Wednesday, October 23, 2019

A Formal Analysis of Statue of Liberty by Andy Warhol

A Formal Analysis of Statue of Liberty by Andy Warhol Andy Warhol created his painting Statue of Liberty in 1962. The painting’s subject is, obviously, the Statue of Liberty, repeated twelve times in a 4 by 3 matrix. The painting belongs to the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; however it is being auctioned on November 14th at Christie’s in New York. It is rather large at 80 by 61 inches. To be able to see the entirety of the painting, one must stand back several feet. The image that appears twelve times in the painting is the Statue of Liberty facing forward from her legs up.One can see most of the statue, including the torch, and the horizon behind her. The painting is composed mostly of a cool blue. In addition to the blue, a vibrant red is included, creating a contrast in the painting. Strangely enough, the painting is not centered, but rather aligned to the right, leaving a lot of unused space on the left. The repetition of the statue forms a harmony of sorts, but the individual coloring creates a small separation. The original image of the statue appears that it was not painted, though it contrast between the ocean and the sky makes it seem like the picture might have been altered.The sky in the background matches the color of the linen. The image shows the statue dead center with the ocean filling two thirds of it and the sky filling the other third. In a majority of the rectangles there is a splotch of darker blue than what is used on the statue that covers the statue’s torch and torch, keeping one from seeing everything completely. Only two of the images include red paint, excluding the images on the far right that are cut off. The grid of the images creates six or seven implied lines.There is also an implied line from the bottom of the left side of the statue to the tip of the torch. There is a line created along the horizon of the dark ocean and the bland sky. There are contrasted lines within the ocean to show wave s or motion using the linen as the background color. The face of the statue varies in visibility between each square. It varies between visible, somewhat visible, and not visible between the images. The appearance changes from square to square. Together, the squares show harmony since the statue is fixed in place. The variation occurs with the splotch on the statue’s face.It seems to move, or disappear, from the top left to the bottom right square, giving the painting its variation. The splotch that covers Lady Liberty’s face can possibly emphasize the face or the torch she holds. The important matter is possibly the face that she is, or isn’t, covered, though it is in an inconsistent way to induce speculation of the artwork. Symmetry has been used to show uniformity or order. Since the painting is aligned to the right it doesn’t show uniformity in that aspect. The image, on the other hand, is very uniform. The entirety of the painting expresses almost an ordered chaos.The squares show strange, jagged shapes that are indistinguishable across the painting. Each one of them is much lighter than the color in the square. The shapes are presented as shadows, and from square to square it seems as though they are moving as they would through a film strip. Even though the Statue of Liberty is enormous, it's seems to be shrunken in this artwork. The shrunken statue is then multiplied by twelve and fluidly placed on the linen canvas. The movement of the blue splotch and the white shadow overlay gives a sort of flow across the piece.The repetition of the image in the squares could possible represent the variety of ways that America is perceived by people. The variation of color and the distortion of the face/torch by the blue splotch could represent the different experiences of people in the country. The blank area on the left of the piece depicts the abundance of opportunity in America. The repetition of the same picture, on the other hand, c ould show a generic form of America, but with the variation of color could represent that it could differ with some very small details. The painting is somewhat ambiguous in this way, but is great nonetheless.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Ponce De Leon And The Early ExplorationOf Florida Essays

Ponce De Leon And The Early ExplorationOf Florida Essays Ponce de Leon and the Early Explorationof Florida Juan Ponce de Leon was born in 1460, in Tierra de Campos Paleia, in Leon, Spain (Ponce, 1996). He came from a noble family and entered the royal household as a page for Pedro Nunez de Guzman, at the Court of Aragon. Later, young Ponce de Leon would become a solider for Spain and fight in the battles to drive the Moors from Granada (Blassingame, 1991). In 1493, Leon sailed with Christopher Columbus on his second voyage to America (Ponce, 1996). He was a member of the forces that enslaved the Indians in Hispaniola.This was the European and Spanish way. Few explores would look upon the natives they encountered as anything more than talking animals. For the year of 1502 he was a captain under the governor of Hispaniola, Nicolas de Ovando (Thompson, 1990). During his time as captain he would suppress an Indian uprising. For this he was rewarded with the governorship of Higuey (Blassingame, 1991). Ponce de Leon would remain in Hispaniola until 1503. In this year he would be intrigued by the tales of gold to be found in Borinquen, known as the modern Puerto Rico (Ponce, 1994). He sailed to explore and settle the island. He landed on August 12, 1508 and soon conquered the island and was granted governorship of the island. There he carved himself a large estate, where he built a castle (Thompson, 1990). Ovanado was soon replaced with Diego Columbus, as governor of Hispaniola. And Columbus placed Juna Ceron as the new governor of Puerto Rico. For two years Leon fought to keep his governorship, but he was removed from the position. He was advised by King Ferdinand to find new land (Thompson 1990). The Indians of Hispaniola worked as slaves for the Europeans. They would tell great stories of a place called Bimini. It was a land filled with great riches. Ponce de Leon heard a different story from an old Indian woman. She added an interesting twist to her story. In her tale she told him of a magic fountain that turned middle aged and old persons in to young vibrant men and women. If the riches did not attract Ponce de Leon, the story of this fountain did. He was in his fifties and since his political career had failed, he figured, it was as good a time as any to explore the land (1990). Ponce de Leon left San German, Puerto Rico on March 3, 1513 and sailed with a fleet of three ships heading northwest toward Bimini. The chain of seven hundred Bahama islands was on his route but time would not allow him to explore each of them. He did visit the island of San Salvador where Columbus made his first landfall two decades before. The crew sighted the coast of America on March 3, 1513. This was Easter Sunday so he named the land Florida after the Spanish name for Easter, Pascua de Flores (Ponce, 1993). The first sighting took place near present day St. Augustine, which was to be founded fifty-two years later (1990). Six days after they sighted land they found a safe place to dock their ships. The royal banner of Spain was then flown over the new land. They expected the same lack of resistance as they had experienced when they came ashore at Hispaniola, but they were in for a surprise. The natives were fierce fighters and less enthusiastic of the appearance of these strange white men. Although their bow and arrows were not of significance to the Spaniards, but the poisoned arrows they used were. Ponce de Leon only went upon land when it was absolutely necessary. He never had the chance to explore the land for himself (1990). Ponce de Leon felt it was best to find a safer harbor. The fleet sailed south to the modern-day Cape Canaveral. The ships were caught in the strong current of the Gulf Stream which forced them to struggle for weeks along the Florida Keys. Ponce de Leon finally decided to turn around and head home. He was so overwhelmed with his discovery that he sailed directly to Spain (Ponce 1994). Ponce de Leon figured that this

Monday, October 21, 2019

Employment And Discriminatory IRAC Brief Example

Employment And Discriminatory IRAC Brief Example Employment And Discriminatory IRAC Brief – Coursework Example Employment and Discriminatory IRAC Brief Employment and Discriminatory IRAC Brief Issue Was it right for Merrill Lynch The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA); The American with Disabilities Act (ADA); Equal Pay Act, The Equal Opportunity Employment Commission and the State Statutes (USLegal, 2015).ReferencesEqual Employment Opportunity Commission-EEOC. (2015). Discrimination by Type. Retrieved from eeoc.gov/laws/types/ Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment- MBIE. (2014). Employment Relationships From Beginning to End. Richmond: Crown copyright. Secunda, P.M. & Hirsch, J. (2010). Mastering Employment Discrimination Law. New York, NY: Carolina Academic Press.USLegal. (2015). Discrimination Law and Legal Definition. Retrieved from http://definitions.uslegal.com/d/discrimination/

Sunday, October 20, 2019

The Ethanol Subsidy and How Biofuel Tax Incentives Work

The Ethanol Subsidy and How Biofuel Tax Incentives Work The primary ethanol subsidy offered by the federal government is a tax incentive called the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit, which was passed by Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2004. It took effect in 2005. The ethanol subsidy, which is commonly referred to as the blenders credit, offers ethanol blenders registered with the Internal Revenue Service a tax credit of 45 cents for every gallon of pure ethanol they blend with gasoline. That particular ethanol subsidy cost taxpayers $5.7 billion in foregone revenues in 2011, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the nonpartisan congressional watchdog agency. Debate Over the Ethanol Subsidy Supporters of the federal ethanol subsidy argue that it encourages production and use of the biofuel and thereby reduces the amount of foreign oil needed to produce gasoline, a step toward energy independence. But critics argue that ethanol burns far less efficiently than gasoline, driving up fuel consumption and that it increases demand for corn for fuel and artificially boosts the cost of farm commodities and retail prices of food. They also say such an incentive is unnecessary because legislation enacted in 2007 requires oil companies to produce 36 billion gallons of biofuels such as ethanol by 2022. While born of good intentions, federal subsidies for ethanol have failed to achieve their intended goals of energy independence, U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, a Republican from Oklahoma and leading critic of the ethanol subsidy, said in 2011. The effort to Kill the Ethanol Subsidy Coburn led an effort to repeal the ethanol subsidy in June of 2011, saying it was a waste of taxpayer money - he said the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit cost $30.5 billion from 2005 through 2011 - because consumption remained only a small part of the countrys fuel use. His effort to repeal the ethanol subsidy failed in the Senate by a vote of 59 to 40. While Im disappointed my amendment did not pass, taxpayers should remember that when I offered an amendment to defund the Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska in 2005 we lost that vote 82 to 15, Coburn said in a statement. Over time, however, the will of the people prevailed and Congress was forced to scale back this wasteful and corrupting practice. Today, the earmark favor factory is mostly closed. Only the tax division remains open. Im confident this debate, and many more ahead, will expose the tax code for what it is - an abomination that favors the well-connected over working families and small businesses. History of the Ethanol Subsidy The Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit ethanol subsidy became law on Oct. 22, 2004, when President George W. Bush signed the American Jobs Creation Act into law. Included in that piece of legislation was the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit. The initial bill gave ethanol blenders a tax credit of 51 cents for every gallon of ethanol they mixed with gasoline. Congress reduced the tax incentive by 6 cents per gallon as part of the 2008 Farm Bill. According to the Renewable Fuels Association, gasoline refiners and marketers are required to pay the full rate of tax, which is 18.4 cents per gallon on the total gasoline-ethanol mixture but can claim the 45 cents per gallon tax credit or refund for each gallon of ethanol used in the mixture. The ethanol subsidy benefits multibillion-dollar integrated oil companies such as BP, Exxon, and Chevron. The First Ethanol Subsidy The Energy Policy Act of 1978 was the first federal legislative ethanol subsidy. It allowed for a 40-cent tax exemption per gallon of ethanol, according to Purdue University.The Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982 increased the tax exemption to 50 cents per gallon of ethanol.The 1990 Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act extended the ethanol subsidy to 2000 but decreased the amount to 54 cents a gallon.The 1998 Transportation Efficiency Act of the 21st Century extended the ethanol subsidy through 2007 but reduced it to 51 cents per gallon by 2005.Bushs signature on the Jobs Creation Act changed the way the modern ethanol subsidy worked. Instead, it offered a straight tax credit to producers, the legislation allowed for the blenders credit. President Trump Protects the Ethanol Subsidy During his 2016 campaign, President Donald Trump came out as one of the ethanol subsidy’s strongest supporters. Speaking in Iowa, where corn is king, on January 21, 2016, he said, â€Å"The EPA should ensure that biofuel . . . blend levels match the statutory level set by Congress,† adding that he was â€Å"was â€Å"there with you [farmers] 100 percent† on continuing federal subsidy for ethanol. â€Å"You’re going to get a really fair shake from me.† After Trump took office in January 2017, all seemed well with the ethanol subsidy until early October, when his own EPA administrator Scott Pruitt announced that the agency was considering lowering the EPA-mandated subsidy payment level for ethanol â€Å"slightly† in 2018. The suggestion sent shockwaves through the Corn Belt and its Republican congressional protectors. Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley accused Trump of a â€Å"bait and switch,† in reference to his empathic campaign promise. Grassley and Iowa’s other Republican senator, Joni Ernst, threatened to block all of Trump’s future EPA appointments. The governors of most Corn Belt states joined in sending Trump warning him than any cutback in the Renewable Fuel Standard program’s subsidies would be â€Å"highly disruptive, unprecedented and potentially catastrophic.† Faced with the potential loss of influence over some of his strongest congressional backers, Trump quickly told Pruitt to back off any future talk of cutting the ethanol subsidy. On July 5, 2018, Pruitt resigned amid multiple accusations of ethics violations involving his excessive and unauthorized personal use of government funds. He was replace within hours by EPA deputy director Andrew Wheeler, a former lobbyist for the coal industry.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Human origins, human problems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Human origins, human problems - Essay Example The paper is summarized in a concluding paragraph and Harvard referencing style has been used properly. 2. Introduction to the Hobbit Before going into the details of the subject matter, let’s first get to understand what Homo floresiensis actually is. Homo floresiensis, literally meaning Man of Flores, was discovered by Michael Moore’s team at the Liang Bua cave1 on the island of Flores in Indonesia2 on September 2003. Nicknamed as the Hobbit, it is believed to be a species known for its small sized body and brain whose fossils, according to archeologists, have been found somewhere 38,000 to 18,000 years ago3. More specifically speaking, the size is said to be â€Å"only about 1 meter in height and fully bipedal, with a very small brain size of 417cc†4. Homo floresiensis may be called contemporaries of Homo sapiens. Scientists suggest that since it is usual that large mammals may exist on islands in their dwarf form, hence Homo floresiensis may also be a dwarf f orm of Homo erectus. Mayell5 states that the skulls of the tiny humans were the size of grapefruits and they lived on pygmy elephants, Komodo dragons, and big rats found on the island. 3. Homo Floresiensis (LB1) in Human Evolution 3.1. ... The found specimen, LB1, contains leg bones, hands, feet, pelvis, and other remains which are both primitive and derived. LB1 is said to be the fossil of an adult who might be the age of 30. An analysis of its pelvis revealed that it was the skeleton of a female. It would have been a bit larger on size if it was a male although all fossil found so far are of the same size as LB1. Since, the individual was of young age, the bones of the skeleton had not fossilized as yet and are reported to be in the consistency of mashed potatoes or wet blotting paper. The brain size is as small as 380cc that is a chimpanzee’s brain’s size. With the fossils of LB1, some stone tools were also found which a homini with such a small sized brain cannot make. Thus the tools are believed to be created by Homo sapiens. Anthropologists, for example, Peter Brown, Michael Morwood and their colleagues argue about LB1 that â€Å"it was contemporaneous with modern humans (Homo sapiens) on Floresâ⠂¬ 6. 3.2. Evolution Homo floresiensis are said to have evolved from Homo erectus and the result is a tremendous decrease in the body and brain size. Because of the reduced brain size, archeologists also suggest that the â€Å"floresiensis might actually have evolved from something smaller, such as the Dmanisi hominids found in Georgia, some of which have brain sizes between 600 and 700 cc, smaller than the 800-900cc typical of early erectus†7. Also, when stone tools were found on another location in Flores in 1998, it was said that these tools may be the creation of Homo erectus because these were the pre-sapiens hominids existing in Indonesia who are thought to have crossed the sea-passage that separates Flores from Java. Some archeologists believe that these

Friday, October 18, 2019

Can harm reduction strategies provide a viable basis for youth and Essay

Can harm reduction strategies provide a viable basis for youth and community work practice in marginalized communities with significant drug problems - Essay Example e progressive nations in the world is primarily due to the realization that a consistent portion of the population will use drugs which includes alcohol and tobacco however this discussion speaks primarily to the illegal variety. The current illegal drug strategy in the UK is four-fold. One, educating young persons in the dangers of misusing drugs; two, law enforcement initiatives designed to keep communities safe from drug-related and criminal behaviour and three, disrupt the supply of drugs. The fourth part of the strategy is harm reduction techniques (â€Å"Harm Reduction†, 2002). The goal of harm reduction is to do simply that for both individual and community without regard for personal ideological, legal or moral opinions of drug use. Government sponsored programs and treatment for drug users allows an opportunity for early intervention and education or, for the habitual user, a supply source for controlled narcotic distribution and unused syringes. Access to controlled amounts of narcotics or their synthetic equivalent ensures the drug’s pureness and takes away the need to commit crimes for drug money. A ‘clean needle program’ slows the spread of the HIV virus, hepatitis and other blood-borne illnesses. The benefit to both individual and community is clear (â€Å"AIDS and Drug Misuse†, 1988). The community method of harm reduction incorporates outreach services as its main intercession technique. This is opposed to the traditional, functional approach which operates from a fixed and often inconvenient location. Agencies are situated mainly within marginalized communities and open at opportune times so as to be more accessible to the drug user. In addition, agency workers go to the user if necessary. The workers interact differently in the community method. Instead of outlining a prescribed path of wellness to the user, they inquire as to the needs of the user. â€Å"Needs will be expressed, often having nothing to do with the reduction of

Counterfeit Pharmaceutical Drug Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Counterfeit Pharmaceutical Drug Industry - Essay Example In the recent years, both the appearance of incurable diseases and the popularity of fake medication complicate global counterfeit regulation. In particular, the core sense of this activity in the current economic framework of developed North and developing South, which was a crucial and is still not solved problem. In other words, pharmaceutical drug regulation is incorporated in global economy. In this context, huge profits of pharmaceutical companies cause the situation when business structures resist to any strict regulatory practices. In fact, it is reasonable because regulation has always been strong enough to block innovative potential for business by its strict ruling nature (Brooker and Cullum, 2008, p. 5). Consequently, this number of challenges require regulation to concentrate rather on fundamental transformation than on fixing daily mistakes (Brooker and Cullum, 2008, p. 7), as its efficiency is linked to the social satisfaction. Furthermore, the nature of this process is doubtful in case of pharmaceutical counterfeit regulation. In general, the deep contradiction between human life and business profit eliminates the balance within the regulatory practices in the sphere. In this context, certain researchers found severe problems connected with the impact of regulation on society. For instance, Weinstein (2005) mentions that certain technological measures of regulation challenge personal privacy and freedom (p. 31-32). In addition, current regulation of global pharmaceutics usually relies on national governments and legal institutions not ordinary people personally (Burns, 2006). In other words, counterfeit combat is above all a political battle. In this context, the analysis of regulation in this sphere is based on interest group theories (Baldwin et al., 2012, p. 43-49). Thus, issue of making regulation more effective is crucial for the medical sphere in general and counterfeit