...feature Americans who are almost always fourth-rate or below, engaged in enterprises which, if not contemptible, are at least insane. And while other comedians show us persons tormented by bad luck and enemies and so on, Bob and Ray’s characters threaten to wreck themselves and their surroundings with their own stupidity. There is a refreshing and beautiful innocence in Bob’s and Ray’s humor. Man is not evil, they seem to say. He is simply too hilariously stupid to survive. And this I believe. Jerome Klinkowitz, in the introduction to his essay collection entitled Vonnegut in America, has used this quote—as he certainly should—to support his claim that Vonnegut’s humor has its roots in the comedic response to the Great Depression. But of course there is much more to it than that. The reader is left with a nagging question: Were humanity’s case really as Vonnegut describes it, and were this truly his belief, wouldn’t it seem that the only appropriate response would be for Vonnegut to sit and laugh quietly at the antics of the doomed race? But of course Vonnegut has done anything but sit and laugh quietly. His dozen novels fairly shout his anger at the “hilarious stupidity” which unfits our species for survival. In the first chapter of what is certainly his greatest novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut tells us a secret...
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...McCarthyism and The Second Red Scares impact on Media in the 1950-60s decades (Research and Analysis Paper) In 1950, fewer than 50,000 Americans out of a total US population of 150 million were members of the Communist Party(Gilder Lehrman). However following WWII the the time period of the 1950-1970 was marked as a period of mass fear of Communism. American fears of internal communist infiltration reached Its highest point since the First Red Scare of the 1920-30s. Government organizations investigated millions of americans, “asking what books and magazines they read, what unions and civic organizations they belonged to, and whether they went to church” (Gilder Lehrman). This time period was also marked by the major shift and blacklisting of celebrities primarily in show business. One of the people who took full advantage of the mass hysteria was Senator Joseph McCarthy from Wisconsin. McCarthy began his crusade by giving a speech at the Women’s Republican Club of Wheeling, in West Virginia, where he stated that he had a list of over 220 confirmed communists living in the US. The numbers of this statement dropped over the years as people began to watch him more closely. However this didn’t stop him from rising to more power, after the Republicans regained a majority in the senate, McCarthy took control of a subcommittee, and performed investigations on government agencies. Other Cold War “activists” consisted of Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey, union leader Walter Reuther...
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...ПРАКТИЧЕСКИЙ КУРС АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА ГУМАНИТАРНЫЙ, ИЗДАТЕЛЬСКИЙ Сканирование, перевод в .d jvu: Суворов УЧЕБНИК ДЛЯ ВУЗОВ ПРАКТИЧЕСКИЙ КУРС АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА 4 КУРС Под редакцией В.Д. Аракина Издание пятое, переработанное и дополненное Рекомендовано Министерством образования и науки Российской Федерации в качестве учебника для студентов высших учебных заведений Москва УМ М АШ Г4АМ ь МЗДЛГЕЛЬСХМ ^ХВПЛЛОС 2006 УДК 811.111(075.8) ББК 81.2Англ-923 ГІ69 В.Д. Аракин , И.А. Новикова, Г.В. Аксепова-Пашковская, С.Н. Бронникова, Ю.Ф. Гурьева, Е.М. Дианова, JI.T. Костина, И.Н. Верещагина, М.С. Страшпикова, С.И. Петрушин Рецензент: кафедра английского языка Астраханского государственного педагогического института им. С.М. Кирова (зав. кафедрой канд. филол. наук Е.М. Стомнель) Практический курс английского языка. 4 курс : учеб. для П69 студ. высш. учеб. заведений / [В.Д. Аракин и д р .]; под ред. В.Д. Аракина. — 5-е изд., перераб. и доп. - М. : Гумалитар. изд. центр ВЛАДОС, 2006. — 351 с. : ил. ISBN 5-691-00978-8 (в пер.). Серия учебников цредцолагаст прсемствешгость в изучении английс кого языка с І по IV курс. Цель учебника — обучение устной речи па основе развития необходимых автоматизированных речевых навыков, развитие техники чтения, а также павыков письменной речи. Учебник предназначен для студентов высших учебных заведений. УДК 811.111(075.8) ББК 81.2Лнгл-923 ISBN 5-691-00978-8 (в пер.) © Коллектив авторов, 2003 ...
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...What Is Operant Conditioning? Operant conditioning (sometimes referred to as instrumental conditioning) is a method of learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for behavior. Through operant conditioning, an association is made between a behavior and a consequence for that behavior. Operant conditioning was coined by behaviorist B.F. Skinner, which is why you may occasionally hear it referred to as Skinnerian conditioning. As a behaviorist, Skinner believed that internal thoughts and motivations could not be used to explain behavior. Instead, he suggested, we should look only at the external, observable causes of human behavior. Skinner used the term operant to refer to any "active behavior that operates upon the environment to generate consequences" (1953). In other words, Skinner's theory explained how we acquire the range of learned behaviors we exhibit each and every day. Examples of Operant Conditioning We can find examples of operant conditioning at work all around us. Consider the case of children completing homework to earn a reward from a parent or teacher, or employees finishing projects to receive praise or promotions. In these examples, the promise or possibility of rewards causes an increase in behavior, but operant conditioning can also be used to decrease a behavior. The removal of an undesirable outcome or the use of punishment can be used to decrease or prevent undesirable behaviors. For example, a child may be told they will lose recess privileges...
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...ordinary people like John and myself secure ancestral halls for the summer. A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say a haunted house and reach the height of romantic felicity—but that would be asking too much of fate! Still I will proudly declare that there is something queer about it. Else, why should it be let so cheaply? And why have stood so long untenanted? John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage. John is practical in the extreme. He has no patience with faith, an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures. John is a physician, and perhaps—(I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind)—perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster. You see, he does not believe I am sick! And what can one do? If a physician of high standing, and one's own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency—what is one to do? My brother is also a physician, and also of high...
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...1984 George Orwell 1949 Chapter 1 It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him. The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats. At one end of it a coloured poster, too large for indoor display, had been tacked to the wall. It depicted simply an enormous face, more than a metre wide: the face of a man of about forty-five, with a heavy black moustache and ruggedly handsome features. Winston made for the stairs. It was no use trying the lift. Even at the best of times it was seldom working, and at present the electric current was cut off during daylight hours. It was part of the economy drive in preparation for Hate Week. The flat was seven flights up, and Winston, who was thirty-nine and had a varicose ulcer above his right ankle, went slowly, resting several times on the way. On each landing, opposite the lift-shaft, the poster with the enormous face gazed from the wall. It was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption beneath it ran. Inside the flat a fruity voice was reading out a list of figures which had something to do with the production of pig-iron. The voice came from an oblong metal plaque like a dulled mirror which...
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...1984 By George Orwell Download free eBooks of classic literature, books and novels at Planet eBook. Subscribe to our free eBooks blog and email newsletter. Part One 1984 Chapter 1 I t was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him. The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats. At one end of it a coloured poster, too large for indoor display, had been tacked to the wall. It depicted simply an enormous face, more than a metre wide: the face of a man of about forty-five, with a heavy black moustache and ruggedly handsome features. Winston made for the stairs. It was no use trying the lift. Even at the best of times it was seldom working, and at present the electric current was cut off during daylight hours. It was part of the economy drive in preparation for Hate Week. The flat was seven flights up, and Winston, who was thirty-nine and had a varicose ulcer above his right ankle, went slowly, resting several times on the way. On each landing, opposite the lift-shaft, the poster with the enormous face gazed from the wall. It was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption beneath it ran. Inside the flat a fruity...
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...AFRICAN POVERTY Duncan Kennedy* Abstract: African extreme poverty is probably a function (although not solely) of the balkanized post-colonial geopolitics of Africa. It is also probably a function (although not solely) of the income distribution generated by a typically perverse African political economy, through its effect on the allocation of resources to development. As between these two causes, the second is probably much the more important. This reinterpretation puts considerably more of the blame for African poverty on the Western great powers than does the “poverty trap” analytic that is a common contemporary way of thinking about the African economic situation. INTRODUCTION This essay, which really is an essay rather than a sustained scholarly encounter with the problem, proposes an alternative to the “poverty trap” analytic for understanding extreme poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. The poverty-trap idea is well instantiated by the following quotation from Jeffrey and Lisa Sachs, and it is common among liberal Western commentators on African economy. For the world’s poorest people, daily life is a struggle for survival, with millions of impoverished people each year losing that struggle to famine, disease, environmental catastrophes, and violent conflicts that arise in conditions of extreme deprivation. . . . One basic point, not always remembered, is that impoverished countries lack their own budgetary resources needed to supply vital—indeed life-saving—services such...
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...Mass media From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The mass media is a diversified collection of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets. Broadcast media transmit information electronically, via such media as film, radio, recorded music, or television. Digital media comprises both Internet and mobile mass communication. Internet media comprise such services as email, social media sites, websites, and Internetbased radio and television. Many other mass media outlets have an additional presence on the web, by such means as linking to or running TV ads online, or distributing QR Codes in outdoor or print media to direct mobile users to a website. In this way, they can utilise the easy accessibility and outreach capabilities the Internet affords, as thereby easily broadcast information throughout many different regions of the world simultaneously and costefficiently. Outdoor media transmit information via such media as AR advertising; billboards; blimps; flying billboards (signs in tow of airplanes); placards or kiosks placed inside and outside of buses, commercial buildings, shops, sports stadiums, subway cars, or trains; signs; or skywriting.[1] Print media transmit information via physical objects, such as books, comics, magazines, newspapers, or pamphlets.[2] Event organizing and public speaking can also be considered forms of mass media.[3] The organizations that control these technologies...
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...Study Unit Improving Your Writing When you complete this study unit, you’ll be able to • Identify your audience, medium, and purpose • Focus your ideas • Organize your material • Plan both informal and formal writing projects • Use words, punctuation, and sentences to achieve the effect you want • Revise, edit, and proofread to make your final copy accurate, professional, and attractive Preview Preview Writing a strong letter to apply for a job or putting together a convincing argument for a business report requires more than a collection of nouns, verbs, and punctuation. Good communication skills include the basics, of course, but proper planning, a pleasant style, and close attention to detail also count. This study unit is designed to help you make the best use of the writing tools you already have by making them work for you as you plan, develop, revise, and present your work. iii 1 Prewriting Organizing Your Material Patterns of Organization Outline Options Developing an Outline The Formal Outline 2 6 6 9 11 16 WRITING YOUR DOCUMENT 21 Types of Writing Key Considerations Writing the First Draft STRENGTHENING YOUR STYLE How to Give Your Writing Punch Choosing the Right Words Informality and Formality Using Words Properly REVISING, EDITING, AND PROOFREADING Revising Your Writing Editing Your Work Proofreading the Final Draft Presenting Your Work 21 25 33 36 36 ...
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...A Fool's Walkthrough Enlightened Bullshit ~ A bizarre exercise in arithmetic by an illiterate Revision 5 (The second to be published) (For the few souls that follow the development - go to the bottom red caption of “current revision board” it’s where all the new stuff is logged if you don’t want to go through it all again) Intro Yes this is an intentional attempt of creating a profound appearance only to sucker you into old BS yet again. Frankly there’s little else going on lately that hasn’t to do with that. If I were to have a disclaimer it would probably be larger than what I have to say. • • In short this material is the log of my transition from reality to actuality. I’ve rounded it up to be a fine bullshit dissolver as well - considering we are swamped in BS as it is, what I’m getting at is quite the rare commodity. Would that I could, flip the script and get you a hot seat on some fascinating new experience limited only by imagination, but alas we are here making sense of the good old bullshit that is clogging our everyday lives. Whatever you deem to be relevant is directly tied into it. Every topic or endeavour you can think of is covered with a thick armoured wall of bullshit and the few exceptions just affirm the rule. You can pretend it doesn’t exist or write it off as a topic you dislike and subsequently avoid. However you and i (yes not capital letter) and everyone intimately know the benefits of lying and extreme senselessness. However it seems the detrimental...
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...chapter 1 2 >> Fiscal Policy A BRIDGE TO PROSPERITY? I n 1998 the Japanese government though on a smaller scale. Indeed, many completed the longest suspension countries attempt to manage aggregate de- bridge in the world. The 6,500-foot mand by using discretionary fiscal policy. span linking Awaji Island to the city of Governments also adjust taxes in an at- Kobe cost $7.3 billion to build. Yet as skep- tempt to manage aggregate demand. They tics had predicted, it currently carries very may reduce taxes to try to stimulate the little traffic—about 4,000 cars a day. By economy or raise taxes when they believe comparison, America’s longest suspension that aggregate demand is too high. bridge, the Verrazano Bridge that links New In this chapter, we will learn how discre- York City’s Staten Island to the borough of tionary fiscal policy fits into the model of Brooklyn, carries more than 300,000 cars short-run fluctuations we developed in each day. Chapter 10. We’ll see how deliberate In Japan, stories like this are common. During the 1990s the Japanese government What you will learn in this chapter: changes in government spending and tax policy affect real GDP. We’ll also see how ® What fiscal policy is and why it is an important tool in managing economic fluctuations ® Which policies constitute an expansionary fiscal policy and which constitute a contractionary fiscal policy ...
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...Always discuss coincidence (Thabo Meli, Royall) and BRD (prosecution, differs for offence and defence) Chapter 5 – Homicide: Murder and Involuntary Manslaughter 5.1 Patterns of homicide 423 Study by A.Wallace. 1968-81 * -relationship of victim to offender. * -homicide is a crime that is socially, historically and culturally determined. * -homicide comprises a variety of offenders and victims in different social settings. * -Homicide in NSW is largely interpersonal in nature, rather than instrumental or ideological. * -Majority of interpersonal killings involved intimates. * -Homicide patterns reflect cultural norms. * -homicide is spontaneous rather than premeditated crime. * -Homicide offenders exhibit a wide range of moral culpability. 5.3 Murder S18 Crimes Act (1900) NSW S 18. (1) (a) Murder shall be taken to have been committed where the act of the accused, or thing by him omitted to be done, causing the death charged, was done or omitted with reckless indifference to human life, or with intent to kill or inflict grievous bodily harm upon some person, or done in an attempt to commit, or during or immediately after the commission, by the accused, or some accomplice with him, of a crime punishable by penal servitude for life or for 25 years. (b) Every other punishable homicide shall be taken to be manslaughter. S 18 (2)(a) No act or omission which was not malicious, or for which the accused had lawful cause or excuse, shall...
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...Nihilism!!! What is Nihilism? A common (but misleading) description of nihilism is the 'belief in nothing'. Instead, a far more useful one would substitute 'faith' for 'belief' where faith is defined as the "firm belief in something for which there is no proof." A universal definition of nihilism could then well be the rejection of that which requires faith for salvation or actualization and would span to include anything from theology to secular ideology. Within nihilism faith and similar values are discarded because they've no absolute, objective substance, they are invalid serving only as yet another exploitable lie never producing any strategically beneficial outcome. Faith is an imperative hazard to group and individual because it compels suspension of reason, critical analysis and common sense. Faith is "don't let those pesky facts get in the way of our political plan or our mystically ordained path to heaven"; faith is "do what I tell you because I said so". All things that can't be disproved need faith, utopia needs faith, idealism needs faith, and spiritual salvation needs faith. Fuck faith. The second element nihilism rejects is the belief in final purpose, that the universe is built upon non-random events and that everything is structured towards an eventual conclusive revelation. This is called teleology and it's the fatal flaw plaguing the whole rainbow of false solutions from Marxism to Buddhism and everything in between. Teleology compels obedience towards the...
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...Module 10 . LearningAcross Bord.ers: Disneyland. theMore on Ml0-25 DisneyGoesto Tokyo Crossingthe Pacific In the mid-I970s, the Oriental Land Company, a ]apanese development company that owned a large tract oflandfill east ofTokyo zoned for pubIic leisure activities, approached Disney with the idea of building a Disneyland in lapan. Six hundred acreswere set asidefor the project. But, in an era of conservative (caretaking) management at Walt Disney Productions, senior executivesat Disney were hesitant. After all, lapan was far away, quite distant in terms of culture, and Tokyo not only had much colder winters than California or Florida but endured a lengthy rainy seasonin lune and July. Yet, after exploring alternativeoptions at some length (including other sitesin Asia), Disney decided to go ahead. Nevertheless,it insisted on a deal that left Oriental Land with virtually all of the risk. Instead of taking an ownership position in Tokyo Disneyland, Disney demanded royalties of I0 percent of the revenues from admissions and rides, and 5 percent of the receiptsfiom food, beverages,and souvenirs. Disney also asked for and more or less received artistic control of the park. Its partner, with its experience in developmer-rt projects in Tokyo, looked after the complex relationships with local planning and regulatory authorities, financing, and adjacent development. At first glance,Tokyo Disneyland seemsto be a close physical and social copy of Disneyland...
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