Comparing and contrasting the Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis 1-11 Essay

Comparing and contrasting the Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis 1-11 (Religious Studies) - Essay Example Many people are telling that the flood in Gilgamesh is the same with the flood in Genesis. Definitely, it is not. The God in Genesis is not the same as the Mesopotamian deities. Understanding this fact give us a clear view point of a concrete difference between both accounts. Considering that there might be some similarities in the flow of the story however, the mere authority whom both accounts recognize builds a definite margin line that establishes their differences. Many people most especially those who devote themselves in religious and historical literature know the famous story about the great flood that can be found both in the Book of Genesis and of the Mesopotamian Gilgamesh. The stories are very much the same, however making a close comparison about details showed that they are very different. The God in Genesis is also more reasonable than that of the Mesopotamian gods. Understanding what has been the reason for flood will give us the clear idea of the differences of the character of the God in Genesis and of the Mesopotamian gods. The biblical account showed that God has seen how people have turned wicked. It has never been the will of the God of the Bible that man will stay wicked and will be unpunished. Because of that he decided to save Noah and his family from those evil people and the way by which it could be done is through the flood. The mere reason for that flood is to end the wicked generation that God of the Bible has seen existing during the time of Noah. On the contrary, the main reason why the gods in Gilgamesh caused the flood is because of the noise that the people create. The gods decided for a flood simply because they can not sleep (Gilgamesh 12). The unanimous decision of gods is to cause a flood and to make no any man survived. Ea who created man does not want it to happen. Meaning, we could even see misunderstanding in their mythical gods that mostly resembles human character. But through a dream, the

Indicte behaviors that hold a team back and what role a leader ship Essay

Indicte behaviors that hold a team back and what role a leader ship process might play in strengthening those areas - Essay Example Leadership is all about building peak performing teams, teams focused on accomplishing goals. Leaders are able to effectively communicate and motivate the team to perform the set goals. Professionalism provides the tools needed to develop essential skills required for personal and team success. Focusing on building skills such as professionalism, effective communication, time management and organization, helps leaders develop a productive team ready to provide a positive contribution to the success of the organization (Vital Learning, N.D.). Many organizations struggle, not from lack of advanced information -- rather, they never really master these basics. One of the responsibilities of a leader is to motivate the team to all work together towards the common goal. This can be a daunting challenge. So often the team is comprised of very diverse members, each with their own strengths, weaknesses, and work styles. The team dynamics are also often complicated by internal disagreements and personal conflicts. The leader, not only has work with this group of people, but also needs to achieve the results expected by their superiors. Leaders can benefit by being able to identify the types of personality characteristics of team members. By understanding the basic personality types, the leader can use individual strengths of members for the good of the team, as well as assign tasks that individual team members naturally excel in. A leader can also learn to communicate in a way that is motivating, by taking into account the needs, values and working preferences of different team members (PointShop.com, 2006). Besides, regular positive and negative feedback from the team members will also help in improving and understanding the needs of the team. For many individuals, every day life activities, including work related activities, are impaired due to a lack of, or untrained organizational skills. What can be done to develop or improve organizational

The Public Need to Know Essay Example for Free

The Public Need to Know Essay Research has shown that children born in the 2000‘s have a 1-3 chance of developing type two diabetes, and 7% of obese five to seventeen year olds has at least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease. â€Å"Over the past 30 years childhood obesity has more than tripled in the United States. According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, obesity in children is one of the easiest medical conditions to recognize but most difficult to treat. (Wittman,2010 pg.75).† are now federal guidelines now in place that all school are required to meet. These new federal nutrition guidelines are now tough, due to the changes in state and federal laws the government has banned the use of pesticides in crop growing. The federal government has finally step in and made new laws to save the children of our future. Infusing the new health and nutrition program to ensure meals are well balanced and nutritional for students growth and development is one of the best thing they come have ever implemented, many of these new meal requirements as part of their â€Å"program nutrition standards set forth by the USDA require most schools to increase the availability of whole grains, fat-free and low-fat fluid milk in school meals; reduce the levels of sodium, saturated fat and Tran’s fat in meals; and meets the nutritional needs of school children within their calorie requirements (Johnson, RK, et al. 1998).† This brochure will identify the economy issues, special need for the students been served, developing a standard health and nutrition menu for schools and the benefits of changes that’s have been made in the school lunch menu. Some of economy issues for school lunch and breakfast pr ograms were re-authorized with significant improvements to make it easier for eligible children to be enrolled. By doing the re-authorization will allow underprivileged children in families that receiving government asseds to automatically receive free school meals without having to complete an application, and school districts will have to review a sample of applications more carefully to make sure families are  eligible. With nutrition and health meals in school that are high in fat, sodium, cholesterol and they were very unhealthy meals. All of this was done to cut the cost of foods. The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) that started in 2006 was the second largest food and nutrition assistance program which and provided over 28 million low-cost or free lunches to children on a typical school day at a Federal cost of $8 billion for the year (Economic Research Report 1998). The NSLP report provides background information on the, including historical trends and participant characteristics. It also addresses steps being taken to meet challenges facing administrators of the program, including tradeoffs between nutritional quality of foods served, costs, and participation, as well as between program access and program integrity. The special need is for students to be offer a variety of healthy foods in school meal and snack programs that will prevent childhood obesity and diabetes. Schools are required by law to offer school meals and snacks that are consistent with the federal government’s dietary guidelines. Having these programs has allowed students to develop healthy eating habits and to learn to enjoy many different foods. Healthier meals provide energy and nutrients for students. These are special needs because schools where given students food that was unhealthy and causing childhood deaths. These new programs that have been enforced has help decrease childhood diabetes and obesity. FIGURE 5-1 Excerpt from a late version of the Menu Development spreadsheet for estimating and evaluating the average daily energy and nutrient content that would be provided by possible meal patterns for breakfast, using preliminary targets for schoolchildren ages 5–10 years kindergarten through grade 5. (Joh nson, RK, 1998 pg. 295) TABLE M-6 Sample Lunch Menus: High School MONDAY| TUESDAY| WEDNESDAY| THURSDAY| FRIDAY| WEEK 1| | | | | Choice of:| Choice of:| Choice of:| Choice of:| Choice of:| Sloppy Joe (3.6 oz) on WW Roll| Regular or Spicy Chicken Strips (3oz)| Pineapple Glazed Turkey Ham (2 oz)| Nachos Grande with Tortilla Chips (2 oz)| Teriyaki Chicken Dippers (3 oz) with White Rice (1 c)| Cheese Lasagna (1oz) with Marinara Sauce ( ½ c)| Chicken Patty (2.5 oz) on WW Roll| Hamburger (2.7 oz) on Bun| Chicken Patty (2.5oz) on WW Roll| Corn Dog  (4oz)| Assorted Pizza (6.3oz)| Assorted Pizza (6.3 oz)| Assorted Pizza (6.3oz)| Assorted Pizza (6.3 oz)| Assorted Pizza (6.3 oz)| Cheeseburger (2.7oz meat, 1 oz RF cheddar cheese) on Bun| Grilled Chicken Salad (2 oz chicken, 2 oz black beans, 1 c spinach, cherry tomato)| Chef Salad (1 oz turkey, 1 oz ham, 0.5 oz LF cheese,  ½ egg, 1 c dark green leafy blend, cherry tomato, cucumber)| Taco Salad (2 oz taco meat, 1 oz shredded cheddar, 0.25 oz tortilla chips, 1 c dark green leafy blend)| Black Bean Salad ( ½ cromaine, 2 oz black beans, 1⠁„8 c corn, 1⠁„8 c p ineapple)| Deli Roll Salad (1oz turkey, 1 oz LF cheese, 1 c romaine blend, tomato)| Sub Sandwich (1.5 oz turkey, 0.5 oz RF cheese) on Hoagie Bun (4†)| Roast Beef Sub (2 oz roast beef, 1 oz RF cheese, romaine leaf, tomato) on WW Hoagie Bun (5†)| Veggie Sandwich (2 oz RF cheese, lettuce, tomato, cucumber) on Hoagie Roll (5†)| Deli Turkey Sub (2 oz turkey, 1 oz RF cheese, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, red onion) on WW Hoagie Roll (5†)| Sub Sandwich (0.75oz turkey ham, 0.75 oz turkey salami, 0.75 oz turkey bologna, 0.5 RF cheese) on WW Hoagie Roll (5†)| Veggie Wrap (romaine, 2 oz monterey jack cheese, cucumber, red pepper, tomato, matchstick carrots) in WW Tortilla| Buffalo Chicken Wrap (2.5 oz chicken, 1 oz LF cheese, romaine leaf, 1 oz ranch dressing) in WW Tortilla| Turkey Club Wrap (2 oz turkey, 1 oz RF cheese, lettuce, tomato, 1 oz ranch dressing) in WW Tortilla| Italian Wrap (1 oz turkey salami, 1 oz turkey ham, 1 oz LF cheese, romaine leaf, tomato) in W W Tortilla| | Green Beans ( ½ c)| Sweet Potatoes ( ½ c)| | Baked Potato Wedges ( ½ c)| Vegetarian Beans ( ½ c)| Fresh Mini Carrots ( ½ c)| Fresh Zucchini Slices ( ½ c)| Golden Corn ( ½c)| Sliced Summer Squash ( ½ c)| Developing a standard health and nutrition menu for schools involve there were five major steps taken to help develop the menu : (1) consideration of the adequacy of the meal planning approaches in current use; (2) the selection of the new meal planning approach; (3) the identification of an established food pattern guide to serve as a basis for school meal patterns for planning menus that are consistent with Dietary Guidelines for Americans; (4) the design and use of spreadsheets to test possible meal patterns against the preliminary nutrition targets established in Chapter 4; and (5) the testing of a series of possible standards for menu planning and evaluation of the resulting menus in terms of nutrient content, cost, and suitability for school meals (School Meals: Building Blocks for Healthy  Children) The benefits of these programs are typically acquired during person’s childhood according to The Dairy Council. Therefore, healthier school lunches would lead to healthier nutritional choices throughout childrens entire lifetimes. By making healthy school lunches the norm as opposed to the exception, children will inadvertently learn about nutrition and healthy eating. The reverse is also true; children who are provided with sugary, fatty foods at school can develop poor eating habits that can last a lifetime but by have this program is has decrease childhood diabetes and cholesterol. References Wittman, Demand Media; Candy Vs. Vegetables Healthy, Unprocessed Lunch Choices, 2010 Johnson, RK, et al. Journal of Child Nutrition and Management, 1998. 2:95-100. Gettlinger, MJ, et al. Journal of the American Dietetic Association,

A micro assembler for a processor

A micro assembler for a processor INTRODUCTION A micro assembler (sometimes called a meta-assembler) is acomputer programthat helps prepare amicroprogramto control the low level operation of a computer in much the same way anassemblerhelps prepare higher level code for aprocessor. The difference is that the microprogram is usually only developed by the processor manufacturer and works intimately with the hardware. The microprogram defines theinstruction setany normal program (including bothapplication programsandoperating systems) is written in. The use of a microprogram allows the manufacturer to fix certain mistakes, including working aroundhardwaredesign errors, without modifying the hardware. Another means of employing micro assembler-generated micro programs is in allowing the same hardware to run differentinstruction sets. After it is assembled, the microprogram is then loaded to astore to become part of the logic of aCPUscontrol unit. Some micro assemblers are more generalized and are not targeted at single computer architecture. For example, through the use of macro-assembler-like capabilities,Digital Equipment Corporationused theirMICRO2micro assembler for a very wide range of computer architectures and implementations. If a given computer implementation supports awriteable control store, the micro assembler is usually provided to customers as a means of writing customized microcode. Ã ¨ Computer programs(softwareprograms) areinstructionsfor acomputer.A computer requires programs to function, typicallyexecutingthe programs instructions in acentral processor.The program has anexecutableform that the computer can use directly to execute the instructions. The same program in its human-readable sourceform, from whichexecutableprograms are derived (e.g.,compiled), enables aprogrammerto study and develop itsalgorithms. Computer source code is often written by professionalcomputer programmers. Source code is written in aprogramming languagethat usually follows one of two mainparadigms:imperativeordeclarativeprogramming. Source code may be converted into anexecutable file(sometimes called an executable program or a binary) by acompiler. Alternatively, computer programs may be executed by acentral processing unitwith the aid of aninterpreter, or may beembeddeddirectly intohardware. ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE: A program written in assembly language it basically contain of a series ofinstructions- mnemonics that correspond to a stream of executable instructions, when translated by anassembler that can be loaded into memory and executed. For example, anx86/IA-32processor execute the below instruction as given inmachine language. Binary: 10110000 01100001 (Hexadecimal: B0 61) The mnemonic move it tells the opcode1011tomovesthe value in the 2nd operand into the register. Transforming the assembly language into the machine code is done by anassembler, and the vice versa by this assembler. In High-level language, there is usually aone to one relationbetween simple assembly logics and machine language instructions. But, in few cases, an assembler provides instructionswhich will expand into several machine code instructions to provide its functionality. Eachcomputer structureandprocessor designhas its own machine understanding language. Each instruction is simple enough to be executed using a relatively small number of electronic circuits. System may differ by the type of operations they support. For example, a new 64-bit (AMD processor) machine will have different structure from a 32-bit (Intel processor) machine. They also have different size structure and the different storage structure. Multiple collection ofmnemonics codesor assembly-language code may exist for a single instruction set, typically instantiated in different assembler programs. In thes e cases, the most popular one is usually that supplied by the manufacturer and used in its documentation. ASSEMBLER The advancedassemblercreatesobject codeby translating assembly instruction mnemonics intoop codes, and by resolvingsymbolic namesfor memory locations and other entities.The use of symbolic references is only the key feature of assemblers, saving tuff calculations and manual address. Most assemblers also includemacrofacilities for performing textual substitution. E.g.: To generate common short sequences of instructions to runinline, instead of in asubroutine. Assemblers are easier to write thancompilersforHLL. Advanced assemblers, like RISCbased architectures, such asMIPS, SunSPARC, and HPPA-RISC, it optimizeinstruction schedulingto exploit theCPU pipelineefficiently. There are two types of assemblers, based upon how many passes through the source are needed to produce the executable program. One-pass assemblers go through the source code once at a time and assume that all symbols will be defined before any instruction that references them. Two-pass assemblers create a table with all unresolved symbols in the first pass, and then use the 2nd pass to resolve these addresses. The advantage in the one-pass assemblers is about its speed, which is not as important as it once was with advances in computer speed and capabilities. The advantage of the two-pass assembler is that symbols can be defined anywhere in the program source so its an easier way to understand the user. Its results to the program can be defined in a more logical and meaningful way. It will make two-pass assembler programs easier to read and maintain. More sophisticatedhigh-level assemblersprovide language abstractions such as: Advanced control structures. High-level procedure declarations and invocations. High-level abstract data types, including structures, unions, classes, and sets. Sophisticated macro processing. Object-Orientedfeatures such asencapsulation,polymorphism,inheritance,interfaces. Heres how it works: Most computers come with a specified set of very basic instructions that correspond to the basic machine operations that the computer can perform. For example, a Load instruction causes the processor to move a string of bits from a location in the processorsmemoryto a special holding place called aregister. The programmer can write a program using a sequence of these assembler instructions. This sequence of assembler instructions, known as thesource codeor source program, is then specified to the assembler program when that program is started. The assembler program takes each program statement in the source program and generates a corresponding bit stream or pattern. The output of the assembler program is called theobject codeor object program relative to the input source program. The object program can then be run whenever desired. Earlier programmers actually wrote programs in machine code, but assembler languages or instruction sets were soon developed to speed up programming field. Today, assembler programming is used only where very efficient control over processor operations is needed. It requires knowledge of a particular computers instruction set. Historically, most programs have been written in higher-level languages such as COBOL, FORTRAN, PL/I, and C. These languages are easier to learn and faster to write programs with than assembler language. MICROASSEMBLER A micro assembler also called as meta-assembler. It is a kind of program which helps prepare a micro program to control the low level operation of a computer in much the same way an assembler helps prepare higher level code for a processor. The use of a micro program allows the manufacturer to fix certain mistakes, in hardware design also. Another means of employing micro assembler-generated micro programs is in allowing the same hardware to run different instruction sets. When it is assembled, the micro program is then loaded to a control store to become part of the logic of a CPUs control unit. Some micro assemblers are more generalized and are not targeted at single computer architecture. For example, the use of macro-assembler likes capabilities, Digital Equipment Corporation used their MICRO2 micro assembler for a very wide range of computer architectures. THE ASSEMBLER USED BY THE MICROSOFT (MASM) MASM is a Microsofts assembler and abbreviation used for it is Macro Assembler. MASM is a very powerful macro feature, and is capable of writing very low-level syntax, and pseudo-high-level code with its macro feature. MASM 6.15 is currently available as a free-download from Microsoft site. MASM is a one of the Microsoft development tools that are targeted 16-bit, 32-bit and 64-bit platforms. Versions 6.1 and 6.11 included Phar Laps TNT DOS extender so that MASM could run in MS-DOS. MASM will write in Intel Syntax. MASM is used by Microsoft to implement some low-level portions of its Windows Operating systems. MASM, contrary to popular belief, has been in constant development since 1980, and is upgraded on a needs-basis. MASM has always been made compatible by Microsoft to the current platform, and executable file types. MASM currently supports all Intel instruction sets, including SSE2. MAL (MICRO ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE): It describes about the lexical, syntactic, and semantic elements of the language, and gives a focus on microprogramming with the mic1 micro-assembler. Lexical: Most assembly language such as Micro-Assembly Language is a line-oriented language. Each micro-instruction is generally defined on a single line of the program file. The end-of-line is generally significant. It is a case-sensitive. For example, AND is a reserved word Corresponding to a bitwise operation of the mic1 ALU, while and is not reserved and may be used as a label Comments The comments will begin with two slash characters (//) and continue to the end of the line. Blank lines and lines consisting only of white space and comments are ignored by the micro-assembler. Directive Directives for the micro-assembler begin with a period character (.) and may contain alphabetic characters. There are two micro-assembler directives: .default and .label. Directives are used to provide guide the behavior of the micro-assembler, and do not correspond with words in the control store. Reserved Words The names of registers and control lines are reserved, as are the words if, else, goto, nop, AND, OR, and NOT. For the mic1 architecture, the following words are reserved and may not be used as statement labels: MAR MDR PC Fetch If Else goto nop AND OR NOT MORE ABOUT THE MICRO ASSEMBLER: Micro Assembler is Integrated Development Environment for assembly programming. Micro Assembler has a much easier syntax than any of the major assemblers, a great combination for beginners. Micro Assembler is a Windows based application so you can enjoy user-friendly Windows environment. APPLICATIONS Hard-coded assembly language is typically used in a systemsboot ROM(BIOSon IBM-compatiblePCsystems). This low-level code is used, among other things, to initialize and test the system hardware prior to booting the OS, and is stored inROM. Once a certain level of hardware initialization has taken place, execution transfers to other code, typically written in higher level languages; but the code running immediately after power is applied is usually written in assembly language. The same is true of mostboot loaders. Many compilers render high-level languages into assembly first before fully compiling, allowing the assembly code to be viewed fordebuggingand optimization purposes. Relatively low-level languages, such asC, often provide specialsyntaxto embed assembly language directly in the source code. Programs using such facilities, such as theLinux kernel, can then construct abstractions utilizing different assembly language on each hardware platform. The systemsportablecode can then utilize these processor-specific components through a uniform interface. Assembly language is also valuable inreverse engineering, since many programs are distributed only in machine code form, and machine code is usually easy to translate into assembly language and carefully examine in this form, but very difficult to translate into a higher-level language. Tools such as theInteractive Disassemblermake extensive use of disassembly for such a purpose. A particular niche that makes use of assembly language is thedemo scene. Certain competitions require the contestants to restrict their creations to a very small size (e.g. 256B, 1KB, 4KB or 64 KB), and assembly language is the language of choice to achieve this goal.When resources, particularly CPU-processing constrained systems, like the earlierAmiga models, and theCommodore 64, are a concern, assembler coding is a must: optimized assembler code is written by hand and instructions are sequenced manually by thecodersin an attempt to minimize the number of CPU cycles used; the CPU constraints are so great that every CPU cycle counts. However, using such techniques has enabled systems like the Commodore 64 to produce real-time3D graphicswith advanced effects, a feat which might be considered unlikely or even impossible for a system with a 0.99MHzprocessor BENEFITS OF IT: The micro programmed Data General Eclipse S/200 computer is available with a writable control store. The WCS feature of the Eclipse is having extension of the micro programmed control logic of the computers central processing unit. It allows a user to implement specialized instructions at a very low level. Its use is however, discouraged since Data General does not provide software support for the WCS feature. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Microprogramming with the Eclipse Computer WCS feature Corporation, 1974. www.wikipedia.com www.google.com www.ontko.com Answers.com. assembly language: Definition and Much More from Answers.com. Retrieved 2008-06-19. NESHLA: The High Level, Open Source, 6502 Assembler for the Nintendo Entertainment System Eidolons Inn : SegaBase Saturn

Overcoming Challenges in Channeary by Steve Tolbert :: essays research papers

In this novel by Steve Tolbert, we experience the life of a young girl by the name of Channeary. Channeary lives in a small fishing village in Cambodia. During her life, she faces many challenges, like the loss of her family to the ruthless Khmer Rouge soldiers. She overcomes many of the tragedies faced, but some still haunt her to this day. In this essay, I intend to explore several of those challenges, including how she overcame them. The first major obstacle faced in Channeary?s life was when the ruthless Khmer Rouge soldiers invaded their small fishing village. They had selected a few people from the village to come forcefully with them. You, as Angkar?s Ancient People you will fully co-operate in battle to rid our land of reactionary capitalist filth and their imperialist supporters!?(1) Knowing the Khmer Rouge, they probably were killed. Later, they cleaned their village in silence. After cleaning, the villagers gathered around the Buddha figure and prayed. At this time, Channeary would have felt very scared that the soldiers might take her away, there was a feeling of discomfort and uncertainty in the mind of Channeary at that point in time. From the fear of the Khmer Rouge invading the village again, some residences were forced to leave for bordering Thailand. ?We must leave tonight...possibly to Thailand? Channeary?s mother said.(2) Most fled only for the welfare of their children. Channeary would have ex perienced great sadness when leaving her home that was full of her childhood memories with her family. With the help of Mith constantly encouraging them, the villagers continuously pushed themselves. Many characters had began to get weak and weary resulting, to the lose lives. Overcoming Challenges in Channeary by Steve Tolbert :: essays research papers In this novel by Steve Tolbert, we experience the life of a young girl by the name of Channeary. Channeary lives in a small fishing village in Cambodia. During her life, she faces many challenges, like the loss of her family to the ruthless Khmer Rouge soldiers. She overcomes many of the tragedies faced, but some still haunt her to this day. In this essay, I intend to explore several of those challenges, including how she overcame them. The first major obstacle faced in Channeary?s life was when the ruthless Khmer Rouge soldiers invaded their small fishing village. They had selected a few people from the village to come forcefully with them. You, as Angkar?s Ancient People you will fully co-operate in battle to rid our land of reactionary capitalist filth and their imperialist supporters!?(1) Knowing the Khmer Rouge, they probably were killed. Later, they cleaned their village in silence. After cleaning, the villagers gathered around the Buddha figure and prayed. At this time, Channeary would have felt very scared that the soldiers might take her away, there was a feeling of discomfort and uncertainty in the mind of Channeary at that point in time. From the fear of the Khmer Rouge invading the village again, some residences were forced to leave for bordering Thailand. ?We must leave tonight...possibly to Thailand? Channeary?s mother said.(2) Most fled only for the welfare of their children. Channeary would have ex perienced great sadness when leaving her home that was full of her childhood memories with her family. With the help of Mith constantly encouraging them, the villagers continuously pushed themselves. Many characters had began to get weak and weary resulting, to the lose lives.

big bang theory :: essays research papers

Big Bang Theory We certainly know that our universe exists, however, this knowledge alone has not satisfied mankind's quest for further understanding. Our curiosity has led us to question our place in this universe and furthermore, the place of the universe itself. Throughout time we have asked ourselves these questions: How did our universe begin? How old is our universe? How did matter come to exist? Obviously, these are not simple questions and throughout our brief history on this planet much time and effort has been spent looking for some clue. Yet, after all this energy has been expended, much of what we know is still only speculation. Yet in 1927 a man by the name of Georges Lemaitre from Belgium proposed that the universe began with a bang. â€Å"He proposed that a primeval atom exploded and that is how the universe formed itself. His proposal came after observing the red shift in distant nebulas by astronomers to a model of the universe based on relativity.† Before I was enrolled in S urvey of Astronomy I wasn’t sure what to believe. But after sitting through the class I started to realize that all the pieces are starting to fit together like, why the galaxies are increasing in velocity away from us and also explaining the cosmic background radiation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  About 15 billion years ago a tremendous explosion started the expansion of the universe. This explosion is known as the Big Bang. At the point of this event all of the matter and energy of space was contained at one point. What existed prior to this event is completely unknown and is a matter of pure speculation. This occurrence was not a conventional explosion but rather an event filling all of space with all of the particles of the embryonic universe rushing away from each other. The Big Bang actually consisted of an explosion of space within itself unlike an explosion of a bomb were fragments are thrown outward. The galaxies were not all clumped together, but rather the Big Bang lay the foundations for the universe. Even more recently, NASA’s COBE satellite was able to detect cosmic microwaves emanating from the outer reaches of the universe. These microwaves were remarkably uniform which illustrated the beginning of the early stages of the universe. How ever, the satellite also discovered that as the universe began to cool and was still expanding, small fluctuations began to exist due to temperature differences.

Imperfect Punishments Essay

Imagine a place where tyrants stand up to their ears in boiling blood, the gluttonous experience monsoons of human filth, and those who commit sins of the flesh are blown about like pieces of paper in a never-ending wind storm. Welcome to Dante’s Inferno, his perspective on the appropriate punishments for those who are destined to hell for all eternity. Dante attempts to make the punishments fit the crimes, but because it is Dante dealing out the tortures and not God, the punishments will never be perfect because by nature, man is an imperfect creature. Only God is capable of being above reproach and of metering out a just punishment. While Dante’s treatment towards the tyrants is fitting, his views on the inhabitants of the Ante Inferno and Limbo seem to be backwards and these poor people are doomed to suffer misguided punishments. Therefore, despite Dante’s best attempts to justly punish each sinner, he makes a few mistakes because he is not God and Dante is un able to unbiasedly judge each sinner. If you were to attempt a journey through Hell, the first unlucky hellions you would encounter are the inhabitants of the Ante Inferno. The residents of this â€Å"not quite heaven, not quite hell† domain were placed here because while living, they chose to neither side with God nor with the Devil. By choosing neither good nor evil, these people sinned because they never chose to live by a set of Christian ideals. The punishment for these sinners is to constantly chase a white flag. The color of the flag symbolizes the blank and empty life the sinners led because they did not choose to follow God. The sinners are also bitten by wasps because in real life, they were never forced into any type of moral decision, so in the Ante Inferno, the wasps sting them and force them to chase the white flag. While the ordeal these sinners face seems entirely appropriate, their physical location in hell, or lack there of, is what makes their punishment wrong. This becomes very obvious when the punishment for those in Limbo is considered. Limbo is the First Circle of Hell and it is the final resting place for the people who died before the birth of Christianity or who were never baptized. Notable figures like Moses and Noah are former residents of Limbo, until  Christ granted them a pardon. Virgil resides in Limbo and has been given a temporary leave of absence to guide Dante through Hell because Beatrice, Dante’s former love who holds a high place in heaven, is worried that he is headed on the path towards Hell. Dante shows pity for those who are stuck in Limbo because as Virgil describes, â€Å"Some lived before the Christian faith, so that They did not worship God aright – and I Am one of these. Through this, no other fault, We are lost, afflicted only this one way: That having no hope, we live in longing†(Canto IV 28-32). Dante is said to be seized with â€Å"heartfelt grief† (Canto IV 33) after hearing this, but no pity is supposed to be felt towards sinners who are receiving just punishments. But how just is it that people who never knew the word of Christ and had no knowledge of Heaven or Hell are sentenced to Hell? It is not a fair punishment to doom those unlucky enough to be born before Christianity to Hell when they were not given a fair chance to learn how to gain entrance to Heaven, especially when you consider that those living in the Ante Inferno were perfectly aware of God and knew the consequences of not living a Christian life. Knowing about God and simply ignoring him seems to be a worse crime than being born before Christ. Perhaps some of the residents of Limbo may have ended up in Hell had they know about Christianity, but some may not have. The people in Limbo were never given the choice to live a life with God, so their punishment and placement in Hell should be less severe t han the people who ignored their chance to gain entrance to Heaven. If Limbo and the Ante Inferno could geographically switch positions, Dante’s reasonsing and punishments for the two groups would make more sense. The sinners in the Ante Inferno experience what seems to be a greater punishment  than what one would face in Limbo. Being constantly stung by wasps and forced to chase a white flag would be mentally and physically exhausting and seems to be a torture straight out of hell†¦ yet they aren’t even technically in hell. On the other hand, in Limbo one merely walks around and talks to other luckless souls, which does not seem to be a punishment constant with what other sinners face in hell. Dante correctly assigned the right punishments to each group of sinners, but he misplaced both groups. Limbo should be outside of Hell because they did not have the knowledge of either Heaven or Hell. The Ante Inferno should be the first level of Hell, reserved for those who knew about Heaven and Hell, choose neither side, and now must fac e the fact that by their indecision, are bound to suffer in Hell. While Dante may have geographically misplaced these two groups of sinners, he did correctly punish most of the sinners in Hell. For example, â€Å"the river of blood – in which boils everyone / Whose violence hurt others† (Canto XII 41-42) describes the perfect punishment for those who were violent while they were alive. The degree of the violence committed also factors into the punishment. Tyrants who slaughtered many people are completely covered in boiling blood, while those who were violent against only a few suffer with blood up to their torsos. This is the perfect punishment because violence is a crime of passion and causes bloodshed. It is appropriate for these sinners to be in boiling blood, which would have been similar to their blood, simmering with rage and passion, while they committed their sin. Being immersed in this disgusting pool of heated blood would be a terrible punishment and it is just that those who commit the crime of violence and murder should s uffer this endless torment. In order to place the sinners in the appropriate levels of Hell, Dante relies on his personal experiences and opinions about the crimes committed. The little bit that we know about Dante and his life, we learn through the opening scenes of the epic and conversations he has with spirits in Hell. The epic opens with Dante, â€Å"In dark woods, the right road lost† (Canto I 2). This shows the Dante is neither a devout Christian, nor is he a sinner. At his place in his life, being neither good nor bad, Dante would most likely be sentenced to life in the Ante Inferno. Throughout the epic, Dante likens  himself to Virgil, but at the same time appears to know that his work is not quite as good as Virgil’s. Perhaps by placing himself and the Ante Inferno in a level of Hell less severe than Limbo, Dante may still not be as good of a poet, but he is able to represent himself as a better person morally. This may not seem just to me, but to Dante this is a perfectly reasonable pu nishment. Dante feels the need to be superior to Virgil and since he was not able to accomplish this in life, he supercedes Virgil in the afterlife. It is also evident that Dante has a personal bias towards those who commit the sin of violence. While venturing through their circle of Hell, Dante says there â€Å"in that crowd / Were many I recognized† (Canto XII 114-115). He mentions that Alexander resides there and that â€Å"he held Sicily under / For many a sad year† (Canto XII 100-101). Dante may have placed such a harsh, yet still just, punishment on the Violent because he is avenging his country and people for the violent crimes committed against them. Alexander was responsible for an innumerable amount of Italian lives during his occupancy of Sicily and Dante is making sure that he is correctly punished for his sins. In life, Dante was unable to stop Alexander from committing his atrocities, but he is able to condemn him in Hell. Had Dante and his country not experienced the terrors of a tyrant, it is possible that without his need for revenge, Dante may have awarded the Violent a lesser punishment. Our personal experiences and feelings are what make us human, but yet they also lead us to biases, which prevent us from being as fair and just as God. It is obvious that those in Limbo who were never given a chance to have their soul saved by Christ should not be doomed eternally to a lower level of Hell than those in Ante Inferno who ignored the chance to save their soul. Yet Dante misplaces these two domains of Hell to put himself in a level nearer to Heaven than Dante will ever be able to acheive. While Virgil’s literary abilities will always be remembered as better pieces of work, by making Virgil his guide to salvation, Dante will reach Heaven, the ultimate goal of a Christian, while Virgil never will. The punishment of the Violent is a strong statement against those who have brought bloodshed to Italy and reflects Dante’s hope for peace in Italy. Dante shows that while these sinners may have dominated the lives of others on Earth, that in hell  the Violent are completely overwhelmed by the blood that they created. Despite Dante’s good intentions of creating a Hell where the punishment fits the crime, his opinions cloud his judgement. He uses Hell as a way to punish or degrade those whom he had some sort of a conflict with while alive. It is obvious that I do not agree with all of his ideas about Hell, but then again I am also not a fourteenth century Italian male. A just hell is different for everyone, depending on your own beliefs or lack of beliefs. The only universally just Hell that can be experienced is a Hell of God’s making and hopefully I will never know how his punishments compare to Dante’s.