...Unsolved Mysteries: Easter Island Approximately 1200 years ago the Rapa Nui, or Easter Island people, arrived at one of the most isolated islands in the world. Almost as soon as they arrived they began carving massive stone heads without a known explanation ("Mysterious Places: Explore Easter Island in Words and Pictures."). When the Europeans arrived, there were very few people and almost no resources. However, there were numerous amounts of giant stone carvings. Nobody really knows why they are there and how they were made, but there are many modern theories to explain it. With these theories also come unanswerable questions to disprove them. 1. Facts Easter Island was formed by many huge volcanic explosions ("Easter Island -- World Heritage...
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...EASTER ISLAND Stony sentry’s, carved years ago by Polynesian craftsmen, gaze over one of the most remote places in the world. With their land enlarged by overuse, islanders now draw on a revival of their culture to attract visitors. I intend to tell about this small island off the coast of Chile named Easter Island. Easter Island, submerged volcanic mountain range in the eastern Pacific Ocean, is located 500 miles South of the Tropic of Capricorn, and 2,200 miles West of Chile. This area is located were it is swept by strong trade winds. Because of his, the island remains warm through out the year. As you know, Easter Island is small. To be exact it has an area of 64 square miles about the size of Washington D.C. Easter Island’s population as grown a lot since diseases spread to most of the island in1877. Some of the remaining people left for South America, and the island was left 110 people. The population grew throughout the years in 1955 it was 990, in 1980 it was 1,842 and in 1989 it was 2,095. As many people have traditions, at parties and other celebrations, Easter Island has its own. They paint their bodies, the chant, they dance and the sing songs of their forbears. Each September, flocks of sooty terns come to nest on tiny islets about a mile off the shore. Since ancient times, there have been ceremonies to celebrate the birds’ arrival and to choose the birdman. The birdman competition is where each clan selected a representative to swim to the islets...
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...The mystery of Easter Island has puzzled humanity for years. Easter Island is the world’s most remote inhabited island (“The Mystery of Easter Island”), but a group of people managed to sail there and establish a society that created about 900 stone statues across the island ("Easter Island -- World Heritage Site -- National Geographic”). Over the years, scientists have discovered many facts about the people of Easter Island and their achievements, and have been able to create several plausible theories. However, none can fully explain the mystery that is Easter Island. 1. Facts Easter Island lies roughly 1,289 miles from the nearest inhabited island and 2,182 miles from the nearest continental point (“Easter Island”). The earliest settlers of Easter Island were Polynesian, though none know where exactly they sailed from (“Mysterious Places: Explore Easter Island in Words and...
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...Unsolved Mysteries: Easter Island In 1722 the first European that we know of found Easter Island and its people. The ancient people of the island where carving these great statues called “moai”. No one is sure how they moved these statues around the island and why they did exactly ( the History). We are aware of some facts about the moai, but the theories about why they where built and how they where moved are still remain uncertain. 1.) Facts The statues, the moai, found on Easter Island are some of the most magnificent ancient relics to ever be discovered ("Mysterious Places: Explore Easter Island in Words and Pictures."). The ancient people of Easter Island carved the moai out of soft volcanic tuff because it was very easy to carve into ("Mysterious Places: Explore Easter Island in Words and Pictures."). To make the moai they used hard volcanic rock implants to outline the shape of the moai into the rock wall, then chip away at the rock until there was a thin “keel” that held it in place ("Mysterious Places: Explore Easter Island in Words and Pictures."). The monuments have...
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...Mayan cities or Easter Island villages. Jared Diamond tells the story of the Viking explorer Erik the Red, who discovered Greeland and Vinland (Terranova, in Canada). Another character is captain Olafsson, a norse sailor who wrote the last news about Greenland in 1410. Another main character is Christopher Columbus, who arrived at Hispaniola in 1492, but now this island is two countries, the Dominican Republic and the Haiti. Diamond studied the politics of two presidents. the dominican Rafael Trujillo, who protected the enviroment and the dictator François, Papa Doc, Duvalier, who decided on politics of deforestatation of his country, Haiti. The author considered the bad politics of another main character, king George II, who was interested in sending merinosheeps from Spain to Australia, an idea which was succesful from 1820 to 1950 but then the farmers understood their lands lost fertility. Another main character is Tokuwaga Jeayasu, a shogun of Japan in 1600, who prohibited Christianity in 1600 and protected his country againt deforestation. The book takes us to a lot of places around the globe: Mayan cities, Rwanda, Viking colonies of Vinland or Greenland, Haiti and Dominican Republic, Easter Island and Polynesian colonies in Pacific, and the Chaco villages in New Mexico (United States). The time period was from 800 AC, when collapsed Mayan cities to 2005. Other locations are the Viking ships, isolated churches in Greenland, ghostly stone heads in Easter Island, sheep farms in...
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...division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England First published in 2005 by Viking Penguin, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 13579 10 8642 Copyright © Jared Diamond, 2005 All rights reserved Maps by Jeffrey L. Ward LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA Diamond, Jared M. Collapse: how societies choose to fail or succeed/Jared Diamond. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 0-670-03337-5 1. Social history—Case studies. 2. Social change—Case studies. 3. Environmental policy— Case studies. I. Title. HN13. D5 2005 304.2'8—dc22 2004057152 This book is printed on acid-free paper. 8 Printed in the United States of America Set in Minion Designed by Francesca Belanger Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or...
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...EVOLUTION AND SELF-INTEREST Richard Dawkins argues that at its most fundamental level, the genetic level, life is self-interested.1 Genes do only one thing; they replicate themselves. These replicators reside in and are carried around by biological vehicles (trees, animals, humans, fungus, etc.). The resources that support these biological vehicles are finite, so the process of life has become a competition among genes to create vehicles that can successfully compete for limited resources and survive to pass on their genetic code. Dawkins coined the term ‘selfish gene’ to emphasize the single, focused object of a gene’s existence. What he means is that the sole purpose of a gene is to make copies of itself using the Darwinian selection process; very selfishly ignoring the consequences this pursuit may have on other living entities. Self-interest is a requirement for survival. This does not mean, of course, that animals and humans cannot be altruistic sometimes, in certain activities.2 It does mean that no living entity can survive for long if it is only purely altruistic. On the other hand, survival is not necessarily jeopardized when an organism is purely self-interested. Altruism, in the absence of self-interest, is not evolutionarily stable in the biological world; it leads to extinction. It is for this reason that all extant life forms must be selfish. Humans, like all creatures, are self-interested; not because it is good to be selfish but because we would not be here if...
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...Madagascar Rainforest Madagascar, located approximately 400 kilometers east of Africa is the world's fourth largest island. Because of its isolation it is occupied by some of the most unusual and rare species of plants and animals on earth. Madagascar was at one time formerly an independent kingdom; became a French colony in 1896 and regained independence in 1960. During 1992-93, free presidential and National Assembly elections were held ending 17 years of single-party rule(Science 1990). The main historical problem with international trade has been the correlated destruction of the environment. This is especially true when it comes to the issue of deforestation. In Madagascar, (Economic Geography, 1993) people have been cutting down the forests for decades. Throughout the past century, much of the rainforests of Madagascar have disappeared. People have begun moving out of the cities, industries have started to expand, and the use of land for farming (particularly coffee) has dramatically increased. All of these phenomenons have led to the destruction of the forest of Madagascar. Many plants and animal species have been severely endangered due to the deforestation (New Scientist 1990). With a current population near 14 million and growing at roughly 3% yearly combined with a per capita income of $230 per year, the major threats to the remaining forest are driven by subsistence needs and cutting for fuel. This has become a major issue, not only because of the value...
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...1 ESSAYS ON SUSTAINABILITY Thirteen Challenging Essays for Earthlings By Peter E. Black, 2008 Wheels and Water .......................................................page 1 Water and Humans on Planet Earth ................................... 2 Climate, Weather, and Global Warming ............................. 3 A Catastrophic Loss of Species ......................................... 4 The Naked Truth................................................................... 5 Asymmetrical Resource Distribution ................................. 6 Stormwater and Groundwater Runoff ................................ 7 Economy, Energy, Environment ......................................... 8 Drill in the ANWR? No Way! ............................................... 9 The Wonder of Water ......................................................... 10 Buffering Sands of Time.................................................... 11 Ecology and Civilization .................................................... 12 With a Bang, not a Whimper.............................................. 13 © 2008 Peter E. Black, PhD (US Copyright Registration TXu 1-580-484, July 13, 2008 as “Conservation is the Cornerstone of Sustainability”) Distinguished Teaching Professor of Water and Related Land Resources, Emeritus, State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, 1 Forestry Drive, Syracuse, NY 13210 peblack@esf.edu and www.watershedhydrology.com Essays on Sustainability Thirteen Challenging...
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...Case 3.1: Changing Recruitment At Mercado Supermarkets Now day’s most of the organization wants to have a better place in market and keen to attract a major volume of available customers. To achieve that goal with success organizations have to put best strategies in practice for the workplace and as well as have the finest team of employees. In past, some of the organisations were using traditional method of recruiting, like word of mouth recruitment method; within the company advertisement or newspapers. In present time it is very hard for the organization to find and attract all the different kind of job applicant for the various roles within the organization. To resolve this issue organization use different methods of strategies, often implemented by Human Resources Management. The purpose of this essay to outline the range of technologies used by firm to attract staff and analyse which particular methods would be most appropriate to attract different type of applicant to Mercado Supermarkets (include different types of position required within Mercado). The use of internet brought the phenomenal change in individual’s life style. It affected most of the organization in different ways. And at the same time it has force Human Resources Management Strategies to change its policies and procedure to deal with numerous issues of business. Now most of the businesses using different types of technologies to capture as much market as possible; depends on the size of the business as...
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...SOS-440 Final Paper According to Author Rex A. Hudson, “Terrorists are motivated not only by psychological factors but also very real political, social, religious, and economic factors, among others. These factors vary widely”. Accordingly, the motivations, goals, and ideologies of ethnic separatist, anarchist, social revolutionary, religious fundamentalist, and new religious terrorist groups differ significantly. (Hudson, 1999) Therefore, each terrorist group must be examined within its own cultural, economic, political, and social context in order to better understand the motivations of its individual members and leaders and their particular ideologies. (Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, 1999, para. 54) I will use Hudson’s assertion as my theoretical framework to analyze if my findings are compatible with a plausible assertion that terrorism is based off social and political views of the people who see their current state as unjust. The National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional or ELN) is a revolutionary guerrilla army; who have fought in the Colombian Civil War since it began in 1964. The ELN advocate a composite Communist ideology of Marxism and Liberation Theology. The ELN was founded by Fabio Vásquez Castaño and other Colombian rebels trained in Communist Cuba; upon the Vásquez Castaño death, the ELN was headed by a series of Roman Catholic priests, exponents of Liberation Theology. (Brittain, 2010) Most notable was the Priest Camilo...
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...Spatial analysis on regional economic growth of China 1. Introduction Economic growth is always an important topic in the economics research. Many study in the past just considered region as an isolated “island”, and the mutual relations among different regions were usually ignored. However, regional economy is an open system. Factors such as trade, factor mobility (labor or capital), and technology or knowledge spillover will all make relations among regions become complicated. Under such circumstance, regional economy is no longer isolated but strongly related. The development of regional economy not only relies on its own endowment, also highly depends on the development of other regions This paper is going to bring relative spatial autocorrelation analysis and econometrics methods in the analysis of regional economic growth in China. It attempts to test the spatial dependence of economic growth among different provinces in China and its tendency. The inner mechanism of regional economic growth will also be discussed. In the second section, I will briefly introduce the literature review about regional economic study in China. In the third section, using a sample of per capita GDP data over 1978-2008 in 31 provinces in mainland China, I compute a global spatial autocorrelation, and use the local spatial autocorrelation to get general idea where this global spatial autocorrelation come from. In the fourth part, the spatial factors which influence regional economic...
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...Caribbean Festivals at Home and Abroad Concept of Carnival/Festival Carnival brings about a "second world condition" so that when carnival comes around, another world is created and people go into that world. Notion of carnival as one of “the decentralising forces that militate against official power and ideology. Carnival as the interruption of dominant discourses “to surrender the critical and cultural tools to the dominant class and in this sense, carnival can be seen above all else as a site of urgency.” Mikhail Bakhtin in Rabelais and His World- Uses the term in reference to carnivals of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Bakhtin one of the key theorists on carnivals. Bakhtin-Carnivals allowed people mostly from the under class to rebel momentarily against social conventions and the class and financial hierarchies that structured society. Bakhtin- Carnival in medieval times offered a “second world and a second life.” Play, mockery, inversion, laughter and profanity all elements in Bakhtin's canival. Bakhtin-Carnival underlined is not a spectacle seen by the people; they live in it and everyone participate because its very idea embraces all the people...It has a universal spirit; it is a special condition of the entire world, of the world's revival and renewal in which all take part.” Bakhtin's views on Carnival have led to many theorists using Bakhtin's views to discuss carnival. Robert Stam- Carnivals can be politically ambiguous affairs that can be egalitarian and emancipatory...
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...Guns, Germs and Steel Page 1 GUNS, GERMS, AND STEEL: The Fates of Human Societies By Jared Diamond, 1997 About the Author: Jared Diamond is a professor of physiology at UCLA School of Medicine. He is a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship and was awarded a 1999 National Medal of Science. He is also the author of The Third Chimpanzee. SUMMARY The book asks and attempts to answer the question, once humankind spread throughout the world, why did different populations in different locations have such different histories? The modern world has been shaped by conquest, epidemics, and genocide, the ingredients of which arose first in Eurasia. The book’s premise is that those ingredients required the development of agriculture. Agriculture also arose first in Eurasia, not because Eurasians were superior in any way to people of other continents, but because of a unique combination of naturally occurring advantages, including more and more suitable wild crops and animals to domesticate, a larger land mass with fewer barriers to the spread of people, crops, and technology, and an east-west axis which meant that climate was similar across the region. The book is well written and contains not only information about the history of cultures around the world, but excellent descriptions of the scientific methodologies used to study them, from how archeologists study the origin of agriculture to how writing evolved to how linguistics can trace the movements of peoples across huge geographic...
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...Mauritius ASSINGMENT COUNTARY: MAURITIOUS Submitted To: Prof. AMNA SHAFQAT Submitted By: HASEEB IFTIKHAR L1F07BBAM0208 ABDULLAH ISHFAQ L1F07BBAM0201 REHAN AKRAM L1F07BBAM MAURITIOUS CONTENTS * THE COUNTRY 1. LAND AND CLIMATE 4-5 2. HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 6-10 3. ECONOMY 10-11 4. EDUCATION 11-15 5. TRANSPORTATION 16 6. HEALTH 16-18 * THE PEOPLE OF THE COUNTRY 1. POPULATION 18-19 2. LANGUAGE 19 3. RELIGION 20 4. HOLIDAYS ...
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