Speech on Hammurabi

Hammurabi’s Laws: Fair â€Å"To bring about the rule of righteousness in the land, to destroy the wicked and evil doers, so that the strong should not harm the weak†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This is a quote from Babylon’s king, Hammurabi, about his set of 282 laws that he wrote around 1750 B. C. Historians and scholars agree that these ancient laws were the first to cover all aspects of society. However, historians and scholars do not agree whether Hammurabi’s laws were fair or cruel. Honestly, I think his laws were fair because it stated what all people needed to know, it brought order and justice to society, and it regulated many different activities.His laws stated what all people needed to know about the rules of their society. All of his laws were written down so anyone would know anything about their society and so they couldn’t be changed. His laws were known as the laws of â€Å"an eye for an eye†. Law number 5 states if a judge makes an error through his own fault when trying a case, he must pay a fine, be removed from the judge’s bench, and never judge another case. Law number 233 states if a contractor builds a house for someone and the walls start to fall, then the builder must use his own money and labor to make the walls secure.His laws are also fair because they brought order and justice to society. Law 122 states if someone gives something to someone else for safekeeping, the transaction should be witnessed and a contract made between the two parties. I believe this law is fair because if the person loses the item the other person that gave it to him for safekeeping isn’t responsible for it, and won’t get into any kind of trouble. Hammurabi’s 282 laws also regulated many different activities, from business contracts to crime. Law 22 states if anyone is committing a robbery and is caught, then he shall be put to death.Law 35 states if anyone buys cattle or sheep which the king has given to chief tains from him, he loses his money. Law 259 says, if anyone steals a water wheel from the field, he shall pay five shekels in money to its owner. I believe all these laws are fair because it’s giving rules that all people must follow. There are also people who think Hammurabi’s laws were cruel because they called for violent punishments, often death, for non-violent crimes. For example, law 202 states if someone strikes a man of higher rank, than he shall be whipped 60 times in public.In which I can understand because whipping is very violent and unfair to do to a person before they can explain themselves. My point of view is more reasonable because all of his laws WERE fair and it made everyone’s life easier, without them worrying about the BAD people running loose! I think all 282 of King Hammurabi’s laws were fair because they stated what all people needed to know about their society, it brought order and justice to society, and it regulated many diffe rent activities, from business contracts to crime. Would you like to have Hammurabi as a king? I think I would!

Internet Risk Essay

Internet Risks and Our Response 1)Introduction As our society becomes more urban, and life becomes hectic and busy for both parents and youth, the youths face more issues of modernity than before. Alienation, loneliness, depression become more prevalent. Many youths also have access to the internet. With the ready availability of broadband, and generally an improvement in the telecommunications industry, especially in the urban areas (partly due to the government’s push to attract investments and business for MSC), internet risks which were once more prevalent in the West or the more technologically advanced nations are upon our youths in Malaysia. 1 2)Current Trends a)Information Explosion The advent of the World Wide Web has created a huge bank of information. However since it is uncensored and un-moderated, anyone can post any kind of information and resources on the internet. Pornography has become the curse of this information age. )Communication Revolution Other than e-mails, internet chats, instant messaging, the youths are now into participating in social networks like â€Å"Friendster† and into on-line journaling on â€Å"Web-logs†, more popularly known as â€Å"Blogs†. It is also not unusual for them to use â€Å"on-line dating† servi ces. Spaming, web-bullying, web-scandals, hacking and cyber myths have become very real threats as a result of unchecked use of internet communication tools. c)Information Exchange There are also many new kinds of newsgroups, clubs, bulletin boards which are started on the web where people exchange information. In addition, there are many peer-to-peer platforms for exchange of files and information that can by-pass the internet but are still very much part of the lifestyle of info-savvy youths (e. g. in hostels, colleges and universities). These peer-to-peer networks can become breeding grounds for insidious information as well as pornography d)Gamming culture Computer games have evolved greatly from DOS based games to animated games to what is now known as Role Playing Games. With the availability of broadbands, Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG) are the latest craze. With such games, you can play with all kinds of people, all over the world, irrespective of national or geographical boundaries and time-zones. e)Telecommunications Industry Convergence With miniaturization and the advent of integrated telecommunications device (mini-computer and telephone), both the benefits of the internet as well as the risks have become even more mobile and more immediate. 3)Risks a)Surfing Time Waster Pornography exposure and addiction b)Chats, Instant Messaging Safety Issues, risks of kidnapping and rape. c)Chats, Instant Messaging, Games Isolation and alienation, ack of self confidence, have low self esteem, lack social skills, inability to relate healthily social and psychological handicap results d)Games Most common popular games are dark, cultic, satanic, selfish, sensual and violent. Addiction to lust, violence, occult and game culture, confusion results lack of healthy real-world development, distorted outlook of the real world.

Angels Demons Chapter 3235

â€Å"Sorry for the slow flight,† the pilot apologized, emerging from the cockpit. â€Å"Had to trim her back. Noise regulations over populated areas.† Langdon checked his watch. They had been airborne thirty-seven minutes. The pilot popped the outer door. â€Å"Anybody want to tell me what’s going on?† Neither Vittoria nor Langdon responded. â€Å"Fine,† he said, stretching. â€Å"I’ll be in the cockpit with the air-conditioning and my music. Just me and Garth.† The late-afternoon sun blazed outside the hangar. Langdon carried his tweed jacket over his shoulder. Vittoria turned her face skyward and inhaled deeply, as if the sun’s rays somehow transferred to her some mystical replenishing energy. Mediterraneans, Langdon mused, already sweating. â€Å"Little old for cartoons, aren’t you?† Vittoria asked, without opening her eyes. â€Å"I’m sorry?† â€Å"Your wristwatch. I saw it on the plane.† Langdon flushed slightly. He was accustomed to having to defend his timepiece. The collector’s edition Mickey Mouse watch had been a childhood gift from his parents. Despite the contorted foolishness of Mickey’s outstretched arms designating the hour, it was the only watch Langdon had ever worn. Waterproof and glow-in-the-dark, it was perfect for swimming laps or walking unlit college paths at night. When Langdon’s students questioned his fashion sense, he told them he wore Mickey as a daily reminder to stay young at heart. â€Å"It’s six o’clock,† he said. Vittoria nodded, eyes still closed. â€Å"I think our ride’s here.† Langdon heard the distant whine, looked up, and felt a sinking feeling. Approaching from the north was a helicopter, slicing low across the runway. Langdon had been on a helicopter once in the Andean Palpa Valley looking at the Nazca sand drawings and had not enjoyed it one bit. A flying shoebox. After a morning of space plane rides, Langdon had hoped the Vatican would send a car. Apparently not. The chopper slowed overhead, hovered a moment, and dropped toward the runway in front of them. The craft was white and carried a coat of arms emblazoned on the side – two skeleton keys crossing a shield and papal crown. He knew the symbol well. It was the traditional seal of the Vatican – the sacred symbol of the Holy See or â€Å"holy seat† of government, the seat being literally the ancient throne of St. Peter. The Holy Chopper, Langdon groaned, watching the craft land. He’d forgotten the Vatican owned one of these things, used for transporting the Pope to the airport, to meetings, or to his summer palace in Gandolfo. Langdon definitely would have preferred a car. The pilot jumped from the cockpit and strode toward them across the tarmac. Now it was Vittoria who looked uneasy. â€Å"That’s our pilot?† Langdon shared her concern. â€Å"To fly, or not to fly. That is the question.† The pilot looked like he was festooned for a Shakespearean melodrama. His puffy tunic was vertically striped in brilliant blue and gold. He wore matching pantaloons and spats. On his feet were black flats that looked like slippers. On top of it all, he wore a black felt beret. â€Å"Traditional Swiss Guard uniforms,† Langdon explained. â€Å"Designed by Michelangelo himself.† As the man drew closer, Langdon winced. â€Å"I admit, not one of Michelangelo’s better efforts.† Despite the man’s garish attire, Langdon could tell the pilot meant business. He moved toward them with all the rigidity and dignity of a U.S. Marine. Langdon had read many times about the rigorous requirements for becoming one of the elite Swiss Guard. Recruited from one of Switzerland’s four Catholic cantons, applicants had to be Swiss males between nineteen and thirty years old, at least 5 feet 6 inches, trained by the Swiss Army, and unmarried. This imperial corps was envied by world governments as the most allegiant and deadly security force in the world. â€Å"You are from CERN?† the guard asked, arriving before them. His voice was steely. â€Å"Yes, sir,† Langdon replied. â€Å"You made remarkable time,† he said, giving the X-33 a mystified stare. He turned to Vittoria. â€Å"Ma’am, do you have any other clothing?† â€Å"I beg your pardon?† He motioned to her legs. â€Å"Short pants are not permitted inside Vatican City.† Langdon glanced down at Vittoria’s legs and frowned. He had forgotten. Vatican City had a strict ban on visible legs above the knee – both male and female. The regulation was a way of showing respect for the sanctity of God’s city. â€Å"This is all I have,† she said. â€Å"We came in a hurry.† The guard nodded, clearly displeased. He turned next to Langdon. â€Å"Are you carrying any weapons?† Weapons? Langdon thought. I’m not even carrying a change of underwear! He shook his head. The officer crouched at Langdon’s feet and began patting him down, starting at his socks. Trusting guy, Langdon thought. The guard’s strong hands moved up Langdon’s legs, coming uncomfortably close to his groin. Finally they moved up to his chest and shoulders. Apparently content Langdon was clean, the guard turned to Vittoria. He ran his eyes up her legs and torso. Vittoria glared. â€Å"Don’t even think about it.† The guard fixed Vittoria with a gaze clearly intended to intimidate. Vittoria did not flinch. â€Å"What’s that?† the guard said, pointing to a faint square bulge in the front pocket of her shorts. Vittoria removed an ultrathin cell phone. The guard took it, clicked it on, waited for a dial tone, and then, apparently satisfied that it was indeed nothing more than a phone, returned it to her. Vittoria slid it back into her pocket. â€Å"Turn around, please,† the guard said. Vittoria obliged, holding her arms out and rotating a full 360 degrees. The guard carefully studied her. Langdon had already decided that Vittoria’s form-fitting shorts and blouse were not bulging anywhere they shouldn’t have been. Apparently the guard came to the same conclusion. â€Å"Thank you. This way please.† The Swiss Guard chopper churned in neutral as Langdon and Vittoria approached. Vittoria boarded first, like a seasoned pro, barely even stooping as she passed beneath the whirling rotors. Langdon held back a moment. â€Å"No chance of a car?† he yelled, half-joking to the Swiss Guard, who was climbing in the pilot’s seat. The man did not answer. Langdon knew that with Rome’s maniacal drivers, flying was probably safer anyway. He took a deep breath and boarded, stooping cautiously as he passed beneath the spinning rotors. As the guard fired up the engines, Vittoria called out, â€Å"Have you located the canister?† The guard glanced over his shoulder, looking confused. â€Å"The what?† â€Å"The canister. You called CERN about a canister?† The man shrugged. â€Å"No idea what you’re talking about. We’ve been very busy today. My commander told me to pick you up. That’s all I know.† Vittoria gave Langdon an unsettled look. â€Å"Buckle up, please,† the pilot said as the engine revved. Langdon reached for his seat belt and strapped himself in. The tiny fuselage seemed to shrink around him. Then with a roar, the craft shot up and banked sharply north toward Rome. Rome†¦ the caput mundi, where Caesar once ruled, where St. Peter was crucified. The cradle of modern civilization. And at its core†¦ a ticking bomb. 33 Rome from the air is a labyrinth – an indecipherable maze of ancient roadways winding around buildings, fountains, and crumbling ruins. The Vatican chopper stayed low in the sky as it sliced northwest through the permanent smog layer coughed up by the congestion below. Langdon gazed down at the mopeds, sight-seeing buses, and armies of miniature Fiat sedans buzzing around rotaries in all directions. Koyaanisqatsi, he thought, recalling the Hopi term for â€Å"life out of balance.† Vittoria sat in silent determination in the seat beside him. The chopper banked hard. His stomach dropping, Langdon gazed farther into the distance. His eyes found the crumbling ruins of the Roman Coliseum. The Coliseum, Langdon had always thought, was one of history’s greatest ironies. Now a dignified symbol for the rise of human culture and civilization, the stadium had been built to host centuries of barbaric events – hungry lions shredding prisoners, armies of slaves battling to the death, gang rapes of exotic women captured from far-off lands, as well as public beheadings and castrations. It was ironic, Langdon thought, or perhaps fitting, that the Coliseum had served as the architectural blueprint for Harvard’s Soldier Field – the football stadium where the ancient traditions of savagery were reenacted every fall†¦ crazed fans screaming for bloodshed as Harvard battled Yale. As the chopper headed north, Langdon spied the Roman Forum – the heart of pre-Christian Rome. The decaying columns looked like toppled gravestones in a cemetery that had somehow avoided being swallowed by the metropolis surrounding it. To the west the wide basin of the Tiber River wound enormous arcs across the city. Even from the air Langdon could tell the water was deep. The churning currents were brown, filled with silt and foam from heavy rains. â€Å"Straight ahead,† the pilot said, climbing higher. Langdon and Vittoria looked out and saw it. Like a mountain parting the morning fog, the colossal dome rose out of the haze before them: St. Peter’s Basilica. â€Å"Now that,† Langdon said to Vittoria, â€Å"is something Michelangelo got right.† Langdon had never seen St. Peter’s from the air. The marble faà §ade blazed like fire in the afternoon sun. Adorned with 140 statues of saints, martyrs, and angels, the Herculean edifice stretched two football fields wide and a staggering six long. The cavernous interior of the basilica had room for over 60,000 worshipers†¦ over one hundred times the population of Vatican City, the smallest country in the world. Incredibly, though, not even a citadel of this magnitude could dwarf the piazza before it. A sprawling expanse of granite, St. Peter’s Square was a staggering open space in the congestion of Rome, like a classical Central Park. In front of the basilica, bordering the vast oval common, 284 columns swept outward in four concentric arcs of diminishing size†¦ an architectural trompe de l’oiel used to heighten the piazza’s sense of grandeur. As he stared at the magnificent shrine before him, Langdon wondered what St. Peter would think if he were here now. The Saint had died a gruesome death, crucified upside down on this very spot. Now he rested in the most sacred of tombs, buried five stories down, directly beneath the central cupola of the basilica. â€Å"Vatican City,† the pilot said, sounding anything but welcoming. Langdon looked out at the towering stone bastions that loomed ahead – impenetrable fortifications surrounding the complex†¦ a strangely earthly defense for a spiritual world of secrets, power, and mystery. â€Å"Look!† Vittoria said suddenly, grabbing Langdon’s arm. She motioned frantically downward toward St. Peter’s Square directly beneath them. Langdon put his face to the window and looked. â€Å"Over there,† she said, pointing. Langdon looked. The rear of the piazza looked like a parking lot crowded with a dozen or so trailer trucks. Huge satellite dishes pointed skyward from the roof of every truck. The dishes were emblazoned with familiar names: Televisor Europea Video Italia BBC United Press International Langdon felt suddenly confused, wondering if the news of the antimatter had already leaked out. Vittoria seemed suddenly tense. â€Å"Why is the press here? What’s going on?† The pilot turned and gave her an odd look over his shoulder. â€Å"What’s going on? You don’t know?† â€Å"No,† she fired back, her accent husky and strong. â€Å"Il Conclavo,† he said. â€Å"It is to be sealed in about an hour. The whole world is watching.† Il Conclavo. The word rang a long moment in Langdon’s ears before dropping like a brick to the pit of his stomach. Il Conclavo. The Vatican Conclave. How could he have forgotten? It had been in the news recently. Fifteen days ago, the Pope, after a tremendously popular twelve-year reign, had passed away. Every paper in the world had carried the story about the Pope’s fatal stroke while sleeping – a sudden and unexpected death many whispered was suspicious. But now, in keeping with the sacred tradition, fifteen days after the death of a Pope, the Vatican was holding Il Conclavo – the sacred ceremony in which the 165 cardinals of the world – the most powerful men in Christendom – gathered in Vatican City to elect the new Pope. Every cardinal on the planet is here today, Langdon thought as the chopper passed over St. Peter’s Basilica. The expansive inner world of Vatican City spread out beneath him. The entire power structure of the Roman Catholic Church is sitting on a time bomb. 34 Cardinal Mortati gazed up at the lavish ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and tried to find a moment of quiet reflection. The frescoed walls echoed with the voices of cardinals from nations around the globe. The men jostled in the candlelit tabernacle, whispering excitedly and consulting with one another in numerous languages, the universal tongues being English, Italian, and Spanish. The light in the chapel was usually sublime – long rays of tinted sun slicing through the darkness like rays from heaven – but not today. As was the custom, all of the chapel’s windows had been covered in black velvet in the name of secrecy. This ensured that no one on the inside could send signals or communicate in any way with the outside world. The result was a profound darkness lit only by candles†¦ a shimmering radiance that seemed to purify everyone it touched, making them all ghostly†¦ like saints. What privilege, Mortati thought, that I am to oversee this sanctified event. Cardinals over eighty years of age were too old to be eligible for election and did not attend conclave, but at seventy-nine years old, Mortati was the most senior cardinal here and had been appointed to oversee the proceedings. Following tradition, the cardinals gathered here two hours before conclave to catch up with friends and engage in last-minute discussion. At 7 P.M., the late Pope’s chamberlain would arrive, give opening prayer, and then leave. Then the Swiss Guard would seal the doors and lock all the cardinals inside. It was then that the oldest and most secretive political ritual in the world would begin. The cardinals would not be released until they decided who among them would be the next Pope. Conclave. Even the name was secretive. â€Å"Con clave† literally meant â€Å"locked with a key.† The cardinals were permitted no contact whatsoever with the outside world. No phone calls. No messages. No whispers through doorways. Conclave was a vacuum, not to be influenced by anything in the outside world. This would ensure that the cardinals kept Solum Dum prae oculis†¦ only God before their eyes. Outside the walls of the chapel, of course, the media watched and waited, speculating as to which of the cardinals would become the ruler of one billion Catholics worldwide. Conclaves created an intense, politically charged atmosphere, and over the centuries they had turned deadly: poisonings, fist fights, and even murder had erupted within the sacred walls. Ancient history, Mortati thought. Tonight’s conclave will be unified, blissful, and above all†¦ brief. Or at least that had been his speculation. Now, however, an unexpected development had emerged. Mystifyingly, four cardinals were absent from the chapel. Mortati knew that all the exits to Vatican City were guarded, and the missing cardinals could not have gone far, but still, with less than an hour before opening prayer, he was feeling disconcerted. After all, the four missing men were no ordinary cardinals. They were the cardinals. The chosen four. As overseer of the conclave, Mortati had already sent word through the proper channels to the Swiss Guard alerting them to the cardinals’ absence. He had yet to hear back. Other cardinals had now noticed the puzzling absence. The anxious whispers had begun. Of all cardinals, these four should be on time! Cardinal Mortati was starting to fear it might be a long evening after all. He had no idea. 35 The Vatican’s helipad, for reasons of safety and noise control, is located in the northwest tip of Vatican City, as far from St. Peter’s Basilica as possible. â€Å"Terra firma,† the pilot announced as they touched down. He exited and opened the sliding door for Langdon and Vittoria. Langdon descended from the craft and turned to help Vittoria, but she had already dropped effortlessly to the ground. Every muscle in her body seemed tuned to one objective – finding the antimatter before it left a horrific legacy. After stretching a reflective sun tarp across the cockpit window, the pilot ushered them to an oversized electric golf cart waiting near the helipad. The cart whisked them silently alongside the country’s western border – a fifty-foot-tall cement bulwark thick enough to ward off attacks even by tanks. Lining the interior of the wall, posted at fifty-meter intervals, Swiss Guards stood at attention, surveying the interior of the grounds. The cart turned sharply right onto Via della Osservatorio. Signs pointed in all directions: Palazzio Governatorio Collegio Ethiopiana Basilica San Pietro Capella Sistina They accelerated up the manicured road past a squat building marked Radio Vaticana. This, Langdon realized to his amazement, was the hub of the world’s most listened-to radio programming – Radio Vaticana – spreading the word of God to millions of listeners around the globe. â€Å"Attenzione,† the pilot said, turning sharply into a rotary. As the cart wound round, Langdon could barely believe the sight now coming into view. Giardini Vaticani, he thought. The heart of Vatican City. Directly ahead rose the rear of St. Peter’s Basilica, a view, Langdon realized, most people never saw. To the right loomed the Palace of the Tribunal, the lush papal residence rivaled only by Versailles in its baroque embellishment. The severe-looking Governatorato building was now behind them, housing Vatican City’s administration. And up ahead on the left, the massive rectangular edifice of the Vatican Museum. Langdon knew there would be no time for a museum visit this trip. â€Å"Where is everyone?† Vittoria asked, surveying the deserted lawns and walkways. The guard checked his black, military-style chronograph – an odd anachronism beneath his puffy sleeve. â€Å"The cardinals are convened in the Sistine Chapel. Conclave begins in a little under an hour.† Langdon nodded, vaguely recalling that before conclave the cardinals spent two hours inside the Sistine Chapel in quiet reflection and visitations with their fellow cardinals from around the globe. The time was meant to renew old friendships among the cardinals and facilitate a less heated election process. â€Å"And the rest of the residents and staff?† â€Å"Banned from the city for secrecy and security until the conclave concludes.† â€Å"And when does it conclude?† The guard shrugged. â€Å"God only knows.† The words sounded oddly literal. After parking the cart on the wide lawn directly behind St. Peter’s Basilica, the guard escorted Langdon and Vittoria up a stone escarpment to a marble plaza off the back of the basilica. Crossing the plaza, they approached the rear wall of the basilica and followed it through a triangular courtyard, across Via Belvedere, and into a series of buildings closely huddled together. Langdon’s art history had taught him enough Italian to pick out signs for the Vatican Printing Office, the Tapestry Restoration Lab, Post Office Management, and the Church of St. Ann. They crossed another small square and arrived at their destination. The Office of the Swiss Guard is housed adjacent to Il Corpo di Vigilanza, directly northeast of St. Peter’s Basilica. The office is a squat, stone building. On either side of the entrance, like two stone statues, stood a pair of guards. Langdon had to admit, these guards did not look quite so comical. Although they also wore the blue and gold uniform, each wielded the traditional â€Å"Vatican long sword† – an eight-foot spear with a razor-sharp scythe – rumored to have decapitated countless Muslims while defending the Christian crusaders in the fifteenth century. As Langdon and Vittoria approached, the two guards stepped forward, crossing their long swords, blocking the entrance. One looked up at the pilot in confusion. â€Å"I pantaloni,† he said, motioning to Vittoria’s shorts. The pilot waved them off. â€Å"Il comandante vuole vederli subito.† The guards frowned. Reluctantly they stepped aside. Inside, the air was cool. It looked nothing like the administrative security offices Langdon would have imagined. Ornate and impeccably furnished, the hallways contained paintings Langdon was certain any museum worldwide would gladly have featured in its main gallery. The pilot pointed down a steep set of stairs. â€Å"Down, please.† Langdon and Vittoria followed the white marble treads as they descended between a gauntlet of nude male sculptures. Each statue wore a fig leaf that was lighter in color than the rest of the body. The Great Castration, Langdon thought. It was one of the most horrific tragedies in Renaissance art. In 1857, Pope Pius IX decided that the accurate representation of the male form might incite lust inside the Vatican. So he got a chisel and mallet and hacked off the genitalia of every single male statue inside Vatican City. He defaced works by Michelangelo, Bramante, and Bernini. Plaster fig leaves were used to patch the damage. Hundreds of sculptures had been emasculated. Langdon had often wondered if there was a huge crate of stone penises someplace. â€Å"Here,† the guard announced. They reached the bottom of the stairs and dead-ended at a heavy, steel door. The guard typed an entry code, and the door slid open. Langdon and Vittoria entered. Beyond the threshold was absolute mayhem. Angels Demons Chapter 3235 â€Å"Sorry for the slow flight,† the pilot apologized, emerging from the cockpit. â€Å"Had to trim her back. Noise regulations over populated areas.† Langdon checked his watch. They had been airborne thirty-seven minutes. The pilot popped the outer door. â€Å"Anybody want to tell me what’s going on?† Neither Vittoria nor Langdon responded. â€Å"Fine,† he said, stretching. â€Å"I’ll be in the cockpit with the air-conditioning and my music. Just me and Garth.† The late-afternoon sun blazed outside the hangar. Langdon carried his tweed jacket over his shoulder. Vittoria turned her face skyward and inhaled deeply, as if the sun’s rays somehow transferred to her some mystical replenishing energy. Mediterraneans, Langdon mused, already sweating. â€Å"Little old for cartoons, aren’t you?† Vittoria asked, without opening her eyes. â€Å"I’m sorry?† â€Å"Your wristwatch. I saw it on the plane.† Langdon flushed slightly. He was accustomed to having to defend his timepiece. The collector’s edition Mickey Mouse watch had been a childhood gift from his parents. Despite the contorted foolishness of Mickey’s outstretched arms designating the hour, it was the only watch Langdon had ever worn. Waterproof and glow-in-the-dark, it was perfect for swimming laps or walking unlit college paths at night. When Langdon’s students questioned his fashion sense, he told them he wore Mickey as a daily reminder to stay young at heart. â€Å"It’s six o’clock,† he said. Vittoria nodded, eyes still closed. â€Å"I think our ride’s here.† Langdon heard the distant whine, looked up, and felt a sinking feeling. Approaching from the north was a helicopter, slicing low across the runway. Langdon had been on a helicopter once in the Andean Palpa Valley looking at the Nazca sand drawings and had not enjoyed it one bit. A flying shoebox. After a morning of space plane rides, Langdon had hoped the Vatican would send a car. Apparently not. The chopper slowed overhead, hovered a moment, and dropped toward the runway in front of them. The craft was white and carried a coat of arms emblazoned on the side – two skeleton keys crossing a shield and papal crown. He knew the symbol well. It was the traditional seal of the Vatican – the sacred symbol of the Holy See or â€Å"holy seat† of government, the seat being literally the ancient throne of St. Peter. The Holy Chopper, Langdon groaned, watching the craft land. He’d forgotten the Vatican owned one of these things, used for transporting the Pope to the airport, to meetings, or to his summer palace in Gandolfo. Langdon definitely would have preferred a car. The pilot jumped from the cockpit and strode toward them across the tarmac. Now it was Vittoria who looked uneasy. â€Å"That’s our pilot?† Langdon shared her concern. â€Å"To fly, or not to fly. That is the question.† The pilot looked like he was festooned for a Shakespearean melodrama. His puffy tunic was vertically striped in brilliant blue and gold. He wore matching pantaloons and spats. On his feet were black flats that looked like slippers. On top of it all, he wore a black felt beret. â€Å"Traditional Swiss Guard uniforms,† Langdon explained. â€Å"Designed by Michelangelo himself.† As the man drew closer, Langdon winced. â€Å"I admit, not one of Michelangelo’s better efforts.† Despite the man’s garish attire, Langdon could tell the pilot meant business. He moved toward them with all the rigidity and dignity of a U.S. Marine. Langdon had read many times about the rigorous requirements for becoming one of the elite Swiss Guard. Recruited from one of Switzerland’s four Catholic cantons, applicants had to be Swiss males between nineteen and thirty years old, at least 5 feet 6 inches, trained by the Swiss Army, and unmarried. This imperial corps was envied by world governments as the most allegiant and deadly security force in the world. â€Å"You are from CERN?† the guard asked, arriving before them. His voice was steely. â€Å"Yes, sir,† Langdon replied. â€Å"You made remarkable time,† he said, giving the X-33 a mystified stare. He turned to Vittoria. â€Å"Ma’am, do you have any other clothing?† â€Å"I beg your pardon?† He motioned to her legs. â€Å"Short pants are not permitted inside Vatican City.† Langdon glanced down at Vittoria’s legs and frowned. He had forgotten. Vatican City had a strict ban on visible legs above the knee – both male and female. The regulation was a way of showing respect for the sanctity of God’s city. â€Å"This is all I have,† she said. â€Å"We came in a hurry.† The guard nodded, clearly displeased. He turned next to Langdon. â€Å"Are you carrying any weapons?† Weapons? Langdon thought. I’m not even carrying a change of underwear! He shook his head. The officer crouched at Langdon’s feet and began patting him down, starting at his socks. Trusting guy, Langdon thought. The guard’s strong hands moved up Langdon’s legs, coming uncomfortably close to his groin. Finally they moved up to his chest and shoulders. Apparently content Langdon was clean, the guard turned to Vittoria. He ran his eyes up her legs and torso. Vittoria glared. â€Å"Don’t even think about it.† The guard fixed Vittoria with a gaze clearly intended to intimidate. Vittoria did not flinch. â€Å"What’s that?† the guard said, pointing to a faint square bulge in the front pocket of her shorts. Vittoria removed an ultrathin cell phone. The guard took it, clicked it on, waited for a dial tone, and then, apparently satisfied that it was indeed nothing more than a phone, returned it to her. Vittoria slid it back into her pocket. â€Å"Turn around, please,† the guard said. Vittoria obliged, holding her arms out and rotating a full 360 degrees. The guard carefully studied her. Langdon had already decided that Vittoria’s form-fitting shorts and blouse were not bulging anywhere they shouldn’t have been. Apparently the guard came to the same conclusion. â€Å"Thank you. This way please.† The Swiss Guard chopper churned in neutral as Langdon and Vittoria approached. Vittoria boarded first, like a seasoned pro, barely even stooping as she passed beneath the whirling rotors. Langdon held back a moment. â€Å"No chance of a car?† he yelled, half-joking to the Swiss Guard, who was climbing in the pilot’s seat. The man did not answer. Langdon knew that with Rome’s maniacal drivers, flying was probably safer anyway. He took a deep breath and boarded, stooping cautiously as he passed beneath the spinning rotors. As the guard fired up the engines, Vittoria called out, â€Å"Have you located the canister?† The guard glanced over his shoulder, looking confused. â€Å"The what?† â€Å"The canister. You called CERN about a canister?† The man shrugged. â€Å"No idea what you’re talking about. We’ve been very busy today. My commander told me to pick you up. That’s all I know.† Vittoria gave Langdon an unsettled look. â€Å"Buckle up, please,† the pilot said as the engine revved. Langdon reached for his seat belt and strapped himself in. The tiny fuselage seemed to shrink around him. Then with a roar, the craft shot up and banked sharply north toward Rome. Rome†¦ the caput mundi, where Caesar once ruled, where St. Peter was crucified. The cradle of modern civilization. And at its core†¦ a ticking bomb. 33 Rome from the air is a labyrinth – an indecipherable maze of ancient roadways winding around buildings, fountains, and crumbling ruins. The Vatican chopper stayed low in the sky as it sliced northwest through the permanent smog layer coughed up by the congestion below. Langdon gazed down at the mopeds, sight-seeing buses, and armies of miniature Fiat sedans buzzing around rotaries in all directions. Koyaanisqatsi, he thought, recalling the Hopi term for â€Å"life out of balance.† Vittoria sat in silent determination in the seat beside him. The chopper banked hard. His stomach dropping, Langdon gazed farther into the distance. His eyes found the crumbling ruins of the Roman Coliseum. The Coliseum, Langdon had always thought, was one of history’s greatest ironies. Now a dignified symbol for the rise of human culture and civilization, the stadium had been built to host centuries of barbaric events – hungry lions shredding prisoners, armies of slaves battling to the death, gang rapes of exotic women captured from far-off lands, as well as public beheadings and castrations. It was ironic, Langdon thought, or perhaps fitting, that the Coliseum had served as the architectural blueprint for Harvard’s Soldier Field – the football stadium where the ancient traditions of savagery were reenacted every fall†¦ crazed fans screaming for bloodshed as Harvard battled Yale. As the chopper headed north, Langdon spied the Roman Forum – the heart of pre-Christian Rome. The decaying columns looked like toppled gravestones in a cemetery that had somehow avoided being swallowed by the metropolis surrounding it. To the west the wide basin of the Tiber River wound enormous arcs across the city. Even from the air Langdon could tell the water was deep. The churning currents were brown, filled with silt and foam from heavy rains. â€Å"Straight ahead,† the pilot said, climbing higher. Langdon and Vittoria looked out and saw it. Like a mountain parting the morning fog, the colossal dome rose out of the haze before them: St. Peter’s Basilica. â€Å"Now that,† Langdon said to Vittoria, â€Å"is something Michelangelo got right.† Langdon had never seen St. Peter’s from the air. The marble faà §ade blazed like fire in the afternoon sun. Adorned with 140 statues of saints, martyrs, and angels, the Herculean edifice stretched two football fields wide and a staggering six long. The cavernous interior of the basilica had room for over 60,000 worshipers†¦ over one hundred times the population of Vatican City, the smallest country in the world. Incredibly, though, not even a citadel of this magnitude could dwarf the piazza before it. A sprawling expanse of granite, St. Peter’s Square was a staggering open space in the congestion of Rome, like a classical Central Park. In front of the basilica, bordering the vast oval common, 284 columns swept outward in four concentric arcs of diminishing size†¦ an architectural trompe de l’oiel used to heighten the piazza’s sense of grandeur. As he stared at the magnificent shrine before him, Langdon wondered what St. Peter would think if he were here now. The Saint had died a gruesome death, crucified upside down on this very spot. Now he rested in the most sacred of tombs, buried five stories down, directly beneath the central cupola of the basilica. â€Å"Vatican City,† the pilot said, sounding anything but welcoming. Langdon looked out at the towering stone bastions that loomed ahead – impenetrable fortifications surrounding the complex†¦ a strangely earthly defense for a spiritual world of secrets, power, and mystery. â€Å"Look!† Vittoria said suddenly, grabbing Langdon’s arm. She motioned frantically downward toward St. Peter’s Square directly beneath them. Langdon put his face to the window and looked. â€Å"Over there,† she said, pointing. Langdon looked. The rear of the piazza looked like a parking lot crowded with a dozen or so trailer trucks. Huge satellite dishes pointed skyward from the roof of every truck. The dishes were emblazoned with familiar names: Televisor Europea Video Italia BBC United Press International Langdon felt suddenly confused, wondering if the news of the antimatter had already leaked out. Vittoria seemed suddenly tense. â€Å"Why is the press here? What’s going on?† The pilot turned and gave her an odd look over his shoulder. â€Å"What’s going on? You don’t know?† â€Å"No,† she fired back, her accent husky and strong. â€Å"Il Conclavo,† he said. â€Å"It is to be sealed in about an hour. The whole world is watching.† Il Conclavo. The word rang a long moment in Langdon’s ears before dropping like a brick to the pit of his stomach. Il Conclavo. The Vatican Conclave. How could he have forgotten? It had been in the news recently. Fifteen days ago, the Pope, after a tremendously popular twelve-year reign, had passed away. Every paper in the world had carried the story about the Pope’s fatal stroke while sleeping – a sudden and unexpected death many whispered was suspicious. But now, in keeping with the sacred tradition, fifteen days after the death of a Pope, the Vatican was holding Il Conclavo – the sacred ceremony in which the 165 cardinals of the world – the most powerful men in Christendom – gathered in Vatican City to elect the new Pope. Every cardinal on the planet is here today, Langdon thought as the chopper passed over St. Peter’s Basilica. The expansive inner world of Vatican City spread out beneath him. The entire power structure of the Roman Catholic Church is sitting on a time bomb. 34 Cardinal Mortati gazed up at the lavish ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and tried to find a moment of quiet reflection. The frescoed walls echoed with the voices of cardinals from nations around the globe. The men jostled in the candlelit tabernacle, whispering excitedly and consulting with one another in numerous languages, the universal tongues being English, Italian, and Spanish. The light in the chapel was usually sublime – long rays of tinted sun slicing through the darkness like rays from heaven – but not today. As was the custom, all of the chapel’s windows had been covered in black velvet in the name of secrecy. This ensured that no one on the inside could send signals or communicate in any way with the outside world. The result was a profound darkness lit only by candles†¦ a shimmering radiance that seemed to purify everyone it touched, making them all ghostly†¦ like saints. What privilege, Mortati thought, that I am to oversee this sanctified event. Cardinals over eighty years of age were too old to be eligible for election and did not attend conclave, but at seventy-nine years old, Mortati was the most senior cardinal here and had been appointed to oversee the proceedings. Following tradition, the cardinals gathered here two hours before conclave to catch up with friends and engage in last-minute discussion. At 7 P.M., the late Pope’s chamberlain would arrive, give opening prayer, and then leave. Then the Swiss Guard would seal the doors and lock all the cardinals inside. It was then that the oldest and most secretive political ritual in the world would begin. The cardinals would not be released until they decided who among them would be the next Pope. Conclave. Even the name was secretive. â€Å"Con clave† literally meant â€Å"locked with a key.† The cardinals were permitted no contact whatsoever with the outside world. No phone calls. No messages. No whispers through doorways. Conclave was a vacuum, not to be influenced by anything in the outside world. This would ensure that the cardinals kept Solum Dum prae oculis†¦ only God before their eyes. Outside the walls of the chapel, of course, the media watched and waited, speculating as to which of the cardinals would become the ruler of one billion Catholics worldwide. Conclaves created an intense, politically charged atmosphere, and over the centuries they had turned deadly: poisonings, fist fights, and even murder had erupted within the sacred walls. Ancient history, Mortati thought. Tonight’s conclave will be unified, blissful, and above all†¦ brief. Or at least that had been his speculation. Now, however, an unexpected development had emerged. Mystifyingly, four cardinals were absent from the chapel. Mortati knew that all the exits to Vatican City were guarded, and the missing cardinals could not have gone far, but still, with less than an hour before opening prayer, he was feeling disconcerted. After all, the four missing men were no ordinary cardinals. They were the cardinals. The chosen four. As overseer of the conclave, Mortati had already sent word through the proper channels to the Swiss Guard alerting them to the cardinals’ absence. He had yet to hear back. Other cardinals had now noticed the puzzling absence. The anxious whispers had begun. Of all cardinals, these four should be on time! Cardinal Mortati was starting to fear it might be a long evening after all. He had no idea. 35 The Vatican’s helipad, for reasons of safety and noise control, is located in the northwest tip of Vatican City, as far from St. Peter’s Basilica as possible. â€Å"Terra firma,† the pilot announced as they touched down. He exited and opened the sliding door for Langdon and Vittoria. Langdon descended from the craft and turned to help Vittoria, but she had already dropped effortlessly to the ground. Every muscle in her body seemed tuned to one objective – finding the antimatter before it left a horrific legacy. After stretching a reflective sun tarp across the cockpit window, the pilot ushered them to an oversized electric golf cart waiting near the helipad. The cart whisked them silently alongside the country’s western border – a fifty-foot-tall cement bulwark thick enough to ward off attacks even by tanks. Lining the interior of the wall, posted at fifty-meter intervals, Swiss Guards stood at attention, surveying the interior of the grounds. The cart turned sharply right onto Via della Osservatorio. Signs pointed in all directions: Palazzio Governatorio Collegio Ethiopiana Basilica San Pietro Capella Sistina They accelerated up the manicured road past a squat building marked Radio Vaticana. This, Langdon realized to his amazement, was the hub of the world’s most listened-to radio programming – Radio Vaticana – spreading the word of God to millions of listeners around the globe. â€Å"Attenzione,† the pilot said, turning sharply into a rotary. As the cart wound round, Langdon could barely believe the sight now coming into view. Giardini Vaticani, he thought. The heart of Vatican City. Directly ahead rose the rear of St. Peter’s Basilica, a view, Langdon realized, most people never saw. To the right loomed the Palace of the Tribunal, the lush papal residence rivaled only by Versailles in its baroque embellishment. The severe-looking Governatorato building was now behind them, housing Vatican City’s administration. And up ahead on the left, the massive rectangular edifice of the Vatican Museum. Langdon knew there would be no time for a museum visit this trip. â€Å"Where is everyone?† Vittoria asked, surveying the deserted lawns and walkways. The guard checked his black, military-style chronograph – an odd anachronism beneath his puffy sleeve. â€Å"The cardinals are convened in the Sistine Chapel. Conclave begins in a little under an hour.† Langdon nodded, vaguely recalling that before conclave the cardinals spent two hours inside the Sistine Chapel in quiet reflection and visitations with their fellow cardinals from around the globe. The time was meant to renew old friendships among the cardinals and facilitate a less heated election process. â€Å"And the rest of the residents and staff?† â€Å"Banned from the city for secrecy and security until the conclave concludes.† â€Å"And when does it conclude?† The guard shrugged. â€Å"God only knows.† The words sounded oddly literal. After parking the cart on the wide lawn directly behind St. Peter’s Basilica, the guard escorted Langdon and Vittoria up a stone escarpment to a marble plaza off the back of the basilica. Crossing the plaza, they approached the rear wall of the basilica and followed it through a triangular courtyard, across Via Belvedere, and into a series of buildings closely huddled together. Langdon’s art history had taught him enough Italian to pick out signs for the Vatican Printing Office, the Tapestry Restoration Lab, Post Office Management, and the Church of St. Ann. They crossed another small square and arrived at their destination. The Office of the Swiss Guard is housed adjacent to Il Corpo di Vigilanza, directly northeast of St. Peter’s Basilica. The office is a squat, stone building. On either side of the entrance, like two stone statues, stood a pair of guards. Langdon had to admit, these guards did not look quite so comical. Although they also wore the blue and gold uniform, each wielded the traditional â€Å"Vatican long sword† – an eight-foot spear with a razor-sharp scythe – rumored to have decapitated countless Muslims while defending the Christian crusaders in the fifteenth century. As Langdon and Vittoria approached, the two guards stepped forward, crossing their long swords, blocking the entrance. One looked up at the pilot in confusion. â€Å"I pantaloni,† he said, motioning to Vittoria’s shorts. The pilot waved them off. â€Å"Il comandante vuole vederli subito.† The guards frowned. Reluctantly they stepped aside. Inside, the air was cool. It looked nothing like the administrative security offices Langdon would have imagined. Ornate and impeccably furnished, the hallways contained paintings Langdon was certain any museum worldwide would gladly have featured in its main gallery. The pilot pointed down a steep set of stairs. â€Å"Down, please.† Langdon and Vittoria followed the white marble treads as they descended between a gauntlet of nude male sculptures. Each statue wore a fig leaf that was lighter in color than the rest of the body. The Great Castration, Langdon thought. It was one of the most horrific tragedies in Renaissance art. In 1857, Pope Pius IX decided that the accurate representation of the male form might incite lust inside the Vatican. So he got a chisel and mallet and hacked off the genitalia of every single male statue inside Vatican City. He defaced works by Michelangelo, Bramante, and Bernini. Plaster fig leaves were used to patch the damage. Hundreds of sculptures had been emasculated. Langdon had often wondered if there was a huge crate of stone penises someplace. â€Å"Here,† the guard announced. They reached the bottom of the stairs and dead-ended at a heavy, steel door. The guard typed an entry code, and the door slid open. Langdon and Vittoria entered. Beyond the threshold was absolute mayhem.

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Macroeconomic Condition of the USA in 1996-1999 - Essay Example It was a 2.1 increase from that of 1995, at the same time interest rates were low. The unemployment levels were as shown below in the period. In the year 1998 the economy experienced some of the best macroeconomic results that policymakers there were a tremendous outburst of volatility in the asset market. Although the GDP was above average in the year 1998, there was a consistent decline in growth. The economic condition worsened in 1990 making the economy more adverse (Iceland, pp. 12-57). The curve indicates the correlation between the quantity of real GDP and price level required by household. In the long run, the average demand curve and short run average curves intersect at a point on the long term average supply curve. In the presence of contraction policies the aggregate demand curve shifts to the left leading to a reduction in aggregate demand. In this case, price levels will fall but the output is not affected. On the other hand, if it were in the short run both output and price would drop. The aggregate supply shows how much is provided by a firm and at what price. In the long run, the curve is affected by events that lead to a change in the potential output of the economy. The term aggregate supply refers to the total value of services and goods that a country’s firms produce over a period. In case of a decrease in the long run supply curve, there will be a drop in the price level and an increase in the GDP. The health of the economy is by three economic indicators that include the gross domestic product, consumer price index and unemployment levels. For the economy to be termed as healthy there is a certain baseline that should be met. For a well-performing economy, the GDP should be growing at a rate of 2-3 % per annum reflecting a real growth pattern. An increase in any rate above 3% is possible but might be due to stepping on employee and environmental rights.

Richard II. John of Gaunts patriotic assault Essay Example for Free

Richard II. John of Gaunts patriotic assault Essay John of Gaunts patriotic assault on the unpopular Richard would appeal greatly to the Shakespearean audiences love for their country. Gaunt represents patriotism in the play, and is therefore the recipient of large amounts of sympathy from the audience. The death of such a well-liked character is particularly stirring. Richards mockery of aged Gaunt makes his claim to have a fair and just reign unconvincing. The patriotic character of Gaunt is elucidated as he announces that he would gladly give his life would the scandal vanish. However, in contrast to this, Gaunt criticises Richard for his lack of willingness to fight for his country in Christian service. The audiences support for Gaunt is increased as they realise that He that made them knows that Gaunt is right. Immense feelings of patriotism are evoked in the audience as Gaunt is involved in a sticomythia with Richard. Richard threatens Gaunt with execution, however, his thunder is stolen as Gaunt replies that he will die soon anyway due to his present sickness. His exit, to die, is highly dramatic as it symbolises the cessation of patriotism on the stage. Richard is presented as entirely detested, as he has taken away Gaunts love and honour. Richards name is brought further into disrepute as Gaunt claims that Richard puts desire first and prophesises that his reign will burn out. These words of Gaunts are made somewhat more potent by the fact that they are his dying words and are therefore held in reverence. He arouses feelings of patriotism from the audience, when he refers to thy land, however this becomes patriotic indignation as he accuses Richard of making Englands reputation sick. Gaunt uses truisms, such as, as the last taste of sweets, is sweetest last, to emphasise the truth in his words. This has a profound dramatic impact. He adds that if Richards grandsire had seen how his sons son should destroy his sons, Richard would not have been made king. Gaunt makes constant references to his brother Edward to emphasise that Richard will never come close to matching Edwards greatness as King, moreover, Gaunt condemns Richard as a murderer using a sardonic tone. This has an enormous dramatic impact, as these are dangerous words to utter. These final words from Gaunt are interrupted by Richard, which does little to help his cause. This is an unholy act, which provokes a shocked response from the audience. Not only does he interrupt his Uncles dying speech; he interrupts it by calling him a lunatic lean-witted fool. This is extremely dramatic. The patriotic audience would be wholly frustrated by Richards dismissive attitude towards the nationalistic Gaunt and his sad tale. Richard cynically accuses Gaunt of not being sick, moreover, he reminds the audience that he is eagerly awaiting Gaunts death when he refers to him as aged. These are Richards first words as he enters the room and thus it has a profound effect. Richards popularity in the eyes of the audience is repeatedly dealt heavy blows by the words of Gaunt. He implies that Richard doesnt care about England and is not good enough for this other Eden. Gaunt places lavish praises on England, which stimulates great patriotic emotions in the audience. These emotions are experienced not only by the people watching the play, but also by the large number of people on stage. This effect of having two audiences augments the dramatic impact. Gaunt constantly refers to England as a demi-paradise and a precious stone, which help to emphasise both the patriotism of Gaunt, and the corrupt nature of Richard for allowing such a blessed country to fall into disrepair. He describes England as a microcosm. Throughout the scene, Shakespeare uses the audiences reverence for a dying mans words to create a powerful dramatic effect. The poignant contrast between the two main characters; Richard and Gaunt would appeal overwhelmingly to the patriotism of a contemporary Shakespearean audience.

From the Middle Ages through the Renaissance Essay Example for Free

From the Middle Ages through the Renaissance Essay The earliest monument of the High Gothic was the cathedral of Notre-Dame at Chartres, where flying buttresses were designed from the beginning so that the balconies were needless. This simplified the interior elevations to three partitions; the nave arcade, the triforium passage and the clerestory windows. In the process, the clerestory windows improved noticeably in size and vaulting shifted from sexpartite, over two bays, to quadripartite, over one bay. Chartres Cathedral has an additional complex chronology than the cathedral of Paris. The side had long been sanctified to the Virgin Mary and the church wealth included, along with other precious relics, a tunic thought to have been used or worn by Mary. Chartres turned out to be the core of pilgrimage, and from 1020 to 1037 a Romanesque basilica with three profound radiating chapels was built to restore the previous church ruined by fire. By the twelfth century, this church increased in size however a fire in 1134 had damaged the westwork. Work started the same year to put up a new west front and narthex in much the same manner that Abbot Suger was to extend St. Denis Sculptors from the workshops at St. Denis came to Chartres, in 1145 to 1150 to carve the three portals of the new west facade, and the three lancet windows overhead were filled with stained glass depicting themes pioneered at Suger’s church; infancy of Christ, the Passion story and the Tree of Jesse or the genealogy of Christ. Fire again struck the Chartres on the night of June 10, 1194. The fire again struck the cathedral and town, destroying the wooden-roofed basilica and eight per cent of the city. Even though the new west front survived without major damage, the people of Chartres interpreted the fire as a sign of divine displeasure. The Gothic cathedral at Chartres was built in the span of twenty-six years from 1192 to 1220, and the sculpted north and south transport porches were finished between 1224 and 1250. However, the north tower on the west front was completed only in 1513, giving the west front at last a balanced asymmetry of form and style. Builders of the great French cathedrals of the early thirteenth century gave the impression on a determined pushing of Gothic technology to achieve soaring interior heights. The nave vaults at Chartres rise 113 feet over a fifty-three-foot-wide nave; at Reims (begun 1211), the vaults are 122 feet high over a forty-five-foor-wide nave; at Amiens (begun 1220), the vaulting is 139 feet high for the same nave width; and at Beauvais (begun 1225), the most daring venture of all, the choir vaults rose 158 feet over a choir that is forty-five-feet wide before collapsing and being rebuilt in a strengthened form. The cathedral of St. Pierre at Beauvais was never finished, and only the choir and transept stand today to indicate the scale of the intended Gothic building. Although structural disappointment was only part of the problem at Beauvais, it is a recurring element in the history of the cathedral’s construction. The design called for a string of seven radiating chapels off the ambulatory, with paired aisles in the choir that continued beyond the aisled transepts as double aisles in the nave. Work on the choir began in 1225, with choir vaulting being completed in about 1260. These vaults collapsed in 1284, probably because wind forces went over load capacities on slender transitional buttress piers, causing them to rotate and fall. Despite this checkered building history, the interior of the cathedral is stunning. The extreme verticality of the arcade is corresponded by an attenuated glazed triforium, above which rises the fragile cage of the clerestory, where solid wall dissolves into glass, generating the illusion that the vault overhead rests on air alone. In the windows, plate tracery used at Chartres has been replaced by bar tracery, thin stone sections carved into geometrical shapes based on circles. Tracery on the enormous transept roses moves into even more elaborate, flame-like shapes. Seen from the east, the exterior is overwhelmingly vertical. Even though the Gothic style started off in France, it stretched to other parts of Europe and became the principal style of northern Europe until the fifteenth century. English designers and builders soon formed their own Gothic esthetic and within a century had shaped Gothic churches that varied significantly from those built in France. Nineteenth century historians who initially studied the Gothic buildings of England classified the work in three overlapping phases, which are still practical or helpful for describing the progressive improvement of English medieval structural design. Early English built from 1175 to 1265, keeps up a correspondence approximately to High Gothic work in France. Salisbury Cathedral shows a rare example of an English Gothic cathedral assembled just about exclusively in homogenous style, Early English. Salisbury adds in features from monastic plans taking account of double transepts of Cluny III and the square east end of the Cistercians, in a lengthy angular building that is unquestionably English. On the interior, quadripartite vaults ascend from three-story nave elevations; nevertheless the constant vertical line exploited by the French has been substituted by a horizontal importance formed by a string course under the triforium and another under the clerestory windows. Even the ribs of the vaults do not extend down the wall but spring instead from wall corbels at the base of the clerestory. Surfaces are articulated by shafts and trim in black Purbeck marble. The exterior receives the same horizontal emphasis as the interior. Flying buttresses do not have a strong vertical character, and the walls are coursed in horizontal bands that extend across the west front. With all this horizontality, the 404-foot tower and spire offered the essential vertical counterpoint, and their great weight has obviously turned aside the piers at the crossing. The covered passages are excellent illustrations of early festooned tracery, and off the east range one comes across an attractive octagonal chapter house (King et al. , 2003). References Moffett, M. , Fazio, M. , Wodehouse, L. (2003). A World History of Architecture. London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd.

Womens Roles in A Dolls House

Womens Roles in A Dolls House CHAPTER I Background of Study Drama is one of literary works besides novel and poetry. Drama not only offers the reader an imitation of life but also helps them to understand the life, because life that is drawn in the drama is the reflection of society. All drama deals with some sort of problem, but the term ‘problem play’ refers to those plays concerned with specific social problem. (Peck,1947:88). From that quotation, shows that every play contains with some problems. In order that the reader can conceive contains of the play. Every problem is different, but all problems related with social problem that often occur in daily life. According to Drama A Pocket Anthology that Aristotle has relatively little to say about the theme of a play, simply nothing that â€Å"Thought of the personages is shown in everything to be effected by their language. Because he focuses to such a large degree on the emotional side of the tragedy-its simulation of pity and fear-he seems to give less importance to the role of drama as a serious forum for the discussion of ideas, referring his readers to another of his works. Theme, the central idea or ideas that a play discusses, is important in Greek tragedy and in the subsequent history of the theatre. (Campbell, 2004:13). Thus, it means that the theme of a play can be seen in personages language. The theme is the important thing to be discussesed in a play especially in Greek tragedy and in subsequent history of theatre. The theme is the idea of a common base that sustains a literary work contained in the text semantic structure and related equations or the differences (Hartoko in Nurgiyantoro, 2002: 68). The theme is shifted from the motives in the relevant work that determines the events, conflicts, and certain situations. Including the other intrinsic elements, for those reason it should be supporting the clarity theme to be conveyed. The theme became the basis of the development of the whole story, so it animates the whole part of the story. The theme has a common generalization, wider and abstract. One of the play that the writer choose to analyze is A Doll House. A Doll House is significant for its critical attitude toward 19th century marriage norms. It aroused great controversy at the time, as it concludes with the protagonist, Nora, leaving her husband and children because she wants to discover herself. Ibsen was inspired by the belief that a woman cannot be herself in modern society, since it is an exclusively male society, with laws made by men and with prosecutors and judges who assess feminine conduct from a masculine standpoint. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Dolls_House) This play, one of the works by Henrik Ibsen was written in 1879 and caused a huge controversy even before its premiere at the Theatre Royal Copenhagen. It sold out in the two and a half weeks between its first publication and performance and was considered scandalous by those in authority, both in its treatment of marriage and for the fact that the heroine stands up for herself. http://www.benchtheatre.org.uk/plays90s/dollshouse.php. Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as the godfather of modern drama and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre. His plays were considered scandalous to many of his era, when Victorian values of family life and propriety largely held sway in Europe. Ibsens work examined the realities that lay behind many facades, possessing a revelatory nature that was disquieting to many contemporaries. It utilised a critical eye and free enquiry into the conditions of life and issues of mo rality. (http://www.benchtheatre.org.uk/plays90s/dollshouse.php#author). Especially in A Doll House, Ibsen explores about women roles in domestic life that should face by Nora as the wife of Torvald in that play. The story tells about the domestic life of Torvald and Nora Helmer. In her life, Nora as the main character, faced the problem that made her did not free in her life. Her husband, Torvald always curb her, started when the Christmas event. When Nora prepared all the necessary, Torvald accused her for spending too much money for that event. He thought that it was for exaggerate thing because in his opinion did not appropriate with the society. Besides the financial matters depend on how the wife manages it and as a wife should manages it carefully. This is an interesting play that can be analyzed through structural approach. The writer choose the women roles in domestic life in A Doll House drama by Henrik Ibsen to analyze with the theme of the play because the whole story is contains of women roles that the main character faced in the domestic life. Beside that the writer choose this topic because in the previous study from student of Petra Christian University entitled A Study of Nora’s Disappointment as A Woman Toward Social Expectations that are Represented By Her Father and Her Husband (Helmer) As Seen in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll House. There have been analyzed about the factors that make Nora disappointed toward the expectation of her father and her husband. She also encouraged to find out how Nora solves her disappointment by using literary devices such as characterization and conflict. (Olivia, 2005:V) The writer is interested in analyzing A Doll House by applying structural approach to reveal women roles in domestic life in A Doll House. There are two roles that the writer wants to reveal from this play, they are women as financial manager and women as housewife. Statement of The problem Based on the background of the study. The problem can be formulated as follow: What are women roles at Domestic life in A Doll House? 1.3 Objective of The study Based on the statement of the problem above of the problem, there is such of the objective of this study: To know the women roles in domestic life in A Doll House? 1.4 Significance of the study This study has two significances; they are theoretically and practically. Theoretically, this study can be useful for those who concern with literature especially for those who are interested in analyzing literary works using thematic analysis. Practically, this study will contribute to know the theory of literature. Especially, this study expected to give the readers the understanding of women roles in domestic life(†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..). 1.5 Scope and Limitation The elements of drama are divided into two, intrinsic elements and extrinsic elements. This study will discuss about the intrinsic elements of fiction such as the theme, plot, and character characterization. The scope of this study focuses on the theme related to Nora’s character in A Doll House. This study limited on on the main character and some supprorting character such as Tolvard Helmer. The writer use theory † A History of Women in the west†. To avoid moving away from main discussion, this is study is limited on two aspect in theory † A History of Women in the west†. by Francoise Thebaud such as women as housewife, and women as the financial manager. 1.6 Research Method 1.6.1 Research Design This study is in the form of literary analysis. This study is designed as descriptive qualitative research. Firstly analyze the play itself by concerning on women roles in domestic life is in A Doll House†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Then the writer concludes there are two roles in this study. The identifying will be done while reading purpose to find out the point related to women roles in Nora’s character. 1.6.2 Approach To do analysis in this study is applied the literary approach. The writer used structuralism approach. Structuralism can be viewed as one of the literary approach that emphasizes the study of the relationship between elements of the development literature is concerned (Abrams in Nurgiantoro, 2002:37). Structural analysis of literary works, which in this case fiction, can be done by identifying, assessing and describing the functions and relationships between the intrinsic elements of fiction is concerned. Identify and describe how the state of events, plot, character and characterization, setting, poin of view etc. (Nugiantoro, 2002:37) 1.6.3 Source of data This study analyzes A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen as the main data. The play was publised in 1879 in Norway. The book that will be analyzed is A Penn State Electronic Classics Series Publication Copyright  © 2001-10 The Pennsylvania State University, which consists of 80 pages of 3 acts. The data will form of sentences and statements that related to women roles from the play. 1.6.4 Steps of Collecting Data The technique of collecting data in this study will be done in sequences as follows: Reading and understanding the contents of the original play that would be analyzed. Identifying the statements of the play about the women roles in domestic life in that support the data. Collecting the data that are suitable with women roles. Classifying the data based on the statement of the problem. 1.6.5 Technique of analyzing data After collecting the data, the writer continues with the next is analyzing the data. The following steps are. Analyzing the women as financial manager Analyzing the women as housewife. Making the conclusion based on the data analysis. The writer analyze the data through interpretation by using description and explanation. In writing this study, the writer applies intrinsic approach dealing with theme, plot, character, and characterization. 1.7 Definition of Key Terms There are some terms that must be explained to make those terms clear. Those terms are : Domestic life: One who lives in the family of an other, as hired household assistant, a house servant. http://www.definitions.net/definition/domestic Structural analysis of literary works, which in this case fiction, can be done by identifying, assessing and describing the functions and relationships between the intrinsic elements of fiction is concerned. Identify and describe how the state of events, plot, character and characterization, setting, point of view etc. (Nugiantoro, 2002:37) Thesis Organization The organization of the study is arranged into four chapters. The first chapter consists of six parts; background of the study, statement of the problems, objectives of the study, significance of the study, scope and limitation of the study, research method that consist of research design, research approach, source of data, technique of collecting data, and steps of analyzing data. The second chapter discusses about the theorical background of the work or called review of related literature which contains the theories that are use in the analysis, which is analyzing the the women roles in domestic life that is described in A Doll House. The third presents the analysis that would be core of the study. And the last chapter or fourth chapter is the conclusion of the study and as a result of the analysis in this study. 1

fuctions of management Essay -- essays research papers

Out of the four topics I would say the first step in the four functions of management is organizing. Organizing The first step of organizing would be self-organizing and time management. Without self-organizing your team will not be organized and will start going to other places for leadership. Once the self-organizing is done then the manager can start organizing the team. Time management for your team should be a priority the team leader. The next step would be to develop a matrix and a chain of command. A clear chain of command will help organize the team. In my opinion Planning is the second step. Without proper planning the team or workers will start making their own plans and those plans may not be want the manager wants. Planning. While I was in the Navy I taught the people that worked for me that proper planning prevents poor performance. So Planning is an important step in management and leadership. A successful manager needs to have skill in setting objectives, goals and strategies. There are plenty of software tool that a manager can use. In the Navy we used what was called PMS boards. Today I use Lotus Notes and MS Outlook to schedule tasks for myself. Once the Organization and planning is set. Leadership has to be determined and set. Without strong leadership the team will not survive and the manager will be replaced when deadlines fail, or milestones are not met. Leading. Some leaders have a natural leadership styles while others are taught leadership th...

Hemispheres Of The Brain :: essays research papers

Hemispheres of the Brain   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As I was reading the text I came upon a section that I thought to be quite fascinating. It talked about people who have a brain that functions like two different people inside of the brain. This is of course the Split-Brain Personality. As I studied this topic in more detail I found it to be quite broad and yet very detailed. I found that I needed a dictionary to be able to read all of the medical journals and books that are out there, to be able to understand what it was exactly, that I was reading. But with a little study and research I found that this is a precise science that is still largely full of mysteries. The study of hemispheric asymmetry with in the cerebral cortex had long been a fascination with the human race. The ancient Aztec cultures used to perform a type of brain surgery on humans. This is evident from the human remains that we find with incisions and piece's missing of the skull. Whether or not these primitive surgeries were successful is unknown. The earliest way for man to observe the brain was by noticing brain damage to a particular area of the brain that was damaged. Such observations were first recorded some 5,000 years ago (Myers,1995). The most popular case is that of Phineas Gage a railroad worker that had severe frontal lobe damage. This happened when a rail road spike was shot through his head by a piece of dynamite. Miraculously he lived through the experience, but with a severe change in his personality. From this physiologists learned that personality was largely controlled from this point namely by removing a persons inhibitions. For the most part the brain has been a mystery that is waiting to be opened. The last two decades have witnessed a period of research on the human cerebral functions comparable to the great era of discovery initiated by Broca in 1861(Young, G,. Segalowitz, S,. Corter, C,. Trehub, S,.1983). We have leaned more in the past 20 years about the brain and it's hemispheric asymmetry than we had learned in combined previous history.(Kosslyn, 1993). Most of this new work has been devoted to the study of cerebral functions in adults, but recently there has been a growing interest in infants and young children most especially among the study of hand preference. About 10 percent of the human population in left-handed(Myers,1995). By looking at ancient writings this right-hand preference has seemed to develop right from the start of the human race. It also is apparent that from ultrasound devises that about 9 in 10 fetuses suck

The Wealth Effect Essay -- Wealth Effect Stock Market Economy Essays

The Wealth Effect The "Wealth Effect" refers to the propensity of people to spend more if they have more assets. The premise is that when the value of equities rises so does our wealth and disposable income, thus we feel more comfortable about spending. The wealth effect has helped power the US economy over 1999 and part of 2000, but what happens to the economy if the market tanks? The Federal Reserve has reported that for every $1 billion in increase in the value of equities, Americans will spend an additional $40 million a year. The wealth effect has become a growing concern because more and more people are investing; furthermore the Federal Reserve has very little direct control over stock prices. The numbers are staggering. Since the end of 1995, household stock holdings have doubled to more than $12 trillion dollars. And, for the first time, equities are the most valuable asset of the typical American household, not the home. When it comes to spending money, consumers take all their financial resources into consideration, from their income to their home. When an asset surges in value for a sustained period of time, such as the stock market in the 1990s, people feel flush and are willing to spend some additional money, perhaps b y buying a fancy car or by taking a more expensive vacation. A good number of Wall Street analysts blame the wealth effect for today's negative savings rate. Declining stock prices affect firms in several ways. First, lower stock prices, especially induced by profit warnings, increase shareholder pressure on managers to cut costs by laying off workers and scaling back investment. Second, the recent correction has put many stock options underwater, and it is unclear to what extent workers will bargain for more cash in place of options and how this might affect payroll costs and inflation. Third, the factors dragging down stock prices typically spur investors to demand higher risk premiums, which boosts the cost of financing business investment. This takes the form of increased spreads of corporate bond and commercial paper interest rates relative to Treasury yields and lower prices for any new stock that any firm dares to offer. Aside from raising the going price of new finance, the increased uncertainty associated with lower stock prices can spook investors so much, that the availability of finance is reduced. Since the... ...bear market if we remain at war for a long time in the future. We have seen in the past month, steady gains in the major stock indices. Some are stating that the bull market may be back with the war on terrorism going well, and others are insisting that the gains are only short term and that the market will retest the lows hit in mid-September. Only time will tell on how long it will take for our market to completely rebound into a bull market like we saw in the 90’s. Sources 1.)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Balke, Nathan. â€Å"The Economy in Action†. Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. 2.)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Angeletos, George , David Laibson, Andrea Repetto, Jeremy Tobacman, and Stephen Weinberg. The Hyperbolic Buffer Stock Model. 3 March 2001. 3.)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Clarke, Grahm and Steven Caldwell. â€Å"Wealth in America†. Ohio State 1998. 4.)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Fidelity Investments. 2001 Estimated Stock Wealth Effects on Consumption. 5.)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  American Express Company. 2001 American Express â€Å"ever day spending† survey. 6.)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  John Khoury. Yahoo Finance: http://finance.yahoo.com. 7.)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  U.S. Census Bureau. www.census.gov/. 2001. 8.)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Swanson, KC. Is the â€Å"negative wealth† effect all its cracked up to be. The Street.com 29 March 2001.

The notes of a confused college student

To encourage students to evolve their analytical skills. To enable students to: Define key concepts In the study of history Identify major factors shaping the development of the US Recognize causes and consequences of major changes in US history Cite key examples of major historical trends and patterns Discriminate between causal factors of primary importance and secondary importance. Evaluation 4 Exams will be given, each worth 15 points These exams will be multiple-choice in nature.The lowest grade will be dropped. This option makes make-up exams a rare exception) Daily quizzes will be given using the I-clicker, worth 10 total points Questions will be drawn from various sources If you attend class regularly these will be easy points 2 Primary source Analysis castles will be given, worth 5. (10 points toward total) These assignments will be group activities completed in class. The readings will be posted on Blackboard and each student will be responsible for their completion.On he d ay of the AS, you will come to class prepared to contribute to the group. Make- up Saga's will be given only on rare occasions. 2 Reading quizzes will be given, each worth 10 points These quizzes will be given In-class In conjunction with you readings of Bell and Moody. These quizzes will be written and will reflect your analysis of these readings. Text book readings will be worth 20 points total Once a week you will complete a reading assignment using the online connect.

Alchemist by ben jonson as an allegory Essay

A discussion of Ben Jonsons The Alchemist as an fabrication is, in truth, a little difficult. The reason out why this is so is that The Alchemist is in the genre of farce non that of emblem. However, dapple a land whitethorn not be definitively an simile, through the process of all(a)egoresis it may be critically direct as an fiction in part or in whole.Allegoresis is the process by which a work that is not written as an allegorylike for example the allegoric plant life The Faerie Queene and The Pilgrims Progressmay be critically and analytically read and understood as an allegory or as having parts that argon allegorical. An allegory is a work (or a section, enactment or line of a work) that has universally representative fictional characters and take care.For instance, if a folk fable that has the characters Tommy the Toad and Bobby the billy goat Goat and in which they say, We are creatures of the wild, arent we? is modified so that Tommy the Toad becomes Toad the Teacher and Bobby the he-goat Goat becomes Stubborn Student Bobby Billy and they talk approximately We are creatures of sharp-witted reason, arent we?, then the fable about individuals has become an allegory about all of humankind through the universality of character and feel.In constructing The Alchemist, which some critics say is the to the highest degree perfect play in face literature, Ben Jonson didnt draw on over-the-hill stories for his taleline and plot he created the story and plot himself. To do so, he use character eccentric persons, not allegorical characters. This is what classifies The Alchemist as farce instead of allegory.Type, or typical, characters are standard characters or archetypal characters that everyone has exist with and therefore can understand hitherto though a particular type may not be universally representative in the way allegorical characters are. For example, not everyone is the swindler type though many people have experience of that t ype of person.Another example is that not everyone is the giddy girl type though many people have experience of that type of person. Which points out another departure between typical characters and allegorical characters example types lend themselves to humor, farce and satire while allegorical characters are serious characters meant to be taken in earnest.Sothis verbalizean allegoresis reading of The Alchemist could interpret the character types as universal allegorical representations portraying an central earnestly serious message.Therefore in an allegoresis the characters would be The Puritan Ananias, The Law shop assistant Dapper, The Rich Young Man Kastril, and The chieftain Lovwit, etc., and the themes might be woven unneurotic to teach a serious lesson, by chance about Morality and Order in a Disordered world that requires management against Victimization through right-minded Religion. Furthermore, in allgoresis, the satire that Jonson writes would undergird the d elivery of the earnestly serious theme.