Tuesday, May 26, 2020
We Must Make Virtual Child Pornography Illegal Essay
The Supreme Court lifted a 1996 act banning virtual child pornography. The six to three ruling, led by Justice Anthony Kennedy, says the law violates First Amendment freedom of speech rights guaranteed to every citizen of the United States of America. Although many free speech advocates are shouting victory, many citizens across the country are lamenting over the loss in the fight against child pornography. Child pornography has been present in society for centuries, but has only recently become more accessible through the development of the printing press and subsequently, the technology of the Internet. Until the mid-1990s, illegal child pornography [had only] involved depictions of actual children engaged in sexually explicitâ⬠¦show more contentâ⬠¦Quick to validate the new law, Congress proclaimed that child pornography is often used as part of a method of seducing other children into sexual activity (Slade). Congress further went on to say that with recent technology, having the ability to alter and enhance sexually exploitive images might render enforcement against pornography using real children impossible because determining real pictures from enhanced picture had the probability of being a very daunting and challenging task. This strengthened the governments argument that the law had a significant potential to protect many children from molestation and abuse. Child pornography laws instated during the 1970s were some of the first in the crusade to protect children from sexual predators. This was because most of national news magazines were printing detailed articles concerning child sexual abuse at the time. In just a few weeks, a national campaign against the making and sale of child pornography exploded (Finkelhor 1) and politicians took note. In 1977, the government enacted the Sexual Exploitation of Children Act which prohibited sexually explicit photography of minors, the use of minors in production of pornography, and any material promoting child pornography. Due to misunderstandings of what minor really meant, the Child Protection Act of 1984 was ratified. It was then concluded thatShow MoreRelatedPre Nazi Holocaust And The Civil War1181 Words à |à 5 Pagesdark periods of history where horrible things occurred, and there were no massive amounts of free speech that saved the victims like there was in the Civil Rights movement and other bright points of history. With all these questions, another question must be asked: Would a hate speech ban have helped in these situations? At those points in American history, a hate speech ban would have been impossible to enforce. These ideas were not just held by a few radicals. They were almost main stream, and thereRead MoreProstitution Is Morally Wrong And Should Be Eradicated From Society1673 Words à |à 7 Pagesdealing with judgmental teachers to faking orgasms before the kids get home from school, it is one of the difficulties of living a double life. people seem to look at them differently, just because of the lifestyle they live; wish is morally wrong. As a child, it is sad to see your mom work as a prostitute. you start to get inbarrist to be seeing with her. wondering how can she allow herself to sleep with so many men. you start to believe that she doesn t have any respect for herself because of how societyRead MoreCell Phones, Sexting and Teenagers2233 Word s à |à 9 Pagesthe beginning of the last century, has forever changed the way people communicate. Some of our nationââ¬â¢s teenagers are being caught in the crossfire between technology and the law. Teenagers are charged with possession and distribution of child pornography when caught using cell phone technology to share with others intimate, provocative, seductive, or sexually explicit photos of themselves. Radley Balko writes of the absurdness of these prosecutions in his article, Ruining Kids to Save Them.Read MoreLegal and Geographic Issues on the Internet Essay2049 Words à |à 9 PagesLegal and Geographic Issues on the Internet à Abstractà à à à Many states and nations have conflicting laws regarding what type of digital content is legal.à When content is legal at its place of origin but illegal where it is downloaded the laws become unenforceable because no single jurisdiction applies.à International cooperation and Internet fragmentation are potential solutions, but neither is currently viable.à This paper discusses how the transfer of content across geographic boundariesRead MoreA Short Note On Lacunae s Laws Protecting Children Against Online Sexual Abuse5335 Words à |à 22 Pagesglaring flipside, the concern over growing child abuse cases on the Internet. Reliable statistics point that India is home to 19% of Worldââ¬â¢s children and the production and distribution of child abuse images has become a rampant problem in India. According to a 2007 study conducted by Ministry of Women and Child Welfare in India, wherein over 12,000 children were studied for child abuse, 4.4% of them wer e found to have been victims of child pornography. Children face a number of threats in the onlineRead MoreCruel and Unusual Punishment Clause3215 Words à |à 13 Pagesand Unusual Punishment Clause did not make our Founding Fathers necessarily opponents against the Death Penalty. The Crimes Act of 1790 mandated the death penalty for treason, and also the mutilation of the corpse. There is no doubt, our modern courts would find mutilation of a corpse to be regarded as cruel and unusual as well as abhorrent in practice. The practice of flogging was also considered a common ââ¬Å"back thenâ⬠but clearly unacceptable today. We can see that ââ¬Å"cruel and unusualâ⬠seemsRead MoreThe Dark Net With Tor2465 Words à |à 10 Pagesinternet that we all use. It will discuss issues with anonymity, confidentiality, illegal activity of Tor and its concentration on provision of technically anonymous services as well as where it is going in the future Introduction Darknet systems also known as privacy networkââ¬â¢ called I2P (the Invisible Internet Project) has been growing in popularity over the past few years. In order to access the Dark Net one must have access to the regular internet that everyone uses and they must then connectRead MoreEssay on The Efforts to Regulate the Internet5321 Words à |à 22 PagesThe Efforts to Regulate the Internet Abstract ââ¬Å"Cyberspace is both the popular medias new darling and new demon, revealing a new, expansive intellectual horizon but simultaneously providing easy access to an infinite, virtual Pandoras boxâ⬠[1]. This paper shall discuss the situations that have raised the need for the Internet regulations, and in particular, Internet content censorship. Then, it shall review the regulatory efforts worldwide, with respect to the local cultures and governmentalRead More The Impact of the Internet on Society Essay5976 Words à |à 24 PagesTCP/IP was developed to allow disparate devices to work together. The original network has long since been upgraded and expanded and TCP/IP is now a de facto standard. Millions of people worldwide are using the Internet to share information, make new associations and communicate. Individuals and businesses, from students and journalists, to consultants, programmers and corporate giants are all harnessing the power of the Internet. For many businesses the Internet is becoming integral to theirRead MoreUk And Eu Legislation For Address Cybercrime4831 Words à |à 20 PagesLegislation to address Cybercrime Abstract - Abstract - in this paper, we present an introduction to cybercrime, and review UK and EU legislation regarding computer crimes. This paper will briefly address UK and EU laws that have been created to deal with cybercrimes. Numerous writers, to policymakers and law enforcers have called for stringent and innovative laws to prevent and punish computer crimes. Others want legislation to make computer software companies liable for damages caused by their software-security
Tuesday, May 19, 2020
Definition and Examples of Isocolons in Rhetoric
Isocolonà is aà rhetorical termà for a succession ofà phrases,à clauses, orà sentencesà of approximately equal length and corresponding structure. Plural:à isocolonsà orà isocola. An isocolon with three parallel members is known as aà tricolon. A four-part isocolon is aà tetracolon climax. Isocolon is particularly of interest, notes T.V.F. Brogan, because Aristotle mentions it in theà Rhetoricà as theà figureà that produces symmetry and balance inà speechà and, thus, createsà rhythmicalà proseà or even measures in verse (Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, 2012). Pronunciation à ai-so-CO-lon Etymology From the Greek, of equal members or clauses Examples and Observations Climate is what we expect; weather is what we get.ââ¬â¹It takes a licking, but it keeps on ticking!(advertising slogan of Timex watches)Im a Pepper, hes a Pepper, shes a Pepper, were a Pepper--Wouldnt you like to be a Pepper, too? Dr. Pepper!(advertising jingle for Dr. Pepper soft drink)Come then: let us to the task, to the battle, to the toil--each to our part, each to our station. Fill the armies, rule the air, pour out the munitions, strangle the U-boats, sweep the mines, plow the land, build the ships, guard the streets, succor the wounded, uplift the downcast, and honor the brave.(Winston Churchill, speech given in Manchester, England, on January 29, 1940)Nothing thats beautiful hides its face. Nothing thats honest hides its name.(Orual inà Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retoldà by C.S. Lewis. Geoffrey Bles, 1956)Pity is the feeling which arrests the mind in the presence of whatsoever is grave and constant in human sufferings and unites it with the sufferer. Terror is the fee ling which arrests the mind in the presence of whatsoever is grave and constant in human sufferings and unites it with the secret cause.(James Joyce,à A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, 1917)An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered.(G.K. Chesterton) Effects Created by Isocolon Isocolon... one of the most common and important rhetoricalà figures, is the use of successive sentences, clauses, or phrases similar in length and parallel in structure. . . . In some cases of isocolon the structural match may be so complete that the number ofà syllablesà in each phrase is the same; in the more common case, the parallel clauses just use the sameà parts of speechà in the same order. The device can produce pleasingà rhythyms, and the parallel structures it creates may helpfully reinforce a parallel substance in the speakersà claims... An excessive or clumsy use of the device can create too glaring a finish and too strong a sense of calculation.(Ward Farnsworth,à Farnsworths Classical English Rhetoric. David R. Godine, 2011) The Isocolon Habit Historians ofà rhetoricà continually puzzle over why theà isocolonà habit so thrilled the Greeks when they first encountered it, whyà antithesisà became, for a while, anà oratoricalà obsession. Perhaps it allowed them, for the first time, to see their two-sidedà arguments.(Richard A. Lanham,à Analyzing Prose, 2nd ed. Continuum, 2003) The Difference Between Isocolon and Parison - Isocolonà is a sequence ofà sentencesà of equal length, as in Popes Equal your merits! equal is your din! (Dunciadà II, 244), where each sentence is assigned five syllables, iconizing the concept of equal distribution... Parison, also calledà membrum, is a sequence ofà clauses or phrasesà of equal length.(Earl R. Anderson,à A Grammar of Iconism. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ. Press, 1998) - The Tudorà rhetoriciansà do not make the distinction betweenà isocolonà andà parison...The definitions ofà parisonà by Puttenham and Day make it identical with isocolon. The figure was in great favor among the Elizabethans as is seen from its schematic use not only inà Euphuesà but in the work of Lylys imitators.(Sister Miriam Joseph,à Shakespeares Use of the Arts of Language. Columbia Univ. Press, 1947)
Friday, May 15, 2020
Movie The Mission Essay - 529 Words
Movie: The Mission nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The movie, quot;The Mission,quot; is about how the Spanish in cooperation with Pourtugal try to get the Jesuits off land negotiated by the two countries. The Spanish Church sends people into Asuncion, Paraguay to persuade the Jesuits to get off the land. The film includes spiritual and political activities the are reflected through the church, natives, and the Jesuits. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;What the movie mainly tried to show was that the Church wanted to maintain control over the Jesuits. To show that control, they went to Paraguay and tried to persuade the Jesuits to leave. The Spanish allowed them to take care of the matter to prove that. Spain and Portugal hadâ⬠¦show more contentâ⬠¦A young native boy picks up the cross and assumes the role of father proving that killing the head leader does not kill the faith. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;One aspect of the movie was the technology. The Indians were attacked by a powerful weapon, and that was the weapon of being inferior to a race that had a different way of life. The Indians were introduced to guns, complex musical instruments, and simplicities such as clothing. These new things changed their life. In the battle scene, the Indians steal gun powder from the Spanish. The gun powder is then used by the Indians to their advantage. By using home made cannons, they are not totally helpless to the cannons and bullets of the opposing side. One of the most memorable scenes of the movie shows the small native girl picking up a destroyed violin and taking it with her with many more children on a canoe. The only reason I can see for that scene is to represent that even though the children are leaving the area to get away from the bad people, they will never fully forget what happened to them as they encountered the white men. The sequences where the same girl sees her own people dying shows that even though these people were bad, they had made an impact that would not be forgotten. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;This movie, quot;The Mission,quot; shows many of the negative effects of European expansion. It reflects the many political andShow MoreRelatedMovie Summary Of The Movie The Mission876 Words à |à 4 PagesThe movie, The Mission, gives a good detail onto the historical context on the imposition of other societies colonial and political objectives towards the native peoples of Paraguay. The similar scenario throughout the history of humanity of imperialist civilizations and forces invading other native lands and impose their beliefs, political systems, and society attitudes towards native peoples unfamiliar in their way of life and understanding of humanity is presented in the movie with great detailRead More The Devastation of the Indies and Movie The Mission Essay2335 Words à |à 10 PagesThe Devastation of the Indies and Movie The Mission The Mission and Bartolome De Las Casas book, The Devestation of the Indies Although The Mission and Bartolomà © De Las Casas book, The Devastation of the Indies portray events that took place over two centuries apart, similar features and effects of colonization are apparent in each account. Slight differences in viewpoints are evident, such as The Missions portrayal of the natives in a more humane fashion, but this goes along with the evolutionRead More Movie Review: Mission Impossible II Essay1667 Words à |à 7 Pagesrevolutionary terrorism, nuclear terrorism and bioterrorism. Nowadays, terrorism is an extremely debatable topic, and ever trying to make the United States a safer place to live. Mission Impossible II is an action film from 2000 directed by John Woo, where Tom cruise acts as the main character, Ethan Hunt. The movie starts with Dr. Vladimir narrating how in the search for a hero, they have created the villain, a virus named chimera. He wants to travel to the United States, and he will only do soRead MoreAnalysis Of The Movie Things Fall Apart And The Mission 1561 Words à |à 7 PagesIntroduction Fictionalized accounts of historical events often provide valuable information that may improve overall understanding of human history. Things Fall Apart, and The Mission are works that are different because they focus on different areas and periods, but they explore similar themes such as colonialism and Christian missions. The primary argument is that Okonkwo and Rodrigo Mendoza are similar because they focused on masculinity and tried to fight for oppressed people, but Mendozaââ¬â¢s will isRead MoreApollo 13 Essay1397 Words à |à 6 Pagesï » ¿ Apollo 13 The Apollo 13 mission was a significant historical event, because of the dangerous repercussions that followed the explosion of the oxygen tank on Apollo 13. The story in which the astronauts Lovell, Swigert, and Haise surviving these errors during the flight is truly incredible. In the movie Apollo 13, the creators depicted most of the events involving the crewââ¬â¢s adventure to and from space quite accurately. Although creating most events successfully the creators of Apollo 13 failedRead MoreIn early 1990 Somalia was going through a civil war. Their dictator Mohammed Farrah had order the1500 Words à |à 6 PagesOmar Salad Elmi and Abdi Hassan Awale Queybdiid, two of Mohammed top advisers. The special mission was to be done by experienced man as well as new recruits. The operation was supposed to have taken about an hour on October 3, 1993. Their objective was the two top advisers of Mohammed that were to be untied at a meeting in the target building. Around 3:32pm, ââ¬Å"a helicopter-borne team of U.S. Army special mission unit members accompanied by Rangers, SEALs, and 24 STS personnel departedâ⬠the military baseRead MoreEssay on Film Analysis: The Mision751 Words à |à 4 PagesThe movie, The Mission (1986), depicts events in South America, likely in what is now the state of Rio Grande do Sul. In the movie, a slave trader named Rodrigo Mendoza, played by Robert De Niro, makes his living by capturing slaves and bringing them to the Spanish Governorââ¬â¢s plantation. There, he catches his fiancà ©e sleeping with his younger half-brother, which causes him, in a rage, to kill his younger brother. Due to this, he eventually joins a Jesuit mission. After coming into contact with aRead MoreThe Mission: Inaccurate Portrayals of the Guarani and Jesuit Relations1533 Words à |à 7 PagesThe film ââ¬Å"The Missionâ⬠(1986) was written by Robert Bolt and directed by Roland Joffe. It explores the various relationships distinguished between Sp anish Jesuits and Indian (Guarani) civilization situated along the borders of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil around 1750. Although, as stated in the beginning of the movie that ââ¬Å"The Missionâ⬠is ââ¬Å"based on true historical eventsâ⬠, Bolt and Joffe distort the portrayal of the Guarani and Jesuit relationships. This essay will examine the distortions of theRead MoreThe Mission Station Of Spain1378 Words à |à 6 PagesThe main theme of the story in the mission is about a group of Jesuits who established a mission station around the borderland of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil around 1750. Meanwhile, they converted the local Indians to Christianity. At the end, Cardinal Altamirano ordered Jesuits to leave the mission. Without the protection of the church, the local Indians were killed or slaved by Portuguese. The script of the movie was written from a real historic event in 1754-1756, the Guarani War, which GuaraniRead MoreThemes In Destination Moon1043 Words à |à 5 Pagesis the governments involvement. In each movie the government plays a specific role, but that role changes over the course of time from being completely against space travel to eventually funding space travel. In Destination Moon the government is clearly against the Jim and Dr. Charlesââ¬â¢ mission to go to the moon. This creates a sense of paranoia, the need for secrecy, rushed work, and the need to seek private funding. In this movie, the crewââ¬â¢s mission to go to moon is not under any legal jurisdiction
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
Juror 8 Essay - 749 Words
Inside a room where life or death decisions are made, twelve men sit with wandering thoughts. The made up minds of some jurors are to send a boy to his death without a second thought, but one other juror may change that. Inside of the play Twelve Angry Men written by Reginald Rose, Juror 8 has the persuasive evidence to change the minds of his fellow Jurors and save a boy from his execution. The other Jurorââ¬â¢s seem like they wonââ¬â¢t budge with their mind set on the decision of guilty, but after Juror 8 proves his thoughts on the decision of innocent, he may just be able to save a young life. Juror 8 had many chances to change his opinion about the boyââ¬â¢s case, and yet he never did. Throughout this whole play, Juror 8 stood his ground and wasâ⬠¦show more contentâ⬠¦Finally, Juror 8 had a huge impact on this story. Juror 8 was very insightful with his opinions and evidence. He gave himself the ability to change the minds of eleven men and save the innocent life of one. Juror 8 was the only man out of 12 who decided to look deeply into the murder case and find little pieces of evidence that everyone else seemed to miss and used that to prove his points. For example, no one would have thought about how the woman who claimed she saw the murder from across the street may have not had perfect vision. Juror 8 found little details to prove that, like how she had marks from her glasses and may not have been wearing them when she looked outside. Not even the lawyers had thought about that and most little things like that were why the young boy was almost sent to his death. Juror 8 was a true hero and stood up to his own opinion and points even when others didnââ¬â¢t agree with him. Overall, Juror 8 is one of the most impactful characters in this theatre production. Without him there would be no conflict in the court case. Juror 8 was able to go from being unsure about his vote to completely confident along with the changing the minds of every single Juror in that room and save a boy from his execution. Juror 8 has a huge role in this storyline and has a very persuasive and open minded personality. Juror 8ââ¬â¢s decisions inShow MoreRelatedThe Twelve Angry Men Juror 3 and Juror 8 Comparing Essay1919 Words à |à 8 PagesComparison essay comparing Juror 3 and Juror 8 What are some similarities between Jurors 3 and 8? What about differences? Oh gosh, its been years since Ive seen the movie (didnt read the play).à Okay,à Jurorà #3 is the angry father, and Juror #8 is the guy who stands alone in the INNOCENT vote, right? I suspect the similarities are easier to find by reading the play because the movie really shows their contrasts. There is one similarity in that when they really believe something, theyRead More12 Angry Men- Jurors 4 and 8 Essay886 Words à |à 4 PagesReginald Roseââ¬â¢s ââ¬â¢12 Angry Menââ¬â¢ brings 12 jurors together in a room to decide whether a young foreign boy is guilty of killing his father. The play is interwoven with dynamic characterisation, striking symbolism and intense moments of drama. Although Rose positions Juror 8 as the hero, the strongest character is in fact Juror 4, who is an independent thinker, rational and calm even as tension begins to build. Although Juror 4 initially votes guilty, he is able to admit his fault and change his voteRead MoreThe Justice And Injustice Of Kill A Mockingbird And 12 Angry Men1018 Words à |à 5 PagesHarper Lee and the film 12 Angry Men by Reginald Rose have many similarities and differences in relation to the theme of justice and injustice. The purpose of this essay is to explore these similarities and differences and find more in depth meaning to these two texts. In both To Kill A Mockingbird and 12 Angry Men, Atticus and Juror No. 8 abstain from commonly held prejudice views and try to uphold justice fairly. In the novel, it deals with the fact that it is a black man s word over a white s andRead MoreMovie 12 Angry By Movie Review1137 Words à |à 5 PagesIn this essay I will be an analysis of group communication using the movie 12 Angry Men.The movie 12 Angry men is a movie about a jury made up of 12 men as they deliberate the guilt or acquittal of a defendant on the basis of reasonable doubt. They go through many different problems during the deliberation. The movie starts off with all 12 of the jurors in a room. Nobody knows anybody. Everyone friendly introducing themselves and making conversation. Trying to get to know one another. They knew theyRead MoreUse of Persuasive Argument in 12 Angry Men Essay1037 Words à |à 5 Pagesproduced by Henry Fonda who played the lead role, Juror #8, and Reginald Rose who wrote the original screenplay. This essay will explore some of the critical thinking elements found within the context of this movie, and will show that rational reason and logic when used effectively can overcome the mostly ineffective rush to judgment that can be prevalent in a population. The juror that seemed interesting is Juror #8, who was played by Henry Fonda. Juror #8, or Davis, is an architect, the first dissenterRead More12 Angry Men: Compare Contrast1063 Words à |à 5 PagesThis essay will compare contrast the protagonist/antagonists relationship with each other and the other jurors in the play and in the movie ve rsions of Reginald Roses 12 Angry Men. There arent any changes made to the key part of the story but yet the minor changes made in making the movie adaptation produce a different picture than what one imagines when reading the drama in the form of a play. First off, the settings in the movie are a great deal more fleshed out. In the play, the scene beginsRead MoreRacially Based Jury Nullification : Black Power Essay1026 Words à |à 5 PagesIntroduction to Legal Studies. This article was published in North America, for academics in the law stream, or anyone with an interest in law. The author poses different views on the racism in todays court rooms faced by African Americans. In this essay, I will examine the article in detail to determine whether or not the author has been accurate with his conclusions, and whether these conclusions apply today. Summary of Article Paul Butler is an African American lawyer whom practiced as a prosecutorRead More12 Angry Men Essay829 Words à |à 4 Pages ââ¬Å"12 Angry Menâ⬠Essay The movie 12 Angry Men focuses on a jurys decision on a capital murder case. A 12-man jury is sent to begin decisions on the first-degree murder trial of an 18-year-old Latino accused of stabbing his father to death, where a guilty verdict means an automatic death sentence. The case appears to be open-and-shut: The defendant has a weak alibi; a knife he claimed to have lost is found at the murder scene; and several witnesses either heard screaming, saw the killing or theRead MoreTo what extent does random selection of jury members create bias and would jury selection provide a solution?1030 Words à |à 5 Pagesrepresentative of the general public. It is assumed that if one juror has an apparent prejudice, then those in other jurors will counter it and so bias does not occur in this system[1]. Another assumption is that having ââ¬Å"12 good men and trueâ⬠[2] randomly selected into the jury ââ¬Å"strengthens the legitimacy of the legal system.â⬠[3] However, it is clear that randomness does not provide representativeness and not all jurors are good and true. By implication a random sample can beRead MoreDisgust and Juror Decision-Making Essay980 Words à |à 4 PagesJurorsââ¬â¢ decisions are affected by emotions and other unspoken thoughts/feelings. Previous research has shown that people make decisions on ââ¬Å"quick gut feelings.â⬠The goal of this study is to see if a disgusting stimulus will have an influence on juror decision-making. The research was concerned with the decision-making question of whether or not jurorsââ¬â¢ disgust and gut-feeling judgment towards the defendant are key elements in legal settings. This decision will be due to a ââ¬Å"quick gut feelingâ⬠of disgust
Butterfly Effect Movie Review Essay - 951 Words
nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Movie Review of The Butterfly Effect nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Itââ¬â¢s not everyday that one may watch a film that can be categorized in all of the genres of drama, thriller, sci-fi, and love. However, in J. Mackye Gruber and Eric Bressââ¬â¢s movie, The Butterfly Effect, they do just that. Throughout the film, a young man, Evan Treborn, played by Ashton Kutcher, who like his institutionalized dad before him, has memory blackouts that he must deal with. After several years had passed, Evan discovers a supernatural technique to alter his entire life and find his vanished and harrowing memories. Unfortunately, in order to relive these moments and recollections in his past, there are critical and severeâ⬠¦show more contentâ⬠¦As he attempts to mend the broken lives of those closest to him from his childhood, he finds that every trip into the past brings chaotic results into the present, leading him to travel back again and again and causing irreversible damage. Though this occurrence is not necessarily believab le, this one issue added to the sci-fi and creativity in the film nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Though I found several occurrences throughout the movie that werenââ¬â¢t realistic and believable, I thought that the main actors, Ashton Kutcher, Amy Smart, and Eric Stoltz, did an excellent job portraying these circumstances as realistic as they could. While Kutchers acting is better than expected, he does get a little melodramatic sometimes. It was interesting to see Kutcher apart from his usual goofy titles and characters. Their true theatrical abilities were revealed when all the main actors had to play and depict numerous and extremely diverse versions of their own characters throughout the film. For instance, Amy Smart does an excellent job in acting the different versions of Kayleigh. From radiant beauty and happiness to street trash and gutter face. In addition, Kutcherââ¬â¢s character is also thrown into numerous different lifestyles in The Butterfly Effect. From a cocky fraternity boy to an armless handicap, then to a studious college studen t. Surprisingly, with the help of a great make-up crew and fantastic special effects,Show MoreRelatedThe Butterfly Effect, and A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury1138 Words à |à 5 PagesMany science fiction shows, films, and novels today have been influenced by science fiction novels from the past. A few examples are Frequency,The Butterfly Effect, and A Sound of Thunder relating to A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury. These films all express Bradburyââ¬â¢s idea of the butterfly effect and that time traveling can change the past, therefore changing the future. Although they share the same idea, they each have different outcomes. A Sound of Thunder was written in 1952 by Ray BradburyRead MoreFilm Review Of The Intouchables Directed By Oliver Nakache And Eric Toledano1206 Words à |à 5 PagesFilm Review- Statement of intention: My intention for this film review is to convince the reader to watch the film ââ¬Å"The Intouchablesâ⬠. As I believe this film is well worth watching as it portrays very good themes and has important life lessons incorporated throughout the movie. The Intouchables Are Really An Untouchable Pair The Intouchables Directed and written by: Oliver Nakache and Eric Toledano Rating: R (for language and some drug use) Genre: drama, art house, international, comedyRead MoreImpromptu Topics1154 Words à |à 5 PagesExplain which came first: the chicken or the egg. 1. Explain the rules to your favorite game. 1. If everything in the world had to change to the same color, what color would you choose and why? 1. Explain how you would use a hat to catch butterflies. Be sure to 1. identify the type of hat that is required. 1. You are a piece of paper. Describe how we should use you before you get recycled. 1. Explain how to make a pizza. 1. Explain four uses for a drinking glass other than forRead More The Characters in The Matrix Essay3889 Words à |à 16 Pagesgive the film meaning. In this capacity for aesthetic indulgence ââ¬â and contrary to the theoretical window dressing of the script, The Matrix makes an audio-visual presentation that reformulates agency as a matter of effect rather than choice. Thinking it Everyone knows the movie is full of really captivating philosophical questions. Why is it that, when youââ¬â¢re hurt in the virtual world, you bleed in the real world? Very heavy stuff. The film is easy to translate in this way because it drawsRead MoreClueless Reflection1751 Words à |à 8 Pagessatire, charm and intelligence all of which help her to deal with family, friends, school, relationships and all-important social life. How is an 1815 classic novel similar to a 1990s romcom film? How would you hold any educational value in a comedy movie? Well both these text types hold the same amount of educational value and importance as they both hold the same themes and values. The themes carried out in both text types include, conflict, relationships, miscommunication, stereotyping, social andRead MoreAnalysis Of The Film Ali Essay1895 Words à |à 8 PagesThroughout the development stage of the film, director Michael Mann wanted to focused on the 10 prime years of Aliââ¬â ¢s career. Summary of the film Ali is a film following the life story of professional boxing heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali. The movie showcases the life of Ali, including his days when he was Cassius Clay to when he regained his status as heavyweight champion. Even though the film touches upon most of his life, it primary focuses on some of the business years of Aliââ¬â¢s career betweenRead More Japanese Animation and Identity Essay3705 Words à |à 15 PagesI would like to examine contemporary culture, which hardly escapes political implications of ââ¬Å"ourâ⬠time and place. Film reviews of these films clearly show the way Japanese pop-culture should be treated in the United States. Both Akira and Ghost are celebrated because of their high achievements in animation technology, especially visual effects and music, while most reviews warn that the contents are highly violent, incomplete, and too corporeal (in both senses of ââ¬Å"sexualâ⬠and ââ¬Å"bodilyâ⬠). A WashingtonRead More50 Ha rmful Effects of Genetically Modified (Gm) Foods14312 Words à |à 58 Pages50 HARMFUL EFFECTS OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED (GM) FOODS In a sentence This article outlines the many harmful effects of GM or genetically-modified foods (known also as genetically-engineered foods) and representng lab-created GMOs or genetically-modified organisms. By Nathan Batalion, ND We are confronted with what is undoubtedly the single most potent technology the world has ever known - more powerful even than atomic energy. Yet it is being released throughout our environment andRead MoreSales Promotion Strategy3937 Words à |à 16 Pagesoutlet to stock it. Other methods include placing coupons in the newspaper or mailing free samples to households. Combination Strategy 4. A combination strategy occurs when the push and pull methods are used simultaneously for maximum promotional effect. In addition to providing incentives for a seller to promote a product, a manufacturer will also launch an advertising campaign to entice consumers to purchase the product. Brand Reinforcement 5. A brand reinforcement strategy is used as a wayRead MoreThe Studio System Essay14396 Words à |à 58 Pages1920, Adolph Zukor, head of Paramount Pictures, over the decade of the 1920s helped to fashion Hollywood into a vertically integrated system, a set of economic innovations which was firmly in place by 1930. For the next three decades, the movie industry in the United States and the rest of the world operated by according to these principles. Cultural, social and economic changes ensured the demise of this system after the Second World War. A new way to run Hollywood was
Peak Oil and Population free essay sample
The first of these is the depletion of resources. The Earth can only produce a limited amount of water and food, which is falling short of the current needs. Most of the environmental damage being seen in the last fifty odd years is because of the growing number of people on the planet. They are cutting down forests, hunting wildlife in a reckless manner, causing pollution and creating a host of problems. Those engaged in talking about overpopulation have noticed that acts of violence and aggression outside of a war zone have increased tremendously while competing for resources. Overcrowding I dont know about you, but back in school I heard about experiments on Norway Rats that were put in overcrowded cages, and suffered many physical and behavioral problems. The same has been shown for Sitka Deer and for mice. Some folks think this is happening to people too. Its a common observation that people in small towns are friendlier than people in cities. However, thats just a hunch for most of us. One recent study from U. C. Irvine found that less densely packed people are friendlier towards their neighbors. One specific finding was, For every 10 percent decrease in population density, the likelihood of residents talking to their neighbors at least once a week jumps by 10 percent. And involvement in hobby-oriented clubs increases even more significantly by 15 percent for every 10 percent decline in density. Overpopulation: Environmental and Social problems Human population is growing like never before. We are now adding one billion people to the planet every 12 years. Thats about 220,000 per day. The list of problems this is causing, or at least complicating, is a long one. It includes shortages of all our resources, war and social conflict, limits on personal freedom, overcrowding and the health and survival of other species. This page summarizes many of these problems, and more could easily be added. While overpopulation is not the sole cause of these, it is certainly a root cause. We hope to see more media coverage of this link in the future. We can do something about population, and we can solve all these problems more easily if we do. How about our resources? Many basic resources are strained by our current population: Food: one billion people, one out of every seven people alive, go to bed hungry. Every day, 25,000 people die of malnutrition and hunger-related diseases. Almost 18,000 of them are children under 5 years old. Food production and distribution could catch up if our population stopped growing and dropped to a sustainable level. Water Shortages: About one billion people lack access to sufficient water for consumption, agriculture and sanitation. Aquifers are being depleted faster than they can be replenished. Melting glaciers threaten the water supply for billions. Wouldnt an ethic of population reduction now, make peoples lives much better? [read more] Air quality: Pollution from smokestack In many regions of the country, childhood asthma rates have risen dramatically in the past 20 years. The problems are not limited to the industrialized countries with their automobiles and factories. Children in undeveloped countries, where people depend on burning wood and dung for their heat and cooking, are also at risk. Oil and gas are the underpinnings of what is, historically-speaking, the extremely cheap and fast transportation that todays huge population depends on. Imagine how we could feed and supply our huge cities (N. Y. , L. A. , London, Mexico City, Peking) if all the hauling was done in horse-drawn carts and sailing ships. Yet there is a finite amount of these fossil fuels in the Earth, and we have already extracted the easy-pickings in much of the world. The concept Peak Oil means that after some year, perhaps between 2005 and 2020, world oil production will max out and then start to decline. Bull pulling truck cab shell M. King Hubbert created and first used the models behind peak oil in 1956 to accurately predict that United States oil production would peak between 1965 and 1970. [1] His logistic model, now called Hubbert peak theory, and its variants have described with reasonable accuracy the peak and decline of production from oil wells, fields, regions, and countries,[2] Hubberts predictions were accurate for U. S. production, and his prediction for World peak production was around 2006. There is ample disagreement among experts as to if and when this will happen, but some experts point to the sharp rises in oil prices since 2007 as an indication that oil is now passing its peak production. See these Feb. March 2010 articles for three current estimates. As our population and our needs for energy rise, we try to exploit ever more difficult sources of energy. At least half of the cause of the oil-spill disaster in the Gulf is oil soaked pelican May 25: Lets make no mistake about it, what is at threat here is our way of life Gov. Bobby Jindal the unprecedented rise in population. If we had only 150 million people in the country, we would not be rushing to drill wells one mile deep in the ocean before we have developed safe technologies to do so. Of course our inefficient energy consumption patterns play a part in the urgency of our needs, and we will have to adjust them over time. But equal efforts must be put into keeping our population below critical levels. (news about oil gas) Other Fuel: Half the Worlds population relies on burning wood and dung for cooking and for heating. More and more people live in these regions and have to travel further each day to collect wood, and are often exposed to hardship and danger. Articles at National Geographic tell these stories from around the World. February 01, 2009 THIES, SENEGAL Adam and 100 Friends launched a region-wide initiative to provide pregnancy prevention tools called CycleBeads and also to build more energy-efficient wood stoves that will help address desertification in Senegal. The Ozone Layer. 50 years ago parents told their kids to go play outside because sunshine is good for you. Many parents today dont think that way, because the ozone layer of the atmosphere no longer protects us as well from the harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays of the sun. The ozone layer is a region of concentrated molecules of a form of oxygen (O3) high above the earth. Without it there would be no life as we know it here because the UV rays from the sun can be very harmful. But various chemicals from human industries, especially chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), destroy ozone over the course of years. Some of the most dangerous ones have been banned in many countries, which has slowed their rate of increase in the atmosphere, but they are very long lasting and will continue to deplete the ozone layer for many years. Currently the layer is being destroyed at a rate of about 4% per decade. The Worlds forests are another resource that is strained by our growing population. Not only are they a source of fuel and building material, recent research has focused on forests ability to sequester greenhouse gases and protect us from global warming. (News about forests and carbon sequestration) We are straining our Oceans ability to breed the fish we eat, to sequester carbon, and to replenish the air. In the 50s and 60s, Florida was a by-word for the abundance of the sea. Now even some of the trash fish of that era are too rare to fish commercially or recreationally. Isnt this a clarion call that we need to lower our human population so that we can again enjoy the abundance of nature? [article on Florida seafood, 2010] June 2011, The Second Annual European Fish Week, organized by Ocean2012, a coalition hoping to change the Common Fisheries Policy of the European Union. Even the earths topsoil itself has limits: most people dont realize that in many regions good growing soil is limited to the top 6 inches of topsoil and that heavy crop growing is depleting this. Social Problems Overcrowding I dont know about you, but back in school I heard about experiments on Norway Rats that were put in overcrowded cages, and suffered many physical and behavioral problems. The same has been shown for Sitka Deer and for mice. Some folks think this is happening to people too. Its a common observation that people in small towns are friendlier than people in cities. However, thats just a hunch for most of us. One recent study from U. C. Irvine found that less densely packed people are friendlier towards their neighbors. One specific finding was, For every 10 percent decrease in population density, the likelihood of residents talking to their neighbors at least once a week jumps by 10 percent. And involvement in hobby-oriented clubs increases even more significantly by 15 percent for every 10 percent decline in density. Conflicts and Wars: Some of the most brutal and persistent conflicts and full-out wars of the past decades include the stresses of overpopulation and conflict over resources. One of these was the genocide in Rwanda. As John M. Swomley wrote in War and the Population Explosion: Some Ethical Implications, Michael Renner noted that The Hutu leaders that planned and carried out the genocide against the Tutsis in 1994 relied strongly on heavily armed militias who were recruited primarily from the unemployed. These were the people who had insufficient land to establish and support a family of their own and little prospect of finding jobs outside agriculture. Their lack of hope for the future and low self esteem were channeled by the extremists into an orgy of violence against those who supposedly were to blame for these misfortunes. Another source of resource conflict is the Jordan River, Jordan River which passes through Syria, Jordan, the West Bank and Israel. Researchers report that most of the 37 actual military conflicts over water since 1950 took place between Israel and its Arab neighbors over the Jordan River and its tributaries, which supply millions of people with water for drinking, bathing, and farming. These are desert regions and the limits on water should guide the population policies of the nations involved. [article on Jordan River, 2010] The confilict between Pakistan and India are especially sensitive since both highly-populated, fast growing countries have nuclear weapons. Pakistans major water source is the glacial waters of the Indus river, which originates in Indian territory. [article on Pakistans water] [archive] Further information about the scarcity of water. Sandia Postel in her 1992 book, The Last Oasis: Facing Water Scarcity, indicates that early in the 90s, twenty-six countries with combined population of about 230 million people had water scarcity. Democracy? We tend to think that Democracy offers us freedom of choice, but in the last 40 years, we have had little effective input into most of the political decisions that affect our lives. Do we have a truly Democratic system when most of us never even meet our Representatives at the various levels of Government? Even our State and City representatives probably dont know us and our views about the laws and regulations they pass. The only people most of them see on a regular basis are the lobbyists, who consequently have a disproportionately large influence on those laws and regulations. Democracy and Optimum Population Size: 2500 years ago, Aristotle considered the best size for a city and concluded that a large increase in population would bring, certain poverty on the citizenry, and poverty is the cause of sedition and evil. He considered that a city of over 100,000 people would exclude most citizens from a voice in government. To get an idea of what the founders of the United States had in mind for our representative Democracy, at the low end, the Constitution says (Article 1, Section 2) that a Representative to the House should represent a minimum of 30,000 people. When the Constitution was written, the United States had a total population of around 2. 5 million, and the Constitution allocated 65 Representatives to the 13 states. So each Representative of the Peoples House had about 38,500 constituents. Currently each Representative has 712,650 constituents. Its really a form of irony today to call it the Peoples House when only wealthy donors and paid lobbyists really have the ear of your representatives. What we have now is not Democracy in the sense intended by the countrys founders. Health and Population density: Sometimes viruses spread faster in denser populations, which enables deadly mutations to continue. Doctor Nathan Wolfe, of the Global Viral Forecasting Initiative, studies virus mutations which jump from animal to human populations. The AIDS virus is one of the deadliest of these. On a recent episode of CNNs Planet in Peril, Dr. Wolfe said Individuals have been infected with these viruses forever. Whats changed, though, is in the past you had smaller human populations; viruses would infect them and go extinct. Viruses actually need population density as fuel. [read article] Bringing it back home Overcrowding If you live in a growing metropolitan area, you notice: The cost of housing is rising significantly. Usually, the denser the city, the higher the cost of housing and taxes. The length of your commute: the average American heavy trafficspends over 100 hours per year commuting to and from work. Not only does this needlessly waste energy (gas or electricity) but especially it wastes our time. Certainly most of us have better uses for our time than inching through stop-and-go traffic. Yet they keep on building housing, without paying for our wasted time and energy. Recreation: the distance you must travel to enjoy natural open spaces. In his 2005 book: Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv introduced the term Nature deficit disorder to identify a phenomenon we all knew existed but couldnt quite articulate. His book has created a national conversation about the disconnection between children and nature, and his message has galvanized an international movement. Now, three years later, we have reached a tipping point, with the book inspiring Leave No Child Inside initiatives throughout the country. Not only adults, but especially our children, need easy casual access to natural environments. How about parking in your town? Where we live, the developers with a complicit city council just build, build, build new housing; block after block of 5 6 story buildings. They do not contain ample parking for their residential units, and they bring many more people into the town. And the developers have gobbled up several of the convenient down parking lots and turned them into more gigantic housing blocks, doubly compounding the problem. Unfortunately for the residents of the city, the outcome for many local businesses has been termination. We certainly try our best to support local businesses and would strongly prefer to shop where we can see the merchandise and talk to an informed salesperson, but we wont fruitlessly try to park, circle the block, and pay to park in a lot 3 blocks from the store. Its much faster and easier for most residents over the age of 45 to go online and have goods delivered. Many downtown stores are closed, and either vacent or replaced with fast food shops for the students who walk through on their way to and from school. The never-ending new buildings block our views, our light and our air. Twenty years ago, my town had a sense of space, with views of hills and water from most streets even downtown and nearby. But thanks to a few developers and planners emphasis on growth, many entire blocks are now walled in with 5 and 6 story behemoths. Many of us bemoan these losses and have felt helpless in the face of the financial powers backing these developments. However, if these developers had to fully pay the rest of us for the loss of our amenities, they might slow down. There is a way to put a monetary value on the losses the community has suffered. In an appraisal, a residence with a view and a spacious surrounding is more valuable than one that is boxed in between high-rise buildings. In my region that might add $100,000-$200,000 (or more) to the value of a house. If 2 people spend perhaps 10 waking hours a day there and own the house for 5 years, that works out to about 36,500 waking hours. Thats $2. 74 $5. 48 per hour. Lets call it $3. 00 per hour for the sake of this very rough estimate. Of course, no one person spends 10 hours a day at one spot on a city street, but many hundreds (or thousands) of people do pass by. In my town of about 100,000 people, perhaps 100 cars/hour and 100 pedestrians per hour pass through the downtown blocks. (More in the daytime and fewer at night. ) The buildings which are being built take up an average of about half a block apiece. By rough estimate, it takes a car 10 seconds to pass, and a pedestrian one minute. That works out to 46. 7 person-hours/day that someone is being deprived of light and air and a sense of spaciousness. At $3. 00 per hour, thats $140 a day or a little over $51,000 per year. These buildings may last 40-50 years, making the total value of the lost amenity $2,040,000-$2,550,000. The problem so far has been that when an individual buys or sells a single house, they control what they are willing to spend or what they can ask for that asset. But when a building is built in town, the 4,000 or 5,000 people per day who pass by it are not compensated for their loss. However, that is what government can do, and we suggest permitting and licensing fees to compensate us for our losses. The city can charge this to the developer, and apply the resulting city income to mitigating these losses by purchasing other sites the development rights to other sites. These are, of course, very rough estimates, and a permitting law would require better estimation of the current value of spaciousness in the community, and of the foot and vehicle traffic past any proposed building site. Personal Freedom As the problems of higher population density become worse, there are more and more restrictions placed on our freedoms. You may think some of these are good ideas. Some of them are, given the circumstances. But they are necessary only in order to accommodate the larger population that our policies are encouraging. Putting limits on water consumption. California is mandating that residential users cut back 20% on water consumption. At the same time they mandate that Cities build more and more housing. That is severely mistaken priorities on the part of our non-representatives. Cities put limits on driving London charges people to drive into downtown. Annually, politicians in New York repeatedly propose doing the same thing. Limits on travel: Traffic and congestion themselves put limits on our freedom to travel when and where we please. Cities that are overly crowded are not good places to go shopping, for meals or entertainments, because it is overly difficult to get there and park. One seemingly small loss of freedom that comes with increased housing density is limits on burning fires in fireplaces. Laws are passed, neighbors snitch on neighbors, and one more of lifes little pleasures is lost to increasing housing density. Restricting what people can do on their land: In rural areas, people are freer to build what they want and do what they want on their own land. When people are packed in close together, our actions impinge much more directly on our neighbors and more restrictions must be enacted. How about other species? Species Extinction: We are in the midst of one of the greatest extinctions of other species in the history of the planet. The last one of this magnitude was over 60 million years ago, when the dinosaurs became extinct. Yep, were the cause of this one, as we either kill them off outright, or cover over their living space with houses, roads and development. Did God give us dominion over this beautiful garden that we might destroy it, or that we might take care of the glory of creation? Its our choice. Habitat destruction: Our exploding population in the U. S. is converting about 1. 2 million acres of rural land per year to subdivisions, malls, workplaces, roads, parking lots, resorts and the like. The rural area lost to development between 1982 and 1997 is about equal to the entire land mass of Maine and New Hampshire combined. (Approximately 39,000 square miles or 25 million acres) Habitat Fragmentation in the Indiana Dunes Habitat Fragmentation Not only is habitat being built over, it is also being divided into ever-smaller pieces. Habitat fragmentation reduces species richness and diversity, by isolating a species population into subpopulations that may be too near the minimum viable population size, and so die off in each fragment. A fundamental finding of ecology is the species-area relationship, that the size of a habitat is a primary determinant of the number of species in that habitat. Some critics point out that we can accommodate more people without so much habitat loss and habitat fragmentation if we all live in cities or densely packed developments. This is certainly true, but the point we emphasize here at HowMany. org is that this is not what most people want. Jaguar Many people, given the choice, prefer to live on larger parcels. Many people want larger yards and gardens, and get-away cabins where you cant see your neighbors. And we can continue to have these amenities if we re-energize a vision of a smaller, more sustainable population. Habitat fragmentation endangers the Jaguars in Costa Rica. (May 12, 2010) More news about Endangered Species Habitat. Does a growing population really help any of us? These are some of the ways our growing population is impinging on our quality of life, and in many regions of the Globe, life itself. Its a long list, and more could be added. As some point out, these problems are not entirely the result of overpopulation. We could consume less, we could use resources more efficiently, and we could distribute them in ways that would not deprive so many of access to the basics. But there is no doubt that these these problems could be solved more easily if we dont add 3 billion or 5 billion, or many many more people to our lovely planet. And coverage of the link is almost nonexistent in most media outlets, even those covering the environmental and social problems that ensue. This is the most basic question that an intelligent species could ask: What is the right number of us to be living on our fair planet? Instead of saying there is nothing we can do about it, just accommodating to the imagined inevitability of it, shouldnt we be asking Does a growing population really help any of us? Its hard to think of a current problem which will be solved more easily by adding another 2. 3 billion people to our population.
Tuesday, May 5, 2020
Controversy About the Palace of Knossos free essay sample
Palace of Knossos The Palace of Knossos is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and possibly the political and cultural centre of Minoan civilisation, possibly the oldest in Europe. The ruins of Knossos were first discovered by a Cretan merchant called Minos Kalokairinos in 1878. After Kalokairinos, Heinrich Schliemann had shown an interest but it wasnââ¬â¢t until March 16, 1900 that archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans purchased the site and started the excavations. Arthur Evans is famous for restoring the ruins and bringing it to light, though whilst doing so, creating controversy. The archaeological site of Knossos has added to our knowledge about the Minoans, as Evans named them, after King Minos of Crete. By examining the palace, we can learn about the Minoan culture. Knossos was the largest city on Crete and also the largest palace, built after an earthquake destroyed the first palace around 1700 BC. The use of the palace has been widely debated; it had large storehouses for grain, olive oil, beans and other natural resources. These were thought to be used for trading with the Near-East, Greece and Egypt or emergency supplies to feed the community when the weather became poor resulting in little agricultural produce. Their religious beliefs can also be seen through the layout of the palace, as it also served as a temple of sort, one wing in particular for the Mother Goddess as female deities were more prominent in Minoan culture. This can be seen, as the throne in the ââ¬Ëthrone roomââ¬â¢ was thought to be made for a female, as the use of curved edges and the crescent moon carved on its base are symbols of femininity. This could be reserved for the manifestation of a goddess or a priestess. [1] The Minoan people are shown to be advanced as the Bronze Age palace had liquid management systems and ventilation. The palace had at least three separate liquid systems, for supply, drainage for run-off and waste water. Gravity feed using terracotta pipes distributed fresh water from springs. There were also examples of the first water flushing toilet in the Queenââ¬â¢s Chamber by pouring water from a jug to flush. The palace also had air shafts and was positioned to receive summer breezes, also having strategically positioned light wells for the west wings. [2]Though, shown to be innovative, there are no signs of having a military site at Knossos, no fortification or stores of weapons and leaving their water system prone to attack, showing they were peaceful to a sense. The controversy surrounding Knossos revolves around two main aspects. The first, is the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur which, until the archaeological discovery of Knossos, was just a popular legend. When Arthur Evans found murals of youths jumping bulls in the palace and also how the palace was made of over 1000 interlocking rooms, he believed that Knossos was the labyrinth in the myth. The archaeologist Michailidou writes It is amazing how long one can spend wandering in and out of these rooms, going up and down stairs and, frequently, much to ones surprise, finding oneself back in the same room having come by a different route [3] This theory is also supported as the term ââ¬Ëlabyrinthââ¬â¢ which is from labyrs, which was a double axe. The symbol of the double axe was the sign of the Minoan goddess and found on stones of the palace, pottery decoration and especially the Hall of the Double Axe. The Minotaur of the story could refer to the religious culture of Bronze Age Crete and the Minoan civilisation and may contain pieces of historical truth. Bulls were a sacred animal to the Minoans and the Minotaur could be based on a form of bull worship within Knossos, thus leading to the story of a Minotaur in the Labyrinth. The young men and women in the myth may not refer to sacrifice, but a ritual where an athlete grips the horns of the bull and then vaults over its back becoming one with the bull for a split second, another ritual is the spring dances where youths weave a maze-like pattern in the palace courtyards. The bull jumping requires strong athletic skill and courage, so the youth who attempts the jump would be seen as a hero, therefore leading to Prince Theseusââ¬â¢s heroism. Though, there is much evidence to show this theory, some historians do not believe it as there is no primary source to prove it. The second aspect of controversy is the restoration and renovation of Knossos. While it is important to know that Arthur Evans was not responsible for finding Knossos, he is acknowledged as excavating the remains and reviving them after buying the entire site. He believed that they should be restored to their former splendour so that visitors could have a vision of the past. He erected wooden beams and reinforced concrete pillars, painted deep red, to support crumbling walls, though, covering up original features in the process. The throne room (named because of a carved gypsum chair set into the wall) received special attention because it was thought to be particularly important. A scaffold was built over the room to give it protection but later Evans decided to replace this scaffold with wood-and-plaster columns for an artistic result. Evans gave permission to a father-son team, Emile Gilleron Junior and Senior, to paint the walls. They claimed that they had based their ornate images (griffins crouching in grass and a Cretan youth with long curly hair) on original designs, but in fact many of them were fabricated. 4]For the rest of the ruins, he hired Piet De Jong, though a talented artist but having no archaeological training to decorate the palace with his own design. The most famous include, the ââ¬Ëdolphin frescoââ¬â¢ and his reconstruction of the ââ¬Ëthrone roomââ¬â¢, though based on fragments of the original, still mainly from his imagination. Most historians and archaeologists have criti cised Evans heavily and have called his actions ââ¬Ëarchaeological delinquencyââ¬â¢ and highly inaccurate and said that he has created a ââ¬ËConcrete Creteââ¬â¢, and his details were at most an ââ¬Ëeducated guessââ¬â¢. Though, the visitors to the site have a different perspective, they argue that the reconstructed details have helped them to imagine the whole palace. [5] Arthur Evans had made a large contribution in excavating a highly advanced city which has added to our knowledge of their cultural beliefs, their innovations and civilisation as a whole. Even though, most of the palace of Knossos seen by thousands of tourists every year, was reconstructed according to Evans vision, it has brought to light a forgotten civilisation referred to as ââ¬Ëthe first link in the European chainââ¬â¢ [6] by historian Will Durant.
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