Encounters with crocodiles Essay Example for Free

Encounters with crocodiles Essay I found the crocodiles so intresting that i soon got over my loathing for them and yet with possible exception of as they run the hyenas they must be the meanest creatures in the AFRICAN scene.They will never openly attack,and they will not defend their own eggs ; directly you attempt to land ,into the water they go.It was unwise however to stand to close to the river bank especially at dusk the crocodile lunge out at you with his paws ;instead,having observed you carefully from midstream ,hen swim submeged into the shallows ,and with a sudden like moment of his tail he sweeps you into the water. One of the African boys in the park had been taken like this a few days before we arrived ,and it was no rare thing ,we were told ,for baby elephants to meet their end in just this way when they came down to the river to drink. then the mother elephants goes ranging along the bank quite powerless to retaliate.The crocodiles itself shas mortal enemies ,and not many of the sixty or seventy eggs which female lays,like turtle ,in a hole in a sand bank are destined to survive .Having laid her eggs (they are rather like large white goose -eggs),the mother covers up the hole and then sometimes departs. This is the moment for the moniter lizard to creep out of the undergrowth to scrape the sand away and then to gorge himself .Even if the nest remains undiscovered the young crcodiles need a gold deal of luck to survive. They come struggling to the surface of the sand little ten_inch_long rubbery thing ,and make directly for the water , hissing and snapping as they run .On the bank the marabaou stork with the speed of sword_play flicks them into his long bill ; and if you care to watch you can see the wriggling passage of the young crocodile down the bird scraggy throat.Sometimes the mother crocodile will try to defend her young at this perilous moment ,and this is a facinating thing to see.The marabou, with elaborate unconcern stand in about six inches of water waiting for the next tit bit to come swimming by,and from about twenty yards away the mother crocodile watches :just two murderous eyes above the surface of the stream .Then silently she submerges and come up again about ten y ards from marabou .The bird takes no notice .And now ,having again goes down .This time she is coming in for the kill .it is a matter of about two seconds the marabou abstractely and casually takes a backward step . At the same instant the tremendous jaws of the crocodiles come rearing out of the river and snap together in the empty air at the prcise spot where he was standing .green water streaming off her back ,the crocodiles subsides into river again;and the bird steps back to res ume its meal QUESTIONS/ANSWERS: Q1:what enabled the writer to get over his loathing for the crcodiles? Q2:what do crcodiles do when a person attempts to land on the river bank ? Q3:what method does the crocodiles use to capture ots prey?

Sonnys Blues Essay -- James Baldwin

Discuss place and how James Baldwin uses elements of setting to convey Sonny’s Blues’ larger message or theme. Establishing and maintaining a certain identity mostly depends on the setting. The setting allows us to analyze someone at a deeper level. Considering the time, place and the circumstances around under which they respond allows us to explore them and determine their identity. In the short story â€Å"Sonny’s Blues†, James Baldwin conveys the message of how one goes about establishing and maintaining their identity on different levels by using elements of setting. The author uses elements of setting several times to convey the message but some of the prominent uses are the military service, life in Harlem and especially the use of darkness. The military service plays an important role in the evolving of the narrator’s identity as it helps him gain respect and be recognized by the neighborhood, something that Sonny yearns for. Growing up in Harlem is the most important setting because the brothers endured several hardships in Harlem, which allowed them to establish and maintain a certain identity. The use of darkness is important because darkness signifies drugs and violence therefore if someone were seen in the dark, would be given an apathetic identity. The time spend in the military service helps the narrator establish personal characteristics which enable him to understand the world around him and be more successful in life. Being in the military has given him th...

The Steps to Be Taken Towards a Green Future

My Grandfather says, â€Å"Looking out the window is not what it used to be†. I was not a 100% sure what he meant, so I asked him. He was talking about the whole concept of â€Å"Going Green†, the fact that there is a limited amount of the earths’ oil left and that landfills are emitting tons of greenhouse gasses into our atmosphere. No one knew about clean alternatives to petroleum such as palm oil and Biodiesel, which is produced from waste cooking oils instead of using gas or diesel or that just having a compost garden in your backyard could reduce the world’s garbage even just a fraction which is helping. This paper will go over ways to lower the consumption and usage of fossil fuels. Also, discuss ways of; lowering pollution rates, eliminating nuclear power and introducing clean energy alternatives to gas and electricity. Solar Energy and Windmills are a big part in the clean energy movement that people are starting to fight for and my Grandfather’s generation has no knowledge about. In the words of Xavier Rudd â€Å"Thank you for your message but I don’t understand, no I won’t understand. † People like my Grandfather never knew about what pollution could actually do to the environment. Wind energy is a step that is being taken throughout Europe (Krueger pg1). Many countries have started to switch their electrical consumption to clean energy and not the modern way of producing electricity, with magnets or nuclear, which use gasoline to power the engines. All the world needs is the wind and sun to provide enough electricity to power the people who inhabit it. Today’s power plants run on fossil fuels and that pollutes the environment, which waste valuable resources. Either in a steam or gas turbine power plant they all rely on coal, petroleum or biomass to power at least one thing in the plant. But, in a wind, geothermal, or hydroelectric powered power plant the turbine is turned by the wind, water or steam produced from the earth to produce the electricity. Even though nuclear power plants don’t burn fossil fuels to create the electricity they are still polluting the earth and are a danger to mankind. Just recently, Japan was hit by a tsunami and a nuclear powered plant was hit. Nuclear reactor after nuclear reactor broke and started to become a problem for the environment and threaten the lives of not only the Japanese citizens, but of the world. With clean energy the electricity can be created by home owners, farmers and the government. Everyone can get into the electrical game and even get paid for the electricity that they do not use and it can go to power someone else’s home (Krueger 2). Pollution has gone on for a long time and started basically at the beginning of the industrial revolution and it’s time for it to be put to rest. With the industrial revolution came automobiles, which are the biggest part of the pollution problem. Another part of the problem is the amount of paper that is used. The paper industry is why marijuana is illegal, it is because the hemp from marijuana could be used for paper, rope, clothing, ect†¦ that they made the government make it illegal. People don’t realize how much paper is wasted in toilet paper, paper towels, tissue paper, books, magazines, newspapers, and office paper. All of those things are made from trees and no one even thinks about the trees. They have been here on this earth longer than use and we are cutting them down, just to make paper it seems. If the amount of paper used stays at this rate then we are going to be all out of trees and plants to but down to make paper without effecting our oxygen levels. The companies weren’t even planting the trees back until recently when some started to plant new trees to start to try to create a sustainable paper supply for the future. Garbage is another main pollutant that is ruining our earth. In the garbage there is too much recyclable and compost able goods that should be in recycling factories or compost piles. Also, there is plastic, which was another invention from the industrial revolution (Calandri 235). Plastic is a non-biodegradable compound which means that it cannot decompose with natural processes. Plastic is overflowing the landfills of the world and something has to be done. People have to start recycling their plastic in-order to protect the planet. We also must lower the amount of waste that we put into our landfills, both homes and restaurants must do this (McCaffree 205). People have to start conmposting and conserving water to save the world. Another way that companies are going green is that they are using algae to filter the on the CO2 from the power plants’ exhaust gases to make the power plants’ coal burning less polluted for the environment (Going Green Literally pg17). The power plants are a big part of the pollution problem with them burning coal, and also fossil fuels to run their generators and machines. If power plants start to use the algae to cycle their exhaust the CO2 emissions can be lowered by 20% per power plant, which is a whole lot less greenhouse gases being emitted into the atmosphere. Clean energy alternatives to petroleum products are a way to stop drilling for oil to make into gasoline, diesel, fertilizers, aspirin, plastics and even artificial hearts and pacemakers. Thousands of household and everyday items are made with oil that you wouldn’t even think were. Family Recreational activities such as skiing and snowboarding use oil in the manufacturing of the boards or skis, even contact lenses that have oil in them and without oil how would they work. I’m sure there would be something else that manufacturers could use when making the lenses. Oil is a big industry that has its hold on most of American products and even the world. Biogas is another form of clean energy. It is also a sustainable resource that is made from grass and tree clippings, and restaurant food waste (Corum 36). Today power plants are all over the world and if they get converted to run of this sustainable resource than oil can be eliminated from the power plants. With the power plants not using oil and petroleum products that amount of oil that is needed to live can be cut down. FCC Expander Technology is the best way for the petroleum companies to go green. The FCC process is very complicated and uses all the waste products over again by recycling them into re-useable energy (Carbonetto 79). The recycled energy from the flue gas has a couple of things that it can be used for and I think that is a very good uses of the un-useable gas. The Electric power generation train in the petroleum plant has a lot of key benefits and engineers have been designing the most energy efficient ways to do the process of making fossil fuels (Carbonetto 83). The petroleum refining industry is starting to come up with ways to save energy, reduce costs and save the environments. Palm oil and Biodiesel are by-products of seeds. Biodiesel is made from oil that has been used at restaurants or other places and is a clean burning fuel deprived from biological sources (Biodiesel pg2). Biodiesel produces much less CO2 than regular diesel, biodegradable and is also non-toxic. Palm oil on the other hand, is made from palm tree seeds (Yusoff 3). The palm trees grow in warm tropical climates and two different types of palm fruit oil come from it. The first is crude palm oil from the seed and the second is crude palm kernel oil made from the kernel. What is good about palm oil is that palm trees are perennial crops and they are a sustainable resource. In conclusion, what has to happen is that governments around the world have to enforce new laws to protect the environment. The laws have to force the use of clean energy alternatives to petroleum products. The alternatives are Biodiesel and Palm Oil to fuel our cars, trucks, planes, trains and boats. The pollution has to be addressed next to save the planet. There are many form of pollution and law enforcement has to implement more strict laws and higher fines to stop people from littering. Last thing that has to be done is to push towards a future where electricity is made from wind or water. Windmills and watermills are the future of electricity and do not need to use any fossil fuels to power the generators. In order to go green people and business must start moving towards a greener living and the consumption of goods needs to be lowered by everyone.

What Is a placebo

A placebo is a procedure or substance with no inherent medicinal value. Placebos are often used in statistical experiments, especially those involving pharmaceutical testing, in order to control the experiment as much as possible. We will examine the structure of experiments and see the reasons for using a placebo. Experiments Experiments typically involve two different groups: an experimental group and a control group. The members of the control group do not receive the experimental treatment and the experimental group does. In this way, we are able to compare the responses of members in both groups. Any differences that we observe in the two groups may be due to the experimental treatment. But how can we be sure? How do we really know if an observed difference in a response variable is the result of an experimental treatment? These questions address the presence of lurking variables. These kinds of variables influence the response variable but are often hidden. When dealing with experiments involving human subjects we should always be on the lookout for lurking variables. A careful design of our experiment will limit the effects of lurking variables. Placebos are one way to do this. Use of Placebos Humans can be difficult to work with as subjects for an experiment. The knowledge that one is a subject of an experiment and a member of a control group can affect certain responses. The act of receiving a medication from a doctor or nurse has a powerful psychological effect on some individuals. When someone thinks they are being given something that will produce a certain response, sometimes they will exhibit this response. Because of this, sometimes doctors will prescribe placeboes with therapeutic intent, and they can be effective treatments for some issues.   To mitigate any psychological effects of the subjects, a placebo can be given to the members of the control group. In this way, every subject of the experiment, in both the control and experimental groups, will have a similar experience of receiving what they think is medication from a health professional. This also has the added benefit of not revealing to the subject if he or she is in the experimental or control group. Types of Placebos A placebo is designed to be as close to the means of administration of the experimental treatment as possible. Thus placebos can take on a variety of forms. In the testing of a new pharmaceutical drug, a placebo might be a capsule with an inert substance. This substance would be chosen to have no medicinal value and is sometimes referred to as a sugar pill. It is important that the placebo mimic the experimental treatment as closely as possible. This controls the experiment by providing a common experience for everyone, no matter which group they are in. If a surgical procedure is the treatment for the experimental group, then a placebo for the members of the control group could take the form of a faked surgery. The subject would go through all of the preparation and believe that he or she was operated on, without the surgical procedure actually being performed.