Physiological Changes Of Aging Biology Essay

Physiological Changes Of Aging Biology Essay Aging does not give a good feeling to most human beings because of the diseases and problems associated with it. History has it that most individuals have always tried to stave off aging and death. The affluent often seek lamb cell injection in medical centers in search of youthfulness. Many people take mega doses of vitamin E all in the hope of attaining the fountain of youth. Aging is the continuous and irreversible decline in the efficiency of several physiological processes. It is considered to occur once the reproductive phase of life has passed (Lata, 2007). In actual fact, aging starts as a developmental process starts at conception. In recent times, aging has become a deeply rooted social issue with anti-aging therapies taking the center stage in the magazines, newspapers and the general media. The etiology of aging is important to be understood but it is more crucial to differentiate the normal physiological changes from the changes brought about by diseases. Individuals exp erience the physiological changes differently. Main Body Physiological changes arise with aging in all the human organ system. Progressive functional decline and the gradual deterioration of the physiological with increase in age include a decrease in productiveness and loss of viability. The aging person becomes vulnerable to diseases and become susceptible Cardio-vascular system The heart muscles especially on the left ventricle become weak. The heart valves degenerate and are calcificated. The artery walls cease to be elastic. This loss of elasticity is also known as arteriosclerosis. The cardiac output and baroreceptor sensitivity significantly decrease. The decrease in blood flow leads to reduction in stamina. The hepatic and renal functions are also decreased. The nourishment of the cells gradually becomes less. The blood pressure response to volume depletion, standing and heart blocks becomes impaired (Boss, 1981). Respiratory system The lung tissue and the airways become less elastic and the cilia activity is reduced. The uptake and exchange of oxygen is decreased. The muscles of the rib cage wear out thus reducing the ability of the person to breath deeply expel carbon dioxide or even cough. The perfusion/ventilation mismatch is a common occurrence and it results in reduced stamina with fatigue and shortness in breathing. Oral cavity Most aging individuals experience loss in bones and tissues around the mouth may be infected with diseases. As a result of infections, more than 50 percent of people who are above 60 years of age loose their teeth especially those who are not keen on the health of their mouth. These lead the individual to be choosy about the food they consume. The choice of food that is easy to chew lead to reduction in consumption of fruits and vegetables that are high in dietary fiber. Musculo-skeletal system There is generalized wear of all the muscles in the body accompanied by replacement of the muscle tissue by fat deposits. This has the effect of loss of some muscle strength and tone. More specific implication of this is significant reduction in the ability to breathe deeply. The gastro-intestinal activity is reduced and can lead to bladder incontinence or constipation. Calcium is lost and bones generally become less dense. This may result to osteoporosis and reduction in ability to bear weight. As a consequence, the chances of spontaneous fractures are increased. The vertebrae can calcify resulting in postural changes. Body joints also experience change. The degenerative inflammation of the joints, also know as arthritis, is a common persistent condition among the elderly. Gastrointestinal system As age increases, the stomach cellsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ ability to secrete digestive juice is reduced. The secretion of hydrochloric acid, saliva and digestive enzymes decreases. This has the effect of interference with digestion of protein. There is decrease of secretion of intrinsic factor which is crucial for absorption of vitamin B12. The changes may lead to impaired swallowing, gastrointestinal distress and one may experience delayed emptying of the stomach. The small intestine becomes less able to absorb some nutrients. There have been cases where the elderly suffer from cramps and even diarrhea after consuming dairy products containing lactose. This may be as a result of lack of lactase. Constipation may be experienced as a result of distorted gastrointestinal spontaneous movements, inactivity and weak muscle (webdietitian.com, 2010). Sexuality Sexual performance and desire may be a reality even with aging. However, the frequency may diminish. Changes that are experienced by women as they age include atrophy of the ovarian, uterine vaginal tissues with a significant decrease in vaginal fluid production resulting in dry vaginal mucosa. Women also experience menopause with diverse hormonal changes. Physiological changes in men include reduction in production of sperms and the prostate increase in size. The sperm count is reduced and the viability is reduced. There is decreased libido and ejaculation is delayed. For both men and women, more stimulation becomes a requirement for them to become aroused and even more time to achieve an orgasm. Menopause is one of the main indications of aging. It is among the changes that are apparent in relation to age-related changes. It occurs due to the disappearance of oocytes from the ovary. Most women after menopause experience hot flashes or vasomotor instability. Sensory changes In order to gather information, synthesis and internalize, senses play a central role. The ability to take part in social interactions is affected by the senses. With age, there occur changes in vision. At about forty to fifty years, the pupil starts to decrease in size. The response to light is decreased. As a result, the amount of illumination required by the aging person is increased as compared to a younger person. Focusing for such a person takes longer and there are significantly higher chances of nearsightedness. There occurs loss of accommodation which makes it hard to read. Reading from a close distance may become difficult, a condition also known as resbyopia. It can be corrected by putting on glasses with convex lenses. The lens of the eye may start thickening and yellowing. Once this happens, light is diffracted, the depth perception is decreased, sensitivity to glare is increased and it becomes hard to distinguish pastel colors. Change in hearing ability also occurs with age. The sensitivity to high frequency tones decrease. The ability to differentiate similar pitches decrease due to changes in the cochlear hair cells and bones of the inner ear. The other significant sensory change is in smell and taste. It is imperative to note that the two are interrelated and equally important. They are both crucial for eating and checking for hazards in the environment. They are useful for detecting spoilt food, fumes and smoke. After the age of eighty, the reduction in the number of taste buds leads to a decline in the ability to taste. Some elderly people experience a drastic decline in their ability to smell. This usually results from disease or blockage of the olfactory receptors in the upper sinus. After the age of twenty five every human being losses nerve cells. With time, this results in reduction in efficiency of nerve transmission which impact on coordination and response time. However, research has shown that these physiological and anatomical changes limitedly impair the actual intellectual functioning related to the process of aging (Lata, 2007). Intelligence is associated with a wide range of abilities that gives one the avenue to make sense of experiences. They include the ability to think conceptually, comprehend new information, and make rational decisions and verbal fluency amongst others. Some abilities such as the ability to think abstractly are biologically determined and are known as Fluid Intelligence. There are those intellectual abilities that reflect the skills and knowledge an individual has gained through life experiences. These abilities are known as Crystallized intelligence. Tests on intelligence have shown somehow poorer performance on by older person s on fluid intelligence. There are indications that there is little or no difference on tests of crystallized intelligence. Reduced efficiency of nerve transmission in the brain result in poor processing of information and loss of information during the transmission may be blamed for the poor performance in tests on older people (Magalhaes, 2008). Personality changes The best aspect of change that has been documented in regard to personality change due to aging is increased preoccupation with oneà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s inner self. These include greater attention to individual feelings and attention to personal feelings and experiences and reduction in extraversion. Another aspect that has been observed is gender role identity. Men tend to be more nurturing, affiliation seeking and expressive as they advance in age. Women tend to be more achievement-oriented and instrumental. Conclusion Many of the interlinked physiological changes are as complex as the biological processes of the body. Even though there has been a progressively monumental research in aging but the middle ground on the theory of aging on one specific aspect is yet to be established. Physiological changes do not occur uniformly for all individuals but are jointly affected by genetic and environmental factors. This fact further heightens the difficulty of finding a universal theory regarding aging. Universal in this case means what the human race is involved in terms of the global-aging phenomenon. The temptation to regard many of the age-related so-called diseases as the end of normal physiological changes is high for most people. The distinction between the erosion in function of pathological and normal aging states should be unmistakably delineated. The diseases that arise in the elderly should be well separated from the signs of aging in order to give the right attention to the two different phenomena. Deep understanding of the normal physiological changes and those changes caused by diseases make it easy for the clinicians to diagnose and manage the elderly. The failure of a clinician to recognize the differences may lead to unnecessary clinical testing, misdiagnosis of the aging person and eventual mismanagement. The problems that are associated with ageing can be managed through use of glasses, intake of adequate vitamins, and consumption of green vegetables rich in antioxidants among other ways. Some people may have dramatic and rapid levels of decline yet others may have much less significant changes. Although aging is a genetically determined process, environmental factors often have an impact on the aging process. Some environments may accelerate aging while others may not interfere with the aging process.

September 11 and America’s Careless Diplomacy Essay -- September 11 Te

  Ã‚  Ã‚   For the past century, Americans have viewed the United States as standing as a symbol of strength, freedom, and prosperity. Recently, however, this perceived symbol of a higher society has been directly attacked by those who strongly disagree with the values projected by the United States. This is the first time since the Cold War that the stance of America has even been questioned. The most deliberating issue resulting from this atrocity has been how America should retaliate, or if the US should even retaliate at all. Within the past few weeks this question has been answered by actions from Washington. This action, however, has caused the emergence of even more questions. There are many deeply rooted problems to address that go beyond mere retaliation. To begin to solve these problems, the origins of conflict between America and the Middle East must first be addressed. It has been stated over and over again by politicians and journalists since September 11, that "evil terrorists" have attacked American values and institutions and Western civilization as a whole. However, as more time unfolds, this seems more and more like an overly simplified patriotic statement, and the real reason for the attack has become increasingly apparent; the acts of Al-Qa'ida were not an attack on American society, but an attack on US foreign policy. Bombing a few terrorist training camps may serve as a deserved immediate solution and a clarification that revenge has been sought; however it will not put an end to the alienations American foreign policies have created. A resolve to this "war" will require diplomatic measures and ultimate compromises, which will begin to undo the chaos the US has contributed in the Middle East. This turmoil can... ... Worldbook.com, Zionism and the Jewish Claim to Palestine, http://www.worldbook.com/fun/wbla/israel50/html/zion.htm Worldbook.com, The Idea of Israel Takes Shape, http://worldbook.com/fun/wbla/israel50/html/shap.htm CNN.com, Bin Laden, Millionaire With a Dangerous Grudge, Sept. 27, http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/12/binladen.profile/index/index.html Zmag.org, The United States and the Iran Iraq War, Shalom, Stephen R., http://www.zmag.org/zmag/articles/ShalomIranIraq.html FAS.org, Iran-Iraq War, http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/ops/war/iran-iraq.htm Afghan-web.com, Contemporary Afghanistan- the Last Sixty Years, http://www.afghan-web.com/history/articles/reshtya.html Coldwar.org, Afghan War, http://www.coldwar.org/articles/70s/afghan_war.php3 Mtholyoke.edu, The Terrible Regime: Taliban Rule, http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~mvcarmac/taliban.html

Ambassadors

Jenya Mavromati Panayiotis Karafotias IREL-480-9 For my paper I decided to write about the ambassadors of Denmark, The United States of America and Uruguay. His Excellency Mr. Tom Norring, the ambassador of Denmark, was one of the ambassador’s to come this semester. He decided to focus his speech not on his country but more on the global financial crisis and how it affected Greek economy. He said that even without the crisis the situation in Greece would have been messy. Despite the fact that Maastricht Treaty allows the GDP deficit in European countries not more than 3% Greece had deficit 6-7%.Ambassador said that in 2006-2007 the government of Kostas Karamanlis managed to restrain the deficit to the acceptable level, but later in 2008 they failed. Karamanlis hoped that he would be reelected and he promised to restrain the deficit, but people lost faith in him. Later George Papandreou revealed the new information about the deficit. The deficit for that time was not 8% but 12% . And thus the rescue program was established by the European Union. So Greece took course to the EU and the IMF. They wanted a hard cash and the EU and IMF tried to help with it. Then the restructuring fund was established.The public expenses had to be cut. As ambassador said â€Å"Greece has one of the biggest public administrations† and the cutting of public sector expenses will help to decrease the deficit. He also pointed out that 25% of Greek economy is black economy. The only one thing which he said about his country was that the Denmark is not the part of Eurozone. One of the reasons I enjoyed the speech of Danish ambassador was because he seemed very honest when talking about the topic. When giving his speech, he gave personal examples and continuously referred to the audience.The second ambassador was the ambassador of Uruguay, his Excellency Mr. Jose Luis Pombo Morales. He decided to focus his speech on his country and its relations with Greece and other European c ountries. Mr. Jose Luis Pombo Morales, talked about political system in Uruguay, that it is a  representative democratic  republic with a  presidential system. Also, he told us that, the members of government are elected for a five-year terms by a  universal suffrage  system. Uruguay is a  unitary state: justice, education, health, security, foreign policy, defence are all administered nationwide.The Executive Power is exercised by the  president  and a  cabinet  of 13 ministers. Plus to that, Mr. Ambassador talked about Uruguay as one of the biggest wool and meat exporter to the EU countries. Mr. Jose Luis Pombo, told the audience, that Uruguay is one of the most economically developed countries in South America, with a high  GDP  per capita and the 52nd highest  quality of life index  in the world. Uruguay is rated as the 2nd least corrupt country in  Latin America  (behind  Chile), although Uruguay scores considerably better than Chile on domesti c polls of corruption perception.Its political and labour conditions are the highest level of freedom on the continent. The third ambassador, I want to talk about, is the ambassador of the United States of America, his Excellency Mr. Daniel Smith. Ambassador focused his speech on Greek- Turkish relations and financial crisis. His speech was very diplomatic, and tried to keep neutrality, when some students asked him questions about problems in Libya and Greek-Turkish conflicts. But, Mr. Smith, gave very clear idea, about the USA and its foreign relations. Also

Good Readers Good Writers V Essay

â€Å"Good Readers and Good Writers† (from Lectures on Literature) Vladimir Nabokov (originally delivered in 1948) My course, among other things, is a kind of detective investigation of the mystery of literary structures. â€Å"How to be a Good Reader† or â€Å"Kindness to Authors†Ã¢â‚¬â€something of that sort might serve to provide a subtitle for these various discussions of various authors, for my plan is to deal lovingly, in loving and lingering detail, with several European Masterpieces. A hundred years ago, Flaubert in a letter to his mistress made the following remark: Commel’on serait savant si l’on  connaissait bien seulement cinq a six livres: â€Å"What a scholar one might be if one knew well only some half a dozen books. † In reading, one should notice and fondle details. There is nothing wrong about the moonshine of generalization when it comes after the sunny trifles of the book have been lovingly collected. If one begins with a readymade generalization, one begins at the wrong end and travels away from the book before one has started to understand it. Nothing is more boring or more unfair to the author than starting to read, say, Madame Bovary, with the preconceived notion that it is a denunciation of the bourgeoisie. We should always remember that the work of art is invariably the creation of a new world, so that the first thing we should do is to study that new world as closely as possible, approaching it as something brand new, having no obvious connection with the worlds we already know. When this new world has been closely studied, then and only then let us examine its links with other worlds, other branches of knowledge. Another question: Can we expect to glean information about places and times from a novel? Can anybody be so naive as to think he or she can learn anything about the past from those buxom  best-sellers that are hawked around by book clubs under the heading of historical novels? But what about the masterpieces? Can we rely on Jane Austen’s picture of landowning England with baronets and landscaped grounds when all she knew was a clergyman’s parlor? And Bleak House, that fantastic romance within a fantastic London, can we call it a study of London a hundred years ago? Certainly not. And the same holds for other such novels in this series. The truth is that great novels are great fairy tales—and the novels in this series are supreme fairy tales. Time and space, the colors of the seasons, the movements of muscles and minds, all these are for writers of genius (as far as we can guess and I trust we guess right) not traditional notions which may be borrowed from the circulating library of public truths but a series of unique surprises which master artists have learned to express in their own unique way. To minor authors is left the ornamentation of the commonplace: these do not bother about any reinventing of the world; they merely try to squeeze the best they can out of a given order of things, out of traditional  patterns of fiction. The various combinations these minor authors are able to produce within these set limits may be quite amusing in a mild ephemeral way because minor readers like to recognize their own ideas in a pleasing disguise. But the real writer, the fellow who sends planets spinning and models a man asleep and eagerly tampers with the sleeper’s rib, that kind of author has no given values at his disposal: he must create them himself. The art of writing is a very futile business if it does not imply first of all the art of seeing the world as the potentiality of  fiction. The material of this world may be real enough (as far as reality goes) but does not exist at all as an accepted entirety: it is chaos, and to this chaos the author says â€Å"go! † allowing the world to flicker and to fuse. It is now recombined in its very atoms, not merely in its visible and superficial parts. The writer is the first man to mop it and to form the natural objects it contains. Those berries there are edible. That speckled creature that bolted across my path might be tamed. That lake between those trees will be called Lake Opal or, more artistically, Dishwater  Lake. That mist is a mountain—and that mountain must be conquered. Up a trackless slope climbs the master artist, and at the top, on a windy ridge, whom do you think he meets? The panting and happy reader, and there they spontaneously embrace and are linked forever if the book lasts forever. One evening at a remote provincial college through which I happened to be jogging on a protracted lecture tour, I suggested a little quiz—ten definitions of a reader, and from these ten the students had to choose four definitions that would combine to make a good reader. I have  mislaid the list, but as far as I remember the definitions went something like this. Select four answers to the question what should a reader be to be a good reader: 1. The reader should belong to a book club. 2. The reader should identify himself or herself with the hero or heroine. 3. The reader should concentrate on the social-economic angle. 4. The reader should prefer a story with action and dialogue to one with none. 5. The reader should have seen the book in a movie. 6. The reader should be a budding author. 7. The reader should have imagination. 8. The reader should have memory. 9.  The reader should have a dictionary. 10. The reader should have some artistic sense. The students leaned heavily on emotional identification, action, and the social-economic or historical angle. Of course, as you have guessed, the good reader is one who has imagination, memory, a dictionary, and some artistic sense–which sense I propose to develop in myself and in others whenever I have the chance. Incidentally, I use the word reader very loosely. Curiously enough, one cannot read a book: one can only reread it. A good reader, a major reader, an active and creative reader is a rereader. And I shall tell you why. When we read a book for the first time the very process of laboriously moving our eyes from left to right, line after line, page after page, this complicated physical work upon the book, the very process of learning in terms of space and time what the book is about, this stands between us and artistic appreciation. When we look at a painting we do not have to move our eyes in a special way even if, as in a book, the picture contains elements of depth and development. The element of time does not really enter in a first contact with a painting. In reading a book, we must have time to acquaint ourselves with it. We have no physical organ (as we have the eye in regard to a painting) that takes in the whole picture and then can enjoy its details. But at a second, or third, or fourth reading we do, in a sense, behave towards a book as we do towards a painting. However, let us not confuse the physical eye, that monstrous masterpiece of evolution, with the mind, an even more monstrous achievement. A book, no matter what it is—a work of fiction or a work of science (the boundary line between the two is not as clear as is generally believed)—a book of fiction appeals first of all to the mind. The mind, the brain, the top of the tingling spine, is, or should be, the only instrument used upon a book. Now, this being so, we should ponder the question how does the mind work when the sullen reader is confronted by the sunny book. First, the sullen mood melts away, and for better or worse the reader enters into the spirit of the game. The effort to begin a book, especially if it is praised by people whom the young reader secretly deems to be too old-fashioned or too serious, this effort is often difficult to make; but once it is made, rewards are various and abundant. Since the master artist used his imagination in creating his book, it is natural and fair that the consumer of a book should use his imagination too. There are, however, at least two varieties of imagination in the reader’s case. So let us see which one of the two is the right one to use in reading a book. First, there is the comparatively lowly kind which turns for support to the simple emotions and is of a definitely personal nature. (There are various subvarieties here, in this first section of emotional reading. ) A situation in a book is intensely felt because it reminds us of something that happened to us or to someone we  know or knew. Or, again, a reader treasures a book mainly because it evokes a country, a landscape, a mode of living which he nostalgically recalls as part of his own past. Or, and this is the worst thing a reader can do, he identifies himself with a character in the book. This lowly variety is not the kind of imagination I would like readers to use. So what is the authentic instrument to be used by the reader? It is impersonal imagination and artistic delight. What should be established, I think, is an artistic harmonious balance between the reader’s mind and the author’s mind. We ought to remain a little aloof and take pleasure in this aloofness while at the same time we keenly enjoy—passionately enjoy, enjoy with tears and shivers—the inner weave of a given masterpiece. To be quite objective in these matters is of course impossible. Everything that is worthwhile is to some extent subjective. For instance, you sitting there may be merely my dream, and I may be your nightmare. But what I mean is that the reader must know when and where to curb his imagination and this he does by trying to get clear the specific world the author places at his disposal. We must see things and hear things, we must visualize the rooms, the clothes, the manners of an author’s people. The color of Fanny Price’s eyes in Mansfield Park and the furnishing of her cold little room are important. We all have different temperaments, and I can tell you right now that the best temperament for a reader to have, or to develop, is a combination of the artistic and the scientific one. The enthusiastic artist alone is apt to be too subjective in his attitude towards a book, and so a scientific coolness of judgment will temper the intuitive heat. If, however, a would-be reader is utterly devoid of passion and patience—of an artist’s passion and a scientist’s patience—he will hardly enjoy great literature. Literature was born not the day when a boy crying wolf, wolf came running out of the Neanderthal valley with a big gray wolf at his heels: literature was born on the day when a boy came crying wolf, wolf and there was no wolf behind him. That the poor little fellow because he lied too often was finally eaten up by a real beast is quite incidental. But here is what is important. Between the wolf in the tall grass and the wolf in the tall story there is a shimmering  go-between. That go-between, that prism, is the art of literature. Literature is invention. Fiction is fiction. To call a story a true story is an insult to both art and truth. Every great writer is a great deceiver, but so is that arch-cheat Nature. Nature always deceives. From the simple deception of propagation to the prodigiously sophisticated illusion of protective colors in butterflies or birds, there is in Nature a marvelous system of spells and wiles. The writer of fiction only follows Nature’s lead. Going back for a moment to our wolf-crying woodland little woolly fellow, we may put it this  way: the magic of art was in the shadow of the wolf that he deliberately invented, his dream of the wolf; then the story of his tricks made a good story. When he perished at last, the story told about him acquired a good lesson in the dark around the campfire. But he was the little magician. He was the inventor. There are three points of view from which a writer can be considered: he may be considered as a storyteller, as a teacher, and as an enchanter. A major writer combines these three—storyteller, teacher, enchanter—but it is the enchanter in him that predominates and makes him a major  writer. To the storyteller we turn for entertainment, for mental excitement of the simplest kind, for emotional participation, for the pleasure of traveling in some remote region in space or time. A slightly different though not necessarily higher mind looks for the teacher in the writer. Propagandist, moralist, prophet—this is the rising sequence. We may go to the teacher not only for moral education but also for direct knowledge, for simple facts. Alas, I have known people whose purpose in reading the French and Russian novelists was to learn something about life in gay Paree or in sad Russia. Finally, and above all, a great writer is always a great enchanter, and it is here that we come to the really exciting part when we try to grasp the individual magic of his genius and to study the style, the imagery, the pattern of his novels or poems. The three facets of the great writer—magic, story, lesson—are prone to blend in one impression of unified and unique radiance, since the magic of art may be present in the very bones of the story, in the very marrow of thought. There are masterpieces of dry, limpid, organized thought which provoke in us an artistic quiver quite as strongly as a novel like Mansfield Park does or as  any rich flow of Dickensian sensual imagery. It seems to me that a good formula to test the quality of a novel is, in the long run, a merging of the precision of poetry and the intuition of science. In order to bask in that magic a wise reader reads the book of genius not with his heart, not so much with his brain, but with his spine. It is there that occurs the telltale tingle even though we must keep a little aloof, a little detached when reading. Then with a pleasure which is both sensual and intellectual we shall watch the artist build his castle of cards and watch the castle of cards become a castle of beautiful steel and glass.   

Fort Sumter1 essays

Fort Sumter1 essays It would be an understatement to say that the Civil War caused unfortunate bloodshed and left a heritage of grief and bitterness in its path. This war is perhaps the most tragic of all time. Its epic feats and uncanny combats merit it as not only an unforgettable event in history, but a war that took over 600,000 lives. It was the only war fought on American soil by Americans, and for that reason the Civil War has always of interest. Ironically, but not surprisingly, the Civil War still remains a fascinating event in American history. Few leaders have faced decisions as difficult as those confronting Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis in April of 1861. At stake was the allegiance of the northern tier of slave states, wavering between the Union and their sister slave states. Beyond that, Lincoln had to find some way to get all the states back into the Union, and Davis to prevent it. All this now focused on Fort Sumter. With so much depending on this Fort and the events surrounding the outbreak of the Civil War, it is imperative to assess the wisdom of Abraham Lincoln's decision to hold Fort Sumter, and Jefferson Davis's decision to take it. Located on an island inside the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, and garrisoned by less then 100 U.S. soldiers, Fort Sumter was to both North and South a symbol of national authority in the states claiming to have seceded (McPherson 264). The 40 foot brick walls that were eight to twelve feet thick were designed to be able to stop anything from leaving or entering the harbor (McPherson 264). On December 20, 1861, after decades of sectional conflict, the people of South Carolina responded to the election of the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, by voting unanimously in convention to secede from the Union. Within six weeks five other states- Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana-followed South Carolina's example. Early in February 1861 they met in Montgom...

Mahayana and Christianity essays

Mahayana and Christianity essays Throughout the years of its existence, the religion of Buddhism has gone through many changes. One example of how Buddhism changed is when the Mahayana was adopted as an official interpretation. The Great Vehicle was the name that the Buddhists came up for this new way of thinking. The Buddhists spent much of their lives concentrating on reaching nirvana, which was balanced with everyday activities. Judaism also experienced many changes during this time, which was far more drastic than the Mahayana Buddhism religion. While the Mahayana kept the basic beliefs of Buddhism, Christianity changed far more in terms of thinking. When comparing these two religions, it is obvious that each religion is quite similar and different in many ways. These religions are similar in the fact that they both allow the saving of ones soul and that they are both variations on more strict religious rules, while they contrast each other in the fact they each have their own idea of the supreme being. In order for someone to reach nirvana, one had to be very dedicated and meditate a majority of the day. This limited the amount of other work that could be accomplished in a days worth of time. If everyone in the world followed this religion to the tee, no work would ever be accomplished. This is one of the main reasons that Buddhism had to be changed in order to make it a world religion. Buddhism was changed into a slightly new interpretation that was to be known as Mahayana, which literally means Great Vehicle. The first step to the change was the creation of the Hinyana, which translates to the Lesser Vehicle. This interpretation only allowed a small portion of people to achieve nirvana because of the many strict rules of meditation. This lasted for a small period of time until the Mahayana interpretation was presented, which allowed more people to reach enlightenment. The reason for an increase in people rea...

Camping

Hey, be careful and dont do anything stupid, my dad said to me right before I hopped into Chase Millers dark blue Chevy S-IO with a camper shell on the back. I looked at Chase and Tyler Becker and said, Lets go camping. As Chase pushed down the gas pedal, a big cloud of black smoke shot out of the back of the truck and the smell of burning motor oil filled the cab. It was in July, and we wanted to go camping. I asked my dad if we could go up to our familys cabin in Elk Springs, which is near Montrose. He agreed, so Chase, Tyler and I, all sixteen years old, packed our stuff and were ready to go camping. With excitement, we Jumped into Chases truck, and took off to the woods. It takes a good hour and forty-five minutes drive to get there from my house, and the drive gets a little boring. Chases truck was full of Junk. I found a roll of fishing line, and we got this bright idea to tie a piece of plastic to the end of the fishing line. I rolled down the window and threw out the plastic piece while holding on to the roll of fishing line. I let out more and more line, until the end was way out there. People would drive up to it and be confused, because they wouldnt see the fishing line, Just the plastic piece. Before I knew it, we were pulling up to the cabin. When we stopped, the first thing I did when I got out was take a deep breath. Then I said, What do you guys want to do? Chase Just shrugged his shoulder. Tyler suggested, Lets take a hike. We all agreed to that, because it sounded fun. As we were walking away from the cabin, I remembered that I brought a slingshot. I thought it would be fun to shoot rocks at stuff, so I suddenly said, Wait for me. I have o get something. I ran to my bag, which was still in Chases truck, and grabbed the slingshot. We took off into the woods. Every now and then we would stop, and Tyler and Chase would carve pointed sticks, and we would try to shoot birds, trees and other animals with rocks. We all sucked shooting the slingshot; we couldnt hit anything. As we were walking through the forest, we saw a clearing in the forest. We went to go see what it was. The clearing was a spot where people were logging. The logging company had all their equipment laying out everywhere. We slowly peeked our heads ut to see if the loggers were working. None were to be found. So, we walked up to the equipment to check it out. There was a big truck loaded logs on to the logging trucks. They had about four chainsaws laying there and another big truck that cut the trees down. Since it was private land that they were logging on, they didnt have to lock up. All the doors were open. Of course, we all had to get in them and play around with the controls. Tyler started to honk the horn in the semi-trucks. The horn hear us. About an hour passed, and we got bored of messing around with all their stuff, so we ecided to keep hiking. Tyler grabbed the slingshot and I made sure everything was put back how it was. As we were walking away Tyler was shooting rocks at the logging truck. We were about fifty yards out, and he couldnt hit it. Chase and I were standing there watching him, laughing and telling him that he sucked, because he couldnt hit a huge target. After about fifty shots and not one hit from him, Tyler said, Here, you try. I have to take a piss. I grabbed the sling shot from him and picked up a round pebble, about the size of a small marble, off the ground. I loaded the pebble in the eather pouch and drew both my hands up. With a firm grip of the handle of the slingshot in my left hand and squeezing the pebble in leather pouch with my right hand, I slowly pulled back. When the rubber band was fully stretched out, I closed one eye and took aim right towards the truck. Before I even thought about what I was doing I let go of the sling. The sling snapped forward launching the marble size rock towards the truck. A split second later, the rock crashed threw the window, and the sound of breaking glass filled the air. I remember yelling, OH SH#@! LETS GET OUT OF HERE! Tyler couldnt even finish what he was doing. We all hauled butt out of there as fast as were could. After we were a good distance away, we stopped, let Tyler finish what he was doing, and let my nerves calm down. I took a couple of deep breaths and something horrible popped into mind: my dad saying, Dont do anything stupid. I felt so bad. We decided to go back to look at the damage. As we were going back I was trying to figure ways out of this. When we got there, there was glass all over the place. The whole window was blown out into tiny pieces of safety glass. Tyler got an idea to make it ook like an accident. His idea was to lean a tree up against the truck to make it look like it fell and broke the window, but there was only one problem, there were no trees around. They had logged them all. Then I got an idea, which wasnt much better. My idea was to find a dead bird and put in on the seat by the broken window, making it look like the bird flew through window. We walked around looking for a dead bird. We had no luck. Then we all took turns shooting rocks at birds to try to kill one. No luck there either. By this time it was getting late and we were getting hungry, so we tarted to head back to the cabin. All night I couldnt get Dont do anything stupid out of my head. My conscience was getting to me. I tried to think of ways to tell my dad, and how harsh of a punishment he would give me. I woke up about 10:00 a. m. , and I heard the loggers working. We decided to go see. As we got closer, we made sure that they couldnt see us. While hiding behind trees, Tyler started to make a howling noise. The man with the chainsaw heard the noise, shut off his chainsaw, looked around, and then he went back to work. Tyler did it a second time, even louder than the first. This time the man shut off the chainsaw, set so we took off running through the woods, laughing all the way back to the cabin. When we got back, we started to pack to get home early. We Just got done packing up, and this gut ache came to me. I was getting nervous to go home. I kept thinking what my dad said to me. We Jumped into the truck, and took off to go home. On the way home, I decided to tell my dad when I got back. We pulled into my driveway and I got really nervous. I hopped out of the truck and grabbed my stuff. I could hear my dad say, Dont do anything stupid in my head ver and over. As I walk up to the front door he was there to greet me. He asked, Did you have fun? With a sorrowful look on my face, I replied, Yeah. I broke a window. Before I realized what I was saying, I had told him. I thought he was going to go off on me and give me a harsh punishment, but he didnt. He Just told me to do what I think is best. I ended up talking to the owner of the logging company and paying $104. 31 out of my pocket for the broken window. I should have listened to my dad a little better when he told me, Dont do anything stupid.