SHORT PRIMARY SOURCE ESSAY Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

SHORT PRIMARY SOURCE ESSAY - Assignment Example Despite being a leader in the military, artistic works portray him appreciating himself for the glory he gives to France (Dwyer, 2004). In addition, Napoleon’s passion for his work and country comes out in the letters and utterances he makes to his brothers and soldiers. Napoleon has affection towards his friends and family. Despite the distances between them, he keeps writing to his elder brother Joseph. On June 29th 1795, he writes to his elder brother concerning his travel to a far place. Napoleon wishes to have the memory of his brother whom he refers to as a dear friend, thus he requests for his portrait. Though they are of age and free to achieve different goals in life, Napoleon does not wish that his brother depart. This makes him sad as he fears that it would be long before he sees his brother. Almost a month letter; Napoleon writes to Joseph again, informing him about a job he receives as a general of the army in the west. However, he is unhappy because Joseph is prudent and laconic. Though he is free to make his decisions, Napoleon shows interest in having his brother give him direction concerning the job offer (Headley, 1858). Napoleon seeks to expand France after losing a battle for America. He thus sells Louisiana to the American government and moves to conquer more land in Europe. Napoleon’s determination to make France the world’s most powerful nation is clear, as he shows no fear of the third coalition. This coalition comprised of Britain, Russia, Austria and Sweden whom he defeats with help from Rhine, Italy and Holland. Napoleon expresses his happiness for his soldiers; he congratulates them for winning the battle against Austria and again doing the same to Britain. He is proud of his country and wishes to forge good relations between France and other countries. Thus, he says that France will be proud to have her partners help fight war another time (The French Revolution and Napoleon,

Great Train Robbery of 1870

Great Train Robbery of 1870 The Great Train Robbery of 1870 outside Verdi, Nevada actually happened as depicted in this story. It was reported to be the first train robbery in the Western states. The names of the robbers their plan and their ultimate prison sentences are true, except for Brewster Purvis who is fictional. I took some liberties with their various roles in the robbery and the part about half of the money not being recovered is fiction. In actuality approximately 90 percent of the loot was later found. As for the small amount that was never recovered it would be worth approximately $500,000 today, and there are some people who still believe it remains hidden out there somewhere and maybe still looking for it! The Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) poem was not published at the time of this story. Although she was still alive and had written well over a thousand poems by 1877, she was an intensely private writer as well as a recluse and only 7 of her poems were published in her lifetime. Some biographers believe her poetry and complete withdrawal from society came about as a result of heartbreak and unrequited love. Her poetry often reflects loneliness but is also inspirational. Upon her death, her sister Lavinia co-edited three volumes of her poems published from 1891-1896. The complete poem: Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul, And sings the tune without the words, And never stops at all, And sweetest in the gale is heard; And sore must be the storm That could abash the little bird That kept so many warm. Ive heard it in the chillest land, And on the strangest sea; Yet, never, in extremity, It asked a crumb of me. In the 1870s-80s more than 300 mines were producing gold in Amador County. A 20-mile stretch from the Mokelumne River to the Cosumnes River known as the Mother Lode was the richest producing over $160 million in gold between 1851 and 1942. There were some tunnels, but mostly incline and vertical shafts were built reaching down a mile or more into the ground. Head frames crowned shafts and stamp mills processed and crushed the ore. Workers came from all over the world, with large groups from Italy, France, Yugoslavia and Cornwall. The Treasure Mine (MacKellar Amador in this story) actually shared a shaft with the Bunker Hill Mine, which was known as the Rancheria Mine from 1853-1898. The Secret Service Division began in Washington, D.C. in 1865 with the mission to halt the flood of counterfeit currency that was circulated after the Civil War. During the 19th century, before centralized printing and engraving of U.S. currency, approximately 1600 banks designed, printed and issued their own notes. Each note had a different design making it difficult to distinguish the 4,000 varieties of counterfeits from the 7,000 genuine notes. At one time it was estimated that one-third of all currency in circulation in the United States was counterfeit. In 1867, the Secret Service responsibilities broadened to include all crimes against the federal government such as racketeering, smuggling, mail robbery and land fraud. In 1893, the Secret Service became a distinct organization within the U.S. Treasury Department. In 1894, the Secret Service began the mission we are most familiar with today, protection of the President, with the part-time protection of then President Grover Cleveland. The Barbary Coast was a neighborhood in San Francisco much as described in this story, so named after the notorious coast of North Africa (Morocco, Algiers, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt) where pirates regularly attacked ships. Pirates of a different kind reigned in San Franciscos Barbary Coast which rose from the massive influx of treasure seekers from the Gold Rush. At the end of 1849, there were only about 300 women in San Francisco out of a population of 20-25,000 and two-thirds of these women were available-for a price. For most of the 19th century and early into the 20th century the area continued to be a haunt for every kind of low life and crime. Gambling, prostitution, thievery, opium dens, murder and of course shanghaiing prevailed here. Prostitution in the area ended in 1917 when the San Francisco Police blockaded the neighborhood in response to the California Red-Light Abatement Act. Today it is overlapped by China Town, North Beach and the Financial District. The Miwok were not so much a tribe as an aggregation of villages speaking a common language-Penutian. The names Patee, Kaliska, Litanya, Taipa and Kiku are actual Miwok words or names. They lived throughout California including in the Sierra Nevada and Yosemite area. They referred to the Yosemite Valley as Ahwahnee which loosely translated means Place of a Gaping Mouth. A large group of Coast Miwok inhabited the Bay area and Marin County including Angel Island. They had a simple animistic philosophy meaning that all life is produced by a spiritual force, all natural phenomena have souls and all animals were believed to have preternatural powers. They were hunter/gatherers and traded with the Paiute people. Acorns were a diet staple. The shamans were both men and women and supposedly had the power to cure, kill, predict the future and start the rains. Shamanistic power was passed down to the son, daughter, grandson or granddaughter of a shaman. They observed many long vigils in lonely places and were sometimes so feared they were driven away from the villages by the other tribal members. During the peak gold rush years of 1849-54, over 200,000 emigrants traveled overland to California hoping to strike it rich in the gold fields. The majority were unsuccessful. About one in five died during the perilous journey and many were forced to leave belongings alongside the trails. Prior to the gold rush, in 1844, the Stephens-Townsend-Murphy party faced the dilemma of how to surmount the Sierra Nevada. They met a Paiute Indian whom they named Truckee who provided directions on how to follow the Truckee River to a pass over the Sierra Nevada usually known as Donner Pass but more correctly as Stephens Pass. The Stephens party became the first to complete this trek overland by wagon. In 1845-46 improvements to this route over the Sierra Nevada, via Dog Valley and Roller Pass, turned it into an established wagon trail. Other wagon routes included the Carson Trail to Georgetown, the Johnson Cutoff to Placerville, the Volcano Road to Volcano, Walker River-Sonora Trail to Sonora and the Big Tree Road. There were also a number of pack trails over the Sierra Nevada. All these trails branched off from one of the three main northern routes to California. Some proved successful while others were short lived or little used. The construction of the transcontinental railway linking the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads in 1869 made travel easier. Emigrants could travel west or east not only on a network of wagon roads and trails but also by rail. Geological note: The Sierra Nevada Mountains were formed approximately 150 million years ago when an island arc collided with the West coast of North America, the resultant uplifting created the mountain chain. This event known by geologists as the Nevadan orogeny produced metamorphic rock. Uplift of the Sierra Nevada continues today especially along the eastern side causing minor earthquakes. The whole idea of a massive cavern is not fiction. There are many instances of incredible underground labyrinths throughout the mountains and foothills of the Sierra Nevada as well as many thermal vents and hot springs. Many of the caverns are open to the public for underground tours-such as Boyden, Moaning, Black Chasm, Mercer and California (formerly Mammoth Cave) Cavern. California Cavern opened way back in 1850 for tours. At Moaning Cavern, bones of ancient natives dating back more than 13,000 years were found.

Causes and Solutions of World Poverty Essay -- Global Poverty Informat

Causes and Solutions of World Poverty Poverty is prevalent throughout the world around us. We watch television and see famous people begging us to sponsor a child for only ten dollars a month. We think in our own minds that ten dollars is only pocket change, but to those children and their families, that ten dollars is a large portion of their annual income. We see images of starving children in far away countries, and our hearts go out to them. But we really do not know the implications of poverty, why it exists, or even what we can do to help combat this giant problem in our world. What is poverty? Well, according to Webster's Third New International Dictionary, poverty is "lack of money or material possessions; poor." Two-thirds of the world's population fits this definition. I know that many times we think of being poor as not being able to buy the car we want or take the trip we can only dream about. However, being poor, living in poverty, hits a lot lower than that. For example, a resident of the country of Chad will only bring in $100 each year. Since many people can make more than that in one week, some in one day, can you imagine having the feed a family of five or six, or even a family of two, on only $100 a year? These are the conditions that exist in poverty-stricken countries. There are many reasons why poverty is an increasing problem. The first is delayed modernization. These less-developed countries barely have enough skilled workers and managers and technology. Industrialized countries have four times as many managers and workers as the less-developed countries, also known as LDC's. It is almost impossible for the lower-developed countries to catch up or even compete with the industrialized countries.... ...he second way to attempt to decrease the population is through increased active family planning programs. Especially in poor countries, it is a lot harder for women just to jump into the work force, and even harder for a poor country to become industrialized. For example, in Bangladesh, one of the world's poorest countries, birth rates have decreased from seven children per family to only 5.5. This is largely because forty percent of Bangladesh's woman now take part in some form of family planning. The New International Economic Order, known as the NIEO, has also taken steps to decrease the amount of poverty in the world and hopefully eliminate the large gap between the rich and the poor in the world. Through individual, national, and global aid, we can take steps to decrease the overwhelming amount of poverty in less-developed countries and even in our own lands.

Meme Analysis: Rage Comics Essay

Many people may always say a picture is worth a thousand words; well the information held within the rage comics represents much more and exemplifies the perfect example of this saying. The Rage comic meme is about a series of comics that can be made by anyone using the common rages faces, which are also memes. These comics are web-based and usually describe real life scenarios from the rage comic creator. The first amateur Rage Comic originated in 2007 on an image board site named 4chan consisting of four panes. The first comic starred the ffffuuuu guy, which is the first ever created rage face. The Rage Comics started to spread a few years after the first rage comic was created. The rage comics gained its popularity on the internet forum Reddit. In January of 2009, a subreddit was launched by Reddit which became more popular than expected. This subredditt was widely known as f7u12 and was called â€Å"FFFFUUUUU†, the rage guy. This rage guy represented serious disappointment, exasperation, or displeasure in any situation within a comic. The subreddit f7u12 allowed users of Reddit to create their own comics, which led to the creation of many other rage faces and characters in the rage comics. As the Rage Comics transformed, many characters became popular, while others didn’t. A few of the most popular rage faces is the Okay guy, the cereal guy, the forever alone guy, and the Y U NO guy. When these faces are seen in a comic, most Rage Comic readers already know what the face stands for. For example, the forever alone guy represents disappointment and loneliness in life and may be used in a comic where a person goes through a break up. The cultural reference in these Rage Comics is used to make fun of society resulting in humor. In normal life one person may do something and expect a certain response, well in the rage comics it is similar. The responses are displayed through the rage faces and rage characters. Usually at the end of a comic there is a punch line (rage face) that represents an emotion because of the situation that just occurred. One known cultural reference that the rage comics represent is the me gusta guy. This shows a cultural difference because you do not need to know Spanish to know what me gusta mean. This character is usually used in a situation responding to an awkward or disgusting event. This meme in my opinion has made its own statement because it has certain words that are used in the comics that mean certain things. For example, in almost every comic there is going to be some form of derp or herp. In actuality derp is used to represent stupidity, but in the rage comics it is used as expression to represent unimportant dialogue, just as blah blah is used. Using derp or herp in the rage comics is also a form humor showing social indifference by not caring. The rage comics use a different language tied in with the cultural norms that we all understand to create humor. The original context of the meme, Rage Comics was to humor others with your ridiculous stories that may or may not have happened to you. In some cases the rage comics’ mutations fit well into new context, and then on the other hand some are taking way out of proportion. For example, there are quite a few rage faces and when making rage comics you are expected to use the correct rage face or chara cter that will fit your scenario. Also people have taken it out of hand because when you think of a comic you think of something simple with few words. Some people don’t grasp the concept of the rage comics so when the comics are sometimes mutated it’s been for the worse and not for the better. The comics that are mutated for the better represent great new context because the more rage faces the better you can describe your scenario in a comic with few words. To conclude, Rage comics are used to take serious moments and put them into a comic to make it not so serious and funny. Rage Comics have came a long way, too long of a way that it is losing its social meaning. When the Rage Comics first started to spread and become popular is when it had its greatest cultural impact, although it still has an impact today. The Rage Comic has a great affect on all cultures because the different rage makers give people something to get into to express feeling in a different way. In the end from its origin, even though the punch lines at the end are called rage faces, they all are not meant to represent rage. It just kept its name from the first â€Å"ffffuuuu† guy. You can pretty much find rage comics anywhere on the internet if you search Google, but here are a few sites that have them. http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/rage-comics http://memebase.cheezburger.com/ragecomics/page/3 http://ragecollection.com/

Is Homosexuality a learned behavior or biological Essay

Homosexuality is a controversial issue within any society in the world and has been debated upon in the public in recent years. The debate on homosexuality has typically concentrated on the social and legal issues surrounding the concept and little regard has been given to the cause of the problem. The controversy that has surrounded the homosexuality issue has spread to the determination of the cause of the phenomenon. This has been brought about by those arguing that homosexuality is caused by environmental factors whereas others argue that homosexuality is caused by biological factors. This paper is going to give an analysis of whether homosexuality is a learned behavior or a biological one. Homosexuality: Homosexuality is a concept that has been controversial in many societies. Though the behavior has been widely spoken about in the recent past, it was almost forbidden in the traditional societies and anyone involved was considered immoral. Homosexuality has been defined as a romantic attraction towards individuals of the same sex. Homosexuality is therefore part of the three notable sexual orientations exhibited in human species which also include bisexuality and heterosexuality. Homosexuality has elicited a strong debate not only on its acceptability within the society but also regarding its causes. The controversy has led to the legal and social implications of the issue dominating the media as well as the biological debate sparked by the research finding in the recent past. The central question in regard to the causes of homosexuality has been on whether homosexuality is caused by biological concepts or it is a learned behavior that has been entrenched in the cultural norms (Lawrence, para 1). Homosexuality is characterized by an individual having sexual preference with others of the same sex. In females, such preferences are referred to as lesbianism whereas in males it is called gay. This is in contravention to the conventional societal expectations of heterosexuality. Homosexuality has been met with social consequences especially for those with same sex sexual preferences. It has been estimated that between 2 and 5 percent of males are gays whereas between 1 and 2 percent of females practice lesbianism (Pease & Bull, para 5). In the United States, despite the eminence of the phenomenon, most of the states do not approve of same sex marriages. It has been previously thought that homosexuality is a choice and that individuals do learn the behavior. A survey conducted in 1970 indicated that over 40 percent of the public were of the opinion that the young gays had learned the habit from the older ones (Pease & Bull, para 5). Homosexuality as a biological behavior: In the development of the child, genetics that are inherited from the parents play a vital role in the determination of character and behavior. Genes are known to carry all the biological information and may be incorrectly placed during the cell division process through mutations. Homosexuality is considered as coming from gene mutation in human development. The biological explanation of the homosexual behavior was given impetus by Simon Levay who discovered that the hypothalamus of the brain in homosexuals was small compared to heterosexuals. He concluded that differences in the brain formation were responsible for homosexual behavior (Queer Foundation, para 4). There is also a hormonal imbalance amongst the homosexuals. Hormones are responsible for controlling and stimulating the body and therefore any imbalance in hormones will lead to disorientation in the erotic attraction (Queer Foundation, para 4). Research has continued to point towards a biological cause of homosexuality. There are certain observations that point to the biological causes of homosexuality as observed by Dan Eden. According to Eden, the heterosexuals and homosexuals exhibit observable differences that have a biological orientation. He observed that the index and the ring fingers are about the same in length for heterosexual women whereas in men, the index finger is usually shorter compared to the ring finger. On the contrary, lesbians’ finger length were more like men’s and this is also seen in other character traits including eye-blink patterns and other male traits (Eden, para 1). Research has also indicated the differences in the brain of the males and females. Studies that have been conducted indicate that there is sexual dimorphism in the hypothalamus of the two sexes. The males have shown greater differences in terms of cell numbers compared to the females in this part of the brain. Studies have indicated that between two and four of the Interstitial Nuclei of the Anterior Hypothalamus (INAH) in males are double the size found in females. Since the INAH is responsible for sexual dimorphism, scientists believe that differences in this region of the brain are responsible for the sexual orientation in individuals (Deem, para 3). Another study done by scientists at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden reinforced the notion that homosexuality is an inborn phenomenon. In this study, both heterosexuals and homosexuals were exposed to sex hormones and their stimulation in the hypothalamus measured. There was a great difference in how the hypothalamus in the two categories of sexual orientation reacted to sexual hormones. Upon being exposed to the male hormones, the hypothalamus in heterosexual females and homosexual males was activated but heterosexual males did not respond to the same. Similar observations were observed when female hormones were introduced. In this case, the heterosexual males’ hypothalamus got activated as opposed to heterosexual females and homosexual males (McHugh, para 3). Studies by biologists Ward Odenwald and Shan-Ding Zhang on fruit flies tend to indicate that homosexuality is a genetic issue. In their experiment, the two scientists transplanted a single gene into the flies which was responsible for the homosexual behavior that was observed. They inferred their findings to human homosexuality claiming that since there is the presence of a related gene in humans, homosexuality was a genetic issue though no much has been done to prove this claim. The two scientists are however cautious on the issue and hopes that their revelation would be important in analyzing how the genetic make up in individuals could be responsible in influencing the sexual orientation (Thompson/Bethesda, para 2). Homosexual as a learned behavior: Socio-behaviorists are opposed to the biological notion in regard to the homosexual behavior in humans. Homosexuality is attributed to the environmental factors which hold that homosexuality is a learned behavior. Behaviorists regard childhood experiences as responsible for homosexuality behavior that is exhibited by individuals. As a learned behavior, homosexuality can be traced by analyzing the play patterns during childhood, peer relations and interaction, and parental influence. Psychoanalysts in particular had extensive studies on homosexuality in trying to explain the ‘abnormal’ behavior. Their explanations seem to point to an individual’s upbringing as the main cause of the homosexuality. In simple terms, they were of the view that homosexuality was caused by environmental factors (Newman, para 1). Homosexuality has been with us since the ancient times and it was accepted in some cultures. A Greek philosopher by the name Aristophanes believed that there is a longing between two souls to get together and that sexual desire on its own is not responsible for homosexuality thus culture has greater influence on the trend. In Greece, homosexuality was practiced in ancient times between young boys and adult males as part of initiation into adulthood. In New Guinea, there are instances where young males are inseminated by tribal warriors which is allowed y their culture. In Crete, the male adolescents had to engage in a homosexual relationship as initiation to adulthood (Johnson, para 17). The social and cultural environment is therefore core in determination of the sexual orientation of the individuals. Behaviorists hold that â€Å"some sexual and gender identification differences result from roles imposed by family and friends upon children, such as the masculine and the feminine stereotypes† (Johnson, para 18). Some studies have contradicted the genetic determinism in homosexuality. If genetics were fully responsible for homosexuality, then one would expect it will be permanent. Studies have however indicated that sexual preferences can change over time especially in females. In a five-year study conducted on female homosexuals, it was discovered that more than ? abandoned lesbianism with ? reclaiming heterosexuality. Other studies have continued to reinforce the notion that sexual orientation is not fixed and can change over time. A good example is given by Kerry Pacer who was a gay advocate when in High School but later changed to a heterosexual relationship. It is therefore imperative to note that in some individuals sexual orientation is something that they can choose and thus a learned behavior. Some engage in homosexuality after being influenced by their role models or peers (Deem, para 17). For those arguing that homosexuality is a learned behavior, it is argued that children from a tender age have to be taught the acceptable standards of behavior in the society and that they should also be exposed to the right role models. Peer influence, the media and the internet has been blamed for having influenced the youth in practicing bad behaviors like homosexuality. It is obvious that in the current times teenagers discover their sexual experiences at a tender age and that any harmful patterns of sexuality can have a lasting impact on these young people. Since sexual experience is pleasurable, it is usually reinforced by the experience irrespective of whether it is acceptable or not (Dolphin, para 21). Conclusion: The controversy surrounding homosexuality is far from over. Though increased research activity has surfaced to determine its cause, there is no universal agreement on the matter as the findings can not settle on a particular cause of the issue. It will not be comprehensive to argue that homosexuality is caused by biological factors neither can it conclusively be argued that homosexuality is a learned phenomenon. The complexity surrounding the issue has led to a divided opinion on the matter. Nevertheless, it would be more accommodative to bring the two positions together and recognize that each can contribute to the same problem in a way. Biological causes can not be dismissed neither can we dissociate the environmental causes. Homosexual behavior is best understood if biological and environmental factors are incorporated.