Marijuana Legalization Essays (393 words) - , Term Papers

Marijuana Legalization Most Americans do not want to spend scarce public funds incarcerating nonviolent marijuana offenders, at a cost of $23,000 per year. Politicians must reconsider our country's priorities and attach more importance to combating violent crime than targeting marijuana smokers. Marijuana prohibition costs taxpayers at least $7.5 billion annually. This is an enormous waste of scarce federal dollars that should be used to target violent crime. Marijuana prohibition makes no exception for the medical use of marijuana. The tens of thousands of seriously ill Americans who presently use marijuana as a therapeutic agent to alleviate symptoms of cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, or multiple sclerosis risk arrest and jail to obtain and use their medication. Between 1978 and 1996, 34 states passed laws recognizing marijuana's therapeutic value. Most recently, voters in two states -- Arizona and California -- passed laws allowing for the medical use of marijuana under a physician's supervision. Yet, states are severely limited in their ability to implement their medical use laws because of the federal prohibition of marijuana. America tried alcohol prohibition between 1919 and 1931, but discovered that the crime and violence associated with prohibition was more damaging than the evil sought to be prohibited. With tobacco, America has learned over the last decade that education is the most effective way to discourage use. Yet, America fails to apply these lessons to marijuana policy. By stubbornly defining all marijuana smoking as criminal, including that which involves adults smoking in the privacy of their own homes, we are wasting police and prosecutorial resources, clogging courts, filling costly and scarce jail and prison space, and needlessly wrecking the lives and careers of genuinely good citizens. Marijuana legalization offers an important advantage over decriminalization in that it allows for legal distribution and taxation of cannabis. In the absence of taxation, the free market price of legal marijuana would be extremely low, on the order of five to ten cents per joint. In terms of intoxicating potential, a joint is equivalent to at least $1 or $2 worth of alcohol, the price at which cannabis is currently sold in the Netherlands. The easiest way to hold the price at this level under legalization would be by an excise tax on commercial sales. An examination of the external costs imposed by cannabis users on the rest of society suggests that a"harmfulness tax" of $.50 - $1 per joint is appropriate. It can be estimated that excise taxes in this range would raise between $2.2 and $6.4 billion per year. Altogether, legalization would save the taxpayers around $8 - $16 billion, not counting the economic benefits of hemp agriculture and other spinoff industries.

Cynddylan and Lore Essay Example

Cynddylan and Lore Essay Example Cynddylan and Lore Paper Cynddylan and Lore Paper Essay Topic: Poetry In Cynddylan, Thomas contrasts a farmers personality to farming after he has started using a tractor on everyday work on his land with before when all his farming was done by hand and tool. Cynddylans attitude towards nature has now been changed by this machine that helps him but masks the beauty of his surroundings. Lore, on the other hand, is about a dedicated and traditional well experienced eighty-five year old farmer who sticks to the natural way of farming by paying to attention to all driven machines and prefers to stick with conventional methods to tend his soil throughout life. In my essay I will compare this modernised farmer in Cynddylan from this traditional and more respected farmer in Lore. I will show similarities and differences in accordance to the way both farmers look at the possible approaches to farming. As R. S Thomas is the creator behind the two poems and characters, that have different opinions, I will try to understand What Thomas was trying to make stand out by comparing the two poems with each other. Cynddylan starts off on a very informal, conversational tone, ah you should see Cynddylan on a tractor. Gone the old look that yoked him to the soil This line gives us the impression the farmer has lost part of his traditional methods of farming because of this machine, and that he has become somewhat divorced from nature. His nerves of metal and his blood oil This line demonstrates to us how he become a whole new person because of the new devise, Cynddylan has now been turned into something hes not. The clutch curses but the gears obey Thomas here has created a harsh C sound by using the two words together to add emphasis on Cynddylans new selfish attitude. Out of the farmyard, scattering hens. Riding to work as a great man should. Here Thomas creates a sarcastic tone to the reader saying how scattering hens and scaring them away is part of how a great farmer should operate. He is a knight at arms breaking the fields mirror of silence, emptying the wood of foxes and squirrels and bright jays. Thomas now has shown how the tractor breaks the silence and disrupts the tranquillity of the nature, viciously destroying the farmlands wildlife and his relationship with it. The sun comes over the tall trees kindling all the hedges, but not for him who runs his engine on a different fuel Cynddylan now has become completely separated from his companion called nature, he has chosen the machine over his environment, and he himself once ran on the same fuel as these trees, by working in the sun and growing with his land in peace and serenity. And all the bills are singing, bills wide in vain; As Cynddylan passes proudly up the lane. The birds are now in devastation and disgust at watching this transformed man ride up and down the field in his tractor and are now competing to hear themselves over this new aggressive roar of the engine that fills the air they once owned. Cynddylan has no structured rhyme scheme; the voice of the poem is Thomas as a narrator to some extent and the general tone of the poem is quite negative from start to finish it consists of a farmer who was once a wise man but is now caught up with modernisation and has turned completely unconventional by the end of the poem. In Lore, the very title of the poem suggests optimism as Lore means wisdom to past down through generation. Job Davies, eighty five, winters old and still alive after the slow poison and treachery of the seasons this gives Job the first impression as a tough man who has fought his life through rough and harsh conditions to maintain his years as a farmer without paying any attention to the need for machine in farming. This builds a certain amount of respect to him from the reader. Miserable? Kick my arse! There is certainly a certain amount of defiance in Job at regarding himself as unfit or overage for the job in this line, with his experience, hes willing to overcome anything. It needs more than a rain hearse, wind-drawn, to pull me off the great perch of my laugh here Thomas inherits a certain amount of light hearted cockiness in the character of Job. He will simply laugh at how natures weather conditions fights with him on a daily basis but yet nothing has got the better of him. Whats living but courage? Thomas now is the one speaking once again in this stanza and makes Job Courageous for his dedication to his work. Paunch full of hot tea, peat-black, dawn found me Job doesnt need any luxuries in life; hell simply take the basics at the dawn of morning and return to the field where he continues the same work as everyday without complaint. Thomas has changed the voice back to Job himself in this stanza. Mowing where the grass grew, Bearded with golden dew. Thomas now exemplifies the beauty to nature which makes us realise the reason behind Davies choice towards farming. Rhythm of the long scythe kept this tall frame lithe Thomas describes how Job conducts the very commonly used scythe in farming effortlessly to the extent that it is supple and free moving. What to do? Stay green. Never mind the machine. Job expresses his thought behind farming in an overall message. This challenges the opposition poem Cynddylan on how to portray farming. . whose fuel is human souls. Job uses his wisdom in a very dramatising way by saying how the machinery revolution to farming has completely destroyed mans relationship with nature. Live large, man, and dream small Thomas here has used Paradox whereby he contradicts himself after Job has expressed his philosophy. Lore has a typical rhyme scheme of AABC for stanzas 1, 2, 4 and 5, on stanza 3 the rhyme scheme is AABB. The voice of the poem swaps every stanza between Thomas and Job, the poems character. The tone of the poem is a much happier and laughable poem compared to Cynddylan. It is more positive and has a better respected character in it compared to Cynddylan. Thomas created the two characters himself, exploring the approaches to farming, he has made it quite obvious that Job Davies has come out the better man for the route he choose to go by farming.

Oseberg - Viking Ship Burial in Norway

Oseberg - Viking Ship Burial in Norway Oseberg is the name of a Viking ship burial, located near present-day Tà ¸nsberg, Norway, about 60 miles (95 kilometers) south of Oslo, on the banks of the Oslo Fjord in Vestfold county. Oseberg is one of several ship burials in the region, but it is the richest and best preserved of such elite graves. Key Takeaways: Oseberg Ship Burial Oseberg is a Viking boat grave, the interment of two elite women inside a working ship. Created in 834 CE in eastern Norway south of Oslo, the ship and its contents were  remarkably well-preserved.  The ship was likely a royal barge built in 820 CE in western Norway.Completely excavated in 1904, archaeological research has been focused on the analysis and conservation of the recovered artifacts.   Viking Ship Description The Oseberg ship was a karvi, a clinker-constructed ship built almost entirely of oak, and measuring 70.5 feet (21.4 meters) long, 17 ft (5.1 m) wide, and 4.9 ft (1.58 m) deep, from the railing to keel. The hull was constructed of 12 board planks stacked horizontally on either side; the port and starboard upper board planks have 15 oar holes, meaning the ship would have been propelled by a total of 30 oars- the oars were included in the burial. Oseberg was an elaborately decorated ship, with several ornate carvings covering its hull, and it was decidedly not built for strength as a warship might have been. Analysis of the wooden parts of the ship suggested to archaeologists that the ship was originally a royal barge, built in Western Norway about 820 CE and used for short voyages along the coastlines. It wasnt terribly seaworthy, but it was overhauled immediately before the burial. The oars and yardarm were new and not the right size for the ship, and the anchor was too small. Tools found aboard the ship included two small axes, kitchen equipment including a quern for grinding grain located near a butchered ox. The handles on both were well-preserved, with a characteristic herringbone pattern known as spretteteljing in evidence. A small wooden chest was also identified: although it was empty, it is assumed to have been a tool chest. Animals represented in the faunal assemblage included two oxen, four dogs, and 13 horses; there were also sledges, wagons, and a vertical loom. Burial Chamber Gabriel Gustafson excavation: News photo of the Oseberg Viking Ship Burial, 1904. Hulton Archive / Getty Images In the middle of the barge was a timber-built box with a tent-like cover of roughly hewn oak planks and posts. The chamber had been plundered in the 10th century CE- apparently part of ritual disturbances of many mounds during the reign of Harald Bluetooth (911–986 CE), who had ordered the destruction of mounds as part of his Christianization of the Scandinavian people. Despite Harolds efforts, the chamber still included the fragmented skeletal remains of two women, one aged in her 80s and the other in her early fifties. When it was excavated in 1904, the interior of the chamber still contained the remains of several textiles. Some of the textiles may have been bedding, or wall hangings, or both. There were the remains of the womens clothing discovered as well: over 150 fragments of silk were found woven into the garments of the women. Twelve of the fragments were silk embroidery, the earliest found to date in Scandinavia. Some of the silk had been treated with madder and kermes dyes. Some historians (such as Anne-Stine Ingstad, associated with the discovery of Leif Ericssons Lanse aux Meadows camp in Canada) have suggested the elderly woman was Queen Asa, mentioned in the Viking poem Ynglingatal; the younger woman is sometimes referred to as a hofgyà °ja or priestess. The name of Oseberg- the burial is named after the nearby town- might be interpreted as Asas berg; and the word berg is related to the Old High German/Old Anglo-Saxon terms for hill or grave mound. No archaeological evidence has been found to support this hypothesis. Dating the Oseberg Ship Detail of the Oseberg Cart from the Oseberg ship burial, 9th century. Print Collector / Hulton Archive / Getty Images Dendrochronological analysis of the grave chamber timbers gave a precise date of the construction as 834 CE. Radiocarbon dating of the skeletons returned a date of 1220–1230 BP, consistent with the tree ring dates. DNA could only be retrieved from the younger woman, and it suggests she may have originated from the Black Sea region. Stable isotope analysis suggests the two had a primarily terrestrial diet, with relatively small amounts of fish compared to typical Viking fare. Excavation Prior to excavation, the large mound built over the top by the Vikings had been known as Revehaugen or Fox Hill: after the nearby Gokstad ship was discovered in 1880, Fox Hill was presumed to also hold a ship, and clandestine attempts to uncover parts of the mound began. Much of the soil was removed and used for fill before 1902 when the first official survey of what was left of the mound was conducted. Oseberg was excavated by Swedish archaeologist Gabriel Gustafson (1853–1915) in 1904 and eventually written up by A.W. Brogger and Haakon Shetelig. The remarkable preservation of the contents was the result of the weight of the huge mound built above it, which pressed the ship and its contents down below the water table. The ship has been restored and it and its contents have been on display at the Viking Ship House at the University of Oslo since 1926. But over the last 20 years, scholars have noted that the wooden artifacts have become increasingly brittle. Conservation When Oseberg was discovered over a hundred years ago, scholars used typical preservation techniques of the day: all the wooden artifacts were treated to various mixtures of linseed oil, creosote, and/or potassium aluminum sulfate (alum), then coated in lacquer. At the time, the alum acted as a stabilizer, crystallizing the woods structure: but infrared analysis has shown that the alum has caused the complete breakdown of the cellulose, and the modification of lignin. Some of the objects are only held together by the thin layer of lacquer. The Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres have been addressing the issue, and conservationists at the National Museum of Denmark have been working on developing a comprehensive approach to the preservation of waterlogged wooden objects. Although the answers are as yet unclear, some potential exists for the creation of an artificial wood to replace that lost. Selected Sources Bill, Jan. Ambiguous Mobility in the Viking Age Ship Burial from Oseberg. Materialities of Passing: Explorations in Transformation, Transition and Transience. Eds. Bjerregaard, Peter, Anders Emil Rasmussen and Tim Flohr Sà ¸rensen. Vol. 3. Studies in Death, Materiality and the Origin of Time. New York: Routledge, 2016. 207–253. Print. of Power Politics? Antiquity 86.333 (2012): 808–24. Print.Draganits, E., et al. The Late Nordic Iron Age and Viking Age Royal Burial Site of Borre in Norway: ALS- and GPR-Based Landscape Reconstruction and Harbour Location at an Uplifting Coastal Area. Quaternary International 367 (2015): 96–110. Print.McQueen, Caitlin M. A., et al. New Insights into the Degradation Processes and Influence of the Conservation Treatment in Alum-Treated Wood from the Oseberg Collection. Microchemical Journal 132 (2017): 119–29. Print. Nordeide, Sà ¦bjà ¸rg Walaker. Death in Abundance Quickly! The Duration of the Oseberg Burial. Acta Archaeologica 82.1 (2011): 7–11. Print.Vederler, Marianne. Silk for the Vikings. Ancient Textiles Series 15. Oxford: Oxford Books, 2014.

Feminism as Archetype fpr Overcoming Prejudice Essay

Feminism as Archetype fpr Overcoming Prejudice - Essay Example With that said, a close look will be taken in Glaspell’s â€Å"Trifles† to illuminate the portrayal of women within a patriarchal society and define how those women work together to overcome their oppression, even though their choices may not have been the best in regards to actual justice. To begin with, â€Å"Trifles† is about two women, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale and the discoveries they make about a Minnie, a woman wanted for the murder of John Wright, her husband. They find conclusive evidence of her guilt, but are sympathetic to Minnie, whom they both see as the victim in the situation. But what, then, is the purpose of justice if women like Minnie can kill whomever they please without consequence? The truth is that Minnie may or may not have been a victim of her situation. She may have had reason to kill John, but there is no real evidence to suggest that she couldn’t have reasoned with him and gotten out of the relationship. Perhaps John was an extr emely violent man who would never have let her leave and who would have continued to abuse her for the rest of her life until she was finally killed herself. Or maybe, Minnie was seeing things in the relationship that weren’t as bad as she believed and she could have found a different route for resolution. The plot is frustrating in that the men are portrayed as cold hearted investigators who care nothing about Minnie’s potential reasons for the murder, or that she might have done so out of self defense or to save herself from a situation she felt she couldn’t control or escape from. This is maddening for a reader because both sides have clear reasons for viewing the situation as they do, and both sides are ultimately correct in their assumptions. Where the women take the sympathetic route, the men take the analytical route, and both come to the same conclusions about Minnie; it is the execution of her justice, however, where the two sides differ. Because Mrs. P eters and Mrs. Hale believe Minnie to be guilty but are more sure of her guilt due to being a victim of her situation, they find themselves trapped in the moral dilemma of whether or not to help her or to hand her over to the proper authorities. One thing that â€Å"Trifles† achieves is to grant the reader enough information to be taken on the morality trip with Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale as well. Evidence for both sides is presented, and though there is a clear bias as to whether or not the men should be trusted because of their callous and over-bearing nature, a reader has to question their own resolve as to what they would do if placed on either side. To take the feminist route and let Minnie go free, or to punish Minnie for murder, despite whatever led her to commit the act. More, to choose to side with the men leaves the clear impression that such a choice is wrong because of the archetypal manner in which the women are defined. The men are almost cruel in their analytica l natures and are described as showing almost zero empathy in their placement of justice. On the opposite side, the women are defined as creatures of pure empathy, sympathetic to the wounded creature of Minnie, willing to help her because she is a human being in pain in need of assistance. It is a jarring sensation, to feel confident in both sides, yet knowing that neither is exactly right. True justice should take both

For this assignment you are required to write a feature piece about Essay

For this assignment you are required to write a feature piece about one of the statements provided below - Essay Example Although the Games, once brought forward from their dusty past in antiquity, were initially held in mostly Western European nations, the Olympic Museum (2007) reports that they â€Å"have now been held on every continent except Africa.† However, Africa, as a continent, could use the attention, and the money, more than any other continent today. The Western World tends to think of Africa in terms of the images we see on TV. These images are full of small children with distended tummies as they sit on the dirt floors of their tiny huts trying to ignore the flies that gather around their starving and barely-clad bodies. As was pointed out by Enwezor (2005), a scholar on the subject of photojournalism, â€Å"The global media almost never depict contemporary Africans in ordinary situations; images of crisis frequently eclipse other representations.† Contrary to this impression, though, there are numerous Africans who live lives very similar to the experiences to be found in the West, complete with brick houses, running water and full-time electricity. However, the limited space available for international news combined with the desperate conditions of Africa’s poor have convinced many in the mainstream media that this poverty is where the attention should be focused. In the past, African countries have been rejected in their Olympic bids citing lack of appropriate facilities for hosting. However, some feel this is more rhetoric than reality. There are a number of more developed African cities preparing to make a bid for future Olympic Games. These include cities in Egypt and Kenya as well as the South African cities of Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. South Africa also has some precedent set regarding their ability to host larger events. Since 1994 (and the fall of Apartheid), the nation has hosted the Rugby World Cup, the African Cup of

Reflective Independent Learning Essay Example for Free

Reflective Independent Learning Essay 1. A critical part of being an independent learner is reflecting on your learning. Go to the following link from the University of Hull and learn more on how to be a reflective learner: University of Hawaii Reflective Learning 2. Being an independent learner is a guiding principle for university learning and success. Clearly, learning independently is a complex activity that involves many things but crucially it requires the ability to take responsibility for and to reflect on your learning so that you can achieve the goals that you set for yourself. Find out more about what it means to be an independent learner and how you can improve in this area by going to the following link and reading this article from Hull University: Study Advice 1. Write a short paragraph answering the following questions: a) Describe several things that you have done or are doing at university that would be defined as independent learning. b) Being motivated, confident and reflective were highlighted in the article as key to independent learning. How do you rate yourself in these areas? c) Referring to the articles above, describe how you can improve your independent learning. One of the important things that I use and I define as independent learning is portfolios. I use them not only for all my classes but also for everything I take a picture of or draw or write or even tutorials that shows how to make things. I consider that very important because it helps me to remember everything I did and I liked, so every time I take my portfolio and browse it, I remember all the good and positive things I did and that make me happy. In my opinion, motivation, confidence, and reflection are the fundamental keys to be an efficient independent learner because they give energy that make you feel that you want to do something that you like. And when you do something you like it gives you motivation and confidence. It‘s a kind of cycle that never ends. And personally I think those three elements are what keep artists doing the good work. In my case I use normal portfolios, but the negative thing about that is that a certain time I will end up having many portfolios which will take a lot of space.

Philosophy of Education Essay -- Philosophy of Teaching Educational Es

Philosophy of Education It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge. -Albert Einstein Tell me, and I’ll forget. Show me, and I’ll remember. Involve me, and I’ll learn. -Marla Jones The two quotes that I have listed above can in essence describe my feelings on education and teaching. For me teaching is sharing a passion not only for learning, but also for the material you are teaching. My passion happens to be English, and to me that means allowing my students to read something and think about it. (What does it say? How do you feel about it? What does it mean?) Education is not only passing on factual information or simply stating what you as a teacher know, it is supplying the tools and information your students need as they need it, allowing them to make their own decisions and find their way to their own conclusions, not telling them what the end result is. The best way I have learned is from the questions that I answered, the questions that my teachers supplied the means to get to the answer, but allowed and sometimes required me to find the answer myself. This involved me in my own learning process, which made me appreciate what I learned all th e more, because I felt like I had achieved it, not because someone told me this is the answer. We learn best through experience. Teaching is about evolving your students and helping them when they need it. Teaching is about encouragement, reassurance, and supplying what your students to need to reach their goals. Learning is not something you can force, but you can instill a desire to learn. My desire to learn came from the experiences provided by my teachers. It is impossible for a students mind to grow i... ...d more complex sentence structure. Looking at their writings from beginning to send showed huge improvement and made me feel like I had helped guide them and provide them with information they needed. It was one of the most wonderful experiences I have ever had. I was able to implement things I had learned in my education classes and see them work. To me education is supplying what is needed to allow your students to grow and think, giving them opportunities that allow their involvement in what they are learning. Teaching is about experience and sharing whit your students your own passion for learning and your content. It is about instilling a desire and knowledge that allows them to reach for their dreams. To me teaching is about guidance, involvement, allowing creative thought, and awakening a passion for learning. As a teacher those are my goals.