Charge of the Light Brigade Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Charge of the Light Brigade - Essay Example Due to the foolishness of youth and the hope of a quick victory, each of us wanted to be a part of the battle that would change the course of this strange yet intense conflict. Sadly, as a youth is so often optimistic, the hopes and dreams of my fellow comrades and I were soon diminished as the war dragged on far longer than any of us ever expected it to. Yet, at last, we were informed by our officers that our very brigade would be making an offensive maneuver. Many of us thought that this opportunity was one that had slipped by for far too long and were eager to take place in such an activity. We were informed that the target was a fleeing artillery unit that we could harass and ultimately destroy as a means of improving our countrymen’s position on the field of conflict and seeking to leverage a thorough victory. However, before we set out on the charge, we realized that the position we were attacking was not dismantling and leaving but in fact heavily fortified and well pro visioned. As such, we had one of two choices. Either we could refuse the order and instruct our officers that they had made a fundamental error or we could shoulder our duty and perform it per the requirements that we had been trained. Naturally, as valorous soldiers that sought duty and honor before death, we chose the latter. Sadly, the results of this decision were ultimately terminal for many of the men within my brigade. Withering machine gun fire, constant artillery barrage, and small arms fire defined the charge itself. Even though our men reached the outer perimeters of the defenses towards which we had targeted, the force was so greatly reduced that the effectiveness of this attack was repelled almost immediately. Although many individuals who regard this battle consider this a valorous action, I must say that after having taken part in it, the valor of seeing such a slaughter is somewhat lost upon me. Moreover, the retreat itself was almost as deadly as the advance. The ar tillery, machine guns, and small arms of the Russians did not see their engagement until the point in which we were fully out of range and/or undercover of our own defenses. After the charge, officers, fellow soldiers, newspaper journalists, and individuals around the world held us as heroes. However, it is with a great deal of said that I did not specifically feel myself a hero. Rather, I felt that the men and I within the brigade who had engaged in active foolishness were little more than pawns within the hands of misinformed and rather uncaring officers on the field. It must be stated that even though I have this level of sadness and discussed with regards to the way in which this particular action was carried out, the patriotism that I have towards King and country remain undiminished (Cavendish 53). Instead of viewing this charge as a life altering way of thinking about my patriotic duty, I have instead realized that the military chain of command is oftentimes fundamentally fla wed. Rather than performing checks and ensuring that each and every man could be spared, the arrogance of complete and total control over the battlefield, by specific military commanders such as Maj. Gen. Lord Cardigan, allows such individuals to care little with respect to the trials, tribulations, and ultimate death that their soldiers might face in the field of conflict. Moreover, the officers that reported to Lord Cardigan were naturally fearful of questioning the tactics and providing

Casualties of War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Casualties of War - Essay Example It is the hope of this author that not only the film, but the Vietnam War as well as pervasive American interpretations of the value of native and indigenous people will help to be affected. Ultimately, the movie can be summarized, as with many Vietnam War movies, as concentric upon an analysis of a small squad of American soldiers. This is one of the most popular approaches that filmmakers take due to the fact that it allows the viewer the, acquainted with and personally knowledgeable regarding each of the characters; rather than integrating with an entire company, the viewer is able to simplify human emotions, personalities, and likely reactions based upon the means by which these characters are expected to behave. As with many other Vietnam War movies, â€Å"Casualties of War† represents a mixture of different individuals within the squad from various geographic regions as well as various ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Firstly, the viewer is integrated with an understandi ng of the sheer misery, abstraction, and violence that the Vietnam conflict engendered. As a function of understanding this level of inhumanity, exhibited on both sides of the conflict, it unfortunately comes as little surprise that the soldiers themselves begin behaving as little more than animals. The line of no return is of course cross when one of the soldiers takes a young Vietnam means girl and suggests that the squad user as a sex toy. Even though this is initially resisted, the threat of violence subdues these objections long enough for the girl to be raped. Once she is raped, it becomes infinitely easier for the other members of the squad, with the exception of Erikkson, to engage in a similar behavior. At each and every juncture, Erikkson opposes the actions that the squad leader perpetrates upon the young girl. Ultimately, Erikkson risks his own life in an attempt to save the girl from being murdered by the squad members. Once she is murdered, Erikkson set out on a person al crusade to expose the crime to the superiors within the military. As one might expect, speaking truth to power was neither popular nor safe. After many months and years of trying, Erikkson was able to bring the issue to the military’s attention and seek a nominal degree of punishment for the individuals involved. With regards to understanding the underlying tensions that existed between Meserve and Erikkson, the viewer can and should integrate with the basic understanding of unrestrained selfishness and complete lack of respect for human life that Meserve exhibited as compared to Erikkson’s more traditional view. Rather than exhibiting all Vietnam veterans as baby killers and murderers, this film helps to differentiate the difference between those sociopaths in society that were drafted into the military and sought to further their own selfish ends as compared to individuals that retain a level of humanity and restraint regardless of the pressures and difficulties t hat combat placed upon them. A further dynamic is equally evidenced within the film is the level and extent to which the

Russells On Denoting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Russells On Denoting - Essay Example Russell (1905) claimed that Meinong’s theory had difficulties as it â€Å"regard denoting phrases as standing for constituents of the propositions in whose verbal expression they occur†¦ This theory regards any grammatically correct denoting phrase as standing for an object† (p 482). And the main difficulty of this theory was that it was â€Å"apt to infringe the law of contradiction† (p 483). Russell’s critiqued on Meinong’s theory raised three important points: first, on the concept of subsistence. Russell maintained that if we presupposed that ‘It is false that A differs from B’, then ‘the difference between A and B does not subsist’. However, in Meinong’s theory since a denoting phrase was standing for an object, then, the denoting phrase ‘the difference between A and B’ must stand for an object. Therefore, the ‘difference between A and B’ must subsist. In this case, the self-contra diction was made apparent. As it was affirmed that ‘the difference between A and B’ must subsist (Meinong’s theory), so too the preposition ‘the difference between A and B does not subsist’ is affirmed on the statement â€Å"It is false that A differs from B†. (Sutler 1967). The second counter-argument rests on the concept of existence. Take the example ‘The King of France is bald.’ Again, using Meinong’s theory, as grammatically correct denoting phrase stand for an object then the statement must be true. But it is a known fact, within the frame of a particular time the preposition ‘the King of France is bald.’ does not stand or signify for any object.

English Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

English - Essay Example The very next day, the child mysteriously died (as cited in Clugston, 2010, pp. 44-50). This paper will use historical approach in criticizing and analyzing the theme of the story. Country Lovers is a very engaging story because of the intensity and the scandalous nature of the topic. Because of the heightened sense of racial prejudice during the early 1900s, a forbidden romance—an interracial romance is considered social taboo. And to even consider writing a literature that centres on this topic is truly fascinating and attention-grabbing to any readers, especially to those who are aware of American History and the heightened racial tension between the African Americans and the Caucasians in the South. This is very unpopular and unsavoury a topic for some but a social reality nonetheless; and the social stigma attached to mulattos is but a verifiable proof that though this is a work of fiction, it is grounded on social reality. Another aspect that adds merit to the story is t he credibility of the author. Nadine Gordimer was born 1923 in South Africa and have strong conviction on exposing the injustices that the majority of the black people are suffering—her people. These social injustices are the central themes of her writing and have since made impacts in improving racial relationships among countries (Clugston, 2010, p. 44).

History of Linux Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

History of Linux - Essay Example Miller and his team have briefly explained the evolution of this free to use software. In 1994, Red Hat Linux 1.0 got released and it was called Red Hat Commercial Linux in the beginning. It was the very first distribution of Linux that utilized the RPM Package Manager as the format of its packaging. In the late 1990s, other variants like Yellow Dog Linux, Mandriva Linux, MEPIS, Debian, etc. were also developed from the Red Hat Linux code base. In 2003 Red Hat severed the distribution line of Red Hat Linux and introduced Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for the enterprise setting. But much before, Fedora Project had taken off, which was an effort of the technical community. Fedora and Red Hat Linux are almost the same distribution since Red Hat explicitly patronized the Fedora Project. In this way, the premium operating system remains a free to use product. In 2004, Red Hat Linux 9 was released. Miller and his team further point out that for the next two years, Fedora legacy project was continued, while the official line of Red Hat Linux came to an end. In 2003, Red Hat Linux merged with the Fedora project and today it mainly service in the form of the Fedora distribution. The RHEL, on the other hand, continues to be distributed as a prime network operating system. In 2011, Distrowatch has marked Fedora as the third most popular distribution of the existing Red Hat Linux legacy following Ubuntu and Mint. 1. Linux supports full multitasking with the help of its robust UNIX code base. Along with the facility of running several background programs simultaneously, you can also access multiple devices such as a hard drive, a modem, and printers in one go. 2. According to InformIT, â€Å"Linux safely uses a portion of your hard drive as virtual memory, which increases the efficiency of your system by keeping active processes in RAM and placing less frequently used or inactive portions of memory on

Critique of Research Article Essay Essay Example for Free

Critique of Research Article Essay Essay The purpose of this essay is to recognize specific aspects of the clinical nursing research paper done by Carlee Lehna and Jack McNeil. I will define and discuss these aspects. In clinical research articles there are literature reviews that give background information as to the problem and research that was performed in the study, and why this problem needed to be studied (Burnes Grove, 2011). The literature review in this particular study explains to the reader about the contrast in health literacy of English speaking only parents and Spanish speaking only parents and what tools the researchers used to measure the parents’ health literacy of their child’s health care. The review was very thorough and understandable. The authors named a couple of different tools and how those tools measured literacy. They also explain why they chose the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults tool (TOFHLA), it was the only test that was available in English and Spanish. After reading another article there is another test called Newest Vital Sign. This test is also in English and Spanish takes less time and has only six questions. (Cornett, 2009). Using one test to measure their healt literacy is a limitation. The problem statement helps the reader identify the dilemma for the target population in the research and why it needs further exploration. Burns McNeil discuss that the lower health literacy of the parents the poorer outcomes of their children (Lehna McNeil, 2008). The purpose of this study is to measure the difference in health literacy in two groups of different language speaking parents, i. e. English and Spanish (Lehna McNeil, 2008). The relationship between the problem statement and purpose statement is that the purpose statement is the how the authors are going to find the fix for the problem. The problem statement in this article very clear that the low health literacy is directly related to poor outcomes. The purpose statement is concise and easy to comprehend. In the Lehna McNeil article, the word purpose is mentioned several times and it may make it harder for the reader to decipher the purpose statement, this is a limitation. Target population is a larger total sample group that meets a criteria (Burnes Grove, 2011). Sample is the particular group that participated in the study (Burnes Grove, 2011). The target group in this particular study meet the criteria of parents/caregivers that either only speak English or Spanish and that their children were treated at Shriners Hospital for Children in Galveston, Texas. The sample group is much smaller, they meet the criteria and participated in the tests, interviews and focus groups. These different ways that the researchers used to gather information is a strength. Two of the limitations with the sample is that they only studied parents from one hospital and the authors just specified the language as Spanish, there are many different dialects in those Spanish speaking countries that some information could be lost in translation. The five parts of the study were very easy to recognize. By dissecting this study it helped me identify and learn those 5 parts. I feel a bit more comfortable in reading research papers. This research study was very interesting because I can relate to the difficulty with trying to explain health issues with Spanish speaking families. References Burnes, N. , Grove, S. K. (2011). Understanding Nursing Research: Building an Evidence-Based Practice (5th Ed. ). Maryland Heights, MO: Elsevier. Cornett, S. (2009, Sept 30). Assessing and Addressing Health Literacy. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 14. http://dx. doi. org/10. 3912/OJIN. Vol14No03Man02 Lehna, C. , McNeil, J. (2008, April 2). Mixed-Method Exploration of Parents’ Health Understanding. Clinical Nursing Research, http://cnr. sagepub. com/

Africa Change over Time Essay Example for Free

Africa Change over Time Essay Around the period during the second World War and the Cold War, a Red Scare went on in the most powerful and influential capitalist countries of the world. The Red Scare was basically a fear of the spread of communism. According to the Domino Theory, which was developed in that era, if a specific country turned to communism, communism would soon spread to all the other countries in that area. This fear caused the United States to jump into action at the slightest sign of communist influence in many places in the world, especially subsaharan Africa. However, over the years, this fear has eased, and the U. S. is more prone to attempting to aid these nations, rather than destroying them. In sub-saharan Africa, from around 1900 to present day, conditions there have both changed and stayed the same. On one hand, western involvement in the area has changed, but on the other hand, the constant civil wars and oppressive circumstances from the past still exist today. Sub-saharan Africa from the beginning of the 20th century up to this present day has been under constant civil war. South Africa, Sudan, Mozambique, Angola, Ethiopia and Zaire (or the Republic of Congo) are good examples of this. South Africa was first colonized by the Dutch who integrated themselves into the country. However, in the late 19th century, the English conquered South Africa and moved the Boers (the Dutch-Africans) to the north of the country where they clashed with the native Zulu tribe. When diamonds where later discovered in that area, the Dutch and the English had wars for the territory. In Sudan, a fundamentalist Islamic group that sits at the head of the government was at civil war with a rebel Christian group. The main reason for this conflict was the obvious religious differences. This conflict has ruined many crops and homes of civilians and forced many others to flee the country. In Mozambique the civil So? a Gruber war there was a proxy war between the Soviet Union, that influenced a Marxist government in that area, and the U. S. , that sponsored a rebel movement to usurp the communist government. Similarly, in Angola and Ethiopia, a proxy war, sponsored by the two Cold War superpowers tear the countries apart, causing widespread famine and suffering. Finally, the civil war in Congo, that has lasted for decades, was a tug for power between both left and right leaders who, nonetheless, where all power hungry and corrupt. In sub-saharan Africa, there is a continuous pattern of oppression of the people. The examples for this seem to be endless, between constant genocides and militaristic dictators, the people in sub-saharan Africa suffer and die in squalor. In Rwanda, a mass genocide erupted when the Hutu tribe blamed the Tutsi tribe for their leader’s death. In a time span of 100 days, nearly 8000 people died, and countless more were injured in unspeakable ways. Throughout all of Africa, the use of child soldiers has become extremely popular. It is not uncommon for a 10 year old boy (sometimes even younger) to be drugged and paraded down the street while they shot innocent civilians and mutilated them. The living conditions in many nations are unspeakable. Many families live in shacks with no running water, and very few of them have any means of contact to the outside world (television, phones, radio, ect. ). Constant civil war force many families to flee their country, creating refugees for other countries, who stick them all in refugee camps. Most methods of war involve hurting civilians, in Sudan, a popular resistance method was scorched-earth policies. Here, armies would burn down everything that would be essential to life, ensuring that no aid would be available to their opponent. In South Africa, mostly, apartheid was practiced to the extreme. Not only were there segregated bathrooms and schools, but entire towns. A white minority would live in splendor, while the black, native majority would live in squalor. From 1900 to present day, the world’s involvement in sub-saharan Africa has drastically changed. Western involvement in sub-saharan Africa mainly consisted in imperialistic motives and proxy wars. However, its started to change into wanting to help improve the standard of living. South Africa is a very good example of this. In the times of imperialism, England and Holland both had interest in South Africa. England wanted to create colonies there and the Dutch were already there. After the Dutch kicked the English out of the country, they set up their own personal empire in the region. They created a world where whites ruled over blacks. The insalubrious living conditions there for the native black majority eventually set off the rest of the world. After years of both internal and external pressure, the South African government finally ended apartheid in the country. This type of change goes on in many African countries. Most of these countries suffer due to futile proxy wars set up in the region by both Soviet and American forces. After decades of watching this fighting, the world decided to step in and help. Red Cross is sent in there to aid and occasionally, the United Nations tries to stop these wars. Non-profit organizations, such as UNICEF and Hand Up Africa encourage western civilians to take part in working for peace in the sub-saharan African nations. Despite the change in western attitude towards sub-saharan African nations, most of them still are under the threat of constant civil war and their people live in oppressive circumstances. Many of these civil wars were caused by the American fear towards communism and tribal and religious differences. These conflicts bring rise to militaristic dictatorships and decrease the standard of living prominently. However, in retrospect, western nations seemed to have repented for their destruction of the large continent and continuously attempt to rebuild it.