My Funeral Plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

My Funeral Plan - Assignment Example Wakes are overnight stays held at funerals especially on the eve of the burial day. This is a practice that is only common among Christians, Muslims bury their dead immediately after they are pronounced dead. Wakes were initially meant to be moments when the friends and family came together and commemorated their lives with the dead. With the spread of Christianity, Christians started using these moments to have services in which they prayed for the souls of the late and to pray for guidance for those they left behind by them. The services have become so common that others carry them out in churches while others carry them out in homes and places designated for them by the families of the late. Egyptians believed that the bodies of their dead were to be used again by the very dead in their eternal rest. This way, they thus devised a way, of preserving the bodies; mummification. They drained the bodies of all possible liquid and air then covered them tightly in strips of sheets. The b odies survived for millions of years in good shape and this was the origin of body preservation. Given the differing funeral schedules, some people may have their programming running for weeks, a time within which the body of the dead should still be fresh and in good shape. The modern societies came up with ways of preserving their dead with such chemicals as formalin being used to keep the bodies fresh for longer. Electrocuting the dead drains all moisture and air from the bodies thus making them to last remarkably long.

Triathlon Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Triathlon - Essay Example Many of the enduring triathletes prefer to be resilient to pain and tend to carry their impacted and sometimes senseless (without knowledge) injuries throughout each race till to the finish line. Medical cover is to be arranged at the finish of an Ironman event taking place at Lanzarote in early October. In order to achieve adequate medical support and care, health issues that are common to triathletes must be outlined. Ironman at Lanzarote is considered to be one of the most arduous, all-terrain event for any fittest and able-bodied triathlete. The Ironman event is expected to include three major sub-events consisting of 3.8km swim, 180km bike race, and 42.2km run to the finish line. Any appropriate medical cover can only be provided by priori understanding of different types of illnesses or injuries based on previous therapeutic experiences and gathering of medical information from past records seen in other Ironman races. Most triathletes naturally undergo rigorous cross physical training and are less likely to develop any kind of muscle imbalances. An issue with many young, amateur and firt-time triathletes is that they usually underestimate their fitness level and skill such that they may be good in one event but that does not automatically translate into adaptation for another. All bodily injuries can be classified as either internal or external fatalities. The latter injuries may be knee injuries, wrist fractures, sore toes and blisters, cold shoulder and other injuries from improperly adjusted bicycles [16]. Only a small amount of competitors experience this sought of external injuries. One of the more common medical problems is the triathlete sustains a bad sunburn a few days before the actual race. A serious and unattended sunburn (such as a second degree burn with blisters) can have a damaging effect on how the body is able to adjust the coherent body temperature and sweat loss during exercise. This naturally decrease the ability to control body temperature and sweating can have a negative impact on the triathlete's race outcome. Most injuries that befall triathletes are overuse injuries such as tendonitis or muscle strains, as opposed to acute ones (like when fall of a bike and bruise something). While overuse injuries are fairly common among triathletes, they are relatively easy to prevent and treat, if they are careful. The most effective way to prevent overuse injuries is to prevent and reverse the muscle imbalances that contribute to most of them and allowing the body to have sufficient time to properly recover from any stress developed during training. Through the nature of the postures and repetitive motions involved, triathletes tend to develop particular imbalances that are associated with particular injuries. To correct imbalances, they need to stretch muscles that tend to become shortened through training and strengthen muscles that tend to become weakened. Triathletes should frequently stretch their calves, hamstrings, hip flexors, lower back, neck, and chest, and should regularly performing func tional exercises that strengthen the hips, butt, abdomen, upper back, and shoulders [3, 7, 16, 20]. Tendons and muscles need to have adequate time to recover fully from increases in training to especially prevent chronic injuries. Poor technique is also associated with a majority of

Why zinedine zidane consider to be my hero Essay

Why zinedine zidane consider to be my hero - Essay Example I believe that Zinedine Zidane is the greatest football player of the modern era because of the way he could control a football. He is only one of two players to win the FIFA World Player of the Year award three times (Ronaldo being the other). At club level, he won trophies in three major leagues: France, Italy, and Spain. However, in my opinion, his greatest ever triumph came in the French shirt at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. In the final France were underdogs against a highly fancied Brazilian side. On the day, Zinedine Zidane stepped up to the mark and scored with two headers, resulting in a 3-0 French win. A couple of years later, Zidane also won the EURO 2000 title, helping the French team defeat the Italians in the final. I grew up watching Zidane at the peak of his powers, and I would argue that no one has since been able to reach such heights. In the 1998 FIFA World Cup, the tournament was being hosted in France for the first time in 60 years. France had yet to win a World Cup, so there was great expectation that the team would finally bring home the trophy. At this time, France was becoming a more multi-cultural nation, with numerous African immigrants settling in the country. Even though Zidane was born in Marseille, he had Algerian ancestry. He was thus the ideal person to lead the French nation into a new era. Once the French team became world champions, the nation rejoiced for weeks. Zidane became an instant hero overnight and helped to unite the French people as a result. For many African immigrants, Zidane was the ultimate role model; he came from an Algerian background but was able to become one of the most respected people in French society. To this day, I look up to Zidane as someone who can unite a nation in joy and happiness. Finally, I appreciate Zidane for all the charity work that he has done since his retirement from football. Zidane has participated in charity football matches in

Physical and Social Developement of Adolescents Issues Essay

Physical and Social Developement of Adolescents Issues - Essay Example This paper aims at exploring different issues related to physical and social development of adolescents and the impact of those developmental changes on them. The adolescence period is featured by dramatic physiological changes that in practice leading them to move forward from a child to an adult. Hence, adolescence period is a transitional period, where an individual reaches to the physical maturity. This period distinguishes among males and females quite evidently by developing sexual characteristics, however, the secondary sexual characteristics become visible during prepubescent period. In the prepubescent period, a female may begin to develop her breast buds around the age of 8 years, which take the mature shape with full breast development during late adolescent phase. Apart from that, public hair growth - armpit and leg - has been observed during 9 to 10 years, where the distribution pattern becomes prevalent at the age of 13 to 14 years. Another significant physical change occurs in adolescent females with the menarche2. In general, the menarche occurs after 2 years of prepubescent changes. A female may undergo menarche at early at the age of 10 years and as late as 15 years. However, the puberty is not identified with a sudden onset of pubertal changes in case of males, as it happens with females with menstrual changes. In case of males, the scrotal and testicular changes occur during 9 years of age along with a lengthening of penis size, whereas it reaches to its adult size around 15 - 16 years of age. Public hair growth in the areas of armpit, leg and face is noted at the age of 12 years, whereas it reaches to its adult distribution at the age of 15 to 16 years. The occurrence of nocturnal emissions3 in around every 2 weeks interval consisting of seminal fluid may define the onset of puberty among male adolescents. This typically occurs during the age of 13 years to 17 years. A contemporaneous brisk of growth in height is noticed between ages of around 10.5 to 11 years and 16 to 18 years, with a peak period characterized around the age of 14 years. Another significant change in males occurs with the changes in voice which is usually parallel to penile development, whereas the occurrence of nocturnal emissions corresponds with the peak period of height spurt. Social Development The radical and dynamic changes both at physical and psychological level throughout the adolescent period make it typically distinct from other phases of development. An adolescent, irrespective of gender, experiences an individualized form of self consciousness, sensitivity about the surrounding environment and an increased concern over one's own body image along with excruciating evaluation between own self and peers. An important aspect of the psychosocial development contributing to the adolescence period is adolescent egocentrism. According to Elkind (1967), adolescent egocentrism includes a belief system carried by adolescents that makes them to consider as special and unique which is accompanied with the accomplishment of new psychological abilities. Adolescent egocentrism is characterized with an imaginary audience with an increased self consciousness. Adolescents consider that their people in their surrounding areas, especially peers, observe their activities,

Computer Professional Ethics Journals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Computer Professional Ethics Journals - Essay Example In this digital age of technology, computer scientists are having difficulty in implementing and controlling the access of information, particularly in various web sites. This is also the case for computer software/programs that are often being pirated (or distributed illegally) across the globe. At some instances, such programs are being illegally adulterated to look as the same as that of the original, thus this can easily apply for intellectual property rights (this scenario had been the case of Microsoft as the Internet Explorer was patterned after Netscape’s technology). With such privacy laws and principles, third-party users and computer scientists will be able to safeguard their rights against â€Å"pirates† who would do anything just to get hold of such technology and exploit it for their own consumption. Furthermore, such laws are essential in safeguarding computer programs or other related information that are critical, not only to the overall welfare of the computer scientist, but as well as to the welfare of the digital

Impressions of what life was like for the colonists Essay Example for Free

Impressions of what life was like for the colonists Essay Life in the new world for the colonists was like nothing that individuals in today’s society can understand. After taking the Would You Have Survived the Colony quiz on the website, it is easy to see that surviving the colonial atmosphere might have been one of the most difficult tasks on earth. This is because of the differences in culture, in food, in work load, and with other important aspects of life that would take an awful lot of adjusting. When the Europeans came across the pond to colonize America, they had a lot of adjusting to do, as well. The first way that they had to adjust to the new world was with the environmental changes. Life in America was rough because of all of the elements. Europe was a flat area with a lot of rain and average weather. When they came to America, they had to put up with mountains, with rivers, and with lots of other elements. There was also the animals that they had to adjust to. Because the United States was just being colonized and modernized, lots of wild animals were running around where people were living. Among them were predators like bears and big cats. When people went out to find food or to cut wood, they had to put up with this nuisance. This was how life was so difficult and it was something that people of today’s culture would struggle with. When taking that quiz, I thought about the clothes that people would wear if they had to go back to that time. I like to be in nice clothes. Though I do not have to have the latest in fashion, I do like to keep up with the times. Back then, the clothes had to last a long time and they had to be able to stand up to the elements. People had to track through the woods, so the clothes had to be able to put up with that challenge. Since there was no air conditioning or heating at the time, the clothes also had to be much more of an insulator in the difficult times. This would be a difficult adjustment for someone like myself if I were to go back in time. The last and most important thing is the overall work ethic and lifestyle that would have to be employed. Every time those people wanted something, they had to work hard for it. If they wanted a fire, they had to cut down some wood and start the fire. If they wanted to eat something, they had to go kill it and cook it. There were no fast food restaurants to go grab food at. Today, people go to work in order to make money to buy nice things. Those people had to go to work in order to keep themselves and their families alive. That was in addition to actually protecting themselves from the elements and the things in the environment that were so difficult. Overall, life in the colonial period was difficult and it would definitely be an adjustment for anyone who had to go back in time and face it. The differences in the economy and with the environment are so profound that people had to go through a whole lot each and every day. The main difference is that there were no days off if you felt bad or simply needed some rest.

Democracy in 19th Century Western Europe

Democracy in 19th Century Western Europe Democracy in 19th century western europe â€Å"How democratic were France, Germany and Britain by 1900?† Table of contents: Part I: Summary; Part II: Outline; Part III: Limitation of this study; Part IV: Democracy in France; Part V: Democracy in Germany; Part VI: Democracy in Britain; Part VII: Conclusion. Part I: Summary: Just over a century ago, the kind of government that existed in these frontline western European states was a far cry from what is seen today. The political earthquake called the French Revolution had its epicentre in France, but its rumblings were felt through most of the continent, as well as in faraway colonies, leaving the politics of most European countries in a state of flux. But the intended harvest of this revolution, an obliteration of monarchy and the rule of law, the indispensable elements of a democracy, took its time to get ingrained in the political systems of these countries, and evolved as a form of government very differently in each of the three countries taken up in this paper. If the advent of Napoleon affected these three countries, and the Vienna Congress stunted France and Germany’s graduation to democracy, the internal political dynamics in all these countries were different from each other’s. In Britain, whose brand of democrac y was mixed, the Reform Acts turned out to be milestones on the road to democracy. Such serious and well-intended steps to democracy were not taken in the other two countries. This is mainly because France kept seesawing between monarchy and autocracy through most of the 19th century, while Germany was a disparate state for most of that century. In sum, in Britain, by the end of the 19th century, a parliamentary democracy, which the nation had been having for a long time, was fairly well established, although under a monarchy. The same was not the case with the other two; in all, Germany enjoyed the least democracy. The reasons for this discrepancy form the backbone of this paper. Part II: Outline: This paper takes up separately the extent to which democracy was ushered in into these three countries. In each of these cases, a narration is made of how democracy developed. Since the nature of this paper is analytical, too much detail is not made of this aspect; this explanation is given only to reinforce the thesis question. The starting point for the evolution of democracy in each of these countries is taken up separately. This is for the simple reason that while the French Revolution happened in France, such an event did not take place in the other two countries. For these, appropriate historically important dates or events are taken up. Part III: Limitation of this study: While 1789 may be termed a signal event for modern democracy, no event of such importance concerning democracy happened in 1900, the cut off date for this paper. However, since this is the period up to which this paper is concerned, it restricts itself to developments in most parts of the 19th century, in which the major themes were unification for Germany, political uncertainty for France, and the reform of the parliamentary system in the Victorian Era for Britain.    Part IV: Democracy in France: France was home to one of the watershed political events of modern Europe, the French Revolution, in which the people rose in revolt with the slogan, war to the chà ¢teaux, peace to the cottages. The gravity and repercussions of this event are far too great to bear banal repetition; however, while the essential aim of the Revolution was to bring an end to the autocratic and inept regimes that misruled the nation, (Frey Frey, 2004, p. 57) the result it sought to instil, democracy, did not have a smooth inception or development, either, suffering from several long and enduring birth pangs. Strangely, for most part of the 19th century, it seemed as if the great revolution had turned out to be no more than an isolated, standalone event. The dividend the Revolution sought to pay, democracy, had to wait for a seemingly interminable period of time to fructify and get implanted in the nation’s political system, because the succession of governments it brought were anything but democratic. Leading political figures of the day, such as Robespierre feared that the system the revolution put in place was one which had a penchant for forgetting â€Å"the interests of the people†, would â€Å"lapse into the hands of corrupt individuals†, and worst of all, â€Å"reestablish the old tyranny† (Cohen, 1997, p. 130) Later decades showed that his prognosis was not far off the mark. The decades following the Revolution saw a chain of events, none of which took the country anywhere near democracy, the avowed aim of the Revolution. The years from the Revolution to the Franco-Prussian War saw political fissures of one or another kind, which had no semblance of democracy, starting with the ascent of Napoleon, perhaps the most powerful dictator the country had ever produced. His defeat was followed by the Restoration of the monarchy; this gave rise to the Revolution of 1830, and the rule of Louis Philippe, till 1848. It took another revolution to bring down his regime, this time in 1848. Finally, this heralded the era of the Second Republic, and the tenure of the fickle Napoleon III, leading to another event of seminal importance for the nation, the Franco-Prussian war, to be followed by yet another Republic, the Third. (Haine, 2000, p. 97) This regime, too heavily weighed down by palace intrigues, scandals, wars and renewed national pride in the wake of a highly rec harged and resurgent neighbour, Prussia, (Wright, 1916, pp. 2-4) was left with little room or time for democracy. Nothing of import happened in the period till the end of the 19th century to necessitate the emergence of a democracy. Part V: Democracy in Germany: Germany’s tryst with democracy in the 19th century needs to be seen in circumstances that were peculiar and unique to the nation’s history. This was when the German people united as a nation for the first time.   They had been a loosely knit confederation of princely states that owed its allegiance to the Holy Roman Empire by the time of the French Revolution; yet, in about a century of this event, they had been cobbled together almost magically under the Prussian banner. A series of moves replete with uninhibited daredevilry, gamble, deceit and sheer diplomatic astuteness on the part of its Chancellor, Otto Von Bismarck had united the German people, ridding them of the yoke of Austrian domination of its peoples. (Snell, 1976, pp. 3, 4) However, Germany had only been united, resulting in the realisation of a long-lasting and cherished dream of a German nation; this did not in any way mean that a democracy had been put in place. Even so, the newly-knit entity did not have the prerequisite groundwork for democracy, suffering from a basic flaw –it â€Å"was constructed by its princes, not by its people. That important fact distinguished Germany from nations like England, France, and the United States, where the constitutions were designed with the consent of the governed. The German Empire was a federation of sovereign states, its constitution created by a treaty among the hereditary rulers of those states. The wars of unification were not revolutionary popular movements; they were narrowly focused international conflicts designed by Bismarck to help Prussia eliminate Austrian power within Germany and to create a new Prussian-led German nation within Europe.†Ã‚   (Turk, 1999, pp. xvii-null22) Whatever spattering of democracy the nation had towards the fag end of the century was limited to social democracy, in which it was confined to labour unions. (Berghahn, 1994, p. 160) Part VI: Democracy in Britain: The year 1815 is considered a benchmark for the politics of Britain, as it was for several other European countries, for the simple reason that this year saw the end of the power and influence of one of the greatest nemeses it ever saw, Napoleon. However, while this was the major issue for the nation externally, Britain had its share of internal problems, as well, during this century. The Industrial Revolution brought in its wake dramatic changes which the nation had to ingest, with both the promises and the pitfalls it spawned. Among the most important social effects the Industrial Revolution had on the nation was a near-explosion in population, and the drawbacks of nascent industrialisation, at which it had no forerunners from any part of the world. Thus, the greatest priority at that time was a set of policies that gave the country social solidity and some element of peace. (McCord, 1991, p. 1) With the high rates of population growth and their atte ndant problems such as high infant mortality being great priorities during the early part of the 19th century, (Brown, 1991, p. 30) the air of politics was abuzz with the question of which of the institutions the British had so assiduously built up over the previous centuries was best suited to give coherence to the society that was changing at a feverish pace. In this milieu, the emphasis for British politics was more over what kind of reform was suited and needed for the society, polity and the economy, rather than which form of government was best suited to carry these changes out. Opinion was sharply divided among the Conservatives and the Liberals about which of its institutions could carry the day for Britain. The unshakable British faith in the monarchy was as firm as ever, not diluting or eroding even slightly on account of these changes. (Park, 1950, pp. 3-5)   In essence, the 19th century, during whose most part Britain was under the rule of one of its longest-reigning monarchs, Queen Victoria, saw the emergence of a peculiarly hybridised, yet often contradictory system of governance. Quintessential democratic institutions, such as the parliament, the judiciary, the cabinet and the local government were alive and well, but functioned under a monarchy. On the one hand, fair and free elections, the ultimate identifier of a democracy, were being held with amazing regularity; on the other, it could not be denied that participation in these elections was limited to the handful of rich and powerful. It was to correct this set of imbalances and to draw more people into the electorate that the Reform Acts were passed. The basic intent of these sets of legislation was the promotion of greater democracy, by drawing the excluded and marginalised sections of society into the electorate. (Pugh, 1999, p. 20) The nation went through three Reform Acts, passed in 1832, 1867 and 1884, whose central aim was increasing the numbers of the electorate. (Hammond Foot, 1952, pp. 212-214) At about the time these Acts were passed, a parallel social and political reform movement, Chartism, was very active. The basic demand of this radical, unionised movement was greater political participation for the working classes, so that the fruits of the Industrial Revolution percolated down to the labour class, too. (Maccoby, 1935, p. 33) However, in the light of the needs of the day, and the priority these Acts had, they met with little success in actually bringing in democracy to the country. What has been said about the Reform Act of 1832, perhaps holds good for the other Acts, too –that they were â€Å"†¦an excellent example of the British skill of muddling through. An aristocracy muddled through to a democracy, taking many of the aristocratic virtues with them; and they muddled through from an age of privilege to an age of numbers. The democratic implications of the act(s) were not in fact revealed for more than a generation†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Smellie, 1962, p. 164) As a result, through most of the Victorian Era, although efforts were made haltingly towards bringing in more democracy, there was no more than a sprinkling of democracy; even this happened at the grassroots level, being restricted to the municipal level, as a series of Acts were passed at the local government level. (Harrison, 1996, p. 20) Part VII: Conclusion: A study of the thesis question throws up a mixed picture. Overall, democracy, so essential a feature of these countries today, had had to make a bumpy and potholed journey. In all these countries, democracy was nebulous and uncertain in the 19th century, albeit in varying degrees. In Britain, a parliamentary democracy was very much in full bloom, but the inherent love and pride of the British people for their monarchy pre-empted a switch to a full-fledged democratic form of government. As a result, these democratic institutions functioned under a monarchy that controlled the largest empire of the day. In France, the scene was different. In the absence of democratic institutions of the kind Britain had nurtured, the governance the French Revolution brought about vacillated between various kinds, with the result that democracy took a backseat. In Germany, the struggles inherent in a newly unified nation, coupled with its naivety in running its newly developing imperialism resulted in too many squabbles and bottlenecks for democracy. The nation that Bismarck had welded together had the ingenuity to only work under a newly consolidated empire, not having been inculcated the necessary mindset for a democracy. It was never going to be easy for these fissiparous peoples to be administered a sudden dose of democracy, as by definition they had been inured to centuries of localism. By the end of that century, democracy was nowhere registered in the average German psyche. Of all these nations taken up for this study, it can be said that Britain had the highest form of democracy by the end of the 19th century; yet, here too, despite the Reform Acts, which could not be termed a great harbinger of democracy, it was nowhere near what may be termed a pure democracy, something that came so naturally to some of its colonies, principally America.