Yank as a Modern Day Oedipus in O Neills Play, The Hairy Ape Essay

Yank as a Modern Day Oedipus in O' Neill's Play, The Hairy Ape The representation of tragedy today has adapted itself to more humanistic, base and symbolic concerns. Often, they are commentaries on society just as much as they are on the nature of man. Although O' Neill insists that his play "The Hairy Ape" is not a tragedy, but rather a dark comedy, the play follows the definition of a tragedy. The basic points that make up a tragedy still remain the same, even if they have to be slightly modified to be relevant to today's audience. Despite this, The Hairy Ape bears a striking resemblance to the quintessential Greek tragedy, Oedipus Rex. The only direct challenge to the Aristotelian definition of tragedy is the portrayal of the tragic hero as not only not being a "noble" in the traditional sense, but usually as a working class, common man. Arthur Miller discusses this belief in his essay "Tragedy and the Common Man". In it, he insists that "we never hesitate to attribute to the well placed and the exalted the very same mental processes as the lowly" and "if the exaltation of tragic action were truly the property of the high bred character alone, it is inconceivable that the mass of mankind should cherish tragedy above all other forms, let alone be capable of understanding it"(Miller 1162). According to Aristotle, a tragedy concerns a person of noble stature. In the modern sense, as explained by Miller, "noble" does not necessarily mean royalty or upper class, merely that the tragic protagonist "is ready to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing - his sense of personal dignity"(1162). Yank is willing to do this. His sense of justice is primitive in that he is not concerned with the consequences of his reve... ... leads him back to the realization that he was the criminal that he had been pursuing. Works Cited and Consulted Carpenter, Frederic I. Eugene O’Neill. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1964. Clark, Marden J. â€Å"Tragic Effect in The Hairy Ape.† Modern Drama 10 1968 Egri, Peter. â€Å"'Belonging' Lost: Alienation and Dramatic Form in Eugene O’Neill’s The Hairy Ape† in Critical Essays on Eugene O’Neill. James J. Martine, ed. Boston: G.K. Hall & Co., 1984. Miller, Arthur. "Tragedy and the Common Man." Weales, Gerald, ed. Death of a Salesman: Text and Criticism. New York: Penguin Books 1996 O’Neill, Eugene. â€Å"The Hairy Ape† in Four Plays by Eugene O’Neill. New York: Signet Classic, 1998. Vernant, J.-P. â€Å"Tensions and Ambiguities in Greek Tragedy.† In J.-P. Vernant and P. Vidal-Naquet, eds., Tragedy and Myth in Ancient Greece. Sussex, N. J. 1981.

Destiny, Fate, Free Will and Free Choice - Prophecies in Oedipus, Antig

The Damning Prophecies in Oedipus, Antigone, and Agamemnon Oracles, seers, and prophets are used in Greek tragedy to provide foreshadowing for the audience and characters. The seers' wisdom is conveyed through the pronouncement of oracles or prophecies. They confer forecasts to principal characters that affect the characters' future. Although not always believed, and often endeavored to be foiled, seers, oracles, and prophets in Greek tragedies foretell events that greatly affect the lives of prominent characters. Cassandra in Aeschylus' Agamemnon, the Oracle at Delphi in Sophocles' Oedipus, and Teiresias in Sophocles' Antigone pronounce damning prophecies that, despite ignorance, evasion, or disregard, are inevitably fulfilled to the downfall and destruction of the characters. The seer Cassandra in The Agamemnon foretells the downfall and destruction of Agamemnon. Cassandra delivers several predictions of Agamemnon's impending death. "Agamemnon's dead is what you'll see."[p77] "The room- it reeks! Drips red with murder." p80 She also sees her murder that is unavoidable. "So, then I go / To sing the dirge of my own demise / And Agamemnon's too within the palace." p81 Cassandra's visions are heard by the chorus who are skeptical of her claims. Her visions are not believed by Agamemnon because of a curse set on her by the Greek god Apollo. Agamemnon is oblivious to her forecasts and believes he will live on and remain king. "So, overborne by you, I shall proceed / To tread the purple to my palace halls." Agamemnon infers that he will be able to safely return to power in his kingdom and is unaware of the treasonous plot calculated by his wife Clytemnestra and ... ...t suicide in anger at Kreon. Lives are lost and Kreon is disgraced as a king. In spite of his avoidance the prophecy is realized. Although not always believed, and often endeavored to be foiled, seers, oracles, and prophets in Greek tragedies foretell events that greatly affect the lives of prominent characters. Cassandra in Aeschylus' Agamemnon, the Oracle at Delphi in Sophocles' Oedipus, and Teiresias in Sophocles' Antigone pronounce damning prophecies that, despite ignorance, evasion, or disregard, are inevitably fulfilled to the downfall and destruction of the characters. Oracles, seers, and prophets from Greek tragedy correctly predict the destruction of important characters. Despite the characters' arrogance or avoidance, the prophecies are fulfilled. The characters' blatant contempt for prophecy contributes to the irony of their situations.

Music Industry Struggles to Get Cell phone?s Numbers :: essays research papers

â€Å"Music Industry Struggles to Get Cell phone’s Numbers†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There is a new trend bringing together cell phones and digital music called ringtones. These ringtones are customized ringers that a customer can download directly to their cell phone. This business has seen quick and expansive growth in the past 2 years and is expected to grow for at least a couple more years. Initially cell phones came with just a handful of default ringers the user could choose from, but now they are able to download digitalized versions of their favorite song. Some new phone technologies even allow the ringers to include actual samples of real music including vocals.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The ringtone market is a strong competitor with the online music market. The ringtone version of rapper 50-Cent’s song â€Å"In Da Club† actually outsold digital sales of the song. This is impressive because this ringtone was only 30 seconds, had no vocals, and priced at nearly two dollars was twice the cost of downloading the full digital song from Apple’s iTunes digital music store. Customers of Sprint bought 500,000 copies of Beyone’s â€Å"Crazy in Love† at $2.50 a piece. Estimates of world wide sales claim that ringer sales in 2003 reached nearly $3 billion. According to BMI, the royalty collection group, the American market was between $66 and $68 million in 2003 and is expected to reach $240 million in just the first 6 months of 2004.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The licensing of music to be turned into a ringer faces several legal issues. All parties involved in originally creating the music must agree to have their music digitally recreated as a ringer. The article reports that many songs, especially in the rap industry, involve many collaborators which further extends the licensing dilemma. The hit song â€Å"Yeah† by Usher took over 6 months to reach ringtones because one of the many parties involved held out in tough negotiations. While the major online ringtone publishers face these legal battles, there is another ethical issue that arises concerning the grey-market operators that provide cheap versions of hits without licensing. Further, this is legal discussion as to who should be getting the bigger piece of the royalties involving the ringtones. The publishing companies turning out the digital ringers typically get 10% of the sale price or 10 cents while the master ring tones that include actual song sample s bring in nearly 30 cents.

Reasoning Behind U.S. Decision to Enter the Korean War Essay

Introduction What determined the United States to enter the one of the costliest wars in the twentieth-century is a good topic for foreign policy study. There are several possible explanations as to why the United States participated in the war. The most important explanation is that the western world would be in a greater threat if North Korea won the war. Communist was considered as expansionism by the White House; hence, occupying South Korea might be a move of Communists to expand the Communist territory in the world. To prevent this, the United States needed to deter this possible threat. Another one is the United States is afraid of communist expansion. If North Korea won the war, it might cause countries swinging between Communist and Democratic to become Communist. Moreover, the domestic political situation for the Truman administration at that time was crucial in analyzing why the United States entered the war. These are the most important factors motivating America to enter the war. Des pite the profits of the entry in the war, there were some reasons preventing the United States involved in the war. Because North Korea’s invasion was likely backed by the USSR, if the United States failed to handle the situation properly, a World War III might happen; this would lead to huge loss of U.S. personal and substantial financial costs. Other than that, because China borders North Korea and China was another major Communist country, the United States intervention could lead to war with China. In this paper, I would first analyze each major reason individually for entering the war or not intervening. After that, I would put the picture together to explain why the United States eventually chose to participate in the war. Reasons the United States entered the Korean War Fear of Communist Expansion The most important factor that influenced U.S. entry into the Korean War was the USSR’s and other Communist countries’ ambitions to expand. After WWII, the White House had started to consider the Soviet Union as imperialist. The report â€Å"the Truth of Korea† implied that the United States was a free nation and the Soviet Union was intended to build a Soviet empire around the world. By considering the Soviet Union as imperialist, the United States was afraid that if the United States stood aside in the Korean War, Communist countries would take further actions to expand. For instances, China would attack Taiwan, IndoChina would overthrow France and become Communist countries, and the Soviet Union would even build communist regimes in Middle East or West Europe. The worries were likely to become reality unless U.S. intervened. After WWII, the Soviet Union consolidated their power by setting up puppet communist governments in all countries they had liberated, except Yugoslavia. Both force and politics were used to keep East European countries following commands from Moscow. Based on these behaviors of the USSR on other countries, it was reasonable that the United States labeled the Soviet Union as imperialism. Facing a country with desires to control other countries, punishment was a better choice than appeasement according to the deterrence model. If the United States entered the war and secured independence of South Korea, Communist power would be contained. Consequently, when Communist countries were making decisions of territorial expansion, they had to consider the cost and consequence of a war with the United States. Therefore, the intervention could contain Communist power and prevent potential wars from happening. Fear of Bandwagoning The second important reason U.S. entered the Korean War was fear of bandwagoning. It was less important than fear of Communist expansion is because bandwagoning would not directly harm U.S. interests, but would impair the global political leadership of the United States. In the setting of post-World War II, the world was separated as two major political spheres, one Soviet-led and the other U.S.-led. The Korean Peninsula was one of the several places two the major political powers conflicting each other. Other than that, the political landscape in East Asia was towards Communist. In China, the Communist party led by Mao Zedong just won the civil war against Jiang Jieshi’s government supported by the United States. Countries like Vietnam and Laos inclined to join the family of Communist at that time, abd overthrow French colonists. Therefore, if Communist North Korea unified the Korean Peninsula, it would make countries like Vietnam and Laos align with the USSR without hesitati on. The United States was not willing to let that happen. According to historical documents, when the war just started, Truman and his advisors believed that to falter would forfeit world leadership because of bandwagoning and Communist expansion. Moreover, in official reports about Korea situation, concerns about Democratic power weakened if South Korea fell were raised often. In 1948’s report â€Å"Prospects for Survival of the Republic of Korea,† the result of South Korea lost to North Korea would constitute a severe blow to the prestige and influence of the United States. As a result, the defeat of South Korea would encourage more countries to align with the Soviet Union. The report was before the war, the United States already considered the bandwagoning a severe threat to UN’s influence in the world. From this perspective, in order to maintain the democratic as a stronger power in the world, the United States had strong interests in entering the Korean War. Consolidation for the Truman Administration The domestic political situation for the Truman Administration was not positive before the Korean War. In 1949, the Communists in China won the civil war against the Nationalists backed by the United States. It was painful that White House lost an important country, China, to Communism because the United States had invested tons of resources in the country, but in the end, the United States did not have the expected return. It stirred a debate of â€Å"Who lost China† in the United States. The public was more in favor of McCarthy’s opinion. McCarthyism indicated that losing China to communism was the government’s fault. Based on his analysis of the civil war in China, he believed â€Å"China hands† — China specialists at White House — plotted Jiang’s defeat, who was the top leader of the Nationalist. Therefore, at the time before the Korean War, the Truman Administration had a lot of pressure from the public due to losing China. If Sou th Korea was defeated by North Korea, the public would strengthen their belief that losing China was a government’s blunder. Hence, losing South Korea would be catastrophic to Truman’s presidency. From the view of domestic political situation, the United States entered the Korean War because the Truman Administration needed to prove its ability in protecting democratic power before losing all trust in the public. This point was less strong than the above two was because it was hard to collect evidence to support the point. Factors preventing the United States from entering the war War with China Entering the Korean War was likely to start a war with China, one of the greatest powers in the world. From the perspective of geography, the Korean Peninsula adjoins China. If a foreign military power of the United States was close to the border of China, China would feel threatened. The worry was validated after the United States joined in the war. On June 27th, 1950, after the Seventh Fleet of the United States was sent to neutralize Formosa, Mao, the chairman of China at that time vowed â€Å"Year after year unsure of when the enemy will attack us. We must repair the house before it rains.† Not a long time after the vow, Mao sent his army to the Korean Peninsula. Moreover, although China just ended its civil war and badly needed time to recover from the war, China was actively looking for a chance to consolidate its status in the world stage. In 1950, most countries in the world only recognized Republic of China led by Jiang and disputed the legitimacy of People’s Republic of China led by Mao. Therefore, Mao was eager to have a war with a strong world power to gain international recognition. The Korean War against the United States was a good opportunity for the communists to show the Mao’s China’s power to the world. For this reason, China was likely to enter the Korean War if U.S. intervened. Regarding the negative results of the war, people in the United States just gained peace; nobody would like to see a war between China and the United States. A war with China would lose many the United States soldiers, breakup thousands of American families and halt U.S. economy growth, hence lowering people’s living standards. Additionally, a war with China was also meaningless because at that time the United States did not want to defeat China, but defend South Korea. The war between China and the United States was predicable if the United States entered the Korean War. A war between China and the United states was undesirable for the reasons listed in this section. Therefore, a war with China was a big factor in not entering the Korean War. Start of World War III The entry into the Korean War might lead to World War III. A possible war with China might drag the Soviet Union into the war. If the Soviet Union entered the war against the United States, the Eastern Europe under control of the Soviet Union would also claim war against the United States. As a result, Western Europe would likely align with the United States to contain the Communist power in the world. People all around the world just tried to recover from the aftermath of World War II. If World War III happened right after World War II, the world would be in chaos again, creating another tragedy in human beings history. The big picture When the benefits outweigh the costs of a decision, one would put that decision into action. The three major benefits Unites States would have from entering the war were preventing domino effect of countries joining in Communist, constraining the ambitions of expansions/ invasions from Communist countries, and securing the domestic administration. The two major costs were an undesirable war with China and a possible start of World War III. It was hard to determine whether the benefits outweighed the costs. However, the listed costs were unavoidable if the United States did nothing in the Korean War. If the United States let South Korea fall, there would still be a war between Communist power and democratic power in the future. As analyzed in the section of fear of Communist expansion, Communist countries led by the Soviet Union inclined to expand their territories if their ambitions were not constrained. Therefore, appeasement to Communist countries was not going to stop them from behaving aggressively. Even though the United States would not participate in the Korean War, finally it was possible to be a day that the Soviet Union would eventually declare a war on the United States for further expansion. The costs would only become more significant than the costs of entering the war at that time. Hence, in order to prevent that from happening, the United States took the initiative to contain Communist power in the world. Additionally, human pride played a factor. Truman might recklessly enter the war in order to secure his status in White House. To him, protecting his reputation and his presidency might be much more important than starting World War III or fighting an undesired war with China. Hence, because of personal emotions, Truman would order the United States to enter the war. Conclusion There are three major reasons encouraging the United States to enter the Korean War. From the perspective of bandwagoning, defending South Korea could win credibility for democracy power and possibly win countries swaying between Communism and Democracy. In the view of the deterrence model, entering the war could constrain the ambition of imperialism of Communism countries. Considering the domestic political condition, intervention in the Korean Peninsula could make the public turn attention to the war instead of the administration’s failure in China and relieve the public pressure from the administration. On the other side, there were two important costs preventing the United States from entering the war. The first cost was an unnecessary war with China. The United States would not benefit directly from fighting against China and U.S. would consume numerous resources and human power in the war. The other cost was starting World War III. The Soviet Union could declare a war on Unites States if the condition in Korea got worse. U.S. decision to entry into the Korea War was made because of two logics. First, the costs were unavoidable if the United States just watched and did nothing in the war. Communist would continue to expand and finally encounter the United States for a war in the future. At that time, the cost would only exaggerate, not minimize. Second, Truman would more likely send U.S. troops to the war field. In order to secure his administration, he needed to turn the public attention away from China and prove his ability in foreign policy. The result of the war was peace between South Korea and North Korea. Judging from the result, U.S. entry into the war had a positive impact on the peninsula. However, whether the peace in the Korean Peninsula could be achieved through other ways at lower cost is worth further discussion.

The Issue and History of Illiteracy Among African Americans

The Issue And History Of Illiteracy Among African Americans Becca White Writing 123 Instructor Sydney Darby 27 May 2008 Illiteracy is a growing issue in America. The U. S. Department of Education funded the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) in 1992 that estimates over 90 million Americans fall well below an eight grade literacy level (Rome, 2004, pp. 84). Nowhere is this tragedy more prevalent than among the impoverished African Americans. Illiteracy has always been higher among African Americans now the gap is growing even wider due to a verity of reasons.According to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy Prison Survey (2003), the number one deterrent to becoming a criminal is having the ability to read past the eighth grade, and the number one preventive for an inmate becoming a repeat offender is to educate in literacy past the eighth grade level. â€Å"Today, the definition of literacy is based on what is called functional literacy. That is, someone is literate if they a re able to function properly within society,† (Roman, 2004, pp. 81).This definition can cover a variety of skills not only reading and writing but also the skills required to process general information from one’s surroundings (Roman, 2004, pp. 81). To truly begin to understand the issues surrounding illiteracy among African Americans you have to go back to the beginning. America saw 7. 7 million slaves imported from Africa between 1492-1820 more than half the imports of slaves took place from 1700-1800 (Foner, 2006, pp. 112). By the 1830’s laws were in place to make the education of slaves illegal, thus only 10% of slaves were literate (Foner, 2006, pp. 48). At the time slavery ended only about 10% of the African American population could read and do sums – A vitally important ability in a Jim Crow society. Jim Crowism came to embody the laws, customs, and policies of segregation (Foner, 2006, pp. 310), but more importantly the post civil war ‘separ ate but not equal’ mentality. The phrase from Brent Staples (2006) article, ‘Why Slave-Era Barriers to Black Literacy Still Matter,’ caught my attention as he wrote, â€Å"literacy was a form of social capital that could be passed from one generation to the next. While post Civil War America moved toward the 1880’s laws were passed in the South making it legal to arrest any unemployed African American and the penalties for petty crimes were vastly increased the punishment all were sentenced to labor camps (Foner, 2006, pp. 557). Labor camps it appears were created for forced labor pools; this is also the first large influx of African Americans into the penal system. African Americans were barred from Unions, participation in Democracy, and from skilled employment.Further more men and women were desperately poor and unaffected by the laws regulating hours and conditions that labor was under (Foner, 2006, pp. 645). On the eve of World War I, 90% of African Americans still lived in the South, barred from all but the most menial, unskilled, labor and paid the lowest wages. Many African American women had to work outside the home in order to help the family survive (Foner, 2006, pp. 650). During WWI mass migration of more than 1 million African Americans took place out of the South and into the Northern ghettos of New York, Detroit, Chicago, Buffalo, and Trenton (Foner, 2006, pp. 85). Industrialization, thousands of jobs had opened in the North and many African Americans were looking for a chance at living wages, for their children to go to school, and escape the constant fear of lynching (Foner, 2006, pp. 685). The last to enter the workforce of the industrialized jobs they were the first to lose them as the economy slumped. Now instead of being confined in the deep Southern countryside the impoverished African Americans were in ghettos across America’s industrialized cities.The 1980’s witnessed the deindustrialization of Northern cities as thousands of African Americans lost jobs as factories closed across the Nation. The national unemployment rate of 1981 was 8. 9% but African Americans exceeded more than 20% of the total unemployment due in part to the inability to transition over to more technical jobs due to poorer education. The eighties saw African American males fall further than any other group in terms of wages and jobs (Foner, 2006, pp. 920).The eighties also saw the War on Drugs begin with new sentencing laws making prison sentences longer and harsher for possession of much smaller quantities of crack and cocaine (Foner, 2006, pp. 951). With the waning of the crack epidemic, crime rates dropped across the country however prison population are still on the rise (Foner, 2006, pp. 951). In 2000, over 2 million men were in prison with approximately 4. 2 million more on parole, or probation, convict labor is now in use again in several States (Foner, 2006, pp. 951).Among prison inmates, Africa n American men make up more than 70%, and represents only 6% of the total US population. The common thread is most of the black inmates cannot read, they also are less educated than their fathers had been (Nealy, 2008, pp. 21). It is estimated that as much as 70% of inmates are illiterate, and that 40-70% have not finished a GED or high school program (Drakeford, 2002, pp. 139). The cost according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (2001) was $22,632 per inmate per year or $62. 01 per day. The total population under correctional supervision includes more than 7 million people, or about 3. percent of all US adults (Western, 2007, pp. 512). Research has shown that literacy is directly linked to lower crime rates, and that intensive education programs implemented in prisons drastically lowered recidivism rates of inmates after release (Drakeford, 2002, pp. 139). The cost of incarceration is on the rise along with prison populations it seems that Nationally we are drawing ever closer to a crisis point where the issuers of illiteracy among the African Americas especially will need to be addressed and handled appropriately.In all the research and history I covered that goes into the issue of illiteracy what has yet to address is why illiteracy is such a persistent issue among the African American males. The closest explanation comes not from a research paper but from an article by Orlando Patterson (2006), titled ‘A Poverty of the Mind,’ where the author claims in interviews with young African Americans the heart of the issue lies in the â€Å"cool-pose culture† of the young males trying to live a life of parties, drugs, hanging with the homies, sexual relations, and just trying to looking cool becomes a way of life (pp. A). This is only a partial explanation but in searching through studies statistics, and the history of illiteracy among African Americans I’ve found the issue is as tangled as my balls of yarn. Illiteracy is an issue among A frican Americans especially prevalent among the prison population. Literacy is a key to unlocking the door to a crime free life for ex-cons. As to illiteracy being the cause of higher crime rates of that I have not seen any evidence for or against even though studies and research point to illiteracy being a strong indicator to future criminal activity it is not an absolute.Whether the issue of illiteracy will begin to be addressed in K-12 grade, or once a young man has become incarcerated is questionable. It appears that no matter what the answer the solutions will require support from all areas of the community in order to be successful in addressing the issue in its entirety. References Drakeford, W. (2002). The Impact of an Intensive Program to Increase the Literacy Skills of Youth Confined to Juvenile Corrections. Journal of Correctional Education, Vol. 53 Issue 4, p139-144, 6p. Retrieved April 17, 2008. from http://web. ebscohost. com Foner, E. (2006). Give ME Liberty! An Ameri can History.New York: W. W Norton & Company Ltd. Literacy Behind Bars: Results From the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy Prison Survey, http://nces. ed. gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo. asp? pubid=2007473 Nealy, M. J. (2008). BLACK MEN LEFT OUT AND LOCKED UP. Diverse: Issues in Higher Education. Vol. 24 Issue 26, p20-22, 3p. Retrieved April 17, 2008. from http://web. ebscohost. com Patterson, O. (2006, March 26) A Poverty of the Mind. New York Times. Retrieved April 17, 2008, from http://www. nytimes. com Roman, S. ( 2004). ILLITERACY AND OLDER ADULTS: INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETAL IMPLICATIONS. Educational Gerontology. Vol. 0 Issue 2, p79-93, 15p. . Retrieved April 17, 2008 from http://web. ebscohost. com Staples, B. (2006, January 1). Why Slave-Era Barriers to Black Literacy Still Matter. New York Times. Retrieved April 17, 2008, from http://www. nytimes. com U. S. Department of Justice (2001) Federal Bureau of Prisons, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Special Report. Retrieved May 15, 2008. http://www. ojp. usdoj. gov/bjs/pub/ascii/spe01. txt Western, B. (2007). Mass Imprisonment and Economic Inequality. Social Research, Vol. 74 Issue 2, p509-532, 24p. Retrieved April 17, 2008 from http://web. ebscohost. com

Deception Point Page 10

The President dropped a sugar cube into his mug. â€Å"As surprising as this may sound, the NASA discovery I'm referring to was made by EOS.† Now Rachel felt lost. If EOS had enjoyed a recent success, NASA certainly would have announced it, wouldn't they? Her father had been crucifying EOS in the media, and the space agency could use any good news they could find. â€Å"I've heard nothing,† Rachel said, â€Å"about any EOS discovery.† â€Å"I know. NASA prefers to keep the good news to themselves for a while.† Rachel doubted it. â€Å"In my experience, sir, when it comes to NASA, no news is generally bad news.† Restraint was not a forte of the NASA public relations department. The standing joke at the NRO was that NASA held a press conference every time one of their scientists so much as farted. The President frowned. â€Å"Ah, yes. I forget I'm talking to one of Pickering's NRO security disciples. Is he still moaning and groaning about NASA's loose lips?† â€Å"Security is his business, sir. He takes it very seriously.† â€Å"He damn well better. I just find it hard to believe that two agencies with so much in common constantly find something to fight about.† Rachel had learned early in her tenure under William Pickering that although both NASA and the NRO were space-related agencies, they had philosophies that were polar opposites. The NRO was a defense agency and kept all of its space activities classified, while NASA was academic and excitedly publicized all of its breakthroughs around the globe – often, William Pickering argued, at the risk of national security. Some of NASA's finest technologies-high-resolution lenses for satellite telescopes, long-range communications systems, and radio imaging devices – had a nasty habit of appearing in the intelligence arsenal of hostile countries and being used to spy against us. Bill Pickering often grumbled that NASA scientists had big brains†¦ and even bigger mouths. A more pointed issue between the agencies, however, was the fact that because NASA handled the NRO's satellite launches, many of NASA's recent failures directly affected the NRO. No failure had been more dramatic than that of August 12, 1998, when a NASA/Air Force Titan 4 rocket blew up forty seconds into launch and obliterated its payload – a $1.2 billion NRO satellite code-named Vortex 2. Pickering seemed particularly unwilling to forget that one. â€Å"So why hasn't NASA gone public about this recent success?† Rachel challenged. â€Å"They certainly could use some good news right now.† â€Å"NASA is being silent,† the President declared, â€Å"because I ordered them to be.† Rachel wondered if she had heard him correctly. If so, the President was committing some kind of political hara-kiri that she did not understand. â€Å"This discovery,† the President said, â€Å"is†¦ shall we say†¦ nothing short of astounding in its ramifications.† Rachel felt an uneasy chill. In the world of intelligence, â€Å"astounding ramifications† seldom meant good news. She now wondered if all the EOS secrecy was on account of the satellite system having spotted some impending environmental disaster. â€Å"Is there a problem?† â€Å"No problem at all. What EOS discovered is quite wonderful.† Rachel fell silent. â€Å"Suppose, Rachel, that I told you NASA has just made a discovery of such scientific importance†¦ such earth-shattering significance†¦ that it validated every dollar Americans have ever spent in space?† Rachel could not imagine. The President stood up. â€Å"Let's take a walk, shall we?† 11 Rachel followed President Herney out onto the glistening gangway of Air Force One. As they descended the stairs, Rachel felt the bleak March air clearing her mind. Unfortunately, clarity only made the President's claims seem more outlandish than before. NASA made a discovery of such scientific importance that it validates every dollar Americans have ever spent in space? Rachel could only imagine that a discovery of that magnitude would only center on one thing – the holy grail of NASA – contact with extraterrestrial life. Unfortunately, Rachel knew enough about that particular holy grail to know it was utterly implausible. As an intelligence analyst, Rachel constantly fielded questions from friends who wanted to know about the alleged government cover-ups of alien contact. She was consistently appalled by the theories her â€Å"educated† friends bought into – crashed alien saucers hidden in secret government bunkers, extraterrestrial corpses kept on ice, even unsuspecting civilians being abducted and surgically probed. It was all absurd, of course. There were no aliens. No cover-ups. Everyone in the intelligence community understood that the vast majority of sightings and alien abductions were simply the product of active imaginations or moneymaking hoaxes. When authentic photographic UFO evidence did exist, it had a strange habit of occurring near U.S. military airbases that were testing advanced classified aircraft. When Lockheed began air-testing aradical new jet called the Stealth Bomber, UFO sightings around Edwards Air Force Base increased fifteen-fold. â€Å"You have a skeptical look on your face,† the President said, eyeing her askance. The sound of his voice startled Rachel. She glanced over, unsure how to respond. â€Å"Well†¦ † She hesitated. â€Å"May I assume, sir, that we are not talking about alien spacecrafts or little green men?† The President looked quietly amused. â€Å"Rachel, I think you'll find this discovery far more intriguing than science fiction.† Rachel was relieved to hear NASA had not been so desperate as to try selling the President on an alien story. Nonetheless, his comment served only to deepen the mystery. â€Å"Well,† she said, â€Å"whatever NASA found, I must say the timing is exceptionally convenient.† Herney paused on the gangway. â€Å"Convenient? How so?† How so? Rachel stopped and stared. â€Å"Mr. President, NASA is currently in a life or death battle to justify its very existence, and you are under attack for continuing to fund it. A major NASA breakthrough right now would be a panacea for both NASA and your campaign. Your critics will obviously find the timing highly suspect.† â€Å"So†¦ are you calling me a liar or a fool?† Rachel felt a knot rise in her throat. â€Å"I meant no disrespect, sir. I simply-â€Å" â€Å"Relax.† A faint grin grew on Herney's lips, and he started to descend again. â€Å"When the NASA administrator first told me about this discovery, I flat out rejected it as absurd. I accused him of masterminding the most transparent political sham in history.† Rachel felt the knot in her throat dissolve somewhat. At the bottom of the ramp, Herney stopped and looked at her. â€Å"One reason I've asked NASA to keep their discovery under wraps is to protect them. The magnitude of this find is well beyond anything NASA has ever announced. It will make landing men on the moon seem insignificant. Because everyone, myself included, has so much to gain – and lose – I thought it prudent for someone to double-check the NASA data before we step into the world spotlight with a formal announcement.† Rachel was startled. â€Å"Certainly you can't mean me, sir?† The President laughed. â€Å"No, this is not your area of expertise. Besides, I've already achieved verification through extragovernmental channels.† Rachel's relief gave way to a new mystification. â€Å"Extragovernmental, sir? You mean you used the private sector? On something this classified?† The President nodded with conviction. â€Å"I put together an external confirmation team – four civilian scientists-non-NASA personnel with big names and serious reputations to protect. They used their own equipment to make observations and come to their own conclusions. Over the past forty-eight hours, these civilian scientists have confirmed the NASA discovery beyond the shadow of a doubt.†

Popuarity of fast food outlets Essay

10. Discuss the causes of popularity of fast food. In recent years, there have been many studies conducted on fast food. According to the results of these studies, fast food has become an indispensible part of human life and has become quite popular. There are numerous reasons for the popularity of fast food restaurants among which the two most important ones are that they are cheap and easily available. To begin with, one of the most significant reasons why many people today opt for fast food restaurants is that fast food is cheap. That is to say, because the cost of the ingredients of fast food is low, the prices are also low . Therefore, as expected, people have more of a tendency to eat fast food. For instance, students have generally limited pocket money and they tend to spend their money carefully. Thus, this situation compels them to eat fast food because it is more affordable for them. Briefly, the cheapness of fast food is one of the leading causes of its popularity. Another important reason why fast food restaurants are so popular is that they are easy available. In other words, today fast food branches are very widespread and people can find them almost everywhere. People can eat food without searching for a restaurant for a long time and when they find it, they don’t have to wait for long. To illustrate, students have limited time between classes and they can easily get fast food such as toasts and hamburgers in a place close to their school. In short people do not need to spend much time eating thanks to fast food. In conclusion, there are a myriad of reasons why fast food restaurants are very popular. We always focus on the neglect effects of eating in fast food restaurants but actually we need to examine the causes of its popularity. Two main reasons are that fast food is affordable and easily available. Nevertheless, people, especially children, should be well informed about negative effects of fast food.