Analysis Of Octavia Butler s Kindred - 912 Words

Often when critics read Octavia Butler’s Kindred, the focus of the novel is often on the bodies of the black people who lived during this era. However, the narrative itself is fascinating in the way it confronts history in order to deconstruct it and rebuild it. Dana’s journey to antebellum Maryland enables the reader to take a new look at characters they though they knew, like Sarah’s role as the â€Å"mammy.† Butler’s blending of the Neo-slave narrative genre and Fantasy allows her protagonist to get up close and person with these figures to see how well her â€Å"knowledge† of them in 1976 hold up—when she has to live as a slave herself. By closing the time gap and breaking down the disconnect between the generations, the parallels between Sarah and Dana become stark and direct. Butler shows the reader that time is not a unidirectional concept, but cyclical. Much like style is recycles through the years, so is history. Dana and Sar ah’s roles are remarkably similar as each woman is barely living in their respective time periods. The survival theme that permeates the novel resonates through the various time periods and closes the temporal distances. By bring the time periods so close to together, Butler is able to analyze the attitudes that modern blacks have towards their enslaved kin. The metaphorical mirror that Butler holds up to Dana’s face forces her to confront the similarities between her and Sarah, and as the reader follows the narrative, they are also looking into a

Channel Tunnel (Chunnel) Essay Example For Students

Channel Tunnel (Chunnel) Essay Statistics:Location: Folkestone, England, and Sangatte, FranceCompletion Date: 1994Cost: $21 billionLength: 163,680 feet (31 miles)Purpose: RailwaySetting: UnderwaterMaterials: Steel, concreteEngineer(s): Transmanche Link Engineering FirmWhen England and France decided to link their two countries with a 32-mile rail tunnel beneath the English Channel, engineers were faced with a huge challenge. Not only would they have to build one of the longest tunnels in the world; they would have to convince the public that passengers would be safe in a tunnel this size. Tunnel fires, like the Holland Tunnel disaster, were common at this time. How did the engineers resolve this problem? They built an escape route. The Channel Tunnel, also called the Euro Tunnel or Chunnel, actually consists of three tunnels. Two of the tubes are full sized and accommodate rail traffic. In between the two train tunnels is a smaller service tunnel that serves as an emergency escape route. There are also several cross-over passages that allow trains to switch from one track to another. Just one year after the Chunnel opened, this engineering design was put to the test. Thirty-one people were trapped in a fire that broke out in a train coming from France. The design worked. Everyone was able to escape through the service tunnel. It took just three years for tunnel boring machines from France and England to chew through the chalky earth and meet hundreds of feet below the surface of the English Channel. Today, trains roar through the tunnel at speeds up to 100 miles per hour and its possible to get from one end to the other in only 20 minutes!Heres how this tunnel stacks up against some of the longest tunnels in the world. (total length, in feet) Facts: At the time it was being built, the Chunnel was the most expensive construction project ever conceived. It took $21 billion to complete the tunnel. Thats 700 times more expensive than the cost to build the Golden Gate Bridge! Many of the tunnel boring machines used on the Chunnel were as long as two football fields and capable of boring 250 feet a day. When construction began in 1988, British and French tunnel workers raced to reach the middle of the tunnel first. The British won. In the first five years of operation, trains carried 28 million passengers and 1 2 million tons of freight through the tunnel.

Tsunami Essays - Physical Oceanography, Water Waves, Natural Hazards

Tsunami When one thinks of all the natural disasters, that could effect the Maryland and Washington D.C. area they often think of hurricanes and snowstorms. They often forget about the possibility of a tsunami. A tsunami, often referred to as a "tidal wave", is a wave train, or series of waves, generated in a body of water by an impulsive disturbance that vertically displaces the water column. Being located on the Atlantic coastline the possibility of a tsunami is very much a reality. But have you ever wanted to know what can cause waves of this magnitude? Tsunamis are usually caused by earthquakes that occur on the seafloor or in coastal areas. The energy generated by the earthquake is transmitted through the water. In deep oceans the energy in these sea waves can travel unnoticed because the wave height may be only twelve inches. When this energy reaches the shallow waters of coastlines, bays, or harbors, it forces the water into a giant wave. Some tsunamis may reach heights of 100 feet or more. Rarely but possibly cosmic collisions can cause a tsunami. Things like meteors or asteroids impacting in the middle of the ocean will disturb the water from above. These cosmic bodies will start a tsunami on its destructive course. No one has actually witnessed such an event, except in the movie Deep Impact. But computer simulations show that these giant tsunamis are indeed possible. Lastly, submarine landslides, which often accompany large earthquakes, can also disturb the water as sediment and rock slump downslope and are redistributed across the sea floor. When these large amounts of dirt, mud, or sand slides into the ocean it often generates an uplift in the water causing a tsunami. Earthquakes, cosmic collisions, and landslides are just few causes of a tsunami. Even though the Maryland and Washington D.C. area are more likely to have a hurricane or a snowstorm, we must not ever forget the constant threat of having a tsunami.

To Do vs. To Make

To Do vs. To Make To Do vs. To Make To Do vs. To Make By Maeve Maddox Pointing out that some languages, like Russian, have only one verb to express the meanings of English make and do, a reader requests a little guidance: Please could you explain the difference between the verbs â€Å"to do† and â€Å"to make.† Is there some kind of formula or method? Would that I could postulate some foolproof rule for knowing when to use do and when to use make. Some general guidelines do exist, but for many of the idioms, memorization is the ESL speaker’s only recourse. Generally speaking, the verb do and its forms are used to talk about duties, jobs, or leisure activities: England expects that every man will do his duty. Who does your hair? He’s doing time for assault. She can’t do enough for that lay-about husband of hers. Jake does the crossword every morning on the train. Have you done your homework? The verb make is used to talk about constructing, creating, or performing something: The company has made an offer on a new building. Excuse me while I make a phone call. The child made a face behind the teacher’s back. The builders are making progress on the house. Time is running out; we must make a decision now. We tried to move without making a noise. It’s possible to use do with an adverb: I hope he will do well there. He did badly in his last job. Make is usually followed by a noun: make the bed make amends make a mistake make a visit make a speech Exceptions are the idioms â€Å"to make nice† (behave in an agreeable manner), and â€Å"to make do† (get along with what one has†): His mother told him to make nice with the neighbor’s children. As we haven’t the money for a new car, we shall have to make do with this one. A great many expressions that are used with make can be rephrased with verbs that correspond to the noun that follows make or with another verb: to make a confession > to confess to make a visit > to visit to make a suggestion > to suggest to make a face > to grimace to make believe > to imagine Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Comparative Forms of Adjectives25 Russian Words Used in English (and 25 More That Should Be)Neither... or?

The Battle to Save the Ozone Layer - CFC Hazards

The Battle to Save the Ozone Layer - CFC Hazards Ozone depletion is a crucial environmental problem on Earth. The growing concern over CFC production and the hole in the ozone layer is causing alarm among scientists and citizens. A battle has ensued to protect Earths ozone layer. In the war to save the ozone layer, and you may be at risk. The enemy is far, far away. 93 million miles away to be exact. It is the sun. Each day the Sun is a vicious warrior constantly bombarding and attacking our earth with harmful Ultra Violet radiation (UV). Earth has a shield to protect against this constant bombardment of harmful UV radiation. It is the ozone layer. The Ozone Layer is Earths Protector Ozone is a gas that is constantly formed and reformed in our atmosphere. With the chemical formula O3, it is our defense against the Sun. Without the ozone layer, our Earth would become a barren wasteland on which little to no life could exist. UV radiation causes a host of problems for plants, animals, and humans including dangerous melanoma cancers. Watch a short video clip on the ozone layer as it provides protection to Earth from harmful solar radiation. (27 seconds, MPEG-1, 3 MB) Ozone Destruction is Not All Bad. Ozone is supposed to break up in the atmosphere. The reactions taking place high in our atmosphere are a part of a complex cycle. Here, another video clip shows a close-up view of ozone molecules absorbing solar radiation. Notice the incoming radiation breaks apart ozone molecules to form O2. These O2 molecules are later rejoined to form ozone again. (29 seconds, MPEG-1, 3 MB) Is There Really a Hole in the Ozone? The ozone layer exists in a layer of the atmosphere known as the stratosphere. The stratosphere is directly above the layer that we live in known as the troposphere. The stratosphere is approximately 10-50 kilometers above the Earths surface. The diagram below shows a high concentration of ozone particles at about 35-40 km in altitude. But the ozone layer has a hole in it!†¦or does it? Although commonly nicknamed a hole, the ozone layer is a gas and cannot technically have a hole in it. Try punching the air in front of you. Does it leave a â€Å"hole†? No. But ozone CAN be severely depleted in our atmosphere. The air around the Antarctic is severely depleted of atmospheric ozone. This is said to be the Antarctic Ozone Hole. How is the Ozone Hole Measured? The measurement of the ozone hole is made using something called a Dobson Unit. Technically speaking, â€Å"One Dobson Unit is the number of molecules of ozone that would be required to create a layer of pure ozone 0.01 millimeters thick at a temperature of 0 degrees Celsius and a pressure of 1 atmosphere†. Lets make some sense of that definition... Normally, the air has an ozone measurement of 300 Dobson Units. This is equivalent to a layer of ozone 3mm (.12 inches) thick over the entire earth. A good example is the height of two pennies stacked together. The ozone hole is more like the thickness of one dime or 220 Dobson Units! If the level of ozone drops below 220 Dobson Units, it is considered to be a part of the depleted area or â€Å"hole†. Causes for the Ozone Hole Once in the stratosphere, UV radiation break apart the CFC molecules into dangerous chlorine compounds which are known Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS). The chlorine literally slams into the ozone and breaks it apart. In the atmosphere a single chlorine atom can break apart ozone molecules again and again and again. Watch the video clip showing the break-up of ozone molecules by chlorine atoms.(55 seconds, MPEG-1, 7 MB) Have CFCs Been Banned? The Montreal Protocol in 1987 was an international commitment to reduce and eliminate the use of CFCs. The treaty was later amended to ban CFC production after 1995. As part of Title VI of the Clean Air Act, all Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) were monitored and conditions were set forth for their use. Initially, the amendments were to phase out ODS production by the year 2000, but it was later decided to accelerate the phase out to 1995. Will we win the war? References: OzoneWatch at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center The Environmental Protection Agency

Executive Summary Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Executive Summary - Assignment Example This initiative seeks to establish a customer support service within the outpatient section of the hospital to ensure that some services which were previously not being provided to the clients are made available to them (Wolper, 2011). Therefore, it is evident that many hospitals across the state lack personalised one on one interaction services to their clients whereby critical issues that affect them on the daily basis are discussed and relevant advice be given to them to ensure they stand a better position tackling those problems effectively (Cleverley, Cleverley & Song, 2011). This customer support service will be basically based on offering valuable information and advice to the clients of the hospital on crucial issues that include; the importance and use of contraceptives, cancer awareness, HIV/AIDS counselling and other home care information that the clients may seek to be enlightened on (Weese & Tucholka, 2007). The program will be a sensitization initiative that will be providing support services to clients on issues affecting them daily in their health life. According to a research that was conducted recently by the university of Liverpool it indicated many people who end up suffering from chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes and other immune depressing ailments do so as a result of lack of adequate information on way od leading health lifestyles that will free them from the risk of contracting those disease (Guah, 2011). Basically the customer support service will be offering information to the clients on how to lead healthy lifestyles this will involve information on the types of food and physical activities that people need to take, consultation on the use of contraceptives and also advice on how to manage diseases such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, diabetes etc. (Cleverley, Cleverley & Song, 2011). The customer support service that we intend to roll out

Physiology and Pharmacology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Physiology and Pharmacology - Essay Example The results of Schild analysis reveal that the drug homatropine is a competitive antagonist for acetylcholine, both competing exclusively for the muscarinic type cholinergic receptors. The Schild plot slope derived has a perfect unity value leading strongly to this conclusion. This also reveals that both agonist and antagonist compete exclusively for the same subtype of receptors without either getting involved with any other subtypes. The report concludes that this research has been relatively successful and thinks that this is of some value as it is highly essential to use such research as this to disclose the particular nature of the drug so that its pharmacology can be successfully implemented. Cholinergic receptor cell types are two – muscarinic and nicotinic. The muscarinic receptors, so called because of their response to muscarine, are to be found mainly in the post-ganglionic parasympathetic effector sites and also in the autonomic ganglion and adrenal medulla. In the latter parts of the nervous system they modulate nicotinic receptor mediated effects (Brown and Taylor, 1996, pp. 142-143). Atropine (dl-Hyoscyamine) and the semi-synthetic homatropine (isopto-atropine) are known muscarinic receptor anatagonists that are usually tertiary amines well able to be absorbed and infiltrate the central nervous system. Nevertheless, they can be converted into the quarternary form by addition of a methyl group to the nitrogen. In this form they are more potent as muscarinic blockers and have increased ganglionic blocking action. Permanently charged quarternary agents do not significantly intrude into the CNS and have limited action there (Brown and Taylor, 1996, pp. 149-150). The atropine/homatropine muscarinic receptor type antagonists have specific depolarization (late EPSP) action in autonomic ganglia. The molecular effects are stimulation of phospholipase C (PLC) with formation of inositol-1, 4, 5 triphosphate () and