Words And Rules Essay Example for Free

Words And Rules Essay In the first chapter of â€Å"How the Mind Works† Pinker introduces the content of the book. He starts by comparing the mind and a robot. Pinker tries to analyze the characteristics of the mind in comparison to those of the robot. (Pinker, S, 2000:6) In his analysis the mind is the product of evolution over time. This is seen in what the mine has created during the evolution among which is the robot. While the robot is programmed to perform specific acts, the mind thinks on its own. (Pinker, S, 2000:12) In the second chapter Pinker looks at the psychology of cognition. In his description these are the rules and the guiding principles that help the mind to recognize things. In â€Å"Words and Rules† Pinker starts by wondering about the mysteries of language. He looks at the arbitrary connection between the words and the meaning they make. Since there is no connection, he says, then, the words we use must be guided by a set of rules deep in the mind. (Pinker, S, 2000:18) He later borrows the idea of Chomsky to imply that the rules that guide the use of words are a social phenomenon. The difference in use of language is based on creative use of the rules underlying the use of these languages. Bibliography Pinker, S, (2000), The Ingredients of Language. New York: Harper Perennial

The Samurais, The Ultimate Stoics :: essays research papers

The Samurais, The Ultimate Stoics   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For seven centuries, the Samurai were Japan's warrior class. As a class of warriors and knights, they dominated society in feudal Japan. Their code or â€Å" Way of the warrior†, bushido(History of the Samurai-www),called for a life of duty, discipline and self control, on and as well as off the battlefield (History of the World-Houghton Mifflin Company- Boston288). His loyalty and bravery to his lord was much more important than his loyalty to his friends, family and even their emperor. Their philosophy was one of freedom from fear(World Surfari-www), and for these reasons, The Samurai were the ultimate stoic warriors.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The word samurai was derived from the Japanese word for service, saburau(Grolier Electronic Publishing, 1993), for they served their masters faithfully. They would die if necessary for them. The Daimyo or feudal landowners used the samurai to protect their land and to expand their rights to more land. The Samurai would transcend their fear of death, this made them the stoic warriors that they were.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As experts in fighting on horseback as well as on the ground they wore two swords. This was called Daisho(World Surfari-www). The long sword was called the daito-katena(Ibid.). It was more than twenty four inches long. The shorter sword was called shoto wakizashi. It was between twelve to twenty four inches(Ibid.). Their swords were the â€Å"soul's† of the worship. A good sword was tougher and sharper. The swords were tested before they were used by the samurai. The sword tester used the new blades to cut through corpses and bodies of condemned criminals.(World Surfari-www) The test results were put on the nakago, the small metal piece on the sword blade or handle(Ibid.). Another weapon, the nagita, was used by a foot soldier on a horseman. The foot soldier would cut. the tendons of the horse and disembowel them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The samurai went from military retainers, to military aristocrats, to military rulers(Japan, Richard Storry18) The medieval samurai were often illiterate, rural, landowners who farmed in-between battles. They were assassins of the night and at the same time keepers of peace. The samurai would spend his life perfecting his military skills.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Honor was one of the most important things to a samurai. If a samurai felt dishonored in any way he would commit seppuku. Seppuku means ritual suicide (Japan, Cultures of the World- Rex Shelley104). It is also called hara-kiri which means belly-slitting. This method of self-disembowelment was the only honorable form of death for a disgraced noble or a samurai.

Football Violence

Football hooliganism is increasing in Scotland, but in the 80s that’s when football violence was at its worse. Over the past years it has being increasing in vast numbers of football thugs from different cities and whenever there team play they travel to the game and after hoping for a fight with the opposite firm.The first recorded incident of a large scale crowd fight was in 1909 with Glasgow Celtic and Glasgow Rangers. Scotland’s first organised firm was Aberdeen (Aberdeen Soccer Casuals) which included Punks and skinheads. The ‘casual’ name became a big part in it because they wore casual clothing such as big brands known as Fila, Lacoste, ellesse and Adidas original. In this clothing they were disguised and had no trouble with police and now that there fights were organised it was bound to happen.The other Scottish firms such as St.Mirren (Love Street Division), Clyde (Shawfield Shed End Boys), Dundee and Dundee United (Dundee Utility), Celtic (Celtic Soccer crew), Rangers (ICF Inter City Firm), Hibernian (Capital City Service), Motherwell (Saturday Service), Partick Thistle (North Glasgow Express), Falkirk (fear) And Dunfermline (Carnegie Soccer service), but topping all those firms was the victorious ASC Aberdeen Soccer Casuals.In the 1980s the Aberdeen’s ASC and Hibernians CCS became the most feared casual force in Scotland but as Hibernian edging their way to the top spot after a few years. From the 2000s the casual scene has declined in Scotland but recently firms such as Aberdeen, Dundee Utility, Celtic Soccer Crew, Hibernian, Hearts, Partick Thistle, Airdrie, Love Street Division and Rangers Still have a large number of casuals active. In the Euros of 96 the CCS (hibs) along with Celtic’s CSC, Dundee Utility, Partick Thistle’s NGE, Motherwell’s SS, St Mirren’s LSD, and Aberdeen ASC organised a fight with Chelsea, Millwall, Rangers and Airdrie Section B in the centre of Trafalgar square. T his incident attracted worldwide media with footage of the two large firms during the action.In the 2000s the police had to come up a solution to reduce the numbers of firms and in a result of this any football casual caught in action was handed a stretch of five years in prison, the government hit the casual scene hard by doing this. They also increased the number of CCTV in Britain. In Scotland they also introduced FoCus police which go to games and video a suspicious crowd and they will try and gather  on suspects of the football firm. It has worked out to be a good idea and it has caused some football clubs to ban the some of the casuals from the ground temporary or even permanently, this at least stops violence inside the grounds of the football club.Football violence in Scotland is bad but in England its history goes way back. England has double the firms and probably triples the amount of casual members. In England football hooliganism is far worse than what it is in Scotla nd but the police are on top of it. I think all this violence at football should be stopped because it is a family sport there are children at the game, not only violence but racism and sectarianism should also have a stop put to it and the worst culprits are the English because of the size of the country the members of the firms double.Schemes like ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ have had an impact on the situation because racism is out of order but also really offensive. In the modern day it is the youngsters keeping the scene alive that is why it is increasing but still a lot of older casuals. The younger firms out there such as Hibs baby crew (hibs), Rangers Youth (rangers), Celtic baby crew (celtic), Alliance Under Fives (Dundee, Dundee utd) Paisley Under Fives (st.mirren) Morton youth (Morton) and many more there are a lot more younger firms trying to live up to their club firms reputation.The youngsters see themselves as the next generation but they are young and obvi ously don’t know what they are getting themselves into. Football violence is a horrible thing and very dangerous so it is vital that the police are always on their toes ready for the firms to kick off at any moment and cause catastrophe in Britain’s streets. The police are cracking down on the big names in the game which is good progress and hopefully in feature years the casual scene is totally broke down and football fans don’t need to worry about their safety and enjoy the wonderful game of football.

Creveld’s transformation of war Essay

Martin van Creveld is regarded as one of the most influential contemporary military theorist and historians of modern times. Born in Netherlands, Creveld however has spent a life time in Israel studying and analyzing warfare from the vantage point of the faculty of the Hebrew University where he has been teaching since 1971. During these years he has published a number of works on contemporary military warfare. Supplying War, Command in War, The Transformation of War and The Rise and Decline of the State are some of his most important works amongst others. Highly respected amongst military academia, Creveld has been a regular on the teaching and lecture circuit in many parts of the World including the United States and Europe. His thoughts on warfare and the modern military are absorbed by most militaries including of course the country of his stay, Israel. Many military analysts consider, Creveld’s work, â€Å"The Transformation of War† as his most influential as he has brought out a new paradigm of warfare identified as non Trinitarian war, which is a seminal change in military thinking for the first time after Clausewitz in the 19th Century. (Creveld, 1991). This is now compulsory reading for US army officers. Transformation of War is essentially a critique of the Clausewitzian mode of war as highlighted in the 19th Century master’s seminal work on warfare, On War. (Clausewitz, 1976). Transformation of war breaks away from Clausewitzian model of wars determined by the relationship and resolution of the state or the government, the population and the military, a concept which Creveld has denoted as the Trinitarian model of war. Creveld on the other hand argues that warfare has changed considerably as war is fought today by states as well as non states, thus negating the first premise of Clausewitz. (1991). The population is an indeterminate factor in modern warfare and the modern military is incapable of coping with the changing nature of warfare unless it transforms its war fighting modes. The new war which Creveld talks about is not necessarily an engagement between two states and thus in some ways not winnable by modern armies without transforming themselves. Creveld explains war through a five fold prism of theories. The first is to denote those who fight war. As against the modern state centric militaries, Creveld attempts to indicate that throughout history it is not just states but also leagues, cities and religious orders amongst others who have fought war, thus states do not necessarily have a monopoly on war. In the contemporary spectrum also, states are losing their unique status as the makers of war, Hezbollah, Taliban, Tamil Tigers and the Al Qaeda represent the most significant examples. (Creveld, 1991) The second issue brought out by Von Creveld is the relationship between combatants and non combatants. This is no longer rational as indicated in wars of the old determined by internationally accepted legal instruments as the Geneva Conventions. In many cases today, the lines between war and crime have been blurred with prisoners being treated with utmost brutality. (Creveld, 1991). The third issue is conduct of wars wherein tactics and strategies too have undergone seminal change but which comprise of combat between the will of two protagonists where there is congruence of Creveld’s ideas with Clausewitz. The fourth significant issue addressed by Creveld is that war is not just continuation of politics by other means as indicated by Clausewitz but fought for varied purposes including religious, ethnic survival and so on. Creveld seems to suggest that the policy for making war will be as much determined by culture as by the will of states. (Creveld, 1991) A final issue which has been raised by Creveld is of the role of the individual in war fighting, the motivations, the fighting spirit and the factors that make a soldier fight. This should be clearly understood by the military leader as per Creveld. Seen in this perspective the motivations of the suicide bomber of today forming one of the main weapons of the terrorist organization would attain relevance. (Creveld, 1991) Creveld thus provides a broader perspective of warfare which may have greater relevance in today’s wars, than Clausewitz. This is so as he has covered a much wider period of warfare and thus is able to arrive at much broader conclusions on the changing nature of wars. Clausewitz on the other hand appears to have derived the principles from his more recent experiences which came after establishment of the Westphalian order. Viewed in the perspective of the types of conflicts being waged in the World today, Creveld’s views would seem quite relevant. A number of contemporary military writers as Carver have supported Creveld. (Carver, 1981). Moreover a survey of conflicts in which American forces were engaged even as the Gulf War 1991 was going on would indicate the possible simultaneity of conventional and guerrilla or asymmetric conflicts. (Bolger, 1991). On the other hand to view warfare completely as a state versus non state phenomenon may also be out of context. Some recent wars such as the Iraq War 1991, Operation Enduring Freedom 2003 or the Indo Pakistan conflict in 1999 in Kargil could possibly fall in the context of Trinitarian conflicts. Thus the state has not totally lost monopoly on wars. Another issue is of motivation of soldiers. The overwhelming importance given to motivation of soldiers by Creveld appears unjustified in that this may explain the use of say Kamikaze by the Japanese during the Second World War but such tactics despite high levels of motivation do not win wars. To that extent some of Creveld’s theories are not fully directed towards indicating strategies to win wars. Another argument is that of anarchy, if states lose their monopoly of making wars, the World would resemble chaos and disorder. This is seen in many parts of the globe even today. Thus states will continue to be a prime instrument of violence in the years ahead. Notwithstanding the above issues, Creveld has clearly indicated the changes that have come about in warfare and his theories have received considerable support in the military community. The need is to adopt recommendations made by Creveld rationally to political and military organizations by ensuring that societies adapt instruments of violence which are most appropriate to their environmental culture and needs of the times. Thus states should not only prepare for conventional wars but other types of warfare including guerrilla, information, political and cultural and develop their militaries as full spectrum forces. Government and militaries also need to take into account the possibilities of being confronted not just by uniformed soldiers but also by suicide bombers, grenade and gun toting vagabonds, information warriors and even biological warfare agents. The complexity of conflict has thus interminably increased over the years.

Free Essays on Javanet

JavaNet As a potential investor in LLC incorporated, I reviewed their business plan for their upcoming project called JavaNet. JavaNet is planned to be an Internet Cafà © in downtown Eugene. Internet Cafà ©s are specialized coffee and bakery goods shops that have state of the art computers linked to the high speed Internet as an added bonus. JavaNet’s goal is to provide the ability to access the Internet, drink coffee, and be in a comfortable sociable environment. It appears that LLC has put together a nice business plan for JavaNet. In the business plan they explain many different aspects of the prospected venture. In the business plan, JavaNet has put together a list of suppliers like Allan Bros. and Bellevue Computers for the coffee equipment, inventory, computers, Internet and continued servicing. There are 16 coffee suppliers in Eugene, which lowers, the wholesale price down which is very beneficial. JavaNet has located a very reasonable building with high visibility and is conveniently located. The business plan appears to be well rounded. Overall I think that JavaNet should be a hit in Eugene. They should enjoy a short-lived monopoly in that area that could be very profitable. Their business plan is well thought out and planned. They have put together a service package, did research and found a need. At this point I am very would be very interested in their offering. I would need to know more about the upfront trade value of my investment. The business plan is very conservative with the projections. However, at this point I would defiantly be interested.... Free Essays on Javanet Free Essays on Javanet JavaNet As a potential investor in LLC incorporated, I reviewed their business plan for their upcoming project called JavaNet. JavaNet is planned to be an Internet Cafà © in downtown Eugene. Internet Cafà ©s are specialized coffee and bakery goods shops that have state of the art computers linked to the high speed Internet as an added bonus. JavaNet’s goal is to provide the ability to access the Internet, drink coffee, and be in a comfortable sociable environment. It appears that LLC has put together a nice business plan for JavaNet. In the business plan they explain many different aspects of the prospected venture. In the business plan, JavaNet has put together a list of suppliers like Allan Bros. and Bellevue Computers for the coffee equipment, inventory, computers, Internet and continued servicing. There are 16 coffee suppliers in Eugene, which lowers, the wholesale price down which is very beneficial. JavaNet has located a very reasonable building with high visibility and is conveniently located. The business plan appears to be well rounded. Overall I think that JavaNet should be a hit in Eugene. They should enjoy a short-lived monopoly in that area that could be very profitable. Their business plan is well thought out and planned. They have put together a service package, did research and found a need. At this point I am very would be very interested in their offering. I would need to know more about the upfront trade value of my investment. The business plan is very conservative with the projections. However, at this point I would defiantly be interested....

Understanding Chemical Evolution

Understanding Chemical Evolution The term chemical evolution can be used in many different ways depending on the context of the words. If you are speaking to an astronomer, then it could be a discussion about how new elements are formed during supernovas. Chemists may believe chemical evolution pertains to how oxygen or hydrogen gases evolve out of some types of chemical reactions. In evolutionary biology, on the other hand, the term chemical evolution most often is used to describe the hypothesis that organic building blocks of life were created when inorganic molecules came together. Sometimes called abiogenesis, chemical evolution could be how life started on Earth. The Earths environment when it was first formed was very different than it is now. The Earth was somewhat hostile to life and so the creation of life on Earth did not come for billions of years after the Earth was first formed. Because of its ideal distance from the sun, the Earth is the only planet in our solar system that is capable of having liquid water in the orbits the planets are in now. This was the first step in chemical evolution to create life on Earth. The early Earth also did not have an atmosphere surrounding it to block ultraviolet rays which can be deadly to the cells that make up all life. Eventually, scientists believe a primitive atmosphere full of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and perhaps some methane and ammonia, but no oxygen. This became important later in the evolution of life on Earth as photosynthetic and chemosynthetic organisms used these substances to create energy. So just how did abiogenesis or chemical evolution happen? No one is completely certain, but there are many hypotheses. It is true that the only way new atoms of non-synthetic elements can be made are through the supernovas of extremely large stars. All other atoms of elements are recycled through various biogeochemical cycles. So either the elements were already on Earth when it was formed (presumably from the collection of space dust around an iron core), or they came to Earth via the continuous meteor strikes that were common before the protective atmosphere was formed. Once the inorganic elements were on Earth, most hypotheses agree that the chemical evolution of the organic building blocks of life began in the oceans. The majority of Earth is covered by the oceans. It is not a stretch to think that the inorganic molecules that would undergo chemical evolution would be floating around in the oceans. The question remains just how these chemicals evolved to become organic building blocks of life. This is where the different hypotheses branch off from each other. One of the more popular hypotheses says that the organic molecules were created by chance as the inorganic elements collided and bonded in the oceans. However, this is always met with resistance because statistically the chance of this happening is very small. Others have tried to recreate the conditions of early Earth and make organic molecules. One such experiment, commonly called the Primordial Soup experiment, was successful in creating the organic molecules out of inorganic elements in a lab setting. However, as we learn more about the ancient Earth, we have found out that not all of the molecules they used were actually around during that time. The search continues to learn more about chemical evolution and how it could have begun life on Earth. New discoveries are made on a regular basis that help scientists understand what was available and how things may have happened in this process. Hopefully one day scientists will be able to pinpoint how chemical evolution happened and a clearer picture of how life began on Earth will emerge.

Difference Between the Tax System - the United States vs Italy Case Study

Difference Between the Tax System - the United States vs Italy - Case Study Example The author notes that the assumption by the revenue authority is true as organizations understate their revenues in readiness for bargaining with the tax authority in the actual tax payable. The aim of the approach is to earn more tax from taxpayers, than the amount that the taxpayers would pay based on their returns. The approach has further been integrated in Italy’s corporate culture such that organizations would underestimate their income, while filing tax returns, in order to gain ground for negotiating the final payable amount (Brooks and Dunn, 2009). The revenue authority also expects higher tax payments than organizations’ reported values and final payable values establish benchmarks for future tax payable amounts. This approach, according to the writer, works well with Italian firms or foreign firms that can adjust to the Italian practice. Those that are rigid to follow legal and moral provisions of their native countries, however, find it hard to cope with tax demand in Italy. The author also notes that the revenue authority is willing to intimidate taxpayers to adjust to the system and embrace the negotiation approach. The example of an American general manager explains this as he receives intimidating notices following his failure to embrace the negotiation approach. When he finally visits the revenue authority’s office, they inform him of the need for dialogue (Brooks and Dunn, 2009). I agree with the writer’s proposition that the Italian culture of tax collection is different from approaches in jurisdictions, such as in the United States, and that such differences are likely to create challenges to stakeholders from the other jurisdictions. The existence of differences in other aspects of culture across nations informs my support for the author’s proposition. While some cultures value collectivism, other value individualism. Similarly, while culture in some nations allows for informal appreciations during or after contract formations, other cultures may consider such advances immoral.