4 Discussion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

4 Discussion - Essay Example moral grounds wherein the involvement and formation of a consistent value system is administered to and this forms the base on which decisions concerning behavior is based upon. Conscience is the â€Å"the little voice,† perhaps at times may nag, complain or make us feel harassed when actions are considered not in the right perspective. Sigmund Freud described conscience as the voice within the superego, the set of rigid moral precepts that helped to control the want and take aspects of the id. Superego can be characterized as the sum of things learned in early life about right and wrong, wherein the self or ego functions within the bounds of a particular society. A person with poor superego control is considered id-driven.(Bonnie,1995) Others believe that the conscience is the other voice of reason as viewed by Thomas Aqinas. Since reason is God-given to Aquinas therefore consciences is also God-given. But human beings have the capacity to develop reason, and so reason remains a facility that must be exercised and developed. To act conscientiously is to act on reason-based decisions. (Bonnie,1995) Aquinas discusses people who have erring consciences and make wrong decisions based on faulty reasoning. He states that this may not be the person’s fault if he has not learned enough to know what is right or wrong. We have been stating that conscience is merely a feeling but I feel it is more of knowledge that is required to understand the difference between right and wrong. This extent of conscience is based on knowledge and is not merely a feeling. This should be a knowledge rather than rational or analytical knowledge wherein this knowledge of mine is an absolute obligation to goodness, justice and charity and virtue and holiness. Secondly this knowledge is of moral facts. Thus knowledge forms the bases for conscience. Now this conscience for me can lead to authority. The age we live in is filled turmoil and terrorism. And I feel that from young this

Letter to the crown and the judge of the court Assignment

Letter to the crown and the judge of the court - Assignment Example Hence, I promise never to get involved in such scenario again. I believe that the main objective of your department is to offer correction although there are some aspects of punishments attached to it. However, I believe that you consider the corrective mandate of the department more than its disciplinary requirement. I also believe that you value offering support to people who value living a descent life or making efforts to correct their mistakes. Currently I rely on your support to enable me walk through the road of change. Getting back my passport from your department would be a paramount support that would enable me to achieve the change that I desire. I acknowledge the existence of fears that I might flee out of the country due to the trouble that I got involved. However, I would like to bring to your consideration that I have no any plans to flee the country. In addition, I am committed to go through the entire judicial process for the interest of my Canadian citizenship and the plaintiff. Canada is not only my county of residence but also my home. Although I was not born in Canada, I have lived in the country since I was eight year old. I have also received all my education in Canadian schools and therefore all my investments are in the country. Fleeing from Canada would be like going to another planet since all my friends and family live in Canada. In addition my father who has special value and love for the country has invested over $200, 000 for our family to acquire full Canadian citizenship. Currently I am in the last stage of acquiring a permanent residence card and therefore your assistance would be vital. I hope that my request and regrets would find a place of consideration in your honoured court. I also appreciate and honour the assistance that you will accord me through the release of my passport. Your assistance would go a long way in consoling my aged father, worried friends, family members and

Reviewing Films Depicting Supremacy of Artificial Intelligence Essay Example for Free

Reviewing Films Depicting Supremacy of Artificial Intelligence Essay There is without a shadow of a doubt that we are now living in a time when there is almost nothing we cannot accomplish. The outbreak of high technology all around the world is soaring, and day by day, improvements on what is already highly intelligent devices are being developed. From computers, to cellular phones, to MP3 players, everything has been made accesible to man. Because of this technology, man can bask in his creations and marvel at the genius that he has invented through the years. Half a decade ago, todays technology wouldnt have even been deemed as possible. Yesteryears most advanced technological developers probably wouldnt have even dreamed of the possibilities of what we now have today. But such is the development of the human mind: our intelligence is further developing and increasing, being able to establish new concepts and ideas to be used for our own benefits. Indeed, with this highly advanced technology, we are further establishing ourselves as the dominant species of the planet. For us, we are in charge of our own destinies, and no species of another kind can tell us otherwise. But one is lead to ponder about the marvels of our own creations. What if the articifial intelligence we created were able to evolve themselves? What if these computers suddenly became self-aware, and starts acknowledging its own existence? It is true that we are the one who controls the technology, but what if the technology were able to control itself? If it became self-aware, what if, all of a sudden, it starts to refuse to follow its human creators? And if not the computers themselves, what if one person controlling these technologies started using them for their own ulterior motives? With our main defenses relying on technological advances, what if these advances were suddenly used against us? Would the humans still be able to lay its claim as the rulers of the earth when a something else establishes themselves as more intelligent and dominant? Such is the fear that some of us have: the fear of having our own technology turned against us. We fear the idea that perhaps someday, these computers that we have in our homes would become intelligent enough to start recognizing its own existence. In the early nineties, technophobia became rampant among the adults, although this fear was largely based on the misconceptions on computers being too overly complicated. Still, for some people, the advancements in technology is reason for them to be cautious about our own inventions. Creating Technopobia in Movies Since early in the 1980s, there have been a string of movies depicting highly advanced technology being used woefully and without any regard towards others. These movies often show state-of-the-art gadgets or creations, which are used against the protagonists to further cause ruin and devastation. Oftentimes these gadgets are used for the wrong reasons, and with its infinite possibilities, it creates the fear that maybe what we have created may not be totally beneficial to us, and could possibly create more harm than help in the long run. Perhaps the most popular among the movies that came out during the eighties that depicted this theme was the 1984 movie Terminator, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as a human cyborg sent back in time. In the future, Skynet, a computer system fights a losing war against the humans who built it, and who it nearly exterminated. Just before being destroyed, Skynet sends a Terminator back in time to kill Sarah, the mother to be of John Connor, the Leader of the human resistance. The terminator can pass for human, is nearly indestructible, and has only one mission: killing Sarah Connor. One soldier is sent back to protect her from the killing machine. He must find Sarah before the Terminator can carry out its mission (MGM. com). This movie portrays Skynet as a super computer, one that is capable to making decisions for itself. The super computer becomes self-aware, and recognizes the human race as a threat to its existence. It therefore wages a war against all of mankind, which almost led to the anniliation of the entire planet. In 1998, the movie Enemy of the State provided a different insight on abusing highly advanced technology. Robert Dean, the main character of the story, is just a successful and gutsy labor lawyer when he runs into an old college friend who was a big hurry. Unknown to him, that friend secretly drops a disc and viewer containing footage of a political assassination overseen by the senior advisor to the National Security Agency. Unfortunately, that politician soon learns what Dean has in his possession and secretly uses the vast resources of the NSA to find, investigate and stop him before he goes public. Soon, Dean finds himself on the run, with his assests frozen, his loved ones watched and actively hunted by NSA agents using all the survellience technology they have available. Not knowing what is going, Dean must stay one step ahead while trying to figure out the cause of this mess (Yahoo! Movies). This movie dwells on the idea of government surveillance and the invasion of our personal privacy by the government. We see from the movie that these technological advances could be easily used against us, and just as it could make our lives easier, it could also make it extremely difficult. We also find that if technology were to be used the wrong way, then those in power could have a commanding control over our very lives. Another movie that depicted computers going against humans was the highly acclaimed The Matrix. Thomas A. Anderson is a man living two lives: by day he is an average computer programmer and by night a malevolent hacker known as Neo. Neo has always questioned his reality but the truth is far beyond his imagination. Neo finds himself targeted by the police when he is contacted by Morpheus, a legendary computer hacker branded a terrorist by the government. Morpheus awakens Neo to the real world, a ravaged wasteland where most of humanity have been captured by a race of machines which live off of their body heat and imprison their minds within an artificial reality known as the Matrix. As a rebel against the machines, Neo must return to the Matrix and confront the agents, super powerful computer programs devoted to snuffing out Neo and the entire human rebellion (Whatisthematrix. com). The movie is almost identical to the concept of the Terminator, in which there is a computer mind that becomes self-aware of its own existence. Knowing that it has the power of technology, it sees the human race as disposable, and decides to take over and control the entire world. When Neo met Morpheus, he was awakened to the fact that they were being used by the computer systems as mere batteries to continue sustaining their own power. And it was up to them to reawaken the rest of the world from this nightmare that is the Matrix. The Fear of Control What these three films had in common was theme of technology taking over the human lives. The films shared similar highly advanced technology that in one way was very helpful, but at the other end caused problems that were catastrophic. This is what we are afraid of; that maybe perhaps at some point, our own creations would backfire on us and cause a lot of harm towards society, and it would perhaps be unstoppable when it happens. Perhaps what motivates the persistence of these kinds of themes is the fact that we all know that this fantasy that they try to present could and might become possible in the future. Fifty or so years ago, our technology today wasnt even thought of as possible. A lot of things are being developed today that our predescessors couldnt have possibly dreamed of back in the day. Nowadays, the sky is the limit. The human race is making every dream come to life, developing newer and better technology every single day. So deep inside, we know that this threat of computers taking over is not a long shot. We see that perhaps someday, artificial intelligence would become this advanced as to be self-aware. And if this happens, whats gonna stop them from taking over the world and eliminating the human race? In terms of humans going against fellow humans using technology, we ourselves could be comparable to this technology. Donna Haraway mentions how we are like the cyborgs, which are both part machine and part organism. She further states: In short, we are cyborgs. The cyborg is our ontology; it gives us our politics. The cyborg is a condensed image of both imagination and material reality, the two joined centres structuring any possibility of historical transformation. In the traditions of â€Å"Western† science and politics—the tradition of racist, male- dominant capitalism; the tradition of progress; the tradition of the appropriation of nature as resource for the productions of culture; the tradition of reproduction of the self from the reflections of the other—the relation between organism and machine has been a border war (Harraway, 516). With the peer-to-perr capabilities of networked computer communication today, it is likely to have a major impact on both the film and music business. Depending on how this technology is used, it could have either a postive or negative effect on these industries. Everything could be made easier with technology, films and music could be produced with relative ease, and everything to be made more accesible. On the other hand, changing the sytems could mean doing things a lot different, which could cause a chain reaction among those who are involved. Business could be done more efficiently, but it could leave people out of jobs. Human work might be replaced by much more efficient computers doing their jobs, and that could have an effect on the economy of the country. Looking back, technology has certainly come along way since back in the old days, when all of this conveniences didnt exist. It is easy to picture people being intimidated by these advancements, due to its infinite potential. Depending on how it is used, it could be very good for all of us, or it could be catastrophic to all. Only time will tell whether these technological improvements would come back to haunt us in the long run. Works Cited Enemy of the State. Yahoo! Movies. Retrieved 3 June 2008 from http://movies. yahoo. com/shop? d=hvcf=infoid=1800021531 Haraway, Donna. â€Å"A Cyborg Manifesto. † The New Media Reader (1985). pp. 515-541. The Matrix Trilogy. Whatisthematrix. com. Retrieved 3 June 2008 from http://whatisthematrix. warnerbros. com/ The Terminator. MGM. com. Retrieved 3 June 2008 from http://www. mgm. com/title_title. php? title_star=TERMINAT

Second Language Acquisition And Classroom Interaction

Second Language Acquisition And Classroom Interaction Interaction has been central to theories of second language acquisition and pedagogy since the 1980s. Rivers explained the interactive perspective in language education: Students achieve facility in using a language when their attention is focused on conveying and receiving authentic messages (that is, messages that contain information of interest to both speaker and listener in a situation of importance to both). This is interaction (Rivers, 4). One of the first researchers to consider the importance of interaction was Hatch. She made a pivotal and indelible mark on the field of SLA through her publication of two seminal papers on language learning and interaction (Pica, 494). Hatch proposed that researchers should look towards interaction for insights into language learning development rather than the syntax of the language. In other words, she hypothesized that learners made progress as a result of real-life interaction rather than communicative competence arising out of the conti nuous practice of structures (Macaro, 172). In SLA classroom, the interactional input of the teacher is also part of the teacher talk which is considered as the main source of language input. Krashen proposed the Input Hypothesis to explain how learners interlanguage develops and grammatical features are acquired when learners are exposed to input that contains grammatical features a little beyond their current level of competence (Krashen and Terrell, 32). The Input Hypothesis is explained in detail through the i+1structure. i stands for the current level of language competence of learners while 1 stands for the item that they are going to acquire. Therefore, the i+1 structure indicates that learners are able to learn the language by being exposed to the input containing knowledge a little beyond their current level of competence. Extending Krashens Input Hypothesis, Long put forward the Interaction Hypothesis, which he held could make learners SLA development possible (Long, 420). The Interaction Hypothesis differs from the Input Hypothesis in that it puts more emphasis on how to make input comprehensible. Krashen believes that clues based on the situation and the context, extralinguistic information, and knowledge of the world make comprehension possible (Richards and Rogers, 182). He proposed the term premodification which means to make input comprehensible by simplifying or modifying the input before exposing it to learners by using common or familiar words, phrases and sentences. While admitting the role of premodification, Long lays more emphasis on the interactional modification. Through observing learners interacting with native speakers, Long concluded that what the former were doing was trying to improve the quality of the input they were receiving from the native speakers by giving them some verbal feedback or others to demonstrate that they had not understood. In this way, following Krashens earlier model, the native speakers input should become more fine-tuned to the immediate needs of learners thus allowing the latter to understand more easily. Therefore, the input will be made comprehensible as a result of interaction. Long proposed that interactionally modified input comes about as a result of the use of confirmation checks, clarification requests and comprehension checks by the two parties in a conversation (Macaro, 172). While the first two hypotheses concentrate on the teachers input, Swains Output Hypothesis advocates that learners should be provided with more opportunities of producing output. In order to acquire a new language, it is not sufficient to notice it and keep silent. In order for the acquisition to occur, learners must also use the language in verbal production. First, it increases the intensity of the noticing on the new item as input. Second, it forces learners to attend to the construction of the new language before and during output. Third, it encourages teacher confirmation that the output is correct and provides evidence for learners hypotheses about the target language. This has been known as the Output Hypothesis. To sum up, the Output Hypothesis claims that output can promote language acquisition under certain conditions by allowing learners to produce output. Moreover, Swain believed that in order for students to achieve native-like language competence, they need to be pushed more in their output by providing them with more opportunities to use the target language in the classroom (Swain, 429). In sum, the above three important theories of second language acquisition combine to reveal the effects of different types of classroom interaction on language learning from different angles. Therefore, in the field of second language acquisition, it is reasonable to state that classroom interaction plays a crucial role in promoting language learning. 2.1.2 General Classroom Interaction and Learning When students learn in a classroom setting, a primary source of knowledge comes from teacher talk and teacher-student interactions, as the processes and transactions involved in the construction of meanings are mediated through the use of verbal communication. Central to Vygotskys sociocultural theory of human learning is the idea that social interaction plays an essential role in the development of cognition. First, cultural development appears between people on an inter-psychological plane and then inside the learner on an intra-psychological plane. This applies equally to voluntary attention, logical memory and the formation of concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals (Vygotsky, 57). In addition, through the role of mediation, students are able to transform skills that lie in the zone of proximal development (ZPD, a term formulated by Vygotsky to refer to the area of students potential development). Williams and Burden state that med iation is a term used by psychologists of the social interactionist school to refer to the part played by other significant people (the one usually with more knowledge, e.g. a teacher) in the learners lives, who enhance their learning by selecting and shaping the learning experiences presented to them (Williams and Burden, 67). That is to say, the notion of the teacher assisting student performance through the zone of proximal development suggests that teachers can adjust the discourse on the inter-psychological to support the students evolving understanding of knowledge or development of complex skills. Therefore, Vygotskys theory implicates that learners should be provided with socially rich environments so as to explore knowledge domains with their fellow students and teachers. 2.1.2.1 Interaction Pattern of Initiation-Response-Feedback (IRF) The three-part exchange structure known as triadic dialogue has been found to be common in classroom discourse. This discourse format typically consists of three moves, i.e. initiation (usually via a teacher question), student response and teacher evaluation. It is more commonly referred to as IRE (Mehan, 64). Accordingly, the teacher poses a closed question that is basically information-seeking, that requires a predetermined short answer, and that is aimed at the recall or lower-order cognitive level. He or she then praises or confirms correct answers and corrects those that are wrong. Sometimes, the three-part exchange structure is also known as IRFinitiation, response and feedback or follow-up as the third move may not necessarily be an explicit evaluative remark (Sinclair and Coulthard, 54). For instance, Wells has discussed various ways in which the teacher can provide feedback by encouraging students to express ideas, generate hypotheses and test them (Wells, 1986: 50). The triadic dialogue, which is typical of traditional classroom teaching, is usually considered to restrict students thinking as students responses remain somewhat short and standardized, thus minimizing their role in the co-construction of meaning. Although such conventional teacher-questioning practices have thus been criticized, some researchers have pointed out that it is consistent with educational goals. For example, Newman, Griffin, and Cole argued that the three-part exchange has a built-in repair structure in the teachers last turn so that incorrect information can be replaced with the right answers (Newman et al, 127). Such an opinion is considered appropriate in that the responsibility of teachers is viewed as ensuring that students acquire the knowledge that is normative within a particular culture (Chin, 1316). In addition, Wells has argued that, when used effectively, it is in this third step in the co-construction of meaning that the next cycle of the learning-and-teac hing spiral has its point of departure (Wells, 1993: 35). Therefore, the triadic dialogue can prove to be beneficial to classroom teaching if the teacher is willing to interact with students further. An instance of this would be when the teacher asks a question that stimulates further productive thought, based on their evaluation of students previous responses. In such a case, the teacher would be guiding the development of students ideas by successively building on their contributions in a reciprocal manner (Chin, 1315). As for patterns of discourse, Mortimer and Scott expanded the IRE or IRF structure by identifying the IRFRF chain where the elaborative feedback from the teacher is followed by a further response from a student (Mortimer and Scott, 41). This form contributes to a dialogic interaction. As part of the feedback, the teacher could encourage a student by repeating his or her comment or asking for explanation. By establishing this pattern of discourse, the teacher is able to further explore students ideas. As Wells suggested that the third step of the IRF sequence might have potential for productive discourse (Wells, 1993: 10), Chin established an analytical framework based on questioning to explore the specific forms of feedback. Four aspects of classroom discourse (namely, content, type of utterance, thinking elicited, and interaction pattern) constitute the elements of the questioning-based discourse analytical framework (Chin, 1322). She studied several science lessons from Year 7 which were observed across a variety of lesson structures. In her study, Chin identified four different types of feedback. The follow-up or feedback given by the teacher in the IRF sequence usually takes the form of a comment or statement followed by either another question, or further statements that expound more subject-related knowledge. Therefore, the feedback of the triadic dialogue could consist of a comment-question (C-Q) or statement-question (S-Q) couplet in which the question in the couplets may be considered as overlapping with the initiation of the next IRF sequence. However, Chin points out that, if there are no more questions asked, it takes the form of a comment-statement (C-S) couplet. Sometimes, feedback comprises only comments or statements. Chins findings suggest that by changing the third move of an IRF questioning sequence from an explicit evaluation to one that includes responsive questioning, teachers can make their classroom discourse more thought-provoking and stimulate more elaborate and productive student responses (Chin, 1340). 2.1.2.2 Teacher Questioning and Student Participation As a prominent part of classroom discourse, teacher questioning plays an important role in classroom teaching and has been the focus of linguistic and pedagogical studies (Nunan, 192). There are several reasons why they are so commonly used in teaching. They stimulate and maintain students interest. They encourage students to think and focus on the content of the lesson. They enable a teacher to clarify what a student has said. They enable a teacher to elicit particular structures or vocabulary items. They enable teachers to check students understanding. They encourage student participation in a lesson. (Richards and Lockhart, 185). Second language researchers have proposed that teacher questions play a crucial role in language acquisition. They can be used to allow the learner to keep participating in the discourse and even modify it so that the language used becomes more comprehensible and personally relevant (Banbrook and Skehan, 142). In addition, many previous classroom-based studies have focused on the taxonomy of teacher questions. Barnes identified the closed-ended and open-ended questions (Barnes, 12). Moreover, a display question is a question to which the questioner already knows the answer while a referential question is a question where the teacher does know the answer and is genuinely interested in hearing the answers from students (Long and Sato, 268). And there are questions that either assist or assess (Tharp and Gallimore, 52). According to Brock, referential questions can increase students language output in class and thus promote language acquisition. An increased use by teachers of referential questions, which create a flow of information from students to teachers, may generate discourse which more nearly resembles the normal conversation learners experience outside of the classroom (Brock, 49). Although at a theoretical level, referential questions are likely to trigger more immediate output than display questions, the distinction is too simplistic to offer an in-depth understanding of teacher questioning as it focuses on the types of questions rather than the abilities elicited. The nature of questioning in constructivist-based teaching environment is different. In such an environment, the teachers intent is to elicit what students think, to encourage them to elaborate on their previous answers and ideas, and to help them construct conceptual knowledge. Therefore, questioning can diagnose and extend students ideas and the teacher can engage students in higher-level thinking including analysis, application, synthesis and evaluation as those questions are open-ended and requiring one-sentence or two-sentence answers (Brookhart, 5). Teaching questioning takes another form of a reflective toss in the feedback move of the IRF sequence (van Zee and Minstrell, 1997a: 216). A reflective question is posed to a student by engaging his or her previous response to a teacher question, thus extending the teacher-student interaction and further exploring students ideas. A reflective toss usually consists of three parts, i.e. a student statement, the reflective question and additional student statements (Chin, 1319). Furthermore, the teachers use of a reflective toss serves a series of subgoals. They include using questions to help students clarify their meanings, consider a variety of views and monitor the discussion and their own thinking (van Zee and Minstrell, 1997b: 266). While most studies centered on the role of teachers in classroom, student participation is directly related with the quality of teacher-student interaction. Student participation has become a hot issue in the field of SLA research. Tsui conducted a survey among 38 teachers on the elements of reticence in middle school classrooms in Hong Kong and discovered five influential factors: students low English proficiency, students fear of making mistakes and getting laughed at by others, lack of wait time for students to think due to teachers intolerance of reticence, uneven allocation of turns to students and teachers incomprehensible input (Tsui, 148-155). Karp and Yoels carried out a one-month observation program in the 10 classes at an American private university and identified the consolidation of responsibility (Karp and Yoels, 429). On one hand, teachers would only call on some specific students to answer their questions. On the other hand, some other students would remain silent in class as they were rarely called upon. Through the observation of fifteen classroom sessions and out-of-class interviews with two female and two male students, Morgenstern discovered that there were many opportunities for student speech, but a core of five to six students seemed to monopolize these opportunities. Student actions and attitudes, recorded by observation and interview, revealed four tacit rules for class participation: (1) do not ask stupid questions; (2) do not waste the teachers time; (3) do not waste class time; and (4) try to find the answer before asking the teacher. Some students function under the assumption that only those with the most knowledge should speak, thus assuming a hierarchy of knowledge (Action and Inaction: Student and Teacher Roles in Classroom Participation).

A Child Called It Essay -- Child Abuse Essays Papers

A Child Called It As a child Dave Pelzer was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother; a mother who played tortuous, unpredictable games that left one of her sons nearly dead. She no longer considered him a son, but a slave; no longer a boy, but an 'it'. His bed was an old army cot in the basement, his clothes were torn and smelly, and when he was allowed the luxury of food it was scraps from the dogs' bowl. The outside world knew nothing of the nightmare played out behind closed doors. Dave dreamed of finding a family to love him and call him their son. It took years of struggle, deprivation and despair to find his dreams and make something of himself. A Child Called 'It' covers the early years of his life and is an affecting and inspiration memoir of one child's determination to survive. In most of my classes I’ve always heard that your parents are the most important people in your life and I truly believe this. People are affected by everything their parents say and do both in childhood and later on in adulthood. If a child is constantly looked down upon and made to believe that nothing they do is good enough, chances are they will grow up believing this and having low confidence. It is remarkable that a child David’s age fought himself from breaking down, dissolving into tears and giving up hope for a better future. David constantly worked towards or rather survived because of a dream, a dream t hat he was a prince and that every...

Eddie Rex: The Temper Tragedy :: Short Story Essays

Eddie Rex: The Temper Tragedy Tires scream as the limousine skids to a stop inches before it would have slammed into Eddie's posterior. Crimson anger explodes in his mind as Eddie turns with a jerk, flinging obscenities at the big man behind the wheel of the immaculate luxury car. The madness consumes him completely, dissolving all ability to reason. Eddie's boot meets the headlight of the limo. Shattering glass falls like rain on the hot asphalt. The old man in the back of the car has opened his door, not realizing the chauffer's intent to gun the engine now that the self-important moron in the street is moving around to the driver's side of the car. The limo leaps forward with a roar, sending the gray-haired man sprawling face-up on the hard blacktop. The driver slams the brake pedal to the floor again and four other men spring from the automobile just as Eddie thrusts a three-inch knife blade into the man lying on the ground. Eddie's vision blurs as the murderous rage envelopes him. Blinking, he shoves away fr om the softness covering his face and falls onto the floor in a heap of sweaty blankets. After extricating himself from the jumble of cloth, Eddie stands slowly and shakes his head. "Why'd I dream that? So long ago†¦ I showed that stupid old man†¦ Thought I'd forgotten†¦." Dense, hazy thoughts cloud Eddie's head as he fights for coherence in the dim light of his bedroom. He notices with relief that Jo has already left for her morning exercise. That she is old enough to be his mother and knows far more about his job than he does had made him feel slightly inferior since their marriage. It would have been embarrassing if she'd seen him lose a fight with his bed. With a clear head and a nicely pressed Hugo Boss pinstriped suit covering his freshly washed body, Vice President Edward Rex sits behind his desk, fuming. Angry thoughts ricochet like submachine gun blasts through the dense matter occupying the central cavity of his cranium. "As if this race weren't difficult enough," he said aloud, "now the media's slandering me!" Reaching without looking to punch the intercom, Eddie succeeds in punching his index finger into the unforgiving top of his oak desk. He emits a loud, sharp exclamation followed by muttered dysphemisms concerning the desk's maternal origins. Trying again, he carefully depresses the intercom buttons with his injured index finger.

George Washington Biography Essay

George Washington (1732 – 1799), the First President of the United States, is a prominent individual of the American history. He was commander in chief of the victorious Continental army of the American Revolution and won many important battles that helped the Americans defeat the British. During his presidential terms, he set many important precedents for the following Presidents, such as having Presidential Cabinet Members. He was nicknamed for his accomplishments as the â€Å"Father of His Country†. George Washington was born on Feb. 22, 1732 in Westmoreland County, Virginia on an estate along the Potomac River. He was the oldest son of Augustine Washington and his second wife, Mary Ball Washington. When Washington was eleven, his father died and left only himself, his mother and his five other brothers and sisters. After the his father’s death, Washington could not go to school because he needed to help at the family farm to acquire enough money for his family to live. In his free time he practiced land surveying for fun with his father’s tools. Later, Washington started his occupation as a surveyor. When Washington turned 16, he surveyed lands of the Shenandoah for Thomas, Lord Fairfax. After his half-brother, Lawrence, had died, Washington inherited the farm and large amount of land at Mount Vernon, Virginia. Also, Lawrence was adjutant of the colony so Washington took over this responsibility. As district adjutant, he was referred to as Major Washington and was had trained the militia in the quarter he was assigned to. He first gained public awareness by being adjutant of Virginia and was sent off to warn the French to stop additional intrusion on the land of the northern colonies. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1754 to carry out this task and he departed to the North. Washington found out that the French already had a set up a fort and had a large number of soldiers camped, so he quickly built Fort Necessity. However, the French surrounded and attacked Fort Necessity. The French captured Washington in this attack. Luckily, Washington was released based on the earlier agreements of the British and French. These first several battles fought were the beginnings of the French and Indian War. The next  year, Washington volunteered to be the aide of General Edward Braddock because he was discouraged and angered by the defeat. At that time, Washington tried to convince Braddock to use the style of fighting of the Native Americans, but Braddock disagreed and used the regular fighting technique. Braddock was mortally wounded in this battle and Washington was nearly injured because of four bullets that ripped his coat and two horses that were shot from under him. After the French and Indian War, Washington was 26 years old and fell in love with Martha Dandridge Custis. She was a wealthy widow with her two children, Martha â€Å"Patsy† and John Parke. They married and moved to Mount Vernon where Lawrence once lived. Washington was very successful in farming there. While they lived in Mount Vernon, Washington was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1759 to 1774 and he strongly against the British Stamp Act and the Townsend Act which set taxes on many products. Washington like many others did not buy these taxed products and boycotted them. In the middle of 1774, Washington thought that the many British laws were striving to stop self-government within the colonies and were attempting to have tyrannical rule over the colonies as the King had over England. Washington was one of the few that proposed of a continental congress to be held to govern the colonies. He was elected to be a delegate of Virginia for the First Continental Congress. The Congress created a new government devoted to overthrow unfair rule of Britain. The Second Continental Congress joined together on May 10, 1775, after the fighting of Lexington and Concord had took place. Surrounded by almost 14,000 of Massachusetts’s soldiers, the British army was trapped in Boston. The British government announced that Massachusetts had committed treason after this rebellion, and were trying to take over MA. Washington appeared at the Second Congress in full uniform conveying the message that he was in support of Massachusetts. Congress created the Continental Army for this reason to fight the British. Washington was unanimously elected as general and commander in chief of the army. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington’s actions were left to him because the Congress could not provide laws to help. Washington was given  full power to do anything with authority to improve the service. As General, Washington lost many battles such as the Battle of Long Island but Washington learned from his many experiences and he began to have many successes such as the Battle of Saratoga which was the turning point of the Revolutionary War. The colonies in this war had a great number of help from other countries, such as France, and Washington became good friends with Marquis de Lafayette. This war was won by the help of the French and Washington’s expertise. After the war, Washington left the power of general and returned back to Mount Vernon to be with his wife. Washington became President on April 30, 1789. Washington did not have any examples to follow of previous Presidents since he was the first. One of the first precedents that Washington set was to have only two terms in office. This precedent was followed until 1940. Another was to have the Cabinet contain two leaders of different ideas to balance the Cabinet. Washington appointed John Jay as the Chief Justice because Washington felt he was most suitable. In the Whiskey Rebellion, Washington sent many soldiers to stop the farmers from revolting and the farmers instantly stopped. Washington also pardoned the farmers for their actions because the government’s strength was already shown. This event is very similar to Shay’s Rebellion, but the swift ending of the Whiskey Rebellion showed that the Constitution worked well and strong. In the Spirit of Cincinnatus, Washington left his power after being the General of the Continental Army, and after the Presidency to go back to his farm at Mount Vernon. Each morning he rode his large farm on horseback. Sometimes he rode fifteen miles north of Mount Vernon to watch the building of a new city. The city would be the capital of the United States, named after him, as Washington D.C. Washington died at Mount Vernon of a throat infection in December 14, 1799, after he made his last tour of his property on horseback in the winter weather. It has been said that George Washington was, â€Å"First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.†