Essays --

To first understand a black hole, you must understand how it is created. Most black holes are produced by dying stars that have a mass twenty times greater than our sun. A star eventually becomes a black hole because the energy and pressure pushing outward is overcome by gravity that pushes inward. For big stars the gravity force causes a star to collapse under its own weight. The star then will explode as a supernova and some outer parts of the star are sent out into space. The core is still intact, and if it has collapsed under its own weight, it will have formed a star. This core is said to have nearly zero volume, but with infinite density, known as a singularity. These black holes that have now been created start to grow. But how do they grow? They start absorbing mass from materials that are close to them. If a material is said to enter a black holes event horizon, a point at which nothing can escape a black hole’s gravity, the object would became absorbed and would be part of the black hole. Most black holes consume large amounts of gas and dust as their primary source of â€Å"f...

Fighting a War :: Personal Narrative Papers

Fighting a War I have never been to war. I hope I'll never go. There is nothing that I believe in enough to sacrifice my life. These are supposed to be days of idealism and youth, and I am blessed. I cannot care. I cannot fight. The only appealing little thing about violence is the potential for heroism, and I doubt I'll ever be a hero or save an innocent life from a burning building, stop a runaway train like so many bad movies. I can't see myself triumphing over this world. I can see myself climb out of the trench and nobly get mowed down by the bullets of a gattling gun. I let fly an arrow from my longbow. In the cockpit of a fighter plane, props twirling, I strafe Japanese ships and dodge innumerable Zeros. On a dusty hill I calculate the trajectory of an artillery shell and re-check my math. I slink through a dark jungle and blend in with the foliage, camouflaging my thoughts, a shadow amidst all the life. I can only see myself in war movies, not in actual wars. I have never been in an honest-to-god kill or be killed full on violent fight, much less a nationally sponsored war. Never defended my life or my honor, or someone else's; but I have taken and sadly given a beating. The closest I have ever been to war is a controlled skirmish with a friend, a fistfight for fun. No anger. One time, at his twenty-first birthday party, Frank and I gave up on docile lives and began to fight. Neither of us was born in Idaho. We never grew up together but we've both spent some time there. Our families moved, his east mine west, Hong Kong and Connecticut, so we're there for the summer and the winter. We know some of the same people, like the Peruvians and Adam Pracna and Jason Spicer, but we're three years too far apart. I'm younger, and we never hung out. We've got mutual friends and we've eaten at all the same places. Small town, not many places. We've both driven out the same canyons in a pickup with mud and girls, same girls? Who knows? There's a keg or two in the back kicking up dust up into it all and clouding up the sky, and we're throwing empty glass bottles shattering at trees and shadows and animals as we drive and sing.

Harriet Tubman Essay -- biographies bio biography

Harriet Tubman (1820-1913) Harriet Tubman is probably the most famous â€Å"conductor† of all the Underground Railroads. Throughout a 10-year span, Tubman made more than 20 trips down to the South and lead over 300 slaves from bondage to freedom. Perhaps the most shocking fact about Tubman’s journeys back and forth from the South was that she â€Å"never lost a single passenger.† Harriet Tubman was born into slavery in Maryland around 1820. By the time Tubman had reached the age of 5 or 6, she started working as a servant in her master’s household. Approximately seven years after she began working as a servant, Tubman was sent to work out in the fields. While Tubman was still a teenager, she sustained an injury that would affect her for the rest of her life. One day, Tubman stood up for another slave and blocked a doorway in order to protect them from an upset overseer. The overseer threw a weight at one of the field hands, missing them and instead hitting Tubman on the head. Tubman was never able to fully heal from the wound she sustained from the overseer. This injury caused a chroni...

Bruce Dawe Homecoming Essay

Bruce Dawe is a famous and iconic Australian poet; his poems feature his numerous personal experiences and opinions about the futility and brutality of war. Bruce Dawe oft questions the need and validity of war; he talks about the dehumanization and utter brutality the young Australian men face. The poem â€Å"Homecoming† raises the public issue of military dehumanization and the futility of the men who enlist. This poem provokes us as individuals, and as a society to question why. In Bruce Dawe’s â€Å"Homecoming†, he explores personal and public issue of lack of identity and the indiscriminate slaughter of young men in the Vietnam War. Dawe refers to green bodies in â€Å"green plastic bags†, shows the lack of identity and invokes emotions from the reader. The dead soldiers are also being categorized as â€Å"curly heads, kinky-hairs, crew-cuts and balding non-coms†¦Ã¢â‚¬  this categorization further reinforces the idea of dehumanization and lack of identity. This certain technique gives us a detailed insight into the personal and public issues that families and the public would have faced. Another technique used in â€Å"Homecoming† that helps us gain an insight into the personal and public experiences is the use of irony. The title homecoming usually implies a heroic or celebratory return with family and friends. It also invokes a sense of anticipation for the return of a particular individual, however the title is ironic as the â€Å"Homecoming†, is related to the mourning and death of a nameless soldier. Another affective us of irony would be the repetition of the suffix -ing; â€Å"picking†, â€Å"zipping†, â€Å"tagging†, â€Å"giving† and â€Å"bringing†. These words are the actions of the processors; they usually imply life and strength but are used ironically as the processors handle the cold, limp and lifeless bodies. This also gives us an interesting insight into the personal problems families and friends would have to endure. Bruce Dawe explores different personal and public issues within his poems. In â€Å"Homecoming†, he talks about the futility and lack of identity these young  soldiers face. He explores these different personal and public issues through a use of effective techniques such as irony, repetition, imagery, metaphors and rhythm. All of these techniques give us a compelling insight into the personal experiences and public issues of the Vietnam war.

The Importance of Individual’s Frame of Mind

People’s activities are divided into physical behaviors and mental behaviors. With their hands, they can do everything they want to do. However, without the support of mentality, these physical behaviors are meaningless. People’s happiness derives from their mind. When they are willing to do something, even it is insignificant, they can also be cheerful. Compared to the transient mind, to form everlasting frame of mind is meaningful for people’s life. However, different frames of mind bring people into different situations. In â€Å"On Habit†, Alain de Botton uses the example of De Maistre who experiences room-travel to recommend a frame of mind called traveling mindset, which is to observe any common events with traveling view. Compared to habituated view, an invariable attitude to treat daily life, traveling mindset brings more changes and creative imaginations in boring physical environment. Through forming active lifestyle, people can share enjoyable and meaningful life. However, some frames of mind have negative influence in people’s happiness. As in â€Å"Bumping into Mr. Ravioli†, Adam Gopnik finds that his daughter has an imaginary playmate called Ravioli. Then he notices the general frame of mind of people in New York through Ravioli and the conversation with his sister, a psychologist. Ravioli, the same as New Yorkers, always lives in a busy status. Even though people have spare time out of work, the atmosphere in New York makes them form a frame of mind that they need to be busy all the time. Due to this â€Å"busyness†, people in New York spend most time in their own space, which leads to a crisis in people’s relationship. In general, the existence of individual’s frame of mind, as a result of people’s psychological demands and the pressure of life, creates appropriate methods to adapt for challenges and make happiness. Since people have unique and meaningful experience, they can cultivate their individual frame of mind through their expectation of life. Like a lifestyle, once the frame of mind has been formed, it is hard to change. However, people need to keep on improving their frames of mind to seek for a sense of well-being in life. The reason which people cannot be happy is that they do not find a rational frame of mind to treat their life. As de Botton mentions, â€Å"the sole cause of man’s unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room† (qtd. in de Botton 60). Treating the same thing with different frames of mind can lead to different results. Observing the common furniture and structure in the room, people with habituated mindset can feel weary about their room since they face the same objects all day. Then, habituated mindset becomes a kind of negative frame of mind and makes people upset. However, De Maistre decides to lock his door and make a room-travel. He reobserves details of furniture and makes imaginations. For example, when he walks by the bed, he can recollect the night he spends in it. He changes his mind to observe familiar room and get cheerful with traveling mindset. Opposite to habituated mindset, traveling mindset, as a positive frame of mind, corresponds with people’s demand in their boring life. In addition, people can also form a specific frame of mind because of their surrounding. As the situation faced by the daughter of Gopnik, â€Å"it [seems] obvious that Ravioli [is] a romantic figure of the big exotic life that [goes] on outside her little limited life of park and playgrounds†¦like imitation of the words she hears her mother use when she talks about her day with her friends†(Gopnik 154). She feels tired of her living environment. Then, she needs a method to express her expectation outside her limited space. To satisfy her aspiration, she imagines a friend who she can talk with like the relationship between her mother and her mother’s friends. She wants to be independent. However, she is too young to contact with the society. Therefore, this frame of mind becomes imaginary form and her mind relies on the existence of the imaginary friend. With different environment, people have their own frames of mind. These frames of mind can be positive and negative, but it is the way to think and live. Once the frame of mind makes people enjoyable and reflects the hope of future, it can have beneficial influence on people’s life. Different frames of mind lead to different perceiving about same thing, so people’s sense of well-being is influenced by their frames of mind. For a piece of leaf, some people can feel regret because it falls from the tree and loses its life. However, others can be delightful when they see the fallen leaves, because they become nutriment absorbed by the soil to support the growth of new life. It is the same in â€Å"On habit†, De Maistre spends time on enjoy the beauty of the sky at night. However, for the same sky, most people neglect its fantasy. As de Botton explains, â€Å"the reason they [do not] looking [is] that they [have] never done so before. They [fall] into the habit of considering their universe to be boring†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (62). De Maistre has different view about the life and the world, so his frame of mind brings happiness and pleasure to him. The same sky, considered to be boring by others, is redefined by his creative mind. He can be affected by the broadness and the power of the universe. This kind of frame of mind makes him joyful rather than boring. Therefore, the sense of well-being derives from people’s attitude toward their life. Keeping positive way of thinking is an approach to get happiness. Apart from this, people’s living environment can be a factor to influence the cognizance in people’s mind. Cars and televisions are inventions to bring people convenience. They can watch news around the world on television and travel for a long distance by cars. They are signs of modernization. However, considered through another part, these inventions are detrimental to the relationship between people. As Gopnik describes, â€Å"the car and the television pulled people apart-taking them out to the suburbs and sitting them in front of a solo spectacle†(158). On the one hand, the speed of the car is fast, so people can ignore their friends who come by. On the other hand, drivers have to pay attention to the roadway; then, they have no time to care about whether there is a friend around them. The car always takes people away. Due to its limited space, it restricts people to contact with others. Since Gopnik lives in New York, the crowed traffic can be one reason for her to resist the car. In busy lifestyle, it is necessary to create some chance to stay with friends. â€Å"Busyness† affects New Yorker’s frames of mind. Compared to drive cars, walking is more suitable for New York’s environment. Similarly, when people watch television, they do not want to chat with others. Moreover, once they get knowledge and information from television, they do not need to learn from others. In this situation, the topic between people can be less and the relationship slowly drifts apart. The busy atmosphere changes people’s frames of mind in New York. Therefore, individual’s frame of mind can be affected by many factors such as people’s attitudes towards life and their living environment. It can influence people’s lifestyle because it origins from people’s experience and expectations. The positive frame of mind can create happiness for people through changing their ways of perceiving things Individual’s frame of mind is a sign in life and a reflection of spirit to help people find their own way to achieve happiness. A beneficial frame of mind represents a ifestyle and a myth which can be followed by others, so people with the same frame of mind can be a group. In addition, people have impetus to try to imitate this mind when they notice that it can make their life better. As de Botton behaves, â€Å"I force myself to obey a peculiar kind of mental command: to look around me as though I [have] never been in this place before†(63). He finds that traveling mindset can make life different and interesting, so he wants to form this frame of mind. At the same time, his behavior â€Å"bears fruit†. He can see â€Å"a restaurant [becomes] filled with dinner rather than shapes†. By setting traveling mindset as a habit, he forms another view of the world and life in his spirit. He dose not feel the life boring any more, and this frame of mind in his spirit can remind him that he needs to treat his normal life creative and imaginative. Therefore, it is the power of individual’s frame of mind. Additionally, once a kind of frame of mind is identified generally, it can be more influential. As Gopnik highlights, â€Å"busyness is our art form, our civic ritual, our way of being us†(160). In New York, busyness can be considered as a sign of a country. People all indentify that â€Å"busyness† is the expression of their frames of mind. They live in busy life and contact with busy friends and colleagues. No matter whether they are truly enjoyable in this busy situation, they are used to it and become one part of it. Under the pressure of the society, people need to keep a appropriate frame of mind to deal with the challenges and create happiness. People can experience many kinds of frames of mind in their life. However, only some of them are beneficial for people to find happiness. Indeed, life is a process of seeking for felicity. Like de Botton, he hates his living environment when he returns to homeland from traveling. Therefore, he tries to think with traveling mindset, so that he can be happier than before. The same as Gopnik, he finds the essence of the culture in New York, so he can understand about his daughter’s imaginary friend and have an insight into the â€Å"busyness† in his life. Attempting to find suitable frames of mind in order to face trouble rationally, people can finally realize that happiness is around themselves.

Investwrite Essay

InvestWrite Essay If you need help planning your financial future, then I am the one to help you. Through trial and error, learning from my mistakes, and just getting a better understanding of stocks, The Stock Market Game has greatly improved my knowledge on stocks and has made me an excellent source of information on investing. For the couple that is in their late twenties, I would ask them a series of questions like, â€Å"How much money do you plan on investing? †, â€Å"How long do you have to save? †, and â€Å"Are you willing to take some risks? Since the couple wants to save for their retirement and save up for their child’s college expenses, I would advise that they invest in a variety of stocks. First, I would recommend they invest in Sprint stock. With its low current price at around three dollars, they are bound to make some money, especially with the holiday season so close. Another reason they should pick Sprint, is that it is a fairly large corpor ation, which means that it’s somewhat stable and can benefit the couple in the long and short run. Second, I would recommend they invest in a more pricy stock, Procter and Gamble.Although it’s higher priced, around sixty dollars, this stock comes with dividends and is great no matter the state of the Stock Market. With brands like Bounty, Gain, Pampers, IAMS, and even Pringles, people are never going to stop buying these items just because the Stock Market goes down. That being said, this stock is very stable and will definitely help balance the couple’s portfolio. Third and finally, I would recommend they invest in PepsiCo. With its multiple food related items such as Frito-Lay chips and all the Pepsi related soft drinks, this somewhat pricy stock, is a great way to keep the couple’s portfolio balanced.With the nice addition of dividends, this stock is a sure fire way to make the couple money in the long run. I based my recommendations on a variety of th ings. I looked mostly to see if the stock price was on the rise or going down the drain. If I didn’t think that it would make money, I didn’t choose it. Secondly, I looked for dividends. Dividends are basically money you get from the company’s earnings for each share of their stock you own. So if the company makes money, then you make money. Dividends are usually found on the higher priced stocks, but re great for long term investors. Thirdly, I went for diversification. You want to keep a diversified portfolio so that if one of your stocks fails, then you have something to back it up. If you keep all of your stocks in one related industry, if one fails, then all of your stocks will go down as well. Fourth and foremost, I thought of risk and reward. Risk and reward are important because it bases what stocks are suitable for which people. Younger people can take a higher risk because they have time to earn their money back if a stock or two fails.Older people hav e a lower risk because they usually don’t have a source of regular fixed income, so they can’t earn their money back. All of these factors were key when picking my recommended stocks. Through trial and error, learning from mistakes, and gathering basic knowledge, The Stock Market game has helped so much by giving me the essential tools for picking stocks, diversifying portfolios, and overall just making money in the Stock Market. And it is with these tools that I have recommended these stocks to this couple to which I am sure they will meet both of their goals of saving for retirement, and saving for their child’s college.Works Cited â€Å"PEP: Summary for Pepsico, Inc. Common Stock- Yahoo! Finance. †Ã‚  Yahoo! Finance – Business Finance, Stock Market, Quotes, News. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. . â€Å"PG: Summary for Procter & Gamble Company (The) – Yahoo! Finance. †Ã‚  Yahoo! Finance – Business Finance, Stock Market, Quotes, News. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. . â€Å"S: Summary for Sprint Nextel Corporation Comm- Yahoo! Finance. †Ã‚  Yahoo! Finance – Business Finance, Stock Market, Quotes, News. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. .

Perfect competition V. Monopolies Essay

In the American Economy, business is controlled by the government and the consumer. When a person is the owner of a business that is alone in its product that it provides for the consumer, it is said to be a monopoly. As a monopoly you have sole control over price. Monopolies are regulated by the government in order to prevent the misuse of power that a monopoly has. If a person can only get turkey, for example from one store. Then the store can charge a lot more for that turkey than it could if the store next door was selling it too because then there would be competition. Also, the store would not have to produce a better quality of turkey because there would be no reason for it to do so. In this situation the consumer is taken unfair advantage of by the business owner, in this case the store. Government regulates monopolies to promote a perfect competition economy and to get rid of the â€Å"turkey situation† discussed above. The benefits of a perfect competition economy benefit consumers. For example, if we go back to the store, in a perfect competition economy all of the stores have turkey. Now the stores want to make sure that the turkey that they sell is the best turkey and cost the least. In this situation they are competing for the consumer’s business. However, business owners of a monopoly situation disagree with the government. When there is a business that has the potential to become a monopoly the government watches it very closely and the business has to go through the government for mergers and such. The more the business becomes a monopoly, the more the government says no to the business’s requests. For example, there is Microsoft. The government has been working to keep Microsoft from being the big business that it is today. So, in conclusion, a perfect competition economy makes benefits for the consumer. Likewise, a monopolistic economy makes benefits for the business owner. On the flip side, a perfect competition shows drawbacks for the business owner and a monopolistic economy shows drawbacks for the consumer. The best way to run an economy is to have a balance between the two options. America’s economy does this.