The Big Sleep essays

The Big Sleep essays In Raymond Chandlers novel The Big Sleep the main character, Phillip Marlowe, is a private investigator hired by the Sternwoods to solve a blackmail conspiracy. He is successful in his crime solving, but in his success, Marlowe raises many mysteries or questions. The crimes that he solves raise a moral and ethical debate on how far he should go to protect the Sternwoods or whether he should obey every law exactly. Marlowe is hired to stop the blackmailing that is happening to Carmen, the daughter of General Sternwood. It is safe to say that he accomplishes this very well. In doing so, he stumbles on Carmen in A.G. Geigers house. Normally this would be a big deal, but Geiger is dead. Also, the pictures that he took of Carmen are missing. Marlowe describes the scene when he thinks, No plateholder. I took hold of his limp chilling hand and rolled him a little. No plateholder. I didnt like this development. (38). Marlowe takes to the tasks of solving this murder and the blackmail. He finds out that Joe Brody has the pictures. In thinking of his clients first, Marlowe goes to Brodys apartment. He manages to get the pictures back right before Brody gets shot, dead on the spot. Marlowe chases after the killer and finds out that it is Carol Lundgren, Geigers special friend. Marlowe makes Carol go with him to Geigers house to find out the whole story. After learning everything from Car ol, Marlowe takes him to the D.A. and tells him about everything that has happened. He gives the D.A. all the evidence he has, except for the couple of personal matters. I intend to keep on leaving them out (110). Thus ends the sleuthing of Phillip Marlowe temporarily. As stated in the opening paragraph, Marlowe solves the crimes but he opens up a mystery. The mystery is whether or not Marlowe is ethical in protecting the Sternwoods. Marlowe is ...

History of Photography and the Camera (Timeline)

History of Photography and the Camera (Timeline) Several important achievements and milestones dating back to the ancient Greeks have contributed to the development of cameras and photography.   Here is a brief time timeline of the various breakthroughs with a description of its importance.   5th-4th Centuries B.C. Chinese and Greek philosophers describe the basic principles of optics and the camera. 1664-1666 Isaac Newton discovers that white light is composed of different colors. 1727 Johann Heinrich Schulze discovered that silver nitrate darkened upon exposure to light. 1794 First Panorama opens, the forerunner of the movie house invented by Robert Barker. 1814 Joseph Niepce achieves first photographic image using  an early device for projecting real-life imagery called a  camera obscura. However, the image required eight hours of light exposure and later faded. 1837 Louis Daguerres first daguerreotype, an image that was fixed and did not fade and needed under thirty minutes of light exposure. 1840 First American patent issued in photography to Alexander Wolcott for his camera. 1841 William Henry Talbot patents the Calotype process,  the first negative-positive process making possible the first multiple copies. 1843 The first advertisement with a photograph is published in Philadelphia. 1851 Frederick Scott Archer invented the Collodion process  so that images required only two or three seconds of light exposure. 1859 Panoramic camera, called  the Sutton, is  patented. 1861 Oliver Wendell Holmes invents stereoscope viewer. 1865 Photographs and photographic negatives are added to protected works under copyright law. 1871 Richard Leach Maddox invented the gelatin dry plate silver bromide process, which means negatives no longer had to be developed immediately. 1880 Eastman Dry Plate Company is founded. 1884 George Eastman invents flexible, paper-based photographic film. 1888 Eastman patents Kodak roll-film camera. 1898 Reverend Hannibal Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film. 1900 First mass-marketed camera, called the Brownie, goes on sale. 1913/1914 First 35mm still camera is developed. 1927 General Electric invents the modern flash bulb. 1932 First light meter with photoelectric cell is  introduced. 1935 Eastman Kodak markets Kodachrome film. 1941 Eastman Kodak introduces Kodacolor negative film. 1942 Chester Carlson receives a patent for electric photography (xerography). 1948 Edwin Land launches and  markets the Polaroid camera. 1954 Eastman Kodak introduces high-speed Tri-X film. 1960 EGG develops extreme depth underwater camera for U.S. Navy. 1963 Polaroid introduces the instant color film. 1968 Photograph of the Earth is taken from the moon. The photograph, Earthrise, is considered one of  the most influential environmental photographs ever taken. 1973 Polaroid introduces one-step instant photography with the SX-70 camera. 1977 Pioneers  George Eastman and Edwin Land are  inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. 1978 Konica introduces the first point-and-shoot autofocus camera. 1980 Sony demonstrates first consumer camcorder for capturing moving picture. 1984 Canon demonstrates first digital electronic still camera. 1985 Pixar introduces the digital imaging processor. 1990 Eastman Kodak announces Photo Compact Disc as a digital image storage medium. 1999 Kyocera Corporation introduces the VP-210 VisualPhone, the worlds first mobile phone with built-in camera for recording videos and still photos.

Self-Portraits. Journal. The Renaissance artists Titian, Rembrandt, Essay - 2

Self-Portraits. Journal. The Renaissance artists Titian, Rembrandt, and Durer have each painted - Essay Example Today a dear friend asked me to explain to them why I would want to paint a self-portrait? It struck me dumb. For how could I reveal my selfish motivations behind the brush? True, my talent exceeds those I was educated with, but it hasn’t brought me the burgher status I so deserve (Westermann, 2004, 89). However, the portraits I have been working on lately are being commissioned by more prominent citizens than before (Westermann, 2004, 156) and this certainly reflects kindly upon my public image (Cole, 1983, 27-28). In the end, I only explained to my friend that portraiture interested me as a way to record the likeness and expression of those who hired me to do so (Smith, 2004, 85) and that sketching over 85 self-portraits (Westermann,2004, 4) is merely practice. But truth be told, I am tired of this middle-class morality! I have finished a great tribute to Raphael and Titian! After long studying their compositions I have created Self-Portrait (1640) as way of expressing the desire to emulate my Italian predecessors (Westermann, 2004, 12). It has the muted tonality and modest costume arrangement that is found in Raphael’s work. Also, I have copied the introspective gaze, the luscious folds of fabric and a gentle turn of head, all in alignment with the great Titian (Westermann, 2004, 152). I applied small touches of red to the cheeks and nose to produce a sense of life beneath the off white skin. Highlights of white on the cheekbone, nose and forehead give strength to the three dimensionality of the face. I have portrayed myself with a quiet expression and a simple pose in order to emphasize my facial features. My aim is Cartesian in nature—to produce a direct relationship between the viewer and the portrait (Woods, 2007, 73). My self-portraits have begun to truly represent the outer manifestation of my growing self-awareness

Linguistics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Linguistics - Essay Example Additionally, it is structural understanding of knowledge and languages in terms of their differences. This can well be explained by, when one is born; one cannot be able to communicate with adults who are surrounding us, using their language. However, by the time we reach the age of six or seven, we are able to produce sounds, sentences, make rhymes, and understand jokes, among other activities. Therefore, one becomes a good speaker, in which we all have experiences that learning a language has never been easy, especially during the first years of our lives, where we accumulated a broad range of knowledge about the language (Fromkin, 2002, Pg 13-15). According to Akmajian (56-58), language speakers seem to have a wide range of knowledge on their languages, either by knowing or without being aware. Some of us possess the language of sounds, for example, consonants. Linguistics therefore, seeks to investigate how this kind of knowledge is acquired, as well as how it interacts with oth er processes mentally. It also investigates how the knowledge varies from one region to another region, from one person to another, in addition to how specific programs in a computer model the knowledge. Additionally, Linguistics also study the language structure like phrases and sound, in terms of how they can be characterized, and how diverse language components interact with others, like meaning and intonation. They also work with people who converse different languages and designs carefully the experiments on how to answer all the questions on language. Clearly, linguistics is considered as a science. Linguists are people who specialize on specific or different languages, whose main goal is to understand the language nature in general. However, the main goal of linguistic study in academics is to increase understanding and knowledge of the world. Akmajian (56-58) claims that language is essential and universal to all human relations, and knowledge acquired has many applications that are practical. Linguists are prepared to find answers to questions like, how a specific language can be written and analyzed, teaching of foreign languages, speech synthesization, computer programming and how the problems of language can be rectified and analyzed. While studying linguistics, one gets to learn many aspects of the language, sounds structure and their physical properties (Fromkin, 2002, Pg 13-15). Question 2 Phonology and Morphology is one of branch of linguistics but can be explained in different ways. Fromkin (13-15) highlights that phonology is organized study of sounds in language. People who study this branch of linguistics are referred to as phonologists and are concerned with sounds that have contrast in a language but not others. For example, Spanish speakers have a problem of ch and sh and people who speak English have trouble pronouncing â€Å"u† in their French words like Wheel and steel they pronounce as roue. On the other hand, morphology is th e study of formation of words. People who study this particular branch studies questions like, extent to ways words are formed, if they are productive or not. For example, they seek to answer questions like why we say words like amusement and arrival, and what determines the words change, like adding er to adjectives when it comes to making comparisons, like pretty becomes prettier, or getting a computer recognize the roots of words to be separated from their affixes like, crawl, crawls, crawling and crawled. Sentence structure, which includes clauses and phrases enables a clear segmentation into sentences, phrases and clauses. The relationship of these structures with each other forms syntax of domain. Fromkin (13-15) claims that this is the same as morphology, where this syntax does not concern what the meaning of

Castro and Caesar :: History

Castro and Caesar I am going to compare two great leaders. One from this century, and one from the reign of Caesar. It is interesting to see how through out history that all the great dictators thought alike. Though they might differ in details all of them basically followed the same pattern. And I think that is the case with Caesar and Fidel. One of the main similarities between Caesar and Fidel is their early life. Both leaders came from middle class families. Each leader had to work his way up the ladder. Caesar made the first step in 80 B.C. when he showed conspicuous bravery at the siege of Mytilene. Fidels first step was when he led an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada army barraks which gained him national attention. Both men continued to reach the top of the ladder. To become the sole leaders of their country’s both men had to get rid of the old leaders. Both men had to drive leaders out of office. Fidel led a revolt against Falgecio Batista, who when lost the support of the U.S. backed away and let Fidel in. Caesar had problems to, he had to defeat the famous Pompey. Caesar chased him into Egypt and then had to fight Pompey and Cleopatra. Both Fidel and Caesar where geniuses. Not only where they great military leaders, they were great politicians. Both used propaganda to help become dictators. They used something to blame everything on. Fidel used the U.S. for everyone to hate. And Caesar used slavery to increase in popularity. Though both leaders had to overtake a dictator but they did it in different ways. Fidel used only violence and threats to make Batista leave. Caesar on the other hand had to defeat Pompey, and then get voted in by the people. He did this by gaining popularity by attacking other countries and defeating them. Another big difference was the country’s they overtook. Fidel took over Cuba which is a poor country. Being a poor country, and being under terrible times, the Cuban people were influenced easily. Caesar took over the Roman Empire which was massively rich and powerful. The people turned to Caesar quickly though when they saw how powerful he was. What I believe is the biggest difference is how long they stayed popular. Caesar was very popular for a long time.

A Nation Symbol

A symbol that we occasionally see, are familiar with and slightly know about. To say of its importance would be clichà ©. How it became popular, eventually universal and now essential, most won't know. Though indeed its significance has gradually risen through history. That symbol is the flag, specifically the flag of a nation. A nation of course being a body of people with a government head, with focus here on the United States of America (USA or US), and nationalism being the system promoting that nation's interest. But what is it about these two variables – flag and nationalism – that make them relatable? More so, how closely associated is the national flag with a nation's nationalism? And to be specific, is the US flag most closely associated with its nation's nationalism? Nationalism, is the ideology that one specific nation is better than the rest. The most obvious example, that first comes to mind, is what happened to Germany in the 40s and the extent to which that ideology went to. Thus because of that result, today, nationalism is usually linked with extremism, militarism, fascism etc. And is therefore seen as a bad thing that is to be, or tries to be, be avoided; due to its destructible effects when given to its full potential. It is a hard thing to suppress it though; as it is also about one's identification with that nation and their support for whatever it does – even if it means affecting other nations wellbeing. When thinking, of the other variable, the word flag: the most prominent variant of that symbol that usually comes to mind first is, the flag of a nation and or in other words one's national flag. The most famous ones being of course the British, French and American flags. A national flag represents a nation e.g. historically in use of military (its origins being in naval warfare), more so recently in sports (e.g. the Olympics and World Cup) and importantly in the use of identification – as in identifying the nation or a citizen from that nation.The methodology for this hypothesis is a qualitative study, and its case-type – a ‘case study'. The reason for this is due to finding out whether the flag of a nation (keyword being ‘a') most correlates with that nation's nationalism – the nation here, being the US. Therefore, the study and research of one specific country would be appropriate enough to fill the criteria. Research on the specific nation of how closely its citizens identifies with their national flag, will need to be looked at. If the citizens of that country aren't or are nationalistic then the research material is able to be established, thus answering the hypothesis. The reason for this case-type is because with a specific nation one can make a more direct conclusion on the hypothesis and analyse how effective and true it is. As questioned if the US flag is most closely associated with its nation's nationalism, one must first look at the symbolic meaning of it. Historically, between 1777 and 1960 the US government changed the design and arrangement of the flag, 28 times, to make it possible for each new state to represented. As known, the US national flag has metaphorical meaning: such as the 50 stars – which represent the 50 states; and the 13 red and white stripes – which represent the 13 original states that created/founded the US. Each star though is more than just a state, it's as if each person (individually) has a place within that star/state and furthermore the flag/nation as a whole, with the star/state being a component of it and thus the person's connection to the rest of the nation. More so the colours of the flag are symbolic as they symbolize valour – red, purity – white, and justice – blue. Today uses of the American flag can be seen everywhere from government and public-service buildings, to restaurants and retail, etc, showing the extent to which Americans are willing to go to display their flag, but more so its importance to them. As well the flag is often seen in the US military, representing the honour and sacrifice of those who served under it: a notable example of this being in funerals, where the coffin of a soldier is often draped with the US flag on it. Therefore, with these symbolic meanings and examples which express the importance of the American flag and what it means to its citizens. More so the flag is needed, as it creates a bond and reminds one of their citizenship to the nation, thus producing ideas and feelings that its citizens should have (though how strong those ideas and feelings can get is to be of concern). As it is a flags function, when people see it they are more likely to think and behave in a more nationalistic way. Because of this the flag thus reinforces the connection between a nation and its citizens.Secondly as mentioned, the American flag is a famous icon and is known for being related to values such as liberty and freedom, both major components in the American national identity. Besides other meanings connected with the flag including unity, loyalty and sacrifice to one's nation. This is due to American history which is about and embodies these values in their struggle for freedom – the American Revolutionary War; defence of freedom – the American Civil War; and more recently that the US military is seen as guaranteeing force for this freedom wherever it goes (for example Afghanistan). This thus produces a sense of commitment to the flag and the nation's values it represents.Thirdly on a more wide and in-depth level, Americans perceive themselves, as superior over the rest of the world. In relation to the American flag; this can be seen in one's contact with it which increases one's attachment to the nation (as said the flag embodies the nation), a basis for nationalist superiority. In simplistic terms, the flag serves as a reminder of this perception and produces a sense of nationalism in Americans. Thus, the flag promotes the view that the US is superior to other nations and should be a world power.

Definition and Examples of Iteratives in English