The Classical World of the Greeks and the Romans Essay

The Classical World of the Greeks and the Romans - Essay Example By doing so, they became what we now know as the cradle of westernization. 1. What does your textbook mean when it says that the Greeks made the transition â€Å"from myth to reason†? The meaning of this was that the Greeks made what seemed to be impossible possible. When the notion of western thought and culture began in the 1500bc, it was later interrupted through the Greek Dark ages about 1100-900 BC. Here, westernization seemed to be a myth, something that would never be true. But again from around 900BC which is identified as the classical period there was a change of events as Greece entered the era which made it glorious, through the use of classical Greece philosophy, western thought and culture was developed. The philosophy based these developments upon the inquiry and reasons pertaining to various disciplines. These included literature, science, technology, law, economics, politics, psychology, art, ethics, etc. the early thinkers such as Thales and Anaximander were the ones who asked questions concerning the area of philosophy and came up with the theories to try to answer such questions. 2. List and briefly explain at least four specific contributions that the Greeks gave to Western Civilization. These contributions should be unique and specific to the Greeks The Greeks have made many contributions which are influential in western civilization. These are; the scientific method of solving the problem which was invented by Socrates, theatre is another contribution. Plays were written and performed to entertain people and also teach them morals and proper ethics. The form or system of government and politics was also a contribution from Greece. In the field of science, they provided knowledge regarding biology, physics, medicine, geology etc. An example being that through astronomy, they calculated the size of both the earth and the sun. And in physics the lever and the pulley were invented. 3. What was the special Greek contribution to politics , and how did this political system work? The historic Greek contribution to politics was the democracy system. It was a direct democracy system where each person had to vote. The democrats were only men as women; children and slaves were considered to be non citizens. The men would vote on what they wanted to be done. The thing or person that received the most votes won. This ensured that no tyrant, king or a single person could just bring in a new law and implement it 4. 4. Who was Alexander the Great? What did he accomplish? Why do you think that people from ancient times down to our own day have been so fascinated by him? Alexander the great was the king of Macedonia and a student of a famous philosopher called Aristotle. He was able to accomplish a lot of things like conquering over 70 cities Persian being one of them., spreading the Greek culture throughout the Persian Empire. He was also known to be a great general and a soldier and to add to that he acquired new colonies and trade routes. Many people are fascinated by him through his actions, and from him being a child till the day he died. For example, when he was 16years his father left him with the power to rule as he went to invade Thrace. He also showed his bravery at the Chaeronea battle and is known to never lose any battles that he went. He was considered to be among the greatest commanders in history and by the young age of thirty, he had created one of the largest empire. 5. Why is Julius Caesar such a

Crimes Against Persons Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Crimes Against Persons - Essay Example Kidnapping is when you take someone without their permission by force. Sometimes this crime is done using some sort of scam or another way to lure the victim away from their comfort zone. According to the article (Bakhtiari, 2011) the police were still looking for a motive for the crime. Many things could have caused this such as the boyfriend getting mad at the girlfriend because she was trying to break up with him. Another reason could be that they had to live in the hotel because they lost their home. Also one of them could have lost their job thereby leading to problems. The boyfriend could also have some sort of mental disease that would cause him to get angry and violent in a matter of minutes. The brutality of the crime could show anger and that the crime was personal. There could be so many factors that led to this and prevention of this crime would be based on what caused it. One way to see if someone has a violent tendency is to check their background. The FBI offers this s ervice and so do some other websites. By checking the background of individuals you date or have relationships with, you can determine if they are safe to be around. Considering that Florida is not known for many murders, the location of the crime does not seem to be a factor.

ECO MOD 2 CA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

ECO MOD 2 CA - Essay Example This was mainly due to the impairment charges of  £973mn related to ex-Armor Holdings business. BAE: The net operating cash flow has a mixed trend declining by 17.9% in 2008 and then growing by 9.1% in 2009. This is due to the company facing difficulties in generating net income from its operations. Upon examination of note 12 to balance sheet for the year ended 2009 it could be suggested that the machinery and other equipment recorded at historical cost of CHF677.9mn and accumulated depreciation is CHF477.7mn may not be reflective of the current market values as the depreciation amount is quite high that suggests long history of these equipments in use. Similar, reasoning could be made for other non-current assets that have a net book value of CHF53.4mn as compared to their historical value of CHF223.2mn (Sulzer 2009). Balance sheet of year ended 2009 reflects that the company has plant, rental machines and other property at historical cost of $39,596 with accumulated depreciation of $25,431. Under Note H to consolidated financial statement details of assets suggest that the company has land, building and other equipment however they are not distinguished on the basis of their remaining useful lives and no other details are provided (IBM 2009). Accumulated depreciation reflects 64% of the historical value that implies that these assets are quite old but the current values of replacement assets surely going to be higher than these values. From the note 12 it is clear that the accumulated depreciation is more than 50% for plant and machinery and aircraft. This implies that the remaining useful life of these assets is low and their net book values may not reflect the true value of these assets in their book. The depreciation method used for plant and machinery is straight line method that spreads the economic value over 3 to 5 years which means that the accumulated depreciation value implies high number of years

Housekeeping International Hotels Essay Example for Free

Housekeeping International Hotels Essay Housekeeping Standard Manuals define exactly how a room should be presented to hotel guests. This includes instructions on how the rooms should be cleaned, when they should be cleaned and a list of the things to be included in the rooms. The time of cleaning is very important as early or late cleaning could disturb the guests. Clean and presentable rooms attract and keep guests. This ensures order and smooth running of the hotel as there will be minimal complaints and confusion. These Housekeeping Manuals ensure guests are well treated and get what they are paying for. The manuals offer a guide on how to treat hotel guests and how to ensure they are comfortable during their stay. A quality service ensures good publicity on the part of the hotel management. This ensures the guests keep coming back and even recommend the hotel to friends and family members. Housekeeping Standard Manuals ensure safety and comfort of the guests. The Manuals offer instructions on what to do in case of emergencies and how to safely evacuate the guests. Body According to Diamond Edge (2007), â€Å"The guest is always right. †Housekeeping Manuals ensure that guests receive quality service. The Manuals ensure that guests concerns are dealt with swiftly and with a smile. Many studies have shown that clean rooms and public areas are the most important factors that determine whether the guests will return to the hotel. Clean guest rooms make a difference in the success of the hotel and the comfort of guests. (Diamond Edge 2007) The guests need a providence of all the accommodation products of the hotel, according to their requests. The accommodation products of the hotel include a mini bar, internet, room service and in-house movies. This provides comfort and entertainment for the enjoyment of the guest’s stay. Housekeeping Standard Manuals ensure safety of the guests. According to Andrews, one important quality of a room attendant is an eye for detail. The room attendant has to keep checking the rooms in case a guest is ill and needs urgent medical attention (Andrews 2001: 46). On the other hand, the manuals ensure privacy for the guests. This is usually through â€Å"do not disturb† signs and double locks for the guests. The room attendants have to knock in case they need any information from the guests. This makes the guests feel safe and secure in the hotel. The management includes the General Manager, the Front office manager, Housekeeper and Maintenance Manager. The General Manager assists with Marketing plans, reservations, maintenance and grounds keeping, maintains financial records and implement cost control measures. The Front office manager provides coverage as well as night auditor and desk clerks. To offer a high standard of service, the front office staffs have to understand the needs of their guests. The front office staffs need have a full knowledge of the products which the hotel sells, how these products can be offered for sale and the clients to whom these products will be sold (Huyton, Baker and Bradley 2001:29). The ability of front office staff to handle guest’s problem will either make the guest a friend of the hotel for life or chase him away forever. The front office staffs need to be calm, courteous and helpful and understand what the guest is going through when experiencing any difficulty. (Huyton, Baker and Bradley 2001). The housekeeper assists the room attendants who clean and maintain guest rooms and public areas. The Hotel Management is required to develop a competent staff. Management is required to meet the goals of the organization through the employees. Efficiency depends on how well the employees are motivated and instructed to meet the goals and objectives of the plans the general manager and staff have formulated (Bardi 2006). According to Pizam (2005), Housekeeping is the most important department in the hotel. The Housekeeping Staffs inspect rooms, clean rooms and maintains a continuous supply of linen and cleaning supply inventories. Housekeeping Standard Manuals helps in the thorough training of the room attendants. These Manuals also help executive housekeepers to maintain and control an inventory of all the supplies. Housekeepers are expected to ensure that the rooms are spotlessly clean. Anything less than perfect is unacceptable. (Pizam 2005:321-322). The Housekeeping Staff have to follow all the instructions on the Manuals to ensure compliance with the demands of the hotel requirements. Room attendants work in compliance with standard operating procedures that may specify as many as sixty items that must meet a given standard in each guest room (Rutherford and O’Fallon 2006:184). The Manuals enable them to give quality service to guests. It guides them on how to attend to guests and thus ensure guest satisfaction. The housekeeping report is useful to the housekeeping staff as it determines which rooms need to be cleaned, which rooms are occupied and which need special attention. The room attendants need to follow the Housekeeping Standard Manuals instructions on keeping an eye on the guests. This ensures safety of the guests and security on the part of the management. Not all the guests are honest and have good intentions. Some guests could pose danger on the name of the hotel or cause the hotel to loose a lot of money. These include guests who may slip out without paying or guests who may pose danger to other guests through misconduct. Summary The importance of Housekeeping Standard Manuals and the effect they have on guests, Hotel Management and Housekeeping staff has been analysed. Housekeeping Standard Manuals take a lot of time and money but their usefulness is worth so much more. The needs of the guests are so many that they cannot be remembered by either the hotel management or the housekeeping staff. The Manuals makes it easier for the housekeeping staff to provide quality service to the guest without having to worry about forgetting something. The Manuals also make it easier for inspectors and managers to confirm that the room is presentable and everything has been provided for the guest. Housekeeping Manuals have a positive outcome on the guests in that these Manuals keep them coming back. The clean and well presented rooms contribute a lot to the good publicity of the hotel. Guests love clean rooms and other offers like accommodation products which make them feel comfortable and at home. Hotel General Managers use these Manuals to run the Hotel smoothly. These instructions make their work easy because these Manuals are a direct guide on how everything should be presented. There are also guides on steps to take during emergencies and how to address the problems of the guests. The General Manager has to only check with the other Managers once in a while to ensure that everything is running smoothly. The Housekeeping Manuals are most important to the Housekeeping staff. They guide them on the rooms to clean, what to use during cleaning and when to clean the rooms. They also give the exact details on what to include in the rooms and how to present these products to the guests. This helps them to offer quality service to guests and to know how to deal with guests in case of difficulties.

Franklin D Roosevelt Essay -- essays research papers fc

Franklin D. Roosevelt In the 1932 election, the Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt collected 57.4 percent of the popular vote to easily defeat the republican opponent, Herbert Hoover. He strove to be a symbol of confidence and a new hope for the nation, declaring in his inauguration day speech on March 4, 1933, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" (Norton, p.727). By incorporating this theory into politics, he attempted to pick America off the ground, and set America back on track with two sets of programs called the First and Second New Deals. During the first hundred days of his presidency, Roosevelt set forth his plan for national recovery, known as the First New Deal. Designed and administered by Roosevelt's core group of advisors, known as the â€Å"Brain Trust† (Leuchtenburg, p.83), the New Deal represented a new era where the government would be able to intervene with the economy. With Democratic majorities in Congress, he was able to push through a large number of measures, making the first hundred days of his presidency an unprecedented period of government action. Roosevelt laid out his strategy for recovery early on, dividing it into three major goals: Banking and Relief for the Jobless, Agricultural Recovery, and Industrial Recovery. The first problem Roosevelt faced in the business side was with the number of bank closures throughout the nation during the early months of 1933. In response, he called for a four-day national bank holiday (Leuchtenburg, p.85), during which time he met with the heads of many of the nation's suffering banks and developed the Emergency Banking Relief Act, passed March 9. This act provided the framework under which banks could reopen their doors with federal support (McElvaine, p.103). On March 31, Congress passed the Unemployment Relief Act, which also created the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a program that employed the poor with public work and services (Leuchtenburg, p.92). April was also a successful month, even though less was successfully passed. May, on the other hand, saw the passing of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which created the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) to distribute federal aid to farmers and controlled farm production. That same day, the most comprehensive relief bill of the New Deal was passed, the Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA), appropriating $50... ... New Deal lost momentum as a conservative coalition in Congress passed cuts in relief programs and blocked further acts proposed by Democratic New Deal supporters. As a result, Roosevelt proposed few new reform measures during his second term in office. In his January 1939 State of the Union Address, Roosevelt proposed no new domestic programs (Norton, p.747). The New Deal had effectively ended. Bibliography Braeman, John, with Robert Bremmer and David Brody, eds. The New Deal University Press, Columbus: 1975 Freedman, Russell. Franklin Delano Roosevelt Clarion Books, New York: 1992 Joseph, Paul. Franklin D. Roosevelt Abdo & Daughters, Chicago: 2000 Leuchtenburg, William. Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal 1932 1940 Harpercollins, New York: 1963 McElvaine, Robert. The Great Depression : America, 1929-1941 Times Books, New York: 1984 Norton, Marybeth. A People and A Nation: The History of the United States Houghton Mifflin College, New York: 1998

Function of Music in Theatre Essay

QUESTION #1 Discuss the dramatic functions of music in two works of Music Theatre, including some consideration of the relationship between music and other elements of the performance event. Music and drama have the capability of not only integrating to create spectacular visual and aural events in theatre, but they have a distinct capacity to support each other – to heighten one-another to innovative, intrepid and even excessive levels. These levels reached are rarely paralleled in real life, at least not as effortlessly as they are in musical theatre. It seems that in some cases, the two elements aren’t complete unless they form a relationship – just as hydrogen and oxygen bond to produce water. ‘Music is created from sound as life is created from matter’ (Reti, 1961). Music in drama is somewhat a broad topic, as this communicates the infinite range of subtleties of music in drama, but the approach to evaluating this form of theatre is particularly important; is the focus upon the effect of the music upon the drama, or the drama upon the music? Is the focus upon the unity of the two, or their distinctions? This report will focus upon the use of music in theatre as an amplifier. The aim of this document is to hold a metaphorical magnifying glass over two individual pieces of drama: Lionel Bart’s music in ‘Oliver!’ and Elliot Goldenthal’s music in ‘Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within’. The two pieces of drama are poles apart when relating the plots, themes, settings and a great many others, but although the two works have over 30 years between them in production, there are particular conventions to be found within the composition of their music scores, which both illustrate the effectiveness of the basic systems in music to develop the drama, and the revolutions occurring in the new generation of drama for today’s new generation of audience. Although the music analyzed in this report can be easily disregarded by the audience as ‘backdrop’ music, there is a much deeper and arousing basis to the composer’s production of this music, which is there for much more than simply saying to the audience â€Å"This is where the character is†. ‘The great composers were fully aware both of the thematic principle and of the technique through which they materialized it.† – (Reti, 1961) The music used in these examples were not used simply for a pleasing auditory ‘spanner in the works’, but to achieve a new level of understanding especially from the point of view of particular characters. The music of the composers Bart and Goldenthal, successfully achieves a more intense portrayal of their characters featured, through the use of both subtlety and supplement. ‘Oliver’ will be the main focus for the initial component of this report, so that the two pieces of drama can be analyzed chronologically. ‘Oliver!’ is a musical interpretation of Charles Dickens’ ‘Oliver Twist’ and is a tender account of an orphan boy who runs away from the orphanage and journeys to London. He endeavors to â€Å"pick-a-pocket-or-two† for his new lodger Fagin, but gets caught. As Fagin tries to save him, Oliver decides that all he wants now is go to his newly discovered uncle, and live a good life. Oliver premiered on Broadway in January of 1963 and ran for 774 performances. It was converted into a film later that decade and subsequently won 6 academy awards including best picture for 1968. Throughout the duration of the Musical, the audience is drawn into Oliver’s world – hauled into his story through the use of melody and song. The initial scene where Oliver Twist first enters London is a defining component of the Musical, where (in film version) you see him gaze adoringly out at the clock tower above from underneath a dozen cabbages – the symphony slowly building as he pulls together the impulse to jump out form the basket and then stumble out into the middle of the street to view this living, breathing city before him. The music now escalates at this point and creates a strong resonance whilst he gawks with innocence and naivety at every moving spectacle around him. A brass fanfare erupts in unison with Oliver’s eruption from the basket and strongly accompanies the other sounds of the city such as the hustle and bustle of loaded carriages, trains blasting their whistles, people rich and poor alike scurrying about busily like ants – oblivious to the music unlike Oliver. This scene captures almost every conceivable aspect of the city from Oliver’s eyes and packs it tightly into song with The Artful Dodger’s swift introduction, reception and invitation in the song â€Å"Consider Yourself†, at which point he takes Oliver on an excursion around the busy city. A humorous contrast is provided here in this scene – where Dodger sings the lines â€Å"Consider yourself at home, consider yourself one of the family† whilst at the same time, both he and Oliver are being scrutinized by policemen and chased by merchants as they weave and bob their way through the immeasurable stream of dancing butchers, grocers, paperboys, fishmongers, etc. Soon after this scene, Fagin gives Oliver a lesson on how to â€Å"Pick a Pocket or Two†. The music in this scene is lighthearted and comedic but offers many subtleties to be investigated, such as the deep brass used to convey the sense of danger, the sense of capture or discovery, but the underscore of flutes happily tooting away at Oliver’s new found conception that the art of thievery is all just a game – not something evil or punishable at least. Interestingly, when you meet up with the character Bill Sikes (a fiendish henchman with a violent and deadly temper) there is an immediate shift in music, just as if his entrance creates a wind that pushes the high-spirited music out of the room to make space for his deep, rich and threatening score. Although Oliver is a high-spirited production, there are strong hints of the dilemmas of poverty and violence brought into three dimensions with song, but more contemporary dramatic works have required more than these fundamental methods to bring the characters and scenes to life – literally. ‘Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within’ was released as a full-length feature film in 2001. This feature however was different to any other as the entire film was animated. The story of ‘Final Fantasy’ is set in the year 2065 where the remaining inhabitants of earth are locked in a battle to take back the Earth from marauding alien invaders. Led by a strange repeating dream, Dr. Aki Ross may be the only one who can save the human race from extinction. Elliot Goldenthal was provided the challenge of bringing the synthetic characters to life through his musical composition. ‘There seemed to be only one logical answer for me, which was to amplify the humanness in any place that was dramatically possible. I wanted to treat the character’s emotional interactions, for example, as one would treat them in normal drama, with a lyrical sweeping melody.’ (Goldenthal, 2001). Performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, Goldenthal’s music for ‘Final Fantasy’ attempted at every point to bring life to the characters in the story both emotionally and physically. This is evident in the very first scene of the film where the audience is introduced to Aki, when she is having her repeated dream. The introduction of the accompanying piece is led by the sound of a glass harmonica to convey the potential sensitivity and fragility of Aki’s character. She wakes from the dream and finds herself on her spacecraft, revolving across the surface of the earth. In the next scene, she descends to earth accompanied by an almost military fanfare of brass and strings coming together on a strong Eb chord, giving a feeling of purpose and decision to this descent. Her ship touches down on the desolate, empty streets of New York, and the music instantly stops in a parallel with the apocalyptic emptiness of the long-dead city. Further on in the movie, Aki’s love interest Gray Edwards becomes critically infected by one of the aliens and is given only a matter of minutes to live unless treated immediately. Aki is forced to work against time in an attempt to save Gray, The dramatic tension in this scene is heightened by Goldenthal’s Score â€Å"Code Red†, composed basically of intense strings and strong percussion symbolizing a clock, and also signifying the value and importance of time. The music steadily builds in pitch, volume and intensity as the timer next to the operating table nears 0:00, but the tempo remains the same due to the fact that the time on the clock cannot speed up or slow down. At the climax of the scene, Aki saves Gray with only seconds to spare and as soon as the operation finishes the music abruptly ends, leaving the audience somewhat temporarily suspended in a moment of heightened tension. In a later scene, Gray and Aki are engaged in a private conversation where Aki speaks of a terminally ill eight-year-old girl she once spent time with before her death. In this scene where Aki reveals her emotional vulnerability for the first time, Goldenthal chose for this to be the first moment in the film where a piano is used. He decided on this due to the fact that the characters are so far away from any type of home in a desolate land, instead of going high-tech, a more earthy instrument is needed, something not basic, but elementary in musical design. The piano in this scene reminds the audience of home and connects the animated characters with images of a soft and sympathetic reality. A scene later in the film shows General Hein, (the villain of the film) in his office speaking of how his wife and child were killed by the aliens. Throughout the earlier scenes of the movie, the General is composed in a gloomy light, but in this particular scene, he is viewed musically in a sympathetic light. The music is tender and wistful as he unconsciously shows why his contempt for the aliens proves to cloud his judgment. There is a reference in the music that although there is compassion within this character, it is somewhat suppressed to an almost dormant state, overshadowed by hate and resentment. ‘We must always rely on the music as our guide toward our understanding of the composer’s conception of the text. It is this conception, not the bare text itself that is authoritative in defining the ultimate meaning of the work.’ (Kerman, 1989). The function of this music being strategically used in drama is for the benefit of the audience not only because it has the ability to paint a scene, but it also opens up the dialogue and opens up the characters and lets the audience see what is going on inside of them. The function is ‘to supply certain kinds of meaning to the drama, meanings that enrich immeasurably, and enrich dramatically, and that cannot be presented in any other way’ (Kerman, 1989). Drama alone can hopelessly attempt to convey some of the aspects of life that music can convey in just a few notes, and music can ridiculously hope to fulfill all the needs of a script without any real actions or dialogue, but in the end, the two combined provide an infinite array of possibilities and interpretations to be searched. In conclusion, if the composer is faced with the challenge of creating music to accompany drama, there is no unambiguous method of composition that one has to follow, but the impartiality between the two elements requires a strong correspondence at every point where they meet, or else the implication, sensation or meaning you are trying to convey will become caught in some redundant crossfire and the audience will lose the chance of gaining something extra from a piece of theatre capable of reaching outside of it’s three dimensions. – B. Daly Clark REFERENCES Goldenthal, E. (2001) The Composer’s Challenge. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, New York: Marca Registrada Kerman, J. (1989) Opera as Drama, London: Richard Clay Limited. Lippman, E. A., Hatch, C. (1999) The philosophy & Aesthetics of Music, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press Reti, R. (1961) The Thematic Process in Music, London: Faber and Faber Limited.

Gender roles Essay

Gender roles refer to the set of social, attitudinal and behavioral roles, norms and expectations that, within a definite culture, are also formally or informally required or widely measured to be socially appropriate for persons of a precise gender identity. They are constructed for a variety of genders in order to channelize their energies towards some socially intended goals, which are either frequently shared or affixed from many of the experimental differences in behaviors, attitudes and personalities, amid various genders, come naturally, a lot of of these characteristics are, either in part or wholly, socially constructed, therefore, a product of socialization experiences. Qualities of a meticulous gender identity do not need to be imposed through rules and norms, while artificial roles have to be ‘enforced’ on people throughout some kind of psycho-social mechanism. Gender roles of a particular sex may not always be in accordance with the normal or biological traits of that gender, and they may turn out to be too strict or constricting so as to cause in the oppression of that gender. This is because of the potential of the gender roles to manage the behavior of people that these roles have been tremendously politicized and manipulated with the ruling forces, for several millenniums now, resulting in severe oppression of every gender of humans. Gender has numerous valid definitions, but its here in reference to an individual’s inside sex or psychological sense of being a male or female irrespective of one’s (outer) sex identity as determining one’s sexual organs. We find three major genders: masculine (inner male identity), feminine (inner female identity) and neutral (a balance of inner male and female identity). In conclusion gender roles of women have been enforced on them through force, and have thus been extra visible. Men gender roles are difficult to enforce but are indirectly enforced. References Bem, S. L. (1981). Gender schema theory: A cognitive account of sex typing. Psychological Review 352-365. Connell, Robert William: Gender and Power, Cambridge: University Press 1987.