Tuesday, December 17, 2019

The On Wood Type Of Artwork By Grupo Mondongo - 1067 Words

‘Calavera, Skull 4’, 2009, is a series of plasticine on wood type of artwork by Grupo Mondongo is one of the most eye catching pieces of art at the Museum of Fine Arts. Grupo Mondongo is a group of Argentinian Artists; Julian Laffitte, Agustina Picasso, and Manuel Mendanha. They have created many other similar types of art that is just as spectacular such as , but nothing caught my attention like ‘Skull 4’. I chose this piece because it is not only beautiful from afar but also up close. Grupo Mondongo’s medium choice is quite new and their collage is quite extraordinary, its basically a sculpture of small things that most people have likely seen, put together to make it look like a skull in a size of about 5 foot by 4 foot. The artist probably chose to make it a skull because Calavera is a sugar skull that is eaten on days leading up to ‘The Day of the Dead’ in most Latin American countries. The title of the artwork is obviously shown in the sculpture, it shows a skull and has a picture of a skull. The references to these sculptures has a lot of different historical paintings such as, â€Å"The Last Supper†, â€Å"Lady with an Ermine†, â€Å"The Great waves of Kanagawa† and â€Å"Michael Jackson and Bubbles.† There are also famous movies such as â€Å"King Kong,† â€Å"Star Wars,† and â€Å"The Terminator.† The first thing you notice about sculpture is the texture of it, it feels smooth, like its made of a clay yet it has a lot of depth and value, the skull itself isn’t proportional since it is tilted to

Monday, December 9, 2019

Debentures Case Essay Sample free essay sample

Unsecured bonds are alternate manner of raising money for the company. Strictly talking. it is non a capital. but a loan to the company. It is frequently secured by either a alteration on assets of drifting charge on all assets. For this instance bubble milk-tea concern has grown enormously. and the manager program to set-up 5 stables and its capital needed is estimated to be around RM250. 000. Unsecured bonds are one of the common long term beginnings of finance. They usually carry a fixed involvement rate and a certain day of the month of adulthood. There are several advantages of utilizing unsecured bonds as a beginning of long term finance but at the same clip they come along with certain disadvantages besides. Following are some advantages and disadvantages of unsecured bonds from the point of position of a company. Advantages of unsecured bonds: No Dilution of Control: Issue of unsecured bonds does non impact control of the bing stockholders or the proprietors of the company. We will write a custom essay sample on Debentures Case Essay Sample or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page If the same fund is raised utilizing equity finance. the control of bing stockholders would thin consequently. Benefit of Leverage: By affecting debt in a company doing net incomes. the direction can ever maximise wealth of the stockholders. Let’s take an illustration. say the internal rate of return of a company is 15 % ( RM 37. 500 ) against a 12 % ( RM 30. 000 ) rate of involvement which is paid to the unsecured bond holders. The excess 3 % ( RM 7. 500 ) which is earned out of the money of unsecured bond holders is shared by the equity stockholders. This is how engagement of unsecured bonds can take to welfare of the stockholders. All this is true under a fine-looking rate of return on the company’s undertakings which are at least higher than the involvement rate offered on unsecured bonds. Disciplinary Consequence: The load of involvement is fixed in unsecured bonds irrespective of the concern net incomes. operational state of affairss etc. This makes the enterpriser all the more cautious and committed towards pull offing the concern and keeping the hard currency flows efficaciously. It is because a terrible penalty i. e. bankruptcy is enclosed to default of unsecured bond involvement on clip which is non low-cost. No Dilution in Share of Net incomes: Opting for unsecured bonds over the equity as a beginning of finance saves the net income portions of bing stockholders. Unsecured bond holders do non portion net incomes of the company. They are apt to have the in agreement sum of involvement merely. Disadvantages of unsecured bonds: Enlarge Leverage Ratios: Unsecured bond raises the purchase of the concern. High purchase means high hazard in the signifier of bankruptcy. Bankruptcy is non the lone hazard but if the rate of return of the company declines below the unsecured bond involvement rate at a ulterior phase after publishing the unsecured bonds. it can convey the whole undertaking on a flip. Rigid Duty: Interest payment to the unsecured bond holders is a legal duty and the concern has to honour the same come what may. This characteristic of unsecured bond creates a job for the concern in the bad times. Unsecured bond holders are non traveling to understand the echt concern jobs and why should they? Under this state of affairs. a new concern which is merely about to take off can non hold such disciplined hard currency flows to pay the involvement seasonably. Unsecured bond is non a right sort of funding option for them particularly in their nascent phase. Bad for Low Inflationary Conditionss: Although fixed involvement has certain benefits. they are besides accompanied with disadvantages. Under low inflationary conditions. the hard currency escape remains changeless but the value of the money additions. To compare it with concern state of affairss. the market monetary value of the merchandises of the company will worsen in low inflationary conditions but the involvement payment will stay same and hence that will make loss doing mismatch.

Sunday, December 1, 2019

Stopping By Woods Essays - Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

Stopping By Woods The visible sign of the poet's preoccupation--the word is not too strong--is the recurrent image, particularly in his earlier work, of dark woods and trees, Often, as in the lyric with which we have begun, the world of the woods..., a world offering perfect quiet and solitude, exists side by side with the realization that there is also another world, a world of people and social obligations. Both worlds have claims on the poet. He stops by woods on this darkest evening of the year to watch them fill up with snow, and lingers so long that his little horse shakes his harness bells to ask if there is some mistake. The poet is put in mind of the promises he has to keep, of the miles he still must travel. We are not told, however, that the call of social responsibility proves stronger than the attraction of the woods, which are lovely as well as dark and deep; the poet and his horse have not moved on at the poem's end. The dichotomy of the poet's obligations both to the woods and to a wor ld of promises--the latter filtering like a barely heard echo through the almost hypnotic state induced by the woods and falling snow-is what gives this poem its singular interest.... The artfulness of Stopping by Woods consists in the way the two worlds are established and balanced. The poet is aware that the woods by which he is stopping belong to someone in the village; they are owned by the world of men. But at the same time they are his, the poet's woods, too, by virtue of what they mean to him in terms of emotion and private signification. . . . . What appears to be simple is shown to be not really simple, what appears to be innocent not really innocent.... The poet is fascinated and lulled by the empty wastes of white and black. The repetition of sleep in the final two lines suggests that he may succumb to the influences that are at work. There is no reason to suppose that these influences are benignant. It is, after all, the darkest evening of the year, and the poet is alone between the woods and frozen lake. His one bond with the security and warmth of the outer world, the little horse who wants to be about his errand, is an unsure one. The ascription of lovely to this scene of desolate woods, effacing snow, and black night complicates rather than alleviates the mood when we consider how pervasive are the connotations of dangerous isolation and menacing death. From From Woods to Stars: A Pattern of Imagery in Robert Frosts Poetry. South Atlantic Quarterly. Winter 1959. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jeffrey Meyers Like The Road Not Taken, it suggests vast thematic implications through a lucid narrative. . . . The most amazing thing about this work is that three of the fifteen lines (the last line repeats the previous one) are transformations from other poems. He gives his harness bells a shake comes from Scott's The Rover (in Palgrave): He gave the bridle-reins a shake.: The woods are lovely, dark and deep comes from Thomas Lovell Beddoes' The Phantom Wooer: Our bed is lovely, dark, and sweet. The concluding And miles to go before I sleep comes from Keats' Keen Fitful Gusts: And I have many miles on foot to fare. Though these three lines are variations from other poets, Frost, writing in the tradition of English verse, makes them original and new, and integrates them perfectly into his own poem. The theme of Stopping by Woods--despite Frost's disclaimer--is the temptation of death, even suicide Shakespeare Essays

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Origins of the Ancient Mesoamerican Ballgame

Origins of the Ancient Mesoamerican Ballgame The Mesoamerican Ball Game is the oldest known sport in the Americas  and originated in southern Mexico approximately 3,700 years ago. For many pre-Columbian cultures, such as the Olmec, Maya, Zapotec, and Aztec, it was a ritual, political and social activity that involved the whole community. The ball game took place in specific I-shaped buildings, recognizable in many archaeological sites, called ballcourts. There are an estimated 1,300 known ballcourts in Mesoamerica. Origins of the Mesoamerican Ball Game The earliest evidence of the practice of the ball game comes to us from ceramic figurines of ballplayers recovered from El Opeà ±o, Michoacan state in western Mexico about 1700 BC. Fourteen rubber balls were found at the shrine of El Manatà ­ in Veracruz, deposited over a long period beginning about 1600 BC. The oldest example of a ballcourt discovered to date was built about 1400 BC, at the site of Paso de la Amada, an important Formative site in the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico; and the first consistent imagery, including ball-playing costumes and paraphernalia, is known from the San Lorenzo Horizon of the Olmec civilization, ca 1400-1000 BC. Archaeologists agree that the origin of the ball game is linked with the origin of ranked society. The ball court at Paso de la Amada was constructed near the chiefs house and, later on, the famous colossal heads were carved depicting leaders wearing ballgame helmets. Even if the locational origins are not clear, archaeologists believe that the ball game represented a form of social display- whoever had the resources to organize it gained social prestige. According to Spanish historical records and indigenous codexes, we know that the Maya and Aztecs used the ball game to solve hereditary issues, wars, to foretell the future and to make important ritual and political decisions. Where the Game Was Played The ball game was played in specific open constructions called ball courts. These usually were laid out in the form of a capital I, consisting of two parallel structures that delimited a central court. These lateral structures had sloping walls and benches, where the ball bounced, and some had stone rings suspended from the top. Ball courts were usually surrounded by other buildings and facilities, most of which probably were of perishable materials; however, masonry constructions usually involved surrounding low walls, small shrines, and platforms from which people observed the game. Almost all main Mesoamerican cities had at least one ball court. Interestingly, no ball court has yet been identified at Teotihuacan, the major metropolis of Central Mexico. An image of a ball game is visible on the murals of Tepantitla, one of Teotihuacans residential compounds, but no ball court. The Terminal Classic Maya city of Chichen Itz has the largest ball court; and El Tajin, a center that flourished between the Late Classic and the Epiclassic on the Gulf Coast, had as many as 17 ball courts. How the Game Was Played Evidence suggests that a wide variety of types of games, all played with a rubber ball, existed in ancient Mesoamerica, but the most widespread was the hip game. This was played by two opposing teams, with a variable number of players. The aim of the game was to put the ball into the opponents end zone without using hands or feet: only hips could touch the ball. The game was scored using different point systems; but we have no direct accounts, either indigenous or European, that precisely describe the techniques or rules of the game. Ball games were violent and dangerous and players wore protective gear, usually made of leather, such as helmets, knee pads, arm and chest protectors and gloves. Archaeologists call the special protection constructed for the hips yokes, for their resemblance to animal yokes. A further violent aspect of the ball game involved human sacrifices, which were often an integral part of the activity. Among the Aztec, decapitation was a frequent end for the losing team. It has also been suggested that the game was a way to resolve conflicts among polities without resorting to real warfare. The Classic Maya origin story told in the Popol Vuh describes the ballgame as a contest between humans and underworld deities, with the ballcourt representing a portal to the underworld. However, ball games were also the occasion for communal events such as feasting, celebration, and gambling. The Players The entire community was differently involved in a ball game: Ballplayers: The players themselves were probably men of noble origins or aspirations. The winners gained both wealth and social prestige.Sponsors: Ball court construction, as well as game organization, required some form of sponsorship. Affirmed leaders, or people who wanted to be leaders, considered ball game sponsorship an opportunity to emerge or reaffirm their power.Ritual Specialists: Ritual specialists often performed religious ceremonies before and after the game.Audience: All sorts of people participated as spectators to the event: local commoners and people coming from other towns, nobles, sport supporters, food sellers and other vendors.Gamblers: Gambling was an integral component of ball games. Bettors were both nobles and commoners, and sources tell us that the Aztec had very strict regulations about bet payments and debts. A modern version of the Mesoamerican ballgame, called ulama, is still played in Sinaloa, Northwest Mexico. The game is played with a rubber ball hit only with the hips and resemble a net-less volleyball. Updated by K. Kris Hirst Sources Blomster JP. 2012. Early evidence of the ballgame in Oaxaca, Mexico. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition. Diehl RA. 2009. Death Gods, Smiling Faces Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies Inc: FAMSI. (accessed in November 2010)and Colossal Heads: Archaeology of the Mexican Gulf Lowlands. Hill WD, and Clark JE. 2001. Sports, Gambling, and Government: Americas First Social Compact? American Anthropologist 103(2):331-345. Hosler D, Burkett SL, and Tarkanian MJ. 1999. Prehistoric Polymers: Rubber Processing in Ancient Mesoamerica. Science 284(5422):1988-1991. Leyenaar TJJ. 1992. Ulama, the survival of the Mesoamerican ballgame Ullamaliztli. Kiva 58(2):115-153. Paulinyi Z. 2014. The butterfly bird god and his myth at Teotihuacan. Ancient Mesoamerica 25(01):29-48. Taladoire E. 2003. Could we speak of the Super Bowl at Flushing Meadows?: La pelota . Ancient Mesoamerica 14(02):319-342.mixteca, a third pre-Hispanic ballgame, and its possible architectural context

Saturday, November 23, 2019

All Hail the Divine Ruler, Queen of Kish

All Hail the Divine Ruler, Queen of Kish Want to know which monarch of ancient Sumer reigned supreme at any given time? You’d have to check out the aptly named Sumerian King List. But the Sumerians had a super-special idea of â€Å"kingship†: it was a force that liked to travel. For generations at a time, nam-lugal, or â€Å"kingship,† was bestowed upon a particular city, represented by a monarch who ruled for a long time. Only one city was believed to hold true kingship at any given time. After a few hundred years, kingship went from one city to another, which then held the honor of nam-lugal for a few generations. Apparently, the gods, who bestowed rulership as a privilege, not a right, upon humans, got fed up of one place after a period of time, so they regifted it elsewhere. In reality, the list may have reflected a particular city’s rise to power or military defeat in Sumer: if City A came to prominence, then its hegemony could be justified by claiming divine right. This mythological idea wasnt realistic - many cities had individual kings reigning at the same time – but since when did myth have reflect reality? Its Ladies Night Tons of monarchs make an appearance on the Sumerian King List, but there’s only one lady named: Kubaba, or Kug-Bau.  Not to be confused with the monster Huwawa or Hubaba in the Epic of Gilgamesh, Kubaba was a woman alone – the only queen regnant who’s recorded as bearing divine rulership. The Sumerian King List records that the city of Kish held nam-lugal multiple times. In fact, it was the first city to hold kingship after a great mythical flood – sound familiar? After sovereignty bounced around to a lot of different places, it landed in Kish a few more times – although that’s since been cast in doubt. On one of those occasions, a woman named Kug-Bau ruled the city. Drink Up!   Kubaba is first identified in the King List as the â€Å"the woman tavern-keeper.† How could she have gone from owning a bar/inn to ruling a city? We can’t be sure, but female tavern-keepers actually held important positions in Sumerian mythology and daily life. Perhaps that’s because of the mega-importance of beer in Sumerian culture. While some scholars theorized that taverns equaled brothels in Sumer, apparently â€Å"tavern keeping was a common and respectable female occupation until later periods in Mesopotamia,† according to Julia Assante. Regardless of what kind of show they were running, women often ran taverns, holding perhaps one of the only independent female positions of power in ancient Sumer. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, an important character is Siduri the tavern-keeper, who runs an inn in the Underworld. She must be an immortal of some sort to live where she does, and gives Gilgamesh sage advice like â€Å"Who of the mortal can live forever? The life of man is short†¦.let there be pleasure and dancing.† So, in what was probably a very important epic even in antiquity, a female tavern-keeper was seen as a guide  along perilous paths  and a figure worthy of veneration. Real-life politics may or may not have allowed a tavern-keeper co to rule over her city. But what was the purpose in identifying her profession? By associating her with the mythical Siduri and a prominent feminine profession – whether she ran a brothel or not - the recorder of the King List literally immortalized Kubaba and made her the one of world’s most independent women before Beyoncà ©. According to Carol R. Fontaine in her essay â€Å"Visual Metaphors and Proverbs 15:15-20,† there was a sacredness attached to female tavern-keepers. She wrote that, â€Å"given the association of Inanna-Ishtar with the tavern and the sweet (sexual?) wine to be drunk there, as well as female ownership of taverns and involvement with the process of brewery, we should not assume Ku-Baba to be some sort of prostitute but a successful business woman with divine associations herself.† So what else did Kubaba do? The King List says she â€Å"made firm the foundations of Kish,† indicating she fortified it against invaders. Lots of monarchs did this; Gilgamesh even built a lot of walls to protect his city of Uruk . So it sounds like Kubaba carried on a grand royal tradition of building up her city. According to the King List, Kubaba ruled for one hundred years. That’s obviously exaggerated, but a lot of other monarchs on the list have similarly long reigns. But it didn’t last forever. Eventually, â€Å"Kish was defeated† – or destroyed, depending on the version you’re reading – and the gods decided to remove kingship from this city. It went to the city of Akshak instead. A Womans Work Never Ends But Kubaba’s legacy didn’t end there. It seems that later generations weren’t crazy about women occupying traditional men’s roles. A later omen reading indicated that, if an individual is born intersex, it’s the â€Å"omen of Ku-Bau who ruled the land; the land of the king will become waste.†Ã‚  By taking on the duties of a man – a king – Kubaba was seen to have crossed a boundary and transcended gender divisions in an improper fashion. Combining male and female genitalia in an individual would echo her reign as lugal, or king, which the ancients saw as violating the natural order of things. The omen texts indicate that both an individual with the sexual organs of two genders and a queen regnant were seen as unnatural. â€Å"These were linked in the elite mind as a challenge and threat to the political hegemony of the king,† said Fontaine. Similarly, in another omen reading, if a patient’s lung didn’t look so good, it was the sign of Kubaba, â€Å"who seized the kingship.†Ã‚  So, basically, Kubaba’s legacy served as a means of identifying bad stuff that went against the way things should be. Its also worth noting that Kubaba is portrayed as an improper usurper here. Kubaba’s legacy might not have been limited to her reputation. In fact, she mightve founded a real dynasty! After her reign, kingship transferred to Akshak; a few generations later, a king named Puzur-Nirah ruled there. Apparently, Kubaba was still alive at this time, according to the Weidner Chronicle, and Kubaba, a.k.a. â€Å"the alewife,† fed some local fishermen who lived near her house. Because she was so nice, the god Marduk liked her and gave â€Å"royal dominion of all lands entirely over to Ku-Baba.† On the King List, royal power is said to have gone back to Kish after Akshak†¦and guess who ruled? â€Å"Puzur-Suen, the son of Kug-Bau, became king; he ruled for 25 years.† So it looks like the story about Marduk giving kingship back to Kubaba’s family demonstrates her real-life family taking power eventually. Puzur-Suen’s son, Ur-Zubaba, ruled after him. According to the list, â€Å"131 are the years of the dynasty of Kug-Bau,† but that doesn’t add up when you tally the years of each reign. Oh, well! Eventually, the name â€Å"Kubaba† became best-known as that of a Neo-Hittite goddess, hailing from the city of Carchemish. This Kubaba probably didn’t have any relation to our Kug-Bau from Sumer, but an incarnation of the deity so prominent in Asia Minor might’ve become the goddess the Romans knew as  Cybele (nà ©e Cybebe). If so, then the name Kubaba had come a long way from Kish!

Thursday, November 21, 2019

What economic future are markets currently pricing in Essay

What economic future are markets currently pricing in - Essay Example Consistent actions such as quantitative easing in money market, though helped to control the money supply in the market, but it also hinted at the weakening of major currencies of the world also specially dollar. UK’s current debt situation and the debate on it during recent past indicated that there are subtle doubts within the minds of investors that countries like UK can default too. This was mostly due to higher budget deficit and faltering in the credit ratings of the country itself. It has been reported in the Bank of England (BoE) financial stability report that the markets have started to put strain on different markets including the sovereign markets. This clearly indicates the overall sentiments in the market and how market actually perceives the future risks. It has been discussed in the financial stability review of the BoE that the overall conditions are improving for the economy as a whole and the financial system of the country has been able to manage its essential activities. This signifies the slow recovery and stability which is emerging in the financial markets of the country and a such the sign of stability in the financial markets can also serve as one of the important indicators for the improved investor confidence and hence the correct pricing of risk of the assets. Financial stability review also indicates that the financial institutions have been able to cushion themselves against the losses which can erode their capital with the systematic increase of their capital base to meet the Basel II requirements. Thus the overall risk faced due to higher sovereign risk in cases of Greece and Ireland may be easily absorbed by the larger UK firms. (Bank of England, 2010) A closer look at the discussion and data presented in the financial stability report would suggest that the overall market sentiments are not good enough. The increasing level of sovereign risk especially in the wake

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

LAB report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Lab Report Example On the other hand, a dry density obtained through impacting of energy on the soil relies on the first initial content of water which is referred to as the moulding content of water. Getting to know the relationship between the moulding content of water and the achievable density is a topic that has been of concern for many years. The dry condition, and a moulding content water increase could lead into a high dry density compaction. The trend will continuous until when the maximum dry density is achieved at an optimum water content moulding. As the water increases, there would be a continuous dry density reduction. Such a reaction would be referred to as the curve of compaction. In order to gain a deeper insight concerning compaction, this experiment was set to investigate the compaction test. The sample mould base and mould mass would be determined to the nearest gram. The mould diameter and depth were measured. The mould depth was about 3 places where as the moulding diameter was about 6 places + or- 0.02 mm. The hammer, mass, proper drop, and square edges was checked for damages. A well-graded sand with fine that are less than five percent was used to ease the laboratory instruction. A material with particles that are oversize was selected to show the test aspects. Enough moist material was selected to give out approximately 12 kg of soil that is dry. The natural content of water was obtained. The amount of materials needed for the point of compaction was estimated. Five samples having contents of water separated by 1.5 percent were prepared. The water contents were adjusted such that they bracket the value that was optimum. The soil was tempered overnight to reduce the scatter in the data thus making it easy to define the curve of compaction. The compaction test was d one in respect to the standards of the ASTM test