Kite Runner Essays

Kite Runner Essays Kite Runner Essay Kite Runner Essay Essay Topic: The Kite Runner American Military Academy British Literature 12-3 Prof. Minerva I. Mendez Analytical Essay #1 Kite Runner Essay Raymond Alexander Bravo Miranda #2 September 17, 2012 I chose to do my paper on the caste system. The caste system is an inherited social ranking of the classes and plays an important role throughout the Kite Runner. The book sates that there needs to be an order of the people to make sense of things worthwhile. The two boys try to defy that the caste system is nothing more than a state of mind. The Afghan people feel alienated from their own history because of the caste system. Kite fighting is a perfect example of the caste system. One has the fighter who attacks other kites, and the runner who chases he fallen kites. Hassan who is a Shia while Amir is Pashtun and has many more opportunities available to him because of his social class. Although they are friends, Amir is hesitant to acknowledge this while in public. I believe that the caste system imposes many of its own seemingly unintentional rules among the people. These systems even lead Amir to stand by while his servant was raped by local bullies. Even though there may not be any laws about certain issues, the caste system might impose and enforce them through hate and violence. The caste system forces people to be alienated from their own history. The novel depicts the story of Amir, an Afghan living in San Francisco who receives a call from his fathers friend living in Pakistan, a place which brings back bittersweet memoirs of childhood days spent in Kabul, Afghanistan. Amir narrates his idyllic childhood in Kabul where his father is well-endowed with much financial success, power, and prestige. Amir and his father render housing for their servants or to the socially disadvantaged people within their jurisdiction. As opposed to the wealthy background that Amir has grown accustomed to, Ali together with his son are the servants of Amir and his father and who have long remained within the distinction of being underprivileged. The novel centers on the theme of ocial class, a key factor that separates the world of Amir from Hassan and tries to hinder their true friendship from blossoming. As what caste system suggests, those who are under the dominant and powerful party must adhere to rendering service to those in the upper class. True enough, in the novel, Hassan respects and admires upper-class Amir amid neighborhood bullies and intimidation which make them stick together through any hindrance. It is in their friendship that the concept of caste syste m is explicated. A Caste System is a distinctive kind of social structure which divides people in accordance with inherited social status. According to Pruthi, A caste system manifests itself as a vertical structure in which individual castes are hierarchically graded and kept permanently apart, and at the same time, are linked by well-defined expectations and obligations†. In the stirring and humane novel, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, the caste system is viewed intricately within the friendship of Amir and Hassan. The novel depicts the story of these two characters who live within the boundaries of social status and who try to defy that the caste system is nothing more than a state of mind. The novel portrays the challenges seen through the bounds of the caste system and is felt by the main characters. In Hosseini’s moving elegy, Amir’s personal quest is a vivid picture of the entire Afghan culture completely drowned in massive violence and despair; and explicates how the Afghan society feels alienated from their own history. Amir is a clear manifestation of how hard it is for Afghan expatriates to begin a new chapter in life and represents how the nation has become an enormous quagmire. Notably, the novel is about Amir’s journey to atone for something he did for his best friend coming from the lower class named Hassan while the two of them were competing in a local kite-fighting tournament. But it is being depicted that there is much more to the tournament than being a mere old winter tradition, it is a vivid manifestation of war against tyrant delineation in the society. The title itself is suggestive of a symbolic state of innocence that can only be obtained through serving others. Brian Smith writes in his book, â€Å"Classifying the Universe,† â€Å"It is widely claimed that the classification in the society is the basis for all of what people call thought, reason, and logic†. Within the given context, it is then viewed that to be able to make sense of things worthwhile, there should be an order within the society and organizing its constituents by dividing them into classes or categories. Smith continues to say, â€Å"In addition, categorization is an innate capacity and necessity of human beings in which the nature of the people’s mind is deeply examined†. More than a mere tradition, running a kite in Afghanistan is a showcase of social status and the race to gain dominance over the competitive field. As the game involves the servitude of those in lower class, in this case, Amirs assistant is Hassan who held the spool and fed the line. At the start of the story, Hassan is the innocent protagonist, serving Amir through running Amirs kite. In the storys conclusion, it is Amir who runs the line for Hassans kite. In whatever way the caste system is presented, it is shown that humans are bound to have kings and leaders or those they need to serve and follow. Given this situation, the novel suggests that creating social hierarchy is an inherent character of people and unknowingly and subconsciously, people are subject to a certain kind of social standing also known as caste system in various ways. The kite tournament is a race for social dominance and the kite itself is the much coveted prize in which it takes a mileage and a great deal of service and struggle to get a hold of it. In this sense, Amir is of great advantage because he has his own assistant to fight for him while Hassan is left with no other choice but to obey the customary tradition of a caste system and servitude. As it is being defined that â€Å"the caste system is a closed system of social stratification and it is also a system of social inequality in which the status of the people is permanently determined at birth based from their parents ascribed characteristics†, it is evident the novel validate the fact that social dominance is present in a society within the grounds of a caste system. Amir, coming from the United States and endowed with wealth and power, clearly manifests the cruel fact that what you have and what you possess define your position in the society. The novel’s utilization of The United States as Amir’s place where he grew as a man presented with so much opportunities explicates the conception that Amir is being cemented on a higher position in the society. This is because the United States is a first world country and is an effective tool to be used if one is trying to xpound more on the idea of social class and social structure. According to Hosseini, â€Å"when a kite runner had his hands on a kite, no one could take it from him. That wasn’t a rule. That was a custom†. This quotation states that though a caste system is never considered to be a rule, it is an accepted tradition or a custom in which the most coveted prize is the honor and dominance. Hosseini continues by saying, â€Å"For kite runners, the most coveted p rize was the last fallen kite of a winter tournament. It was a trophy of honor, something to be displayed on a mantle for guests to admire. In this sense, those who have the prize of dominance of power are deemed to be privileged. As a caste system is all about hierarchy, which serves as the main reference of the parts to the whole in the social system, Louis Dumont explains in his book Homo Hierarchicus, â€Å"it must be borne in mind that there is an intrusion of power into the domain of hierarchy†. When it comes to power, the novel provides a clear judgment on the exercise of power within the caste system as seen by how privileged is the dominant party and how the inferior party is left with nothing but scraps of those in endowed with power. Relating the concept of the caste system with the idea of stealing, Baba’s statement is reflective of how much the underprivileged are being robbed of their rights to equal opportunities and showcase of skills. As what Baba said to Amir, Now, no matter what the mullah teaches, there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft†. Theft, in connection with the caste system, signifies how the socially disadvantaged are being robbed with the opportunity to equal rights and justice. Barnes wrote that a certain caste system can override some universal laws regarding the act of stealing and although several literatures conjure with the fact that everyone is to be judged according to the law and not according to family ties, social status, or political influence, it is not easy to enforce that principle. In this notion, the rules are followed and obeyed because they are objectively right and not because they are means to preserve the order and the law. With this statement, it is strongly suggested that Baba had inkling that stealing is one of the consequences of living within the horizons of the caste system. As it is noted that Baba is somewhat referring to the religious entities who exercise holiness to cover evil deeds or intentions, it can be said that the novel maintains the fact that the caste system involves religious influence or authority in the hierarchy of society. Hosseinis Kite Runner takes its noble strength at the saying that true friendships hold no borders and adheres to no rules. The societal rules and roles do not prevent Amir and Hassan from forming a deep friendship that could defy the structure of their caste system and prove that human relationships are not limited to social status. The novel imparts that one can find a friend everywhere, in all aspects of life even when there is the presence of caste system in any forms. Unfortunately, this conception is being overshadowed by those bullies who are greatly consumed by the idea of social class or status and are not open-minded enough to think of social equality and fairness. In the novel, the separation of class and religion, though Amir and Hassan share some conversations about the concepts of trust, integrity and friendship, their neighborhood friends do not appreciate or acknowledge Hassans role in the society and instead, the neighborhood boys ridicule and make fun of him due to his lower status. The neighborhood boys reflect how people stigmatized those who are not endowed with wealth and power, a fact still evident nowadays. The involvement of the United States in the story plays a crucial role in presenting the powerful Amir to set a clear line between who is wealthy and powerful and who is unfortunate and bullied.

Livia Drusilla the 1st Empress of Rome

Livia Drusilla the 1st Empress of Rome Livia (58 B.C. - A.D.29) was a long-lived, influential matriarchal figure in the early years of the Roman Principate. She was held up as an example of womanly virtue and simplicity. Her reputation has also been negative: she may have been a murderer and has been described as treacherous, avaricious, and power-hungry. She may have been instrumental in the banishment of Augustus daughter, Julia. Livia was the wife of the first Roman emperor, Augustus, mother of the second, Tiberius, and deified by her grandson, the Emperor Claudius. Livias Family and Marriages Livia Drusilla was the daughter of Marcus Livius Drusus Claudius (note the Claudian, the gens that had produced Appius Claudius the Blind and the colorful Clodius the Beautiful, among others) and Alfidia, daughter of M. Alfidius Lurco, in c. 61 B.C. In his book,  Anthony Barrett says Alfidia appears to have come from Fundi, in Latium, near Campania, and that Marcus Livius Drusus may have married her for her familys money. Livia Drusilla may have been an only child. Her father may also have adopted Marcus Livius Drusus Libo (consul in 15 B.C.). Livia married Tiberius Claudius Nero, her cousin when she was 15 or 16- around the time of the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 B.C. Livia was already the mother of the future emperor, Tiberius Claudius Nero, and pregnant with Nero Claudius Drusus (January 14, 38 B.C. - 9 B.C.) when Octavian, who would be known to posterity as the Emperor Augustus Caesar, found he needed the political connections of Livias family. He arranged for Livia to be divorced and then married her after she gave birth to Drusus, on January 17, 38. Livias sons Drusus and Tiberius lived with their father until he died, in 33 B.C. They then lived with Livia and Augustus. Augustus Adopts Livias Son Octavian became the Emperor Augustus in 27 B.C. He honored Livia as his wife with statues and public displays; however, instead of naming her sons Drusus or Tiberius as his heirs, he acknowledged his grandchildren Gaius and Lucius, sons of Julia, his daughter by his previous marriage to Scribonia. By 4 A.D., Augustus grandsons had both died, so he had to look elsewhere for heirs. He wanted to name Germanicus, son of Livias son Drusus, as his successor, but Germanicus was too young. Since Tiberius was Livias favorite, Augustus eventually turned to him, with provision made for Tiberius to adopt Germanicus as his heir. Augustus died in 14 A.D. According to his will, Livia became a part of his family and was entitled to be called Julia Augusta from then on. Livia andHer Descendants Julia Augusta exerted a strong influence on her son Tiberius. In A.D. 20, Julia Augusta interceded successfully with Tiberius on behalf of her friend Plancina, who was implicated in the poisoning of Germanicus. In A.D. 22 he minted coins showing his mother as the personification of Justice, Piety, and Health (Salus). Their relationship deteriorated and after the Emperor Tiberius left Rome, he would not even return for her funeral in 29 A.D., so Caligula stepped in. Livias grandson the Emperor Claudius had the Senate deify his grandmother in A.D. 41. Commemorating this event, Claudius minted a coin depicting Livia (Diva Augusta) on a throne holding a scepter. Source Larry Kreitzer  Apotheosis of the Roman Emperor  Larry Kreitzer  The Biblical Archaeologist, 1990Alice A. Deckman  Livia Augusta  The Classical Weekly, 1925.

The influence of China Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The influence of China - Assignment Example As a young boy growing up in China, I was not concerned with my identity and aspects of diversity. However, as I grew up through my teenage years, I started to become more aware of myself as a person and my surrounding environment and it is through this way that I realised diversity. However, there is one major way through which I became aware of the aspect of my identity that relates to my country of origin. This was when I left China for the first time to stay in a different country, and in this case the United States. Here, I met people from different walks of life even as the U.S. is a highly multicultural nation. What hit me most is that during introductions with the new people I met, everyone was interested in what Asian country I was from. Therefore, I found myself introducing myself to people and mentioning repeatedly that I was from China. Thus, I had to identify myself with my country of origin more. Back in China, I did not find myself in such a situation since I was home. Â  The fact that my country of origin is China has had different implications in my academic life. For instance, academically, my colleagues who were from other countries and not China, thought of me as a mathematics and science genius. Therefore, they expected me to excel in any test or problem involving mathematics or science. In addition, most of them that were faced with different challenges tackling a mathematics problem would rush to me for assistance. People have a notion that the Chinese people are good in math and science.

Demonstrative Speech (3-4 mins) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Demonstrative Speech (3-4 mins) - Essay Example After you got it rinsed, pour some clear water over the rice, so that the level of water would be twice as high as the level of rice in the cooking pot. Note that different kinds of rice have different consistencies after cooking. So if you want a dish with crisp rice - long grain kind of rice should be taken (for instance, basmati rice). Risotto though requires more sticky kind of rice, better to use ordinary rice available in all stores. Put the cooking pot on the hot plate for cooking the rice you’ve prepared. Once the water starts boiling, mix the rice mass in the cooking pot in order to prevent rice’s adherence to the bottom of the cooking pot. After boiling, cover the cooking pot with a cover, then reduce the heat of the hot plate and leave it until the water inside gets completely absorbed; it will take 15-20 minutes. After 15 minutes pass, turn off the hot plate and let the dish stand for few minutes. Then, add salt and butter. And here you are your extremely de licious rice is ready to be

IT Ethics and Security Essay Example for Free

IT Ethics and Security Essay Piracy has always been a concern with technology over the years. Organizations strive hard to analyze the requirement of the hour of computer users and then develop software that can fully ease the problems of a user. The organizations that develop software obviously need to have a return for their attempt. The software developers’ job is a tough one, because they put off their sleep in order to maintain a tempo in the development of software and organizations often find it difficult to meet the exact requirements on ordered software, due to which several revisions are done on the software before it gets into a final product. The software development market is generally divided into two categories, Open Source software and Close Source software. The Open Source software is the one that are free to use, and the organizations or individual developers who develop this software encourage its distribution, usage and at times modifications according to the requirement of the user. The Source code, which has all the development procedures are provided to the user in this category, therefore the modifications become easy when the software gets into the hand of another developer. (Frederick, 2007) These are great for learning purpose and often are used by immature developers to get help in development. The Close Source software are contrastingly different, the users need to buy these software just like any product in the market and often these kind of software get customer support and trainings â€Å"how to†, so that the user gets full value for his money. The close source software is ones, that are stable and they go through different processes before its final launch. The organization that develop these software often register them with their name so that copyrights and license usage law is applied on them. The licensure law ensures the organization that the software bought but a person will be used according to organization’s specified conditions. (Albacea, 2005) In this particular case where the friend is offering to split the cost is a violation of licensure law. Microsoft is a large enterprise and it develops close source software that are copyrighted and licensed according to their terms and conditions. When my friend bought Microsoft Office, in the product pack he had been provided the terms for use of the product, which states that sharing of the product is a violation to the licensure law. Ethically this is very wrong because Microsoft develops the software after several procedures and analyzing the market conditions, and the price $300 for the office suite the charged is based upon cost analysis of one person. The sharing of one-user license is almost equal to as stealing of a product; because the organization is charging for once only from the user but at the same price another user using the same product free of cost. There have been several discussions conducted in small to large enterprises that develop software about piracy and violation of usage licensure. However many steps have been taken to minimize the violation and organizations also offer some package deals where multiple licenses are discounted which saves a lot of cost of user. This ethical violation of licensure law has been minimized to some extend now due to efforts but it also depends upon the inner self of a person to realize the attempt that an organization does in order to develop the software and stealing the software reduced their return which is an ethical issue.

Service Learning and ESL Students :: ESL Students

School, when some people hear the word, they usually think that school is learning new things in a room. However, it is something that cannot be described only in the textbook. Service learning is â€Å"an union of community service and formal learning. It involves students going out into their communities and using that which they learn in class to help people, and then bringing that which they learn in their community service back into the classroom to enhance their learning.†(Minor, 2001) Diane Murakami who is an ELL (English Language Learners) teacher at Queen Ka’ahumanu Elementary School in Honolulu. She gave CP 4 (college preparatory) students at Hawaii Internal College a chance to service learning at Queen Ka’ahumanu Elementary School. Service learning is a good effect way to learn about new cultures and also to communicate with local people for ESL students. Studying abroad is a wonderful opportunity, but it is not easy to spend time in a new culture, and communicating with people is difficult. Natalie M. Russell is an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher at Omaha South High School, and she realized that when she was teaching ESL students, they often felt alienated from their school and communities. Therefore, they tended to make friends only in school, so they did not make friends outside of school. In â€Å"Teaching More Than English†, Natalie M. Russell said, â€Å"they avoided interacting with mainstream students and getting involved in school activities† (Natalie M. Russell, 2007, para 1). Natalie M. Russell tried to make her class communication with mainstream people, and she decided that service learning was a good way to communicate with mainstream people because she said, â€Å"students not only learn during service learning activities, but also they also reflect on their service and its value to the community. This reflection helps build a sense of civic responsibility and caring for others.†(Natalie M. Russell, 2007, para 3) In Natalie M. Russell’s case, she said, â€Å"the student population of the high school in which I taught was approximately 60% Hispanic, and my ESL classes that year were 100% Hispanic. In deciding what our service project would be, my students concluded that the community’s primary problem was the language barrier that divided the immigrants from the local population.† (Natalie M. Russell, 2007, para 4) In town, Spanish/English dictionaries were available to buy, but Spanish/English phrasebooks were not, so she and her students decided to make Spanish/English phrasebooks and distributed it free in the community.

Food Report-Pakistan

Also the times of these meals are different as breakfast or known in Pakistan as â€Å"Cherish† is eaten afore sunrise and dinner or â€Å"Fatal is after sunset. As people are fasting during the day, lunch does not exist. Breakfast Breakfast is one of the three most common meals of the day, in Pakistan (Udder) â€Å"Nashua† in their native name for breakfast. The most common food eaten in breakfast includes eggs either boiled, fried. In addition, the egg is complemented by a piece of bread.Although tradition bread is known as â€Å"root† that is eaten. Some other food accompanied by the already listed is butter on bread or other various pitas. In Canada, coffee is the beverage of preference in the morning, although in Pakistan, as they were formerly a rites colony, they adopted tea also known as â€Å"chaw† and this is their drink of choice. Lunch A traditional lunch in a Pakistani household is as follows: typically a type of meat inside of curry, some lu nches include â€Å"Chicken Curry' and â€Å"Beef Curry'.In addition, to add variety to the meal, some households enjoy rice with beef and potatoes or chili soup. Another common type of lunch in Pakistan is â€Å"Deal Chalk†. Although, family lunches are not very common as the breadwinners are usually at work and return home for dinner. Although lunch for breadwinners may vary as traditional food is not eaten at work, due to its cent and thus they either buy food or have sandwiches for lunch. As no attention is given to the five food groups, some people may lack the suggested serving of the food groups.Dinner unlike Canada, in which breakfast is considered to be the most important meal of the day, Pakistan differs as dinner is the most important meal as the entire family is gathered together and the quantity of the meal in greater. Furthermore, dinner is served late in comparison to Canada as the work hours are longer so families have dinner at around In addition, families usually have the most tasteful meal of the day. One of the cost common meals in a Pakistani household is Brain. This meal includes rice, spices and other various meats depending on the person's choice. Desserts include sweets such as Gulag Jam or fruit platters.Family Relationships Family relations to food are known for to be very stereotypical in Pakistan as women are in charge of cooking the food while the men are the breadwinners. In Pakistan, the rate of employment of women low thus most breadwinners are men and the women are left to do housework. Also the food choices may be limited as children are eating the same type of food again and again and this limits their choices. As Pakistan has such a high poverty rate choices of food is limited thus children cannot acquire unique taste although individuals with a large amount of wealth proper.Economy The Pakistani economy consists of a large part of the food families consume. If food prices were to ever rise, some families would not be able to meet the budget to be able to purchase all the products needed to prepare a meal. Statistics show that an average income of Pakistani household averages around 79,1 58 RSI. ; which further shows that for a balanced diet an average Pakistani citizen needs about 1 1,454. 20 RSI. Average families consist of four members, which would require 45,816. 80 RSI. To purchase a sustainable amount of food for the family.

Wattie Frozen Foods Ltd

The firm†s competitive environment is in New Zealand, Australia, and the Pacific Rim. They have head quarters in Auckland and four factories located in Gisborne, Hastings, Fielding, and Christchurch. The range is frozen and dehydrated vegetable products, main products being peas, beans and frenches fried potatoes. Growers are contracted to WFF and are provided with a significant amount of technical assistance, including the availability of quality seed stock, and a wide variety of agricultural management assistance. Once crops are deemed ready they are harvested quickly and transported immediately to the branch factory, where the crop reception department tests the quality of the incoming produce. At the factory the season processing is done around the clock. I.e.) potatoes are first washed, then sliced, deep-fried, frozen and packed. Peas are washed, graded, and then frozen for bulk storage. Beans are washed, graded dried, and packed. Problems with seasonality in the business are that you may run out of stock in a non-season where that product is not being produced. To get that product in a non-season could be quite expensive. The season for that product could produce a bad crop and you would have to wait until next season to get the next crop. Work Center Management is that the organization is divided up into a set of semiautonomous work centers. Each work center will have skilled supervisors and employees who will be able to make critical decisions to manufacture a quality product in a timely manner. There is daily reporting because the information will be more useful and ownership of the information is more likely. Daily reporting will occur because is will come from the bottom and travel it†s way up. The motivation for WCM consisted of 2 things: 1. The need to change the emphasis from reporting to managing  · Shortening the time between actions and the subsequent reporting results.  · Ensure focused accountability through clearly defined responsibilities for costs and the power to act. 2. The need for staff involvement and operational involvement It is necessary to change the organizational culture because WCM made managers fully responsible for their outputs and use of inputs and resources including labor, equipment, services and inventories. Thus management has to be empowered, responsible and fully empowered. The culture change was achieved by dividing each factory into units, which were largely self-contained and small enough to ensure focused management and accountability. Each of these units, were to be known as work centers. Each work center had one manager, the site manager (factory manager) would support the work center managers to coordinate work between the work centers and solve any conflicts. The physical numbers tie into the financial accounting system by cost is assigned to processes or products at the basis of the actual consumption of physical resources. The benefits of WCM are that it is integrated with other systems and programs, which provides better managerial reporting. It doesn†t just provide cost and financial performance measures, but also provides monthly summaries of wide physical measures to evaluate the work centers. The WCM has resulted in improved control and cost reductions in difficult to control areas. Other benefits of WCM include:  · Improved focus on quality production Potential problems in operating the WCM system are that eventually staff and management will get lazy on the daily reporting aspects. There may be staff turnover, as some managers will get promoted and training will have to be given to the next line of upcoming management. WCM will have to be continuously monitored to see the cost vs. benefit analysis. The types of operations that lend themselves to daily financial reporting are labor, electricity, materials, and machinery.

How to Grow Color Change Crystals

How to Grow Color Change Crystals If you enjoy growing crystals, try this simple project that produces large crystals that change color from yellow to green to blue depending on light and temperature.   The crystals grow over a few hours to overnight and are sure to amaze! Color Change Crystal Materials Two chemicals react to produce the color change in the crystals: 10 grams potassium alum (potassium aluminum sulfate)3 grams red prussiate [potassium hexacyanoferrate(III)]50 milliliters hot water Alum is easy to find, but youll likely need to order red prussiate online. Another option is to simply order a color change crystal kit. The one by Thames and Kosmos is reliable and includes a total of three experiments. Prepare the Solution and Grow Crystals In a small clear container, simply dissolve the potassium alum and red prussiate in 50 milliliters of hot water. It make take a few minutes for the salts to fully dissolve. If you still have undissolved material after a couple of minutes, you can carefully set your container inside another larger container of very hot water, to act as a hot water bath and help the salts dissolve.Once the chemicals are dissolved, set your container of chemicals in a location where the crystals can grow without being disturbed.Youll start to see tiny crystals after 30 minutes to a couple of hours. Crystal growth should be complete overnight to a couple of days, depending mostly on temperature and the humidity of the air. At this point, the crystals will be yellowish green or green, depending on the temperature at which they grew.When you are satisfied with the crystal growth, use a spoon to remove the crystals from the container. You can set them on a saucer to dry. Dispose of the chemical solution by pouring it down the drain and rinsing with water. The easiest way to observe the color change is to divide the crystals between two containers. Place one container in a dark cabinet or closet and put the other container on a sunny window sill.Check on your crystals each day. Over time, the crystals in the sunlight will change color from yellow to green to blue. The crystals in the dark will remain yellow. The color change could take a couple of days, but in my experience, you see it within an hour or two. When I took the photo, the crystal on the left was canary yellow, but darkened to yellowish green under the bright lights How Color Changes Crystals Work Light and heat supply the energy to cause  a chemical reaction between the alum and red prussiate to produce Prussian blue or Berlin blue. This is an iron-based dye still in use today for blue ink cartridges and paints. Make Prussian Blue InkUse Prussian Blue in a Crystal Garden Safety Information The chemicals used in this project are safe to use, but you should wash your hands after handling the crystals, because the red prussiate and your crystals contain iron, which can be toxic if you get too much. Keep the chemicals and crystals out of reach of pets and young children for this reason. The kitchen is a perfect place to mix the solution and grow crystals, but be careful you dont get burned by the hot water and be sure to keep the chemicals and crystals away from food. Rinse any kitchen cookware you use so it doesnt have chemical residue. More Chemicals That Grow Crystals

150 Million Years of Marsupial Evolution

150 Million Years of Marsupial Evolution You wouldnt know it from their relatively paltry numbers today, but marsupials (the kangaroos, koalas, wombats, etc. of Australia, as well as the opossums of the western hemisphere) have a rich evolutionary history. As far as paleontologists can tell, the distant ancestors of modern opossums diverged from the distant ancestors of modern placental mammals about 160 million years ago, during the late Jurassic period (when pretty much all mammals were the size of mice), and the first true marsupial appeared during the early Cretaceous, about 35 million years later. (See a gallery of prehistoric marsupial pictures and profiles and a list of recently extinct marsupials.) Before we go any further, its worthwhile to review what sets marsupials apart from the mainstream of mammalian evolution. The vast majority of mammals on earth today are placental: fetuses are nurtured in their mothers wombs, by means of a placenta, and theyre born in a relatively advanced state of development. Marsupials, by contrast, give birth to undeveloped, fetus-like young, which then must spend helpless months suckling milk in their mothers pouches. (Theres also a third, much smaller group of mammals, the egg-laying monotremes, typified by platypuses and echidnas.) The First Marsupials Because the mammals of the Mesozoic Era were so smalland because soft tissues dont preserve well in the fossil recordscientists cant directly examine the reproductive systems of animals from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. What they can do, though, is examine and compare these mammals teeth, and by that criterion, the earliest identified marsupial was Sinodelphys, from early Cretaceous Asia. The giveaway is that prehistoric marsupials possessed four pairs of molars in each of their upper and lower jaws, while placental mammals had no more than three. For tens of millions of years after Sinodelphys, the marsupial fossil record is frustratingly scattered and incomplete. We do know that early marsupials (or metatherians, as theyre sometimes called by paleontologists) spread from Asia to North and South America, and then from South America to Australia, by way of Antarctica (which was much more temperate at the end of the Mesozoic Era). By the time the evolutionary dust had cleared, by the end of the Eocene epoch, marsupials had disappeared from North America and Eurasia  but prospered in South America and Australia. The Marsupials of South America For most of the Cenozoic Era, South America was a gigantic island continent, completely separated from North America until the emergence of the Central American isthmus about three million years ago. During these eons, South Americas marsupialstechnically known as sparassodonts, and technically classified as a sister group to the true marsupialsevolved to fill every available mammalian ecological niche, in ways that uncannily mimicked the lifestyles of their placental cousins elsewhere in the world. Examples? Consider Borhyaena, a slouching, 200-pound predatory marsupial that looked and acted like an African hyena; Cladosictis, a small, sleek metatherian that resembled a slippery otter; Necrolestes, the grave robber, which behaved a bit like an anteater; and, last but not least, Thylacosmilus, the marsupial equivalent of the Saber-Tooth Tiger (and equipped with even bigger canines). Unfortunately, the opening of the Central American isthmus during the Pliocene epoch spelled the doom of these marsupials, as they were completely displaced by better-adapted placental mammals from up north. The Giant Marsupials of Australia In one respect, the marsupials of South America have long since disappearedbut in another, they continue to live on in Australia. Its likely that all of the kangaroos, wombats, and wallabies Down Under are descendants of a single marsupial species that inadvertently rafted over from Antarctica about 55 million years ago, during the early Eocene epoch. (One candidate is a distant ancestor of the Monito del Monte, or little bush monkey, a tiny, nocturnal, tree-dwelling marsupial that today lives in the bamboo forests of the southern Andes mountains.) From such unprepossessing origins, a mighty race grew. A few million years ago, Australia was home to such monstrous marsupials as Diprotodon, aka the Giant Wombat, which weighed upwards of two tons; Procoptodon, the Giant Short-Faced Kangaroo, which stood 10 feet tall and weighed twice as much as an NFL linebacker; Thylacoleo, the 200-pound marsupial lion; and the Tasmanian Tiger (genus Thylacinus), a fierce, wolf-like predator that only went extinct in the 20th century. Sadly, like most megafauna mammals worldwide, the giant marsupials of Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand went extinct after the last Ice Age, survived by their much more petite descendants.

Revelation by Flannery O'Connor Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Revelation by Flannery O'Connor - Essay Example Through her interactions with other characters in the room, the real character of Mrs. Turpin is well brought out, and consequently, the central theme of the story is advanced. Mrs. Turpin is a self-opinionated woman who believes to be superior and of a higher social class. The experiences of life cause her to reflect on her life, and correct the errors of the past, and finally realize that she isn’t as righteous as initially thought. While at the doctor’s office, the attitudes and characteristics of Mrs. Turpin are clearly brought out. First, Turpin is portrayed to be a judgmental individual with a negative perception of others. For example, while at the waiting room, she looked at the boy and the old woman and â€Å"could tell by the way they sat- kind of vacant and white-trashy, as if they would sit there until Doomsday†. Through such thoughts, it is clear that Turpin never thought positively of those around them but instead was quick to pick out the real or perceived negativities about them. Her hate for others is further illustrated by her choice of either being white or black. If she had been given a choice by Jesus of either being a nigger or a white trash, she would have chosen â€Å"a nigger then-but that don't mean a trashy one†. Here, one can clearly see that she disliked white people to the extreme. She is intolerable and looks down upon everyone around her. Second, the story furth er reveals Turpin to be an egoistic woman with an extreme worldview. She perceives herself to be a very important person, belonging to an elite class of only a few. For instance, she spent most of her time at night putting people into various categories. The colored and the white-trash people were ranked lowly. She felt that she wouldn’t want to be in this category. However, for her and the husband, they belonged to a higher class of â€Å"the home-and-land owners†.