A Mental Exercise To Increase My Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence

I understand that it must be a matter of subjectivity for the reader to focus on a single type of intelligence while perusing Armstrong’s (1994) book, Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom.In my case, it has been the bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, most probably because I feel the need to increase my own.   Unfortunately, my school teachers were not aware of the multiple intelligences theory.   Even if they were, they would certainly not have decided to speak to my bodily-kinesthetic intelligence.   Just the same I admired children whose bodies performed more amazing functions than mine.This is the reason why my reflection on Armstrong’s book must be centered on bodily-kinesthetic intelligence as a subconscious exercise for me to increase my own.   Still, I agree with the author that all types of intelligences are equally important.   Moreover, I trust the fact that all intelligences are important enough to be studied individually and in depth.   The vari ous types of intelligence may also be understood in greater depth through the study of a single type of intelligence.It was Gardner (1983) who changed our views about intelligence forever when he proposed in his famous book, Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences, that there are actually seven kinds of intelligences as opposed to the singular type of genetic intelligence that had built the foundation of the Stanford-Binet IQ Test.According to the theory of multiple intelligences, it is possible for a child to be a genius in terms of interpersonal intelligence, and a nerd in logical-mathematical intelligence, and yet fail in school because his or her greatest strength lies in a high level of bodily-kinesthetic awareness and the teacher of the pupil does not know how the child must be taught with special reference to his or her principal abilities.Armstrong states that children with a higher than usual degree of bodily-kinesthetic intelligence should be taught spelling b y associating it with movement.   As an example, â€Å"a teacher might try to connect sitting with consonants and standing with vowels (Willingham, 2004).†Ã‚   Indeed, Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences has led not only to new ideas like the ones put forth by Armstrong, but it has also led to a revolution in the study of intelligence.

Fisheries Society Essay

Fish is the major source of food worldwide and the main supply of protein; it is consumed by many people from almost all backgrounds. Fish is obtained by fishing using different types of methods; the techniques used for fishing are both old and new ones, but all of them have negative impacts on both fish and the environment. Impacts on the environment by wild stock fish harvesting depends on the techniques used for harvesting and the place where the species are found, harvesting techniques are divided into active or passive depending on whether the fishing gear is propelled or towed in pursuit of species or target species move into or forwards the gear. In active gear technique a vessel tows a net trawl or dredge through the water or on the seabed, dredges are used to capture sedentary species that live and feed on benthic habitats while trawls ate towed beneath the water immediately above the seabed. Trawls and dredges sometimes are designed with ticker chains that disrupt the seabed surface to induce the target species flee upwards into the water column and get trapped into the net or to fluidize the sediment of the sea for the tickler chains to penetrate deeper and harvest the fish deep in the water. Trawling and dredging are meant to reduce the roughness of the seabed to depths above 6cm within the sediment, but on large scale it changes to benthic habitats and the fishing structure of a given community but depends the type of target species, gear used and organisms affected for instance sea urchins are more likely to be fatal. Gears differ in sizes, they can be large and heavy and can be towed up to approximately 13 km/hr and it take years to recover when an impact occurs, at the same time the gears have a high magnitude although, the disturbance caused by the magnitude depends on benthos and the changes to benthic structure can be permanent, this disturbance cannot be compared to natural physical disturbance. Severity of impacts remains unknown in areas of high-grading, black-market sales ad by-catch where large fish deaths occur. Trawls and dredges rip up the sea bed considering that they are not better placed than purse seine in targeting species. Gill nets target on fish accumulating both small and large sizes but fish that are too small for mesh swim through while large sizes are not caught; In order to increase the surface area targeting large fish, the length of headline to the length of the stretched net can be set too low, and the net hangs slacks, this makes the net less selective and entangles the fish but as drift nets pelagic shark fish near the surface or mid-water or to catch demersal species with the gill the net sets and gets close to the seabed. Seals, dolphins, turtles and dugongs can be caught and get killed in gill nets, however this depends on the region and fishery, and sometimes infest them leading to eventual death. Gill nets are hazard to dolphins, whales, turtles, sharks and fish when lost for they remain buoyant and continue fishing untended for a good number of years. Pots and traps affect ecological effects and food web is disturbed as a result of overshing of rock lobster may result in population explosion of sea urchins and consequently the disruption in trophic structures. The long lines deployed to catch pelagic species, they consist of long lines with baited hooks attached to shorter ones, they catch seabirds and the devices for reducing bird catches fannels and shuts do introduce lines and hooks below the sea surface and the change in prey abundance changes the diet of birds and foraging time; change in food web predator-prey interactions the trophic structure and diversity; for example the over harvesting predator species of sea urchins results in overabundance of sea urchins and the decimation of kelp beds; known as urchin barren grounds it results in loss of habitat structure, loss of primary and secondary production, and all tropic structures and barren areas of sea floor, consequently a fast growing species also may become dominant with increased pressure an lower trophic levels and local extinctions will occur and the target species becomes uneconomical even before depletion occurs. 5. Introduction The use of marine reserve was banned by the f isheries management allowing fleet and gear techniques. However many fisheries have collapsed worldwide as a result, illustrating the vulnerability of fishery resources and showing that these methods are ineffective. But marine reserves would generally increase yields; especially at the high fishing mortality that occurs in most fisheries, but the most interesting feature or reserves is their ability to provide resilience to overexploitation and therefore reduces the risk of stock collapse and therefore the best management option. Benefits of reserves are increased biomass and individual size within the wild stock, resulting in adult migration and larvae dispersal which replenishes fishing grounds. The use of marine reserve necessitates a thorough understanding of critical habitat requirements, fish movement, the behavior of fish, the relationship between subpopulations and the critical density effect for larvae dispersal. When marine reserve is properly designed in conjunction with other management practices reserve has the capability of providing better ‘insurance’ against uncertainties in stock assessment, fishing control and management by protecting a part of the population from exploitation, it can be the best strategy to be used both for sedentary and migratory species. The unwanted by catch is one of the main environmental effects of fishing and on a global basis the scale has large effects. UN Food and Agriculture organization (FAO) For instance in 1996, estimated annual global discards at about 27 million metric tones, of an equivalent of approximately 25% of reported annual production from fisheries. However the recent updated figure is taken to be 7. 3 million metric tones and this large reduction in bycatch is thought to be the result of use of more selective gears, introduction of by catch and discard regulations and their enforcement and increased utilization of the catch with improved processing technologies and expanding market opportunities; the bycatch varies between different fisheries, for demersal finfish fisheries account 36% of global discards while shrimp fish fisheries account for 27%, whilst together. These fisheries represent 22% of total landings. But on the contrary low by catch levels are associated with purse seines, hand lines, jig, trap and pot fisheries. 6. Introduction Stock enhancement bypasses early density dependent on food, habitat and predation and density independent factors like water, temperature, patterns of migration, oceanographic and conditions of early stages of life. There is dramatic decrease in mortality when compared to wild populations. Restocking has biological, disease, genetic, environmental, ecosystem and socio-economic impacts risks and the level of each risk vary significantly between species and releasesing sites, depending on stocking a sessile versus mobile species, native versus exotic; confined versus open water; type of predator prey interactions that is associated with the activity variables. Success of stocking will depend on pre-release conditioning and carrying out pilot studies to determine optimal release times, sites and size. Expansion of market over the short term after successful introductions as a result increases pressures on wild stock in case of less successful introductions and on sustainable environmental, genetic and economic perspectives the gains are not significant. Competition between wild fish and farmed stock depends on the density of fish and availability of resources which are directly influenced by stocking. The genetically homogenous reared fish dilutes the wild gene and thus introducing unfavorable genetic traits into wild stocks like in the case of Black bream from Moore River into swan increased susceptibility to disease and reduced growth rate of wild stocks. Restocking pollutes the environment and it affects farmed stock and the native species decreases due to competition for food any resources as seen with Galaxiidue as a result of introduction of rainbow trout, how one of the most seriously ‘threatened species’. The bacteria, viruses or parasites into the receiving environment with largely unknown potential effects wild stock like more than 30 world populations of wild salmon have been wiped out by gyradactylus salaries that were released from hatcheries. Consequently invasion by exotic species from hatcheries environment had lead to altered tropic structures, although diagnostic technologies prior to release and rise of quarantine stations may reduces chances of spreading diseases but it relies on knowing what pests or diseases to test so it is which in itself is uncertainty. The higher exploitation rates resulting from stocking results in over exploitation of remaining wild populations, which eventually endangers the viability of wild stock and diminished genetic pool. At the same time the structures involved with aquaculture can provide a habitat for invasive species which can eventually get transported on boats, and recess that service aquaculture sites and the invasive species are transported across regions. In addition there is lack of success in attempting to stock oceanic species inculcating that stock enhancement for marine fin fish should be confined to estuaries. Lastly evaluation of stocking programmes takes a good number of years after which changes in environmental, ecological or financial issues late resulting in long-term viability diminishing. Conclusion Fishing causes phenotypic change in target species in heavily fished stocks, and the breeding population matures earlier and this allows species to continue smaller females generally produce fewer, less viable eggs with lower spawning and recruitment rates resulting in a smaller less fecund population. Certain conditions for restocking and resources are needed to be available like sand, sea grass or reef for the optimum survival of fingerlings. Survival depends on critical resources of food and habitat, and therefore requires knowledge of carrying capacity of site. Summery Impacts on the environment by wild stock fish harvesting depends on the techniques used for harvesting and the place where the species are found; harvesting techniques are divided into active or passive depending on whether the fishing gear is propelled or towed in pursuit of species or target species move into or forwards the gear. In active gear technique a vessel tows a net trawl or dredge through the water or on the seabed, dredges are used to capture sedentary species that live and feed on benthic habitats while trawls ate towed beneath the water immediately above the seabed. Trawls and dredges sometimes are designed with ticker chains that disrupt the seabed surface to induce the target species flee upwards into the water column and get trapped into the net or to fluidize the sediment of the sea for the tickler chains to penetrate deeper and harvest the fish deep in the water Stock enhancement bypasses early density dependent on food, habitat and predation and density independent factors like water, temperature, patterns of migration, oceanographic and conditions of early stages of life. There is dramatic decrease in farmed mortality when compared to wild populations. Restocking has biological, disease, genetic, environmental, ecosystem and socio-economic impacts risks and the level of each risk vary significantly between species and releasesing sites, depending on stocking a sessile versus mobile species, native versus exotic; confined versus open water; type of predator prey interactions that is associated with the activity variables. Success of stocking will depend on pre-release conditioning and carrying out pilot studies to determine optimal release times, sites and size. Expansion of market over the short term after successful introductions as a result increases pressures on wild stock in case of less successful introductions and on sustainable environmental, genetic and economic perspectives the gains are not significant. Competition between wild fish and farmed stock depends on the density of fish and availability of resources which are directly influenced by stocking. The genetically homogenous reared fish dilutes the wild gene and thus introducing unfavorable genetic traits into wild stocks like in the case of Black bream from Moore River into swan increased susceptibility to disease and reduced growth rate of wild stocks. References Beverton R. J. H. & Holt S. H. (1993). On the dynamics of exploited fish populations . Fish and Fisheries Series 11, Chapman & Hall, London. Hilborn, R & Walters, C. J. (1992). Quantitative Fisheries Stock Assessment. Choice, Dynamics and Uncertainty. Chapman & Hall, N. Y. Murphy B. R. & Willis D. W. (1996). Fisheries Techniques, 2nd Edition.. American Fisheries Society, Maryland, USA.

Tourism: England and Local Facilities

In today’s globalized world, people go on holidays every year. They often choose exotic places abroad to fulfill their excitement of traveling and visiting other countries. But should those countries encourage tourism? There are a few advantages and disadvantages on this issue. Firstly, the desire to attract tourists to a certain area often encourages governments to improve local facilities. This leads to the development of the country and, of course, is beneficial for both, citizens and tourists.On the other hand, over-development can lead to ugly, crowded tourist spots and environmental damage. Consequently, the development of the country must be controlled and planned in such a way it does not destroy the natural beauty. Therefore, the development is necessary, but has to be thoroughly planned. Secondly, tourism is claimed to be an important source of income. People from wealthy countries often travel to smaller and more exotic ones, so the economic situation of the weaker country can be boosted.However, a country’s economy may become so dependent on tourism that it is weakened. If, for example, a natural disaster happens, then the tourists may not arrive for a long time. In this case, the country can be helpless without their main income source. Thirdly, tourism allows people to experience new cultures. When tourists visit other countries, local people can see the way they behave, talk, what clothes they wear, what are their customs, and in that way learn more differences. In contrast, the impact of tourism may destroy the local way of life.The new customs brought with tourists may replace the old and unique ones, therefore making local customs mix or even disappear. All in all, there are arguments both, for and against the encouragement of tourism. It is very important for the economy, it allows the locals to experience other cultures, but there’s also a treat of giving up some traditions. Governments may improve local facilities, yet crowded tourist spots can damage the environment. Tourism is a very important field, but needs a lot of careful attention. Tourism: England and Local Facilities In today’s globalized world, people go on holidays every year. They often choose exotic places abroad to fulfill their excitement of traveling and visiting other countries. But should those countries encourage tourism? There are a few advantages and disadvantages on this issue. Firstly, the desire to attract tourists to a certain area often encourages governments to improve local facilities. This leads to the development of the country and, of course, is beneficial for both, citizens and tourists.On the other hand, over-development can lead to ugly, crowded tourist spots and environmental damage. Consequently, the development of the country must be controlled and planned in such a way it does not destroy the natural beauty. Therefore, the development is necessary, but has to be thoroughly planned. Secondly, tourism is claimed to be an important source of income. People from wealthy countries often travel to smaller and more exotic ones, so the economic situation of the weaker country can be boosted.However, a country’s economy may become so dependent on tourism that it is weakened. If, for example, a natural disaster happens, then the tourists may not arrive for a long time. In this case, the country can be helpless without their main income source. Thirdly, tourism allows people to experience new cultures. When tourists visit other countries, local people can see the way they behave, talk, what clothes they wear, what are their customs, and in that way learn more differences. In contrast, the impact of tourism may destroy the local way of life.The new customs brought with tourists may replace the old and unique ones, therefore making local customs mix or even disappear. All in all, there are arguments both, for and against the encouragement of tourism. It is very important for the economy, it allows the locals to experience other cultures, but there’s also a treat of giving up some traditions. Governments may improve local facilities, yet crowded tourist spots can damage the environment. Tourism is a very important field, but needs a lot of careful attention.

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Respond to classmate - Essay Example Indeed as Brandi Barnes puts it, his college education paid for by his employer has not only increased his capacity to perform in private undertakings, but has also helped a great deal in increasing the employers’ general work performance [output]. It is evident from the information gleaned from the two articles that the outcome of an individual employee’s performance is but the result of numerous factors that include inert as well as acquired. To perform is, however, far much part from optimal performance. It takes a well-developed culture; a culture that enables individual employees to interact and share information; a culture that balances the individual interests with that of the organization; a culture that provides resources to enable things get done; and a culture that incentivizes employees, to achieve optimal performance, which, by modern standards, is very much sensitive to time. Quite frankly, it is the culture within an organization that confers the very necessary competitive advantage in modern day business world. That very culture should, however, be modeled in such a way that it does not overburden profit; for this is the sole reason why businesses are set

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Evidence on learning contract - Essay Example Whether it had been a school project or a week of volunteer service at the hospital, I have always strived to improve my technical expertise rather than pay attention on the purpose for such things. This has resulted in a downside for me. I may have performed well in the start but over time I lost the zeal to be on the top. I did not perform as well as I had used to. For a person who used to graduate amongst the top ten in the class, I was suddenly facing falling grades. I could not understand my problem in the start. I used to ponder if it was the increasing difficulty of the course that I studied that was pulling me down. My falling grades discouraged me. I started to lose interest in studies. I did not have the same passion for improving my technical knowledge as I did so in the past. I also started to pay less attention to my studies. I would delay working on my assignments in contrast to the responsible behaviour I had shown in the past in submitting my assignments on time. Also , I became less attentive in my classes. This attitude continued for months and eventually years. It became an ingrained habit- one that I could not get rid of despite the negative impact that it had on me. It was not until I attended a class on self-motivation some time back that I came face-to-face with my demon. The class was an eye-opener for me. In the recent years, I had always struggled with deadlines and being punctual in my class work. Home assignments, for which we were given several days, and sometimes weeks, were done by me a day or so before their deadline. Whenever I set deadlines for the submission of my work, I defaulted them, mostly because I gave my social and family life priority over them. When I did not have a pressing deadline to meet, I used to slacken off and spend most of my time going to the cinema, hanging out with my friends, going out to eat and playing football. Studies were not my first

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Manaement Consulting - Essay Example This differentiating technique is a substantial tool that could transform the nature of products, processes, companies, industries, and even competition itself. Until recently, most managers treated differentiating principals as a support service. Now, however, every company and especially consulting firms must understand the broad effects and implications of the new differentiating principals and how it can create substantial and sustainable competitive advantages. (Wood, W., Lundgren, S., Oullette, J. A., Busceme, S., & Blackstone, T., 341) The principals of differentiating itself from the rest of the industry are in the process of a silent revolution and this revolution is sweeping through our economy. No company can escape its effects. Dramatic reductions in the cost of obtaining, processing, and transmitting information are changing the way we do business. (Williams, J. R. 1) Most general managers know that the revolution is under way, and few dispute its importance. As more and more of their time and investment capital are absorbed in market evaluation and their effect, executives have a growing awareness that the differentiating principals can no longer be the exclusive territory of the elite panels and theoretical niche departments. As they see their rivals use differentiating principals for competitive advantage, these executives recognize the need to become directly involved in the management of the new theories and principals. In the face of rapid change, however, they dont know how. The goal is now to analyse how the framework of differentiating principals can be combined with behavioural evidence on comparative advantage to understand the differential performance of organizations. First, we describe the emerging role of knowledge as a basis for the competitive advantage of organizations. Then we apply our framework

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Safety Management Practices - Research Paper Example The present study of Wachter et al., analyzing the works of Bliese and Jex (2002) stress upon the reality that it is important to realize that a form of context is not represented by these practices that involve perceptual practices of the workers, including management commitment and safe environment. Consequently, measures that delve into the perceptions of the employees can be regarded as the outcomes of the objective safety management practices that are being implemented (Wachter & Yorio, 2014, p. 119). These researchers argue that measures which examine the perceptions of employees can be considered as the consequences of safety management practices that had been implemented in the workplace. This study supports the hypothesis that interventions with employee perceptions can be deemed as the consequences of fair safe management practices implemented in the workplace. In another study, Ford and Tetrick (2008) emphasize the importance of evaluating the manner in which behavioral fa ctors integrate into a wider safety intervention system. The control of workplace hazards is effected via several interventions. The latter can be categorized as, eliminating the hazard, preventing access to the hazard, and assisting people in acting safely and thereby averting injuries and hazards. The first class is that of eliminating hazards by replacing hazardous materials with non-hazardous materials and altering the environment, processes, and tools. This has been recognized as the optimal alternative.

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Electronic Health Records - Has the Affordable Care Act, Meaningful Term Paper

Electronic Health Records - Has the Affordable Care Act, Meaningful use and incentives helped Where are we with EHR compliance Meaningful Use - Term Paper Example or Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) have also been implemented to achieve some positive progress in the United States of America with regard to healthcare delivery. These programs and reforms cost the United States government a lot of taxpayer money, sometimes going up to tens or hundreds of billions of dollars. The important question that must be answered with regard to these reforms is whether they are effective and whether they really do lead to better healthcare (Copeland, 2011). Past performance such as in the Medicaid and Medicare indicates that the success rate may be low. The low success rate may be indicated by the fact that these reforms such as Medicaid and Medicare end up being scrapped off due to poor performance. The affordable care act is a health reform legislation that has led to many controversies in the United States. The implementation of the reform is estimated to cost billions of US dollars. The purpose and intention of this act was to ensure that the cost of health insurance was lowered while at the same time improving healthcare to the many people who could not afford health insurance (Schreiber, 2011). It was geared towards reducing the rates of non-coverage and this would be helpful in making sure that healthcare in the United States was equalized for all, poor and rich. The act is still under implementation in the United States and it is estimated to be fully implemented by the year 2020. Reports indicate that the affordable healthcare act has made it possible to minimize the number of uninsured people in the United States from about 18 percent to about 15 percent (Foster, 2010). This is a significant figure considering that it has not been fully implemented yet. However, the pr oblem is with regard to how this act relates to other health reforms such as the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, the question that must be answered as to how these two acts relate with each other and how they support,

Game theory in setting quantity oligopoly Essay Example for Free

Game theory in setting quantity oligopoly Essay Game theory is a formal study of conflict and cooperation in economics. In fact, it is usually concerned with predicting the real outcome of the games of strategy where the potential individuals have incomplete awareness about the others’ plans. The game theoretic concepts usually apply whenever the actions of several agents are interdependent. Probably, these agents are either, groups, individuals or firms. The concepts of game theory give a language to prepare a structure, analyze, and comprehend deliberate scenarios.          Game theory has straight relevance to the study conduct of the venture as well as the performance of the firms in oligopolistic markets. A good approach is the decisions that companies takeover pricing and levels of production. Also, how much money needs to be invested in research and development expenditure (Binmore, 1993).          Oligopoly is a type of imperfectly competitive markets. It has only a few sellers, provide a related or identical product to the buyers in the market. Collusion in economics is simply an agreement of two or more firms with an aim to exclude a couple of competing companies in the market so that may obtain high profits. It is clearly that competition in the oligopolistic markets reduces accelerating the performance of that collusion. For that reason many firms quit the marketing operations enhancing profitability to the relating competitors hence deteriorating their economic decisions. This results to complete dissolution of the firms. The output of the collusion increases since most of the firms have quit the market; others loosen their momentum to adhere to the upcoming changes launched in by the oligopolistic markets (Mertens, 1994). As a matter of fact, this becomes advantageous to the remaining firms in the market (Thomas, 2003).             It is noted that collusion is a characteristic trait of oligopolistic firms. Stiff competition and interdependent decision-making encourage oligopolistic firms to cooperate. In fact, one way to lessen the oligopolistic rival is joined together and meets targeted forces forming collusion. There are two main types of collisions in an oligopolistic market. Exclusively, include explicit collusion and implicit collusion. Explicit collusion is a type of collusion which has more two than firms in the same industry. It is formally agreed to control the market force on their own way whereas implicit collusion also more than two firms in the same business but informally they have the similar outlook in the market, habitually with nothing more than interdependent (Binmore, 1993).The price collusion is a form of criminal offense since several firms work as a team so as to keep the price of commodity high with an aim to receive huge income. The relating firms involved necessar ily try to chase out their competitor. History and impact of game theory          In 19th century, game theory was first discovered by one of the early inventors. Consequently, in 1838, the first publication was done by Antoine Cornet. In broad spectrum, he came up with well-formulated researchers on the Mathematical Principles of this kind of theory basing on wealth. He went further to illustrate more on the principles of the publication relating to the game theory. Notably, he tried to explain the underlying rules constituting the actual behavior of the duopoly in the discipline. Even though this publication was associated with the theory of Games and Economics character in 1944, it had the latest principles of game theory that were formulated in it. The game theory has been greatly applied to the behavior of producers with few or one competitor. This perspective of the game theory was conceived by Von Neumann in 19th century.          In macroeconomics, oligopolistic markets are characterized by a few, large firms and its differences from the other market structures as stated above. It is noted that more competitive markets in the firms are of smaller size and its firm’s behavior have slight or no effect on its close competitors. Besides this oligopoly markets changes its output, enlarge into a new market, provides modern services and even advertize. This will have a consequential impact on the market competitors, therefore, increasing the profitability. This enhances more power in the market operation hence deviating losses had to be encountered. For this reason, the firms in oligopolistic markets are always considering the act of their competitors when implementing their economic decisions. The oligopolistic owners strictly tackle any leakages in their market so that they may attain their set goals and formulated objectives. Information exchange in collusion         In broad spectrum, information is an essential tool in planning to come up with mature and complete mechanization of the involving firms. Basing this argument on the game theory, it is realized that in decision making, information is significantly employed. For that reason, a successful collusion in the oligopoly market has sophisticated means on how to underlie its perspectives in a manner that no rival firm come to know. Therefore, crude ideas empower any collusion with a vision to reduce their competitors in the market. Advances in economic theory have enabled the economists to set competitive distinctions between different types of information exchanged between the firms. The required beneficial effect on the consumers and potential side-effects for competition depend on the nature and characteristic of the information that exchanged and also the type of competition in the market. Therefore, it should be known that firm owns the secret in the industry such as firmâ €™s prices, sales, cost demand and other parameters.According to game theory, the competitors are not supposed to get any of this secretive information. Competition authorities are strictly suspicious when information is conveyed especially about prices and quantities because this information is normally significant for monitoring deviations from collusive arrangements and hence empowering collusion. Mostly exchange of information on the cost and demand is seen in another dimension and more favorably. However, information about the prices and quantities is used to convey information about the cost or demand in collusion. For instance, when the firms share information on the past or current prices and quantities inform other players about the demand in the market. This enables their rivals to obtain inferences on how to predict the future period which is against the game theory. Notably, this will weaken their collusion that later on begins to deteriorate in their existence in th e market. As a matter of fact, demand and cost information is useful since is the central element for predicting future demand.               Effective collusion needs good coordination that is well supported by the exchange of information about their plans. This monitors the performance of the collusion in some days to come. In so doing, their rivals will be unable to out-compete them. They become prominent in the market achieving their set goals and objectives. The aggregated information determines whether the collusion will succeed or not. This depends on how the decision making is done. The aggregated information means anonymous or individualized information. Probably, such information may be valuable to the firms. Therefore, it is necessary to know who or where a certain estimate has been made or whether it is enough to comprehend the private signals in the entire industry. In addition, information can be either private or public. The effects of information exchange extremely differ depending on whether the information is made public or kept private, especially in the industry that exchange inf ormation. The game theory does not support exposure of the firm’s intentions. Definitely, they try it, their rival players will come up with the newest perspectives to out-compete them. Therefore, this should be done privately for future success (Thomas, 2003).          It realized that if the information does not give rise to competition distress it will be definitely positive to welfare. Indeed, the usefulness from information exchange is large compared to its demerits. There are quite number of the ways in which information exchange is useful in the welfare. Information exchange is a great part of the discovery mechanism in the industry economy. This implies that through exchange of information in between the formed collusion encourages expansion of the market economy. It also improves investment decision and organization learning. It is only through information where collusion members come up with complete ideas to uplift their set goals. Information exchange also results to output adjustments and lowering search costs in the firm. In the world, information is really required about the demands and rival activities. Notably, the firms would have to become accustomed to the changing circumstances by a trial and error process. Inform ation exchange is a great tool in playing the role of uplifting market economy in collusion hence output in the firms. Impact of rational behavior in collusion            Rationality is one way of decision-making practice wherein a firm exercises prudent choice making that gives it a maximum amount of benefit. Rational behavior usually facilitates decision making that is not productive in collusion. But it only strives to achieve benefits that are mostly achievable in nature. This usefulness can be either monetary or non-monetary. The word monetary stands for finance activities whereas non-monetary is associated with non-financial activities in a company. Therefore, any successful firm considers the following perspectives. This kind of decision making may not possible return materially to the firms at that moment on (Chatterjee, 2014). Therefore, rational choice theory is an economic principle. It states that firms make prudent and logical decisions so as to attain a complete satisfaction in the firm due to its abundant benefits.            The output of collusion increases over time due to changes made in by the decision makers. The identified plans that based on rational behavior usually alter operation of oligopolistic market. Operations may greatly expand performance of the company undermining its valuable transactions. When the collusion need to uplift its operation have to be economical on the way do operate their activities so that can observe a slight differences. Notably, some measures need to be employed to overcome its competition from its rivals. The firms recruit innovative and competent staffs to invest great fortune in the organization.            Competent economists formulate ideas flourishing functionality of the collusion hence uplifting profits, quantity, and its dignity. This shows how game theory is significantly applied in the oligopolistic market basing on the rational behavior. It is preferably considered as a means of competition through decision making. This scares rival players in the market such that are unable to operate their firms. Due to this condition, many firms in the markets are readily to be dissolved. The cause of this is just continuous losses experienced on every end fiscal year resulting to dissolution.             According to game theory, rational behavior is greatly a crucial tool required to make decisions that are needed to eliminate relating firms in the market. Most importantly, competing firms’ quantity reduces as well as its income accelerates due to well-played game theory in the oligopolistic market. Mainly rationality has a positive impact to the prudent collusion. Therefore, game theory is correlated to rationality behavior as far as decision making is concern in an oligopolistic market as mentioned earlier. Only that rational behavior is conditions suitable for accomplishing this specified theory (Mertens, 1994). Even though, participating firms can employ it, frequently is determined by competency of the collusion. Impact of time horizon in the collusion             In economics, time horizon is also referred to as a planning horizon, is a fixed point of time in the future at which some activities will be evaluated. It is noted that is specified a time when all planned activities or processes are supposed to terminate. Therefore, time horizon is a vital condition to any successful stakeholders. It enhances a strict time layout on how to operate your business transactions before targeted deadline. This minimizes time wastage and considers it as a significant factor in implementing business laws. Actually, the set objectives and underlain goals, with the cooperation of competent experts in business, are easily achieved. Time horizon has optimum benefits to those who put it into consideration.             Collusions have unique pathways on how they operate their organizational activities. Additions to that have business ethics for guiding set goals to reach its financial year and attain them. For a successful collusion, time horizon is much in demand to eradicate other firms out of the market. Especially, it needs strictness so that the set firm’s goal is accomplished on reaching time horizon. It confers bright future to competing firms enhancing increased output in the collusion. Time horizon sharpens performance of the most firms with an aim to make more profits in their organizations. Similarly, time horizon is a beneficial condition on practicing game theory in an oligopolistic market. It creates immense difference in the industry. The time horizon can be a month, a week or a year depending on the decision of the firm (Mertens, 1994).Broadly, time horizon is a viable and secret â€Å"tool† that empowers collusion to diminish performance of its riv als in the industry. Eventually, it becomes determinant condition in collusion leading the business to enjoy huge profits and crude output. Collusion lowers its products’ price encouraging more sales whereas its rivals remain constant to the initial price. Cost is usually lower hence encouraging more sales due to high demand. The collusion stagnates in the same price until time horizon comes. At that planning horizon, several firms would have left the industry enabling collusion with uncompetitive environment to work on (Chatterjee, 2014). Conclusion             In broad spectrum, game theory deals with decision making that reinforce competition perspectives in the market. It is kind of a game whereby participating individuals hide their intentions purposely to win over the other. In this case, information, rationality, and time horizon are determinant conditions that boost succession of collusion in an oligopolistic market. It signifies that to acquire viable benefits in the market has to employ well-formulated conditions.Therefore, cost, demand, and quantity differ from relating firms in the industry. Strictly, collusion tries to lower its prices with an aim to increase its output and eliminate the number of firms in the industry. Similarly, quantity in the industry increases with increased prices from other firms. Due to that reason number of consumers in those firms reduces joining newly formed collusion. This enforces rivals to reduce its prices of their products leading to uncountable losses hence leading to collaps ing of many firms. The collusion succeeds its target of eliminating other firms from the industry henceforth starts enjoying oligopolistic benefits including profits. Reference Binmore, K. (1993). Frontiers of game theory. Cambridge, Mass. [u.a.: MIT Press Telser, L. G. (1971). Competition, collusion, and game theory. London: Macmillan. Chatterjee, K., Samuelson, W. (2014). Game theory and business applications. New York: Springer. Mertens, J.-F., NATO Advanced Study Institute on Game-Theoretic Methods in Economic Equilibrium Analysis. (1994). Game theoretic methods in general equilibrium analysis: [proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on Game Theoretic Methods in General Equilibrium Analysis, Long Island, NY USA, July 1 12, 1991]. Dordrecht [u.a.: Kluwer. Thomas, L. C. (2003). Games, theory and applications.Voigt, S., Schmidt, A. (2005). Making European merger policy more predictable. Dordrecht: Springer. Source document

The Pazzi Conspiracy Essay Example for Free

The Pazzi Conspiracy Essay Abstract: On a sunny Sunday in April of 1478, assassins from the Pazzi family attacked Lorenzo de’ Medici and his brother Giuliano. Giuliano lay bleeding on the cathedral floor, and later bled to death. Lorenzo, however managed to get to safety—not a good thing for the Pazzi family. Up to this point the Pazzi clan had been considered one of the most noble and well-respected clans. They were financiers who â€Å"feared and resented the Medici’s swaggering new role as political bosses. † 4 This failed assassination attempt doomed the Pazzi family. The Medici’s put forth swift and brutal revenge. Each of the Pazzi family who had taken part in the assassination attempt was either hanged or beheaded, and the bodies were hung from the windows of the governmental palace. As if this wasn’t punishment enough, the Pazzi’s were forced to change their surname. Every remnant of evidence that the Pazzi family had once been a well-respected clan was wiped out by the Medici’s. 4 It was Easter Sunday within the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. The Priest was just bringing the Mass to a close, when assassin’s attacked the de’Medici brothers, Lorenzo and Giuliano, brutally stabbing them. Giuliano was stabbed a horrifying nineteen times, and the blood drained from his body right there on the cathedral floor. Lorenzo, however, was stabbed only once in the neck, a cut that apparently missed any major arteries, and he fought his attackers with all his might until he got free and ran away to hide. 5 Of course there was chaos within the cathedral, and some brave soul ran to pull the bell pull to send out a distress call and summon other Florentines to help ward off the coup attack taking place within the cathedral walls. Shortly thereafter every church in Florence was also tolling their bells, call the men of Florence to â€Å"defend their Republic.† Who were these Medici’s who had taken control of their government? It is believed that they were descendants of apothecaries—today’s pharmacists—and were relatively unknown in the 14th century. Giovanni Medici was the mastermind of the family and his business acumen and sheer boldness brought the Medici family from the shadows directly to the forefront of the political world in Florence. 6 Giovanni was one of five sons. He lived with their mother, a poor widow woman. A wealthy cousin of Giovanni’s acquired a position for Giovanni as an employee of the Medici Bank in Rome, and it was not long before Giovanni, demonstrating his boldness and business prowess, moved straight to the top in the bank, actually displacing his own cousin. Giovanni was a blatant risk taker, and began laundering money for Baldasarre Cossa, commonly known as a pirate. Giovanni even went so far as to put up the money to allow Cossa’s bid for the Papacy, and in 1410 Cossa was actually elected Pope John XXIII. Of course the former pirate felt obliged to reward his good friend Giovanni by making the Medici family the new Papal Bankers. Giovanni became known as â€Å"God’s Banker.† This turned out to be quite a lucrative venture for both parties involved—the former pirate, and the former nobody who rose to such a high position. The Medici bank received a hefty ten percent of everything the Church brought in. At this time in history there was a rather unscrupulous debt collection service run by the church itself. If people didn’t pay, they were promptly excommunicated, a very powerful motivator. Soon the Medici family were the third wealthiest family in Florence, much to the dismay of the older, more established families who saw the Medici family as money-grubbing interlopers. Giovanni Medici soon built an entire network of thugs and thieves who both demanded and rewarded unconditional loyalty. He set up the banks so the managers shared a stake in their bank, and even banned loans to Kings or Princes, as he felt they were absolutely the worst risks. He often advised his descendants to â€Å"Always keep out of the public eye—never show pride.† 6 It would have been better for all involved if they had taken this advice to heart. Giovanni’s son, Cosimo de Medici was trained from a very early age to take over the banking empire from his father. Cosimo was a dedicated learner, â€Å"studying classic texts, attending lectures and becoming one of the first generation of Humanists. Cosimo urged his father to turn the family’s wealth to civil patronage.† 6 When Cosimo inherited the position of Capo from his father, the Albizzi family, another wealthy, powerful, family made up treason charges against him out of sheer jealously and Cosimo was actually sentenced to death for these false claims. Luckily he bribed his way from prison and hid out for a while, later returning to Florence more powerful than ever. However, shortly after Cosimo returned, he was attacked in a dark alleyway and his attackers cut his face from ear to ear. He lived, but bore the scars known as â€Å"che brutta figura†, which translates into â€Å"revenge through humiliation.†6 Cosimo, much like his own father well understood how politics and power worked. His own advice to his heirs, which was much like his father’s advice to him was, â€Å"Do not seek power. Wait until they call you.† Cosimo had two sons, Giovanni and Piero. Giovanni was certainly his father’s favorite, and was obviously being groomed to take over the family business while Piero was sickly, and stayed out of the public limelight because of his ill health. Piero devoted himself to learning, and became well-respected as a diplomat. In fact, King Louis XI had such a high opinion of Piero that he gave him the specially bestowed honor of â€Å"permitting Piero to stamp the lilies of France on one of the balls of the Medici arms—this one ball colored blue for that purpose.† 6 When Piero’s brother Giovanni died unexpectedly, Cosimo began grooming his grandson, Lorenzo to take over because he felt Piero’s health was unstable and that he couldn’t handle the job. Piero had two sons, Lorenzo and Giuliano. Lorenzo, at the tender age of seventeen was well known for his courage and boldness, â€Å"single-handedly foiling a Pitti family plot to assassinate his father Piero.† 6 Lorenzo was indeed well educated in banking and diplomacy in order to follow in the family footsteps, but he apparently also had a lust for the other side of life; wine, women and song.   He married at nineteen and fathered seven children, two of them adopted. Lorenzo was a patron of the arts and promoted such artists as Bottcelli and Leonardo DeVinci, even going so far as to take a young Michelangelo into his own home and â€Å"raising him like a son.† 6 Lorenzo’s trademark phrase was somewhat different from that of his father and grandfather: â€Å"He who wishes to be happy let him be so, for of tomorrow there is no knowing.† Giuliano de Medici was Lorenzo’s younger brother, and shared Lorenzo’s passion for life. He fathered an illegitimate child in his youth, and when he was murdered on that fateful Easter Sunday Lorenzo later adopted that son. While Giuliano loved his older brother, there was also some natural resentment involved in their relationship. As for the Pazzi family, consider this heritage: â€Å"During the First Crusade in 1088, as Christian soldiers scaled the walls of Jerusalem, a fighter named Pazzo Pazzi was the first man over the top. Pazzo was often known as â€Å"the madman.† 11 As a reward for his courage, he was gifted three small stones from the Holy Sepulcher.† 7 The Pazzi were an old Florentine family, and two of the family members were even named in â€Å"Divine Comedy,† by Dante. There were also boasts of having a knight in each generation. The Pazzi arms which reflected their long and noble history contained â€Å"crescents, battlement towers and twin dolphins on a blue field with nine crosses.† 7 The arms represented Christian faith, generosity and freedom, and the Pazzi’s displayed it proudly. Andrea de Pazzi entered into banking in the fourteenth century. He was a sharp businessman and quickly amassed a fortune. However, being one of the â€Å"grande† names in the area they were excluded by Florentine law from participating in their own government. Because of this law, Andrea decided to relinquish the status of â€Å"grande† and give his own sons the opportunity to hold public office. 7 During a visit in 1443 by Pope Eugene IV to the Pazzi family, the Pope made a deposit of 4000 florin into the Pazzi bank, showing that there were â€Å"Papal accounts that could be pried away from Medici control.† Andrea left three sons, Antonio, Piero and Jacopo, all of whom were well-educated in the banking trade and all of whom held a large fortune and extensive assets. Jacopo was the only son who would live long enough to â€Å"become enmeshed in the conspiracy to assassinate the Medici brothers.† 7 Interestingly, however, Jacopo happened to also be a strong supporter of Piero de’ Medici, Lorenzo’s father. Jacopo was known throughout for his great generosity to the poor, and although he began as an observer, he eventually allowed his nephew, Francesco, son of Antonio, to draw him into the assassination plot. Francesco, Jacopo’s nephew was known as â€Å"diminutive, pale and driven,† but apparently he harbored great resentment for the Medici’s, in fact it soon became apparent to all that his hatred of the Medici’s had overtaken every aspect of his life, and even allowed him to conveniently forget that he was in fact related to the Medici through marriage. 7 This urgency that Francesco displayed, along with his intense hatred for the Medici clan became the driving force for the assassination plot. So, now we know about the Medici clan and the Pazzi clan. The other factor in this triangle were the Pope and his court. The conspiracy planned by the Pazzi actually had the blessing of the church because Pope Sisto IV â€Å"contemplated to demolish the dominion of Medici and for this purpose he sustained the groups led by Pazzi’s family which had replaced de Medici in the office of bankers.† Francisco della Rovere was destined from his very childhood for the Franciscan order. 8 On the death of Pope Paul II, he was elected pope and called Pope Sixtus IV. Unfortunately Pope Sixtus used his position as Pope to further his own family members by obtaining political appointments for them. When Lorenzo â€Å"refused Sixtus’ demand on the Medici bank for a loan of 40,000 ducats to purchase the town of Imola,† the conspiracy was set into motion. 8 Sixtus wanted to acquire the town in order to give it to his nephew, Riario. Girolamo Riario was the nephew of Sixtus and was one of the key plotters in the assassination attempt on the Medici brothers. Riario married the daughter of the Duke of Milan, and used this marriage to attempt to sabotage the relationship between the Duke and Lorenzo. â€Å"Riario fueled Francesco de Pazzi’s inner fire by intimating that the Pazzi family would play a large part in the next government of Florence, while coveting the future Dukedom of Florence for himself.† Archbishop Francesco Salviati was born into one of Florence’s most active political families and was related by marriage to the Pazzi, Medici, Vettori, and other very powerful families. 8 Salviati was a â€Å"flatterer, a gambler, and lusted for the power that could be attained through church favour.† 8 He easily became a co-conspirator in the attempted assassinations. Count Riario himself summoned Battista to meet with himself and the Archbishop Salviati. Salviati strongly persuaded the others to agree with him about wanting a â€Å"coup d’ tat in Florence, and Riario and Salviati then outlined what they considered to be Lorenzo’s evil intentions against each of them, telling Battista repeatedly that when the Pope died, Riario and his state would be in grave danger from Lorenzo. 10 Riario and Salviati finally bluntly told Battista that the only thing to do was to â€Å"cut Lorenzo and Giuliano to pieces, to have troops ready in secret, and to go into Florence and do this thing.† 10. Battista was reluctant, believing they were discussing something very big, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to become involved, but the other two were persuasive. Although nobody knew at the time, there were literally hundreds of mercenary troops settled firmly within the borders of Tuscany, â€Å"poised to invade the city at a signal that never came.† It was Salviati and Francesco de Pazzi who masterminded the plot to assassinate Lorenzo and Giuliano. Riario, always working behind the scenes, remained in Rome. Interestingly enough, the plan was hardly a secret, and was fairly widely known. The Pope reportedly even stated that â€Å"I support it—as long as no one is killed.† 11 Rather a silly statement when the plot is an assassination plot. When Lorenzo escaped the assassination attempt, he locked himself in the sacristy. â€Å"A coordinated attempt to capture the Gonfaloniere and Signoria was thwarted when the archbishop and the head of the Salviati clan were trapped in a room whose doors had a hidden latch.† 11 The assassination attempt had failed, and â€Å"enraged Florentines seized and killed the conspirators.† 11 Jacopo Pazzi was tossed from a window, and if that weren’t enough to kill him, he was finished off by the angry mob, then dragged naked through the streets and eventually thrown in the river. 11 The entire Pazzi family were stripped of all their worldly possessions, and every â€Å"vestige of their name effaced.† 11. Salviati, even though he was an archbishop was summarily hanged on the walls of the Pallazo. Lorenzo actually appealed to the crowd to show mercy, but to no avail, as many of the conspirators and even those only accused of being co-conspirators were killed. Lorenzo managed to save the nephew of Sixtus and two other relatives of the plotters, and the main conspirators were hunted down throughout Italy. During the assassination plot, Marsilio Ficino, who was the son of Cosimo Medici’s physician, became important in his own right. In 1478, largely as a result of the war which resulted from the assassination plot, the plague broke out in the city of Florence. Ficino published a very different sort of work; a practical guide to the treatment of the plague, and was written in Tuscan to be readily accessible to his fellow citizens. 12 This work went on to be translated into Latin and published â€Å"alongside Galen’s work on fevers, as a standard medical work. It is easy to forget that all Ficino’s works of profound contemplation and leisurely presentation were written against a backdrop of intense social and political disturbances.† Another player in this era was Caterina Storza, an illegitimate daughter of Galeazzo Maria Sforza who ended up married, at the age of fourteen, to Girolamo Riario, the nephew of Sixtus, and a primary player in the assassination attempt on the Medici family. Caterina came to be known as the â€Å"Machiavellian mother† in Machiavelli’s works. 1 Eventually, after the assassination attempt, the tables were turned and Riario was murdered by a group of conspirators in his own home, just after lunch. The murderous group then took Caterina, her mother, her two half sisters, an illegitimate son of Girolamo’s and her six children, captive. Although the aim of the assassination attempt was to get rid of the Medici family, and show Lorenzo in a bad light, the aftermath of the fateful Easter Sunday actually showed quite the opposite. Lorenzo had kept his head during the entire chaotic episode, and he would show time and time again as things progressed that he was intelligent and calm in the very worst of circumstances. When the conspiracy fell apart, Sixtus was furious and drew up â€Å"an ecclesiastical censure against Florence, withdrawing sacraments and the right to a Christian burial from all the citizens of Florence.† He excommunicated Lorenzo all on his own, which actually had little effect, so he formed a military alliance with King Ferrantes of Naples and began planning an attack on Florence itself. 3 The allies that had previously helped the Medici were not anxious to help the Medici fight the Pope, and even though it seemed there would be another disaster, Lorenzo’s â€Å"brilliant tact,† averted it. â€Å"Switching effortlessly from avenger to peace-maker, he personally traveled to Naples to confer with the King, and an understanding was achieved without resorting to war. From then on Lorenzo became known as the Savior of Florence.† Lorenzo followed closely the policy which was begun by his grandfather Cosimo. He managed to â€Å"maintain a balance of power between the five chief Northern Italian states, forming defensive alliances and thus keeping a check on invasions from foreign powers.† 3 The Medici Bank had been somewhat neglected since Cosimo’s time, as he had turned more and more to politics, and though Lorenzo did his best to turn this around, he found himself, for perhaps the first time in his life, in financial difficulties. To keep himself afloat, â€Å"he resorted to embezzling Public Funds, and it was this that later undermined his rule.† Although we have all been led to believe that â€Å"history belongs to the victors,† it is still very sad to understand that every trace of the Pazzi family, one of Florence’s oldest and most respected families, was wiped out following the attempted coup. 13 â€Å"The Pazzi coat of arms was torn off their buildings. A special governmental commission spent the next two years disentangling Pazzi assets with a view to confiscation. Anyone with the name of Pazzi was forced to change it. Women of the family were forbidden to marry in Florence, which was as good as not allowing them to wed at all. No portrait of any Pazzi adult is known to have survived.†   It is an entire piece of history completely destroyed as a result of one act. The aftermath of the Pazzi Conspiracy continued for many, many years after the event itself. As stated, Lorenzo became something of a hero, despite his embezzlement problems, and when he died at the young age of forty three, there was a â€Å"massive display of public grief and the entire population attended his funeral. He was buried in the Medici Chapel in the Church of San Lorenzo, where his brother Giuliano already rested.† 3 Lorenzo left behind quite a legacy however; his second son Giovanni and his nephew Giulio (the illegitimate son of Giuliano, who had been captured with Caterina after Giuliano’s death) were later to become very powerful popes, Pope Leo X and Pope Clement VII. 3 Works Cited 1. Hairston, Julia L. â€Å"Skirting the Issue: Machiavelli’s Caterina Sforza.† Renaissance Quarterly, Volume53, Issue 3, (2000) http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?action=printdocId=5001097598 (October 17, 2006) 2. History of Florence. â€Å"The Pazzi’s Conspiracy.† (2004). http://www.aboutflorence.com/pazzi-conspiracy.html. (October 13, 2006). 3. Lorenzo. â€Å"Lorenzo the Magnificent.† 2005. http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/4-19-2004-53113.asp (October 16, 2006). 4. Martinez, Lauro. â€Å"April Bood: Florence and the Plot against the Medici.† Oxford University Press, USA; (April 1, 2003). 5. McClelland, Aaron D. â€Å"The Pazzi Conspiracy† (2005). http://www.3.telus.net/Quattrocento_Florence/pazzi.html (October 15, 2006). 6. McClelland, Aaron D. â€Å"The Medici.† (2005). http://www.3.telus.net/Quattrocento_Florence/pazziplayers-medici.html (October 15, 2006). 7. McClelland, Aaron D. â€Å"The Players, The Pazzi.† (2005). http://www.3.telus.net/Quattrocento_Florence/pazziplayers-pazzi.html (October 15, 2006). 8. McClelland, Aaron D. â€Å"The Pope and His Court.† (2005). http://www3.telus.net/Quattrocento_Florence/pazziplayers-pope.html. (October 15, 2006) 9. McClelland, Aaron D. â€Å"The Conspiracy.† (2005). http://www3.telus.net/Auattrocento_Florence/pazzi-conspiracy.html (October 15, 2006). 10. McClelland, Aaron D. â€Å"The Second Meeting.† (2005). http://www3.telus.net/Quattrocento_Florence/pazzi-second.html (October 15, 2006). 11. Pazzi. â€Å"Pazzi Conspiracy.† (2005). http://www.answers.com/topic/pazzi (October 17, 2006). 12. Rees, Valerie. â€Å"Marsilio Ficino Renaissance Man.† History Today, Volume 49, Issue 7, July, 1999. http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?action=printdocId=5001275749 (October 13, 2006). 13. Walters, Colin. â€Å"A Florentine Family Tires of Medici Rule.† The Washington Times, May 18, 2003. http://www.questia.com/PM.gst?action=printdocId=5001929719 (October 14, 2006).

The Social Problem: Cyber Bullying

The Social Problem: Cyber Bullying Amanda Todd was a teenager that committed suicide because she got cyber bullied. In 7th grade Amanda used to video chat on the internet with new people to hope to make new friends and she got compliment on her looks. Amanda did not realize that talking to someone she does not know is sometimes not so good. One day she was talking to a stranger. She did not know him and hoped to become friends with him. Well she did not realize that she was talking to a cyber-bully. He asked her to show her breast. A couple hours later the creeper black emailed Amanda and said he will publish those pictures in the internet unless she gives him a show. During a Christmas break the police told her that the pictures of her were found on the internet. She was really depressed so she started to use drugs and alcohol and her family moved to a new home. But the stranger knew that she was moving so he sent people of her new school the pictures to the students. So she changed school again. Her old guy friend u sed Amanda for sex while he is within a relationship with another girl. His girlfriend found out and she and a group of other people just beat her up. After the attack decided to committed suicide by drinking bleach but she was rushed to next hospital to get her stomach pumped. While she was in the hospital people were making fun of her failed suicide attempt on Facebook and other social networks. So Todd moved to another school and hoped to restart her life. But her past was not forgotten. People from her old school kept on teasing her on Facebook for 6 more months after she left. Amanda had to go to the hospital because of depression for two days. On her new school students teased her for her bad grades and for going to the hospital for her depressions. Amanda could not take it anymore and posted a video on YouTube of her holding flashcards about her life and depression and showed her arm which had several cuts on it. Amanda Todd was found hanged in her room on October 10th 2012. (Wikipedia) Cyber bullying can ruin somebodys life like Amandas life. She was just a girl who wants to meet new friends with him. But she talked to the wrong guy and she ended up being depressed and committed suicide. This could happen to anybody on this world, because they are tons of people who use Facebook or other social networks to stalk people. In my paper I am going to write about what cyber bullying actually is, how you can stop it, and why people do it. Well what is cyber bullying? Most of the people think it is just teenager just making fun of other people on the internet. It is true that teenagers are making fun of other teenager but there is more about it. The web page stopcyberbullying.org says cyber bullying is when a child, preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child, preteen or teen using the Internet, interactive and digital technologies or mobile phones. (STOPcyberbullying) Internet has become a big influence in our daily life. We use it to shop, to look up information, play online-video games or listen to music. Even our phones have internet now. One of the main reason we use it though is to communicate and meet new friends on social networks like Facebook or Twitter. Zuckerberg announced that they are 500 million daily active users (Protalinski, zdnet.com). Cyberbullying is probably the worst to bully someone. Not only students from their own school will humiliated, embarrassed and many other things that person. Every single teenager or adult could make fun of her or him if they wanted too. To be bullied and alienated from the whole word is not the greatest feeling. It is depressing and the victims feel like that everybody hates them. But they do not only get bullied on the internet. Most of them also get bullied in person and not only on the internet. On October 7, 2006 Ryan Patrick Halligan committed suicide. He was bullied and cyber bullied. Ryan was a sweet, gentle and lanky thirteen year old fumbling his way through early adolescence and trying to establish his place in the often confusing and difficult social world of middle school. His parents said he had the magic ability to bring a smile to anyone that looked his way. Seems like Ryan is great kid and want nothing bad for nobody else. But no human is perfect neither is Ryan. He had problems with his speech, language and motor skills and needed special education from pre-school until fourth grade. The special education team loved Ryan because of his sense of humor. Eventually Ryan had go back to school and knew that he was not academically strong like his class mates are. It bothered him that he is not like his classmates are. One day Ryan thought he finally met a girl that actually likes him. So they started to message each other and having deep conversations and Ryan start ing to like her a lot. The thing is that he did not know that girl just played him for her and her friends amusement. She showed her friends the messages he sent her and the girls just start humiliating and embarrassing him. They called him a loser and other names because of problem with speaking and reading and writing. Ryan could not take it anymore and committed suicide on the October 7, 2006. (Halligan, Ryans story) His parents were so upset about their sons lost; they wanted everybody to know about Ryans story. So they made a web page and travelled from school to school to tell the children about how giving somebody names for and making fun of someone can hurt the victims really bad and make them have thoughts about killing their self. Why do people bully other people on the internet or even person when it is obvious that it hurts them? There are actually two main reasons for teenagers to bully other people. One of them is when somebody is famous and popular at school. They might bully to stay popular. The other students think since the popular kid is doing it they also should start bullying the victim. So the popular teenager has the whole school against one person. Hurting other people make them more powerful. The other reason is someone who is less socially successful and wants to be accepted by their peers and cliques. They do not get enough respect from somebody else. So by bullying somebody they are hoping that they will get the respect from others. Also they do not really understand the victim feels when he gets bullied and is just hoping that he or she is not the next one. (Delete cyberbullying) There are other reasons like a student has a problem with his parents so they let their anger out on other students, or that they are depressed because they cannot get what they want. The main reason why they bully is because they want to make them feel better about their self. And it is even easier to cyber bully. You can humiliate somebody on the internet without knowing who the bully is. People make fake accounts or post videos about someone and can be totally animus about it and the whole internet can see it. Here is another example. A beautiful 17 year old girl goes to a high school in a big city and has friends and actually has no problems at school. Well one night she made a bad choice. She went to a high school party. She saw her friends drinking alcohol so out of peer pressure she drinks too. Everything seems to be fine but then she met this guy on that party. He knew that she was drunk so he used her. That girl loses her virginity on that night and some people knew about it. A Couple weeks later the girl finds out that she is pregnant. She gets called bad names at school and everybody is making fun of her. When she comes back from school she starts crying in her room and just wishes that she never even went to that party. Later when she was on the internet she saw people posting a video. In that video a girl was wearing her mask with the face of her and she put stuff under her shirt to look pregnant. The girl on the video says hey my name Elizabeth smith and Im so drunk. Does someon e wants to have some fun with me? the girl just breaks apart and cried for hours and does not come to school anymore because she knows that people will talk bad about her. She saw on Facebook how everybody calls her a slut and other names. So she thinks to commit suicide because she does not see a future in her life. Everybody knows her name and story because it is all over Facebook and other social networks. No matter what she does or goes people will embarrass her about the bad choice she made and call her names. This story is just made up but what it does not mean it could happen in real life. Or maybe it already has. It could happen so easy. How can you stop cyber bullying then? What can you do to avoid things like in cases of Amanda or Ryan or even the story above? One thing you can do is ignore it. If somebody says how ugly or stupid you look on a picture on Facebook then you should just ignore it. Cyber bullies want to grab your attention and they want you to think you are ugly or fat or stupid. If the bully still comments bad things about you then you should talk to someone like a friend or adult and show them what the bully has been saying about you. Ask for their advice and help. Maybe they can talk to the bully and tell him or her to stop. If possible cut the communication with the bully. Delete and block his number and block him from your social networks account. What also may help is if you report the bully on that web site so he might get kicked out. If none of the above helps and he keeps on bullying then you should talk to the police about it. (Delete cyberbullying) Here are the things you should not do. You should never come to the bullys level and try to talk bad about him because that is what he wants. The bully will always find something against you. Also do not forward messages from the bully. It could make the problem worse because you never know how far an email chain can go. One big mistake some victims do is believing the bully and thinking it is true what he says about you. The bully just wants to break your self-esteem. (Delete cyberbullying) It is really important to do the right thing if you are in situation like that. If you do not do anything about it and just take the attacks from someone like that, then you might end up being depressed and do not feel like it is important to live anymore since everybody hates you. What is difference between cyber bullying than just normal bullying? Why is cyber bully so more dangerous? The difference is not only that cyber bully is on the internet or on the cell phone; there is a lot more behind it. Real life bullying usually end when school ends but cyber bullying continues and does not stop. One big factor why it is so dangerous is the anonymity. Now it is a lot easier to be anonym on the internet. Everybody can make an email account and then create a fake account on YouTube, Facebook, twitter and many more. If you a person bullies in person well everybody knows him and in the worst scenario parents can do something about it. But what do you if you have no clue who the bully is? Also it makes it easier for the bully to say things to the victim per message than talk in person and say it in his face. Also once something really embarrassing for the victim is on the internet; it will stay in other peoples mind forever and will not forget about it so easy. Best e xample is Tyler Clementi. He got caught on video by his friends having sex with an older man. Tyler could not hold the stress anymore so he jumped off a bridge and died. So once it gets on public the whole world knows about it. This is another factor that makes cyber bully so dangerous. (Delete cyberbully) So what are the effects of cyber bullying? How bad has it become? 2 13 million 17 year olds were victims of cyber bullying. 8 percent of them affected by cyber bullying try to commit suicide. (Chacha) Those are only the facts about one age group. The movie Cyberbully is probably a good way to show cyber bullying. Taylor Hillridge a teenage girl iss a cyber-bullying victim and the cost it nearly takes on her and her family. Taylor is a pretty 17-year-old high school student but she is a little awkward, and she knows it. When her mom gives her a computer for her birthday, Taylor is excited by the prospect of freedom and the independence of going online without her mother always looking over her shoulder. Taylor soon finds herself the victim of bullying on a social website, and afraid to face her peers at school, including her best friend, she is pushed to a breaking point. Its only after this life-changing event that Taylor learns that she is not alone meeting other teens, including a classmate, who has had similar experiences. Taylors mom, Kris, reels from the incident and takes on the school system and state legislation to help prevent others from going through the same harrowing ordeal as her daughter. The movie is not a true story. ABC made that movie to show people what cyber bullying is and what it can do to people. It is a warning to people and they were hoping that by making the movie that at least some people stop it. Nearly 43% of kids have been bullied online. 1 in 4 has had it happen more than once. Almost half of American teens and kids have been cyber bullied and to some people it has happened more than once. It gets worse. 70% of students report seeing frequent bullying online. If so many people see cyber bullying, why dont they do something about it? Why cant just anybody tell the bully to stop because he is hurting the victims feelings? The answer is because they are too scared to get also bullied because he is helping the victim. So the bystander just watches how one person ruins the other persons life. The best thing about it is that 68% teens agree that cyber bullying is a serious problem but they dont do anything about it. But there are people who tell bullies to stop. 90% of teens who have seen social-media bullying say they have ignored it. 84% have seen others tell cyber bullies to stop. (Dosomething.org). It is obvious that cyber bullying is a big problem. Most people are too scared to help or stop it because they do not want to become the next victim and the victims dont ask for help because they dont want to make it worse. Only 1 in 10 victims will inform a parent or trusted adult of their abuse. But a lot of people are bullying. 54% teens admit that have bullied some online or through text message or said something that hurt the victims feelings. Since the victims are sometimes too scared to tell their own parents. How do you know that your own child is getting cyber bullied? There some symptoms. One of them is that maybe your child acts differently and does not is own routine anymore like waking up too late or too early, sleep longer or less, or the teen does not want to hang out with his friends so much anymore. Also if the parents know that their kid is being bullied at school could be a sign of cyber bullying because like above bullies dont just stop bullying when school is over. Nowadays most kids have phones and internet and have Facebook or twitter account. So they can harass the victim 24/7. Another sign is low-esteem. If the parents or teacher see that the kid has low-esteem and he thinks bad about them self the whole time, then the parents should start thinking about what is wrong with their child. When the teenager gets really aggressive all off sudden is also a sign. One other symptom is low grades. The victim los es focus on school and his grades are getting worse. (Cyberbullyingfacts) Of course there are more signs and symptom for cyber bullying. Like use of alcohol and drugs, skipping school, depression. But those are the main once. Parents need to make sure that their children can trust you with anything and then they will open up to you and tell what their problem is. Over all cyber bullying became a big problem in America and other countries. It hurts people and makes them feel bad about them self and it is the worst way to harass and humiliate somebody. Even celebrities notice it or had experience of it. Demi Lovato was cyber bullied in middle school. People were harassing her in middle school. Demi created a web page that helps teens who have problem with cyber bullying. But also other famous people are against it and helping. Cyber bullying can get so bad that some teenager get depressed and sometimes kill them self because they dont see an end in this. There is not much you can do about it because of the anonymity in the internet. But there are some things a victim and friends and adults can do to help the victim and to stop the cyber bullying. The victim can block the bully and ignore the harassment. Friends can help them by telling the bully to stop and that their friend is not what the bully tells him. Parents, teachers and other adults ca n tell the bully to stop and threating him with telling the police about his bullying. Those are the main points of stopping it. But people are actually need to do it and dont be scared of the consequences if they tell an adult or a friend for help. If they dont do anything about it early then it might be too late and the victim has already thoughts of suicide or other things. Words can hurt more than physical bullying because bruises from a fight will stay wont last long but those words stays in the victims mind for a long time. Work cited 11 Facts About Cyber Bullying. Do Something. 26 Jan. 2013 . Amanda Todd. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Dec. 2012. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. How Many People Die Because of Cyber Bullying? Questions Answers. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2013. Delete Cyberbullying. Why Do People Cyberbully? N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2013. Latest PostsCyber Bullying Facts. Cyber Bullying Facts. 26 Jan. 2013 . Ryans Story. Ryans Story Presentation. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2013. STOP Cyberbullying: What Is Cyberbullying, Exactly? STOP Cyberbullying: What Is Cyberbullying, Exactly? N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2012. Zuckerberg: 500 Million Daily Active Users on Facebook. ZDNet. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2013.

Walter Mosley :: essays research papers

Walter Mosley was born in Los Angeles in 1952. He currently lives in New York City. He has been at various times in his life a potter, a computer programmer, a poet, and a short story writer; he studied writing in the graduate program of City College of New York. The first title in his Easy Rawlins mystery series, DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS was released in September 1990 to great critical acclaim. His first non-mystery, a novel about the blues, R.L.'s DREAM, was published by W.W. Norton in August 1995. Mosley's most recent work, BLUE LIGHT, a science fiction novel, was published by Little, Brown in November 1998 Mosley's work twice nominated for Edgar Award; both WHITE BUTTERFLY and BLACK BETTY were nominated for a Golden Dagger Award in England; and one of his short stories, THE WATTS LION, was nominated for the Best Pi Short Story in 1994. THE THIEF, another short story, was awarded the O.Henry Prize in 1996. ALWAYS OUTNUMBERED, ALWAYS OUTGUNNED was awarded the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in 1998. Mosley's books have been translated into twenty languages and his short stories have appeared in GC, Esquire, USA Weekend, and Buzz magazines. Devil in a Blue Dress was made into a movie in 1995 starring Denzel Washington and Jennifer Beals, produced by Jonathan Demme and directed by Carl Franklin. Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned was adapted by Mosley for an HBO original movie starring Lawrence Fishburne, Natalie Cole, Cicely Tyson, and Bill Cobbs, directed by Michael Apted, and produced by Palomar Productions. A second Socrates Fortlow movie is in the works, with Mosley again writing the script and Fishburne in the lead role. Mosley serves on the board of TransAfrica, the National BookFoundation, the Poetry Society of America, Manhattan Theater Club, and is past president of the Mystery Writers of America. Walter Mosley :: essays research papers Walter Mosley was born in Los Angeles in 1952. He currently lives in New York City. He has been at various times in his life a potter, a computer programmer, a poet, and a short story writer; he studied writing in the graduate program of City College of New York. The first title in his Easy Rawlins mystery series, DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS was released in September 1990 to great critical acclaim. His first non-mystery, a novel about the blues, R.L.'s DREAM, was published by W.W. Norton in August 1995. Mosley's most recent work, BLUE LIGHT, a science fiction novel, was published by Little, Brown in November 1998 Mosley's work twice nominated for Edgar Award; both WHITE BUTTERFLY and BLACK BETTY were nominated for a Golden Dagger Award in England; and one of his short stories, THE WATTS LION, was nominated for the Best Pi Short Story in 1994. THE THIEF, another short story, was awarded the O.Henry Prize in 1996. ALWAYS OUTNUMBERED, ALWAYS OUTGUNNED was awarded the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in 1998. Mosley's books have been translated into twenty languages and his short stories have appeared in GC, Esquire, USA Weekend, and Buzz magazines. Devil in a Blue Dress was made into a movie in 1995 starring Denzel Washington and Jennifer Beals, produced by Jonathan Demme and directed by Carl Franklin. Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned was adapted by Mosley for an HBO original movie starring Lawrence Fishburne, Natalie Cole, Cicely Tyson, and Bill Cobbs, directed by Michael Apted, and produced by Palomar Productions. A second Socrates Fortlow movie is in the works, with Mosley again writing the script and Fishburne in the lead role. Mosley serves on the board of TransAfrica, the National BookFoundation, the Poetry Society of America, Manhattan Theater Club, and is past president of the Mystery Writers of America.

Images of Women in Sport: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Essay example

Images of Women in Sport: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Throughout history, men have placed limitations on women's activities, including sport. Women have gone through times where physical exertion was considered too stressing for women, physiologically and emotionally, as well as everything short of encouragement. The image of the pre-sport woman, twirling her umbrella while being drawn by horse and carriage attired in full petticoat, etc., is a sight that shows how far women have come, but how much more still has to be done to achieve equality. I view the image of women prior to sport as 'ugly' because not only was their right to partake in sports suppressed, but also their rights as women and as citizens. This image of women, however still persists until modern day. Albeit not to the same degree, but women's opportunities in sport are still less than the male counterpart, as well as the restrictions that this male society still imposes on women's sports, especially through the media. Through poor media coverage of women's sports by mal e-run organizations, the advancement of the sport has suffered tremendously. The television industry poorly advertises women's sporting events, such as basketball, and never shows them in primetime. The US women's soccer association was even dismantled due to lack of support. With publications, the only time women are featured are as either inactive or sex symbols, when editors could be using these media outlets to promote women in sport instead of degrading and downplaying them. Women's sports will never become mainstream without social change. The 'bad' image of women in sport would most definitely have to be the objectified woman whose talent in her sport is overlooked because of her... ... skills in the game. Because of society's prejudices, preconceived notions, and general attitude towards women, this ideal woman athlete is not yet achievable in a society dominated by men. In a society with so many prejudices, men don't want women to be as strong as or stronger than them. The image of women in sport that is 'good' to society is cyclic, since it depends on the state of the culture. Currently, with pop-stars and thinner than ever supermodels, society is definitely in a state of objectification. to the men of this society, who promote such mishaps as Janet Jackson's accident on stage during the Superbowl halftime show, women shouldn't be more than cheerleaders or non-sport related entertainment at major sporting events. Until men realize that women are their equals on all levels, the image of women in sport will never reach its 'good' and ideal image.

Free Macbeth Essays: Duncan - The Ideal Ruler? :: GCSE Coursework Macbeth Essays

Duncan - The Ideal ruler in Macbeth?  Ã‚      Establishing whether Duncan was or was not an ideal ruler is crucial when examining Macbeth. Not only would a definite negative answer help in our understanding of the background of the play but it would also, in a way, justify Macbeth  s decision of killing Duncan. When the play opens Duncan receives a report from the battlefield. The audience finds out that the threat which Scotland faces is of a double nature. A Norwegian invasion is being assisted by two rebellious thanes - Macdonwald and Cawdor. While an external attack is something to be expected of in the times when fame was gained in military conquests, the internal rebellion is something of a different matter. It suggests one important thing - if a rebellion was possible than the king  s power couldn  t have been very strong. Traitors can be found in every society, but it is the ruler  s duty to discover conspiracies and to punish the people involved in them before they have a chance to enact their schemes. The internal rebellion shows that Duncan lacked the ability (and/or means) to do so - maybe he was naive and did not believe that his thanes could actually turn against him. Duncan  s lack of power and control over his country is also proved by his military dependence. It is uncertain whether Duncan himself has been fighting in the war - it is possible that he has not; as in Act one he only receives news from the battlefield. It might, of course, be argued that Shakespeare did not want to include a huge battle scene in his play but, nevertheless, it looks like Duncan has not been fighting himself. This was not the custom in the Middle Ages - the ruler  s conduct in battle was to serve as an example to all the warriors. Shakespeare does not state how old Duncan is but, judging from the fact that he has two grown sons, he is not in his youth. In quite a few stage productions of Macbeth this has been taken into account. In Trevor Nunn  s 1976 film of his stage production of Macbeth Duncan is portrayed as an old, feeble and sick man. This may explain why he does not take part in the battle. He is old and ill and depends on the loyalty of his warlords. Duncan  s fate depends upon two of his most powerful warriors - Macbeth and Banquo.

Global Research Paper: the Military Tactics of Mongol Essay

The Mongol civilization was a highly advanced group of people in terms of military characteristics. They had superior weapons and strategic skills that contributed to their success of conquests. The purpose of this investigation is to address the question: To what extent did the Mongols benefit from their advanced military tactics? The major body of evidence will focus on Genghis Khan who was a prominent Mongolian ruler, the Mongol army, their war tactics, the empire and finally, the invading of neighboring countries. These subtopics will assist in answering the research question by describing the significant role of Genghis Khan in leading his empire, and also their advanced military strategies and to what measure of success these factors resulted in. Sources such as books and databases were used to provide research and background information on the subtopics. They have been evaluated according to their origin, purpose, values and limitations. One of the databases, â€Å"Mongol Empire (Overview)† gave me a gist and a clear understanding of how the Mongols used their military skills to conquer many areas. I gained knowledge of some of their strengths and strategies that allowed them to become a powerful army. The analysis of all these documents will help to establish the extent of the benefit that the Mongols obtained through their advanced military tactics. Summary of Evidence The Mongol Empire originated from the nomadic tribes of the Central Asian steppes, now called Mongolia. The high, dry grasslands and mountainous geography on the steppes was not fit for farming, so they raised sheep and horses instead. However, this was one of the reasons to why the Mongols were able to vastly expand. Sheep provided meat, milk and cheese, which were their main diet. Horses were their source of mobility for hunting and transportation. Both of these factors stood as significant advantages for their army. The Mongols, however, were not strongly unified in the beginning. They had no solid foundation for a central government. The civilization was divided into different tribes that were each led by chiefs, and the tribes were always at each others’ throats. In all this time of constant fighting and violence, a man stepped up to unify all of the Mongol tribes and eventually reated an omnipotent empire. His name was Temujin(1162-1227), who later obtained the title, â€Å"Genghis Khan†, meaning universal ruler. A man named Juavini once stated, â€Å"Before the appearance of Genghis Khan they had no chief or ruler. Each tribe or two tribes lived separately; they were not united with one another, and there was constant fighting and hostility between them. † Genghis Khan ruled from 1206 to 1227 and led great military campaigns during his reign that contributed to their Golden Age. The Mongol army and their military campaigns were like tidal waves. They swept away any obstacles in their way and showed no mercy if the enemy resisted against them. One of Genghis Khan’s war strategy was the use of psychological weapons. He manifested terror and panic into the obscure areas of the country. His plan was to create a sense of such fatal destruction that resisting would be foolish. Another explanation to why the Mongol army were successful in their conquests was extreme mobility (up to 100 miles a day) and advanced weapons. The cavalry were always seen to be galloping on their horses. They shot arrows while charging at the enemy and moved with tremendous speed. The Mongols were also able to adopt new tactics and master new technologies. When Genghis Khan realized their weakness in capturing fortifications, he took captives of Chinese siege engineers and learned siege tactics such as building catapults and ladders. On the battlefield, the Mongols liked to fight in teams rather than individually. While the Japanese army was trained to present their skills by fighting in single combats, the Mongols were trained to work together as a team. If a samurai individually stepped up to a Mongol for a battle, the samurai would be surrounded and killed. A Japanese warrior named Hachiman Gudokun explained, â€Å"According to our manner of fighting, we must first call out by name someone from the enemy ranks, and then attack in single combat. But they took no notice at all of such conventions. They rushed forward all together in a mass, grappling with any individuals they could not catch and killing them. † This may seem unfair; however, this is one of the barbaric ways that the Mongols fought and it gained them victories. The Mongols were able to conquer lands and expand their territory; however, the extent of the benefit does not terminate there. Since the Mongol Empire controlled most of Asia and parts of Europe, they ruled much of the territory through which the Silk Road journeyed. Due to the peace within the empire, there was a great flow of merchants, craftsmen and missionaries traveling along the road, exchanging new ideas and creating cultural diffusion. The Mongols brought back new goods and cultures from the area that they conquered. When Genghis Khan retuned to Mongolia from China, he brought back engineers, musicians, translators, doctors and scribes. He also brought back goods such as silk, porcelain, iron kettles, armor, perfumes, jewelry, wine, medicines, gold and much more. From then on, they received goods from China in a steady flow. Because the Mongols, despite that they were barbaric and strictly militaristic, were able to keep peace and control in their empire, trading and traveling increased and exposed people to new ideas and culture. These factors led to the Golden Age of the Mongol Empire, Pax Mongolica. This golden age gave the Mongols a chance to advance in not only military, but economically and socially also. They were able to prosper with all the riches that they obtained from various trades and they were able to develop their society with the new ideas that were brought over from different cultures. Evaluation of Source The book Genghis Khan and the Mongol Conquests 1190-1400 was written by Stephen Turnbull. He is a historian specializing in eastern military history and wrote other books relating to the history of the Mongols, such as the Mongol Warrior. The publisher, a credible source, Routledge was founded in 1851 and became a major publishing house. The author’s intention for writing this book was for scholars, teachers, and students who are interested in studying the history of the Mongols. The book sought to answer questions such as: How did the Mongols obtain such power with their army? What tactics and strategies did they have in order to succeed in conquest? Therefore, there were some value as well as limitations to this book as it was used for research. There were quotes from other people who observed the Mongols, for example, soldiers who fought them. They described them to be barbaric and somewhat unfair. However, the book only shows the view of others, mostly the Mongols’ neighboring countries and enemies. There were no quotes from the Mongols that allowed to defend themselves. Another limitation was the fact that this was a secondary source and the author was not a witness to this event. This is a limitation because the information may not be accurate due to the time difference between the event and now. There were also some unanswered questions such as how their advanced army benefited them with a golden age and how their golden age had a great impact on their society. This limited my amount of research and therefore, I had to look for another source with that information. Analysis The Mongols had two different faces. They were brutal and fierce. They brought destruction among their enemies if they chose to fight. On the other side, they were benevolent and kind with those who yielded to them. It is seen that the Mongols were merciless and barbaric people; however this is not the whole truth. The Mongols did not torture or mutilate, while their enemies did. They preferred to slaughter in one quick motion which allowed their enemy to feel barely any pain. European rulers often enjoyed bloody executions such as stretching and hacking the body into pieces, but the Mongols did not take part in such gruesome activity. In fact, these horrible executions were carried out on the captured Mongols. An explanation to why the Mongols were able to have a benign side was because of their leader, Genghis Khan. He is known to be a fierce man but he has a bit of a merciful characteristic also. Genghis Khan said to a man who attempted to assassinate him, â€Å"When an enemy wishes to kill someone, he keeps the fact secret†¦But you have been frank with me. Become, therefore, my companion. In memory of your deed, I will name you ‘Jebei’–the arrow. † This portrays not only the act of forgiving, but the tremendous amount of confidence that Genghis Khan had in himself by befriending an assassin. On the other hand, he was not so forgiving on the battlefield. He intimidated his enemies to the point where some even fled before the fight began. Having such a confident leader affirmatively impacted the Mongol Empire and its army. With Genghis Khan leading them, they were fearless and confident that they will take victory. â€Å"My friends, Temujin knows how to range men for battle much better than Baibuga,† said Jamuka, who fled from battle after seeing Genghis Khan’s fighting arrangement. The Mongol army were able to conquer and create a vast empire. From the perspective of the conquered people, it may be negative, considering all the orrid destructions that were brought by the Mongols. However, the Mongol Empire was extraordinary. It brought almost the entire continent of Asia under one control. There was no division in the land because there was religious and cultural tolerance. Relevant to culture, as mentioned in the summary of evidence, the Mongols had an impact on the Silk Road. Trade along the Silk Road had decreased si nce the fall of the Tang dynasty but revived during the Mongol Empire because safe travel was guaranteed throughout the entire empire. Therefore, it created a huge economical boom and a great deal of new culture and knowledge reached Europe while the Mongols were able to experience a Golden Age. Conclusion The extent of the benefit that the Mongols received from their successful military was a time period of peace, prosperity and technological advancements. They were introduced to many new cultures as well as weapons and goods like silk and gold from China, which allowed them to prosper and become even more powerful. Pax Mongolica, their Golden Age, was the climax of their empire, and the extent of their power. The Mongol Empire can be compared to the Hellenistic Age. Figures like Alexander the Great and Augustus had conquered great amount of land and expanded their territory just as Genghis Khan did for the Mongols. However, both empires fell after their period of prosperity, which showed another similarity between two great civilizations. What would have happened if the Mongols did not fall after their golden age? The extent of their benefit from their advanced military tactics may have been greater. Reference http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h11mon.htm