Catapults essays

Catapults essays Catapults were invented about 400 B.C. in the powerful Greek town called Syracus. These Greek engineers first constructed a small machine, called the Gastraphetes, sort of a crossbow. However, after they found out how good the smaller Gastraphetes were, they made a bigger one and put it on a carriage to transport it and added a windlass to cock the heavier machine. Some physical barriers prevented the Gastraphetes from getting any larger. So in the mid-forth century B.C. torsion springs were introduced, replacing the composite bow that was used in the Gastraphetes. The torsion spring consisted of a bundle of rope made from horsehair or sinew. This could get bigger and bigger as opposed to the Gastraphetes because they could just use more rope. The new catapults were now built with 2 torsion springs powering the catapult. Soon after that a new catapult was created and it was used in wars and it out rated the gastraphetes machines. In the 3rd century B.C. the 2 main types of catapults were standardized: the Euthytonon for shooting arrows and the Palintonon for throwing stone balls. About 100 A.D. the Romans redesigned the torsion artillery, developing quite different new arrow shooting machines. They are first shown on Trajans columns in Rome. The new catapult types remained in use until Late Antiquity. In this period another type of stone thrower was also developed, the Onager. The catapult was a special type of siege engine, a large device used to attack a fortress or a large or small city. Catapults were used in ancient and medieval warfare until the introduction of the gunpowder cannon in the 14th century. A catapult could hurl large stones, spears, or other projectiles at an enemy but there was one main problem: a catapult is very hard to aim and once it has been aimed at the target the enemy has probably already moved, defeating the whole purpose of trying to aim a catapult. They would have been better off shooting...

[Infographic] Growth Hacking The Characteristics Of A Content Hacker

[Infographic] Growth Hacking The Characteristics Of A Content Hacker Have you ever heard of growth hacking? Its a  marketing technique developed by technology startups that uses creativity, analytical thinking, and social metrics to sell products and gain exposure. Its a bit scrappy, and completely focused on results. Does that sound familiar? Growth hacking isnt too far off from its counterpart, content marketing, a technique that we all know and love. In fact, its so close that it just might call for an entirely new breed of hacker:  The content hacker. Wait, hacking? Cant you go to jail for that? #ContentHacker = A growth-focused content marketer. #growthhacking #infographicListen, if you want your blog to grow, you may want to learn a thing or two from the content hacker. He or she is traffic-obsessed and focused on nothing but growth. This infographic will give you a peek inside their inner inner psyche and help you become your own content hacker. Click on the image below to see a larger view:    The Tweetable  Characteristics Of A  Content Hacker The #ContentHacker doesn't see product/market fit, he sees content/audience fit #contentmarketing The #ContentHacker eats, sleeps, and drinks blog growth #contentmarketing An opportunistic #ContentHacker turns contacts into connections #contentmarketing Where a #GrowthHacker sees scale, a #ContentHacker sees sustainability #contentmarketing The #ContentHacker eats data and only settles for moving the needle forward  #contentmarketing An SEO-minded #ContentHacker has been leveraging the search base since 1991  #contentmarketing Viral growth can be manufactured if you're a real #ContentHacker  #contentmarketing

Warfare Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Warfare - Case Study Example The shift of US foreign policy in 1948 from containment to pre-emptive war as emphasized in the Truman Doctrine, led to the establishment of US military hegemony and global economic domination. As the most powerful country in the world, the use saw the need to protect societies all over the world whenever they were threatened especially by the Soviet Union’s support for rebel groups that were fighting to establish socialism in many parts of the world. The USA saw these wars as a justified course since it was being waged to protect civilians against the Soviet Union sponsored aggression on sovereign nations (Crawford, 2003). Among the US- led wars during the cold war period that raise moral questions based on the principles of Jus in Bello is the Yugoslav War. Although the war passed the test of proportionality given that there were no excessive use of force, the element of discrimination which calls for restricting the war to military targets. The decision to use air strikes and no ground troops or low flying aircrafts limited the ability to be accurate when identifying targets therefore risking the lives of many unarmed civilians and increasing collateral damage during the war (Crawford, 2003). Issues raised on the basis of comparative justice in the Yugoslav War were also not conserved in the war as it failed to weigh competing visions of justice, opposing versions of history and litany of victimization. There are divergent views of the war with the Serbs asserting that Kosovo Liberation Army had links to the Mafia drug dealing among other atrocities while the Serbs disapproved the blatant aggression against their sovereign state by US-led intervention given that they had not attacked any other nation (Crawford, 2003). The justifications for the U.S. invasion of Iraq were based on two critical points that

Quality Systems in the Public Sector Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Quality Systems in the Public Sector - Essay Example This review is then used to arrive at the research objectives. The methods to be adopted to complete the research are discussed and laid out. This research is proposed to be limited to those areas of public sector enterprise where there is a direct interface between the enterprise and the public - the customers. The public sector provides an array of services such as housing, healthcare, policing, fire-fighting, water and sewage, national security and so on. While some initiatives have been taken to privatise some of these services, some, like healthcare remain within the ambit of public sector operation. We may consider approaching this subject from two sides. The first being from within the organisation, to understand the adoption of quality systems/ models, and the perceived effects and benefits to the organisation in terms of efficiency, productivity and costs. The second approach could be to research the quality systems and models adopted by the public sector and assess the impact these have had on the service user public. This proposal aims at adopting the latter approach. The importance of public opinion has been advocated as an important criterion to judge the impact of initiatives of the public sector in different policy documents (). Thus, in principle, this research will be divided into two parts: A. An appraisal of quality systems and models adopted by the selected public sector B. Collection, collation and analysis of public views of the impact of these initiatives. It is understood that, for this research to be meaningful, the information to be gathered must be scientifically defensible and actionable by the relevant policy makers and conclusive enough to convince the decision makers to use it. Literature Survey: The conservative party's victory in1979 was based on a manifesto that, among others, promised to 'roll back the State'. The party saw the welfare state as being morally indefensible because it promoted a culture of dependency, inefficiency and bureaucracy (Ahmad & Broussine, 2003). Accordingly, the government concentrated on the privatisation of state-owned industries and utilities and the deregulation of the financial services sector. Attention was then turned to apply the principles of modern management, as practiced in the private sector, to health, education and social care (Barlett et al., 1994). The response of public services to these pressures and changes were characterized as managerialist (Hood, 1991) and neo-Taylorist (Pollitt, 1993). Operations of the public sector have been criticised for their limited attitude toward target-setting and performance measurement (Hood, 1991). Pollitt (1993) noted that efforts for application of scientific management principles were the mai n drivers of change sought to be brought in by the public services in their response to the new challenges. Pollitt (1993) argued that the public sector considered the application of these principles as the panacea for all the ills that besieged them. However Clarke et al. (1994) argued against these concepts and noted that the changes 'represented a deeper ideological process that was transforming power relationships, culture, control and accountability' (ibid). The New Labour government was elected in May 1997. Its

The Decline of the Roman Empire Essay Example for Free

The Decline of the Roman Empire Essay The Roman Empire gave the world many good things. Rome gave the world Christianity, which is now the worlds largest religion. The Romans also gave the world their language. The Romans spoke Latin, which is the base for most languages used today. Many of these languages include English, Spanish, Italian, French, and Portuguese. This leads to the question. If Rome was such a powerful empire, then what led to the decline of the Roman Empire? The fall of the Western Roman Empire was caused by three of the many reasons internal decay, lack of money, and invading tribes. First, one of the reasons that led to the decline of the Western Roman Empire was cause by inside decay. It has been said that the Romans military crisis was a huge factor in this decay. According to Indro Montanelli, the military crisis was the result of shortage of children. The children in Rome were not old enough at the time to serve in the army this resulted in lack of soldiers. The lack of soldiers meant that the Roman Empire could not defend themselves and did not have a strong army. In that cause Rome had to come up with a plan to solve this problem. This plan was to recruit Germans to serve in the Roman army. But, this was not a well-thought plan, because traders were difficult to detect. Recruiting Germans to serve in the Roman army made it possible for the Germans to easily attack them. Given that they were already in the base of the empire, they did not have to worry about getting into the city. It was said that the military crisis was a huge part in the internal decay, which eventually led to the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The Roman Empire had too much power and wealth. It was a unified attack. Therefore, the lack of money in the Roman treasury caused the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The money mostly went into the army, which has already been described as the government expenses. The lack of money was responsible for the high taxation. This caused the owners to depart their businesses, because they did not want to pay high taxes. The old roman virtues of self-reliance and initiative were lost in the part of the population on relief warfare; the central government undertook such far-reaching responsibility in affairs that the fiber of the citizens weakened. Also while the empire was expanding, its prosperity was fed by plundered wealth and by new markets in the semibarbaric provinces. The decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire was lack of money and invading the tribes in the Roman Empire. The empire did not have anyone to fight for them because the children were too young. The money was mostly invested in the government and not in the overall empire. The invaders came into the region trying to take over the land and destroyed everything in their path, which made the Roman Empire weak. These effects began to make the Roman Empire weak.

The Power of Community Service :: Community Service Essays

"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." - Winston Churchill "If you knew what I know about the power of giving, you would not let a single meal pass without sharing it in some way." - Buddha In 2014, I traveled to New Orleans for a National Youth Gathering. Some 30,000 students and advisers donned orange t-shirts and fanned out across the city to serve. Our group was assigned the task of clearing roadsides and medians. We spent the day picking up trash and removing cat claw, an invasive and difficult weed. It was the kind of work most of us took for granted because it was something we would do at home. I remember being shocked at the number of people who stopped, rolled down their car windows, and said thank you. Regular yard work that seemed so insignificant to us made a big difference to them. We all had something to contribute and in turn were transformed by the experience; we gave our labor and the people of New Orleans showed us amazing hospitality. For me this reciprocal effect is the most transformational of community service. The more I give and serve, the more I find my life enriched by sharing with others. Community service is part of my life, something ordinary rather than extraordinary, part of life’s journey rather than a goal, destination or high school graduation requirement. As long as I can remember service to others was modeled and encouraged by my family and teachers. To say how I have been transformed in past tense paints an incomplete picture because I am still learning and growing, both being shaped by the process of service and shaping the process by which I serve. This much I can say with certainty: we all have something to give, and a life of service expands one’s world exponentially and unexpectedly. It is easy to feel too small to make a difference as only one of more than seven billion people on this planet. Even the smallest candle is capable of giving light, and when myriad tiny candles burn together a room, a life or a cause can turn into a conflagration of hope and change. The simplest action can initiate a ripple effect that spreads around the world. What I can never hope to do alone may be possible with the shared efforts of others. The Power of Community Service :: Community Service Essays "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." - Winston Churchill "If you knew what I know about the power of giving, you would not let a single meal pass without sharing it in some way." - Buddha In 2014, I traveled to New Orleans for a National Youth Gathering. Some 30,000 students and advisers donned orange t-shirts and fanned out across the city to serve. Our group was assigned the task of clearing roadsides and medians. We spent the day picking up trash and removing cat claw, an invasive and difficult weed. It was the kind of work most of us took for granted because it was something we would do at home. I remember being shocked at the number of people who stopped, rolled down their car windows, and said thank you. Regular yard work that seemed so insignificant to us made a big difference to them. We all had something to contribute and in turn were transformed by the experience; we gave our labor and the people of New Orleans showed us amazing hospitality. For me this reciprocal effect is the most transformational of community service. The more I give and serve, the more I find my life enriched by sharing with others. Community service is part of my life, something ordinary rather than extraordinary, part of life’s journey rather than a goal, destination or high school graduation requirement. As long as I can remember service to others was modeled and encouraged by my family and teachers. To say how I have been transformed in past tense paints an incomplete picture because I am still learning and growing, both being shaped by the process of service and shaping the process by which I serve. This much I can say with certainty: we all have something to give, and a life of service expands one’s world exponentially and unexpectedly. It is easy to feel too small to make a difference as only one of more than seven billion people on this planet. Even the smallest candle is capable of giving light, and when myriad tiny candles burn together a room, a life or a cause can turn into a conflagration of hope and change. The simplest action can initiate a ripple effect that spreads around the world. What I can never hope to do alone may be possible with the shared efforts of others.

How does Alfieri justify his ‘love’ for Eddie Essay

Alfieri is a middle-aged lawyer who has seen his share of clients and listened to their problems as they sought his advice, a Italian-American who understands and has witnessed both countries’ interpretations of law. Having been brought up in the Sicilian way where pride and honour predominate, and being an exponent of American law he also respects how civilised American law is. Alfieri acts as the narrator of ‘A View From The Bridge’, similar in many ways to the choruses found in ancient Greek tragedies, who used to comment on the plays at regular intervals. Alfieri likewise recounts this story to us (in which he plays a part) and reflects on the actions of the characters and the obviousness of the outcome. Eddie had always lived by the Italian law but saw its helplessness when dealing with Rudolpho. Hoping that he could use American law to stop Rudolpho marrying Catherine, Eddie visits Alfieri to ask his advice and to see what could be done about Rudolpho. After meeting with Eddie, Alfieri knew what Eddie would do but ‘was so powerless to stop it. ‘ Alfieri also realizes Eddie’s shameful agenda that he tries to disguise by protesting that he is looking out for Catherine. Alfieri is aware of his limitations as a lawyer, recognizing the fact that no legal system delivers absolute justice for only God can give that. Neither is he deluded into thinking that the American legal system solves all of peoples’ personal problems. However he knows that Eddie will stop at nothing to make sure that Rudolpho does not have Catherine, and indeed that no one else has her. By being himself and disregarding what other people thought of him to get what he wanted, Alfieri grows to respect Eddie. By the end of the play Alfieri reflects on how easily Eddie could have avoided his fate. He realises that Eddie pursued his fate because although he knew that he would have to pay the price to get Catherine, he wanted her so badly he charged on, accepting what came. Alfieri says that it is better to compromise between getting what you want and what you can have. As a Sicilian-American he has ‘settled for half’ and accepted American justice as a way of life because it is safer for him to do so. Yet Eddie will not ‘settle for half’ letting himself to be known as he truly was. So what we are left with is an honourable, concerned, intelligent man sympathising with a man who turned his back on everything he knew – his wife, his way of life, his honour and his life-in the vain hope that he could keep his niece for himself. Like a hero in a modern tragedy, Eddie is a strong character who is destroyed by his weakness-Catherine. As the only character who can reflect on the play’s events objectively, Alfieri realizes that Eddie’s death must seve as a reminder to others to ‘settle for half. ‘ However his alarm stems from the fact that while this will keep you safer if you follow this code, ultimately it means compromising peoples’ hopes, desires and sense of justice.

Literature Review Essay

Meaning, those who are without a home, that live on the street, abandoned building/make-shift structure/in parks and people who live in shelters. The precarious definition involves those who are at an imminent risk of being homeless. They include: those who are temporarily doubled up with family or friends and those who are in substandard housing. Traditional characteristics of homeless people vs. the â€Å"new homeless† Meanwhile, the definition of homelessness seem to fall under certain subgroups. Causes of h*omeless families These families end up being homeless as a result of sociostructural and psychological factors. The socio cultural factors involve changing labor markets, poverty, the housing system, and the nature of the welfare state while the psychological factors reflect individual agency, including alcohol dependence, substance use, social and behavioral problems. Other examples that seem to fall under both factors include a loss of benefits, eviction and domestic violence and the like. African Americans and other ethnic groups are found disproportionately among homeless families. Frequently, the mothers may end up in these situations that lead to homelessness because of a mental illness, substance abuse addiction and sometimes from an unfortunate circumstance such as losing their job without any form of maternity leave pay while there are in the later stages of pregnancy; Unfortunately, would comes next is a young mother and infant in a family shelter or doubled up with family or friends. Obviously, homelessness places a tremendous amount of stress on a mother with unfortunate and or limited resources. Experiences of families with children in family shelters Parents in shelters that are separated from their children Shockingly, research reveals that little attention is given to the homeless children who are often times taken from their biological parents (by child welfare services) because of some form of abuse and neglect experienced throughout homelessness and are placed in foster care. Often times, these children are already traumatically affected by the sad conditions that cause them to be separated from their family but they are further wounded through the constant changes in placement in regards to foster care. Thus, these changes affect their immediate and future development and mental health. Numerous children in foster care have poor developmental, mental and educational outcomes. Often times they are released from foster care without any counseling or intervention and are left to fend for themselves. Many of them struggle as they transition from foster care to young adulthood and will succumb to poor choices that will prevent them from obtaining an optimal level of health. Current policy initiatives In an effort to discourage panhandling, the National law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, reports on a survey of 50 largest cities of the U. S. noting 86% of these cities have enacted anti-panhandling laws and 73% have enacted laws against sleeping in public places. Over half of the surveyed cities remove homeless people from the public eye. This practice is widespread in cities where there are shortages of emergency shelters and affordable housing. Additionally, the Bringing America Home Bill, aimed at ending homelessness in the U. S. , supported by an extensive campaign and with 57 sponsors, never became law. The NCH also reports that federal agencies such as HUD interpret â€Å"homelessness† very narrowly. In addition to the number of federal and state government agencies aimed at tackling homelessness, there is also a National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) a nonprofit organization that targetspublic and private sectors for a united effort to end homelessness. The NAEH recommends four proactive steps to b taken simultaneouslyto end homelessness: planning for outcomes (by identifying real needs); â€Å"closing the front door† (by shifting the flow of incentives toward prevention); â€Å"opening the back door† (by helping people exit homelessness quickly); and building the infrastructure (by changing homeless assistance to improve the supply of affordable housing and providing adequate income and services for the disadvantaged. ) In a policy environment as complex as the U. S. there are clearly a wide range of public and private initiatives aimed at reducing or alleviating homelessness, including the National Center on Family Homelessness, National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, National Health Care for the Homeless Council, HomeAidAmerica, Home Base and Homes for the Homeless. Home Base and Homes for the Homeless is an initiative that attempts to address the many interrelated issues that support a family in maintaining a house (including needs assessment, counseling and access to healthcare and housing search assistance, as well as skills for independent living. Adequacy of the body of research Reforms needed The literature reveals that child welfare services needs to implement more strategies to help homeless families from every vantage point (i. e. vest more interest in public shelters, Child Welfare Services should play a more explicit role in the financing, development and management of transitional and permanent, supportive housing programs for cross-system involved families etc. ) This assistance would likely reduce their homelessness and outcomes of out of home placements and negative consequences of homelessness for children and their families. And finally, a more comprehensive system of housing assistance, that assured poor families of stable, aff ordable, and adequate housing, could both reduce the incidence of homelessness and abuse and neglect.

English Settlers essays

English Settlers essays America was the melting pot of nations. It brought every type of person who wished for a new life to its shores and gave them opportunities, which would not have been available in their homelands. Many came poor or with money but not enough education to read and write with extreme accuracy. In the early New England colonies, education was actually available for everyone who wished to entertain the notion of it. Children could go to school where actual teachers would teach them. Older generations wouldnt have to be worried about their offspring having the same insecurities, which they now had due to their inability of furthering their minds. England provinces were not usually able to give education to their masses because they were so large, making the schools available in America seem amazing in their existence. Though it seemed like a huge perk for many, some religions disliked the wishes for the young to learn. They only wanted their religion, no others to be discussed and openly contemplated. Some of the more restrained and conservative religions thought of free knowledge to be poisonous to their brains and faith. Often prejudice and doubt stops true realization of what people want. Despite some peoples goals to remain separated from those different than them, education flourished and the fruits of knowledge bloomed extensively across the newly made colonies. With great diversity in beliefs it became easier for people to become accepting of one another, though it would take years and centuries for real prejudice to be gone from normal living. However, I personally believe this was the very beginning of the initial civil rights movement. It brought different types of people together and they were able to stand each other. True, they were all white, but it was civil rights in acceptance for the time period. ...

How to Make Your Website Mobile Friendly Using PHP

How to Make Your Website Mobile Friendly Using PHP It is important to make your website accessible to all of your users. Although many people still access your website through their computer, a huge amount of people are also accessing your website from their phones and tablets. When you are programming your website it is important to keep these types of media in mind so that your site will work on these devices. PHP is all processed on the server, so by the time the code gets to the user, it is just HTML. So basically, the user requests a page of your website from your server, your server then runs all the PHP and sends the user the results of the PHP. The device never actually sees or has to do anything with the actual PHP code. This gives websites done in PHP an advantage over other languages that process on the user side, such as Flash. It has become popular to redirect users to mobile versions of your website. This is something that you can do with the htaccess file but you can also do with PHP. One way to do this is by using strpos() to look for the name of certain devices. Here is an example:    ?php$android strpos($_SERVER[HTTP_USER_AGENT],Android);$bberry strpos($_SERVER[HTTP_USER_AGENT],BlackBerry);$iphone strpos($_SERVER[HTTP_USER_AGENT],iPhone);$ipod strpos($_SERVER[HTTP_USER_AGENT],iPod);$webos strpos($_SERVER[HTTP_USER_AGENT],webOS);if ($android || $bberry || $iphone || $ipod || $webos true) { header(Location: yoursite.com/mobile);}? If you chose to redirect your users to a mobile site, make sure you give the user  an easy way to access the full site.   Another thing to keep in mind is that if someone reaches your site from a search engine, they often arent going through your home page so they dont want to be redirected there. Instead, redirect them to the mobile version of the article from the SERP (search engine results page.)   Something of interest may be this CSS switcher script written in PHP. This allows the user to put on a different CSS template via a drop-down menu. This would allow you to offer the same content in different mobile-friendly versions, perhaps one for phones and another for tablets. This way the user would have the option to change to one of these templates, but would also have the option to keep the full version of the site if they prefer. One final consideration: Although PHP is good to use for websites that will be accessed by mobile users, people often combine PHP with other languages to make their sit do everything they want. Be careful when adding features that the new features wont make your site unusable by members of the mobile community. Happy programming!

Chicago Gun Laws and its effect on the Criminal Justice System Research Paper

Chicago Gun Laws and its effect on the Criminal Justice System - Research Paper Example In fact, perhaps Chicago is a case study in which we see quite clearly that strict gun controls harm the public rather than protect it, by removing legitimate access to firearms and leaving the illegal arms trade to those who have less legitimate purposes for those guns. The legal climate of Chicago’s gun control policies is complex and confusing to most who try to follow it, especially with the constitutional challenges even new laws are facing. A detailed study of these laws, and their respective effects on the criminal justice system, should provide a useful perspective on whether their existence is warranted given Chicago’s crime rates. Chicago’s reputation for strict gun control laws started in the 1980s when the city passed, along with Washington D.C., tighter restrictions on who can legally acquire and use firearms within the city limits. However, despite these laws being in place in both Washington D.C. and Chicago, neither city enjoyed a reduced crime ra te (Levitt 174). Although Chicago never received a careful analysis at this time, it was known that Chicago lagged behind the nationwide homicide decline during the 1990s. This had led those familiar with the Chicago legal situation to suggest that policies raising the cost of using guns as opposed to targeting ownership is the most effective strategy for reducing gun-related crime. Although Chicago’s policies against guns were well known even in the 1970s, some authors have remarked that enforcement of those laws is the weak link connecting gun control laws to reduced crime (Bendis and Balkin). Because gun laws vary by state to state and, in some cases, from city to city, the best strategy for understanding the impact of Chicago’s gun control laws is to examine those laws in the context of state laws related to guns. In Illinois, firearms are not required to be registered nor are carry permits issued. However, individuals need a state permit to purchase a firearm and an owner license is issued to every firearm owner. Part of this process is the Firearm Owner’s Identification (or FOID) card, which owners acquire from the Illinois state police (Illinois General Assembly). An individual must present a valid FOID card whenever he or she attempts to purchase firearms or ammunition. This allows the state to monitor the purchasing of firearms (1) to keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of dangerous people and (2) to assist in investigations in gun-related crime. Additionally, the use of FOID cards screens out and prevents individuals who have been convicted of a felony from acquiring firearms from a licensed vendor. The FOID card is difficult to acquire for individuals under 21 years (Illinois General Assembly). As the most populated and crime-ridden city in Illinois, Chicago has in place its own level of restrictions on gun ownership. For instance, the municipality has an ordinance in place that requires all firearm owners not only to have p ossession of a FOID card, but also that firearms are registered with the Chicago Police Department, in addition to the Illinois State Police. This policy did not include handguns up until June 2010, when new registrations of pistols were unfrozen by law after thirty years (AP). The effect of not allowing handguns was negative in the view of many city officials, who began to recognize the need for conceal-and-carry