Elpenor Essays - Greek Mythology, Elpenor, Odysseus, Laestrygonians

Elpenor I am Elpenor, one of the young crew members of Odysseus. Following being banished from Aeolia, with no wind to sail with, our crew was forced to sail with only the power of our oars, as we then landed on the Island of Laestrygonians. The ships and crew, however, were under attack, all but our's. We then forged on to the island of Aeaea, home to the goddess Circe, where I succumbed to death in an accident. Odysseus was then instructed to sail to Hades, the land of the dead. Odysseus, in order to be ensured a save voyage, must consult the spirit of Tiresias, a prophet. Amidst the smell of fresh blood, many souls, mine included, began to resurrect. Anxious to be informed on the status of the living, I engaged in conversation with Odysseus who soon continued to sail once again.

The History Of Philosophy Theology Essays

The History Of Philosophy Theology Essays The History Of Philosophy Theology Essay The History Of Philosophy Theology Essay I, 12 ; Cicero: Tusculanae disputationes , V, 8-9 ) . The attribution is based on a transition in a lost work of Herakleides Pontikos, a adherent of Aristotle. It is considered to be portion of the widespread fables of Pythagoras of this clip. Philosopher replaced the word Sophist ( from sophoi ) , which meant wise work forces , instructors of rhetoric, who were of import in Athenian democracy. [ edit ] Ancient doctrine ( c. 600 BC-c. AD 500 ) Chief article: Ancient doctrine Aristotle Plato Ancient doctrine is the doctrine of the Graeco-Roman universe from the sixth century [ circa 585 ] BC to the sixth century AD. It is normally divided into three periods: the presocratic period, the period of Plato and Aristotle, and the post-Aristotelian ( or Hellenistic ) period. A 4th period that is sometimes added includes the Neoplatonic and Christian philosophers of Late Antiquity. The most of import of the ancient philosophers ( in footings of subsequent influence ) are Plato and Aristotle. [ 7 ] The chief topics of ancient doctrine are: understanding the cardinal causes and rules of the existence ; explicating it in an economical manner ; the epistemic job of accommodating the diverseness and alteration of the natural existence, with the possibility of obtaining fixed and certain cognition about it ; inquiries about things that can non be perceived by the senses, such as Numberss, elements, universals, and Gods ; the analysis of forms of concluding and statement ; the nature of the good life and the importance of understanding and cognition in order to prosecute it ; the explication of the construct of justness, and its relation to assorted political systems. [ 7 ] In this period the important characteristics of the philosophical method were established: a critical attack to have or established positions, and the entreaty to ground and debate. [ edit ] Medieval doctrine ( c. 500-c. 1350 ) Chief article: Medieval doctrine St. Thomas Aquinas Medieval doctrine is the doctrine of Western Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages, approximately widening from the Christianization of the Roman Empire until the Renaissance. [ 8 ] Medieval doctrine is defined partially by the rediscovery and farther development of classical Greek and Hellenistic doctrine, and partially by the demand to turn to theological jobs and to incorporate sacred philosophy ( in Islam, Judaism, and Christianity ) with secular acquisition. The history of European medieval doctrine is traditionally divided into three chief periods: the period in the Latin West following the Early Middle Ages until the twelfth century, when the plants of Aristotle and Plato were preserved and cultivated ; and the aureate age of the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries in the Latin West, which witnessed the apogee of the recovery of ancient doctrine, and important developments in the field of Philosophy of faith, Logic and Metaphysics. The medieval epoch was slightingly treated by the Renaissance humanists, who saw it as a barbarian in-between period between the classical age of Greek and Roman civilization, and the metempsychosis or Renaissance of classical civilization. Yet this period of about a thousand old ages was the longest period of philosophical development in Europe, and perchance the richest. Jorge Gracia has argued that in strength, edification, and accomplishment, the philosophical blossoming in the 13th century could be justly said to equal the aureate age of Grecian doctrine in the 4th century B.C. [ 9 ] Some jobs discussed throughout this period are the relation of religion to ground, the being and integrity of God, the object of divinity and metaphysics, the jobs of cognition, of universals, and of individualization. Philosophers from the Middle Ages include the Muslim philosophers Alkindus, Alfarabi, Alhazen, Avicenna, Algazel, Avempace, Abubacer and Averroes ; the Judaic philosophers Maimonides and Gersonides ; and the Christian philosophers Augustine of Hippo, Boethius, Anselm, Gilbert of Poitiers, Peter Abelard, Roger Bacon, Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, William of Ockham and Jean Buridan. The mediaeval tradition of Scholasticism continued to boom every bit tardily as the seventeenth century, in figures such as Francisco Suarez and John of St. Thomas. Aquinas, male parent of Thomism, was vastly influential, placed a greater accent on ground and debate, and was one of the first to utilize the new interlingual rendition of Aristotle s metaphysical and epistemic authorship. His work was a important going from the Neoplatonic and Augustinian thought that had dominated much of early Scholasticism. Many modern ethicians both within and outside the Catholic Church ( notably Philippa Foot and Alasdair MacIntyre ) have late commented on Aquinas s virtuousness moralss as a manner of avoiding utilitarianism or Kantian sense of responsibility ( deontology ) . Through the work of 20th-century philosophers such as Elizabeth Anscombe, his rule of dual consequence and his theory of knowing activity by and large have been influential. Cognitive neuroscientist and philosopher Walter Freeman proposes that Thomism is the system explicating knowledge that is most compatible with neurodynamics, in a 2008 article in the diary Mind and Matter entitled Nonlinear Brain Dynamics and Intention Harmonizing to Aquinas. The influence of Aquinas s aesthetics besides can be found in the plants of the Italian semiotician Umberto Eco. [ edit ] Renaissance doctrine ( c. 1350-c. 1600 ) Chief article: Renaissance doctrine Giordano Bruno The Renaissance ( metempsychosis ) was a period of passage between the Middle Ages and modern idea, [ 10 ] in which the recovery of classical texts shifted philosophical involvements off from proficient surveies in logic, metaphysics, and divinity towards eclectic enquiries into morality, linguistics, and mysticism. [ 11 ] [ 12 ] The survey of classics, peculiarly the freshly rediscovered plants of Plato and the Neoplatonists, and of the humane arts more by and large ( such as history and literature ) enjoyed a popularity hitherto unknown in Christendom. The construct of adult male displaced God as the cardinal object of philosophical contemplation. [ 13 ] [ 14 ] The Renaissance besides renewed involvement in nature considered as an organic whole comprehendible independently of divinity, as in the work of Nicholas of Kues, Giordano Bruno, Galileo Galilei, and Telesius. Such motions in natural doctrine dovetailed with a resurgence of involvement in thaumaturgy, hermeticism, and star divination, which were thought to give concealed ways of knowing and mastering nature ( e.g. , in Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola ) . [ 15 ] These new motions in doctrine developed contemporaneously with larger political and spiritual transmutations in Europe: the diminution of feudal system and the Reformation. The rise of the monarchal nation-state found voice in progressively secular political doctrines, as in the work of Niccolo Machiavelli, Thomas More, Jean Bodin, Tommaso Campanella, and Hugo Grotius. And while the Reformers showed small direct involvement in doctrine, their devastation of the traditional foundations of theological and rational authorization harmonized with the resurgence of fideism and incredulity in minds such as Erasmus, Montaigne and Francisco Sanches. [ 16 ] [ 17 ] [ edit ] Early modern doctrine ( c. 1600-c. 1800 ) John Locke This is the high period for modern doctrine and besides for British doctrine. Modern doctrine built upon the rebellion against Scholasticism initiated in the 1500s by authors such as Machiavelli. Francis Bacon in peculiar argued the instance for materialist experimental scientific discipline, and in the 1600s and 1700s modern scientific discipline became progressively separate from doctrine. Doctrine in this period centered on the relation between experience and world, the ultimate beginning of cognition, the nature of the head and its relation to the organic structure, the deductions of the new natural scientific disciplines for free will and God. Work besides began upon building a layman, materialist moral and political doctrine. By the terminal of this period classical economic sciences had started to go a separate subject from doctrine, with its ain advice to give about political relations and moralss. Chronologically, this epoch spans the 17th and 18th centuries. Canonic figures include Hobbes, Descartes, Locke, Spinoza, Leibniz, Berkeley, Rousseau, Hume, and eventually Kant. [ 18 ] The period is by and large considered to stop with Kant s systematic effort to accommodate Newtonian natural philosophies with traditional metaphysical subjects. [ 19 ] Kant saw himself as trying to react to the challenge of Rousseau and Hume, whose plants had triggered uncertainties most significantly about the possibility of cognition itself, and hence non merely about the value of all doctrine and scientific discipline, but besides the political and moral deductions of modernness. In this regard Kant can be seen as a gustatory sensation of farther uncertainties to come in the 19th and twentieth centuries. [ edit ] Nineteenth-century doctrine Chief article: Modern doctrine Subsequently modern doctrine is normally considered to get down after the doctrine of Immanuel Kant at the beginning of the nineteenth century. [ 20 ] Many of the most noteworthy authors of this period were in Germany. German dreamers, such as Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, transformed the work of Kant by keeping that the universe is constituted by a rational or mind-like procedure, and as such is wholly cognizable. [ 21 ] However, uncertainties about the possibility of cognition or doctrine, and about modern life itself, became a memorable subject of German doctrine by the terminal of this period, which had far-reaching influence upon the remainder of the universe. Arthur Schopenhauer s designation of this world-constituting procedure as an irrational will to populate influenced subsequently 19th- and early 20th-century thought, such as the work of Friedrich Nietzsche and Sigmund Freud. After 1830, 19th-century doctrine mostly turned against idealism in favour of assortments of philosophical naturalism, such as the positivism of Auguste Comte, the empiricist philosophy of John Stuart Mill, and the philistinism of Karl Marx. Other philosophers, many working from outside academe, initiated lines of idea that would go on to busy doctrine into the early and mid-20th century, for illustration * Gottlob Frege s work in logic and Henry Sidgwick s work in moralss provided the tools for early analytic doctrine. * Charles Sanders Peirce and William James founded pragmatism. * Soren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche laid the basis for existential philosophy and post-structuralism. * Karl Marx began the survey of societal materialist doctrine. [ edit ] Twentieth-century doctrine Chief article: Contemporary doctrine Within the last century, doctrine has progressively become a professional subject practiced within universities, like other academic subjects. Consequently, it has become less general and more specialised. In the position of one outstanding recent historiographer: Doctrine has become a extremely organized subject, done by specializers chiefly for other specializers. The figure of philosophers has exploded, the volume of publication has swelled, and the subfields of serious philosophical probe have multiplied. Not merely is the wide field of doctrine today far excessively huge to be embraced by one head, something similar is true even of many extremely specialised subfields. [ 22 ] In the English-speaking universe, analytic doctrine became the dominant school for much of the twentieth century. In the first half of the century, it was a cohesive school, shaped strongly by logical positivism, united by the impression that philosophical jobs could and should be solved by attending to logic and linguistic communication. The pioneering work of Bertrand Russell was a theoretical account for the early development of analytic doctrine, traveling from a rejection of the idealism dominant in late nineteenth century British doctrine to an neo-Humean empiricist philosophy, strengthened by the conceptual resources of modern mathematical logic. [ 23 ] [ 24 ] [ 25 ] In the latter half of the twentieth century, analytic doctrine diffused into a broad assortment of disparate philosophical positions, merely slackly united by historical lines of influence and a self-identified committedness to lucidity and asperity. The post-war transmutation of the analytic plan led in two wide waies: on one manus, an involvement in ordinary linguistic communication as a manner of avoiding or redescribing traditional philosophical jobs, and on the other, a more exhaustive naturalism that sought to fade out the mystifiers of modern doctrine via the consequences of the natural scientific disciplines ( such as cognitive psychological science and evolutionary biological science ) . The displacement in the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein, from a position congruent with logical positivism to a curative disintegration of traditional doctrine as a lingual misinterpretation of normal signifiers of life, was the most influential version of the first way in analytic doctrine. [ 26 ] [ 27 ] The ulterior work of Russell and the doctrine of W.V.O. Quine are influential examples of the naturalist attack dominant in the 2nd half of the twentieth century. [ 28 ] [ 29 ] [ 30 ] [ 31 ] But the diverseness of analytic doctrine from the 1970s onward defies easy generalisation: the naturalism of Qui ne and his epigoni was in some precincts superseded by a new metaphysics of possible universes, as in the influential work of David Lewis. [ 32 ] [ 33 ] Recently, the experimental doctrine motion has sought to reappraise philosophical jobs through societal scientific discipline research techniques. On Continental Europe, no individual school or disposition enjoyed laterality. The flight of the logical rationalists from cardinal Europe during the 1930s and 1940s, nevertheless, diminished philosophical involvement in natural scientific discipline, and an accent on the humanistic disciplines, loosely construed, figures conspicuously in what is normally called Continental doctrine . twentieth century motions such as phenomenology, existential philosophy, hermeneutics, critical theory, structural linguistics, and poststructuralism are included within this loose class, which began at the bend of the century in the thoughts of Edmund Husserl, who sought to analyze consciousness as experienced from a first-person position, [ 34 ] [ 35 ] and found unconventional but influential articulation in the plants of Martin Heidegger, who drew on the thoughts of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Husserl to suggest an experiential attack to ontology. [ 36 ] [ 37 ]

Progressive Supranuclear Palsy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Progressive Supranuclear Palsy - Research Paper Example Men are known to be affected by this condition to a greater extent as compared to the females (Golbe and Ohman-Strickland, 2007). Clinical Presentation The PSP encompasses distinguishing mild dementia, lack of memory, sluggishness of contemplation procedure, poignant or behavior modifications encompassing lethargy or hopelessness with infrequent outbreaks or petulance and weaken capability to maneuver attained information, the condition leads to subcortical dementia, the characteristic feature of PSP. The clinical features include parkinsonism, though with rigidity in extension rather than flexion and tremor is usually minimal. In addition there must be a supranuclear paralysis of eye movements, usually downgaze for the appropriate diagnosis. These features are accompanied by pyramidal signs and cognitive impairment. The condition belongs to the family of taupathies and engross both cortical and subcortical structures (Stamelou et al, 2010). PSP is a symmetric, akinetic-rigid syndrom e, frontal shortfalls, postural instability as well as falls. Early gait interruption with sub-zero, micrographia and hypophonia comprise an additional deviation entitled pure akinesia with gait freezing (Williams and Lee, 2009). Observations reveal that in case of progressive supranuclear palsy, cortical lesions play an imperative role in highlighting the symptoms and signs of the disease. The patient thus presents supranuclear opthalmoplegia. Apart from these features, additional clinical characteristics involve, progressive asymmetric dystonia, apraxia and cortical sensory loss (PSP-corticobasal syndrome) (Josephs et al, 2005). The heterogeneity of the medical management emerges to trail distinction in the anatomical allocation of diverse, PSP-specific histopathological amendments (Willians and Lees, 2009). These features are supported with retrospective neuropathological research. Neuropathology Neuropathologically, PSP is defined as an accumulation of neurofibrillary tangles an d thereby loss of neuronal cells encompasses cortical and subcortical constitution, in particular the subthalamic nuclei, globus pallidus, red nucleus, superior colliculi, pretectal regions, periaqueductal grey matter, substantia nigra, thalamus, cerebellum, the entire pontine tegmentum, oculomotor nucleus, medulla, dentate nucleus and the spinal cord (Williams and Lees, 2009). Cases which do not predispose these features are difficult to diagnose. Research studies reveal that genetic mutations in the tau gene present on the chromosome 17 is responsible for the frontotemporal dementias. Stanford et al (2000), have identified that a silent mutation (S305S) in the tau gene is responsible for noteworthy atrophy or cellular collapse of the frontal and temporal cortices. Histopathological tests display intracellular, somatodendritic tau-aggregates which are shown by the silver staining (Dickson, 1999). Presence of neurofibrillary tangles in neurons, neuropil threads in neuronal processes , coiled twisting bodies in oligodendrocytes, tufted astrocytes in the basal ganglia, amygdala and motor cortex as well as nonexistence of neuritic plaques aid to discriminate PSP from other tauopathies. Taupathies is a common terminology employed to neurodegenerative disorders displaying tau-pathology in the glial or neuronal cells. Tau protein is expressed in neurons, associated with the microtubule.

Impact of Social Networking and Blogging on Internet Usage Essay

Impact of Social Networking and Blogging on Internet Usage - Essay Example These are just limited uses of blogging and social networking. The wide spectrum of using these interactivities online entails that blogging and social networking bring people closer and turning the world into a global village where there are no distances (Jacqui 2010). Introduction Social networking has become an integral part of millions of Internet users around the world. When people come back to home from their work places and educational institutes, the first thing most of them prefer to do is to check their personal profiles on social networking websites, such as Facebook, Twitter and many others. They find it a facilitating medium for interacting with hundreds of people within and outside their national borders. Social network or social networking websites actually provides Internet user a virtual interface where they can share their ideas and thoughts. The social networking websites are usually used for studying the social relationships of people. The term social networking d escribes a person’s or group of persons’ social structure and is determined with the help of their communication and interaction with others (Lusted 2011, Aleman and Wartman 2009). On the other hand, blogs or blogging websites provides a personal space to Internet users where they can lodge their posts, ides, believes and views on certain issues, keeping in view the area of interest. Blogs usually contain write-up of a person, group of personals or organization aiming to discuss a single agenda subject. Scholars and web technologists first utilized blogs in 90s and to post content containing ideas and beliefs of these scholars and technologists. Since then, non-technical users are using blogs as well (Rettberg 2008). Social media and blogs has attracted masses towards utilizing these internet tools to share ideas, market their products and services and help out individuals who are looking for solutions to their problems, let it be professional or academic one. A resear ch conducted by University of Maryland reveals that people across the globe are becoming addicted to using social networking sites and blogs. Social media especially has become a major source of communicating with rest of the world. The academic research conducted on understanding how the social networking sites are reshaping the behavior states that Facebook, world’s most used social networking website, has become a primary source of communication among students. On professional level, social networking and blogging is utilized extensively for providing business solutions and discussing new technologies and innovations. In broader spectrum, Internet usage has increased after the introduction of blogging and social networking websites and the analysis of statistical data shows that it is expected to increase even more. Academic Usage of Internet Societies and individuals living in these societies are of the view that their internet usage has increased since the arrival of inf otainment add ons like Facebook, Twitter, Blogger Online, Flickr, and others (Ishak 2010). This is because these individuals can share their precious moments with others, and also, take guidance and suggestions regarding the problems and issues they are facing. Students goes to social networking sites and blogs at least four times a day in order to keep in touch with their friends, to ask their teachers for solutions to

Organic vs. industrial food Essay Example for Free

Organic vs. industrial food Essay Organic foods, although stereotypically known for having a bland taste or having no taste have been shown to improve ones quality of life be decreasing some health risk such as cancer or heart disease. If you haven’t realized it, organic fruits and vegetables taste better, and the flavor is crispier. The health consequences of genetically modified food, when examined closely, will convince you to change your eating habits. The shelf life of food depends on four main factors: formulation, processing, packaging and storage. Change any one of these conditions and you can change the shelf life for better or worse. Shelf life has many attributes: bacterial control, color stability, yeast and mold inhibition, flavor stability, textural stability and aroma stability. The appearance of shelf-life problems can be wide, as well, including oxidative browning, oxidation of flavor compounds, or liquescence. To increase the shelf life of more unstable foods, such as low-sugar jam, low-salt condiments, low-oil salad dressings, prepared fresh produce and deli meats, food companies may take steps to reduce bacterial load from ingredients before they process the final food. To grow, thrive and survive, microbes need a friendly environment; this usually includes moisture. Lowering moisture creates a hostile environment for bacteria by decreasing the available medium for them to grow in. There are a number of new ingredients to help regulate water activity in foods with a reduced fat phase. â€Å" Generally, the water activity of a minimally processed food needs to be about 0. 07 or lower, water has an a W rating of 1. 00, and most products preserved with sugar, measure about 0. 07, with the excess water bound so that bacteria are under osmotic pressure too great to survive(Katz, February 4, 2006). † Whenever you buy food, you have decision to make: Healthy or cheap, organic or industrial. If organic food was not so expensive, that decision would be easy, everybody would buy organic food, for a healthier body. Unfortunately not everybody can afford it, making it look like healthy food is becoming a luxury good. In the rush to produce more and more food for the people on this planet, chemicals came into play. Farmers begin by trying to sell the highest percentage of their crop and therefore often use pesticides, gen-manipulated corn, chemicals etc. The farmers investment in pesticides, hormones, and chemicals tends to pays off, earning more, their fruits look better and costumers are happy with huge pest fee fruits and vegetables. When a farmer says no to chemicals, he runs the risk of losing a harvest because of pests. The only way to compensate the cost is a higher price for organic food. You cant ask everybody to pay higher prices, and a lot of people would starve to death without the use of chemicals which protect harvests against pests. Every time you eat something, you consume pesticides, these substances are added in order to produce and sell more efficient. Fortunately there are strict rules for the use of chemicals. Organic foods are produced following practices described in the USDA National Organic Program (NOP), a marketing program with a certification process throughout the production and manufacturing chain. The NOP describes the practices that are required for labeling a product â€Å"organic,† but it does not address nutritional benefits or food safety issues. Even when you buy organic food, you are consuming these substances, but the bar is set at a different height and you are consuming less harmful substances that could be particularly hazards for high-risk groups such as pregnant women, infants, young children and farm worker households. Since organic food is not prepared using chemical fertilizers and pesticides, it does not contain any traces of these strong chemicals and might not affect the human body. People strongly believe that organic food tastes better than non-organic food. The prominent reason for this belief is that it is produced using organic means of production. Further organic food is often sold locally resulting in availability of fresh produce in the market. So how bad is industrial food? Let’s take a look; there are maximum residue limits on all pesticides and chemicals. The department of health determines how much of each substance is ok. Eating organic food lowers the risk of getting hit by a similar scenario, but its not a 100% guarantee (Are Organic Foods Better for You. 2010). However, getting seriously sick from cheap food is not that high of a risk as long as you read food labels you can eat cheap and healthy at the same time? If you are eating organic food only, you are still eating unhealthy foods. Almost everyone is aware that foods grown according to organic principles are free from over exposure to harmful pesticides, but that is only one small aspect. A larger part of organic agriculture is the health of the soil and the ecosystem in which crops are raised. Organic farmers know that healthy, live soils significantly benefit crops. Synthetic chemicals such as herbicides, pesticides, and/or fast acting inorganic fertilizers applied to or around crops interrupt or destroy the micro biotic activity in the soil. Organic farming reduces groundwater pollutants, decreases pesticides that can end up in your drinking glass; in some cities, pesticides in tap water have been measured at unsafe levels. The Farmer’s Market is a growers’ market, meaning everything in the market is homegrown, but Richard Bowie, an experienced organic grower is not convinced that all the food being sold is homegrown. â€Å"The market’s slogan ‘100% Homegrown makes us different’ is used as a gimmick, said Bowie† (Shreve, October 3, 2011). Vendors have been seen carrying produce and selling it to other vendors at the market bringing the term organically grown in to question and without certification, and but by law they cannot say they are a certified organically grown vendor. Most vendors cannot afford the certification process and want consumers to look past the term organic there for focus on the soil used or nutrients used. Almost everyone is aware that foods grown according to organic principles are free from over exposure to harmful pesticides, but that is only one small aspect. A larger part of organic agriculture is the health of the soil and the ecosystem in which crops are raised. Organic farmers know that healthy, live soils significantly benefit crops. Synthetic chemicals such as herbicides, pesticides, and/or fast acting inorganic fertilizers applied to or around crops interrupt or destroy the micro biotic activity in the soil. Organic farming reduces groundwater pollutants, decreases pesticides that can end up in your drinking glass; in some cities, pesticides in tap water have been measured at unsafe levels. We should choose farming methods that truly address our real concerns safety and sustainability, not simply methods that satisfy an arbitrary marketing label. To whatever extent these practices include methods that are permitted under organic rules. But theres never a case when a safe, more efficient, and sustainable modern technology that feeds more people worldwide should be disallowed for no logical reason. Eating â€Å"organic† alone doesn’t guarantee 100 percent healthy . The truth is that most Americans eat so badly that we get most of our calories from soft drinks, more than we do from vegetables; the top food group by caloric intake is â€Å"sweets†; and one-third of nation’s adults are now obese. It’s not unimportant, but it’s not the primary issue in the way Americans eat. To eat well, says means avoiding â€Å"edible food-like substances† and sticking to real ingredients, increasingly from the plant kingdom. There’s plenty of evidence that both a person’s health as well as the environment’s will improve with a simple shift in eating habits away from animal products and highly processed foods to plant products and what might be called â€Å"real food. † From these changes, Americans would reduce the amount of land, water and chemicals used to produce the food we eat, as well as the incidence of lifestyle diseases linked to unhealthy diets and greenhouse gases from industrial meat production. And the food would not necessarily have to be organic, all it takes is paying attention to what you eat and read your labels more closely. Participation on our part to be more aware of what we buy and to raise our voices, if need be. We can let our opinions be known even in the simplest ways. A good example is when we shop, if there is no substitute for the product we need, let the store owners know, they will surely change their products. Organic food is better as it uses natural farming techniques. It is similar to preferring natural remedies when suffering from a disease as compared to eating chemical antibiotics. So, the question of organic foods vs non organic foods; which is better, is clearly answered. Organic food surpasses the conventionally produced foods. References Katz, F. (Febuary 4, 2006). Formulating for increased shelf life. Retrieved November 22, 2011, from http://www. foodprocessing. com/articles/2006/039. html Are Organic Foods Better For You?. Retrieved November 19, 2011, from http://preventdisease. com/home/tips61. shtml Shreve, S. (October 3, 2011). Does organically grown produce really matter?. Retrieved November 21, 2011, from.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot Essay -- Medica

After her death in 1951, for six decades, Henrietta Lacks did not exist in the eyes of the society, but her cells did. How? Well, the answer is quite simple. HeLa Cells are the first immortal human cells. These cells never die and multiply every twenty-four hours. After spending 10 years to perfect her first book, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot essentially captured the life, the death, and aftermath of Henrietta Lacks’ life. With controversial issues regarding science, ethics, race, and class Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey. From the â€Å"colored† ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells, from Henrietta’s small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia to East Baltimore, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells, Skloot remarkably shows the story of the Lacks family is inextricably connected to the dark history of experi mentation on African Americans along with the issue of bioethics, and legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of. The most intriguing aspect of this story is how is it that HeLa cells were used to develop the polio vaccine, uncover secrets of cancer, viruses’, and the effects of the atomic bomb, and help lead to important advancements for vitro fertilization, cloning, and genes mapping, yet, her five children are not even covered by medical insurance. Can’t the family sue for a profit? This question has been asked multiple times and in various forms, but the answer remains controversial. As Skloot addresses in her book, many lawyers point out that the family â€Å"cannot sue over the cells being taken†¦[but] they could attempt to stop HeLa research through a law... ... May 2010. Moreno, Jonathan D. "Lessons Learned A Half-Century of Experimenting on Humans." The Humanist Sept. 1999: 9. Questia. Web. 31 May 2010. "Nazi Neighbour; Nathan Gasch Moved to the US to Escape His Holocaust Memories but Six Decades on He Discovered the Man Next Door Was an SS Guard. at the Camp Where He Had Been a Prisoner." The Mirror (London, England) 6 Oct. 2007: 31. Questia. Web. 31 May 2010. "S. Fla. Hospital Called 'Most Dangerous' - Health News Story - WPLG Miami." Just News | Miami News, Fort Lauderdale News, Florida News, Weather | WPLG Local 10. Local 10 News, 14 Sept. 2009. Web. 27 May 2010. . Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Crown, 2010. Print. Williams, Patricia J. "State of Denial." The Nation 13 Oct. 2003: 10. Questia. Web. 31 May 2010.

African American Theatre 2 Essay

African American Theater started out, hundreds of years ago, as a foundation of amusement for the black community. The theater was a place where African Americans, equally men and women, could work, study, and perfect their expertise. The beginning of African American theater set in motion back in the 1830’s, and it eventually became one of America’s most prevalent sources of entertainment Over the course of over one and a half decades, there has been an apparent transformation within the dominion of African American theater. For example, African Americans have prevailed over the intense burden of subjugation in forms such as political affairs, comfortable residency and most significantly, equal human rights. One of the most apparent leisure pursuits that were in remission from African-Americans came in the appearance of the performing arts, more particularly film. During this time, the society in general would not permit, for example, blacks to drink from the same water fountain, so to share the same onstage experiences or television effects was, without a doubt, not even simply prohibited but unheard of. However, as time went by, the potency of the hopeful African American actors and actresses weighed down the greater part of the general society, and society ceased being able to keep African Americans from appearing on stage and on television. For the longest time, the stage became and stayed the only way for African Americans to communicate the deep sorrow and oppression that the society, particularly the white population, had placed in front of them. Through acting, in addition to both singing and dancing, African Americans were able to, mentally and spiritually, go to a place that no tormenter could find them. With this new form of communication, African Americans found a new method of endurance, and acting was the fundamental technique. Even though the African American actors and actresses were forced to take the road of continued existence in the theater to gain self contentment, it was, as an understatement, not unproblematic. For the longest moments in time, African American actors and actresses were not permitted to step foot on stage. However, black actors were instead ridiculed by Caucasian actors in what they called â€Å"black face. † Black face was a performance where white actors and actresses would literally conceal their faces with black paint and makeup, so as to imitate an African American actor. From this falsification of the hopeful actors, derogatory names such as Tom, Mulatto, Mammy, Coon, and Buck resulted. Similar to Black Face, there was what is called Minstrel Shows. Minstrel shows, which consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, ridiculed and made fun of African Americans in the most disapproving ways. According to these shows, black people were looked upon as ignorant, lazy, and unreasonable, but also cheerful and melodious. Broadway, which is the heart of theater for Americans, had been closed to blacks for more than a decade. However, this was only until the African American musical â€Å"Shuffle Along† turned out to be a runaway success, which some historians believe was the beginning of the Harlem Renaissance. The first African American play to be produced on Broadway was â€Å"The Chip Woman’s Fortune† in 1923, written by Willis Richardson. In the year of 1959, Lorraine Hansberry, a famous playwright, became the first African American woman to have her play produced and performed on Broadway. Hansberry’s play, titled â€Å"A Raisin in the Sun,† became an outlet for a continual assembly of plays by African American playwrights who often brought their own individual occurrences in the great effort in opposition to racial discrimination to the theater plays that they produced. . By the revolving of this period, the minstrel show enjoyed but a shadow of its former popularity, having been replaced for the most part by vaudeville. It survived as professional entertainment until about 1910; amateur performances continued until the 1960s in high schools, fraternities, and local theaters. As blacks began to score legal and social victories against racism and to successfully assert political power, minstrelsy lost popularity. The typical minstrel performance followed a three-act structure. The troupe first danced onto stage then exchanged wisecracks and sang songs. The second part featured a variety of entertainments, including the pun-filled stump speech. The final act consisted of a slapstick musical plantation skit or a send-up of a popular play. Minstrel songs and sketches featured several stock characters, most popularly the slave and the dandy. These were further divided into sub-archetypes such as the mammy, her counterpart the old darky, the provocative mulatto wench, and the black soldier. Minstrels claimed that their songs and dances were authentically black, although the extent of the black influence remains debated. Spirituals (known as jubilees) entered the repertoire in the 1870s, marking the first undeniably black music to be used in minstrelsy. Blackface minstrelsy was the first distinctly American theatrical form. In the 1830s and 1840s, it was at the core of the rise of an American music industry, and for several decades it provided the lens through which white America saw black America. On the one hand, it had strong racist aspects; on the other, it afforded white Americans a singular and broad awareness of significant aspects of African American culture.