Political Communications Essay

The power or ability of the media to influence people and the society is an undeniable reality. In fact, media is not to be underestimated as proven by the implications it has created among people and within their way of living. It is through this reason or principle that the media is regarded as something that is too powerful and which can be paralleled to the power of God. In particular, since the print and broadcast or electronic media have control over their respective public, its influence has apparently been considered as similar or equal to the Creator’s authority. However, while it is a true fact that the media encompasses almost everything in today’s modern world, it is also a reality that the industry could never be described as the second God. This is because God is above everything and that nothing or nobody can correspond to Him. Additionally, although the effects of media are indisputable, it should be realized that God is still supreme among the whole things and that nothing or no one comes next to Him. It is, therefore, under this principle that media should never be compared to the power of God and that whatever theory claiming otherwise should not be taken as the whole and acceptable concept. Ultimately, the media and all other things are nothing without God hence it is totally unwarranted to compare and place it next or even regard it as the second God. One concrete manifestation of the said improper and erroneous consideration is the principle created by Western theorist Tony Schwartz and as depicted in his book titled â€Å"Media, the Second God. The work done by Schwartz (1983) is nothing but a disillusioned idea about the power of media, electronic media in particular. While it is, in a way, acceptable that both print and broadcast media impacted people and the manner of living, it is totally illogical to compare or even consider media as the second God. In fact, the author has evidently failed to strengthen his idea. This is primarily for the reason that God is the highest or absolute among us and of all the things around us. Hence, Schwartz and his book can be taken according only to its merit or the fact that media is influential and definitely affects people and the society in general but its concept about media as the second God should definitely not be considered and accepted as an utmost premise. Media, the Second God – an Overview The Schwartz book explores media’s mounting power or influence in the fields of medicine, learning, industry, political affairs and beliefs and daily living of people. He distinguished electronic media as the â€Å"received media† while print media as a â€Å"perceived medium† (Schwartz, 1983, p. 1). In differentiating between the two, Schwartz emphasized that skill and education are essential for the public to recognize and accept perceived media while almost all people appreciate received media. The author explained that the contemporary world tends to the appreciation of the received media because of the increasing effect of electronic media in the manner how people carry out their lives. This particular age of reception manifests people dependence with the telephone, television, radio and other forms of electronic media. He added that the significant implications of electronic or received media are evident with the notable changes in the areas of â€Å"business, communication, education, statesmanship, and every other area of life† (Schwartz, 1983, p. 17). Schwartz further wrote that the advent and increasing influence of electronic media has proven its essence as the new media. Additionally, the power of the electronic media is supported by the authors with the ways how broadcast commercials or advertisements work among people and into their lives. In fact, electronic media has nearly removed the nature of door-to-door salespersons. This is because the radio and television as well as other forms of electronic media are able to get across the feelings, manner and value of products being promoted (Schwartz, 1983, p. 43). Schwartz also presented in his book how a telephone polling system, which is another form of electronic media, created an impact or changed people’s perception about the necessity of police protection against crime and eventually saved the John Jay College of Criminal Justice from closure (Schwartz, 1983, p. 1). Moreover, Schwartz has stressed the influence of electronic media with its social functions or the services it has offered not only to people but to the society as well. The book is ultimately recalled with its depiction of the incredible expansion of the telephone device as an absolute form of electronic media due to its tremendous influence into the lives of the people. Media, the Second God – a Critique In analyzing the Schwartz book, one is likely to experience a sense of depression because of the author’s apparent utopianism. Simply put, Schwartz’s idea of the growing purpose or role of the electronic media, particularly the telephone device, seemed too disillusioned or unrealistic. In particular, it is totally illogical and even less reassuring to discover when the author stated that the telephone device is on the rise as an instrument or another tool of electronic media in the field of education. In fact, his admission that the development of telephone seems to be gradual already contradicted his position that the devise is growing. The said disclosure also deserted Schwartz claim that the said device is an effective tool of learning primarily because of the apparent defect of the telephone. Even Schwartz’s claim that a number of students benefited from telephone-based classes failed to prove the effectivity and power of the telephone as a means of education. In short, it is unbelievable to state that an instruction about telephone is as convincing as an efficient method of learning. Damaging and Unproven Claims Schwart’s consideration of the media as the second God is subjected to the author’s many falsehoods as well as damaging and unsupported statements. An incredible claim by Schwartz is his statement that he was able to teach around the world even without leaving the luxury of his office through the use of the portable conference telephone. This is because despite the advancement of the electronic media, particularly the telephone device, it is still subjected to or not totally free from interruptions or technical obstacles. Hence, while the said statement tends to be probable, it is not the case all the time. At the highlight of the book’s chapter titled â€Å"The Incredible Expanding Telephone,† the author’s amusing tale about his American Museum of Natural History’s Laserium experience apparently sabotaged himself. It was a totally lame excuse when he said that while appropriately structured utilization of the telephone device has the ability of giving many important and useful services, it is still susceptible to problems as its poor plan may lead to telephone failure. Again, this time Schwartz contradicted and exposed himself to criticism. The author’s above manifestations of self-sabotage represent his usual characteristics as a highly-acclaimed sound designer, producer or creator of promotional advertisements or commercials and telecommunications teacher at New York University. Schwart’s self-sabotage is further proven by another bungle which he wrote in an earlier chapter of the book titled â€Å"The Electronic Classroom. In the said chapter, he extolled on the possibilities of working on recorded items as a form of education aid but again failed. This is because Schwartz offered the following simply as his solid proof of evidence: sound of family members fighting with each other, a walking manic depressive and a telephone dialogue, which he previously taped, with a person planning to commit suicide. Unfortunately for the readers, the said examples of Schwart’s self-sabotage were clearly depicted in the book. Either intentionally or not, the author and his work already lost its efficiency and credibility because Schwartz failed to prove or support his idea that the media, electronic media in particular, is the second God. This is because, unparalleled to God who is perfect, media has its flaws. As regard his other consideration of media as the second God, Schwartz’s once more not succeeded in his another declaration that refined or high-quality and efficient electronic advertisements can definitely sell substandard merchandise on a limited period. This claim has totally contradicted electronic media’s commercials about cigarette products which the author himself praised regretfully in the book. In fact, even his self-tribute chapter on how he envisioned and organized the fight which eventually saved the John Jay College was another proof of his personal destruction. This is because the author again fell short of bringing up any issue of essence or importance regarding the reason behind why the said educational institution is really important to be kept. Resemblance of Respect for God Notwithstanding the above stated flaws, the public may be able to contemplate what is really appealing and motivating about the Schwart’s book. One manifestation of such interesting quality and which is worthy to note is how strongly the people’s outlooks concerning the media certainly remind the readers of our admiration and high esteem for God. Additionally, due to the undeniable influence and assistance of the electronic media, people in post literate or deprived societies are better educated than people of the previous history accounts. Another manifestation of the book’s resemblance of respect for God is the fact that similar to our worship to the Creator, people and the society have high esteem about the need to protect and preserve human life. This is the reason why people in the countryside are too much worried about the proliferation and gravity of street crimes in other areas as what the electronic media is presenting. This is also due to the inclination of people to associate themselves with the people of other societies which they see on television or hear on radio. Media as Provider of Information, an Argument The last thing that is unacceptable to Schwart’s claims is his dispute that due to the overwhelming pieces of information which is accessible to people through electronic media, particularly television, the necessity to learn or specifically to write and read is not that immediate compared to before the arrival and development of the electronic media. With a benefit of the doubt, the author may not have intended this claim as a justification of illiteracy or an assertion that the skill to write and read has not benefits. However, he once again did not succeed in satisfactory stressing that in spite how much people grasp the manner of view and sound or noise due to advance contact or experience of the electronic media, there will still be difficulty in assessment and communication not unless people have learned and are able to write and read. One concrete manifestation of the said argument is Schwartz himself. This is for the reason that there could be a link between his usually disordered, self-conflicting claims and lines of reasoning as well as his automatic and ripped-ridden works. In fact, if not of too much criticism, the author may be literally depicted based from his own claim when he wrote that he led the class for school students who are regarded as â€Å"poor readers and poor listeners† (Schwarts, 1983, p. 128). This observation may be disputed by Schwartz himself especially taking into consideration his surprising power at influencing electronic reflections where even the power of verbal confidence may not be necessary to let the public have a glimpse of the author’s severe yet unproven perspectives and statements. Conclusion There have been many works exemplifying and proving the power or influence of the media to people and the society in general but the Schwartz book is certainly not one of them. This is because of the apparent misleading writing scheme and unsupported concepts presented by the author. While, in a way, he succeeded in imparting to the public the truth about the ability of the media, particularly the electronic media, to affect people and their way of living, his confusing or disillusioned ideas and claims are proof that nothing or no one can equal to God’s level. Schwartz was totally wrong in conveying the idea that the media is the second God for the simple reason that no other entity can be placed next to God, much so paralleled with Him. A critical analysis of the Schwartz book exposes the ineffectivity of the author in his approach to convey his ideas and eventually make the public agree. Additionally, the book unfortunately showed its inadequate and unproven content as well as the substance of the author’s line of thinking. In effect, Schwartz failed in whatever objective he has in doing the book. This is because his intentions are not met and eventually turned out to be futile efforts. The book is nothing but a collection of unsupported concepts and disenchanted theories. Schwartz’s approach or style is not well-founded and convincing simply because of the fact that his main idea that media is the second God is an outright contradiction of the existing view that there is nothing next or even equal to God. The topic about the power or influence of media is definitely relevant or that the material itself is appealing or that the writing style and quality somehow corresponds to the body of literature of that period. However, these good points were immaterial because the author and the book failed in the accuracy or reliability of thoughts organization. This is aside from the fact that majority of the contentions presented by Schwartz were unsupported. For this, it can be construed that the book is generally not valuable to be provided with attention and relevance. Ultimately, Schwartz and his work can be held liable for insinuating the principle that media is the second God precisely for reality that media is a creation of man who, in turn, could not be created without the power of God.

The Blue Sword CHAPTER TWO

Harry and Lady Amelia took their leave, and the older woman closed the breakfast-room doors with a sigh. Harry smiled. Lady Amelia turned back to her in time to see the smile, and returned it ruefully. â€Å"Very well. We will leave the men to do their uncomfortable waiting alone. I am going to visit Mrs. McDonald, you are going to go riding with Beth and Cassie and bring them back here for luncheon.† â€Å"Perhaps under the circumstances – † began Harry, but Lady Amelia shook her head. â€Å"I see no reason why you should not. If he is here, those girls have very pretty manners, and are just whom I would invite if we were to give a formal dinner. And – † here her smile broadened and became as mischievous as a girl's – â€Å"if he has brought his thousand best men, we shall be terribly short of women, and you know how I dislike an unbalanced table. I shall have to invite Mrs. McDonald as well. Have a pleasant ride, dear.† Harry changed into her riding-clothes, mounted her placid pony, already bridled and saddled and held for her by one of the Residency's many servants, and rode off in a thoughtful mood toward her meeting with her two friends. She wondered first what and how much she should tell Cassie and Beth; and, second, found herself hoping that this Corlath would stay at least long enough for her to see him. Would a witch-king look any different than any other man? The sun was already hot. She pushed her hat back long enough for a cautious squint at the sky. It was more dun-colored than blue, as if it, like everything else near Istan, were faded by the fierceness of its sun. It looked as hard as a curved shell overhead, and brittle, as if a thrown lance might pierce it. The placid pony shuffled along, ears flopping, and she stared out over the sands. The woods to the west of her father's house were old, hundreds of years old, tangled with vine and creeper. Ancient trees had died and, not having room to fall, crumbled where they stood. No landlord had thought the old forest worth clearing and the land put to use; but it had made a wonderful jungle for herself and Dickie as children, to be bandits in, and hunt dragons through. Its twisted shadows had always been welcome to her; when she grew older she liked the feeling of great age that the forest gave her, of age and of a vast complicated life that had nothing to do with her and that she need no t try to decipher. The desert, with the black sharp-edged mountains around it, was as different from what she was accustomed to as any landscape could be; yet she found after only a few weeks in Istan that she was falling by degrees in love with it: with the harsh sand, the hot sun, the merciless gritty winds. And she found that the desert lured her as her own green land never had – but what discovery it lured her toward she could not say. It was an even greater shock to realize that she was no longer homesick. She missed her occupation; and even more she missed her father. She had left so soon after the funeral that it was difficult to believe that he was dead, that he was not still riding around his estate in his shabby coat, waiting for her to return. Then she found that she remembered her parents together again; as if her mother had died recently, or her father five years ago – or as if the difference, which had been so important, no longer mattered. She didn't dream of honeysuckle and lilac. She remembered them with affection, but she looked across the swirled sand and small obstinate clumps of brush and was content with where she was. A small voice whispered to her that she didn't even want to go Home again. She wanted to cross the desert and climb into the mountains in the east, the mountains no Homelander had ever climbed. She often speculated about how other people saw the land here. Her brother never mentioned it one way or another. She was accustomed to hearing the other young people refer to â€Å"that hateful desert† and â€Å"the dreadful sun.† Beth and Cassie didn't; they had lived in one part or another of Daria for most of their lives – â€Å"except the three years our mother took us Home, to acquire polish, she said† – and to both of them, Darian sun and Darian weather, whether it be on the fertile red earth of the south, with the eternal fight against the jungle to keep the fields clear, or the cool humid plateaus of the orange plantations, or the hot sand of the northeast Border, were simply things that were there, were part of their home, to be accepted and adjusted to. Harry had asked them how they liked the Homeland, and they had had to pause and think about it. â€Å"It was very different,† Cassie said at last, and Beth nodded. Cassie started to say something else, stopped, and shrugged. â€Å"Very different,† she repeated. â€Å"Did you like it?† pursued Harry. â€Å"Of course,† said Cassie, surprised. â€Å"We've liked all the places we've lived,† said Beth, â€Å"once we made some friends.† â€Å"I liked the snow in the north,† offered Cassie, â€Å"and the fur cloaks we had to wear there in the winter.† Harry gave it up. The older people at the station seemed to put up with the land around them as they would put up with any other disadvantage of their chosen occupation. Darian service, civilian and military, bred stoicism in all those who didn't give up and go Home after the first few years. The Greenoughs' making-the-best-of-it attitude was almost as tangible as mosquito netting. Harry had once won an admission from Mr. Peterson, Cassie and Beth's father. There were several people to dinner at the Residency that evening, among them the Petersons. Mr. Peterson had been seated across from her at dinner, and had not appeared to pay any attention to the conversation on the other side of the table. But later in the evening he appeared at her side. She was surprised; he spoke rarely enough at social gatherings, and was notorious around the station for avoiding young unattached ladies, including his daughters' friends. They sat in silence at first; Harry wondered if she should say anything, and if so, what. She was still wondering when he said: â€Å"I couldn't help hearing some of what that young chap next to you was saying at dinner.† He stopped again, but this time she waited patiently for him to continue and did not try to prompt him. â€Å"I wouldn't pay too much attention, if I were you.† The young chap in question had been telling her about the hateful desert and the dreadful sun. He was a subaltern at the fort, had been there for two years and was looking forward to his escape in two more. The subaltern had continued: â€Å"But I wouldn't want you to think we have no change of seasons here. We do: we have winter. It rains steadily for three months, and everything gets moldy, including you.† Mr. Peterson said: â€Å"I rather like it here. There are those of us who do.† He then stood up and wandered away. She had not spoken a word to him. But she remembered what he said later as she realized that she too was becoming one of those who liked it here. She pondered who else might belong to their select club. It was a game, and she amused herself with it when she ran out of polite conversation. She took mental note of all those who did not complain of the heat, the wind, the unequal rainfall; and then tried to separate those like herself who actually enjoyed being scratchy with blown sand and headachy from glare, from those like Cassie and Beth who were merely cheerfully adaptable. Harry at last settled on Colonel Dedham as the most likely member of her club, and began to consider if there was any way to broach the subject with him. She thought that perhaps there was a club rule that read, Thou shalt not speak. But her chance came at last, less than a fortnight before Corlath's messenger arrived at the Residency at four a.m. It was at another small dinner party at the Greenoughs'. When the gentlemen brought themselves and an appalling reek of Sir Charles' finest cigars into the drawing-room to join the ladies, Colonel Dedham came across the room and tossed himself down on the window-seat beside Harry. She had been looking out at the mysterious white pools the moon poured across the desert. â€Å"Open the window a bit,† he said, â€Å"and let some of this smoke out. I can see poor Amelia being brave.† â€Å"Cigars should be like onions,† she said, unfastening the catch and pushing back the pane. â€Å"Either the whole company does, or the whole company does not.† Dedham laughed. â€Å"Poor Melly! She would spoil many a party, I fear. Have you ever smoked a cigar?† She smiled, with a glint in her pale eyes, and he reflected that some of the young men had labeled her cold and humorless. â€Å"Yes, I have: that is how I know. My father was used to giving dinners for his hunting friends, and I would be the only woman there. I was not going to eat in my room, like a punished child, and I liked to stay and listen to the stories they told. They permitted themselves to become accustomed to my presence, because I could ride and shoot respectably. But the smoke, after a few hours, would become unbearable.† â€Å"So your father – ?† prompted Dedham. â€Å"No, not my father; he taught me to shoot, against his better judgment, but he drew the line at teaching me to smoke. It was one of his friends – Richard's godfather, in fact. He gave me a handful of cigars at the end of one of these very thick evenings and told me to smoke them, slowly and carefully, somewhere that I could be sick in private. And the next time the cigars went around the table, I was to take one for myself – and he'd help me stand up to my father. It was the only way to survive. He was right.† â€Å"I shall have to tell Charles,† said Dedham, grinning. â€Å"He is always delighted to find another cigar-lover.† Her gaze had wandered again to the moonlight, but now she turned back. â€Å"No, thank you, Colonel. I am not that. It was the stories that made it worth it. I only appreciate smoke when I'm seeing things in it.† â€Å"I know what you mean, but you must promise not to tell Charles that,† he replied. â€Å"And for heaven's sake call me Jack. Three months is quite long enough to be called Colonel more often than business demands.† â€Å"Mmm,† she said. â€Å"Cassie and Beth do it very nicely. Say ‘Jack.' â€Å" â€Å"Jack,† she said. â€Å"There, you see? And for your next lesson I will walk across the room and ask you to say it again, and you will see how quickly I turn around and say ‘Yes?' â€Å" She laughed. It was hard to remember that Dedham was a few years older than Sir Charles; the latter was portly and dignified and white-haired. Dedham was lean and brown, and what hair he had left was iron grey. Sir Charles was polite and kind; Dedham talked to one like a friend. â€Å"I see you staring out of the windows often, at our Darian wilds. Do you see yew hedges and ivy-grown oak and, um, cattle and sheep in green pastures?† She looked down at her lap, a little uneasily, because she had not thought she was noticed; but here was her chance. She looked up. â€Å"No. I see our Darian wilds.† He smiled a little at the â€Å"our.† â€Å"You're settling in, then? Resigned to too much sun all of the time – except for when there is too much rain? But you haven't seen our winter yet.† â€Å"No – no, I haven't. But I'm not resigned.† She paused, surprised at how hard it was to say aloud, and her club's first law floated across her mind. â€Å"I like it. I'm not sure why, but I like it here.† The smile disappeared and he looked at her thoughtfully. â€Å"Do you?† He turned and looked out of the window himself. â€Å"There aren't many of us who do. I'm one – you must have guessed that I love the desert. This desert. Even in winter, and the three weeks of jungle after the rain stops and before the sun gets a good hold again. Quite a lot of my griping about being the oldest colonel still active is noise only; I know that if they promoted me they'd almost certainly promote me away from here – to one of the more civilized parts of this uncivilized land. Most of Daria is not like this, you know.† He paused. â€Å"I don't suppose that means very much to you.† â€Å"But it does.† He frowned a little, studying her face. â€Å"I don't know whether to say you're very fortunate or very unfortunate. We're strangers here, you know – even I, who've been here forty years. This desert is a little piece of the old Damar. It's not even really under our jurisdiction.† He smiled wryly. â€Å"Not only can we not understand it, we are not able to administer it.† He nodded toward the window. â€Å"And the mountains beyond. They stand there, looking at you, and you know you'll never climb them. No Homelander ever has – at least to return to tell the tale.† She nodded. â€Å"It is not a comfortable passion.† He chuckled. â€Å"No; not a comfortable passion.† â€Å"Is that why no one ever mentions it? One hears enough for the other side.† â€Å"God! Don't I know it. ‘Only four hundred and ninety-six days till I get out of this sand pit.' Yes, I suppose so. It's a strange country, especially this corner of it, and if it gets too much in your blood it makes you strange too. And you don't really want to call attention to it.† She recalled that conversation as she rode; and now she saw Cassie and Beth jogging toward her. She was thinking again of Corlath, and trying to recall what little she knew of the Free Hillfolk. Jack had been reluctant to talk about them, and his evasiveness led her to believe that he knew quite a lot about them, because he was always open about saying he didn't know something. He was trying to spare her, perhaps, from her uncomfortable passion. Oh, glory, she thought, and with a quick leap her curiosity transformed itself into excitement: I do hope he's there when we get back. The question of what to tell her friends died painlessly. As soon as their ponies came abreast Beth said: â€Å"Is he here yet?† Harry was expecting a good-morning-and-how-are-you and for a moment didn't know who was meant. â€Å"Corlath,† said Cassie. â€Å"Jack came to our house to see Daddy before breakfast, told him to go up to the Residency, that they would need him there.† Mr. Peterson and Jack Dedham were the only people in the station who knew Hill-speech even passably fluently. Most Darians who had much contact with Homelanders learned Homelander. Harry had picked up a few Darian words, but only a few; no Homelander had thought to write a Darian grammar for general use, and when she inquired further was told that there was no need for her to learn it. The only person who encouraged her, and who had taught her the words she did know, was Jack Dedham, and he had not the time to spare for more. Sir Charles was reasonably articulate in Darian speech, but uncomfortable about it. He felt a responsible commissioner should know the language of those he oversees, but it made him no happier to fulfill his own expectations. He kept an interpreter near at hand. â€Å"Corlath,† breathed Beth, as if the name were a charm. â€Å"Daddy says that the Hillfolk have never liked us much – â€Å" â€Å"We've always known that,† put in Cassie. † – so he'll probably slip in and out again and we'll never even see him.† â€Å"I've permission to invite you to lunch,† said Harry. â€Å"If he's there at all, we'll see him.† â€Å"Oh, how wonderful!† said Beth. â€Å"Surely even he won't have finished his business before lunch. Let's not ride far; we should see something when he comes, and then we'll know when to ride back. It's very tiresome to have a real king come to visit and not even have an excuse to meet him.† â€Å"Do you know anything of the Free Hillfolk?† said Harry. They rode at an angle away from the Residency, where they could keep an eye on it over their shoulders. â€Å"I don't. No one will tell me anything.† They both laughed. â€Å"The Hillfolk are the best-kept secret in Daria,† said Cassie. â€Å"I mean, we know they exist. Some of them come here – to the station, I mean – for the spring Fair.† Harry looked at her. â€Å"Oh, surely Lady Amelia has told you about our pair,† Cassie said. â€Å"After three months of the rains we come out of hiding and work off our foul temper by holding a Fair – â€Å" † – where we sell to each other all the ridiculous little bags and bonnets and dolls and footstools that we've made during the rains to keep from going mad because we couldn't go out,† Beth continued. â€Å"Yes, most of it is nonsense. But everyone is very gay for the first two or three weeks after the rain stops. The weather is cool enough – the only time all year you can go out even at midday; and there're green things growing up from the ground, and everything you own is spread on the roofs and hanging from the windowsills, and they're green too,† Cassie added with a grimace. â€Å"We decorate the streets and the square with paper flowers and real flowers, and banners and ribbons, and the whole town looks like it's on holiday, with the dresses and blankets hanging out everywhere. We do have real flowers here – besides the eternal pimchie – although nothing like what you're used to at Home, I daresay. Everything grows tremendously for two weeks, so for the third week, Fair week, everything is green and blossoming – even the desert, if you can believe it.† â€Å"Then of course the sun kills everything again. That's the fourth week. And you know what it's like here the rest of the time.† â€Å"Yes, but the Fair – everyone comes to the Fair. The Hillfolk too, a few of them, although never anyone very special. Certainly never the king. And it's not all the bead purses that our sort has been making in despair. There are always some really lovely things, mostly that the Darians themselves have made. Even the servants aren't expected to do as much, you know, during the rains. After the first few weeks you're far too cross yourself to give many orders to anyone else.† â€Å"But mostly the best things come up from the south. It's only Way up here that the weather's so ridiculous, but the south knows about our Fair, and the merchants know that when we break out of winter prison we're so mad with our freedom that we're fit to buy anything, so they come up in force.† â€Å"There are Fairs, or celebrations of spring of one kind or another, all around here, but ours is the biggest.† â€Å"Well,† said Beth, â€Å"we've the biggest in things to buy and so forth; and we're the only Homelander station up here. But there're quite a number of Darian villages around here, and they take spring very seriously. Lots of singing and dancing, and that kind of thing. And they tell the most beautiful stories, if you can find someone to translate into Homelander. Which isn't often.† â€Å"We have singing and dancing too,† said Cassie. â€Å"Yes, I know,† said Beth slowly; â€Å"but it's not the same. Our dancing is just working it off, after being inside for so long. Theirs means something.† Harry looked at her curiously. â€Å"You mean asking the gods for a good year – that kind of thing?† â€Å"I suppose so,† said Beth. â€Å"I'm not quite sure.† â€Å"No one will talk about anything really Darian to Homelanders,† said Cassie. â€Å"You must have noticed it.† â€Å"Yes – but I'm new here.† â€Å"You're always new here if you're a Homelander,† said Cassie. â€Å"It's different in the south. But we're on the Border here, and everyone is very aware that Freemen live in those Hills you see out your windows every day. The Darians that do work for you, or with you, are very anxious to prove how Homelander they really are, and loyal to all things Homelander, so they won't talk; and the others won't for the opposite reasons.† â€Å"You're beginning to sound like Daddy,† said Beth. â€Å"We've heard him say it all often enough,† Cassie responded. â€Å"But the Hillfolk,† said Harry. â€Å"Yes. The one thing I suppose we all have in common is a joy in those three short weeks of spring. So a few Hillfolk come to our Fair.† â€Å"They don't act very happy, though,† said Beth. â€Å"They come in those long robes they always wear – over their faces too, so you can't see if they're smiling or frowning; and some of them with those funny patched sashes around their waists. But they do come, and they stay several days – they have the grandest horses you've ever seen. They pitch camp outside the station, and they always set guards, quite openly, as if we weren't to be trusted – â€Å" â€Å"Maybe we aren't,† murmured Cassie. † – but they never sell their horses. They bring the most gorgeous tapestries, though, and embroidered sashes – much nicer than the cut-up ones they wear themselves. These they sell. They stalk around the edge of the big central square, the old marketplace, carrying all this vivid stuff, while the rest of us are laughing and talking and running around. It's a bit eerie.† â€Å"No it's not,† said Cassie. â€Å"You listen to the stories too much.† Beth blushed. After a pause she said, â€Å"Do you see anything at the Residency?† â€Å"No,† said Harry. â€Å"What stories?† There was another pause while Cassie looked at Beth and Beth looked at her pony's mane. â€Å"My fault,† said Cassie presently. â€Å"We're not supposed to talk about them. Daddy gets really annoyed if he catches us. The stories are mostly about magic. Corlath and his people are supposed to be rotten with it, even in this day and age, and Corlath himself is supposed to be more than a little mad.† â€Å"Magic?† said Harry, remembering what Dedham had said earlier. â€Å"Mad?† He hadn't said anything about madness. â€Å"How?† They both shrugged. â€Å"We've never managed to find out,† said Cassie. â€Å"And we can usually wring what we want to know out of Daddy eventually,† said Beth, â€Å"so it must be something pretty dreadful.† Cassie laughed. â€Å"You read too many novels, Beth. It's just as likely that Daddy won't talk about it because he refuses to admit it might be real – the magic, I mean. Jack Dedham believes it – he and Daddy argue about it sometimes, when they don't think anyone else is around. The madness, if that's what it is, is tied up somehow in the king's strength – in return for having power beyond mortal men or some such, he has to pay a price of some kind of mad fits.† â€Å"Who reads too many novels?† said Beth, and Cassie grinned. â€Å"It does rather catch the imagination,† she said, and Beth nodded. â€Å"No wonder you're so eager to set eyes on him,† said Harry. â€Å"Yes. I know it's silly of me, but I feel maybe it'll show somehow. He'll be eight feet tall and have a third eye in the middle of his forehead,† said Beth. â€Å"Heavens,† said Harry. â€Å"I hope not,† said Cassie. â€Å"Well, you know how the legends go,† said Beth. â€Å"No, not really,† said her sister repressively. â€Å"Even when Daddy is willing to translate some, you can tell by the pauses that he's leaving a lot out.† â€Å"Yes, but even so,† persisted Beth. â€Å"The old kings and queens were supposed to be taller than mortal – â€Å" â€Å"The Darians are mostly shorter than we are, at least the ones we see,† interrupted Cassie. â€Å"A king could look quite ordinary to us and be very tall for them.† † – and you can tell the royal blood by something about the eyes.† There was another pause. Harry said, â€Å"Something?† Again they both shrugged. â€Å"Something,† said Beth. â€Å"That's one of the things Daddy always leaves out. Like the madness.† â€Å"You're hoping he'll froth at the mouth,† said Cassie. Beth threw a peevish look at her sister. â€Å"No. I'll settle for the third eye.† This conversation had taken them well away from the outlying houses of the station, and the dust kicked up by their ponies' feet was giving up even the pretense of being anything other than desert sand. A silence fell; Cassie suggested a canter, which was duly accomplished. The sun was hot enough that when they pulled up again, after only a few minutes, the ponies' shoulders were dark with sweat. Harry sent another of her long looks across the desert, and had to squint against the shivering light. â€Å"Do you think we might turn back now?† Beth asked wistfully, shading her eyes with an elegantly white-gloved hand. Harry grinned. â€Å"We can spend the rest of the morning in my sitting-room, if you like. It overlooks the front door, you know.† Beth gave her a grateful look, Cassie chuckled; but they all three turned their ponies' heads with dispatch and sent them jogging homeward as quickly as the heat would allow. By the time they reached the suggestion of shade offered by the thin determined trees marking the outskirts of the station proper, Harry was hot and slightly headachy, and cross with herself for rushing back for no reason. Nothing could have escaped their notice; the Residency stood a little apart from the rest of the station, in its own grounds, and the road that ended at its front door had been under their eyes for the entire ride. They had been gone only a little over an hour. Harry considered suggesting that they meet again after another hour, time enough to change and have a bath; in her present condition she didn't feel like meeting any kings, mad or otherwise. But she stole a glance at Beth and saw how anxious she was not to miss anything; and she thought, Oh well, I can wash my face at least, and we can all have some cold lemonade, and watch the front door in comfort. The horses walked slowly up the street to the Residency. Cassie pulled off her hat and fanned herself with it. Harry shut her eyes for a moment. An execrable habit, she told the insides of her eyelids. What if this fat sleepy fourposter with ears and a tail should bolt, or shy suddenly? What if the sky should fall? responded the insides of her eyelids. The fourposter stopped dead in the road and raised its head a few inches just as Beth said in a strangled whisper: â€Å"Look.† Harry and Cassie looked. They had come nearly to the end of the road; what was left was the broad circle in front of the Residency, suitable for turning carriages in, or forming up half a regiment. Off to one side, where the tall house cast a little shade, seven horses and one man stood. The horses stood in a little semicircle around the man, who sat cross-legged near the wall of the house. They stood quietly, stamping a foot now and then, and occasionally one would put out its nose to touch the man; and he would stroke its cheek a moment, and it would raise its head again. The first thing Harry noticed was the beauty of these animals; not a one was less than sixteen hands high, with long clean legs and tails that nearly touched the ground. Three were chestnuts, their coats shining even in the dusty shadow; one grey, one dark bay, one golden dun; but the finest horse stood farthest from three fat ponies standing foolishly in the carriage drive. He was a blood bay, red as fire, with b lack legs and tail; he stood aloof from the other horses and ignored the man at his feet. He stared back at the newcomers as if it were his land he stood on, and they intruders. As the other horses slowly swung their heads around to see what their leader was looking at, Harry noticed something else: they wore no bridles. â€Å"He's here,† said Cassie flatly. Beth drew a deep breath. â€Å"How?† she said. â€Å"Look at those horses,† said Harry, and the longing in her voice was so clear that even she heard it. Cassie looked away from the impossible sight of seven horses that had made their way invisibly across a bleak desert right in front of three people who were looking for them, and smiled with sympathy at her friend. â€Å"Haven't you ever seen a Hill horse before? They're supposed to be the finest in Daria.† â€Å"And they never sell them,† said Harry, remembering. Cassie nodded, although Harry's eyes never left the horses. â€Å"Jack Dedham would give an arm even to ride one once.† â€Å"No bridles,† said Harry. â€Å"No stirrups, either,† said Cassie, and Harry saw that this was true. They wore saddles that were little more than padded skins, cut and elegantly rolled; and she could see the gleam of embroidery on girths and pommels. Not a horse moved from its place in the semicircle, although all now, with the man, watched the three ponies and their riders. â€Å"Horses,† said Beth disgustedly. â€Å"Don't you understand what they mean? They mean that he's here already, and we never noticed a thing. If that's not magic, what is?† She prodded her pony forward again. Cassie and Harry followed slowly and stopped before the steps. Three stable boys appeared, ready to take the ponies back to the stable behind the house. Harry's feet had only just touched the ground – the boy hovering anxiously to one side, since he had learned through bitter experience that this Homelander did not wish to be assisted while dismounting – when there was a commotion at the entrance to the house. Harry turned around in time to see the heavy door thrown violently open, so that its hinges protested; and out strode a man dressed in loose white robes, with a scarlet sash around his waist. Several more figures darted out in his wake, and collected around him where he paused on the verandah. He was the axis of a nervous wheel, moving his head slowly to examine the lesser people who turned around him and squeaked at him without daring to come too near. With a shock Harry recognized four of these small mortals: Sir Charles and Mr. Peterson, Jack Dedham and her own brother, Richard. The man in white was tall, though no taller than Richard or Sir Charles. But there was a quivering in the air around him, like the hea t haze over the desert, shed from his white sleeves, cast off by the shadows of his scarlet sash. These who stood near him looked small and pale and vague, while this man was so bright he hurt the eyes. More men came quietly out behind the Homelanders and stood a little to one side, but they kept their eyes on their king. He could be no one else. This must be Corlath. Harry took a deep breath. He didn't look insane or inhuman. He did look uncooperative. He shook his head and frowned at something someone said, and Sir Charles looked very unhappy. Corlath shrugged, and made a sweeping movement with his arms, like a man coming out of a forest gratefully into the sunlight. He took a long step forward to the edge of the verandah. Then Dedham took two quick steps toward him and spoke to him, a few words only, urgently; and Corlath turned again, as it seemed unwillingly, and looked back. Dedham held out his hand, palm down and fingers spread; and so they stood for a long minute. Corlath dropped his eyes to the hand stretched toward him, then looked into the face of its owner. Harry, watching, held her breath without knowing why. With a nasty feeling in the pit of her stomach she saw a look of terrible strain cross Dedham's face as the Hill-king held his gaze; and the outstretched hand trembled very slightly. Corlath slowly reached out his own hand and touched the back of Dedham's wrist with two fingers; the hand dropped to Dedham's side once more, but as if it were heavy as stone, and the man slumped in relief like a murderer reprieved at the scaffold. The look of strain slid off his face to be replaced by one of great weariness. Corlath swung around again, and set his foot on the top stair, and no one moved to stop him. Five men in the loose robes of the Hillfolk separated themselves from the verandah shadows and made to follow. Harry found she could not take her eyes off the king, but from the corners of her eyes she noticed that the other men too wore vivid sashes: gold and orange and green and blue and purple. There was nothing to indicate the king but the glitter of his presence. Harry stood only a few feet from the bottom step, holding her pony's bridle. Cassie and Beth were somewhere behind her, and the stable boy stood frozen a few steps from her elbow. Corlath still had not noticed them, and Harry stared, fascinated, as he came nearer. There seemed a roaring in the air that beat on her eardrums and pressed against her eyeballs till she blinked. Then he looked up abruptly, as if from some unfathomable depth of thought, and saw her: their eyes met. The man's eyes were yellow as gold, the hot liquid gold in a smelter's furnace. Harry found it suddenly difficult to breathe, and understood the expression on Dedham's face; she almost staggered. Her hand tightened on the bridle, and the pony dropped its head and mouthed the bit uncomfortably. The heat was incredible. It was as though a thousand desert suns beat down on her. Magic? she thought from inside the thunder. Is this what magic is? I come from a cold country, where the witches live in cool green forests. What am I doing here? She saw the anger the man was holding in check; the anger stared at her through the yellow eyes, and swept through the glistening white robes. Then it was over. He looked away; he came down the last steps and past her as if she did not exist; and she cowered out of his way so that no corner of his white sleeve should touch her. The man with the horses emerged from the shade, riding one of the chestnuts; and the six others went up to their riders and nuz zled them. The blood bay reached the king first, and greeted him with a low whinny. Corlath mounted with an easy leap Harry could not even follow with her eyes, although she could see anger informing the set of his legs against the great stallion's sides. The horse felt it too; without moving, all its muscles were suddenly taut, and its stillness was the quiet before battle. The other men mounted. Corlath never looked at them, but the red stallion plunged forward at a gallop, and the other men followed; and the sound the horses' hooves made on the hard earth suddenly reminded Harry how unnaturally silent everyone had been since Dedham's last words. The inaudible thunder faded with the sight of the colored sashes and the bright flanks of the Hill horses. Harry woke up to who she was, and where; Sir Charles and Jack and Mr. Peterson looked their normal size again, and she had a raging headache.

Male Character Essay

Masculine roles have effective power in recent movies. In the chapter, the author who is Kenneth Mackinnon talks about ‘masculinity in movies’ by variety ways. He not only considers about the different kinds of movie genres, individual movies and those male movie stars in general, but also introduces the hard body and soft body contrastively for audience. Moreover, Mackinnon mentions about the disadvantages of masculinity in the films and provides three recent illustrations in 2000 to answer the questions of masculinity clearly. The evidence which author selected is widespread but all come from the main idea of masculinity such as technological advances, the homoeroticism and heterosexuals, the feminism and masculinity and even the culture and history about masculinity in movies. At the beginning of the chapter, Mackinnon introduces the different genres about masculinity in movies by using lots of examples. There are variety of movie types such as action genres, bond movies, westerns, war films, slasher movies, sports movies and something else. One of the most important types is action movie. As Mackinnon said, action movie is †a version of heroism was promoted in these movies that depended on visual evidence of physical strength and might. †(P294) For this reason, the publishers pay much money to superstars in order to get the extraordinary effects in action films. For example, Sylvester Stallone in ‘make rampage’ movie. Similarly, bond movie, as an action series, depicted a new type of masculinity, which found in †Gentleman Chivalry† from 1962 to the present. The kind of movie continues to execute the heroism, which is popular among audience. For instance, the famous identities of 007 are James Bond and his ‘bond girl’. However, there is too much â€Å"technological excess† and special effects in recent years. That’s captured audience’s attention negatively. The author has also stated the westerns, which are â€Å"the supreme genre for the depiction of traditional, laconic, dominating masculinity. † (P297)The protagonists are usually cowboys in Hollywood film. The consequence of those boys usually be alone. Moreover, western movie allows violence, homosociality and â€Å"evasion of domestication†. The author’s opinion of masculinity in sports movies is that they provide a kind of lifestyle, which is a pure physical machismo for audience. In other words, it is â€Å"a highly stylized version of traditional masculinity†(P300) people have chance to watch a â€Å"natural† masculinity in sports movie. (i. e. Field of Dreams). Another genre has been mentioned is comedy. It’s a different side of masculinity. Comedy always shows audience the irony of traditional masculinity, especially in vulnerable side. They focused more on conflicts from fatherhood rather than motherhood. In order to understand the masculinity movie deeply, the author selected a few individual movies such as Born on the Fourth of July, Dead Ringers, The Crying Game and The Full Monty. The protagonist of Born on the Fourth of July is Don Kunz who acts as a â€Å"heroic masculine ideal† in the movie. He thinks winning is the most important thing. â€Å"to win, others must be losers†(p304)make him full of physical strength. He is a typical figure of masculine in movie. Male stars are also an important factor for masculinity movie, because female audience, even some of male audience will follow the movie stars. In the chapter, Mackinnon introduce male stars such as Warren Beatty, Clint Eastwood and Charles Bronson. Furthermore the author has talk about hard body and soft body. ( ) Everything has two sides. Masculinity movie also has some problems. One of the disadvantages is insistent heterosexuality. In the past, masculinity means the opposite of femininity. However, people focus on â€Å"make guy men nurturing and domesticated† (p310)in nowadays. In other word, Reference Kenneth Mackinnon (2003). Masculinity in Movies. In Gary McCarron (Third. ) Introduction to Communication Studies (pp. 294-315) Canada: Pearson Custom Publishing.

The Price by Arthur Miller Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Price by Arthur Miller - Essay Example Miller’s "The Price" is one of the most entertaining and engaging plays adapted since 1968. Although it was one of Miller’s lesser-known works, it is worthy to have a space in center stage. The play deals with the family’s old wounds and confrontations of consequences of decisions made in the past. It also depicted how people place blame on others when their lives turn off the course. Garry Hynes’ direction of The Price did not deviate from the original script written by Miller. Her choice of well-seasoned actors for the characters is well acclaimed. Her cast includes Sam Robards, John Bedford Lloyd, Kate Burton and Alan Mandell. Sam Robards played the character of Victor Franz who grew up with envy and antagonism towards his brother Walter. He was able to portray Victor’s character very well. His actions were well calculated and with good energy such that in the part where he hit a brick wall that he built by himself. He attacked the character of Victor with resentment in a manner that the audience can really see and feel. He carried the night and became the heart of The Price. John Bedford Lloyd played the character of a successful, wealthy doctor and brother of Victor, Walter Franz. He was very mysterious in character such that the audience cannot clearly point it out if his intentions were selfless or manipulative. He made sure he does prematurel y expose the complications of Walter’s character. He was able to bring out the character in timing rightly. Kate Burton, who played Victor’s wife Esther, moved the character back and forth from being a caring wife and a condescending drinking wife who wants to leave Victor. She was constantly pushing his husband to succeed and stop embarrassing her. Alan Mandell flawlessly portrayed the lovable character of an eighty-nine-year-old appraiser of antique and furniture named Gregory Solomon.  

Tqm Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Tqm - Essay Example implement total quality management, lead to operations that are cost effective in terms of both corrective and preventive maintenance, better performance, and the result will be loyal customers who are satisfied. There are various methodologies that are applied in TQM so that it works and achieves desired results. In addition, for TQM to work there should be a hundred percent commitment from all the people involved in the organization. This commitment includes all persons in the organization, from the top-level managers to the line managers. The managers should understand and be able to harness all the principles applied in TQM. Selling of goods and services that are of high quality to customers are one of the methodologies that are used in TQM and the company should provide a service that is outstanding to the customer. TQM entails having a detailed process so that the company produces products or services that are satisfactory to the customers. Employees can enhance detailed processes, and they can do so by rejecting unsatisfactory products. Thus, rejecting unsatisfactory products will prevent the end users who are the customers from rejecting the services and products. A company that is implementing TQM should have a steering committee which will be responsible for making projects, project teams, and monitoring of the improvements made by the committee. These teams may be of two types, and will focus on internal and external issues respectively. Having long term thinking is a methodology that is essential in TQM; this may take up to five years for a company to implement TQM. Long term thinking is implemented by having a yearly review so that it can strengthen the company’s vision. Revision of the company’s mission is also done so that the customer is able to get his/her required needs that also changes from time to time. Even though the mission of the company might change, the overall vision of the TQM usually remains the same. Moreover, for TQM to be

What kind of person is Hamlet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

What kind of person is Hamlet - Essay Example Rather on Hamlet’s part it is more of a strategy than a deliberate crime. Indeed Hamlet’s deception can be justified from a Machiavellian perspective. It is Hamlet’s circumstance that forces him to choose deception as a strategy, which finally leads him to the ultimate truth about the regicide. Indeed Hamlet appears to the victim of circumstances that compels him to play those deceptive roles â€Å"in order to survive, in order to protect himself from the general rottenness, while he tries to sort out how he is to act in a world which he finds so morally unacceptable† (2). His deceptions and lies also turn his nearest ones into his enemies. For an instance he grows animosity with Laertes; his friend and the brother of his beloved Ophelia, with Guildenstern and Rosencrantz, his former school fellow and friend but present enemies. Indeed Hamlet succeeds in overcoming his foes but only at a dreadful cost. Literally Hamlet becomes trapped by his own deception. His deceptive role compels him to refrain from Ophelia’s love, to murder the innocent Polonius by accident, and eventually to loss Ophelia. Since his semi-maniacal behaviors grow suspicion among Claudius and other people of authority, he can be held responsible for the accidental killing of Polonius who attempts to spy on him. For the same reason, he is responsible for making Laertes his enemy and for his own death at Laertes’s hand. To Hamlet, Claudius is a smiling dammed villain, a seducer and a usurper of his right to Denmark’s throne; he is one against whom he has to take revenge. If the supernatural presence of the king’s ghost is expunged from the drama, Hamlet will simply appear to be a skillful deceiver, before the audience, who attempts to find out his father’s killer just because he wants to repair his ego bruised by his mother, Gertrude’s marriage with Claudius. Regarding Hamlet’s morality, Ian Jonston comments that Hamlet is so often

Cars Safety Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Cars Safety - Essay Example That is because people today are too lazy to even put some energy in braking, and automobile companies are responding to it. The development of brakes from manual to power brakes, and from two-wheeler to four-wheeler brakes makes that obvious. The brake system of a standard car consists of disc brakes as well as drum brakes. Disc brakes comprise of a metal disc that rotates with the wheel, and two brake pads gripped in calipers facing the disc. When the break pedal is pressed, hydraulic fluid forces the pads to rub against the disc, thus stopping the disc from rotation. Drum brakes comprise of a metal cylinder that revolves with the wheel, and two brake shoes. The shoes are curved pieces of metal lined with friction material made of asbestos or some other material that can resist the heat generated by the friction. When the break pedal is pressed, the hydraulic fluid forces the shoes on the drum, and the friction helps the wheel to stop. This complex setup of brakes makes it very easy for the driver to stop the car; thus, any error in this system is a major cause of life-taking accidents. (MacVicar; Wyatt, Vol.2, 570-571, 1990) Another important safety feature in an automobile is airbags. Today, almost every saloon car has at least four airbags provided for the passengers. It saves lives yes, but some people think they are more of a headache. They are those who hit their cars quite often and the airbag pops out even on the slightest bump. It emerges out of the steering wheel or the doors whenever the car is hit hard enough to cause an injury. It was a milestone in car safety when launched properly in 1998, but had some drawbacks that appeared later. The airbag is made of nylon and is filled with nitrogen gas on collision. When the car is hit, crash sensors activate the inflator that fills the bag with nitrogen immediately deploying it. Although they are a lifesaver in major accidents, they have been known to easily injure the passenger. The speed with which it is deployed can be responsible for injury to the passenger's facial features like breakage of the nose or trauma to the eye due to spectacles. This makes the airbag a drawback in situations where it pops out on slight hits. In addition, it can be harmful to children and old people. Thus, the passengers should be seated as far away from the airbag deployment area as possible, and the river should point it towards his chest instead of the head. Moreover, the use of seatbelt is mandatory for the airbag to serve its full purpose. (Brain, 2000) Excellent car suspension is a very important feature for safe driving as it keeps the car in the driver's control. Precisely, it increases the road grip of the car thus maximizing the steering stability as well as comforts the passengers with shock absorbers. The absence of perfectly flat roads makes suspensions necessary to prevent passengers from jumping continuously inside the vehicle, and for stable driving, especially cornering at high speeds. The now vastly available power steering makes it easier to turn the wheels while shock absorbers make a mountain feel like silk. (Harris, 2005) Tires play a vital role in increasing road grip of the car as well as comforting the passengers. Tires with proper grip are mandatory for the car to run smoothly. Loss of grip can be a cause of major accidents. It can easily be

US History Questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

US History Questions - Assignment Example The causes of the New Imperialism were economic, political and cultural causes. The economic causes involved the Western powers who were looking for sources for raw materials to run their factories. They were also looking for a future market to sell their manufactured goods and the Western bankers were looking for places to gain more profits. On the political front these Western powers were anxious for power and hence they believed that more land ownership meant more power. Having more land and colonies was also considered to be a status symbol; it showed strength and prestige of a nation. The cultural causes that led to Imperialism were the beliefs of the Western leaders. They believed that the best and strongest nation comes out only after they have faced struggle. Some racists believed that some races were better and superior to others. Some European leaders believed they had a duty to help and educate the African and Asian people. By the end of the 1800s the United States also to ok part in the Imperialism and colonial takeover. They defeated a Spanish fleet in Manila Bay and took over Philippines. They took over this territory claiming it was their obligation to civilize other parts and other people of the world. Americans had hidden motives behind this takeover. They eyed the Philippines as a stepping stone to reach the Chinese markets and they were also trying to prevent Japan to take charge of the area. United States did not treat those territories like they should have; they did not treat them morally like they claimed they would. This unit of our class examined the Progressive Era and World War I. Whether we were discussing world events or domestic problems (social problems, class issues, labor issues, technology, government, gender) it seems that all of the struggles of the era can be traced back to a few key questions: How do people live in a modern industrial society and what

The Difference between Right and Wrong Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Difference between Right and Wrong - Essay Example In the current competitive and dynamic world, it is very hard to define the boundary between right and wrong. In deed, the definition of what is right and what is wrong varies with so many factors. That which is morally right in a given culture may be an absolute wrong in a different culture. Thus, different cultures rate acts of rightness in variant ways. That which is generally acceptable among the new generation might be a taboo in the old generation. As such, different generations define right and wrong differently and thus contradictions are certain in definitions. Another significant difference in defining the boundary between right and wrong is religion. Some of the acts regarded as morally right are condemned in other religions depending on specific religious teachings. Islam and Christianity regularly contradict in matters of morality. Additionally, some political acts like dictatorship condoned in the developing countries will face condemnation in equal measure in the developed countries. Philosophers introduce moral dilemmas to disprove moral absolutes. They will say that lying is not necessary wrong in all circumstances as it may be important in certain situations. Similarly, disagreements on various moral crimes like abortion leave us wondering if such moral crimes are right or wrong. Many theories, counter theories, and studies are considerably trying to differentiate right and wrong in different contexts. However, no such theories draw an absolute line between right and wrong. ... An infant will also take a lot of concern on a meal shared unequally. This shows that the infant knows that fairness and equality are right attributes (Daily mail reporter, Web). Moral dilemmas as manifested by certain philosophers, give us a leeway to choose the greater good when moral absoluteness is not certain. In a situation where telling the truth would lender some innocent people to death, it would only be logical to lie and save their lives. However, this does not deny the fact that lying is wrong. Indeed, Cleeve argued that exchanging a false morality for no morality is not a right. This is because moral virtues and vices dictate that certain things are right while others are wrong. Rationalists like Socrates and Immanuel Kant, argue that intellect should prevail in differentiating right and wrong. However, Sentimentalists like David Hume, argue that emotions should prevail in making moral decisions. Greene on the other hand combines reason and emotion in making a moral deci sion (Saalfield, Web). However, it is factual that reasoning does not amount to an absolute decision on whether an act is right or wrong. In a situation where sacrificing one innocent person to save the lives of five persons, reasoning is not enough to define what is right to do. Moreover, the knowledge of what is morally right will make you understand the need to respect every individual’s life. Some people are moral relativists who believe that what is right for one person is not necessarily right for another. There is also a tendency of thinking something is wrong and assuming that everybody views it as wrong. This is because we could be logically wrong in arriving at moral decision. In fact what is right or wrong to an individual, does not

Cyber Strategies Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Cyber Strategies - Assignment Example Both strategies are formed/ adopted with the aim of maximizing opportunities with respect to limited resources; with an increase in state-sponsored and independent cyber threats, both governments and respective departments have seen the need to lead strong and secure presence in the cyberspace but constrained by the constraints of budget allocation and stricter financial oversights forcing them to acquire transformative ways to acquire, maintain and operate the information technology so as to achieve efficiency, effectiveness and security. Both Strategies are information and technology designed with which detection, alerts and response are convenient to the user. This rules out the duplicative, cumbersome and costly application silos to an end state/ organization; which is cost-effective, agile and convenient as the environment of exchange is rapid and accommodative to changing missions or strategy at an organization level. The strategies perpetuate scientific, technical, industrial and human capabilities in that in order to bar unintended intrusions and ensure security and operations advancement features, they are based on the mastery technology and know-how in areas of cryptology and formal methods, and extensive research and development to catch up with technologically advanced nations/organizations (Jacobs, 2010). They are designed to protect/ secure the information and data of states/organizations and operators of critical infrastructure through robust authentication systems base.

Chinese Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Chinese - Essay Example ined the expertise to use gunpowder and heavy fighting engines which helped them to defeat the song and Jin emperors which were known to be the most powerful and experienced dynasties. Large armies; Yuan dynasty ensured that it had a large army when they were about to attack a territory this give them maximum chances of success in their attacked it also scared away other dynasty from attacking them Discriminations; This dynasty was made up foreigners who did not allowed the natives to hold any position in the government .With nobility not allowed to hold government office they ventured in education ,this made them to be better educated and thus they open private schools and refused to teach in government institution. Zhu Yuanzhang established Ming dynasty in 1368. The reason for this was the rebellion against the yuan dynast, which is said to have brought great famine, drought, flooding, bubonic plague among other natural disasters. This was as a result of what was believed as loosing mandate of heaven Trade; As a way of supporting this dynasty free trade was encouraged majorly with European with which the merchant class and the peasant farmers became very rich, got the education, and entered into government. They used hard currency and later due to inflation, adopted gold and silver as the most efficient means of exchange (Chris). Repression tactics: in order to remain in power after sensing rebellion, laws were enacted to make it official that it would capital offence for any one of within the clan or an official in an office to criticize the emperor. To enforce these laws, many officials were sacked, corruption cases increased, a secret police was established to torture and killed many citizens. Superstition: Natural calamities, such as famine, Drought, flooding Plague, climatic change and rebellion were termed as signs of losing the mandate of Heaven therefore the leader was supposed to be overthrown and his kingdom taken Suppression of some

Debate on School Uniform Essay Example for Free

Debate on School Uniform Essay Today we are seeing that the younger generations are becoming more preoccupied with fitting into the latest fashion trends. School administrations have noticed that dress code violations could be an attribute to the lack of performance in the classrooms. Public schools across America are searching for answers to enhance a better learning environment for the students. Taking all this into consideration, school uniforms would be a great idea to alleviate some of the negativity kids face due to societies apparel obsessions. In addition to what has been mentioned, studies have shown positive results with the use of public school uniforms. If it means that the schoolrooms will be more orderly, more disciplined, Mr. Clinton said, and that our young people will learn to evaluate themselves by what they are on the inside instead of what theyre wearing on the outside, then our public schools should be able to require their students to wear school uniforms (Mitchell, 1996). I believe a requirement of school uniforms should be implemented in all public elementary and middle schools. Read more: Should uniforms be mandatory essay In the name of putting â€Å"discipline and learning back in our schools† President Clinton instructed the Federal Education Department today to distribute manuals to the nation’s sixteen thousand school districts advising them how they can legally enforce a school uniform policy. If it means that the schoolrooms will be more orderly, more disciplined,† Mr. Clinton said, â€Å"and that our young people will learn to evaluate themselves by what they are on the inside instead of what they’re wearing on the outside, then our public schools should be able to require their students to wear school uniforms† (Mitchell, 1996). â€Å"It’s a fashion trend that’s spreading from Los Angeles to Louisiana, from Maryland to Miami, public schools are discussing, and in many cases adopting, the old private school idea. School uniforms are designed to help kids focus on algebra instead of high-tops; to make students compete for grades rather than jackets (www. pbs. org). In 1987, the first public school Cherry Hill Elementary in Baltimore, MD instituted a school uniform policy. Later in 1994, the Long Beach Unified School District in California adopted a mandatory uniform policy in some of its schools, making it the first urban district to do so. Before long there was a considerable increase in the use of uniform. For example, ninety-five percent of New Orleans’ public schools require uniforms, eighty-five percent of Cleveland, eighty percent of Chicago, sixty-five percent of Boston, sixty percent of Miami, and fifty percent of Cincinnati’s public School changed to uniforms (www. education. org). New York City, which is the largest school district in the US, has adopted the school uniform policy. The largest school district in the U. S. has adopted school uniforms. Over a half-million elementary-school students in New York City will have to adhere to a dress code by the fall of 1999. The president of the school board said the policy is â€Å"important to diminish peer pressure and promote school pride,† but that it’s not â€Å"an act of magic to transform schools overnight†¦ It isn’t going to replace a good teaching, good principals, and small classrooms. †(www. pbs. org). The National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) conducted a phone survey of seven hundred and fifty five principals in 2000, which revealed that twenty one percent of all public schools had a uniform policy (www. education. org). Another reason that schools have decided to conform to uniform policy is because some students arrive at school in T-shirts that bear slogans or graphics promoting drugs and alcohol, or that display a variety of messages that conflict with values the schools are trying to promote. Others may swagger around the halls in gang-related garb. Also, others may show up in sexually provocative clothing. These issues, as well as a desire to minimize socioeconomic tensions between the â€Å"haves† and â€Å"have not’s†, have spurred some schools to adopt more stringent dress codes or to require students to wear uniforms. As the Department of Education’s Manual on School Uniform notes, â€Å"Uniforms by themselves cannot solve all of the problems of school discipline, but they can be one positive contributing factor to discipline and safety† (Lumsden, Miller, 2002). Some authors contend that uniforms lessen emphasis on fashion, reduce the financial burden of low-income families, and promote peer acceptance, school pride, and learning. In a ten-state survey of elementary and middle school principals conducted two years ago by the National Association of Elementary School Principals and the clothing company Lands’ End, eleven percent of respondents said that their schools mandate uniforms, and another fifteen percent were considering such a policy. Others recent survey indicated that support for uniforms are growing among parents as well. In one survey, fifty-six percent of parents said they would support a school uniform policy (Lumsden, Miller, 2002). School uniforms also take the pressure off students to pay top dollar for clothes, according to Reginald Wilson, a senior scholar at the American Council on Education in Washington, D. C. I think it does lower the cost of clothes, and kids dont emphasize clothes as much when theyre all wearing the same thing, Wilson said. Certainly the competition to wear the best shoes or the best sweaters and so forth has been prevalent in school ever since I was in school, and the poor kids felt inferior (www. pbs. org). Deborah L. Elder wrote about an evaluation of school uniform policy at John Adams and Truman Middle Schools for Albuquerque public schools. In the beginning in the fall of 1998 under a policy started by parent’s students at John Adams and Truman Middle Schools in Albuquerque were required to wear tuck-in polo shirts and khaki pants or skirts. Elder reports on an evaluation of this policy that used interviews, focus groups, and surveys, along with data on discipline referrals and numbers of students achieving honor-roll status. During the first semester of the 1998-1999 school year, both schools experienced a clear improvement in student conduct from the previous year. At John Adams Middle School, discipline referrals fell from one thousand five hundred and sixty-five during the first semester of the previous year to four hundred and five. At Truman, referrals dropped from one thousand one hundred and thirty-nine to eight hundred and fifty. Students, teachers, and parents stated in interviews â€Å"uniforms place all students on an equal level,† Elder writes, â€Å"Students who may be immediately labeled by peers and staff no longer stand out. † Survey data showed that seventy-five percent of parents and eighty-nine percent of staff supported uniforms and believed they decreased violence, theft, and gang activity, Although only fifteen percent of students supported uniforms, fifty-nine percent agreed that â€Å"school uniforms help school officials identify trespassers on campus. † Concerns about school violence have led to increased interest in and acceptance of uniform policies. In the wake of school shootings, communities and schools are much more willing to embrace uniforms as well as a number of other strategies to enhance student safety. Curbing gang-related violence was the primary goal of the Long Beach (CA) Unified School District when, in 1994, it began requiring students in all its elementary and middle schools to wear uniforms, In the Dysart Unified School District outside Phoenix, Arizona, eliminating some of the stigma associated with clothes was the main motivation behind the adoption of uniforms. Even before the recent series of school shootings, a survey of principals conducted by the National Association of Secondary School Principals found strong support for uniforms. In addition to having a sense that uniform may aid in violence prevention, many administrators believe that uniforms will reduce discipline referrals, while improving attendance, achievement, self-esteem, and school climate. A study of middle school students in the Charleston (SC) School District fount that school uniforms did appear to alter students’ perceptions of school climate. Students attending district schools that required uniforms viewed their school climates more positively than did students enrolled in schools where uniforms were not mandatory. Additional benefits credited to school uniforms include improved discipline, increased respect for teachers, increased school attendance, fewer distractions, improved academic performance, increased self-esteem and confidence, lower overall clothing costs, promotion of group spirit, reduction in social stratification and fashion statements, improved classroom behavior, lower rates of school crime and violence, and easy identification of nonstudents (Lumsden, 2001). Many opponents believe that dictating what students wear to school violates their constitutional right to freedom of expression (Lumsden,Miller, 2002). People oppose uniforms point to unnecessary violations of students First Amendment rights, authoritarian regimentation, extraordinary expenditures on special clothing, an environmental tone that is harmful to education and learning, and cosmetic solution to deeper societal problems. Students First Amendment right to freedom of expression, and whether it is being abridged, is one of the fundamental issues raised, Several legal challenges have asserted that students freedom to select what to wear to school is a form of self-expression that schools are not entitled to interfere with (Lumsden, 2001). In a recent case, Littlefield v. Forney, parents challenged a school uniform policy adopted by the Forney, Texas school board. The policy required students to wear polo shirts, oxford shirts, or blouses in any of four specified solid colors, with blue or khaki pants, shorts, skirts, or jumpers. Denim, leather, suede, vinyl, and spandex were off-limits, as were baggy clothes and specific types of shoes. The parents claimed that the district’s policy violated â€Å"the right of parents to control the upbringing and education of their own children. † The plaintiff also argued that the policy interfered with students’ freedom of expression and forced them to express ideas with which they might disagree. In addition, they also declared that the procedures for opting out of the policy violated their religious freedom by allowing school officials to assess the sincerity of people’s religious belief. The federal district court dismissed the suit without a trial, but the plaintiffs then appealed to the 5th Circuit Court, where the ruling of the lower court was upheld. In its decision, the 5th Circuit Court indicated that students’ free-speech right to select their own clothes is â€Å"not absolute,† and that this right must be balanced against a school board’s stated interests in adopting a dress code or uniform policy. To decide whether a specific uniform or dress code policy is permissible under the Constitution’s free-speech clause, the court used a four-pronged test it had previously applied in another school uniform case, Canady v. Bossier Parish School Board. The court looked at four criteria: the school board must have the power to make a policy, the policy must promote a substantial interest of the board, the adoption of the policy must not be an attempt to censor student expression, and the policy’s â€Å"incidental† restrictions on student expression must not be greater than necessary to promote the board’s interest. In this case, the 5th Circuit found that all four criteria were satisfied and that the district’s school uniform policy therefore did not violate students’ right to free expression. The court also ruled that parents’ rights to control their children’s upbringing, including their education, cannot override school rules that are considered â€Å"reasonable† to maintain an appropriate educational environment. In this case, the court concluded that the uniform policy was â€Å"rationally related† to the interests of the school board in â€Å"promoting education, improving student safety, increasing attendance, decreasing dropout rates, and reducing socioeconomic tensions among students. † The parents’ argument that the opt-out procedure violated religious freedom because if gave school officials the authority to judge the sincerity and content of families’ religious beliefs was also rejected by the court. Their decision was based on the policy not containing any religious goals; they did not have the effect of advancing or hindering any particular faith over any other; and did not excessively â€Å"entangle† school officials in religious beliefs (Lumsden, and Miller, 2002). Public schools that have already put uniform into place have seen improvement. Kids are less focus on what they are wearing, and more focus on schoolwork. Kids are not focused on what they should wear the next day for school and you won’t have kids up early looking for clothes to wear to school. Elementary and Middle Schools will see significant change once uniforms are put into place. School uniforms are a great way to preserve the level of social equality amongst the students. The thought of knowing the social background is prevented. It makes kids treat each other equally; not judging by what clothes they wear. Students will learn to respect each other on the foundation of how they get along and not how sexy they look. Humiliating or bullying other kids will decrease or stop altogether. The level of distraction is considerably reduced. Since students will be dressing in similar clothing, which will be distinctive to the school, the students will build up a sense of belonging and loyalty to the school. School uniforms will help avoid incidents of complicated situations (inferiority and superiority). Students will not be known by what they wear, but by how they perform. Kids can build team spirit. When you wear specific colors, a sense of unity can be developed. Similar clothing promotes team spirit. School uniforms encourage a sense of ownership and discipline. Therefore, I strongly believe school uniforms should be a requirement for public school students in the elementary and middle schools. Overall, implementing school uniform in elementary and middle public school will be beneficial, as I have mentioned above. Kids may not be happy about it at first, but they will eventually catch on. I personally work with middle school kids who go to public school and wear uniforms. They did not like it at first, but what they all agree on is how they don’t have to decide on what to wear. References Lumsden, Linda and Gabriel Miller. Dress Codes and Uniforms. 2002. National Association of Elementary School Principals, Alexandria, VA. 19 6 2012 . Lumsden, Linda. Uniforms and Dress-Code Policies. Eugene, May 2001. Mitchell, Alison. New York Times: Clinton Will Advise Schools on Uniforms. 25 February 1996. 23 June 2012 . Public School Uniform Statistics. 2012. 19 6 2012 . School Uniforms. 21 6 2012 .

Different Types of UK Airport

Different Types of UK Airport LO 3:   Understand the different types of UK airport, their ownership and characteristics Title: UK airports Map of major airports in the UK For P5:  Ã‚   Describe different types of UK airports and their ownership. Regional These have short haul scheduled international services, and long haul, charter and domestics services is available as well. Eg Liverpool john Lennon (LPL) Operate/ owner: the peel group, group Major International airports Provide a verity if international services. both long and short haul also have chart and domestic services. Eg. Manchester (MAN) Operator/owner : Manchester airport group (MAG) private Local Some domestic services, sometimes short-haul services as well as charter and general aviation services Eg, Blackpool Owner: Balfour Beatty, public Operator: squires gate airport operation Ltd. 3. For P6:  Ã‚   Compare the operating characteristics of different types of airports. Regional airports Liverpool john Lennon (LPL) route network long and short haul, point to point, domestic service number and type of airlines 8 airlines which offers low cost scheduled service, charter number of passengers 4 million passengers in 2014 cargo tones 40,000 tones in 2015 (Airportwatch.org.uk, 2016) passenger facilities and services, e.g. car parks, shops, restaurants, executive lounges, hotels have a variety of parking service only available through pre-booking restaurants, shops, and lounges are also at the airport to suite everyone needs, terminal passenger 4,458,500 operational facilities and services runway 7,497 ft of asphalt run way with two handlers (Liverpool John Lennon Airport, 2016). Major International airports Manchester (MAN) route network long haul, short haul number and type of airlines approximately 70 airlines, low cost scheduled, full service, charter, cargo number of passengers approximately 23 million passengers cargo tons 250,000 tones by 2015 passenger facilities and services offers adequate parkin foe either short stay or long stay, shops restaurant hotels, lounges are available to meet every passengers need operational facilities and services two runways and three terminals, three handling agents (En.wikipedia.org, 2016) Local airport Blackpool airport route network short haul, domestic number and type of airlines one airline for passengers and a helicopter service to oil platforms low cost airline, domestic, chartered service number of passengers 33,494 passenger facilities and services one new lounges no hotels car rental is available from the air port operational facilities and services two terminals and must give a 24-hour notice for handling scale and location of general aviation operations two training schools located between the British Army camps and Squires Gate and at Weeton and Kirkham. Offers helicopter operations and also the center of private clubs (Anon, 2016) For M2:  Ã‚   Discuss why an airline might base its operation from a particular airport. EasyJet bases its operation from Manchester airport (MAN) because this airport offers   a vast range of services and have connection to major cities and holiday destination. Also the airport facilities example the three terminals is another factor of why EasyJet uses this airport (En.wikipedia.org,2016).Due to the fact that Manchester airport is very popular   and it have won different award siding with this airport is good for business because when the airport grows EasyJet will somewhat benefits from this. (Manchesterairport.co.uk ,2016) References Airportwatch.org.uk. (2016). AirportWatch | Liverpool Airport. [online] Available at: http://www.airportwatch.org.uk/uk-airports/liverpool-airport/ [Accessed 21 Dec. 2016]. Anon, (2016). Home. [online] Available at: http://blackpoolairport.com/ [Accessed 21 Dec. 2016]. En.wikipedia.org. (2016). Domestic airport. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_airport#Regional_airport [Accessed 20 Dec. 2016]. En.wikipedia.org. (2016). Manchester Airport. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Airport [Accessed 21 Dec. 2016]. Liverpool John Lennon Airport. (2016). Cite a Website Cite This For Me. [online] Available at: https://www.liverpoolairport.com/ [Accessed 21 Dec. 2016]. Manchesterairport.co.uk. (2016). About Us | Manchester Airport. [online] Available at: http://www.manchesterairport.co.uk/about-us/ [Accessed 21 Dec. 2016].

Late Blight resistant Potatoes by Cisgene Stacking

Late Blight resistant Potatoes by Cisgene Stacking Critical Review: Development of late blight resistant potatoes by cisgene stacking BMC Biotechnology, 2014 Recombinant DNA and Genomics Critical Review of a Scientific Paper Background Food demand from agriculture has never been higher due to the increasing world population. Issues such as climate control and built up overpopulated areas of the world limit the availability and resources to produce crops. The need to enhance the yield of agricultural crops, as well as breed crops with correct traits such as viral resistance to common diseases which can devastate many farmers produce has never been more pressing. As a world population we are a lot more conscious of how we produce are food ethically and need to consider the genetic diversity of crops within agriculture. Over the past century improvements in sequencing technologies has allowed the mapping of the genome more specifically within plant species that are exploited for agriculture around the world. The first commercialised GM food was the Flavr Savr tomato in 1994, and now commonly rice, maize, potato, soybean and many others (Hamilton et al. 2012; Vanburen et al. 2015). Next generation sequencing technologies have allowed us to target the genome sequencing genotypes and identifying specific alleles that express favourable phenotypes to improve crop populations from their wild-type relatives (Lin et al. 2014; Neves et al. 2013). Our understanding of the structure and function of plant genomes within agricultural plant genetic species has fuelled the development novel biotechnologies and approaches to their application for breeding. The isolation of genes that underpin characteristics of interest and how we can target these specific genes and transfer them into new varieties of crops to imp rove yield or enhance genetic disease resistance (He et al. 2014; Gurskin et al. 2012). Until the last decade the focus has been on transgenic plants in agriculture, where isolated genes of interest from unrelated species are transferred into the genome of crop plants. Public acceptance of these crops has been controversial and forced the environmental food safety authority for GM organisms to strictly regulate the commercial use of these crops to protect the environment. Cisgenesis as a natural biotechnology approach that only utilises genes from the same plant or within the same species has tackled some of the associated problems within GM agriculture. Cisgensis was recently under review worldwide from the EFSA to be excluded from the strict regulations set for transgenic produced plants, it was finally defined that cisgenic approach to gene transfers is as safe as traditional breeding techniques (low level risk) (Hunter et al. 2014). Herewith in, the cisgenesis approach to integrating late blight resistant R genes to potato varieties is reviewed as a biotechnology to ol, the ethical advantages it addresses as well as limitations to its application. Outline of methods Aim: To use a cisgenesis approach to introduce two broad spectrum potato late blight R genes, Rpi-sto1 and Rpi-vnt1.1 from the crossable species S. stoloniferum and S. venturii, respectively, into three different potato varieties (Jo et al.2014). Plant materials Three potato varieties where obtained to introduce late blight resistance, a fourth variety potae9 was used as a positive control for its broad spectrum late blight resistance Vector construction Single R gene constructs, Rpi-sto1 and Rpi-vnt1.1 were cloned into a binary vector pBINAW2 (figure 1 below) and were aligned in tandem to form an R gene stack and one marker-free transformation vector. Construct containing both cisgenic late blight R genes (Rpi-vnt1.1 and Rpi-sto1), but lacking the bacterial kanamycin resistance selection marker (NPTII) was transformed to the three selected potato varieties using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Rooted shoots were analysed by PCR for gene transfer products (desired R genes) Potatoes where analysed for morphological changes and late blight resistance in detached leaf assays. Cisgenic events were selected because they showed broad spectrum late blight resistance due to the activity of both introduced R genes. The marker-free transformation was compared to marker-assisted transformation by the addition of kanamycin in terms of T-DNA and vector backbone integration frequencies (Methods as described in Jo et al. 2014). Results/Conclusions of research paper The study successfully introduced an effective cisgenic marker-free transformation strategy into three varieties of potato. The transformed plants expressed two stacked late blight R genes, through the infiltration of agrobacterium effectors proved the R genes functionality. It was also confirmed that marker-free transformation is less prone to vector backbone integration compared to marker-assisted transformation (Jo et al. 2014). According to the recent conclusion of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) GMO Panel, cisgenic plants have a low risk level in comparison to transgenic produced plants. Therefore, the potatoes produced in this study, are an environmentally friendly alternative to both controversial transgenic agriculture, as well as the use of chemical agents to treat late blight disease (Jo et al. 2014). Critical Appraisal      Ã‚   Reviewing the cisgenesis approach in recent literature it has been used to engineer viral resistance and enhance favourable traits in different crops (Espinoza et al. 2013; Holme et al. 2013). However, not all crops classiffied as cisgenic fully comply with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for GM plants, as they still contain microbial regulatory sequences/marker genes (Holme et al. 2013). More recently, molecular characterization of true cisgenic apple plants previously produced and expressing the Rvi6 scab resistance genes has been reported in detail (Vanblaere et al. 2014), while new cisgene apples with the same trait have been developed using an alternative recombinase system (Wurdig et al. 2015). In the study by Jo et al. the focus was on marker-free cisgene potato plants expressing late blight resistance genes from Rpi-sto1 and Rpi-vnt1.1, produced by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation using marker-free gene but PCR for the selection of transformed plants. Due to th e activity of both introduced R genes, cisgene plants showing broad-spectrum late blight resistance could be selected (Jo et al. 2014). Cisgenesis relies on the transfer of sequences from the same or related species, therefore, knowledge of specific sequences as well as its position and function in the genome is essential. In the future it is expected this knowledge will accelerate the application of this technology in place of transgenesis. One advantage of cisgenesis approach over more common techniques is reduced duration of selection steps and linkage drag (Hou et al. 2014). Although both transgenesis and cisgenesis use the same genetic modification techniques to introduce genes into plants, cisgenesis introduce only genes of interest from the plant itself or from a crossable species. Therefore, cisgenesis is not any different from traditional breeding and there is no environmental risk as associated with transgenic species. The expression of a foreign gene or suppression of a native genes function allowed the movement of DNA between different species, forcing public perceptions of GMO food as unnatural. Although proved to be a promising tool for the enhancement of crops and economic development, the concern of public acceptance is a major limiting factor (Espinoza et al. 2013). Therefore, cisgenesis may be the future of plant breeding and crop development as it excludes foreign genes and strict regulation by the EFSA for GMO transgenes. Despite considering all the advantages of cisgenic approaches there are limitations to its application. Namely the specific requirement of the regulatory sequences origin as well as the type and size of its constructs. For example, although achieving scab resistance in apples the difference in expression level R genes was dependant on using promoter from the same species or the native promoter of different lengths (Vanblaere et al.2014; Wurdig et al. 2015). Gene expression can also have a lot of variability, through random insertion of cisgenes. Therefore this random introduction of cisgenes into a host genome can be similar to that of transgenes, through loss of functionality of endogenous genes, reverting back to the same ethical issues cisgenesis aims to avoid. Finally, Jo et al. and similar studies report plants produced by cisgenic transformation methods report the integration of vector backbone sequences, therefore the specific number of genes copied and amount of vector backbo ne sequence transferred is an important factor (Vanblaere et al. 2014; Jo et al. 2014). In potato varieties Jo et al. failed to find a difference in vector backbone integration frequencies between different varieties or when marker-assisted only transformations were compared. However, when marker-free and marker-assisted vector backbone integration frequencies were compared, they found that marker-free transformation was associated with less vector backbone integration (Jo et al. 2014). Alternatively now there are new vectors developed containing buffer plant sequences within the backbone that limit the negative affect of unspecific vector backbone integration of cisgenes (Holme et al. 2013). The cisgene stacking method by Jo et al. consisted of two choices to introduce the R gene stack into different potato varieties, marker-assisted transformation or marker-free transformation. By definition cisgenesis excludes marker-assisted transformation since the genes are derived from foreign species (Jo et al. 2014). Recently there have been methods developed to remove selectable marker genes from the genomes of transgene species. One approach exploits a recombinant strategy to extract a marker gene positioned between recombination sites (Zhou et al. 2013). An alternative approach relies on the segregation of independently integrated T-DNAs similar to those shown within the vector in figure 1 (Hou et al. 2014; Jo et al. 2014). However, Jo et al. chose the marker-free transformation via agrobacterium-based methods that utilize a plant-derived transfer DNA and a novel transient selection system to insert only native DNA into potato plants similar to earlier cisgene studies (Jo et a l. 2014; Rommens et al., 2004). An overlooked issue by many experts in within the field is the implications of large scale introduction of transgenic crops containing resistance genes through the exploitation of antibiotic resistance. Many GMOs have a gene which relates to resistance to antibiotics inserted into their genome to serve as a marker. Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is already a risk associated with animal agriculture through feed being supplemented with antibiotics, and now antibiotic resistance may be further facilitated by the production of GM crops with these genes integrated in their genome. In potato varieties Jo et al. chose to pursue marker-free transformation of R genes which excluded the use of kanamycin as the marker for gene transfer. However, they also carried out the experiment with kanamycin as a gene marker as a comparison to the effect on vector backbone integration frequencies. Resistance to antibiotics could spread through the use of bacterial genes in the production of transgenic plants, also the genes often remain in the genome with no further use and future transgenic approaches should think about new ways we can remove these genes. It is possible that antibiotic resistance genes will migrate from transgenic plants to bacteria. There is then the possibility that antibiotic resistance bacteria produced from this pipeline could harm future human generations. Therefore, the future focus should remain on cisgenic strategies to GM plants that focus on marker-free transformation technologies. Conclusion Finally, according to the EFSA GMO panel cisgenesis is an environmentally safe approach to introducing new disease resistant genes and quality traits into plants. In different potato varieties it has been successful in the regeneration of light blight resistant potatoes by cisgene stacking, it is quicker to achieve than traditional agriculture and less controversial in the publics perception than transgene GM crops. However, there are limitations in particular the unpredictability of cisgene integration and expression from a biotechnology point of view, but also the impact that may have on its regulatory status and changing public perceptions. In the future cisgene approaches may benefit from being combined with new biotechnologies and GMO techniques, to help reduce the concern with cisgene integration specificity, and develop improved agriculture approaches to disease and crop quality. References      Ã‚   Espinoza, C., R. Schlechter, D. Herrera, E. Torres, A. Serrano, C. Medina, and P. Arce-Johnson, 2013: Cisgenesis and intragenesis: new tools for improving crops. Biol. Res. 46, 323-331. Gruskin, D., 2012: Agbiotech 2.0. Nat. Biotechnol. 30, 211-214. Hamilton, J. P., and C. R. Buell, 2012: Advances in plant genome sequencing. Plant J. 70, 177-190. He, J., X. Zhao, A. Laroche, Z. X. Lu, H. Liu, and Z. Li, 2014: Genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS), an ultimate marker-assisted selection (MAS) tool to accelerate plant breeding. Front. Plant Sci. 5, 484. Holme, I. B., T. Wendt, and P. B. Holm, 2013: Intragenesis and cisgenesis as alternatives to transgenic crop development. Plant Biotechnol. J. 11, 395-407. Hou H, Atlihan N, Lu ZX. 2014. New biotechnology enhances the application of cisgenesis in plant breeding. Front Plnt Sci. 5: 389. Hunter, P., 2014: Genetically Modified Lite placates public but not activists: new technologies to manipulate plant genomes could help to overcome public concerns about GM crops. EMBO Rep. 15, 138- 141. Jo, K. R., C. J. Kim, S. J. Kim, T. Y. Kim, M. Bergervoet, M. A. Jongsma, R. G. Visser, E. Jacobsen, and J. H. Vossen, 2014: Development of late blight resistant potatoes by cisgene stacking. BMC Biotechnol. 14, 50. VanBuren, 2015: Progress, challenges and the future of crop genomes. Curr. Opin. Plant Biol. 24, 71-81. Neves, L. G., J. M. Davis, W. B. Barbazuk, and M. Kirst, 2013: Wholeexome targeted sequencing of the uncharacterized pine genome. Plant J. 75, 146-156. Podevin, N., Y. Devos, H. V. Davies, and K. M. Nielsen, 2012: Transgenic or not? No simple answer! New biotechnology-based plant breeding techniques and the regulatory landscape. EMBO Rep. 13, 1057-1061. Rommens, C. M., J. S. Ye, C. Richael, and K. Swords, 2004: Improving potato storage and processing characteristics through all-native DNA transformation. J. Agric. Food Chem. 54, 9882-9887. Vanblaere, T., I. Szankowski, J. Schaart, H. Schouten, H. Flachowsky, G. A. L. Broggini, and C. Gessler, 2011: The development of a cisgenic apple plant. J. Biotechnol. 154, 304-311. Wurdig, J., H. Flachowsky, A. Saß, A. Peil, and M.-V. Hanke, 2015: Improving resistance of different apple cultivars using the Rvi6 scab resistance gene in a cisgenic approach based on the Flp/FRT recombinase system. Mol. Breeding. 35, 95.