How lizards evolved into snakes essays

How lizards evolved into snakes essays Many millions of years the planet was dominated by lizards great and small. It was a place ruled by the laws of natural selection where the only way to survive was to be able to defend yourself with what you had. It was a constant struggle for food, shelter, and supremacy. It was about survival of the fittest, because only if you were best suited to your environment would you have a chance at living to reproduce. Sometimes adapting to one's environment could create a whole new species altogether. During the time when dinosaurs walked the earth smaller lizards had to be creative to insure their survival. The dinosaurs, because of their size where the bullies of the earth. If lizards wanted food they had to some how sneak around the big dinosaurs in order to avoid becoming food themselves. A species of lizard known as the Ear-less Monitor seemed very well adapted to counteract this problem. Their eyes had a clear protective lens which allowed them to go into the water in search of food and bypass the land roaming One major problem soon faced the Ear-less Monitors in their quest for nourishment. It seemed that the sea dwelling creatures had begun to catch on to the fact that these lizards were invading their territory for food. The sea dwellers reacted by praying on the lizards who came into the water to eat. After many deaths at sea one smart little Ear-less Monitor decided to try another approach at obtaining food. This particular Monitor was picked on by all of the other Monitors because he and his family had arms and legs that were shorter and smaller than everyone else's. The would tease him and his family saying that their gene pool had little genetic variation. But he did not let that get him down. He figured that with his stubby arms and legs that he could burrow under ground to find food. He used his clea ...

Rudolf Hess, Nazi Who Claimed to Be Bringing Peace Offer

Rudolf Hess, Nazi Who Claimed to Be Bringing Peace Offer Rudolf Hess was a top Nazi official and close associate of Adolph Hitler who shocked the world in the spring of 1941 by flying a small plane to Scotland, parachuting to the ground, and claiming when captured that he was delivering a peace proposal from Germany. His arrival was met with astonishment and skepticism, and he spent the rest of the war in captivity. Fast Facts: Rudolph Hess Birth: April 26, 1894, Alexandria, Egypt.Death: August 17, 1987, Spandau Prison, Berlin, Germany.Known for: High-ranking Nazi who flew to Scotland in 1941, claiming to bring a peace proposal. Close Hitler Associate There has always been considerable debate about Hesss mission. The British concluded he had no authority to negotiate peace, and questions about his motivations and even his sanity persisted. There was no doubt that Hess had been a longtime associate of Hitler. He had joined the Nazi movement when it was a tiny fringe group on the edge of German society and during Hitlers rise to power he became a trusted aide. At the time of his flight to Scotland, he was widely known to the outside world as a trusted member of Hitlers inner circle. Hess was ultimately convicted at the Nuremberg Trials, and would outlive the other Nazi war criminals who were convicted alongside him. Serving a life term in grim Spandau Prison in West Berlin, he ultimately became the prisons sole inmate for the last two decades of his life. Even his death in 1987 was controversial. By official account, he had committed suicide by hanging himself at the age of 93. Yet rumors of foul play circulated and still persist. After his death the German government had to deal with his grave in a family plot in Bavaria becoming a pilgrimage site for modern day Nazis. Early Career Hess was born as Walter Richard Rudolf Hess in Cairo, Egypt, on April 26, 1894. His father was a German merchant based in Egypt, and Hess was educated at a German school in Alexandria and later at schools in Germany and Switzerland. He embarked on a business career which was quickly interrupted by the outbreak of war in Europe when he was 20 years old. In World War I Hess served in a Bavarian infantry unit and eventually trained as a pilot. When the war ended with Germanys defeat Hess was embittered. Like many other disgruntled German veterans, his deep disillusionment led him to radical political movements. Hess became an early adherent of the Nazi Party, and forged a close association with the partys rising star, Hitler. Hess served as Hitlers secretary and bodyguard in the early 1920s. After the abortive coup in 1923 in Munich, which became famous as the Beer Hall Putsch, Hess was imprisoned with Hitler. During this period Hitler dictated to Hess part of what became his notorious book Mein Kampf. As the Nazis rose to power, Hess was given important posts by Hitler. In 1932 he was appointed head of the partys central commission. In the following years he continued being promoted, and his role in the top Nazi leadership was evident. A front-page headline in the New York Times in the summer of 1934 referred to his likely position as Hitlers closest subordinate and successor: Hitler Understudy Likely To Be Hess. In 1941, Hess was officially known as the third most powerful Nazi, after only Hitler and Herman Goering. In reality his power had probably faded, yet he was still in close contact with Hitler. As Hess hatched his plan to fly out of Germany, Operation Sea Lion, Hitlers plan to invade England the previous year had been postponed. Hitler was turning his attention eastward and making plans to invade Russia. Flight to Scotland On May 10, 1941, a farmer in Scotland discovered a German flier, wrapped in a parachute, on his land. The flier, whose Messerschmitt fighter plane had crashed nearby, first claimed to be an ordinary military pilot, giving his name as Alfred Horn. He was taken into custody by the British military. Hess, posing as Horn, told his captors he was a friend of the Duke of Hamilton, a British aristocrat and noted aviator who had attended the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. The Germans, or at least Hess, seemed to believe the Duke could help broker a peace deal. While detained in a hospital shortly after his capture, Hess got to meet the Duke of Hamilton and revealed his true identity. The Duke immediately contacted Prime Minister Winston Churchill and informed him that he had met Hess years earlier and the man who had landed in Scotland was indeed the high-ranking Nazi. British authorities expressed astonishment as the peculiar story of Hesss arrival in Scotland made headlines around the world. The earliest dispatches about Hesss flight from Germany to Scotland were full of speculation about his purpose and motives. One theory in the early press accounts was that Hess feared a purge was coming of top Nazi officials and Hitler might be planning to have him killed. Another theory was that Hess had decided to abandon the Nazi cause and help the British. The official story which was ultimately put out by the British was that Hess claimed to be bringing a peace proposal. The British leadership did not take Hess seriously. In any event, less than a year after the Battle of Britain the British were in no mood to discuss peace with Hitler. The Nazi leadership, for its part, distanced itself from Hess and put out the story that he had been suffering from delusions. For the rest of the war Hess was held by the British. His mental state was often questioned. At one point he seemed to attempt suicide by jumping over the railing of a staircase, breaking a leg in the process. He seemed to spend most of his time staring into space and began to habitually complain that he believed his food was being poisoned. Decades of Captivity Following the end of World War II, Hess was put on trial at Nuremberg along with other leading Nazis. Throughout the ten months of the 1946 war crimes trial, Hess often seemed disoriented as he sat in the courtroom along with other high-ranking Nazis. At times he read a book. Often he stared into space, seeming to have no interest in what was happening around him. Rudolf Hess, with arms extended, at the Nuremberg Trial. Getty Images   On October 1, 1946, Hess was sentenced to life in prison. Twelve of the other Nazis on trial with him were sentenced to be hanged, and others received sentences of 10 to 20 years. Hess was the only Nazi leader to be sentenced to a life term. He escaped the death penalty mainly because his mental state was questionable and he had spent the bloodiest years of the Nazi terror locked up in England. Hess served his sentence in Spandau Prison in West Berlin. Other Nazi prisoners died in prison or were released as their terms ended, and from October 1, 1966, onward, Hess was Spandaus only prisoner. His family periodically sought to have him released, but their appeals were always refused. The Soviet Union, which had been a party to the Nuremberg trials, insisted that he serve every day of his life sentence. In prison, Hess was still mostly a mystery. His peculiar behavior continued, and it wasnt until the 1960s that he agreed to have monthly visits from family members. He was in the news at times when he was taken to a British military hospital in Germany for treatment of various ailments. Controversy After Death Hess died in prison on August 17, 1987, at the age of 93. It was revealed that he had strangled himself with an electrical cord. His jailers said he had left a note indicating a desire to kill himself. Rumors circulated that Hess had been murdered, supposedly because he had become a figure of fascination for neo-Nazis in Europe. The Allied powers released his body to his family, despite fears that his grave would become a shrine for Nazi sympathizers. At his funeral in a Bavarian graveyard in late August 1987 scuffles broke out. The New York Times reported that about 200 Nazi sympathizers, some dressed in Third Reich uniforms, scuffled with police. Hess was buried in a family plot and the site did become a gathering place for Nazis. In the summer of 2011, fed up with visits by Nazis, the cemetery administration exhumed Hesss remains. His body was then cremated and his ashes scattered at sea in an unknown location. Theories about Hesss flight to Scotland continue to emerge. In the early 1990s, files released from Russias KGB seemed to indicate that British intelligence officers had lured Hess to leave Germany. The Russian files included reports from the notorious mole Kim Philby. The official reason for Hesss flight remains as it was in 1941: Hess believed he could, on his own, make peace between Germany and Britain. Sources: Walter Richard Rudolf Hess. Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed., vol. 7, Gale, 2004, pp. 363-365. Gale Virtual Reference Library.Rudolf Hess Is Dead In Berlin; Last of Hitler Inner Circle. New York Times 18 August 1987. A1.

Research Confucius and Socrates Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Confucius and Socrates - Research Paper Example The financially pathetic family background did not restrict him from interacting with intellectual personalities and promoting his thoughts. Though not fully satisfied with the democracy of Athens, he always performed his duties well as a true citizen. Unfortunately, the democratic system accused him of corrupting the youth of Athens and further sentenced him to death. He accepted the death penalty without hesitation and died drinking the hemlock. Confucius believed that individuals themselves are solely responsible for their actions and behavior both individually and collectively. He had great love for his precedents for he claimed all his teachings had been derived from the ancients rather than his own perspectives (Confucius. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Confucius admired heaven and its blessings on mankind. Confucius maintained respect for spiritual forces and considered them worth worship. He emphasized on the significance of social behavior and considered love, affecti on, and concern for others as essentials of virtuous life. He also proposed concern for parents and siblings as qualities of discipline. Confucius believed that a ruler should posses the commendable qualities of discipline, love, concern in order to be a role model to his subjects.

Love.Rapid weight gain during infancy and obesity in young adulthood Research Paper

Love.Rapid weight gain during infancy and obesity in young adulthood in a cohort of african American - Research Paper Example It involved selecting a cohort of 300 African Americans born at full term and their progress followed from birth to 20 years of age. The study was slow since it took the researchers two decades to get the appropriate outcome and results. The subjects used in the study were living and made for a more informative interview. The outcome of the research was general and gave satisfying results. The statistical analyses used in the study included; finding the weight of the subjects as recommended by Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) using the LMS method and a representative sample of the US population (Stettler et al, 2003). In analyzing, a pattern of quick rate of weight gain in the first 4 months of life, was defined as an increase in weight-for-age z score>b SD between birth and 4 months. The major result in table 1 show that the population attributes risk of young adulthood obesity was 30% for a pattern of rapid weight gain during infancy. 1 Â ½ of the obese young adults in the early infancy gained a quick weight (Stettler et al, 2003). 15% of African americans with and 6% without a quick mass increase throughout untimely infancy became ‘overweight –overfat’ in childish adulthood. In table 2, a quick weight gain in the early infancy and adult obesity was found out by sexual category, delivery weight, gestational time, firstborn condition, maternal BMI, motherly smoking condition or education (Stettler et al, 2003). OR information represents ‘odds ratios’ while CI represents ‘Confidence Intervals’. OR of 5.22 signifies harm in relation to the risk of quick weight gain as infant compared to weight as an immature adult, since gaining weight will affect the internal organs by fats blocking the body tissues. The biological facts of clinical knowledge are significant in comprehending and analyzing the results. The clinical implications of the study included using alternate definitions based on BMI or BMI combining it with

Edgar Allan Poe Essay Example for Free

Edgar Allan Poe Essay The many different works of Edgar Allan Poe all aim to do one thing. Strike fear into the heart of the reader. Simple, yet effective, he expresses fear through these many different themes and motifs. At full length, Poe’s stories all acquire a distinct theme or motif that moves the story forward. Whether you know it or not, many of his stories rely on themes and motifs to make the story more appealing to the reader. Time, duality, and dreams all play key roles in Poe’s short stories. They descriptively provide all of the necessary information in order to produce the whole concept of fear. Without them, these stories wouldn’t push you to the edge of your seat, wondering what is going to happen next. Time plays a major role in providing the story with the crucial data it needs to make the story frightening and suspenseful. It presents the story with a visual that makes the mood of the story transition into a very adverse setting. Dusk is probably the most common time of day in many of Poe’s stories. He chooses dusk because, during that time of day, it is very difficult to see. For example, in â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher† the narrator begins to describe how it is very difficult to see while he is making his way towards his child hood friend’s mansion. When choosing the time of day that produces little or no light, Poe tries to make the setting as dark as possible. Light represents happiness and positivity, so Poe tries to eliminate anything that represents prosperity. By assembling negative forces, the story will generate fear into the reader. In â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† the narrator stalks his pray for seven days, but on the eighth night the narrator commits the horrible deed. The number eight is used frequently with Poe and his stories; in this case, it represents what day the narrator will kill the old man. With â€Å"Masque of the Red Death†, time represents life. It represents life because once a person is infected with the red death; the infected person has only 30 minutes to live. The ebony clock also represents life, because after every hour the clock will ring, reminding the people that time is running out. This theme is very necessary for producing fear, because if Poe doesn’t clarify what time of day it is, the story loses suspense. So it’s apparent that time is a key necessity in conveying fear into readers. The narrator often produces dreams themselves. Frequently, it presents a distortion of reality for the narrator and the reader. Dreams in Poe’s stories draw the line between reality and fantasy. Many unexplainable things would occur and the narrator would instantly assume it would be his imagination or that he would be dreaming. Providing dreams will make the reader build curiosity into whether or not these bizarre things are real or just images of the narrators eccentric imagination. In â€Å"Masque of the Red Death†, a huge party is thrown, to isolate the people from the disease. In the party, the guests have a great time by dressing up and having a â€Å"perfect† time, until the ebony clock rings. Once the clock rings, the party guests snap back into reality for a short moment. For that short moment, the reader realizes the severity of the situation. That short moment of severity produces fear. During his trip to Rederick’s mansion in â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher†, the narrator feels like the trip is a dream because the environment of the mansion is so surreal. Alcohol provides the narrator in â€Å"The Black Cat† with a distortion of reality, because after he hangs the black cat, he comes across a cat that is identical to the one he hangs after he leaves the bar. The narrator is completely shocked by the resemblance to his previous cat. This similarity conveys fear into the reader, because you can’t tell if it’s the same cat or a different one. The distortion of reality in dreams really help produce fear due to the doubtful events that keep occurring. These events help generate fear and build up the suspense in the reader for a few moments. Duality in the characters conveys the most fear towards the reader. By having a dual persona, the character is able to build up that suspense by having a â€Å"good† side and a â€Å"bad† side. As an animal lover, the narrator in â€Å"The Black Cat† would always love to take care of animals, until he becomes â€Å"consumed by the imp of the perverse† which exposes his negative side. This negativity leads him to killing his cat and his wife. The insanity of having a dual persona helps transmit true fear into the reader. As a young caretaker, the narrator in â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† has nothing against the old man he is looking after; the old man has done nothing wrong to deserve any negative treatment. During the day the narrator would go about his business taking care of the old man, until night came upon. At night, the narrator would be consumed by the old man’s eye. His â€Å"evil eye† leads the narrator to kill his wife and their pet. The duality in both of the these characters are very similar due to them being consumed by some object that leads them into killing their loved ones and pets. All of these themes help produce the backbone of Poe’s stories. Without these themes and motifs, these stories wouldn’t be as suspenseful as they are today. These stories rely on the descriptiveness and the intensity of these themes to carry the suspense and to convey fear into the readers. Today, as people still learn about Poe’s stories, they will still be able to consume the fear that they read due to these themes and motifs.

Becoming a Pharmacist Essay -- Health Care

Becoming a Pharmacist Besides finding the right partner, many people seek the right career. It is a very important part of our life. In today’s modern world, there is a broad spectrum of opportunities to choose from. The right choice can give us not just a source of a paycheck, but also an opportunity for advancement and academic satisfaction. There are many aspects to consider when deciding about a future career like; benefits, working environment, and opportunities for advancement. Perhaps the most important quality is a feeling of the highest personal accomplishment. The medical field offers many different opportunities, and one of them is a career in pharmacy. The pharmacy field has been evolving for millennia, and it shaped into modern science. The career in the pharmacy requires several years of a extensive study and dedication, but all the hard work is greatly rewarded at the end. The Pharmacy field has a long history. First pharmaceutical rituals were recorded in Egypt 3600 B.C. In Ancient Greece, it was Hippocrates who dismissed the rituals, and started treating diseases with his pharmaceutical preparations. In Rome, Galen was the first the put the drugs in categories based on their action (Wood, p. 220). Arabian pharmacists separated pharmacies from the medicine field between 700 – 1000 A.D. First pharmacy rules were created by the German Emperor Frederick II between 1224-1240. In sixteenth century Swiss physician Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim suggests treating diseases on chemical principle. From this point on, pharmacy was recognized as medicinal chemistry. The revolution of discoveries started in the nineteenth century. The fist drug mill and the fist pill machine were developed. German pharmacist Serturne... ...ers. New York. Paw Prints, 2008. Print. Ganachari, M.S. Shah, P.S.Zalavadia, N.M. Pharmacist: A crucial part of clinical Research. Journal of Pharmacy Research. 2010. Vol.3(3), p.444, Peer Reviewed Journal. Miller, H. â€Å"The FDA Actively Regulates Drug Safety.† The Pharmaceutical Industry. Ed. Carroll, J. Farmington Hills. Greenhaven Press. 2009. p. 75-76. Print. Turning Points in World History Great Medical Discoveries. Ed. Shane, C.J. Farmington Hills. Greenhaven Press. 2004. p. 118-133. UAMS College of Pharmacy. PCAT Prep Program. University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. n. d. Web. April 4, 2012. University of Florida. Distance-Learning Models. n.d. Web. April 4, 2012 Wood C. A History of Healing Therapies: Western, Eastern, and Alternative Approaches. CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, Oct, 2010, Vol.48(2), p.219-224(11) Essay. April 2, 2012

A Persuasive Essay on Underage Drinking

Because underage drinking is related to easy access to alcohol, an alcohol-related problem associated exclusively with young people is that of underage drinking in licensed premises. Young people may enter bars, subject to the licensee’s permission, once they are 18 years of age in England, Scotland and Wales.The corresponding age in the United States is 21. Survey findings show that between 10 and 20 per cent of 13 year olds report that their usual location for drinking is in a public bar, club or disco. The proportion drinking in these establishments rises steadily with age, until at 17 years of age, between 50 and 90 per cent of young people choose licensed places in which to conduct their drinking (Wagenaar and Wolfson 1994).This paper argues that there is need in the determination of the extent to which raising the minimum drinking age results in reduction in use and problems among young adults.Policies to restrict the minimum drinking age at which licensed sales to under age youth are permitted are intended to restrict youth access to alcohol and prevent the early onset and rapid development of drinking problems among youth and young adults. It is of some interest in this regard to also determine the effects of lower minimum drinking ages on alcohol problems.There is now a strong and consistent body of knowledge in relation to the impact of drinking age laws for public drinking and making legal purchases of alcohol. This was influential in assisting community advocacy groups to push successfully for the drinking age to be raised to 21 in many US States, following experiences with earlier periods of relaxation (Wagenaar and Wolfson 1994).These drinking age laws stand as the highest in the world, being shared with Malaysia, South Korea and Ukraine. Most countries for which information is available have 18 as the legal drinking age and a handful of European countries have adopted 16 (Austria, Belgium, France, Italy and Spain).There is persuasive eviden ce that changes to the minimum legal drinking age directly result in corresponding changes in levels of a variety of problems relating to alcohol intoxication, including road traffic fatalities, juvenile crime, serious assault and drunkenness convictions for the affected age groups (Yu 1998).The US General Accounting Office (1987) conducted a systematic review of this topic and, on the basis of 14 studies judged to be methodologically sound, estimated reductions in fatal road crashes among young drivers to be 5–28%. In one study of changes in drinking age laws across four Australian states, reductions were significantly associated with increases in assaults.Following the drop in drinking age from 21 to 18 in Western Australia in 1970, rates of serious assault increased by 231% for juveniles in comparison with Queensland (O'malley and Wagenaar 1991).