Research Effect of Environmental Disasters on Human Reproductive Health

Introduction The developed world had undergone industrial revolution from early 1800’s and by 1892; it was in its dying embers focus moving to sophistication and consolidation of industries. Transport routes, education of skilled labour, production technology, management, military prowess and industry expansion were now the fad.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Research Effect of Environmental Disasters on Human Reproductive Health specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In the transport industry, investment was heading into railways and improving water transport corridors. Therefore, when William T. Love in 1892, had a proposal to create a water transport channel by connecting the upper and lower Niagara River, it was a brilliant idea of the times. Attracting finances, the project begun in earnest only to collapse after economic depression due to impending world war. In 1920, the local municipal council did purchase Love Canal for use as a landfill (Brayan, N., 2003). The year is 1942; Hooker Chemicals starts depositing over 20,000 tons of chemical waste at the Love Canal over the next eight consecutive years. Hooker Chemicals seals Love Canal off with impregnable clay, sells the land to the Educational Board for $1 and absolves itself in a contract from any consequent legal action (1953). The impact on the environment begins years later, when construction activities in the area permeate the canal, after a rapid increase in the population. Chemicals start seeping into the soil of the surrounding area under the guidance of underground streams resulting in health complications of the community of Love Canal, New York; these complications range from reproductive health complications and low child mortality to increase in cancer cases (Gibbs, L. M., 1998). Mothers had more miscarriages and premature pregnancies; Children born were of low birth weight and had higher deformities per 100 children than other areas of New York. The municipal council, on the other hand, was dismissing the health complications as old wives tales.Advertising Looking for research paper on environmental studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This research paper will look at previous research by New York State Department of Health to ascertain whether, a connection exists between the chemicals in Love Canal and reproductive health of its 1970’s residents. It will compare Love Canal effect on reproductive health as a whole with the effect of individual chemicals found at Love Canal on reproductive health in other areas. Background A chronology of the events that faced the community of Love Canal is essential to gain a perspective of the environmental scandal. Lois Gibbs in her 20th Anniversary edition book Love Canal: The Story- continues (1998) achieves these objectives. Gibbs had a sick child and was requesting for transfer of her child from the school. While the school was obstructing her efforts, she had a chance of looking into history of Love Canal. Additionally, she undertook a preliminary research, using results to rally fellow parents to pressure the New York Department of Health to look into effect of Love Canal on health of their children leading to the founding of Love Canal Parents Movement (1978). Apart from lessons from love canal project providing a wealth of information as a public resource, its article, History of Love Canal gives additional background. In The Love Canal Disaster: An Error in Engineering or Public Policy? Joshua Hertz (1996) points to the effect lack of information by Hooker Chemicals about Love Canal had on the community.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Research Effect of Environmental Disasters on Human Reproductive Health specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Hooker Chemical had put its best foot forward in securing the canal from exposure to the environment; covering it all around with impermeable clay. This clay would withstand seepage of chemicals to the surrounding soil. However, construction of a school a top of it did open the top of the landfill for rainwater. Additionally, drainage pipe construction through the chemical landfill created an allowance for chemicals to leak. The Environmental Protection Agency did publish a report, id: NYD000606947 in 1983. It details actions that Environmental Protection Agency took to clean the environment off the 20,000 tons of chemicals. First was to contain the landfill chemical waste from further seepage. Second was eliminating the effect of seepage on the underground water network and sewage system. Third was disposal of chemical waste and excavation of the school built on top of the landfill. Finally, was maintenance of homes at Love Canal area. After much public complaint, the New York Department of Health did employ a con tractor in 1976, the Calspan Corporation to look into the complaints. It found toxic chemicals in the area, located near the landfill. Additionally, the area drainage system was behind spread of toxic chemicals within the area. The Department did not implement this study. It was in March 1978 that it undertook its own study Love Canal – Public Health Time Bomb (1978). The study apart begun researching on soil composition to obtain the effect the chemicals had on the area surrounding the landfill. Later it studied health problems brought about by the over 20,000 tons chemical waste, focusing on its effect on the high rate of birth defects and miscarriages.Advertising Looking for research paper on environmental studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Love Canal follow up health study (1996), is a comprehensive study by the New York State Department of Health. It is a 20-year follow up of Love canal former residents. The In-depth study had a focus several key areas: mortality, cancer, chemical contamination of blood and reproductive health. Their results, particularly in reproductive health, provide the basis of this study. Methods The research on reproductive health will base it on secondary data of past research carried out. This is on the basis that the lack ability to collect primary data, due to lack of funding and sufficient in depth researchers to collect data from former residents of Love Canal. Further, ability to obtain records of 1940-1980 residents is a strenuous activity due to litigation and the seeking of private information. Therefore, secondary data collection will be from research undertaken by the New York Department of health 1978 and 1996. Love Canal – Public Health Time Bomb (1978) was a research unde rtaken by the New York Department of Health while facing an amounting amassing public and political pressure. It was a study looking into health complications reported in women of the high rate of miscarriages and birth defects. Love Canal Follow Up Health Study (1996) was a research undertaken by the New York Department of health. The carrying out of the research was 20 years after the relocation of residents from Love Canal. It was a study, which had a focus on four areas: mortality, cancer, chemical contamination of blood and reproductive health. The assessment of Love Canal twenty years later was to take a long-term assessment on the health of the residents of Love Canal (1940-1980). It was inclusive of a comparison group of women in Upstate New York and Niagara counties. Results Love Canal – Public Health Time Bomb (1978) had a study group of 6,181 Love Canal residents. The study focus was on the effect of chemical present on the landfill n health, rate of miscarriages a nd birth defects. In Love Canal follow up health study (1996) was a follow up of the study group for Love Canal – Public Health Time Bomb (1978). Women in the study were those, had earlier been interviewed during the periods 1978 to1982 while having have lived in Love Canal over a period time starting from1940 to1980. In total there were 980 mothers in the study. With records putting the number of births at1,799. Of these, 32 were two or more children of the same pregnancy. Comparisons were against women of Upstate New York and Niagara County (control group). LOVE CANAL FOLLOW UP HEALTH STUDY (1996) AREA OF STUDY RESEARCH RESULTS Preterm births Love Canal women had more miscarriages over study period than control group. Number of boys and girls Boy to Girl birth ratio Love canal Control group Boys 94 105 Girls 100 100 Birth defects Love Canal (1983 to 1996) 492 children born Defects 16 Boys 11 Girls 5 control group birth defects numbers are not clear as to the number according to the study. However, it states Love Canal has a higher number of birth defects per 100 children born. Low birth weight; Children born were small for gestational age Children born were small for gestational age weighing among the lowest ten percent of babies born in State of New York. The weight of babies was low in comparison to Upstate New York and Niagara County. Study analysis Love Canal follow up health study (1996) was successful in tracing 97% women initially interviewed. The information collection was credible since it was information from public records of births and birth certificates. Third, comparison groups (Upstate New York and Niagara County) had a similar demographic structure. It, however, had several shortcomings including, researchers did not analyse higher birth defects in boys. The study was not inclusive of alcohol use, drug abuse and occupation effect on the pregnancies. Finally, Love Canal follow up health study (1996) did not e ncompass all people living in love canal and births before 1960. Conclusion Love Canal – Public Health Time Bomb (1978) focus was on high birth defects and high number of miscarriages. It in its proposals to the state government it pushed for the relocation of the residents from Love Canal, due to the presence of hazardous chemicals in the land fill. However, later studies did point to underground water spreading effect of the land fill to other areas, which the first study did not take into consideration. In 1978, the government had an evacuation of 239 families living in a two-block radius of the landfill, but further protests by residents of the area led to a complete evacuation in 1980. This was after later research post-1978 did identify crucial information on the effect of the landfill chemicals on blood serum chromosomes and cancer (The New York Department of Health, 1978). Love Canal follow up health study (1996) results were same as similar later research studies in terms of the results of higher birth defects, low birth weight and high number of miscarriages due to living close to the landfill. However, its addition to previous research done from 1978 was the low boy to a higher girl birth ratio due the effect of the Love canal chemicals on reproductive health. This is in line, with studies on the effect of chemical exposures on reproductive health, which state chemical exposure has an effect on reproductive health. Further, the 1996 New York Department of Health research did delve on other areas such as cancer effect of the dump, mortality and blood chemical makeup (The New York Department of Health, 1996). References Brayan, N. (2003). Love canal: pollution crisis (environmental disasters). Gareth Stevens Pub publishers. Environmental Protection Agency. (1983). Love Canal: US Environmental Protection Agency. Web. Gibbs, L. M. (1998). Love Canal: The Story Continues, 20 Anniversary edition, New Society Publishers. Hertz, J. (1996). The Love C anal Disaster: An Error in Engineering or Public Policy?  Web. Lessons from love canal project, (2007). History of Love Canal.  Web. New York Department of Health, (1978). Love Canal: Public Health Time Bomb. Web. New York Department of Health, (1996). Love Canal: Follow Up health Plan. Web. This research paper on Research Effect of Environmental Disasters on Human Reproductive Health was written and submitted by user Kathleen V. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

MTV essays

MTV essays Everyone remembers Michael Jackson's red leather jacket covered with zippers and the sexy style of Madonna. MTV, or music television, nationally publicizes these images and entertainers, and others like them. The station also promotes an idealized teen lifestyle, reflecting the images of these famous artists, that contrasts with the realities of the Generation X lifestyle. While some view the station as "illustrated radio" or an entertainment network for viewers' pleasure, others more accurately assess it as an advertising enterprise that endorses products and promotes attitudes. The advertisements that are both hidden in videos and placed in regular slots, influence viewers. Whether or not MTV critics agree with these "messages" that the network sends out, it has become a huge franchise generating large profits and great popularity. During the 1980's, MTV grew from being strictly a music video station to an original, three-station network that became the choice of several generation s of viewers and the advertisers who court them. MTV's entertainment, commercialism, and messages satisfy and influence many types of viewers, giving them a healthy sense of group identity. In 1981, MTV became one of the first stations to be able to appeal to such a populous audience as the twelve to twenty-four year old age group. The chief operating officer of Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment Company (WASEC) felt that there was "a body of young people being ignored," hence the company designed MTV (Denisoff 37). Although at first success was unpredictable, the MTV network fought off competition by such competitors as the powerful Turner Broadcasting System (Daspin 20). "There isn't room for two or three services doing the same thing," commented MTV's Bob Pittman (Hedegaard 38). Later, the MTV network came out with VH1, or Video Hits One, a music station for older viewers, and Nickelodeon, a children's service station (Daspin 19). These two stations a...

Bertrand Russells Classic Essay in Praise of Idleness

Bertrand Russell's Classic Essay in Praise of Idleness Noted mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell tried to apply the clarity he admired in mathematical reasoning to the solution of problems in other fields, in particular ethics and politics. In this essay, first published in 1932, Russell argues in favor of a four-hour working day. Consider whether his arguments for laziness deserve serious consideration today. In Praise of Idleness by Bertrand Russell Like most of my generation, I was brought up on the saying: Satan finds some mischief for idle hands to do. Being a highly virtuous child, I believed all that I was told, and acquired a conscience which has kept me working hard down to the present moment. But although my conscience has controlled my actions, my opinions have undergone a revolution. I think that there is far too much work done in the world, that immense harm is caused by the belief that work is virtuous, and that what needs to be preached in modern industrial countries is quite different from what always has been preached. Everyone knows the story of the traveler in Naples who saw twelve beggars lying in the sun (it was before the days of Mussolini), and offered a lira to the laziest of them. Eleven of them jumped up to claim it, so he gave it to the twelfth. this traveler was on the right lines. But in countries which do not enjoy Mediterranean sunshine idleness is more difficult, and a great public propaganda will b e required to inaugurate it. I hope that, after reading the following pages, the leaders of the YMCA will start a campaign to induce good young men to do nothing. If so, I shall not have lived in vain. Before advancing my own arguments for laziness, I must dispose of one which I cannot accept. Whenever a person who already has enough to live on proposes to engage in some everyday kind of job, such as school-teaching or typing, he or she is told that such conduct takes the bread out of other peoples mouths, and is therefore wicked. If this argument were valid, it would only be necessary for us all to be idle in order that we should all have our mouths full of bread. What people who say such things forget is that what a man earns he usually spends, and in spending he gives employment. As long as a man spends his income, he puts just as much bread into peoples mouths in spending as he takes out of other peoples mouths in earning. The real villain, from this point of view, is the man who saves. If he merely puts his savings in a stocking, like the proverbial French peasant, it is obvious that they do not give employment. If he invests his savings, the matter is less obvious, and differ ent cases arise. One of the commonest things to do with savings is to lend them to some Government. In view of the fact that the bulk of the public expenditure of most civilized Governments consists in payment for past wars or preparation for future wars, the man who lends his money to a Government is in the same position as the bad men in Shakespeare who hire murderers. The net result of the mans economical habits is to increase the armed forces of the State to which he lends his savings. Obviously it would be better if he spent the money, even if he spent it in drink or gambling. But, I shall be told, the case is quite different when savings are invested in industrial enterprises. When such enterprises succeed, and produce something useful, this may be conceded. In these days, however, no one will deny that most enterprises fail. That means that a large amount of human labor, which might have been devoted to producing something that could be enjoyed, was expended on producing machines which, when produced, lay idle and did no good to anyone. The man who invests his savings in a concern that goes bankrupt is therefore injuring others as well as himself. If he spent his money, say, in giving parties for his friends, they (we may hope) would get pleasure, and so would all those upon whom he spent money, such as the butcher, the baker, and the bootlegger. But if he spends it (let us say) upon laying down rails for surface card in some place where surface cars turn out not to be wanted, he has diverted a mass of labor into channels where it gives pleasure to no on e. Nevertheless, when he becomes poor through failure of his investment he will be regarded as a victim of undeserved misfortune, whereas the gay spendthrift, who has spent his money philanthropically, will be despised as a fool and a frivolous person. All this is only preliminary. I want to say, in all seriousness, that a great deal of harm is being done in the modern world by belief in the virtuousness of work, and that the road to happiness and prosperity lies in an organized diminution of work. First of all: what is work? Work is of two kinds: first, altering the position of matter at or near the earths surface relatively to other such matter; second, telling other people to do so. The first kind is unpleasant and ill paid; the second is pleasant and highly paid. The second kind is capable of indefinite extension: there are not only those who give orders, but those who give advice as to what orders should be given. Usually two opposite kinds of advice are given simultaneously by two organized bodies of men; this is called politics. The skill required for this kind of work is not knowledge of the subjects as to which advice is given, but knowledge of the art of persuasive speaking and writing, i.e. of advertising. Throughout Europe, though not in America, there is a third class of men, more respected than either of the classes of workers. There are men who, through ownership of land, are able to make others pay for the privilege of being allowed to exist and to work. These landowners are idle, and I might therefore be expected to praise them. Unfortunately, their idleness is only rendered possible by the industry of others; indeed their desire for comfortable idleness is historically the source of the whole gospel of work. The last thing they have ever wished is that others should follow their example. (Continued on page two) Continued from page oneFrom the beginning of civilization until the Industrial Revolution, a man could, as a rule, produce by hard work little more than was required for the subsistence of himself and his family, although his wife worked at least as hard as he did, and his children added their labor as soon as they were old enough to do so. The small surplus above bare necessaries was not left to those who produced it, but was appropriated by warriors and priests. In times of famine there was no surplus; the warriors and priests, however, still secured as much as at other times, with the result that many of the workers died of hunger. This system persisted in Russia until 1917 [1], and still persists in the East; in England, in spite of the Industrial Revolution, it remained in full force throughout the Napoleonic wars, and until a hundred years ago, when the new class of manufacturers acquired power. In America, the system came to an end with the Revolution, except in the South, whe re it persisted until the Civil War. A system which lasted so long and ended so recently has naturally left a profound impress upon mens thoughts and opinions. Much that we take for granted about the desirability of work is derived from this system, and, being pre-industrial, is not adapted to the modern world. Modern technique has made it possible for leisure, within limits, to be not the prerogative of small privileged classes, but a right evenly distributed throughout the community. The morality of work is the morality of slaves, and the modern world has no need of slavery. It is obvious that, in primitive communities, peasants, left to themselves, would not have parted with the slender surplus upon which the warriors and priests subsisted, but would have either produced less or consumed more. At first, sheer force compelled them to produce and part with the surplus. Gradually, however, it was found possible to induce many of them to accept an ethic according to which it was their duty to work hard, although part of their work went to support others in idleness. By this means the amount of compulsion required was lessened, and the expenses of government were diminished. To this day, 99 per cent of British wage-earners would be genuinely shocked if it were proposed that the King should not have a larger income than a working man. The conception of duty, speaking historically, has been a means used by the holders of power to induce others to live for the interests of their masters rather than for their own. Of course the holders of power conceal this fact from themselves by managing to believe that their interests are identical with the larger interests of humanity. Sometimes this is true; Athenian slave-owners, for instance, employed part of their leisure in making a permanent contribution to civilization which would have been impossible under a just economic system. Leisure is essential to civilization, and in former times leisure for the few was only rendered possible by the labors of the many. But their labors were valuable, not because work is good, but because leisure is good. And with modern technique it would be possible to distribute leisure justly without injury to civilization. Modern technique has made it possible to diminish enormously the amount of labor required to secure the necessaries of life for everyone. This was made obvious during the war. At that time all the men in the armed forces, and all the men and women engaged in the production of munitions, all the men and women engaged in spying, war propaganda, or Government offices connected with the war, were withdrawn from productive occupations. In spite of this, the general level of well-being among unskilled wage-earners on the side of the Allies was higher than before or since. The significance of this fact was concealed by finance: borrowing made it appear as if the future was nourishing the present. But that, of course, would have been impossible; a man cannot eat a loaf of bread that does not yet exist. The war showed conclusively that, by the scientific organization of production, it is possible to keep modern populations in fair comfort on a small part of the working capacity of the modern world. If, at the end of the war, the scientific organization, which had been created in order to liberate men for fighting and munition work, had been preserved, and the hours of the week had been cut down to four, all would have been well. Instead of that the old chaos was restored, those whose work was demanded were made to work long hours, and the rest were left to starve as unemployed. Why? Because work is a duty, and a man should not receive wages in proportion to what he has produced, but in proportion to his virtue as exemplified by his industry. This is the morality of the Slave State, applied in circumstances totally unlike those in which it arose. No wonder the result has been disastrous. Let us take an illustration. Suppose that, at a given moment, a certain number of people are engaged in the manufacture of pins. They make as many pins as the world needs, working (say) eight hours a day. Someone makes an invention by which the same number of men can make twice as many pins: pins are already so cheap that hardly any more will be bought at a lower price. In a sensible world, everybody concerned in the manufacturing of pins would take to working four hours instead of eight, and everything else would go on as before. But in the actual world this would be thought demoralizing. The men still work eight hours, there are too many pins, some employers go bankrupt, and half the men previously concerned in making pins are thrown out of work. There is, in the end, just as much leisure as on the other plan, but half the men are total ly idle while half are still overworked. In this way, it is insured that the unavoidable leisure shall cause misery all round instead of being a universal source of happiness. Can anything more insane be imagined? (Continued on page three) Continued from page twoThe idea that the poor should have leisure has always been shocking to the rich. In England, in the early nineteenth century, fifteen hours was the ordinary days work for a man; children sometimes did as much, and very commonly did twelve hours a day. When meddlesome busybodies suggested that perhaps these hours were rather long, they were told that work kept adults from drink and children from mischief. When I was a child, shortly after urban working men had acquired the vote, certain public holidays were established by law, to the great indignation of the upper classes. I remember hearing an old Duchess say: What do the poor want with holidays? They ought to work. People nowadays are less frank, but the sentiment persists, and is the source of much of our economic confusion. Let us, for a moment, consider the ethics of work frankly, without superstition. Every human being, of necessity, consumes, in the course of his life, a certain amount of the produce of human labor. Assuming, as we may, that labor is on the whole disagreeable, it is unjust that a man should consume more than he produces. Of course he may provide services rather than commodities, like a medical man, for example; but he should provide something in return for his board and lodging. to this extent, the duty of work must be admitted, but to this extent only. I shall not dwell upon the fact that, in all modern societies outside the USSR, many people escape even this minimum amount of work, namely all those who inherit money and all those who marry money. I do not think the fact that these people are allowed to be idle is nearly so harmful as the fact that wage-earners are expected to overwork or starve. If the ordinary wage-earner worked four hours a day, there would be enough for everybody and no unemployment- assuming a certain very moderate amount of sensible organization. This idea shocks the well-to-do, because they are convinced that the poor would not know how to use so much leisure. In America men often work long hours even when they are well off; such men, naturally, are indignant at the idea of leisure for wage-earners, except as the grim punishment of unemployment; in fact, they dislike leisure even for their sons. Oddly enough, while they wish their sons to work so hard as to have no time to be civilized, they do not mind their wives and daughters having no work at all. The snobbish admiration of uselessness, which, in an aristocratic society, extends to both sexes, is, under a plutocracy, confined to women; this, however, does not make it any more in agreement with common sense. The wise use of leisure, it must be conceded, is a product of civilization and education. A man who has worked long hours all his life will become bored if he becomes suddenly idle. But without a considerable amount of leisure a man is cut off from many of the best things. There is no longer any reason why the bulk of the population should suffer this deprivation; only a foolish asceticism, usually vicarious, makes us continue to insist on work in excessive quantities now that the need no longer exists. In the new creed which controls the government of Russia, while there is much that is very different from the traditional teaching of the West, there are some things that are quite unchanged. The attitude of the governing classes, and especially of those who conduct educational propaganda, on the subject of the dignity of labor, is almost exactly that which the governing classes of the world have always preached to what were called the honest poor. Industry, sobriety, willingness to work long hours for distant advantages, even submissiveness to authority, all these reappear; moreover authority still represents the will of the Ruler of the Universe, Who, however, is now called by a new name, Dialectical Materialism. The victory of the proletariat in Russia has some points in common with the victory of the feminists in some other countries. For ages, men had conceded the superior saintliness of women, and had consoled women for their inferiority by maintaining that saintliness is more desirable than power. At last the feminists decided that they would have both, since the pioneers among them believed all that the men had told them about the desirability of virtue, but not what they had told them about the worthlessness of political power. A similar thing has happened in Russia as regards manual work. For ages, the rich and their sycophants have written in praise of honest toil, have praised the simple life, have professed a religion which teaches that the poor are much more likely to go to heaven than the rich, and in general have tried to make manual workers believe that there is some special nobility about altering the position of matter in space, just as men tried to make women believe that th ey derived some special nobility from their sexual enslavement. In Russia, all this teaching about the excellence of manual work has been taken seriously, with the result that the manual worker is more honored than anyone else. What are, in essence, revivalist appeals are made, but not for the old purposes: they are made to secure shock workers for special tasks. Manual work is the ideal which is held before the young, and is the basis of all ethical teaching. (Continued on page four) Continued from page threeFor the present, possibly, this is all to the good. A large country, full of natural resources, awaits development, and has has to be developed with very little use of credit. In these circumstances, hard work is necessary, and is likely to bring a great reward. But what will happen when the point has been reached where everybody could be comfortable without working long hours? In the West, we have various ways of dealing with this problem. We have no attempt at economic justice, so that a large proportion of the total produce goes to a small minority of the population, many of whom do no work at all. Owing to the absence of any central control over production, we produce hosts of things that are not wanted. We keep a large percentage of the working population idle, because we can dispense with their labor by making the others overwork. When all these methods prove inadequate, we have a war: we cause a number of people to manufacture high explosives, and a number of others to explode them, as if we were children who had just discovered fireworks. By a combination of all these devices we manage, though with difficulty, to keep alive the notion that a great deal of severe manual work must be the lot of the average man. In Russia, owing to more economic justice and central control over production, the problem will have to be differently solved. The rational solution would be, as soon as the necessaries and elementary comforts can be provided for all, to reduce the hours of labor gradually, allowing a popular vote to decide, at each stage, whether more leisure or more goods were to be preferred. But, having taught the supreme virtue of hard work, it is difficult to see how the authorities can aim at a paradise in which there will be much leisure and little work. It seems more likely that they will find continually fresh schemes, by which present leisure is to be sacrificed to future productivity. I read recently of an ingenious plan put forward by Russian engineers, for making the White Sea and the northern coasts of Siberia warm, by putting a dam across the Kara Sea. An admirable project, but liable to postpone proletarian comfort for a generation, while the nobility of toil is being displayed amid the ice-fields and snowstorms of the Arctic Ocean. This sort of thing, if it happens, will be the result of regarding the virtue of hard work as an end in itself, rather than as a means to a state of affairs in which it is no longer needed. The fact is that moving matter about, while a certain amount of it is necessary to our existence, is emphatically not one of the ends of human life. If it were, we should have to consider every navvy superior to Shakespeare. We have been misled in this matter by two causes. One is the necessity of keeping the poor contented, which has led the rich, for thousands of years, to preach the dignity of labor, while taking care themselves to remain undignified in this respect. The other is the new pleasure in mechanism, which makes us delight in the astonishingly clever changes that we can produce on the earths surface. Neither of these motives makes any great appeal to the actual worker. If you ask him what he thinks the best part of his life, he is not likely to say: I enjoy manual work because it makes me feel that I am fulfilling mans noblest task, and because I like to think how much man can transform his planet. It is true that my body demands periods of rest, which I have to fill in as best I may, but I am never so happy as when the morning comes and I can return to the toil from which my contentment springs. I have never heard working men say this sort of thing. They consider work, as it should be considered, a necessary means to a livelihood, and it is from their leisure that they derive whatever happiness they may enjoy. It will be said that, while a little leisure is pleasant, men would not know how to fill their days if they had only four hours of work out of the twenty-four. In so far as this is true in the modern world, it is a condemnation of our civilization; it would not have been true at any earlier period. There was formerly a capacity for light-heartedness and play which has been to some extent inhibited by the cult of efficiency. The modern man thinks that everything ought to be done for the sake of something else, and never for its own sake. Serious-minded persons, for example, are continually condemning the habit of going to the cinema, and telling us that it leads the young into crime. But all the work that goes to producing a cinema is respectable, because it is work, and because it brings a money profit. The notion that the desirable activities are those that bring a profit has made everything topsy-turvy. The butcher who provides you with meat and the baker who provides you with brea d are praiseworthy, because they are making money; but when you enjoy the food they have provided, you are merely frivolous, unless you eat only to get strength for your work. Broadly speaking, it is held that getting money is good and spending money is bad. Seeing that they are two sides of one transaction, this is absurd; one might as well maintain that keys are good, but keyholes are bad. Whatever merit there may be in the production of goods must be entirely derivative from the advantage to be obtained by consuming them. The individual, in our society, works for profit; but the social purpose of his work lies in the consumption of what he produces. It is this divorce between the individual and the social purpose of production that makes it so difficult for men to think clearly in a world in which profit-making is the incentive to industry. We think too much of production, and too little of consumption. One result is that we attach too little importance to enjoyment and simple happiness, and that we do not judge production by the pleasure that it gives to the consumer. Concluded on page five Continued from page fourWhen I suggest that working hours should be reduced to four, I am not meaning to imply that all the remaining time should necessarily be spent in pure frivolity. I mean that four hours work a day should entitle a man to the necessities and elementary comforts of life, and that the rest of his time should be his to use as he might see fit. It is an essential part of any such social system that education should be carried further than it usually is at present, and should aim, in part, at providing tastes which would enable a man to use leisure intelligently. I am not thinking mainly of the sort of things that would be considered highbrow. Peasant dances have died out except in remote rural areas, but the impulses which caused them to be cultivated must still exist in human nature. The pleasures of urban populations have become mainly passive: seeing cinemas, watching football matches, listening to the radio, and so on. This results from the fact that their activ e energies are fully taken up with work; if they had more leisure, they would again enjoy pleasures in which they took an active part. In the past, there was a small leisure class and a larger working class. The leisure class enjoyed advantages for which there was no basis in social justice; this necessarily made it oppressive, limited its sympathies, and caused it to invent theories by which to justify its privileges. These facts greatly diminished its excellence, but in spite of this drawback it contributed nearly the whole of what we call civilization. It cultivated the arts and discovered the sciences; it wrote the books, invented the philosophies, and refined social relations. Even the liberation of the oppressed has usually been inaugurated from above. Without the leisure class, mankind would never have emerged from barbarism. The method of a leisure class without duties was, however, extraordinarily wasteful. None of the members of the class had to be taught to be industrious, and the class as a whole was not exceptionally intelligent. The class might produce one Darwin, but against him had to be set tens of thousands of country gentlemen who never thought of anything more intelligent than fox-hunting and punishing poachers. At present, the universities are supposed to provide, in a more systematic way, what the leisure class provided accidentally and as a by-product. This is a great improvement, but it has certain drawbacks. University life is so different from life in the world at large that men who live in academic milieu tend to be unaware of the preoccupations and problems of ordinary men and women; moreover their ways of expressing themselves are usually such as to rob their opinions of the influence that they ought to have upon the general public. Another disadvantage is that in universities studie s are organized, and the man who thinks of some original line of research is likely to be discouraged. Academic institutions, therefore, useful as they are, are not adequate guardians of the interests of civilization in a world where everyone outside their walls is too busy for unutilitarian pursuits. In a world where no one is compelled to work more than four hours a day, every person possessed of scientific curiosity will be able to indulge it, and every painter will be able to paint without starving, however excellent his pictures may be. Young writers will not be obliged to draw attention to themselves by sensational pot-boilers, with a view to acquiring the economic independence needed for monumental works, for which, when the time at last comes, they will have lost the taste and capacity. Men who, in their professional work, have become interested in some phase of economics or government, will be able to develop their ideas without the academic detachment that makes the work of university economists often seem lacking in reality. Medical men will have the time to learn about the progress of medicine, teachers will not be exasperatedly struggling to teach by routine methods things which they learnt in their youth, which may, in the interval, have been proved to be untrue. Above all, there will be happiness and joy of life, instead of frayed nerves, weariness, and dyspepsia. The work exacted will be enough to make leisure delightful, but not enough to produce exhaustion. Since men will not be tired in their spare time, they will not demand only such amusements as are passive and vapid. At least one per cent will probably devote the time not spent in professional work to pursuits of some public importance, and, since they will not depend upon these pursuits for their livelihood, their originality will be unhampered, and there will be no need to conform to the standards set by elderly pundits. But it is not only in these exceptional cases that the advantages of leisure will appear. Ordinary men and women, having the opportunity of a happy life, will become more kindly and less persecuting and less inclined to view others with suspicion. The taste for war will die out, partly for this reason, and partly because it will involve long and severe work for all . Good nature is, of all moral qualities, the one that the world needs most, and good nature is the result of ease and security, not of a life of arduous struggle. Modern methods of production have given us the possibility of ease and security for all; we have chosen, instead, to have overwork for some and starvation for others. Hitherto we have continued to be as energetic as we were before there were machines; in this we have been foolish, but there is no reason to go on being foolish forever. (1932)

Interdisciplinary Curriculum Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Interdisciplinary Curriculum - Essay Example He will be in a position to distinguish the good from the bad. This subject knowledge alone is not valuable and to help him with additional knowledge and train him with new skills, the institution or the concerned faculty enrolls him in some interdisciplinary courses that would be related to his major subject. As in the case of a student of literature, interdisciplinary courses like translation, soft skill development, entrepreneurship may be highly useful. In this way, he not only gains additional skill or knowledge but also gets interactional expertise in the new field. This type of knowledge that we acquire through multidisciplinary form is normally named as interdisciplinary community or project. The people working here are the ones who bring out the courses or projects that would be of much use to the learners. This group consists of both learners and teachers who cooperate together in the learning and teaching environment. This interdisciplinary teaching provides ample opportunity for the learners to enrich their knowledge in one or more additional academic disciplines. On the whole, the aim of such interdisciplinary courses is to make the learners face challenging tasks not only in their subject but also in the other related disciplines, so that they will be able to stand out from the rest. The le IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT LEARNING The learning process according to the scholars happens through two important ways. They have been named as implicit and explicit learning. Learning as we all know is the process of acquiring knowledge of something. Some things that we learn happens through taking effort on our side and at the same time there are things which we do learn without effort at all. And this is the way through which the experts have identified and differentiated the learning process. Let us look at the two ways clearly in order to comprehend well. IMPLICIT LEARNING The term implicit refers to the learning that takes place in a passive way. In this type of learning, the learner is exposed to information and thus acquires the knowledge of that information simply through that exposure. Axel Cleeremans states in his article that according to Berry and Dienes (1993), learning becomes implicit when we acquire new information without intending to do so, and that the resulting knowledge is difficult to express. Further, Arthur Reber from his research found out that, "learning might be implicit to the extent that people appear to be able to learn new information without intending to do so and in such a way that the resulting knowledge is difficult to express." This suggests that implicit learning contrasts with implicit memory in that it typically involves sensitivity to relationships between events rather than sensitivity to single events. One important thing that we should note here is that consciousness or awareness does not play a role in implicit learning. Therefore, we call this as unconscious or unintentional learning. This unintentional learning is not aimed at any goal and is just the by-product of the normal information processing system. Many psychologists suggest that much of the learning process that happens in our life is implicit in nature. We learn such skills and activities through exposure and this is known as implicit learning.

BangChak and Esso Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

BangChak and Esso - Essay Example Both companies have prepared their financial statements in accordance with Thai Financial Reporting Standards (Bangchak Annual Report 2013, 2014; Esso Annual Report 2013, 2014). Furthermore, the company’s disclosures are prepared using guidelines provided by the Federation of Accounting Professions and the Thai Securities Exchange Commission. Both companies prepare its financial statements on a consolidated basis. The company adopted changes in TFRS related to Income taxes, Foreign Currency Translation and Operating Segments for preparing its financial statements for the year 2013 (Bangchak Annual Report 2013, 2014; Esso Annual Report 2013, 2014). The company uses historical cost accounting method for recording values of its assets, and transactions. Interest bearing liabilities are recorded at their fair value. For assets/liabilities classes, where it is not possible to ascertain historical values the company uses judgments. The company calculated depreciation of its assets u sing a straight-line method over the useful lives of assets based on their costs less residual value, which are subject to scrutiny every year. In some asset classes, both companies recognize impairment in their value on the basis of their recoverable amounts. It also amortized capital leasehold rights on a straight-line method and recognized operating lease payments in the income statement. The accounting strategy of both companies seemed to be appropriate that is to provide true and fair financial information and supporting data.

Personal Reading Study :: English Literature

Personal Reading Study Personal Reading Study – â€Å"Cry Freedom† by John Briley Q: Choose a novel in which a relationship between two different characters is developed. Show how the developing relationship between Steve Biko and Donald Woods explores the theme of racism and how the novel portrays the effects of racism in South African society. In your answer you must refer closely to the text and to the themes explored, characterisation and Key incidents. â€Å"And towards that day, when the isolation that creates hostility becomes the closeness that permits friendship, let us join in the song of South Africa†¦Ã¢â‚¬  As the above quotation suggests ‘Cry Freedom’ by John Briley, is a fascinating study of the real life relationship between Donald Woods and Steve Biko. The author employs a variety of literary techniques to demonstrate how two very different men with disparate lifestyles become close, and how their relationship develops under complex circumstances. In my essay I will show how the relationship between Steve Biko and Donald Woods develops and I will also explore the portrayal of the theme of racism and the effects it has on the society in which it exists. Briley portrays this through his characterisation, the themes explored and the key incidents throughout the novel. John Briley has successfully engaged my interest in the developing relationship between the two protagonists. Before their first meeting I believe that Donald Woods was not very sure of what he thought of blacks in South Africa and how much freedom they should be allowed to have. It seems to me that Donald Woods, as a white liberal and an editor contradicted himself many times. An example of this is, â€Å"He did not believe blacks should be given the full right to vote.† But a few sentences later there is a quotation saying, â€Å"When he caught the Government violating those basic ethical premises, he struck at them with a pen so sharp and so precise that his paper was quoted from one end of South Africa to the other.† I believe that in these quotations Woods contradicts himself as he believes blacks should not be given the full right to vote yet when he caught the Government violating those ‘basic’ ethical premises he would argue with them. It seems to me that Woods is not too sure what he believes is acceptable for blacks, and how far they should be allowed to go in the justice system. Furthermore, before their first meeting Woods did not approve of Biko’s black consciousness principles. He believed that Biko’s principles were all about black prejudice and that he did not want everything to be fair in South Africa but instead to be the way the

A History of the Globe Theatre

The Globe Theatre, also well-known as Shakespeare’s theater and Elizabeth’s theater, is one of the oldest theaters in Europe. Researchers divide its history in two periods: the old Globe and the modern Globe.The old Globe was built in 1599. From 1599 to 1608 or 1609 the Globe playhouse was the home of the Chamberlain-King's company and the only theater where it publicly presented its plays in. London.The Globe was imitated by Henslowe, the Globe magnate, and lauded by Dekker, the playwright. Upon its stage Shakespeare's major tragedies enjoyed their first performances. Located among the stews and marshes of the Bankside, it drew across the Thames its audience, men and women, gentlemen and journeymen, sightseeing foreigners and native playgoers (Adams 2).Shortly after the 26th of February, 1599, construction of the Globe commenced under the supervision of Peter Streete, the man with whom Philip Henslowe and Edward Alleyn contracted a year later to erect the Fortune theat er along the same lines. From Streete's building schedule for the Fortune, we can estimate that the Globe took twenty-eight to thirty weeks to complete, and thus the earliest opening date would have been in late August or early September, 1599 (Adams 2-3).Yet the playhouse signifies more than a physical structure for the presentation of plays. It has become the symbol of an entire art. Its construction initiated a glorious decade during which the company achieved a level of stability and a quality of productivity rarely matched in the history of the theater.So rich was the achievement that virtually all interest in the Elizabethan drama radiates from the work of these years. Circumstances attendant on the building of the Globe playhouse were instrumental in developing the distinctiveness of this endeavor.The new playhouse itself was regarded as the last word in theaters. Alleyn and Henslowe modeled the Fortune upon it. In the design of the theater there were significant changes from former playhouses (Adams 20, 22). It was a theater built by actors for actors.To subsidize it a new financial system was instituted which more fully than heretofore interrelated theater and actors. Furthermore, young men had recently taken over the entire enterprise, playhouse and company. Until 1597 James Burbage had maintained some connection with the Lord Chamberlain's men (Adams 84). Builder and owner of theTheatre, lessor of Blackfriars, he had exercised a strong influence on the course the company took. One more significant change occurred at this time. Either a dispute with his fellows or an irrepressible wanderlust led the leading clown, Will Kempe, to break with the company (Binelli 56).Apparently before the stage of the Globe was painted and the spectators admitted, he severed his connection with the Lord Chamberlain's men, though he had been among the original five who had taken a moiety of the lease on the projected playhouse. After his departure, there followed a perio d of great stability in the acting company. In the entire decade there were only two replacements, owing to the deaths of actors, and three additions with an expansion from nine to twelve members in 1603 (Adams 83, 96).I suppose that until now the discussion of the Globe playhouse has proceeded from dramatic function to theatrical realization. No one really can reconstruct the design of the Globe playhouse.All hypotheses, some reasonable, some farfetched, lack supportive materials and proofs about construction and design of the theater. Each scholar, selecting for his research certain scraps of evidence, has painted a hypothetical image of the Elizabethan playhouse.Following John Adams, it was