More than 20 words for snow - Emphasis

More than 20 words for snow More than 20 words for snow Here in the southeast snow all-but brought normal business life to a standstill yesterday. And its not much better today. Here in Emphasis towers were made of sterner stuff: it takes more than a few snowflakes to deter us from our vital work of showing people how to write better business documents. Like everyone else though, we have snow on the brain at the moment particularly as our boiler broke down two weeks ago. (Weve all been sitting around in hats and scarves ever since, waiting for the heating engineer to return with the right bits to mend it.) As everyone knows, the Eskimos have more than a dozen words for snow. Or is that just an urban myth? Weve broken out our grammatical snow shovels and have been doing a bit of digging to get to the bottom of the story. It seems it might be true after all too. According to Professor Anthony Woodbury of the University of Texas at Austin, there are in fact at least 15 different word groups for snow in the Yupik Eskimo language, as you can read here. Thats not as amazing as it sounds, though. In English, he counted 22. Why so many? Well the Eskimo list is bulked up by words for snow formations and meteorological terms such as pirta which means snowstorm. It includes words for which we have no equivalent, such as qanisqineq meaning snow floating on water. But the English list includes words like flurry, dusting and blizzard, as well as words weve adopted from French such as cornice and avalanche. So now you know.

The eNotes Blog Education Testing123

Education Testing123 Does more equal better?   When it concerns students essay scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SATs), that may well be the case. Milo Beckman, a fourteen-year-old student at Stuyvesant High School in New York conducted a study among his peers after becoming frustrated with the scores he received on the exam. Beckman took the exam twice, and to his surprise, discovered that his second test scored higher than the first, although he deemed the first attempt to be superior in quality. The second essay he wrote was considerably longer, but not, in the students opinion, as well written. Beckman then polled 115 students who had taken the exam in his school, asking them to count the number of words they had written. The students who wrote lengthier essays almost always received a higher score, despite the quality of the content. Beckmans results were confirmed by MIT professor Les Pereleman. (Read the full story as first reported by Elisabeth Leamy of ABCs Good Morning America here.) In other testing news, it is not just students who are being graded. Increasingly, teachers are being held accountable for the performance of their students. Houston, Texas is the latest city to announce that teachers jobs will no longer rely solely on evaluations by their principals. Until this year, 99% of teachers received satisfactory performance scores based on personal reviews. However, now student test scores will play a much greater role in deciding who is hired and fired.

Information Security - Amazon.com Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Information Security - Amazon.com - Term Paper Example Many businesses are solely dependent on storing information on the database. The details regarding the employee workings, salaries and the Banking activities are carries out through storing it into the database under strong security to prevent access from unauthorized access. Not only the firewall and the antivirus system provides security to a system but the system design is also needed to be done in such a way so that it provides strong security system to be decoded by the hackers and break the security. Several viruses can be planted to a system which can erase all data in a minute and even certain hard-wares can be used which can bypass the firewall and enter into the system. The login information provided at different sites for transaction process are needed to be very secured otherwise there can loss of information and hackers can steal information for unlawful activities which can incur huge loss for the account holder both in terms of monetary and data loss. For certain issue s like banking system and network activities the system should be highly secured as lack of security can cause huge loss money along with data. About Amazon.com Seattle, Washington based fortune 500 company Amazon.com is the leader of e-commerce business process globally. In the year 1995 Jeff Bezos started Amazon.com and then expanded gradually with wide range of products and services with international sites and strong network and customer service worldwide. Amazon.com claims to be the Earth’s most customer centric online service company who can provide anything that the customers’ need and they provide the lowest price possible in the market. With a diversified product line ranging from new, refurbished and also used items in various categories like jewelry, gourmet, apparel, books, music, toys, personal care electronics etc Amazon.com provides the solution for all under one roof (Rappa, 2010). The company operates sites at different parts of the world like United K ingdom, Japan, Canada, Germany, Italy, France and at China. The technological innovation and the growing trend in the internet industry give a great advantage for the company to innovate new features in to the site. The website provides the special search engine feature for its different items for a more customized search and helps a more easy buying process for the customers. The new AWS (Amazon web services) gives an end-to-end security and privacy in the cloud computing world for the customers and provides a more sophisticated approach than the single data center. With the new innovations day by day the company plans to expand into more geographical regions in coming years and build relation with more sellers and shoppers and implement a more secured e-commerce system for the customers (Amazon.com, 2011). Current business issues on Information Security Amazon.com follows the cloud computing technology which is the modern trend in the e-commerce system. It gives the flexibility fo r the company to expand its business and get connected to a larger mass of people with the development facility of the different application for different devices (Amazon Web Services, 2010). Figure 1: Cloud Computing (Source: India Current Affairs, 2011) But this cloud computing technique of Amazon.com has several security issues which are needed to be evaluated by the company for a more secured information security. Broadly these

Explain how insights from two theoretical perspectives can be used to Essay

Explain how insights from two theoretical perspectives can be used to explore the significance of ‘gaps’, ‘silences’ and ‘absences’ in The Turn of the Screw - Essay Example Eventually, her visions also lead to the tragic end of the novella. The strange images which appear before the governess, along with her generally distracted nature, lend themselves to two different literary interpretations, Marxist and Feminist. Her own attraction to the wealth of the family which has hired her, with the potential of advancing her own financial situation, is an obsession which seems to have led to many of her visions. Her companion in taking care of the children, the illiterate Mrs. Grose, tells the governess that the person the governess â€Å"sees† around the grounds must be the former valet Peter Quint, since he was known to wear the clothes of the head of the house. But since the governess had never known him, no one else can now see him, and he had died, the most plausible explanation is that the governess’ vision is that of the head of the house. Before leaving for his country estate, she had met him in London on Halsey Street. She is described in the introduction as being impressed by him as â€Å"a gentleman, a bachelor in the prime of life...He struck her, inevitably, as gallant and splendid. She conceived him as rich, but as fearfully extravagant--saw him all in a glow of high fashion, of good looks, of expensive habits, of charming ways with women.† This quote from the Introduction is a pattern repeated throughout the story, as the governess fills in the gaps of the facts she doesn’t have with her own, mostly pleasant fantasies, at least of this gentleman who hired her. Her impressions of this man fit well into the Marxist theory of literary analysis, in which economic and social conditions are thought to override all concerns. Her obsession with the great advancement given to her by her new position becomes quite clear in Chapter III, in which her new feeling of possession would quickly be

School Closing Essay Example for Free

School Closing Essay Abstract When I was in school many years age classes were over crowed and merely getting a seat was was an issue, and my parents paid for my education. Being a former resident of Philadelphia I completely understand why parents our out raged at our law makers. There is two sides to every story and I can truly say I understand both in this case. Politicans are also outraged by this what seems to an injustice to our future Doctors, Lawyers and law makers, which may be non exsistent in the future due to the buget crisis and our public as well as catholic schools losing the battle to low enrollment. One editor wrote (Dixon,2012) Why Isnt Closing 40 Philadelphia Public Schools National News? â€Å"In what should be the biggest story of the week, the city of Philadelphias school system announced Tuesday that it expects to close 40 public schools next year and 64 by 2017. The school district expects to lose 40% of current enrollment to charter schools, the streets or wherever, and put thousands of experienced, well qualified teachers, often grounded in the communities where they teach, on the street†. The media has a way of getting their points across however, sadly this is true and close to my heart because I grew up in philadelphia back in the late 70s early 80s and it was no walk in the park than. Closing public and parochicoal schools will merely increase crime and damage our economy even more. School Closing In early January last year the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced that five catholic high schools as well as 44 elementary would be closing or merging to avoid having to close. Here we are a year later and the guns are locked, loaded and pointed directly at the inner city children. A couple weeks ago the Philadelphia public school system announced that they will be closing 37 inner city public schools. How can the children be our future and take our country to a better place if we do not invest in ther education its really sad that we have money for war but not for education. Superintendent Dr. William R. Hite (Hite,2013) introduced Philadelphia parents, teachers, and students to his â€Å"Action Plan†. The Action Plan is built around two anchor goals – improve academic outcomes for students in all schools and ensure the financial stability and sustainability of the School District. The primary objective is to align all employees’ work to six strategies and more than 50 actions. The plan also intends to signal a comprehensive overview of ongoing and future work in addition to performance metrics for accountability to families, students and community and business partners. â€Å"This Action Plan emphasizes solutions to basic problems based on evidence and facts,† said Dr. Hite. â€Å"We must use data and research more effectively than we’ve done in the past. We are getting back to the basics – doing what works and doing it well.† What Dr. Hite failed to add in his plan was a safe haven for our future (children).

Death in Beowulf, Henry IV, and Paradise Lost :: Beowulf

Death in Beowulf, Henry IV, and Paradise Lost Characters in Death view their lives in retrospect and, very often, for these characters hindsight is twenty twenty. This statement holds true for any incidence of retrospect, however. When an event has passed you take yourself out of that situation emotionally and therefore lose the emotion-controlling factor which can cloud one's perspective. Assuming an after-life does exist, one may argue that the perspective you get on your life is clear because you are no longer concerned with your human emotions. This also assumes that personal enlightenment is the issue, and no divine enlightenment intervenes. Chaucer's Palinode to Troilus and Criseyde does depict Troilus as being instilled with divine enlightenment, however, and one wonders if Troilus's epiphany manifests due to divine intervention, or merely because he is now emotionally separated from his situation. In Beowulf, the protagonist represents the perfect hero. Beowulf does everything in his power to uphold this image. He fights the three monsters for his own gratification. He traveled to another land because he was considered the only man on the planet capable of killing Grendel and he wanted to prove it. Beowulf managed himself in this manner past his prime and even then wanted to prove himself in a fight against a dragon. Although he defeats the dragon, he also meets his own demise. His death is the first time that he met defeat in any form, even though he did defeat the dragon. This defeat is the first incident that would prompt Beowulf to reconsider the importance of upholding his image. At this point any change that he may consider is much too late, proving that death is a very cruel disciplinarian. Shakespeare firmly believes that death is the great equalizer. In most of his plays at least one character realizes that after death he will become "food for worms." King and peasant, prince and pauper--no matter what your social status is you will eventually come to the same fate. Henry IV is no exception. Shakespeare's characters always reach the same conclusion about death, usually in a very sobering way. This allows his aristocratic characters to undergo a change of perspective and therefore detach themselves from the situation that they are considering. In Milton's Paradise Lost, Adam and Eve experience a similar perspective change after The Fall. When the serpent leads Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, she is both tempted and curious as to what she is missing.

Vergil as the Greatest of all Latin Poets

Vergil is generally acknowledged as the greatest of all Latin poets. He was famous in his own lifetime and was the first poet in the history of Latin literature to be the subject of lectures given by a contemporary teacher. There seemed to be a great deal of interest in him and on his rare appearances in Rome he was pointed out in the streets as if he were a celebrity. However, in his private life he was know to be very shy and preferred the quiet countryside to the pandemonium of Rome. He was born as Publius Vergilius Maro in Andes, a small village, near Mantua (Mantova), Italy on October 15, 70 BC. He had two brothers; Silo, who died in his childhood, and Flaccus, who lived to be a young man. Vergil's father, a potter and cattle farmer, worked hard to provide his son with an Aristocratic education. After he completed his studies in Cremona and Milan, Vergil went to Rome to study law and rhetoric at Epidius' academy. It was in Rome that he met Gaius Maecenas, a Roman statesman and patron of the arts, who saw Vergil's promise of greatness and sponsored his education. In addition he developed a friendship with Octavian, who later became Emperor Augustus. While in Rome, he studied alongside many prominent poets including Gaius Cornelius Gallus, Horace, and Lucius Varius Rufus. After leaving Rome, Vergil went to Naples to study under Siro. Here, he studied philosophy and also became a member of a group of Epicurean thinkers outside Naples. This group gathered in Campania, at a retreat known as â€Å"the Garden†, under the leadership of Siro, Vergil's teacher and friend. Originally, Vergil wanted to study law but he gave up after pleading only one court case and devoted himself to philosophy and literature. He spent most of his life in the countryside of Campania, but kept a house on the Esquiline Hill in Rome, which was given to him by his friend and patron Maecenas. He wrote three major works in his lifetime. Early in his career he wrote the Ecologues, a book of 10 pastoral poems. This was followed by the Georgics, a didactic poem on farm life. His last and greatest work was the Aeneid, a mythological epic poem describing the seven-year wanderings of the hero Aeneas. Vergil's first major work was composed between 42 and 37 BC. This was a ten book pastoral poem know as the Eclogues or Bucolic. It was modeled on the Idylls of Theocritus, an Alexandrian poet. Vergil's emphasis is on graceful rhymes and the description of a romantic setting in northern Italy, but he also added many realistic details such as, his father's eviction from his farm due to political seizure. The most famous of The Ecolouges, The fourth celebrates the birth of a child who is destined to usher in a new Golden Age of peace and goodwill. Critics have made definite connections between Vergil's fictional characters and real people. Some have suggested that the divine birth refers to Mark Anthony, or possibly Vergil's friend Octavian, who became Augustus, Rome's first emperor. Still others see this divine birth as a reference to the birth of Christ. His next major work was the Georgics, or Art of Husbandry, which was written from 36 to 29 BC. It is a four-book poem that described the life of a farmer. Its inspiration is said to come from the Greek poet Hesiod's Works and Days. Vergil's position as the leading poet of the age was confirmed with the Georgics publication. The poem deals with planting, caring for orchards and vineyards, stock management, and beekeeping. However, the main emphasis is on the values of Roman life, particularly the work ethic. The poem was designed to be universal in scope with the topics of war, peace, death and resurrection concluding each book. Vergil devoted his last ten years to the composition of the Aeneid. This is his last and, by far, best known work. It was written between the years of 30 to 19 BC in twelve books. Modeled after Homer's epics, the Iliad and the Odessey, the Aeneid is a mythological epic describing the seven-year wanderings of the Roman hero Aeneas, from the fall of Troy to his military victory in Italy. Aeneas, while central to the story, is more symbolic than realistic. His character exists to tell the story of the founding of Rome and to personify the Roman values of duty and responsibility. In the story, Aeneas escaped from Troy carrying his father on his shoulders and leading his young son Ascanius by the hand. He brought together a fleet of Trojans and sailed the eastern Mediterranean Sea to Thrace, Crete, Epirus, and Sicily before being shipwrecked on the coast of Africa. Here Dido, the queen of Carthage, fell in love with Aeneas. The two began to live together as husband and wife and Aeneas intended to make Carthage his home. Jupiter, king of the gods, warned Aeneas that he must leave Dido in order to continue on his destined mission to found Rome. In despair, Dido killed herself when Aeneas departed for Italy. After landing at the mouth of the Tiber River in Italy, Aeneas killed Turnus, the king of the Rutulians, in a war for the hand of Lavinia, who was the princess of Latium. According to Vergil, the Romans were direct descendents of Ascanius, the founder of Alba Longa, the mother city of Rome. The Aeneid is usually considered the first great literary epic, unlike the Iliad, which in essence is a work of oral poetry. The Aeneid was written as a deliberate attempt to glorify Rome at the request of Augustus Ceasar. The historical elements are especially prominent in books five through eight, the central portion of the poem. The Aeneid became a classic in its own day. All of Rome, particularly the royal family, followed the progress of the epic. Vergil would read aloud from rough drafts of the Aeneid to Augustus, his sister, Octavia, and Maecenas. As he refined his work during his later years, the poet led a comfortable life, devoting himself to historical research. In 19 BC, Vergil set out on a trip to Greece and Asia with the intention of revising his masterpiece. In Athens, he met Augustus and unfortunately became very ill during his stay in Greece. Augustus escorted his friend back to Brundisium, Italy, where he died before his epic could be revised to his satisfaction. To prevent the Aeneid from being read in rough form, Vergil left instructions that it be destroyed. Augustus, realizing the value of this work, intervened before this request could be carried out and assigned two of Vergil's poet friends, Varius Rufus and Plotius Tucca, to edit the manuscript for publication. The work was completed near the end of 18 BC. It achieved immediate acceptance throughout the Mediterranean as the definitive Roman epic. On his deathbed, Vergil immortalized himself with a short epitaph, which his friends inscribed above his grave. It ends with this line: â€Å"I sang of pastures, farms and rulers†. This became a touching summary of his three great works.