Mos Def - The Ecstatic free essay sample

I bought this album not knowing what to expect. On the way home my mom wanted me to put it in. Halfway through she said that the music was too weird, and that is how I knew I had made the right choice. For years Mos Def has  ­consistently been the most  ­innovative MC as far as his lyrics and delivery go. This album is no exception. But its been a while since weve heard new music from him. He has spent the last few years building up his acting chops. You may have seen him alongside Bruce Willis in â€Å"16 Blocks† and teamed up with Jack Black in â€Å"Be Kind Rewind† – both very entertaining movies. Now, the multi- ­talented hip-hop artist is returning to what he does best – rapping his butt off. When I listened to this disc for the first time, I was taken aback by the staggering variety of sounds. We will write a custom essay sample on Mos Def The Ecstatic or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The producers seemed to take extra time to ensure that no two songs sounded alike. For example, the first, â€Å"Supermagic,† features an  ­energetic guitar riff and a tinge of Indian flavor. Track three,  ­Ã¢â‚¬Å"Auditorium,† sounds like a  ­fusion of traditional Middle-Eastern and background music from a classic 70s cartoon (it reminded me of â€Å"Johnny Quest,† for some reason). â€Å"Quiet Dog† (my favorite) is all heavy-hitting African drums and fast-paced, inventive lyrics from Mos Def. In â€Å"No Hay Nada Mas,† Mos Def sings in Spanish with Spanish guitars as accompaniment. â€Å"The Ecstatic† has two  ­notable guest appearances: an artist named The Ruler and Brooklyn native, Talib Kweli. Other than that, its basically what youd expect. Okay, I lied; you would never be able to guess what was on this disc until you put it in. This is  ­simply a stellar CD in every way and I have no complaints. If you do not keep an open mind, or are a picky music  ­listener, you may not enjoy this album as much as I did. But if you are tired of hearing the same old rap music that talks about stuff no one cares about and makes rhymes out of the exact same words more than once (Soulja Boy, anyone?), then get this album, because this is real hip-hop in its purest form. Mos Def has proved that you dont need radical promotion to make a successful record. Sometimes, the quiet dogs are the ones that bite the hardest.

Dna and Dna Replication Essay

Dna and Dna Replication Essay Dna and Dna Replication Essay * Gregor Mendel had no experience with DNA – did pea pod experiment * Proteins at one point were considered as the genetic material * Miescher: found a phosphorus rich substance in puss cells * Levene: isolated 2 types of nucleic acids * Hammerling: worked with acetabularia. (Reciprocal graft experiment) * Griffith: wanted to make a vaccine. * Worked with Live S strain and R strain. * A chemical substance from one cell is capable of genetically transforming another cell * Conjugation (transforming principle) * Avery, MacLeod and McCarty extended Griffiths experiment. * Used RNase, Proteases and DNase. * According to Chargaff’s rule: A=T and C=G * Hershey and Chase: worked with the bacteriophages * Tagged on batch in a radioisotope of Sulfur and one in Phosphorus * Mixed bacteriophages with bacteria (bacterial cells are infected) * Agitate to remove phages from bacterial cells * Centrifuge: so that the bacterial cells form pellets * Is the radioactivity in the pellet, or the liquid? Ta da. * DNA: characteristics in species, variation, control cellular processes and replication. * Rosalind Franklin: helical structure, 2 nm in diameter, bases are hydrophobic, sugar phosphate backbones are hydrophilic * Antiparallel, 5’ – 3’, complementary base pairing * 2 Challenges of RNA: must be compact to prevent interference with other cellular processes and must be protected from hydrolytic enzymes * In prokaryotes, genetic material is in a double stranded single DNA. It undergoes supercoiling. * Organization of genetic material in eukaryotes: * 8 histones are wrapped by DNA and locked by H1 histone forming a nucleosome * Nucleosomes line up making a solenoid structure * The log chain of nucleosomes loop in on each other and attach to a protein scaffold * Then the protein scaffold loops in on itself making a chromosome DNA REPLICATION * 3 models: Semi-conservative, conservative and dispersive * Process of DNA replication: Initiation, Elongation and Termination * DNA gyrase: swivels to release tension. (Cutting and gluing) * DNA helicase: unwinds and unzips * SSB proteins: allows the strands to stay separated * DNA polymerase III: works after RNA primase and synthesizes in the 5’ to 3’ direction. * RNA primase: lays down primer which is the start point of DNA replication * Prevention of losing genes: we have telomeres (buffers) * Erosion of telomeres = cell death * DNA polymerases act as

Bureaucracy in the Philippines - Book Review

Book Review The Bureaucracy in the Philippines Dr. Onofre D. Corpuz - Institute of Public Administration: University of the Philippines, 1957. 268 pp. This book is about the administrative history of the bureaucracy in the Philippines. It spans from the 1560’s when Spain undertook to administer the affairs of the natives of the archipelago to the 1950’s when the Filipinos assumed the responsibility of self-government.The author presented the significant phases in the evolution of our administrative apparatus to identify the important characteristics of the current form and functions of the civil service of the Philippine government. In Chapter 1, Dr. Corpuz described the native life of the inhabitants before the arrival of the Spaniards. These inhabitants were not strangers to progress and civilization. Although the pre-Spanish Filipinos were in a state of cultural maturity, it was maturity at a low level.It was a stage of cultural inadequacy based on an old and simple framework. The author briefly discussed the transition of the Philippine bureaucracy from the time that we’re still a colony of foreign nations to the time that the Philippines became an independent republic. The author reconstructed, in Chapter 2, the setting in which Spain’s colonial bureaucracy appeared around the middle of the 16th century. The author also described how the Spanish colonial government â€Å"organized† the colony in Filipinas.Also discussed was the expedition headed by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi in 21 November 1564, how his peaceful diplomacy won the allegiance of many subjects and the establishment of Manila as a city and Legazpi’s capital. Chapter 3 discussed the two concepts on how bureaucracy may be viewed: (1) as an organization or apparatus; (2) as a collection of individual bureaucrats, placing more emphasis on the 2nd concept of bureaucracy – the realities of bureaucratic behaviour. The chapter is devoted to a study of Spanish bureaucrats. The author also discussed the following: a. how bureaucrats are appointed in Filipinas and in Spain – the processes and criteria involved in obtaining the king’s favor; b. how to acquire/purchase an office where many bureaucrats obtained their positions; c. detailed conditions under which Spanish bureaucrats as a whole lived and worked; and d. ow the administrative organization was centralized in Manila for control and communications purposes. The next two chapters are dedicated in highlighting the essentials of life and service of the highest-ranking bureaucrats – the Presidente-Gobernador (Governor-General), the Oidores, Fiscales, and Reales Oficiales – who constituted the governmental bureaucracy in Manila. The author, in Chapter 4, described the governor-general of Filipinas which had the attributes of a super-bureaucrat.Also discussed, in general, was the performance of the different governor-general appointed in Filipinas and illustrated the conflict between the clergy and the governors and the instability of the governorship – which office was considered as an opportunity for private material profit. Chapter 5 is dedicated to the discussion of the Audiencia of Manila and its bureaucrats and the Royal Officials. The Audiencia performed functions of a superior judicial tribunal; the highest court of justice in the colonies.The author discussed the conditions, restrictions, the legislative and judicial functions and the organizational changes of the office. Also discussed are the functions and conditions of the â€Å"Royal Official† (Reales Oficiales) or the oficial de la real hacienda who are the administrators of the king’s personal estate or the royal hacienda. It should be remembered that the various dominions/colonies in the Indias are considered as the king’s personal property or estate. â€Å"As a monarch, he entrusted the government of his kingdoms and provinces to viceroys, governors-general, and Audiencias.As a proprietor, he entrusted the administration of his estate and revenues to the royal officials. † The structural defects and administrative weakness of the bureaucracy is brought about by the pervasion and corruption of the office of men who only saw the position as a means for private personal gain. In Chapter 6, the author then discussed the conditions, restrictions and all the functions and duties of the provincial government and the provincial officers/bureaucrats commonly known as alcade-mayor. The alcaldes are the provincial equivalent/counterpart of the governor-general of the archipelago.The author also highlighted how the alcalde-mayor was also the judge with provincial jurisdictions and since these bureaucrats have no background in the law and having arrived in the province with questionable motives, it is therefore said that the â€Å"pr incipal vice† of province administration is the absence of â€Å"true justice†. The author emphasized that provincial administration has no direction since the system of concentration of functions is in one man and this has disadvantageously rendered the bureaucrat inefficient. This inefficiency neglect or non-performance of duties – easily turned into oppression.The alcadeship evolved into an office of abuse since there were no checks to the alcalde’s excesses and frauds. He is the judge – administrator – military commandant of the province – an action against him is futile. However, reforms were undertaken to improve the administration in the provinces. But these reforms weren’t able to bear fruit for the main reason that they were enacted too late. Discussed also were the native bureaucrats and the system of local government; the principalia which was a social and political aristocracy on the village level – the details of its participation and the conditions under which it was actually exercised.The author also described the undeniable influence or relative power of the clergy in civil and political life, them being more â€Å"unified† than the group of the bureaucrats. In Chapter 7, the author summarized the weaknesses of the Spanish colonial bureaucracy, fundamental of which was the internal moral corruption of its members made worse by the fact that the Madrid government placed its political faith not in the bureaucracy but in the church. Discussed also as the futile attempts to reform the colonial bureaucracy and the general structure of the central administration and the budgetary practices of the central government in Manila. Chapter 8 is a â€Å"discussion of the principal events and factors that shaped the new era that constituted the basis upon which the new political administration was established, and that provided the context for the new bureaucracy and the new bureaucrats. † The author discussed Aguinaldo’s action and the general features of the scheme to organize the town and provincial governments.The new institutions under the Revolutionary Government were closely patterned after the preceding scheme of the Spanish a dministration due to the lack of time for innovations, but the local authorities and institutions were now more popularly based and autonomous. Discussed also was the principal features of the Malolos Constitution of 1899 which was an admirable work of constitutionalism, considering the difficult conditions of the times and the inexperience of its authors. Ideal as it may seem, the first attempt to self-government was aborted as the Philippines was once again under a colonial regime – now in the hands of the Americans. According to the author, the American occupation of the Philippines is generally pointed out as a major phase in the evolution of modern colonial policy and colonial administration. During this time, there were increased economic activities – in agriculture, manufacturing and commerce – such that the colony enjoyed vastly improved standards of living and for the first time, the masses have a chance to escape from poverty. The author also studied the formative period, from 1900 to 1913, of the new bureaucracy.The author identified the salient features of this advanced civil service system which is in great magnitude different from that of the old Spanish system. In Chapter 9, the author focussed on the period from 1913 to 1935 in which the civil service continued to evolve and which was respected by both American authorities and Filipino officials and politicians. But the evolutionary development was unremarkable. It was a steady but rather dreary process, unmarked by ba sic structural alteration or dramatic innovation in the service itself. During this period, both houses of the lawmaking bodies were under Filipino control.This period also marked the beginning of Filipinization of the civil service. In Chapter 10, the author discussed how the Philippine Civil Service, from 1935 to 1955, passed through brief but basic evolutionary governments. First discussed was the establishment of the Philippine Commonwealth Government (November 15, 1935) which completed the gradual transfer of government functions to Filipinos. The Philippine Government was a 10-year transitional government – republican in form, Filipino in personnel and has autonomy in domestic affairs – to be superseded by the Republic of the Philippines on July 4, 1946.Further discussed were the constitutional changes and phases of which the civil service is also undergoing namely: First, the phase of consolidation and further expansion, lasting until the Japanese invasion; Second, the phase of dislocation and demoralization covering the war and ear ly postwar years; and Third, the phase of reconstruction and modernization. The author, in the last chapter, summarized the important phases in the bureaucracy in the Philippines from the pre-Spanish period to the year 1955 which was discussed in detail in the preceding chapters. Also discussed briefly were the weaknesses and characteristics of the bureaucracy.This work of Dr. Onofre Corpuz is a vital contribution to the study of Public Administration. I have but good words for this work. The topics were well-organized and clearly written. He was able to piece together different historical data and I was impressed by the historical information presented in this book and his sources which dates from early 1600’s. Because of this book, the reader will have a better background and clearer understanding of the current conditions of the bureaucracy. I hope there could be further study on the conditions of the bureaucracy, if significant change has been attained after 1955.

The use of rehabilitation as the dominant model for corrections Term Paper

The use of rehabilitation as the dominant model for corrections - Term Paper Example ce system that what goals to emphasize, what programs to offer, and what model to follow are issues being continuously debated upon, especially so that number of offenders is in continuous rise, bleeding off American taxpayers millions of dollars just to maintain correctional facilities. The irony of the picture, wherein the victims’ (mostly taxpayers) money is spent for their offenders (mostly unemployed), also illustrates the dilemma of corrections as to which should be emphasized: retribution or rehabilitation? The answer to this illustrates how one understands criminal justice. Meaning, what should be the primary consideration in choosing a model for corrections: Would it be political, financial, practical, legal or ethical considerations? In other words, what is ethical may not be politically advantageous, may be too expensive, may not be legal or may be too hard to achieve. But are these considerations justifiable? To think as such is a mockery of criminal justice, becau se as Sherman (1981) explains with certainty, criminal justice decisions are primarily moral decisions (as cited in Gold, 2012, p. 12). To render justice then is upholding what is right. Within this premise, this paper argues for rehabilitation as the dominant model for corrections for various reasons as discussed below Corrections are traditionally perceived to function primarily as an institution for the following four major goals. One is retribution – to justly punish offenders. Underlying this goal is the belief of ancient and biblical origin, ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’ (cited in Clear, Cole & Reisig, 2010, pp. 70-73), which means that every criminal offense deserves just punishment. Offenders should be punished according to the severity of their crime. Thus it would be unjust to give capital punishment to someone caught for simple misdemeanor, because the punishment is more severe than the crime committed. In the same way, it would be unjust to put simply on

GBST300 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

GBST300 - Essay Example s relevant nuclear technology in manufacturing atomic energy and fundamental information to states that are not known as Nuclear Weapon countries by the conformity on the Reduction of Nuclear Weapons, is one of the major ways in which non-nuclear powers and terrorists build nuclear weapons. The upkeep of global stability and security is an essential part of the United Nations’ mission. Weapons of mass destruction (WMD) chemical, biological, nuclear, or radiological weapons that can bring harm to large figures of people and infrastructure have been at the forefront of worldwide security concerns since the advent of the UN. The production of viable nuclear weapons means of delivery, threatens incalculable consequences for global stability and prosperity especially from countries, which part of the NPT possess important unsafeguarded nuclear activities. Countries such as India, Israel and Pakistan are normally categorize as states that are not part of the NPT. The growth of international terrorism has added a new dimension to an old problem, as global and regional tensions rise, technology improves, and security falters in critical areas, giving rise to an international black market for WMD.Dr. Khan, a metallurgist and the architect of Pakistan bomb is considered the mastermind of the largest illicit nuclear proliferation network in history who had begun selling nuclear technology to Iran in the late 1980’s. This signaled the opening of business for an enterprise that eventually spread to North Korea, Libya and beyond to

The Perils of Obedience by Stanley Milgram Essay -- Stanley Milgram T

â€Å"The Perils of Obedience† was written by Stanley Milgram in 1974. In the essay he describes his experiments on obedience to authority. I feel as though this is a great psychology essay and will be used in psychology 101 classes for generations to come. The essay describes how people are willing to do almost anything that they are told no matter how immoral the action is or how much pain it may cause.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This essay even though it was written in 1974 is still used today because of its historical importance. The experiment attempts to figure out why the Nazi’s followed Hitler. Even though what he told them to do was morally wrong and they did it anyway. If this essay can help figure out why Hitler was able to do what he was then able to do, then maybe psychologists can figure out how to prevent something like that from happening again.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The Perils of Obedience† is about an experiment that was made to test the obedience of ordinary people. There are two people who come and perform in the lab, one is the subject or the teacher and the other is an actor or the learner. The teacher doesn’t know that the learner is an actor. They are there to see how far someone would go on causing someone pain just because they were told to do so the authority figure. The learner is given a list of word pairs and has to memorize them. Then he has to remember the second word of the pair when he hears the first word. If he is incorrect the â€Å"teacher† will shock him until he gets it rig...

Norwegian Wood by The Beatles: Song Analysis

The song opens with a sweepingly catchy acoustic melody that seamlessly evokes sense of nostalgic longing. This feeling of sadness and reflection permeates throughout the piece. While the arrangement is actually quite complex, the music appears stripped down to the casual listener; the song is centered around a mall lick performed simultaneously on acoustic guitar and sitar, which Is Introduced at the beginning and decidedly does not evolve into anything beyond this. The simplistic structure brings to mind a sensation of loneliness, which is heightened by Lemon's yearning vocals.The soothing melody can be described as dreamlike, and the petition is used to almost hypnotic effect, succeeding in ministering the concentrated listener into a peaceful, contemplative daze. The short length of the song Is somewhat Jarring (It ends just after two minutes) because Just as the listener has been subdued by the Infectious melody, they are abandoned by It just as quickly. It feels as though there should be more; as if there is something missing. I would argue, however, that this is exactly the effect The Battles intended, as it adds to the ambiguous nature of the song. The production of the song, courtesy of GeorgeMartin, succeeds in bringing the contagious melody to the forefront of the experience, all the while allowing the rest of the Instruments sufficient clarity. Ambiguity Is also achieved through the song's lyrics, which describe a seemingly clandestine love affair between Lennox and an unnamed woman. The song opens with the line: â€Å"I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me†, suggesting that not only is the relationship mysterious to the listener, but also inconclusive to the man involved in it. The lyrics continue to outline a strained evening of the couple talking, ranking wine, and eventually going to bed in separate rooms.Much speculation has been made as to what the song Is actually about, especially the final lines; â€Å"And when I awoke, I was alone, this bird had flown / So 1 11th a fire, Isn't It good, Norwegian wood. † Some believe that the fire being lit is a joint of marijuana, or that the man burns the house down after the woman makes him sleep in the bath. In The Battles Anthology, Lennox says of the lyrics: ‘Norwegian Wood' was about an affair I was having. I was very careful and paranoid because I didn't want my wife, CCNY, to know that there really was something owing on outside the household.I'd always had some kind of affairs going, so I was trying to De sophisticated In writing auto an tall, out In sun a smokescreen way that you couldn't tell. (196) Like many of The Battles' innovations in sound, the incorporation of the sitar came from spontaneous experimentation. In The Battles Anthology, George Harrison recalls: I went and bought a sitar from a little shop at the top of Oxford Street called Antiaircraft – it stocked little carvings, and incense. It was a real crummy-quality one, a ctually, but I bought it and mucked around with it a bit.Anyway;ay, we were at the mint where we'd recorded the ‘Norwegian Wood' backing track (twelve-string and six- string acoustic, bass and drums) and it needed something. We would usually start looking through the cupboard to see if we could come up with something, a new sound, and I picked the sitar up – it was Just lying around; I hadn't really figured out what to do with it. It was quite spontaneous: I found the notes that played the lick. It fitted and it worked. (196) â€Å"Norwegian Wood† is the second track on Rubber Soul, following the upbeat â€Å"Drive My Car† and is followed by the also light-hearted muff Won't See Me†.