. Unable to afford proper care for her son, Brady was placed in the care of Mary and John Sloan when he was four months old. Stewart continued to visit her son until he was 12, although she did not tell him she was his mother. Brady was a troublesome child and prone to throwing angry tantrums. The Sloans had four other children, and despite their efforts to make Brady feel he was part of their family, he remained distant and was unable to engage with others. A Troubled Teen Early on, despite his disciplinary problems, Brady demonstrated an above average intelligence. At age 12, he was accepted to Shawlands Academy in Glasgow, which was a secondary school for above-average students. Known for its pluralism, the academy offered Brady and environment, where despite his background, he could blend in with the multicultural and diverse student population. Brady was smart, but his laziness shadowed his academic success. He continued to detach himself from his peers and the normal activities of his age group. The only subject that seemed to captivate his interest was World War II. He became enthralled by the human atrocities that took place in Nazi Germany.   A Criminal Emerges By age 15, Brady had been to juvenile court twice for petty burglary. Forced to leave Shawlands Academy, he began working at a Govan shipyard. Within a year, he was arrested again for a series of small crimes, including threatening his girlfriend with a knife. To avoid being sent to a reform school, the courts agreed to place Brady on probation, but with the condition that he go and live with his birth mother. At the time, Peggy Stewart and her new husband Patrick Brady lived in Manchester. Brady moved in with the couple and took on his step-fathers name in an effort to solidify the feeling of being part of a family unit. Patrick worked as a fruit merchant and he helped Brady find a job at the Smithfield Market. For Brady, it was his chance to start a new life, but it did not last long. Brady remained a loner. His interest in sadism intensified by reading books on torture and sadomasochism, particularly the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche and Marquis de Sade. Within a year, he was arrested again for theft and sentenced to two years in a reformatory. No longer interested in making a legitimate living, he used the time of his incarceration to educate himself about crime.   Brady and Myra Hindley Brady was released from the reformatory in November 1957 and he moved back to his mothers home in Manchester. He had various labor-intensive jobs, all of which he hated. Deciding he needed a desk job, he taught himself bookkeeping with training manuals he obtained from the public library. At age 20, he got an entry-level bookkeeping job at Millwards Merchandising in Gorton. Brady was a reliable, yet a fairly unremarkable employee. Other than being known for having a bad temper, not much office chatter was spilled in his direction, with one exception. One of the secretaries, 20-year-old Myra Hindley, had a deep crush on him and tried various ways to get his attention. He responded to her much like he did everyone around him disinterested, detached and somewhat superior. After a year of being a relentless flirt, Myra finally got Brady to notice her and he asked her out on a date. From that point on, the two were inseparable. Myra Hindley Myra Hindley was raised in an impoverished home with abusive parents. Her father was an ex-military alcoholic and tough disciplinarian. He believed in an eye-for-an-eye and at an early age taught Hindley how to fight. To win her fathers approval, which she desperately wanted, she would physically confront the male bullies at school, often leaving them bruised and with swollen eyes. As Hindley got older she seemed to break the mold and she gained a reputation as being a somewhat shy and reserved young woman. At the age of 16, she began taking instructions for her formal reception into the Catholic Church and had her first communion in 1958. Friends and neighbors described Hindley as being reliable, good and trustworthy. The Relationship It took just one date for Brady and Hindley to realize that they were soul mates. In their relationship, Brady took the role of the teacher and Hindley was the  dutiful student. Together they would read Nietzsche, Mein Kampf and de Sade. They spent hours watching x-rated movies and looking at pornographic magazines. Hindley quit attending church services when Brady told her there was no God. Brady was Hindleys first lover and she was often left to tend to her bruises and bite marks that came during their lovemaking sessions. He would occasionally drug her, then pose her body in various pornographic positions and take pictures that he would then share with her later. Hindley became fixated on being Aryan and dyed her hair blonde. She changed her style of clothing based on Bradys desires. She distanced herself from friends and family and often avoided answering questions about her relationship with Brady. As Bradys control over Hindley increased, so did his outrages demands, which she would make every effort to satisfy without question. For Brady, it meant he had found a partner who was willing to venture into a sadistic, macabre world where rape and murder was the ultimate pleasure. For Hindley it meant experiencing pleasure from their perverse and brutal world, yet avoiding the guilt for those desires since she was under Bradys control. July 12, 1963 Pauline Reade, age 16, was walking down the street at around 8 p.m. when Hindley pulled over in a van she was driving and asked her to help her find a glove that she had lost. Reade was friends with Hindleys younger sister and agreed to help. According to Hindley, she drove to the Saddleworth Moor and Brady met the two shortly afterward. He took Reade onto the moor where he beat, raped and murdered her by slashing her throat, and then together they buried the body.  According to Brady, Hindley participated in the sexual assault. November 23, 1963 John Kilbride, age 12, was at a market in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, when he accepted a ride home from Brady and Hindley. They took him to the moor where Brady raped then strangled the boy to death. June 16, 1964 Keith Bennett, age 12, was walking to his grandmothers house when Hindley approached him and asked for his help in loading boxes into her truck, and where Brady was waiting. They offered to drive the boy to his grandmothers house, but instead they took him to Saddleworth Moor where Brady led him to a gully, then raped, beat and strangled him to death, then buried him. December 26, 1964 Lesley Ann Downey, age 10, was celebrating Boxing Day at the fairgrounds when Hindley and Brady approached her and asked her to help them load packages into their car and then into their house. Once inside the house, the couple undressed and gagged the child, forced her to pose for pictures, then raped and strangled her to death. The following day they buried her body on the moors. Maureen and David Smith Hindleys younger sister Maureen and her husband David Smith started hanging around with Hindley and Brady, especially after they moved close to one another. Smith was no stranger to crime and he and Brady would often talk about how they could rob banks together. Smith also admired Bradys political knowledge and Brady enjoyed the attention. He took on the role of mentor and would read Smith passages of Mein Kampf  much as he had with Myra when they first began dating. Unknown to Smith, Bradys real intentions went beyond feeding the younger mans intellect. He was actually priming Smith so that he would eventually participate in the couples ghastly crimes. As it turned out, Bradys belief that he could manipulate Smith into becoming a willing partner was dead wrong. October 6, 1965 Edward Evans, age 17, was lured from Manchester Central to Hindley and Bradys home with the promise of relaxation and wine. Brady had seen Evans before in a gay bar he had cruised looking for victims. Introducing Hindley as his sister, the three drove to Hindley and Bradys home, which would ultimately become the scene of where Evans would suffer a horrific death. A Witness Comes Forward In the early morning hours of October 7, 1965, David Smith, armed with a kitchen knife, walked to a public phone and called the police station to report a murder that he had witnessed earlier in the evening.   He told the officer on duty that he was in Hindley and Bradys home when he saw Brady attack a young man with an ax, repeatedly striking him while the man screamed in agony. Shocked and frightened that he would become their next victim, Smith helped the couple clean up the blood, then wrapped the victim in a sheet and placed it in an upstairs bedroom. He then promised to return the next evening to help them dispose of the body. The Evidence Within hours of Smiths call, the police searched the Brady home and found Evans body. Under interrogation, Brady insisted that he and Evans got into a fight and that he and Smith murdered Evans and that Hindley was not involved. Brady was arrested for murder and Hindley was arrested four days later as an accessory to murder. Pictures Dont Lie David Smith told the investigators that Brady had stuffed items into a suitcase, but that he did not know where it was hidden. He suggested that maybe it was at the railway station. The police searched the lockers at Manchester Central and found the suitcase which contained pornographic pictures of a young girl and a tape recording of her screaming for help. The girl in the pictures and on the tape was identified as Lesley Ann Downey. The name, John Kilbride, was also found written in a book. There were several hundred pictures in the couples home, including several taken on Saddleworth Moor. Suspecting that the couple had been involved in some of the cases of missing children, a search party of the moors was organized. During the search, the bodies of Lesley Ann Downey and John Kilbride were found. Trial and Sentencing Brady was charged with murdering Edward Evans, John Kilbride, and Lesley Ann Downey. Hindley was charged with murdering Edward Evans and Lesley Ann Downey, and for harboring Brady after she knew he had killed John Kilbride. Both Brady and Hindley pleaded not guilty. David Smith was the prosecutors number one witness until it was discovered that he had entered into a monetary agreement with a newspaper for the exclusive rights to his story if the couple was found guilty. Prior to the trial, the newspaper had paid for the Smiths to go on a trip to France and provided them with a weekly income. They also paid for Smith to stay in a five-star hotel during the trial. Under duress, Smith finally disclosed the News of the World as the newspaper. On the witness stand, Brady admitted to hitting Evans with the ax, but not doing it with the intention of murdering him.   After listening to the tape recording of Lesley Ann Downey and clearly hearing the voices of Brady and Hindley in the background, Hindley admitted that she was brusque and cruel in her treatment of the child because she was afraid that someone might hear her screams. As to the other crimes committed on the child, Hindley claimed to be in another room or looking out of the window. On May 6, 1966, the jury took two hours of deliberation before returning a verdict of guilty of all charges for both Brady and Hindley.  Brady was sentenced to three terms of life imprisonment and Hindley received two life sentences and a concurrent seven-year sentence. Later Confessions and Discoveries After spending almost 20 years in prison, Brady allegedly confessed to the murders of Pauline Reade and Keith Bennett, while he was being interviewed by a newspaper journalist. Based on that information, the police reopened their investigation, but when they went to interview Brady he was described as scornful and uncooperative. In November 1986, Hindley received a letter from Winnie Johnson, Keith Bennetts mother, in which she begged Hindley to give her any information about what happened to her son. As a result, Hindley agreed to look at photos and maps to identify places she had been with Brady. Later Hindley was taken to Saddleworth Moor but was unable to identify anything that helped the investigation of the missing children. On February 10, 1987, Hindley made a taped confession to her involvement in the murders of Pauline Reade, John Kilbride, Keith Bennett, Lesley Ann Downey, and Edward Evans. She did not confess to being present during the actual murders of any of the victims. When Brady was told of Hindleys confession he did not believe it.  But once he was given details that only he and Hindley knew, he knew that she had confessed. He also agreed to confess, but with a condition that could not be met, which was a way to kill himself after confessing. Hindley again visited the moor in March 1987, and although she was able to confirm that the area that was being searched was on target, she could not identify the exact locations of where the children were buried. On July 1, 1987, Pauline Reades body was found buried in a shallow grave, close to where Brady had buried Lesley Ann Downey.   Two days later, Brady was taken to the moor but claimed that the landscape had changed too much and he was unable to help in the search for Keith Bennetts body. The following month the search was called off indefinitely.   Aftermath Ian Brady spent the first 19 years of his incarceration at Durham Prison. In November 1985, he was moved to the Ashworth Psychiatric Hospital after being diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. Myra Hindley suffered a brain aneurysm in 1999 and died in prison on November 15, 2002, from complications brought on by heart disease. Reportedly, over 20 undertakers refused to cremate her remains. The case of Brady and Hindley is considered one of the most grisly serial crimes in Great Britain history.

Saturday, November 23, 2019

The Sewing Machine and the Textile Revolution

The Sewing Machine and the Textile Revolution Before the invention of the sewing machine, most sewing was done by individuals in their homes. However, many people offered services as tailors or seamstresses in small shops where wages were very low. Thomas Hoods ballad The Song of the Shirt, published in 1843, depicts the hardships of the English seamstress: With fingers weary and worn, With eyelids heavy and red, A woman sat in unwomanly rags, Plying her needle and thread. Elias Howe In Cambridge, Massachusetts, one inventor was struggling to put into metal an idea to lighten the toil of those who lived by the needle. Elias Howe was born in Massachusett in 1819. His father was an unsuccessful farmer, who also had some small mills, but seems to have succeeded in nothing he undertook. Howe led the typical life of a New England country boy, going to school in winter and working about the farm until the age of sixteen, handling tools every day. Hearing of the high wages and interesting work in Lowell, a growing town on the Merrimac River, he went there in 1835 and found employment; but two years later, he left Lowell and went to work in a machine shop in Cambridge. Elias Howe then moved to Boston, and worked in the machine shop of Ari Davis, an eccentric maker and repairer of fine machinery. This is where Elias Howe, as a young mechanic, first heard of sewing machines and began to puzzle over the problem. First Sewing Machines Before Elias Howes time, many inventors had attempted to make sewing machines and some had just fallen short of success. Thomas Saint, an Englishman, had patented one fifty years earlier. About this very time, a Frenchman named Thimonnier was working eighty sewing machines to make army uniforms, when the tailors of Paris, fearing that the bread was to be taken from them, broke into his workroom and destroyed the machines. Thimonnier tried again, but his machine never came into general use. Several patents had been issued on sewing machines in the United States, but without any practical result. An inventor named Walter Hunt had discovered the principle of the lock-stitch and had built a machine, but he abandoned his invention just as success was in sight, believing it would cause unemployment. Elias Howe probaly knew nothing of any of these inventors. There is no evidence that he had ever seen the work of another. Elias Howe Begins Inventing The idea of a mechanical sewing machine obsessed Elias Howe. However, Howe was married and had children, and his wages were only nine dollars a week. Howe found support from an old schoolmate, George Fisher, who agreed to support Howes family and furnish him with five hundred dollars for materials and tools. The attic in Fishers house in Cambridge was converted into a workroom for Howe. Howes first efforts were failures, until the idea of the lock stitch came to him. Previously all sewing machines (except Walter Hunts) had used the chain stitch, which wasted thread and easily unraveled. The two threads of the lock stitch cross, and the lines of stitches show the same on both sides. The chain stitch is a crochet or knitting stitch, while the lock stitch is a weaving stitch. Elias Howe had been working at night and was on his way home, gloomy and despondent, when this idea dawned on his mind, probably rising out of his experience in the cotton mill. The shuttle would be driven back and forth as in a loom, as he had seen it thousands of times, and passed through a loop of thread which the curved needle would throw out on the other side of the cloth. The cloth would be fastened to the machine vertically by pins. A curved arm would ply the needle with the motion of a pick-axe. A handle attached to the fly-wheel would furnish the power. Commercial Failure Elias Howe made a machine which, crude as it was, sewed more rapidly than five of the swiftest needle workers. But his machine was too expensive, it could sew only a straight seam, and it easily got out of order. The needle workers were opposed, as they have generally been, to any sort of labor-saving machinery that might cost them their jobs, and there was no clothing manufacturer willing to buy even one machine at the price Howe asked- three hundred dollars. Elias Howes 1846 Patent Elias Howes second sewing machine design was an improvement on his first. It was more compact and ran more smoothly. George Fisher took Elias Howe and his prototype to the patent office in Washington, paying all the expenses, and a patent was issued to the inventor in September 1846. The second machine also failed to find buyers. George Fisher had invested about two thousand dollars, and he could not, or would not, invest more. Elias Howe returned temporarily to his fathers farm to wait for better times. Meanwhile, Elias Howe sent one of his brothers to London with a sewing machine to see if any sales could be found there, and in due time an encouraging report came to the destitute inventor. A corsetmaker named Thomas had paid two hundred and fifty pounds for the English rights and had promised to pay a royalty of three pounds on each machine sold. Moreover, Thomas invited the inventor to London to construct a machine especially for making corsets. Elias Howe went to London and later sent for his family. But after working eight months on small wages, he was as badly off as ever, for, though he had produced the desired machine, he quarrelled with Thomas, and their relations came to an end. An acquaintance, Charles Inglis, advanced Elias Howe a little money while he worked on another model. This enabled Elias Howe to send his family home to America, and then, by selling his last model and pawning his patent rights, he raised enough money to take passage himself in the steerage in 1848, accompanied by Inglis, who came to try his fortune in the United States. Elias Howe landed in New York with a few cents in his pocket and immediately found work. But his wife was dying from the hardships she had suffered due to stark poverty. At her funeral, Elias Howe wore borrowed clothes, for his only suit was the one he wore in the shop. After his wife died, Elias Howes invention came into its own. Other sewing machines were being made and sold and those machines were using the principles covered by Elias Howes patent. Businessman George Bliss a man of means, had bought out George Fishers interest and proceeded to prosecute  the patent infringers. Meanwhile Elias Howe went on making machines. He produced 14 in New York during the 1850s and never lost an opportunity to show the merits of the invention, which was being advertised and brought to notice by the activities of some of the infringers, particularly by Isaac Singer, the best businessman of them all. Isaac Singer had joined forces with  Walter Hunt. Hunt had tried to patent the machine which he had abandoned nearly twenty years before. The suits dragged on until 1854, when the case was decisively settled in Elias Howes favor. His patent was declared basic, and all the makers of sewing machines must pay him a royalty of 25 dollars on every machine. So Elias Howe woke one morning to find himself enjoying a large income, which in time rose as high as four thousand dollars a week, and he died in 1867 a rich man. Improvements to the Sewing Machine Though the basic nature of Elias Howes patent was recognized, his sewing machine was only a rough beginning. Improvements followed, one after another, until the sewing machine bore little resemblance to Elias Howes original. John Bachelder introduced the horizontal table upon which to lay the work. Through an opening in the table, tiny spikes in an endless belt projected and pushed the work forward continuously. Allan B. Wilson devised a rotary hook carrying a bobbin to do the work of the shuttle. He also invented the small serrated bar which pops up through the table near the needle, moves forward a tiny space (carrying the cloth with it), drops down just below the upper surface of the table, and returns to its starting point- repeating over and over again this series of motions. This simple device brought its owner a fortune. Isaac Singer, destined to be the dominant figure of the industry, patented in 1851 a machine stronger than any of the others and with several valuable features, notably the vertical presser foot held down by a spring. Singer was the first to adopt the treadle, leaving both hands of the operator free to manage the work. His machine was good, but, rather than its surpassing merits, it was his wonderful business ability that made the name of Singer a household word. Competion Among Sewing Machine Manufacturers By 1856 there were several manufacturers in the field threatening war on each other. All men were paying tribute to Elias Howe, for his patent was basic, and all could join in fighting him. But there were several other devices almost equally fundamental, and even if Howes patents had been declared void, it is probable that his competitors would have fought quite as fiercely among themselves. At the suggestion of George Gifford, a New York attorney, the leading inventors and manufacturers agreed to pool their inventions and to establish a fixed license fee for the use of each. This combination was composed of Elias Howe, Wheeler and Wilson, Grover and Baker, and Isaac Singer, and dominated the field until after 1877, when the majority of the basic patents expired. The members manufactured sewing machines and sold them in America and Europe. Isaac Singer introduced the installment plan of sale, to bring the machine within reach of the poor. The sewing machine agent, with a machine or two on his wagon, drove through every small town and country district, demonstrating and selling. Meanwhile, the price of the machines steadily fell, until it seemed that Isaac Singers slogan, A machine in every home! was in a fair way to be realized, had not another development of the sewing machine intervened.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Analysing tourism and Hospitality Organisation Essay

Analysing tourism and Hospitality Organisation - Essay Example It is also considered to be one of the major divers towards the development of economic conditions and employment opportunities for both developing and developed countries in today’s modern day context. In UK, tourism and hospitality industry is regarded as a major business sector assisting towards the development of the economic conditions (Kapiki, 2012). Forecasting the advantages of rapidly growth demand in this particular sector, Thomas Cook Group Plc commenced its business operations in the year 1841. The company is one of the renowned and oldest British companies offering services in relation to leisure travel to the global customers. The company is observed to be serving around 23 million customers on an annual basis. The company is mainly focused on the process of transforming its business activities with the objective of offering customers with more innovative and superior quality services or innovative products. The major objective of the company is therefore confine d to attract customers or tourists to have a better tourism experience. The company seeks that its customers are offered with innovative and quality services. The ultimate aim of the company is to meet as well as provide services or products beyond the expectations of its targeted customers. The company with effective management of business operations has planned to improve profitability and reduce operational costs [1] (Thomas Cook, 2012). In this regard, Thomas Cook has planned and implemented various strategies with the intention of accomplishing the determined objectives or aims successfully. The company has developed strategies in relation to hotel concepts, ‘products and service innovation’, ‘single customer gateway’ and ‘execution supported by brand and technology’ which are being elaborated below. International Hotel Concept Thomas Cook has undertaken this strategy with the intention of expanding and developing its business operations i n the international market segments. Moreover, the company has adopted this strategy in order to collaborate with various international hotels. This strategy is expected to assist the company in offering better quality services and room facilities to customers. The company possesses various hotel concepts in continental as well as Northern European regions which include Sunwing, Smartline and Sentido. Furthermore, these hotels’ concepts are planned to be expanded in order to provide better accommodation services to customers [2] (Thomas Cook, 2013). Product and Service Innovation Thomas Cook has devised plans as well as strategies with the objective of offering better trusted and innovative products and/or services to its customers. The company, with the assistance of this strategy, aims at providing better packaged holiday programs for travellers along with better accommodation and travelling services. The customers are also offered with ‘high tech services’ to assist its customers in developing community relationships, where customers can share their experiences and investigate about the services delivered by the company. In this context, the company expects that customers will be able to identify the best services offered and will subsequently, motivate customers to make repeat purchases; thus, retaining the loyal buyers [2] (Thomas Cook, 2013). Single Customer Gateway Thomas Cook has formulated and adopted the strategy of Single Customer Gateway with the intention of facilitating customers to have access to a varied range of products

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

History of the Manhattan Project Research Paper

History of the Manhattan Project - Research Paper Example This paper examines the Manhattan project which led to the creation of the atomic bomb. The paper would evaluate the detailed history of the Manhattan project. It would also include an in-depth assessment of the role the Manhattan project in World War II and the effects it created. In 1938, German scientists discovered that if your bombarded elements of uranium with neutrons, you would split the nucleus of the atom and this could create enormous heat anneutronst1. The Germans called this nuclear fission because it was similar to the split of asexual organisms in their reproduction process. Prior to that era, scientists in Europe had collaborated freely with no signs of hostility. The various scholars collaborated in cities like Cambridge, Rome and Berlin where they shared ideas and views on inventions and new ways of improving science. However, the rise of Nazism and Fascism split Europe and put the Jewish population of physicists and scientists in danger. In the 1930s and 1940s, many of these Jewish scientists fled Germany and parts of Europe due to the inimical ideologies that sought to annihilate the Jewish people. Most of these scientists ended up in the United States of America. A notable example is Albert Einstein who got himself a job in the Princeton University. In the 1930s, theoretical Physics was like an esoteric science which was known by a handful of people2. Thus, most scientists doubted the power of nuclear fusion and the possibility of splitting uranium atoms to create powerful bombs. However, Hungarian-born physicist, Leo Szilard knew of the German attempts to develop the atomic bomb. He organized two other Jewish-European migrants to discuss the threat. Szilard made it clear that Hitlers acquisition of the atomic bomb could make him the winner of a war between Germany and the free world. Szilard and his colleagues asked Einstein to intervene in the matter.

Sunday, November 17, 2019

English Rhetoric Paper Essay Example for Free

English Rhetoric Paper Essay I think the essay could be looked with consideration of logos is a great way; the reader should be able to use reason and logic to judge the essay. Since logos are appeal based on logic and reason, everyone will reason their different ways without being influenced by the article or the author. Let me shortly show how I think the rest two would not be best in the essay here:- Pathos being emotion based and the fact that this essay seems to have been written by an author who is very bitter with bush might win the readers sympathy without proper reasoning. The whole essay condemns bush, it brings about his history not sure if it is true or not and that’s more why I would rather consider logos as far as possible because I can only see the authors side and the list of questions which I don’t know the answers to and not even aware if bush answered. Ethos, the appeal based on the reputation of the author did not win my side here on this essay, the author claims to have been slammed by uttering the‘d’ word gives me a negative attitude towards him. I reason differently especially on the part that Bush is accused to have sent the sons and daughters of America to their deaths†¦sometimes for achievement to be attained there has to be sacrifice and I don’t mean to say that the victims should be sacrificed. Having a president who would pretend not to notice the threat of weapons of mass destruction and ties Saddam had with Al Qaeda would be a challenge big enough. He would have failed in his duties as a president. America needed to be protected so did other parts of the world. Honestly the September Eleven attack killed many people right at homeland, most of them as they did their businesses. The president knew that there had to be war first then peace and hence ‘I am a war President’ statement which was a reality. Logical Fallacy committed here is ‘informal fallacy’ whereby arguments however good or even based on true premises must not be a 100% true in the end result. He wrote ‘We are a forgiving people, and though you will not be returned to the White House†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ yet it happened contrary to the statement. â€Å"And then you had the audacity to prance around in a soldier’s uniform on an aircraft carrier proclaiming â€Å"Mission Accomplished†. —the mission has really been accomplished, Saddam is no more. â€Å"You did this while misleading their parents and the nation with bogus lies about weapons of mass destruction and scary phony Saddam ties to al Qaeda†. The issue was true, it was there and we knew that.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Preventing PC Issues :: essays research papers

Several people in the class have had "computer problems" in the last couple of weeks. This is often caused by Aware, Spyware, Malware, Viruses, and not maintaining the hard drive. Many times people will buy a new PC and 6-8 months later cannot understand why it is running so poorly. I rebuild a lot of computers for people. If it is a Pentium III or better and the person has all the original software that came with the pc, it is not a difficult task, although it can be time consuming. There are several things we can do to prevent this from happening. Defrag the hard drive weekly or at the very least once per month. Get the "red" out. (On an XP OS it is: Start-->All Programs-->Accessories-->System Tools-->Disk Defragmenter) Use a good virus program and keep it updated. Norton or Mcaffee are the most popular. A new-comer is PC-cillin by Micro Trends. They have a very good application that uses very little resources and they update their "dat" files much faster than the other big two, include a spyware search and have 24 hour phone tech support. Do a search on the internet. There are a lot of great articles by magazines such as PC Magazine written about this program and company. Norton and Mcaffee have not updated their engine in almost 2 years. Download Ad-aware and Spy Bot and use them weekly. These are free programs you can find with a simple Goggle search, download and install. The updates are free also. These programs will find most of the pesky programs you don't want on your computer. Back up your data. All your MS Office data files; .doc, .xls, .ppt .mdb, email, jpeg pictures, etc. If you have a CD burner, you can copy 750mb on each disk. If you have a DVD burner, you can save 4.7GB on each disk! Don't use "file-sharing" programs that allow you to download music, movies and applications from other people. You never know exactly what you are getting. I have seen some of the most evil stuff coming from these places. Besides, most of that is stealing anyway. Would you want to write or produce something only to see it all over the 'net right after its release? If you have a broadband connection, USE A ROUTER. I can't say it enough. With a broadband connection, Cable or DSL, you are on "open" IP address on the internet.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

“Death of a Salesman” Detailed Analysis Essay

ARTHUR MILLER Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953) and A View from the Bridge Miller was often in the public eye, particularly during the late 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s, a period during which he testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee, received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Prince of Asturias Award, and was married to Marilyn Monroe. SUMMARY It is important to bear that the story is told through the mind and memory of Willy Loman and there is a constant back and forth between two periods ,1928 and 1942.The first period is one of the happiness and contentment when Willy Loman is young and dynamic and the children ,Biff and Happy are running about in shorts ;the second is one of gloom and discontent -Willy is now old and ,virtually out of a job and the children are grown up and gone their different ways. The play is thus structured in such a way to show the pleasures of the past ,the dreams and hopes the characters had and how these aspirations had turned sour. Willy Loman had built his life in such a way that he had finally trapped himself in an impossible situation. Willy Loman ,the protagonist in the play was a travelling salesman in the services of the wagnor company for 34 years. When his old boss died ,his son Howard took over the administration of the company .Willy’s family consists of three other members ,his wife Linda, Biff,the elder son and Happy, the younger son. Willy unexpectedly returned on the same day he had left for New England territory on a business tour. Linda felt that her husband is thoroughly  exhausted both physically and mentally and he has almost reached the breaking point. Willy, who is 63, has driven the car off the road twice or three times and when he reached home he was found to be panic stricken ,desolate and shattered. Willy liked his eldest son Biff,who was wellknown as a football champion. Though he is 34 , it is unfortunate that he could not settle in life. Inspite of the fact that three colleges offered him scholarship in recognition of his proficiency in football, he did not join any college . Happy, the women chaser also could not settle in life. For the next two days, immediately after his unexpected return, Willy’s mind was rather disturbed with thoughts of today’s realities inter mingled with yesterday’s half forgotten episodes. He felt that it was mistake on his part not to have followed his elder brother Ben ,who dared his way into the diamond minds of Africa and amassed fabulous wealth . Willy’s guilty consciousness pricked him at the flash back scene of Boston hotel room, when his son Biff makes a surprise visit and finds his father having an affair with a strange lady .After this episode, Biff seemed to hold a grudge against his father and could never again bring himself to trust Willy. As suggested by Linda, Willy visits Howard, the young Boss and request for a change of job in the New York City office as he is physically and mentally incapacitated as a travelling sales man. When the request was unceremoniously turned down by Howard and Willy dismissed from service he protest â€Å"You ca nnot eat orange and throw the peel away; man is not a piece of fruit†. Willy is very much frustrated and disillusioned at the behavior of capitalists who lacked the human milk of kindness, sympathy and gratitude. Biff’s attempt to raise a loan from Bill Oliver, the proprietor of sports goods company also failed. Oliver, who once liked Biff immensely, now refused to recognise him now because Biff has stolen a fountain pen, Charley ,Willy’s neighbour extended a helping hand in those days of adversity. He ,not only advanced a loan to him but also offered him a job to him. But Willy refused to accept it with a false sense of dignity. The two sons invited the father for a dinner party at a prominent restaurant in the city. But Happy picked up two call girls and left the place along with Biff,  leaving Willy alone. Willy felt humiliated and this experience was shocking and unbearable when Biff and Happy returned home, Linda ordered them out of the house by the next morning. She was planning to commit suicide on a particular night .Willy was left alone while all others went upstairs. He has insured his life for 20,000 dollars. Once he dies, the family will be entitled to receive the amount from the insurance company. So Willy got into his car and drove madly through darkness, only to kill himself. His funeral was attended only by Linda, the two sons, charley and his son Bernard. Linda could not stand the strain of separation from her beloved husband; but still she stooped down and dropped flowers on the grave of Willy. DEATH OF A SALESMAN AS A TRAGEDY: According to the traditional views based on Aristotelian cannons, the tragic hero was to be a person of high rank and status. So that his down fall could produce an inevitable emotional effect on the audience. In ancient Greek tragedies, fate or destiny is mainly responsible for the downfall of human beings. But Shakespeare and Marlow attributed human misfortune mainly to the personal draw backs of the tragic heroes themselves and hardly to the hidden forces which we describe as fate or destiny. Miller generally departs from both these concepts of tragedy as in the tragic hero in the Death of a sales man belongs to the middle class. He does not hold the view that tragic effect can be produced only by the downfall of a highly placed individual in society. It matters not at all whether hero falls from a great height or small one, whether he highly conscious or dimly aware of what is happening ,if the intensity is their ‘America grows like a giant in unimaginable proportions ‘. Willy symbolically stands for all the low men in American business community not just salesmen -who in a way sell themselves. Willy sells himself and in the process wears himself out and he is finally discarded when he is no longer useful. Willy begins as a salesman 36 years ago, opens up unheard of territories to their trade mark, but in his old age they take his salary away. It is pity that once Willy’s energy is exhausted by the work that  society has assigned to him, he is thrown aside and dismissed by the son of his old boss. Willy protests, â€Å"you cannot eat the orange and throw them peel â€Å". Man is not a piece of fruit no doubt ,Willy loman is a superannuated employee, but he is rejected and ill treated by his employer at the end of his career. Even a change of job with less travelling was denied to him. But still it may not be fully correct to say that Willy is wholly a victim of the prevailing social system. His own responsibility of his tragedy is by no means insignificant or negligible. In the first place he failed to realize his own limitations and short comings Willy has the conviction that success depends on personality, contacts and good cloths and that these will bring everything one wants in life. Obviously Willy is a prey to that magical book of Dale carnegie’s ‘How to win friends and influence people ‘ we know that mistake is that Willy had chosen a wrong profession for himself under the impression that the selling profession is the best in the world. Secondly the sense of guilt which he carries with him due to his past infidelity to his wife has also serious repercussions in his mental stability .His affair with the woman in the hotel when he was visited by Biff hangs on his conscience. Biff’s discovery of Willy’s infidelity marks the crucial turning point in the relationship between the father and the son .There after Biff no longer believes Willy . Another point to be noted is Willy’s incurable optimism .He has had higher expectation about the future of his elder son Biff who looks so charming as the Adonise in Greek mythology and who has earned high reputation as a good football champion. Biff has become disillusioned .For Biff ,life came to be an end with his match. He could neither make a mark in business nor could he go back to school to finish his course. Ironically Bernard who never represented University of Virginia, Bernard who pleaded to carry Biff’s helmet or shoulder guards , prospered. Bernard wins glory by pleading before the supreme court ,but he does this without any pushing from his father. According to Willy, they ought to be success at all; for both Charley and Bernard were not well liked. These tragic experiences shatter Willy’s conception of American dreams. No human or super natural agency interfered his life .The sense of frustration and psychological neurosis upsets his  mental equi librium and shatters him to pieces. CHARACTER LIST WILLY LOMAN: An insecure, self-deluded traveling salesman. Willy believes wholeheartedly in the American Dream of easy success and wealth, but he never achieves it. Nor do his sons fulfill his hope that they will succeed where he has failed. When Willy’s illusions begin to fail under the pressing realities of his life, his mental health begins to unravel. The overwhelming tensions caused by this disparity, as well as those caused by the societal imperatives that drive Willy, form the essential conflict of Death of a Salesman. BIFF LOMAN: Willy’s thirty-four-year-old elder son. Biff led a charmed life in high school as a football star with scholarship prospects, good male friends, and fawning female admirers. He failed math, however, and did not have enough credits to graduate. Since then, his kleptomania has gotten him fired from every job that he has held. Biff represents Willy’s vulnerable, poetic, tragic side. He cannot ignore his instincts, which tell him to abandon Willy’s paralyzing dreams and move out West to work with his hands. He ultimately fails to reconcile his life with Willy’s expectations of him. LINDA LOMAN: Willy’s loyal, loving wife. Linda suffers through Willy’s grandiose dreams and self-delusions. Occasionally, she seems to be taken in by Willy’s self-deluded hopes for future glory and success, but at other times, she seems far more realistic and less fragile than her husband. She has nurtured the family through all of Willy’s misguided attempts at success, and her emotional strength and perseverance support Willy until his collapse. HAPPY LOMAN: Willy’s thirty-two-year-old younger son. Happy has lived in Biffs shadow all of his life, but he compensates by nurturing his relentless sex drive and professional ambition. Happy represents Willy’s sense of self-importance, ambition, and blind servitude to societal expectations. Although he works as an assistant to an assistant buyer in a department  store, Happy presents himself as supremely important. Additionally, he practices bad business ethics and sleeps with the girlfriends of his superiors. CHARLEY- Willy’s next – door neighbor. Charley owns a successful business and his son, Bernard, is a wealthy, important lawyer. Willy is jealous of Charley’s success. Charley gives Willy money to pay his bills, and Willy reveals at one point, choking back tears, that Charley is his only friend. BERNARD – Bernard is Charley’s son and an important, successful lawyer. Although Willy used to mock Bernard for studying hard, Bernard always loved Willy’s sons dearly and regarded Biff as a hero. Bernard’s success is difficult for Willy to accept because his own sons’ lives do not measure up. BEN – Willy’s wealthy older brother. Ben has recently died and appears only in Willy’s â€Å"daydreams.† Willy regards Ben as a symbol of the success that he so desperately craves for himself and his sons. THE WOMAN – Willy’s mistress when Happy and Biff were in high school. The Woman’s attention and admiration boost Willy’s fragile ego. When Biff catches Willy in his hotel room with The Woman, he loses faith in his father, and his dream of passing math and going to college dies. HOWARD WAGNER – Willy’s boss. Howard inherited the company from his father, whom Willy regarded as â€Å"a masterful man† and â€Å"a prince.† Though much younger than Willy, Howard treats Willy with condescension and eventually fires him, despite Willy’s wounded assertions that he named Howard at his birth. STANLEY – A waiter at Frank’s Chop House. Stanley and Happy seem to be friends, or at least acquaintances, and they banter about and ogle Miss Forsythe together before Biff and Willy arrive at the restaurant. MISS FORSYTHE AND LETTA – Two young women whom Happy and Biff meet at Frank’s Chop House. It seems likely that Miss Forsythe and Letta are prostitutes, judging from Happy’s repeated comments about their moral character and the  fact that they are â€Å"on call.† JENNY – Charley’s secretary THEMES, MOTIFS & SYMBOLS THEMES Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. THE AMERICAN DREAM Willy believes wholeheartedly in what he considers the promise of the American Dream- that a â€Å"well liked† and â€Å"personally attractive† man in business will indubitably and deservedly acquire the material comforts offered by modern American life. Oddly, his fixation with the superficial qualities of attractiveness and likeability is at odds with a more gritty, more rewarding understanding of the American Dream that identifies hard work without complaint as the key to success. Willy’s interpretation of likeability is superficial-he childishly dislikes Bernard because he considers Bernard a nerd. Willy’s blind faith in his stunted version of the American Dream leads to his rapid psychological decline when he is unable to accept the disparity between the Dream and his own life. ABANDONMENT Willy’s life charts a course from one abandonment to the next, leaving him in greater despair each time. Willy’s father leaves him and Ben when Willy is very young, leaving Willy neither a tangible (money) nor an intangible (history) legacy. Ben eventually departs for Alaska, leaving Willy to lose himself in a warped vision of the American Dream. Likely a result of these early experiences, Willy develops a fear of abandonment, which makes him want his family to conform to the American Dream. His efforts to raise perfect sons, however, reflect his inability to understand reality. The  young Biff, whom Willy considers the embodiment of promise, drops Willy and Willy’s zealous ambitions for him when he finds out about Willy’s adultery. Biff’s ongoing inability to succeed in business furthers his estrangement from Willy. When, at Frank’s Chop House, Willy finally believes that Biff is on the cups of greatness, Biff shatters Willy’s illus ions and, along with Happy, abandons the deluded, babbling Willy in the washroom. BETRAYAL Willy’s primary obsession throughout the play is what he considers to be Biff’s betrayal of his ambitions for him. Willy believes that he has every right to expect Biff to fulfill the promise inherent in him. When Biff walks out on Willy’s ambitions for him, Willy takes this rejection as a personal affront (he associates it with â€Å"insult† and â€Å"spite†). Willy, after all, is a salesman, and Biff’s ego-crushing rebuff ultimately reflects Willy’s inability to sell him on the American Dream-the product in which Willy himself believes most faithfully. Willy assumes that Biff’s betrayal stems from Biff’s discovery of Willy’s affair with The Woman-a betrayal of Linda’s love. Whereas Willy feels that Biff has betrayed him, Biff feels that Willy, a â€Å"phony little fake,† has betrayed him with his unending stream of ego-stroking lies. MOTIFS Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes. MYTHIC FIGURES Willy’s tendency to mythologize people contributes to his deluded understanding of the world. He speaks of Dave Singleman as a legend and imagines that his death must have been beautifully noble. Willy compares Biff and Happy to the mythic Greek figures Adonis and Hercules because he believes that his sons are pinnacles of â€Å"personal attractiveness† and power through â€Å"well liked†-ness; to him, they seem the very incarnation of the  American Dream. Willy’s mythologizing proves quite nearsighted, however. Willy fails to realize the hopelessness of Singleman’s lonely, on-the-job, on-the-road death. Trying to achieve what he considers to be Singleman’s heroic status, Willy commits himself to a pathetic death and meaningless legacy (even if Willy’s life insurance policy ends up paying off, Biff wants nothing to do with Willy’s ambition for him). THE AMERICAN WEST, ALASKA, AND THE AFRICAN JUNGLE These regions represent the potential of instinct to Biff and Willy. Willy’s father found success in Alaska and his brother, Ben, became rich in Africa; these exotic locales, especially when compared to Willy’s banal Brooklyn neighborhood, crystallize how Willy’s obsession with the commercial world of the city has trapped him in an unpleasant reality. Whereas Alaska and the African jungle symbolize Willy’s failure, the American West, on the other hand, symbolizes Biff’s potential. Biff realizes that he has been content only when working on farms, out in the open. His westward escape from both Willy’s delusions and the commercial world of the eastern United States suggests a nineteenth-century pioneer mentality-Biff, unlike Willy, recognizes the importance of the individual. SYMBOLS Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts. SEEDS Seeds represent for Willy the opportunity to prove the worth of his labor, both as a salesman and a father. His desperate, nocturnal attempt to grow vegetables signifies his shame about barely being able to put food on the table and having nothing to leave his children when he passes. Willy feels that he has worked hard but fears that he will not be able to help his  offspring any more than his own abandoning father helped him. The seeds also symbolize Willy’s sense of failure with Biff. Despite the American Dream’s formula for success, which Willy considers infallible, Willy’s efforts to cultivate and nurture Biff went awry. Realizing that his all-American football star has turned into a lazy bum, Willy takes Biff’s failure and lack of ambition as a reflection of his abilities as a father. DIAMONDS To Willy, diamonds represent tangible wealth and, hence, both validation of one’s labor (and life) and the ability to pass material goods on to one’s offspring, two things that Willy desperately craves. Correlatively, diamonds, the discovery of which made Ben a fortune, symbolize Willy’s failure as a salesman. Despite Willy’s belief in the American Dream, a belief unwavering to the extent that he passed up the opportunity to go with Ben to Alaska, the Dream’s promise of financial security has eluded Willy. At the end of the play, Ben encourages Willy to enter the â€Å"jungle† finally and retrieve this elusive diamond-that is, to kill himself for insurance money in order to make his life meaningful. LINDA’S AND THE WOMAN’S STOCKINGS Willy’s strange obsession with the condition of Linda’s stockings foreshadows his later flashback to Biff’s discovery of him and The Woman in their Boston hotel room. The teenage Biff accuses Willy of giving away Linda’s stockings to The Woman. Stockings assume a metaphorical weight as the symbol of betrayal and sexual infidelity. New stockings are important for both Willy’s pride in being financially successful and thus able to provide for his family and for Willy’s ability to ease his guilt about, and suppress the memory of, his betrayal of Linda and Biff. THE RUBBER HOSE The rubber hose is a stage prop that reminds the audience of Willy’s desperate attempts at suicide. He has apparently attempted to kill himself  by inhaling gas, which is, ironically, the very substance essential to one of the most basic elements with which he must equip his home for his family’s health and comfort-heat. Literal death by inhaling gas parallels the metaphorical death that Willy feels in his struggle to afford such a basic necessity. QUESTIONS The play ‘Death of a Salesman’ revolves mainly around a conflict between ? What are the reasons for Willy’s failure as a business man? American dream in the play ‘Death of a salesman’. What is the central theme of the play ‘Death of a salesman’. The father son conflict in the play ‘Death of a salesman’. The hotel scene in the play ‘Death of a salesman’. The role of mother Linda Loman in the play ‘Death of a salesman’. Why did Biff Loman leave the school? The significance of the title’Death of a salesman’. Why did Willy commit suicide? The flash back scene in the play ‘Death of a salesman’. Miller’s play as a critique of the American way of life.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Porters 5 Generic Strategies Essay

One of the greatest tools of use for a firm is being aware of it’s position within an industry. When a company is knowledgeable of where it stands, it can more accurately assess its strengths and weaknesses and what is, or has the potential to be, it’s competitive advantage. Michael Porter, believed that the basis for this advantage falls under 3 base strategies of Cost leadership, Differentiation and Focus. With the use of his generic strategy model, a firm, understanding where its competitive advantage lies, can then formulate and implement an effective business strategy geared towards the sustainability of this advantage. The 3 bases, formed 5 generic strategies : Cost Leadership, strongly speaks towards the production of a lower price product. It appeals to consumers because of low cost. Type 1 strategy is Cost Leadership : low cost, that offers the product at the lowest price available on the market. Type 2 is best value, that offers the lowest price for value available on the market. A firm seeking to become a cost leader then, is attempting to gain a competitive advantage by producing at the lowest cost. For example, the automobile sector, in formulating a strategy must attempt to cut costs at every step of their value chain, whether it is using word of mouth over advertisements or engaging in vertical integration strategies in an attempt to control costs. They must improve the efficiencies of their processes and because of its low cost nature, be prepared to be highly leveraged, if necessary, to maintain its position. Malaysia’s car makers Perodua and Proton are examples of cost leaders, but also of how this position is used to formulate strategy. The rival low cost maker, Perodua, entered the market and lowered prices further in retaliation and assumed market control, but then because of limitation of supplies and new government regulation Proton once more overtook Perodua. Thus the cost leader must constantly stay aware of the 5 forces, and it environment of business in order to maintain its competitive advantage. Differentiation, Porter’s Type 3, calls for a product that possesses certain attributes that the customer perceives as both valuable and better than competitors. This position allows firms more leniency with regards to price as the focus is more heavily on value. This strategy will not only aid but  guide a firm’s management activities as they incur greater costs which should be offset by sales revenue. This should allow the firm, in carrying out its strategic activities to realise the importance of brand loyalty, cost associated with aggressive sales and marketing tactics to establish that perceived value to consumers and the significance on the value chain of research and development. General Motors, at a time when Ford dominated the market, offered new features at premium prices to a higher class of public. The mission, a car for every purse and purpose, was exceeded as they became the leading company. New entrants were discouraged, buyers had low bargaining power due to the lack of alternatives, supplier increases could be passed on through sales price and substitutes and rivals were deterred because of the loyalty consumers had to GM’s exciting features. A great example of how Porter’s strategy guided their activities and secured their competitive advantage. Type 4, low cost focus and Type 5, best value focus, offers products and services to a niche group at the lowest price available on the market and the lowest price for value available on the market, respectively. Type 4, for example the used car dealership, offers bargain hunters low cost vehicles for a few inconveniences such as their own maintenance. Type 5, for example Corvette, offer a higher price to niche group and maintain loyalty by offering an experience unlike any other. For this reason, Type 5 is sometimes referred to as focused differentiation. For types 4 and 5, strategic management must focus on the development of core competencies and use it as a potential barrier to entry and base for minimizing threats of substitutes, extensive analysis of the 5 forces, value chain and financial capabilities as targeting a niche group may be costly for a Type 5 strategy or may not produce enough revenue for the focused cost leader (Type 4). Porter’s strategies, coined generic, because they are exactly that, have no particular application process but rather the firm using these strategies must develop the best way to sustain their competitive advantage. The firm must define its position and analyze its industry, after a strategy is selected, the firm must develop a plan to implement it then continuously monitor the market signals in order to keep up with the ever changing environment of business. Strategic management’s activities then will take  into account the external environment, the organisation’s capabilities and select and develop strategies always bearing in mind the organisation’s purpose and direction. These strategies, closely paired with the 5 forces, focus on continuous improvement for an organisation to meet the challenges of global change, exactly what strategic management is centered on, the formulation, implementation and evaluation of plans to achieve organisational success .

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Biography of John Calico Jack Rackham, Famed Pirate

Biography of John 'Calico Jack' Rackham, Famed Pirate John Calico Jack Rackham (Dec. 26, 1682–Nov. 18, 1720) was a pirate who sailed in the Caribbean and off the Southeastern coast of the United States during the so-called Golden Age of Piracy (1650-1725). Rackham was not one of the more successful pirates, and most of his victims were fishermen and lightly armed traders. Nevertheless, he is remembered by history, mostly because two female pirates, Anne Bonny and Mary Read, served under his command. He was captured, tried, and hanged in 1720. Little is known about his life before he became a pirate, but it is certain that he was English. Fast Facts: John Rackham Known For: Famed British pirate who sailed in the Caribbean and the southeastern coast of the United StatesAlso Known As: Calico Jack, John Rackam, John RackumBorn: Dec. 26, 1682 in EnglandDied: Nov. 18, 1720 Port Royal,  JamaicaNotable Quote: I am sorry to see you here, but if you had fought like a man, you neednt be hanged like a dog.  (Anne Bonny to Rackham, who was in prison after he had decided to surrender to pirate hunters instead of fighting.) Early Life John Rackham, who earned the nickname Calico Jack because of his taste for clothes made of brightly colored Indian Calico cloth, was an up-and-coming pirate during the years when piracy was rampant in the Caribbean and Nassau was the capital of a pirate kingdom of sorts. He had been serving under renowned pirate Charles Vane in the early part of 1718 and rose to the rank of quartermaster. When Gov. Woodes Rogers arrived in July 1718 and offered royal pardons to pirates, Rackham refused and joined the die-hard pirates led by Vane. He shipped out with Vane and led a life of piracy in spite of the increasing pressure put on them by the new governor. Gets First Command In November 1718, Rackham and about 90 other pirates were sailing with Vane when they engaged a French warship. The warship was heavily armed, and Vane decided to run for it in spite of the fact that most of the pirates, led by Rackham, were in favor of fighting. Vane, as captain, had the final say in battle, but the men removed him from command shortly thereafter. A vote was taken and Rackham was made the new captain. Vane was marooned with some 15 other pirates who had supported his decision to run. Captures the Kingston In December, he captured the merchant ship Kingston. The Kingston was carrying valuable cargo and Rackham and his men would have had a big payday. However, they seized the ship just off of Port Royal, and the merchants impacted by the theft hired bounty hunters to pursue Rackham and his crew. The bounty hunters found the pirates in February  1719 at Isla de los Pinos, now called Isla de la Juventud, situated just south of Cubas western end. Most of the pirates, including Rackham himself, were ashore when the bounty hunters discovered their ship. They took refuge in the woods as the bounty hunters left with their ship and its treasure. Steals a Sloop In his 1722 classic a General History of the Pyrates, Capt. Charles Johnson tells the exciting story of how Rackham stole a sloop. Rackham and his men were at a town in Cuba, refitting their small sloop, when a Spanish warship charged with patrolling the Cuban coast entered the harbor, along with a small English sloop they had captured. The Spanish warship saw the pirates but could not get at them at low tide, so they parked in the harbor entrance to wait for morning. That night, Rackham and his men rowed over to the captured English sloop and overpowered the Spanish guards there. As dawn broke, the warship began blasting Rackhams old ship, now empty, as Rackham and his men silently sailed past in their new prize. Return to Nassau Rackham and his men made their way back to Nassau, where they appeared before Governor Rogers and asked to accept the royal pardon, claiming that Vane had forced them to become pirates. Rogers, who hated Vane, believed them and allowed them to accept the pardon and stay. Their time as honest men would not last long. Rackham and Anne Bonny It was about this time that Rackham met Anne Bonny, the wife of John Bonny, a petty pirate who had switched sides and now made a meager living informing the governor on his former mates. Anne and Jack hit it off, and before long they were petitioning the governor for an annulment of her marriage, which was not granted. Anne became pregnant and went to Cuba to have her and Jack’s child. She returned afterward. Meanwhile, Anne met Mary Read, a cross-dressing Englishwoman who had also spent time as a pirate. Returns to Piracy Soon, Rackham got bored of life on shore and decided to return to piracy. In August of 1720, Rackham, Bonny, Read, and a handful of other disgruntled ex-pirates stole a ship and slipped out of Nassau’s harbor late at night. For about three months, the new crew attacked fishermen and poorly armed merchants, mostly in the waters off Jamaica. The crew swiftly earned a reputation for ruthlessness, particularly the two women, who dressed, fought, and swore just as well as their male companions. Dorothy Thomas, a fisherwoman whose boat was captured by Rackham’s crew, testified at their trial that Bonny and Read had demanded the crew murder her (Thomas) so that she would not testify against them. Thomas further said that if it were not for their large breasts, she would not have known that Bonny and Read were women. Capture and Death Capt. Jonathan Barnet had been hunting Rackham and his crew and he cornered them in late October 1720. After an exchange of cannon fire, Rackham’s ship was disabled. According to legend, the men hid below deck while Bonny and Read stayed above and fought. Rackham and his whole crew were captured and sent to Spanish Town, Jamaica, for trial. Rackham and the men were swiftly tried and found guilty: they were hanged in Port Royal on Nov. 18, 1720. Rackham was just 37 years old. Bonny was reportedly allowed to see Rackham one last time, and she said to him Im sorry to see you here, but if you had fought like a man, you need not have hanged like a dog. Bonny and Read were spared the noose because they were both pregnant: Read died in prison shortly thereafter, but the eventual fate of Bonny is unclear. Rackhams body was put in a gibbet and hung on a small island in the harbor still known as Rackhams Cay. Legacy Rackham wasnt a great pirate. His brief tenures as captain were marked more by daring and bravery than pirating skill. His best prize, the Kingston, was only in his possession for a few days, and he never had the impact on the Caribbean and transatlantic commerce that others like Blackbeard, Edward Low, Black Bart Roberts, or even his one-time mentor Vane did. Rackham is primarily remembered today for his association with Read and Bonny, two fascinating historical figures. It is safe to say that if it were not for them, Rackham would be but a footnote in pirate lore. Rackham did leave one other legacy, however: his flag. Pirates at the time made their own flags, usually black or red with white or red symbols on them. Rackhams flag was black with a white skull over two crossed swords: this banner has gained worldwide popularity as the pirate flag. Sources Cawthorne, Nigel. A History of Pirates: Blood and Thunder on the High Seas. Edison: Chartwell Books, 2005.Defoe, Daniel. A General History of the Pyrates. Edited by Manuel Schonhorn. Mineola: Dover Publications, 1972/1999.â€Å"Famous Pirate: Calico Rackham Jack.†Ã‚  Calico Rackham Jack - Famous Pirate - The Way of the Pirates.Konstam, Angus. The World Atlas of Pirates. Guilford: the Lyons Press, 2009Rediker, Marcus. Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age. Boston: Beacon Press, 2004.Woodard, Colin. The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down. Mariner Books, 2008.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Young Goodman Brown Quotes

Young Goodman Brown Quotes Young Goodman Brown is a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne (author of The Scarlet Letter) that centers around a young Puritan in New England and his deal with the Devil. Young Goodman Brown is famous for being a representation of American Romantic literature and is often studied in American literature classrooms as an important short work involving the Puritans and other essential themes. Read the story and check out some of the most iconic quotes from the story, then compare Young Goodman Brown with another famous American story about a mans Faustian deal with the Devil, The Devil and Tom Walker by Washington Irving. Quotes Prithee put off your journey until sunrise and sleep in your own bed to-night. A lone woman is troubled with such dreams and such thoughts that shes afeard of herself sometimes. Pray tarry with me this night, dear husband, of all nights in the year. The traveler knows not who may be concealed by the innumerable trunks and the thick boughs overhead; so that with lonely footsteps he may yet be passing through an unseen multitude. On he flew among the black pines, brandishing his staff with frenzied gestures, now giving vent to an inspiration of horrid blasphemy, and now shouting forth such laughter as set all the echoes of the forest laughing like demons around him. The fiend in his own shape is less hideous than when he rages in the breast of man. The young man sat a few moments by the roadside, applauding himself greatly, and thinking with how clear a conscience he should meet the minister in his morning walk, nor shrink from the eye of good old Deacon Gookin. With this excellent resolve for the future, goodman Brown felt himself justified in making more haste on his present evil purpose. He beheld the figure of a man, in grave and decent attire. But, irreverently consorting with these grave, reputable, and pious people, these elders of the church, these chaste dames and dewy virgins, there were men of dissolute lives and women of spotted fame, wretches given over to all mean and filthy vice, and suspected even of horrid crimes. It was strange to see that the good shrank not from the wicked, nor were the sinners abashed by the saints. By the sympathy of your human hearts for sin ye shall scent out all the places-whether in church, bedchamber, street, field, or forest-where crime has been committed, and shall exult to behold the whole earth one stain of guilt, one mighty blood spot. The fiend in his own shape is less hideous than when he rages in the breast of man. Now are ye undeceived. Evil is the nature of mankind. Evil must be your only happiness. Welcome again, my children, to the communion of your race.

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Themes of War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Themes of War - Essay Example The theme of the author is able to display how war affects every level of society while holding the wrong intent that negatively impacts those directly and indirectly involved without good reason. This is displayed through the monologue and the way that the author describes the specific situation. The first way in which the author describes the problem is with the individuals that are fighting in Iraq and what this has caused to their personal lives. This occurs specifically with Cheo’s brother who is fighting in the war. The conditions which are described show how his brother is suffering not from the fighting but, instead, from the lack of care which is received while being in Iraq. â€Å"He sat in a tank in the middle of the Saudi Arabian desert. Wrote six, seven, eight hours a day. These brilliant letters of fear† (Rivera, 346). The fear is then described with the brother waiting to die while there is nothing to do but wait. This problem is one which continuously ar ises in the main theme, specifically in how it has affected his brother by creating fear and causing him to believe only in death. The conditions of the war and the treatment of the soldiers further show that the Iraqi war is one which is not worth fighting and is only leading to misery and loss of life. The individuals that are affected then move into the familial relationships that have connections to those that are in the war. Cheo, as the main character, is first shown with the effects that he has had toward the war because of him missing his brother and of the pain which he knows he is in. This is followed by his confusion over the rights and beliefs which he knows he should have and which cause a division of whether to believe in the war or not. The problem which arises is first seen with Cheo’s observations of his brother and how he changes from saying that he loves others to fighting them and no longer having this characteristic. The reflection continues with Cheo cha nging his belief in wanting blood and bombs and waiting every day for Iraq to be bombed so his brother can come home (347). The change in the character of Cheo shows how the relationships of the family and those that are waiting for the war to be over affect the situation even more, as well as the attitudes of those that are placed in the war. The problems noted with the family then turn to the dialogue becoming one of a national and societal problem. This creates a connection that moves from the family and into the political and social impact that is created. â€Å"And this billboard went up in my town showing Stalin, Hitler, and Hussein, saying we stopped him twice before we have to stop him again! This billboard was put up by a local newspaper!† (348). The attitude created in society is one which shows the same violence that is taking place in the war, despite the lack of knowledge or understanding of what is occurring in the war as well as why it is being fought. The them e of violence and how this takes over at every level is displayed through this dialogue and by showing that there is a sense of the war spreading because of attitudes, changing beliefs and the position of being involved in the war. The war, then, becomes one that is based on growing attitudes of violence over nothing that is occurring within society except for a desire to have money and oil. The theme continues with noting that the war is based not only on problems