MIDDLE EAST Essays - Western Asia, Arabian Peninsula,

MIDDLE EAST MIDDLE EAST Regional Makeup- There are three main regions that make up the Middle East. The Fertile Cresent it includes the countries of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Isreal, and Jordan. It is a 1000 mile long area of, fertile land and is shaped like a cresent moon. Another region is the Highlands it includes the countries of Turkey, Iran, and Afghanistan.A sereies of mountain ranges stretch through these countries. They are the Taurus Mountains,Elburz Mountains, and the Zagros Mountains.A third region is the Arabian Peninsula it is bordered by the Red Sea, Persian Gulf and,Arabian Sea. Its land area is about 1 milloin squaremiles Saudi Arabia the largest country in the Middle East takes up much of the area. Much of the rest is covered by the Rub' al-Khali or the empty quarter. Physical Features- There are many physical features made up of water such as seas the Red, Mediterranean, Dead, Caspian, Arabain, and Black. Rivers the Euphrates and Tigris are the main rivers. Straits the Bosporus and the Dardanelles. Gulfs Aden, Persian, and Oman. There is also two plateaus the Iranian and the Anatolian and three main mountain chains Zagros, Elburz, and the Taurus. Deserts the Rub' al-Khali (empty quater). Lifestyles- If you lived in the Middle East you would probally not have much money and no material things. You have to work all day to survive the types of work you would probally be doing is herding sheep,weaving baskets,selling fruit at the markets,and trading goods. Languages- Pastro,Dari,Farsi,Turkish,Kurdish,Arabic,Persian,Hebrew,English,French, and Armenian. Major agricultural,manufactured, and exported products- Exports-Crude Oil,Petroleum, Services, Machinery,Diamonds, and Natural Gas. Imports-Motor Vehicles, Machinery,Food,and Crude Oil. Agriculture-sheep and fruits. The thing that interested me most about the Middle East is that if you are a muslim you must visit Mecca at least once in your life if you can afford it. That interests me because if you are catholic you do not have to visit Vatican City home of the Pope. Another thing that interested me about the muslim religion is that you must pray in the direction of Mecca wich is the most holy city in the muslim religion. Extra tidbits of information- In our textbooks it states that three major religions were started in the Middle East they were Judism,Christianity,and Islamic but I found out that a fourht major religion was also started there it is Zoroastrianism. The meaning for the word muslim is "Those who surrender to gods will" In sixth century B.C. the Persians overran the whole Middle East and set up a ruling system that became the model for all later empires.

Ragtime Essays - Ragtime, Harry Houdini, Escapology, Free Essays

Ragtime Essays - Ragtime, Harry Houdini, Escapology, Free Essays Ragtime In the classic E.L. Doctorow novel, Ragtime, we see the juxtaposition of many motifs to represent Doctorow?s view of the early century. By combining history and fiction Doctorow allows himself to write a semi-accurate interpretation of the early 1900?s while also being able to strongly express his own biases and opinions of the era. The biggest, and perhaps most important theme Doctorow applies in the novel is social tension, or the battle of the rich versus the poor. Other important themes include rebirth, racial tension, and high randomness of events. By using these themes and others, movie makers created a film, which they believe best represents Doctorow?s views. It is apparent that Doctorow clearly favors the poor, lower class, in their struggle for economic and social mobility against the few, rich, upper class citizens. Doctorow?s thoughts are best depicted through the novel?s characters. Tateh, Coalhouse Walker and Sarah are all characters who are portrayed as ?good?. These characters, while representing a wide range of economic success, all symbolize socially challenged individuals. Throughout the novel, Doctorow always chooses these or similar types of characters to be the protagonists. Doctorow wants the reader to feel for Coalhouse?s situation. He wants the reader to hope that Willie Conklin is harmed and the Model T Ford is repaired. On the other hand, Doctorow tells a different tale for the economic elite, upper echelon of society, represented by J.P. Morgan and Henry Ford. Morgan is presented as a snobbish old man, who always gets his way, and we are supposed to feel no remorse for him when his museum is broken int! o. We, the readers, are inclined to agree with Doctorow?s opinion only because that is the way he planned it. Doctorow did not touch on any negative aspects of Coalhouse Walker?s actions, such as innocent firemen that he killed, and their families, perhaps, because this might sway the reader?s belief as to Coalhouse?s innocence. The film, Ragtime, does support Doctorow?s social tension beliefs, however it leaves more things open for the reader to decide. For example the book gives the impression that Coalhouse is killing the racist bad firemen. The movie shows him shooting and blowing up firemen, who perhaps could be ?good? people. The concept of rebirth is used liberally by Doctorow. Doctorow commonly has a character go through a major transmogrification, or rebirth. This rebirth ordinarily happens when moving from one social class to another. Tateh, Houdini, Coalhouse, and mother?s younger brother and clearly are examples of these rebirths. When Tateh goes from being a poor street peddler to a rich movie maker, he goes through a transformation. Tateh starts dressing and acting a lot differently, perhaps also forgetting his Jewish heritage and 5000 years of oppression. Houdini?s alteration is greater than Tateh?s. Houdini goes from a not so well off family to a rich and famous escape artist. Through this social change, Houdini changes his Jewish name Erich Weiss to a more appropriate Christian name of Harry Houdini. As well as changing his name, Houdini also seemed to forget his background. However, later in the novel we find out that Houdini did in fact not forget his heritage. He just cha! nged his name as a career move. Coalhouse Walker?s rebirth is much more dramatic and swift than Tateh?s or Houdini?s. Coalhouse goes from a fine upstanding citizen to a disgruntled man, caught at the end of a racist prank, and out for revenge. At one point, "He sat down with a sheet over his shoulder and permitted one of the young men to shave his head and his neat mustache. The change in him was striking," (). This symbolic and actual rebirth occurs as Coalhouse moves from being a wealthy prominent musician to a fugitive on the run. Mother?s younger brother also goes through a rebirth. His rebirth involves going from a wealthy family to a fugitive gang. Because of this social change, Doctorow has mother?s younger brother go through a rebirth as well. This was in the form of him putting black makeup on his face to fit in with Coalhouse?s black gang. All four of these examples express Doctorow?s opinion that in order to go through a social change, one must go

Air pollution of vehicles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Air pollution of vehicles - Essay Example Though vehicle-exhaust harmful pollutants are terribly dangerous to human health, the concerns about air or atmospheric pollution mainly grow in response to the drastic natural and climatic changes in the world-environment. One of such concerns of the scientists and the climatologists about the changes in the environment is ‘global warming’ that is directly resulted from vehicle-emission related air pollution (Dispensa & Brule, 2003, p.87). There are about seven pollutants, such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, Nitrogen Oxides, sulfur dioxides, etc found in vehicle emission. More than half of these pollutants have serious greenhouse effects on the nature and directly takes part in global worming. Due to the hazardous effects of vehicle emissions on human health and world environment, scientists and technologists have come up with the ideas of a number of non-polluting vehicle technologies that will greatly contribute to the reduction of the vehicle-emission related ai r pollutions. Present non-polluting technologies primarily pivot on reducing the emissions. Two of such pollution-resistant technologies are: Hybrid Electric Energy vehicle (HEEV) and Hydrogen fuel Combustion vehicle (HFCV). Pollutants in Traditional Fossil Fuel Vehicle Emission Traditional fossil fuel vehicle pollutions are related to three sectors such exhaust, evaporation and refueling emission. While evaporation and refueling pollute the environment by directly mixing the evaporated fuel with the air, the exhaustion related pollutants are produced by combusting and burning the fuels while producing a number of substances that pose great threats to both human health and environment. A study by the US Department of Energy shows that there is a number of pollutant substances produced at different stages of the combustion in a vehicle engine. Whereas most of these pollutants are carcinogenic, the greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, etc are responsible f or the rise in the temperature of the atmosphere. The carcinogenic substances are mainly responsible for causing cancer in human body. A list of vehicle exhaust pollutant along with their causes and effects are shown in the following table: Traits of Vehicle Emission that Need to be addressed Reducing air pollution is, to a great extent, a technical issue that depends on the availability as well as the adaptability of technologies with modern lifestyle, as Kjellstrom says, â€Å"Technologies to reduce pollution at its source are plentiful, as are technologies that reduce pollution by filtering it away from the emission source† (819). Technologies that contribute to the reduction of air pollution involve the use of lead-free fossil fuel and the use of â€Å"catalytic converters on a vehicle’s exhaust way. These technologies show significant results in the reduction of some particular air pollutants from vehicles. Yet the slogan that ‘the cleaner the air, the bett er the world’ does not always goes with the expectation of modern trade and commerce. Air pollution intervention programs often find it difficult to make themselves cost effective as well as adaptable to modern lifestyle. For example, while Hydrogen Fuel Combustion technologies hold a great prospect of being the replacement of the fossil fuel energy, they are not