Henrys intelligent investment, for the love of Portia Essay

Henrys intelligent investment, for the love of Portia - Essay Example Mark Twain’s â€Å"Million Pound Bank Note† is a version of a well acquainted and balanced contrast of romance and business prospects. Henry, who had been a pauper, was naively turned into a millionaire, when romance hit his life and a â€Å"million pounder bill† knocked his luck with business. Henry Adams (the main actor of the story) became the unanimous dupe of a bet put forth by two old gentlemen. A million pound bill was handed over to him as part of the bet, in order to negate the hypotheses of the two brothers, of whether or not he could be able to survive for a month. Henry made business on something that was unreal. His astuteness and honesty served as powerful resources for him, nurtured with his past experience as a clerk and interest in stock brokers. He made his experience, good will and sincerity count and found the love of his life with a status of a millionaire. He gained without spending a penny. Portia Langham came into his life and they instant ly fell in deep love with each other. Being an honest person by nature, he told every bit of his story to her of how he became rich, yet standing poor. Henry’s romance and business prospects went equally hand in hand throughout the story.

Harry Potter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Harry Potter - Essay Example The present concept of psychology states that nature and nurture combine to influence our actions, thoughts, and feelings (p.316). In other words, if someone has the blood or the genes for such a personality to develop, he must be brought up or nurtured for that kind of personality, so there can be a combination of nature and nurture for the personality to effectively come out. According to the book, Harry Potter has roots in the Wizarding world that is composed of wizards and witches, both good and evil. This world also thinks that Harry will be a wizard someday. Or, to put it clearly, because of this blood that he inherited from his parents and from generations before, he is already a wizard (nature). But when the time comes, or when he's ripe of age, he has to be trained how to handle the traits to be a wizard (nurture), just like an ordinary human being, where one has to be trained and nurtured into what he or she wants to be. He has to be accustomed to the different techniques in the art of wizardry, learn magic and brew potions, etc. There have been mixed reviews on the Harry Potter fantasy series with respect to the main character of the boy Harry who has grown to be a young lad with a great following. He is a victim of circumstances, but in this situation he becomes a part of a whole plot to destroy evil. He inherited from his parents power - in the form of magic and wizardry - and prestige. How he is built up and how he uses this, are the subject for this paper. Introduction What forces cause Harry Potter to change as he passes through life What factors determine whether he grows up to be a wizard: nature or nurture The personality of Harry is clear in the minds of his millions of fans. But to a few skeptics and reviewers, Harry's personality is quite hidden and questionable. Harry Potter may be hiding behind a closet, as what is shown in the early part of the story - he was kept by his uncle in a closet under the stairs. Could this be the thing the author JK Rowling have in mind regarding the boy's sexuality Is Harry Potter a hero or heroine A sexual deviant or a bisexual Or is he just a normal boy who fought through the hard times and here becomes a hero seeking revenge against the evil that killed his parents These things have to be asked in the light of how Harry is being brought up in such a difficult and sacrificing environment. The situations that Harry is in are not ordinary situations. Day in and day out, he is in constant danger. The family that pretends to be a family is not supportive, and continues to push him to the limit. This essay will give an analysis on the many aspects surrounding the Harry Potter character, on how he became to be who he is in the story. Since this is a fictional character, we'll try to picture him as real or living - and not imaginary - as what the millions of Harry Potter fans regard of him. "The Harry Potter books are one of the only things I have not grown out of because they have grown with me, they have seen me through my different stages, my ups and downs and it is with a heavy heart that I am now forced to leave them behind," says Mimi Newman, 17, an avid Harry Potter fan (Telegraph.co.uk). Since he is supposed to be real in this essay, we'll try to delve on the

Saudi Arabia's political future in the region Research Paper

Saudi Arabia's political future in the region - Research Paper Example There have been a number of uprisings which in actual fact led to the brining down of 3 Arab leaders, whereas others have been threatened and introduced to a whole new historic period of transformation (Agence France Press 56). These events painted one of the significant features of modern Arab societies which include their huge and growing youth populations. Studies have been undertaken from time to time, indicating the extent which the youth in Arab countries influence the political, social and economic future of the Arab countries (Alexander 87). This is what forms basis in this paper, Saudi Arabia’s Political future in the region. On the other hand, the events of the precedent historical developments in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Syria, Yemen, Morocco and even Oman highlight the advancing position of the youth in shaping the future of this region (Alexander 96). It is therefore evident that Saudi Arabia is facing the Arab Awakening which is strong enough to shift the regions political central force from an old generation of dictators to a new and young generation of democratic leaders. And without warning, the youth of Saudi Arabia are in the fore front more than willing to shape and change the political future of their own country. It is evident that the young people and the entire population of old people in Saudi express a lot of patriotism for King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz for the reason that he is largely perceived as a religious, compassionately and a person who has good interests for the people of Saudi at heart (Schanzer 111). A large number of King Abdulaziz subjects show admiration to his reformist standpoint for instance in various fields like education and the rights of women. Whereas the good regards may not go further than to everybody in the administrative royal family, the political framework of Saudi obtains prevalent and well known authority among Saudis which includes the youth. In March 2011, a call on social media for Saudiâ⠂¬â„¢s â€Å"Day of Rage† was evident. As a matter of fact, this occurred several weeks subsequent to the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had been thrown out and anxiety in the region was becoming apparent (Alexander 96). However, on the day that the rage was to take center stage, journalists in Riyadh were able to capture only one protestor in the town of five million people. In the real sense there are a number of reasons behind this evident change of mind or lack of interest in the rage anymore. Firstly, there was an intensive police presence which entailed use of helicopters in the Riyadh streets that particular day. Secondly, the government is known to deal severely with those who resist its injunctions or go against/criticize its rules further subjecting them to illogical arrest and long-serving detention (Lynch 43). For instance the â€Å"Day of Rage’s single protester, a forty year old teacher Khalid Al Johani was put to detention moments subsequent to his pu blic declaration to journalists that Saudi Arabia is a â€Å"police state†. Several months soon after, Al Johani was jailed with no charges 4 months (Lynch 43). On the other hand a cluster of a dozen reformist and activists in Jeddah who were deliberating on coming up with a political party, that is prohibited in the Kingdom, were lately sentenced to long serving prison terms of up to thirty years subsequent to undisclosed trial charges,

The Use of X-Rays in Dentistry Essay Example for Free

The Use of X-Rays in Dentistry Essay Dentistry is increasingly becoming a major part of people lives in today’s society, being taken for granted and often little thought about. As technologies advance treatment becomes cheaper, quicker, and the outcome becomes more aesthetically pleasing and longer lasting. As braces, dentures, crowns, procedures and techniques change and improve at an alarming rate, one aspect has remained the same for a longer period of time. This is the use of X-Rays. X-Rays have been used in dentistry since the mid 1900’s, and continue to be used in the same way today. They are an effective way of finding and identifying various oral problems, allowing for early prognosis and prevention of more serious issues. How is an x-ray produced? Diagram showing a Dental x-ray tube. In a dental (and most other uses of x-rays including all medical uses) x-ray tube, x-rays are formed as electrons from a hot wire filament are accelerated onto a target anode. A high-voltage unit is used to set the anode at a large positive potential compared to the negatively charged filament. The electrons are pulled onto the anode at very high speeds and are suddenly decelerated on impact. As this impact occurs, some of the kinetic energy is converted into electromagnetic energy, as x-rays. This means that the anode therefore emits x-rays as a result of being smashed with high-energy electrons. The x-rays spread out from the focal spot, through the tube window and onto the region to be examined. How is an image formed? X-ray films that are used in dental radiography consist on an emulsion/gelatine mix containing chemicals that are sensitive to x-ray radiation. This is a silver halide either bromide or chloride. The emulsion/gelatine mix and their suspension is set onto a flexible, transparent tinted blue base. Emulsion is used in all types of analogue photography, but the type used in x-ray photography is of a different kind to that used in light photography. The emulsion is usually coated on both sides of the base in layers around 0. 1mm thick. As both sides of the base are coated, there is twice the amount of radiation sensitive silver halide, and so the speed at which an image is produced is increased significantly. Another way to increase the speed of producing an image would be to just have one side with a larger thickness of emulsion. This however would slow down the developing, fixing and drying stage, meaning taking x-rays would take an unreasonable amount of time. Some x-rays requiring more detail use film with emulsion on one side only. When x-rays, gamma rays, or light strike the grains of the sensitive silver halide in the emulsion, some of the halide (Br- or Cl-)  ions are released and captured by the silver (Ag+)ions. This chemical change is of such a small nature that it cannot be detected by ordinary physical methods and is called a latent (meaning hidden) image. However, the exposed grains are now more sensitive to the reduction process which happens during development of the film. When exposed to a chemical solution (the ‘developer’), and the reaction results in the formation of black, metallic silver. It is this silver, suspended in the emulsion-gelatine on both sides of the base that creates an image. Seeing things with X-Rays Different materials have different properties, including x-ray absorption ability. This is exactly the same with body parts, especially teeth. Radiation passes through skin the easiest, followed by the guns and soft tissue. These parts show up as the very darkest areas on an x-ray. Harder tissues absorb and black more radiation from hitting the film and so show up as much lighter areas. Metal implants, fillings and crowns (most artificial features) show up as the brightest white. The different depths of materials is also shown, nerve endings and dentine contours being visible on most developed films. This image shows that a root canal procedure has been successfully completed, meaning less time and money is wasted fixing procedures that have failed. Also visible is an amalgam filling (Brightest white) Measuring Radiation The Sievert The  sievert  (Sv) is the  International System of Units  (SI)  derived unit  of  equivalent radiation dose,  effective dose, and  committed dose. Quantities that are measured in sieverts are designed to represent the  stochastic  biological effects of  ionizing radiation. The sievert should not be used to express the unmodified  absorbed dose  of radiation energy, which is a clear physical quantity measured in  Grays. To enable consideration of biological effects, further calculations must be performed to convert absorbed dose into effective dose, the details of which depend on the biological context. This can be far more complicated than just multiplying by a weighting factor. The sievert is a fundamental part in  radiation dosimetry, and is named after  Rolf Maximilian Sievert, a  Swedish  medical physicist renowned for work on radiation dosage measurement and research into the biological effects of radiation. One sievert equals 100  rem, an older unit of measurement still used in many areas and by older generations of practitioners. One sievert carries with it a 5. 5% chance of eventually developing cancer. Doses greater than one sievert received over a short time period are likely to cause  radiation poisoning, possibly leading to death within weeks. This is a major risk considered in dental use as many doses of radiation could be received during a day in surgery.

Life And Works Of Robert Mapplethorpe Film Studies Essay

Life And Works Of Robert Mapplethorpe Film Studies Essay The third of six children, Robert Mapplethorpe was born into a working-class Catholic family in Floral Park, Long Island on November 4th 1946. His childhood and adolescence were difficult because of his gawky physicality, his brothers athletic and academic success and his own early demonstration of artistic talent. After an accelerated career in high school, Mapplethorpe entered the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn to study technical illustration and where he became a member of the ROTC (Reserve Officers Training Corps) in a bid to placate his father who disapproved of his artistic ambitions. Because of his experimentation with hippy culture and his fathers hostility, he never completed his degree at Pratt; instead he moved to Manhattan just before the summer of 1969. Mapplethorpes early artistic endeavours focused on collage work with found objects and jewellery design. In 1970 a fellow resident of the Chelsea Hotel introduced him to photography with the gift of a Polaroid camera and Mapplethorpe started by experimenting with self-portraits. Mapplethorpe had his first one-man show in November 1970, but did not achieve recognition in the New York art world until 1977. On February 4th 1977, Mapplethorpe had joint shows at the Holly Solomon Gallery and the Kitchen. Although both shows were organised by Solomon, the mainstream exhibition featured his flowers and portraits while the avant-garde exhibit consisted of his sex pictures. This segregation of subject matter would continue throughout Mapplethorpes career. Just over a decade later, Mapplethorpe was the subject of retrospectives in Amsterdam, London and the United States. In July of 1988 the Whitney Museum of American Art honoured Mapplethorpe with a retrospective exhibition, their first for a photographer. In December 1988, a slightly larger retrospective, The Perfect Moment, opened at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia. Mapplethorpe was able to experience his rise to the pinnacle of the art world, but, as he commented to numerous interviewers, he was unable to take advantage of the fame. He died from complications related to Aids on March 9th 1989. Memorial services were held at the Catholic Church Mapplethorpe had attended as a child in Floral Park and at the Whitney Museum in New York. Populated mainly with members of New York Citys social and artistic elite, Robert Mapplethorpes book of portraits, Certain People, has a title with more than one possible meaning as noted in Susan Sontags essay. There is certain in the sense of some and not others; and certain in the sense of self-confident, sure, clear. Certain People are, mostly, people found, coaxed or arranged into a certainty about themselves. That is what seduces, that is what is disclosed in these bulletins of a great photographers observations and encounters. Although they are not famous in the same way as Annie Liebovitz, Philip Glass or Bruce Chatwin people who appear in Certain People Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter are exceptional in their own right. In their stance and with their defiant gaze, they have the same self-assurance as the celebrities that Mapplethorpe photographed. His camera treats them with the same dignity as that reserved for Lord Snowdon or Louise Bourgeois. Their portrait exemplifies many of the formal and thematic concerns that inform Mapplethorpes larger body of work. Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter (1979) (fig. 1) is a portrait staged according to the conventions of the royal couple portrait of Enlightenment Europe or the formal family portrait of the Victorian Age. Ridley and Heeter are centred in the frame and positioned frontally with respect to the viewer. Ridley is seated with Heeter standing at his side. The setting for the portrait is clearly domestic, presumably the living room of the couple. The heavy buttoned wing-backed leather chair in which Ridley is seated, the Oriental carpet beneath his feet, the modern lines of the console table to his right as well as the objets dart on the various surfaces indicate a degree of taste and wealth. The just-so arrangement of the furniture clearly signifies a gay male aesthetic of a particular kind. The parallel costuming of Ridley and Heeter indicate a gay male aesthetic of a very different but equally stylised kind. Heeter stands to Ridleys left casually holding two metal rings from which hangs a chain connected to the studded leather collar around Ridleys neck. In his left hand, Heeter holds a riding crop, angled toward Ridley, resting inside the arm of the chair, in ominous proximity to Ridleys body; much as a rider would hold it against the flank of his mount. Heeter is adorned in full leather drag: cap, jacket, studded belt, cod-piece trousers and biker boots. To emphasise the confidence with which he carries his power, he leans against Ridleys chair and crosses his right foot over his left in a relaxed, semi-swaggering stance. Ridleys leather uniform is virtually identical to Heeters biker boots, leather chaps, biker jacket. The differences between Ridleys and Heeters costumes indicate their respective positions in the relationship: instead of a cap, Ridley wears a collar, instead of a riding crop, he sports chains; these differences, along with the pairs physical positions gesture toward the power differential that the couple perform. From this description of the photograph, Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter could be characterised as a family portrait of a sadomasochistic couple. Although hardly as shocking as many of Mapplethorpes other sadomasochistic-themed photographs, the image is still unsettling. First, the portrait disturbs the classificatory terms it invokes. Is it possible for family, sadomasochism or portrait to mean the same thing independently and jumbled up together? If the picture grants Heeter and Ridley a certain kind of elegance, beauty and dignity, is this evidence that notions of family, domesticity and coupling are sufficiently elastic to incorporate sadomasochistic eroticism? If Ridley and Heeter are able to pose their unconventionally adorned bodies according to the codes of the conventional family portrait, is this evidence that family, domesticity and coupling have always already incorporated sadomasochistic eroticism? Second, aside from complicating dominant narratives of familial relationship s, this portrait exposes something about the relationship between the practices of photography and self-presentation. What does the staging of Ridley and Heeter in full leather drag show about the ideological work of portraiture writ large? What does this photograph expose about the relationship between power, eroticism, theatricality and image making? Given that both sets of questions relate to the tension between the pictures subject matter and its representational codes, is it fair to conclude that the relationship between content the sadomasochistic couple and form the family portrait makes Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter such an arresting photograph? More precisely, is it the photographs combination of form and content which helps us to see the never-before-related phenomena sadomasochistic couple and formal portrait in a different way, that makes this photograph worthy of critical analysis? In the following chapters I will focus on the relationship between form and content in Mapplethorpes images, with attention to his sex pictures. The interaction of form and content in these images, I contend, trains the viewer to see in a new way: not only to see the specific subject matter differently, but to see the practice of image making in art or in life differently. The beauty of Mapplethorpes images renders culturally unpalatable subject matter attractive and desirable. The stylised composition of Mapplethorpes images also reflects in the forms of self-stylisation within the images, using photographic style to expose personal styling as an equivalent staging, construction and performance. Form and content, then, function sometimes co-operatively, sometimes in opposition to make the spectator aware of the assumptions they bring to the photograph. The analysis of Mapplethorpes images will attend not only to how he represents masculinity and the performance of gay male ident ity but also to how his images draw attention to the dynamics of representation itself. Most commentators identify the curious disjunctionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ between the visual appeal of his photographs as pictures and the discomforting nature of his subject matter as the quintessential element of Mapplethorpes pictorial style. Arthur Danto, one of Mapplethorpes staunchest defenders characterises the artists work as both Dionysian and Apollonian at once. According to Danto, the sexual energy of the images content has a dialectic relationship to their chastely classic style of presentation; this tension is so profound, Danto finds Hegels notion of aufhebung a useful concept with which to addressà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Mapplethorpes images. The forbidden and unsettling content of Mapplethorpes images is not erased by their pristine and mannered formalisation, and even the most sexually explicit of Mapplethorpes images both go beyond and fail as pornography, precisely because of their crisp beauty and clean elegance. The content is preserved. But it is also negated, and it is transcen ded, and that means the work cannot merely be reduced to its content. Ingrid Sischy, one of the most eloquent writers on Mapplethorpes sexual imagery, identifies this tension between form and content as the source of shock in Mapplethorpes photographs: What shocks isnt just the material, but how it is so artfully presented. The content, lighting, composition, sense of order and aesthetics all combine to give the photograph an unforgettable impact. The photographs impact depends on the audacious choice to present the forbidden, the transgressive, the underground, the violent, and the repressed in a beautiful manner. As Sischy goes on to observe, Mapplethorpes eye for beauty enables the pictures to challenge, among other things, prevailing notions about sadomasochism and homoeroticism. Germano Celants essay in the catalogue from a Guggenheim exhibition compares Mapplethorpes photographs with Mannerist paintings. He argues that Mapplethorpes style works to both defuse and legitimise th e content of his images by linking them to aesthetic codes of the past. Extending Dantos observation about the importance of the tension between form and content for understanding Mapplethorpes work aesthetically, Sischy and Celant argue that this tension is the key to evaluating Mapplethorpes images politically. Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter illustrates how the relationship between form and content functions across Mapplethorpes body of work. As already noted the tension between the mundanity of the portraits setting and style and the atypicality of the subjects costume and identity generates the images energy and arrests the viewers attention. As Danto observes: They look as though this were the most natural thing in the world for them to be doing in their middle-class living roomà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. [But] what is a sexual slave doing sitting that way in a comfortable armchair? Form and content also generate tension with respect to time. To what historical moment does this photograph r ightfully belong? As several commentators have noted, Mapplethorpes sex photographs are important, if for no other reason, because they document a certain gay male subculture whose adherents failed to survive the ravages of Aids. This subject matter, closely tied to the sexual exploration of the 70s, was captured, however, using a visual aesthetic associated with late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century photography, if not older notions of symmetry, order and perfection. As Joan Didion observed in her introductory essay to Mapplethorpes collection of female portraits, Some Women: Robert Mapplethorpes work has often been seen as an aesthetic sport, so entirely outside any historical or social context, and so new, as to resist interpretation. This newness has in fact become so fixed an idea about Mapplethorpe that we tend to overlook the source of his strength, which derived, from the beginning, less from the shock of the new than from the shock of the oldà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. There was, above all, the perilous imposition of order on chaos, of classical form on unthinkable images. Didions comments clarify that Mapplethorpes images are neither without historical context nor fixed within a single historical context. Instead, subject and style belong to different, and seemingly disparate, historical moments and social milieu. The form of Mapplethorpes photographs, however, renders the content of his images thinkable, palatable, legitimate. Mapplethorpes combination of form and content, then, is anything but dilettantism. Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter also plays with the distinction between public and private spaces. The space of the picture is a living room, a domestic space, a space hidden from the worlds prying eyes and attendant judgements. The sexual identity evoked by the subjects costumes also signifies private space; they are culturally understood as taboo, necessitating secrecy. The space of the portrait, both generally as a visual form and specifically as an artefact in a book or gallery, is, however, public. The staged presentation of these subjects underlines that they are opening their private space[s] to public scrutiny. This picture is not a snapshot; it is not a candid photo; it is not an image captured on the sly as in the work of Garry Winogrand. It is, instead, a formal portrait that required preparation and planning. As Danto points out, when emphasising the relationship of trust that Mapplethorpe must have developed with his photographic subjects, indicated by the settings, the sta ging, the careful execution and the use of names, in the photographs titles, it is clear that Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter, like Mapplethorpes other subjects, have consented to having this image made. They have admitted Mapplethorpe (and, consequently, the viewer) into their lives, such that the photographer [and, consequently, the viewer] shares a moral space with them. Heeter and Ridleys consensual act of opening their home works to situate the spectator non-consensually in a common, private space. This exposure of the taboo to public scrutiny compels the viewer to accept this intrusion into the public sphere; by voluntarily opening the walls of their private space, Ridley and Heeter have challenged the boundaries of what is acceptable in the public space. The form of the photograph as a posed portrait, then, sharpens the political challenge of its content. The troubling of the boundary between public and private establishes a complicated relationship between the image and temporality. As a portrait, Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter is the memorialisation of a single instant in the life of this couple. At the same time, given the disconnection between their regalia and their setting, the portrait necessarily invokes a before and an after. Insofar as Heeters and Ridleys costumes signify a particular set of sexual practices, they are not practices that likely take place (primarily) in the space in which they are photographed. Their costumes suggest the space of the playroom, the dungeon, the sex club places significantly different from the one they occupy. The portrait evokes a place and time outside the environs of the setting for the erotic activity it suggests. Because the sexual activity suggested by this photograph is understood as taboo, as requiring a private space, even though it is being exposed to a public viewing, the portrait als o intimates that these costumes and these roles are not the totality of the lives of these portrait subjects. Just as the picture suggests other times and places for sexual activity, the specificity of the intimated sexual activity, by negative implication, suggests non-sexual times and places in these subjects lives that require different styles of self-presentation. The temporal and spatial limitations on this particular self-stylisation are underlined by the incongruity of costume and setting. The form/content distinctions of this image, then, invest it with a temporal dimension. The photograph suggests a relationship of dominance and submission; the power dynamics at play in the image, however, are neither simple nor singular. On the most basic level, there is the power of the gaze, a power generated by the image that situates both the spectator and the pictorial subject. This gaze arguably belongs to Mapplethorpe and the spectator and is exercised against Heeter and Ridley. Even if Heeter and Ridley have been costumed, posed, lit and framed by Mapplethorpe, to claim that they have been objectified by his gaze fails to account for the complexity of the image. Ridley and Heeter both look at the camera with hard and fixed stares; they are not giving over their bodies, their lives or their subjectivities to the spectator. Ridley and Heeter each adopt a physical pose that underpins the defiance of their respective looks; Heeters nonchalant stance and Ridleys open-legged seating position situate them in the full solidity of their corporeal frames. When looking at Heeter and Ridley, the spectator is just as likely to feel intimidated, challenged and threatened as in control of the image. In this way, the power Ridley and Heeter retain vis-à  -vis the gaze relates to and underscores their consent to the image-making process. At the same time, their tight leather outfits draw attention to the precise contours of their bodies. The silver studs on Heeters codpiece and the positioning of Ridleys legs and hands also draw visual attention to their respective genital regions. In this way the portrait trades in traditional mechanisms of eroticising and objectifying its subjects. Because they have been trapped in the image, and because this photograph will now circulate freely outside of their control, however, their resistance to the power of the scopic regime is limited and partial. The photograph, then, transforms Heeter and Ridley into objects for contemplation. The spectators visual inspection of them, however, is disrupted by their respective l ooks, their physical poses and the iconography of sadomasochism within the photograph. The gaze that structures this image is neither straightforward nor unidirectional. The power dynamic between the portraits subjects is also complex. Heeters superior vertical position along with his grasp of the riding crop and Ridleys chains are evidence of his dominance. At the same time Ridley is foregrounded in the pictorial space and his face is both more clearly visible and more brightly lit, making him the focus of visual attention. Ridleys name is also given priority in the portraits title. While this priority is consistent with Western left-to-right titling practice, it runs against the perceived practice of many sadomasochistic practitioners who often deny the submissive partner the referential use of a name, personal pronouns or even capital letters. As Richard Meyer observed when arguing that the formal properties of Mapplethorpes photographs often work to undo the power dynamics of his images content: The contradictions of this portrait defeat any essentialist interpretation of Ridley and Heeter in (or as) their sadomasochistic roles. Building on a clo se reading of the Meyer article, I would add that it is the compositional elements of the picture that serve to disrupt the meaning of its specific iconography. In other words, with respect to how the picture trades in the erotics of dominance and submission, the form of the image undercuts its manifest content. The incongruity of costume and setting also works to complicate the readings of power in the image. In an essay largely critical of Mapplethorpes images, C. S. Manegold writes that the dreamà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ promised by this portrait is one of pain, of submission, of servitude, a willing walk toward death. She goes on to claim that Mapplethorpes sadomasochistic photographs are funded by a fascistic aesthetic. While I agree that this image trades in the iconography of domination and submission, I would dispute that the leather gear is Nazi-esque, it is merely hyper-masculine and owes much more to the motorcycle cop or the cowboy than any sort of Nazi influence, there are certainly no badges or insignia to indicate such a position and is merely Manegold herself showing what her personal/political history brings to the table in terms of domination. Any characterisation of the image as representing only a single form of erotic or gendered self-presentation founders on the details of the ph otograph itself. Looking only at Heeters riding crop and studded cod-piece or only at Ridleys handcuffs and locked collar, Manegolds characterisation of the image as one infused with pain and death and fascinated with a fascistic masculinity may seem self-justified. What happens, however, when the spectator notices the antique brass clock, the carefully arranged books or the delicate figurines that are also part of the picture? Are these details irrelevant? Do they also signify death and embody fascism? Or do they expose the sadomasochistic self-presentation of Ridley and Heeter as convincing, chilling, arousing, and disturbing as it might be as, at root, a performance, a ritual, an enactment? Although it is implicit in what I said about the image and temporality previously, it bears emphasising that insofar as the portrait highlights the performative nature of (sadomasochistic or masculine) identity, this also relates to the temporality of the image. Because a performance require s a repeated bodily gesture, it also requires temporal duration. In other words, does the incongruity between the general setting and the specific costuming show that each signifies an alternative way to fashion a life? A less incongruous picture could have been crafted by stripping the room bare of furniture, positioning Ridley on his knees and painting the walls black. Equally less incongruous a picture could also have been crafted by stripping Ridley of his chains, positioning Heeter on the arm of the chair and dressing the pair in flannels and blazers. The posing of this master-slave duo in a well-appointed, to the point of chi-chi, living room, however, shows that the respective systems of decoration are fully parallel, even though they might imply different relationships to hegemonic masculinity. What Mapplethorpe has done is signify hyper-masculinity and then gone on to problematise it. By focusing the spectators attention on the stylisation of their clothing and props through its sharp focus and bright lighting, the style of the portrait underlines that Ridley and Heeters gear is drag, a costume, a mode of self-presentation, a performance. In addition, by staging Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter in a setting where their self-presentation as devotees of sadomasochistic eroticism would stand out in exaggerated bas-relief, the portrait calls attention to the artifice, the staginess of their chosen identity. The inherent theatricality of the picture is further emphasised by the dynamics of sadomasochistic erotic play itself. Given its emphasis on roles, costumes, props, scenes, the adornment of the body and implements of sexual arousal, sadomasochism despite the reality of the pain/pleasure experienced by its participants is a complex set of ritualised gestures. With these features in mind, it becomes easier to see how form and content are not merely in productive tensio n, but are virtually undone almost reversed by the portrait. Previously I identified the sadomasochistic couple as the content of the portrait, but the emphasis on performance, artifice and theatricality demonstrates that the term sadomasochistic couple is as much a formal trope enabling a reading of a situation as it is a pre-interpretive category with content. The viewer identifies Lyle Heeter and Brian Ridley as practitioners of sadomasochism not because their portrait contains sexual content, but because it trades in the signifying codes of the leather uniform. Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter provides no evidence that its subjects participate in sadomasochistic acts; it reveals only that they understand how to participate in sadomasochistic signification. If this portrait were placed next to one of a gay male couple in jeans and t-shirts posed in their living room and another couple in biker gear in a fetish bar, the mobility of sadomasochistic couple as an interpretive grid would be much clearer. By the same token, the classical and mannered stylisation of the image is not merely the formal code by which this portrait has been organised; it is the very subject matter of the photograph. On the one hand, Heeter and Ridley, as a sadomasochistic couple, are irrelevant i.e. negated and transcended. They are little more than one possible signifier that enables a set of meanings and associations to attach to an image. Other visual and cultural incongruities could have been used to achieve the same kind of shock and disorientation. On the other hand, Ridley and Heeters identity as a sadomasochistic couple is absolutely essential to the image, not because it is at odds with the domestic setting of the portrait, but because sadomasochism as a highly theatrical, self-aware, ritualised mode of erotic behaviour fraught with its own contradictions and tensions provides the most useful set of signifying codes for exploring the formal concerns about self-stylisation with which the portrait engages. The theatricality of sadomasochis m, captured in a highly stylised portrait exposes the performance of masculinity that Heeter and Ridley and countless others are attempting. In this way that portraits iconography both participates in and potentially disrupts certain fantastic constructions of the masculine self. Sadomasochism, then, is a useful point of entry into Mapplethorpes larger body of work not only because it is the subject matter of a large number of his photographs or it is the subject matter that catapulted him to fame, but because sadomasochism as a practice is so directly parallel to the notions of theatrical self-presentation with which Mapplethorpes images deal. As noted previously, it is not only the thematic of the photographs that are important, but also how they train the viewer to see.

Free College Admissions Essays: Computer Science :: College Admissions Essays

Computer Science    I have always been interested and intrigued by computers, ever since using a BBC when I was very young. Since then I have become fluent in writing BASIC and more recently I have learnt HTML, the language of the World Wide Web on which I have my own wesite. I use computers for most of my exam coursework such as Solving Equations Using Numerical Methods for Pure Maths 2 and also for recreation.    My A-level studies are Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Physics and Design Technology. I have always been fascinated by numbers and this interest is continuing, hence my choices in A-level subjects. I enjoy the application of Mathematics to Physics. In Design Technology I can be creative and at the same time use my knowledge of Mathematics and Physics to help solve problems.    I am applying for the course of Computer Science because I would like to increase my knowledge of this subject. I hope that in the future I will be able to create applications for computers that will help people to save time and money.    For a career, I would like to be involved in the fast developing computer industry and more particularly with the Internet. I think it has immense potential and I would like to be able to develop the Internet to make it help the lives of day to day people. In this way I would also like to help make computers more like humans with for example voice operated user interfaces.    For my University course I am seeking sponsorship from several companies associated with computers and computing.    I am an active member of my Sixth Form being a prefect with supervisory responsibilities. I hold the positions of both sixth form committee member and House Captain for my school house. I have performed in the VI form pantomime, The Wizard Of Oz, for the local primary school children. When my school took part in BBC Newsround?s national mock election I was the Party Leader for the Liberal Democrat Party. I designed posters on my computer and helped mastermind the campaign in the school. This involved speaking in a four-way debate between the three party leaders and an audience of interested sixth formers and staff. My hard work paid off and I won my seat for the Sixth Form with an overwhelming majority.

Galaxy and Dense Gas Passes

Comparing a yellow star, a blue star, and a red star, we could determine Just from color that the hottest star was the 10. One. BLUE Rotation curves of spiral galaxies show that stars' orbital speeds don't drop off with distance from the galactic center as expected, and thus imply the existence of . The main sequence includes the following kinds of stars: B) Hot, blue, large, massive ones and cool, red, small, low-mass ones 12. Which of the following was not an era In the history of the universe?The phases of the moon are caused by D) The alignment of the Earth/moon/sun system making a different portion of the Spectra help us determine the composition of astronomical objects because A) Each element, compound, or ion has a different set of spectral lines. 15. Dark energy is the most important factor in the of the universe. A) Accelerating 16. Universe scenario for the fate The outer planets are more massive than the inner planets because C) Both of the above 17. The three basic types of galaxies are B) Spiral, elliptical, and irregular. 8. A planet orbiting a star feels a force due to the star's gravity that C) Increases with the star's mass and decreases with the square of the distance. 19. Massive main sequence stars A) Have hot cores, use their hydrogen rapidly, and go supernova after a short life. 0. Hubbub's law gives us an indirect way to measure a galaxy's D) Distance. 21. We can determine an object's temperature from its thermal (or â€Å"blackbody') spectrum by finding the wavelength at which it emits the most electromagnetic radiation.Galileo findings from his telescopic observations were revolutionary because he showed that the heavens were not perfect. B) FALSE 28. If the sun had begun fusion later, so it did not clear the solar nebula of its remaining gas so soon, Uranus and Neptune might have become as large as Jupiter and Saturn are now. A) TRUE 29. If the sun somehow instantaneously became a 1 solar mass black hole, the Earth According to Hubbub 's law, the reediest of a distant galaxy is directly related to its temperature. B) False