Dinosaurs and Birds Are birds really dinosaurs or are they simply related? That is a question that has gained new life in recent years due to the overwhelming facts the are pouring in from newly found fossils and studies from fossils that have been found in the past. Two groups have formed in the study of this question: those who believe birds are a direct result of dinosaurs and those who feel dinosaurs and birds must have had a common ancestor. Determining which view is correct is a matter of opinion based on fact. The main problem involves the use of cladistics or phylogenetic systematics to group organisms according to characteristics they share. When one looks at dinosaur fossils, he or she may feel that certain characteristics are used for something entirely different than someone else who has looked at the same fossil. One cannot talk about dinosaur and bird lineage without mentioning Archaeopteryx. Most paleontologists agree that Archaeopteryx was the first bird. Archaeopteryx thus represents what paleontologists would call a "transitional form" between two major groups of animals, the reptiles (dinosaurs) and birds. The main difference between the theropods and Archaeopteryx were the long arms of the Archaeopteryx, adapted as wings, the feathers, and the presence of a wishbone that the theropods did not have. All of these features tie it to birds and its other characteristics tie it to theropods. One might say it was the "missing link" between the two. Opponents of this idea say that the similarities between Archaeopteryx and theropods were due to convergence, with the birdlike dinosaurs appearing in the Cretaceous some 75 million years after Archaeopteryx. Also, support is gaining that Archaeopteryx was not in fact the first bird, but instead a descendent of an earlier bird ancestor that had developed along a different pathway...
pages: 3 (words: 723)
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added: 07/20/2011
Censorship by definition is the prohibiting of words, images or ideas that are "offensive" to others. I feel that the laws governing film censorship should be more versatile. The teenagers of today are becoming more mature and adult-like at an earlier age. They are taught about the dangers of sex as well as drugs in Enrichment or in Personal and Social Education (P.S.E) and know more about certain subjects than adults today would have known when they were younger. I feel therefore it is ridiculous not to allow them to see films containing sex, drugs and violence on TV or at the cinema, until they are 18. In my opinion teenagers today are clearly mature enough to see these films at the age of 16, which is when they are able to finish their secondary education. At this stage they will have been taught everything they need to know. My main argument is that I feel that the laws on the classification of films are outdated.
I believe that the 18 certificate and the 15 certificate should be abolished and replaced by a 16 certificate. This means that they will be able to see the films that they are (in my opinion) mature enough to see.
My main argument is that I feel the laws surrounding film classification are outdated.
Censorship by definition is the prohibiting of words, images or ideas that are "offensive" to others. I feel that the laws governing film censorship should be more versatile. The teenagers of today are becoming more mature and adult-like at an earlier age. They are taught about the dangers of sex as well as drugs in Enrichment or in Personal and Social Education (P.S.E) and know more about certain subjects than adults today would have known when they were younger. I feel therefore it...
pages: 2 (words: 440)
comments: 1
added: 03/16/2011
Of all of the technology that I use, my computer has had the biggest impact. It helps me do homework, allows me to communicate with almost anyone in the world, and give me an outlet for my creativity. This machine is one of the most flexible devices and greatest time savers ever built, and I have difficulty imagining my life without it.
My PC's most practical use is helping with homework. Typed reports can be edited while I write much more easily than with pencil and paper. Instead of trying to squeeze a word into a tiny space between two other words when I forget to write it, I can just type it in the space and the words already there move out of the way. If I need information for a project, I can use my computer's encyclopedia to get an article much faster than if I had to find it in a paper copy. When I don't find what I'm looking for there, I can go on the Internet and be given access to the resources of libraries, colleges, research centers, and individuals around the world. The Internet also contains dictionaries and thesauruses that are more detailed and user friendly than their physical counterparts. An almost infinite amount of knowledge is easily within my reach on the Internet.
The computer is also a great communication device. E-mail allows me to send as much information as I want whenever I want for a minimal price. In fact, e-mail has revived the almost dead art of letter writing. E-mail's speed provides the convenience of a telephone, yet it still retains much of the charm of a hand written letter. In the past, if I wanted to send a movie or song to one of my friends far away, I would have to...
pages: 3 (words: 558)
comments: 1
added: 03/16/2011
In a society that persists to prize themselves upon thinness, it is difficult for one to not blame others for their constant anxiety over weight. Eating disorders have been identified as a problem since 1689, and over the decades, the number of people afflicted with this illness has only increased furthermore.
Depriving oneself of food to the point of collapsing or gorging on vast amounts of food only to vomit subsequently seems inconceivable. Yet this is a way of life to increasing numbers of women and men of all backgrounds and nationalities. Experts estimate that "5% of adolescent and adult women and 1% of men have anorexia, bulimia or a binge-eating disorder" .
With an obsession with thinness and obtaining the perfect body, our society has cultivated the development of eating disorders. Research revealed that before the age of 14 at least 52% of adolescents have begun dieting. "Among college females, 78% reported bingeing experiences and 8.2% used self-induced vomiting to control weight."
Our society focuses on beauty and as we develop, we come to realize that we have to be thin, beautiful and attractive to be accepted. Society's communication has often been based on the encouragement that the most significant role for a woman is to have a beautiful appearance in order to reach true contentment. However in the eyes of society, the word "beauty" is only the standard message of a "thin, slender body." Ms Tomosugi--a counselor at Women's Counseling Kyoto-- questioned, "Who created such a value, or scale of beauty? Most of them have been created by the mass media or fashion industry in a society dominated by men."
In following such a scale of beauty created by our media from the view of male dominance, the value diffuses into women's consciousness at which they begin to treat the notion as...
pages: 6 (words: 1544)
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added: 08/08/2011
"Do what you love and you will never have to work a day in your life." –Confucius At thirty-two, I came at Chubb to gain the skill sets I needed to move forward in my career. About a year ago, like many Americans, I found myself "downsized" out of a job. After recovering from the shock, I decided that this otherwise unfortunate turn of events would present an excellent opportunity to pursue my passion for IT. I already have a Bachelor of Arts in English from Emory University, so I really was not looking for another Bachelor's degree. I needed job specific skills that would make me employable; skills that would help me advance to the next level. My positions to date are describable as functional with technical overtones. I found that I currently occupy a middle ground between functional user and application analyst. Yet, I discovered upon interviewing for technical positions, many employers wanted experience I didn't have. I have always been computer savvy, but did not have the professional training I needed. A decision to "do what I love" entailed returning to school. I chose Chubb Institute because of their excellent reputation in the IT training industry. Chubb offers many advantages: immersion-style training in a true-to-life working environment, industry case studies and instructors recruited from the IT industry who offer invaluable career support and advice. Chubb's newly developed Database Administration Program seemed to be the best choice to fill in my resume gaps. Databases and database applications have always fascinated me. For years I have worked on Oracle platform applications and had a firm grasp of the tenets and rules that govern databases. Additionally, I have always enjoyed troubleshooting and problem solving. My job responsibilities often expand to encompass being the unofficial helpdesk/application support person for my colleagues. I thoroughly...
pages: 2 (words: 439)
comments: 1
added: 09/26/2011
March 7, 2003 The Frustration of Learning Who You Are In some of the early American Indian cultures when a young man reached the age of adulthood the men of the tribe took the young man off into an unknown region of the wilderness, without food, and there the young man would be left alone as he fasted and waited for the spirits to give him a vision; for the vision contained the secret to his destiny. The vision would give him an identity. The vision would determine what his name would be for the rest of his life. Once his vision had come, the young man could return to the tribe and take his place as an adult. The process was frightening, lonely, and frustrating, but it held the secret to what the young man would become. While our culture doesn't have a process such as this, there is still a process that every young man or woman goes through as they leave their teenage years and begin life as an adult. For some of us the process into adulthood seems to flow easily, for others it may be more uncivilized than that of the Indian culture. The process largely depends on the people who help to shape and guide you through this difficult journey. Most parents don't stop to think that their words and their actions are helping to cast the vision for their child's future. When a young person grows up with criticism and condemnation, it is very difficult for them to see themselves as a success. Someone once said, "What you see is what you get." It is the vision within us that paints the portrait of our future. How we see ourselves. How we think that other people see us. What I like about the Indian culture is that...
pages: 8 (words: 1977)
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added: 11/12/2011
I believe that everybody is free and responsible for their own life. I agree with Max Scheler , Edmund Husserl, Immanuel Kant, and other philosophers that share the view of being free and responsible for all of the choices that we make. I agree with this view because of the different types of evidence there is for freedom. The first piece of evidence that suggests that we are free is our sensory attentiveness to different things that our around us. We have the freedom to act or not to act to the different circumstances around us. As I am writing this paper, I also have different events that are capable of sidetracking me from writing my paper. I have my own choice of finishing this paper or to go so see what is happening around me. The second piece of evidence there is for freedom is our experience of overcoming temptation and our experience of overcoming temptation and our natural inclination to act in certain ways. I think this is probably one of the most important pieces of evidence there is for freedom because if we were not free, then all of our choices would be made for us already. There would be no doubt in our mind as to what choice what we would make. For example, a known alcoholic will more than likely spend a Friday or Saturday night at a bar or somewhere else drinking rather than staying home and not drinking. However, there is always that chance or opportunity for that person to stray away from his natural inclination and stay home. They still have their own freedom to make up their own mind. The last piece of evidence for freedom is that we feel guilt or deep regret fro some actions that I do and pride...
pages: 3 (words: 660)
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added: 12/11/2011
According to McGregor (1995) 'Crime News is Prime News'. Critically discuss the manner in which crime is reported in New Zealand. What are the potential consequences of New Zealand based media representations of crime for your understanding of crime a "The police beat are all about people, what makes them tick, what makes them become heroes or homicidal maniacs. It has it all greed, sex, violence, comedy and tragedy" (Buchanan, E "A coaching method"). This comment from former Miami Herald police reporter, Edna Buchanan further emphasises the theory that the mass media worldwide thrives on stories which sell; Sex, violence and tragedy sell. It is the stories relating to crime, which holds all of these attributes as well as the ones mentioned by Edna Buchanan. So it is not surprising, that on a daily basis we are bombarded with crime stories. It is essential to have an understanding on the manner in which crime is reported in New Zealand, as many of us have an idealistic view on the media seeing it as an 'education eye on the country' which tells it like it is. Unfortunately this is not often the case. With every action, there are always consequences, large and small. The media and the way in which they report crime stories has many potential consequences, which affect New Zealander's understanding of crime and criminality. Crime is represented in many ways from factual representations shown in the news and documentaries, to fictional in television dramas, films and novels. For the purpose of the essay topic I will concentrate on crime in a 'factual sense' within the New Zealand media. In 1998 'Manning' summarised our society as he sees it today in that "we live in a media sub-fused world. Media surrounds and saturates us" he goes on to say that the way...
pages: 6 (words: 1452)
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added: 01/08/2012
Art study essay An artwork can express the artists' interests in the world, but it can also express he/her interests from within. An example of the interests within can come from expressionism, because it's about expressing and sharing the feels from the subject him/her self. "The Scream" is a fine example of expressionism. An example of the artists' interests in the world may be from the cubism movement, because it developed from the impressionism movement which was formed from the technologies developed in the world during the war time. "Les Demoiselles D'Avignon" or the "Prostitutes" is a great example of cubism. "The Scream", by the famous German artist Edvard Munch was painted in the 20th century. "The Scream" looks like a person holding his/her face screaming in pain. It could be a metaphor for his inner emotions. This figure is often said to represent his dead mother or Munch himself. There's also a bridge behind the figure, which could symbolise a journey or path about his life. And on the back ground there's great big rough brush strokes to express and share his inner feels (this is a main feature in expression). These brush strokes are like directional a line, which develop & flows through the work, this also directs the audience into the pain & suffering. The reason for all this depressive tones is because Munch was try to express & show his inner feels of pain from having lost his mother & sister in early stages of his life. There are other examples that demonstrate the artists interests like Andy *Walhole (sorry). The pop artist that created his works by usin repetition such as the "Campell soup"....
pages: 2 (words: 279)
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added: 09/27/2011
Critics of Kurt Vonnegut are unable to agree on the main theme of his novel, Slaughterhouse Five. Although the novel is satirical, ironical, and extremely wise, it has almost no plot structure, and it is hard to find a constant theme. From the many people that the main character Billy Pilgrim meets, and the places that he takes us to, readers are able to discern that Vonnegut is trying to send the message that there will always be death, there will always be war, and that humans have no control over their own lives. Most of the book is the narrative from Billy Pilgrim, a unique character who has the ability to become "unstuck in time", which means that he can uncontrollably drift from one part of his life to another. The whole book is organized in the same way Billy moves in time. In consists of numerous sections and paragraphs strung together in no chronological order, seemingly at random. The whole narration is written in the past tense, so that the reader cannot identify where the author's starting point is. This aspect of the book is almost identical with the Tralfamadorian type of book: "There isn't any particular relationship between all the messages, except that the author has chosen them carefully, so that,when seen all at once, they produce an image of life that is beautiful and suprising and deep. There is no beginning, no middle, no end, no suspense, no moral, no causes, no effects. What we love in our books are the depths of many marvelous moments seen all at one time." The most often expressed theme of the book seems to be that we, as people, are "bugs in amber". The phrase first appears when Billy is kidnapped by the Tralfamacorian flying saucer: "Welcome aboard, Mr. Pilgrim." said the loudspeaker....
pages: 6 (words: 1568)
comments: 0
added: 02/04/2012