After reading “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” I can not help but see a Christian value rising up out of this story. Once I had reflected back on what I had read I realized that the number three has stood out to me, and that in the bible the number is of great significance. The tap that the Green Knight dealt to Sir Gawain is another symbol that stood out to me as well, this is Sir Gawain’s punishment and when he had ask the Green Knight his name at the end of the story, it symbolizes Sir Gawain’s shame after it is all through. Sir Gawain is a young and noble knight, but he is not with out fault just as most of us today are not without fault. Continue Reading »

For this assignment, I shall explore some factors that influence the development of culture, and sub-culture, reflecting on consumer products, and how they help to develop identity. In particular, my study will focus on music, media, and fashion, in relation to young people. As Williams, Hall, and Jefferson (1977) suggest, in this context culture refers to “distinct patterns of life, and the ways in which social groups give expression to their social and material life experiences”. (Cited in Wyn, J. White, R. 1997:pg72) Subculture highlights diversity, such as individual group cultures, “sub-cultures give young people the chance to express their difference from the rest of society, yet coexist within it”. (Brake,1980 cited in Roche,J.Tucker,S.1997:pg149) Continue Reading »

In 1900 Russia was the last remaining absolute autocracy out of the great powers of Europe. Approximately eighty four per cent of Russians were peasants, lead by an over privileged upper class who had enslaved them for centuries. There existed a total lack of understanding or sympathy between the workers/peasants and their ruling class, who cared little about their responsibility and obligation to care for the welfare of their people. By the turn of the century many voices emerged in hope to see reforms of their backward nation. For many years there had been desire for reform, but not until the layer upon layer of revolutionary pressure in the precondition phase did it blatantly warn of change, which Tsar Nicholas 2nd attempted to ignore and oppress. Continue Reading »

Elie Wiesel “was born on September 30, 1928 in Sighet, Transylvania, which is now known as Romania.” (The Story of Elie Wiesel, 2003) He grew up speaking in different kind of languages. He “spoke Yiddish at home, Hungarian, Romanian and German in public.” (The Hall of Public Service, 2003) Elie had 2 older sisters and 1 younger sister. Elie loved mystical, traditional and folk tales of the Hassidic sect of Judaism. When going to school, Elie learned how to speak in Hebrew. Elie’s father in the time, encouraged Elie to study the modern Hebrew language and concentrate on his secular studies. The most important thing in his life was his religious book. The people that influenced Elie is, his grandfather, mother and father. His father taught him how to reason and how to reach his mind. It was not until at the age 15, where him and his family were deported. At that very time, life would never be the same. Elie Wiesel with all that happened, struggled to survive and as a result became a successful writer in telling others of his story. Continue Reading »

In the book Watership Down by Richard Adams, the rabbits’ culture is very much like our human culture. One similarity between rabbits and humans is that they both believe in an all-powerful god. Another likeness of the two civilizations is that they both have governmental systems. A third parallel between humans and rabbits is that they both have stereotypical societies. Three major areas of human culture, belief in gods, governmental systems, and stereotypical societies, are just a few out of many characteristics presented that show the rabbits in Watership Down are really portraying human mentality in rabbits civilization. Continue Reading »

The world is a very big place with a population of 6,234,250,234 people and always growing. The world and its important resources are being destroyed by populations growing in such small areas. Many of these small areas have many problems of their own because of over population, such as hunger and many poor people.

China is the largest country in the world with a population of 1, 284,304,705 people and ranked the third largest in size in the world. In the year 2050 the population of China will be about 1,322,435,000. The population in china is growing by about 87% a year. China is controlling the population by the one-child policy. The one child policy was created in 1979 to help control the growing population of China. How the one child policy works is that families are only allowed one child but if that child can’t work the family can adopt another. Continue Reading »

Sharks are well known for their incredible resistance to disease. The exact reason for this resistance has always been a bit of a mystery. While performing research as a graduate student almost thirty years ago, John Marchalonis took several milliliters of blood from the heart of a shark. Marchalonis discovered two proteins, one large and one small, which could link together to form a Y-shaped structure. This Y-shaped structure, which consisted of the two proteins, had the ability to stick tightly to chemicals that did not belong inside the shark. This was an immune system response that would destroy the foreign invaders. This finding showed that sharks have disease-fighting antibodies that are similar to those found in humans. Continue Reading »

Abortion is the practice of terminating a pregnancy resulting in, or closely followed by, the death of the human fetus. In 1973 the famous court case of Roe versus Wade legalized abortion in the United States. Since that time, despite the occurrence of over thirty-five million abortions, abortion has become a prevalent social issue, extremely debatable and controversial. For the most part people can be divided into two basic categories: those in favor of abortion and those opposed to it. Both groups feel strongly concerning the issue and regularly debate its morality. These opinions on abortion are so powerful that the issue is frequently referred to in politics and is often a deciding factor when votes are being cast for public office. Obviously, these fierce opinions are influenced by far more than whimsical convictions, which raises the question: why do people feel so strongly about abortion? Continue Reading »

Napster and many other music downloading companies have been the thorn in many musicians’ sides for sometime now. Everywhere you look here lately there is some controversy over whether or not it is a crime to download music for free. One of the articles that caught my eye is an article by Leonard Pitts.

The article is mainly about how it was only common sense that sooner or later this would become illegal. He makes his point clear throughout the article, but while doing this he has the talent to look at both sides of things, through the downloader’s point of view and the musicians. Continue Reading »

When an intoxicated individual makes a decision to sit behind the wheel of an automobile and drive home, he endangers everyone on the road. This one decision, which may not seem important at the time, can have a crucial impact . When the choice whether or not to drive under the influence of alcohol faces a person, he often does not realize the consequences of his actions, and therefore makes an extremely uneducated decision. Many people believe that increasing fines for drunk driving offenders will play a significant part in the cutting down of driving under the influence. However, while stiffer DUI laws will look affective on paper, they will not make a substantial step in the fight against drunk driving.

The only benefit of increased drunk driving fines goes to the law enforcement agency that collects the fines. Because the majority of DUI stops happen to individuals who do not believe that they have become drunk, a person who chooses to drive does not even consider the fine that he may receive, no matter the amount. If an intoxicated person believes that he has the ability to drive home safely, a new law passed by state representatives will not stop them. Continue Reading »