The Use And Abuse Of History :: essays research papers

The Use and Abuse of History By Friedrich Nietzsche Forward "Incidentally, I despise everything which merely instructs me without increasing or immediately enlivening my activity." These are Goethe's words. With them, as with a heartfelt expression of Ceterum censeo [I judge otherwise], our consideration of the worth and the worthlessness of history may begin. For this work is to set down why, in the spirit of Goethe's saying, we must seriously despise instruction without vitality, knowledge which enervates activity, and history as an expensive surplus of knowledge and a luxury, because we lack what is still most essential to us and because what is superfluous is hostile to what is essential. To be sure, we need history. But we need it in a manner different from the way in which the spoilt idler in the garden of knowledge uses it, no matter how elegantly he may look down on our coarse and graceless needs and distresses. That is, we need it for life and action, not for a comfortable turning away from life and action or merely for glo ssing over the egotistical life and the cowardly bad act. We wish to use history only insofar as it serves living. But there is a degree of doing history and a valuing of it through which life atrophies and degenerates. To bring this phenomenon to light as a remarkable symptom of our time is every bit as necessary as it may be painful. I have tried to describe a feeling which has often enough tormented me. I take my revenge on this feeling when I expose it to the general public. Perhaps with such a description someone or other will have reason to point out to me that he also knows this particular sensation but that I have not felt it with sufficient purity and naturalness and definitely have not expressed myself with the appropriate certainty and mature experience. Perhaps one or two will respond in this way. However, most people will tell me that this feeling is totally wrong, unnatural, abominable, and absolutely forbidden, that with it, in fact, I have shown myself unworthy of the powerful historical tendency of the times, as it has been, by common knowledge, observed for the past two generations, particularly among the Germans. Whatever the reaction, now that I dare to expose myself with this natural description of my feeling, common decency will be fostered rather than shamed, because I am providing many oppor tunities for a contemporary tendency like the reaction just mentioned to make polite pronouncements.

North American Slavery vs. Latin American Slavery: A Comparative Look a

North American Slavery vs. Latin American Slavery: A Comparative Look at Frederick Douglass and Juan Francisco Manzano When we assess the evils of slavery, we typically think of the North American slaves plight. We think of the beatings, murders, hangings and mistreatment of the Southern slave. But what about the slaves of Latin America? Who hears their cries of woe because of their evil slave masters? Is their treatment the same of their brethren under slave rule in North America? In order to answer these questions, it is necessary to look into the lives of both North and Latin American slaves. For our purposes, we will utilize two slave narratives. One account will come from the North American slave, Frederick Douglass, and his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. The other account will come from the narrative Autobiography of a Slave by the Cuban slave Juan Francisco Manzano. In analyzing these two slave narratives, we will compare the childhood, slave communities, slave/master relations, and literature of both Douglass and Manzano. By taking a comparative look at Frederick Douglass and Ju an Francisco Manzano we will be able to hear the voices of the slaves and understand their plight. Childhood Childhood is a period of maturation when our personalities begin to develop into the type of individuals we will eventually become. This is a crucial time where our identities are forming based upon how we are treated by those around us. +If a child is often handled as a burden that individual will take on a negative persona. In the case of children living under the dark hands of slavery, it was impossible to have a normal childhood. A slave's parents were always off conducting laborious tasks, or they were sold away... ...at to the Slave of the Fourth of July?", thus positioning himself as an activist and a spokesperson. Douglass went on to publish two more narratives, My Bondage and My Freedom in 1855, and The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass in 1881. In between the time when he was writing his other autobiographies, Douglass worked for the New National Era, a weekly newspaper in Washington D.C. Aside from his writing accomplishments, Douglass became a key figure in the abolitionist and the equal rights movements. He was revered as a speaker, author and statesman. Works Cited Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. New York: Penguin Group, 1987. Manzano, Juan Francisco. Autobiography of a Slave. Detroit: Wayn State University Press, 1996. Wilson, Ruth. "Latin America Speaks." http://130.132.143.21/ynhti/curriculum/units/1990/1/90.01.04.x.html

Poetry Essay Essay

Vocabulary: Winds – takes a twisting route â€Å"to have many bends and twist† Aches – to hurt with a dull pain â€Å"to feel a continuous dull pain† Belch – to burp noisily â€Å"to let air come up noisily from your stomach and out through your nose† Strummed – to sweep fingers over a stringed instrument â€Å"to play a guitar or similar instrument by moving your fingers up and down across the strings† Brow – is a person’s forehead â€Å"the part of the face above the eyes and below the hair† Drenched – to be soaked through â€Å"to make something or somebody completely wet† â€Å" † Hornby, A.S. ed 2010. Oxford Advanced leaner’s Dictionary of Current English. 8th Edition: Oxford University Press My Notes: The poem is a free verse there is no punctuation; it describes the anxious thoughts of a teenaged boy who does not know what tomorrow will hold. The title of the poem includes the words â€Å"June 16th. † This date is a very significant date in the history of South Africa, as Youth day is commemorated and celebrated on this day. It goes back to the time in South African during the Apartheid regime. On June 16th 1976 thousands of students marched in the streets of Soweto to protest against Bantu education, which limited the level of education to most South Africans. There was an angry youth crowd fighting against and angry government and this resulted in the police killing two hundred young people and injuring hundreds more. This poem is therefore a good poem as it reflects how the people felt during this time in history and it also reflect where we come from as a nation and how the youth can play such an important role in changing an entire history of a country. Critical analysis on the poem: A young man’s thoughts before June the 16th, by Fhazel Johennese. To me â€Å"A young man’s thoughts before June the 16th†, written by Fhazel Johennese is quite a good poem. I must admit I had to read it quite a few times before I started to understand it. Although it is a short poem, the style is simple and the writer gets straight to the point. I understand that the poem is about a young man who is about to go and fight for his rights in South Africa, but I feel that he would rather be somewhere else. I like the poem, it is not difficult to read and you can feel the emotions of the young boy through the words written in the poem. He is anxious about what tomorrow will bring and just wants to be a normal young person. He longs for his mother and wants to spend time with his friends and he knows that he will probably die. In this poem, Fhazel Johennesse is placing himself in somebody else’s shoes (this person knowing that he was going to die as a result of the march of June the 16th). Therefore he is not the narrator of the poem but rather a character which will result in his death. The poet uses words like â€Å"I, me and my† which make the poem very personal and you can imagine the young man going through all the emotions that he is going through. The poem can be seen both as literally and figuratively therefore making the reader or narrator enjoy how the poem has been described. In the literal sense, the person in the poem is going to march, â€Å"travel on a road† (line 1) on June the 16th. There is a use of alliteration which occurs by the use of the phrase â€Å"broad belch of beer† (line 7). However figuratively, the â€Å"march† is the journey, the struggle, against apartheid for a better tomorrow. The speaker slows the poem down when reading it because of the repeated alliterations, this make the poem full of sadness. In the last line the poet writes that his sunset is drenched with red. This symbolises that there is going to be a lot of lives lost and their blood will be spilled all over the place. The poet uses a lot of literary devices in the poem: Firstly the whole poem is written in small letters. This shows that the person in the poem feels inferior and does not think highly of himself. Also there are no punctuation marks used in the poem, the lines just go on and on. This emphasises the fact the he is in an on-going struggle that just goes on and on. His thoughts, â€Å"his sweet memories of (his) youth† are unstoppable. He thinks about the important things like his family and friends, despite his trials and tribulations. â€Å"The Friday nights†¦with a broad belch of beer† (alliteration in line 6 and 7) for example, were important to him. His thoughts run onto the next line and maybe death will ultimately make his thoughts break. The lines of the poem are long and because there are no punctuation marks in this poem, one does not know when to pause because of this. This therefore makes the poem to be slow paced and makes you think of a sad song, sung at funeral. This emphasises that the poem could be some kind of a tribute to one of the young men who died on June 16th. In the poem we also read about the â€Å"my heart aches for my mother†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (line 5) and â€Å"sweet memories of my youth† (line 4). This makes me think that he must be very young and if he had the choice he would rather be somewhere else instead of facing death. When we read a poem such as this it makes us realise that many people old and young alike have died to make a difference in South Africa. On June the 16th we should remember what so many young people stood for and even gave their lives for. In the poem all that the young man wants is for someone to remembers and to tell others the story of what happened on June the 16th, so that those of died did not die for nothing. BIBLIOGRAPHY * Hornby, A. S. ed 2010. Oxford Advanced leaner’s Dictionary of Current English. 8th Edition: Oxford University Press * Ways of knowing: Fiction, Poetry and Drams, Tutorial letter EED102G/101/3/2012.

Functional Area Plan: Human Resources Essay

MegaJava Corporation is a medium-sized manufacturing company with 250 employees. It directly markets one product: a unique coffee cup with a patented ball bearing sliding mechanism. Nathan Jr. and a group of 10 other executives run the company. MegaJava Corporation has received a large sum of money from a venture capitalist. The venture capitalist and Nathan Jr. are predicting 100 percent growth in five years. To achieve that growth, productivity will need to increase at a similar rate. Therefore, this proposal provides a suggested business model update. Further, the functional areas updates are indicated to assist the business model to predict, plan, and implement future growth and profits. MegaJava will need to have a strong and aggressive approach when it comes to Human Resources. Like all companies the employees are the backbone and driving focus to the company’s success. Defined in A Guide for Strengthening HRM Systems (2005) as the use of procedures, policies, and practices to recruit, maintain, and develop employees in order for the organization to meet its desired goals; Human Resources is the backbone of the MegaJava Corporation. The company will also need to budget for the existing positions as well projected positions and workload requirements. The Human Resources department at MegaJava will focus on staffing, profitability, improvement strategies, performance evaluations, and employee relations litigations amongst other things. The challenges MegaJava faces in the future with the current 250 employees and growing will be retention, development and work-life balance. â€Å"The top three in the U.S. were managing talent, improving leadership and managing demographics† Goldsmith, M. (2008). Managing Workforce Flow and Developing Human Capital is two areas that continue to be ongoing issues within the HR field. MegaJava will comply with all Federal, State and Local laws dealing with discrimination based on race, color, gender, religion and handicap. All applicants will be judged on case by case basis and will not be denied a job if they are capable of completing the task regardless of any physical or mental handicaps and in cases where MegaJava will need to give special accommodations within federal guidelines. Compile too all privacy laws dealing with an applicant’s right to privacy and all employees handling personal records and information have to maintain a level of confidentiality. MegaJava will follow all IRS and Immigration laws for all employees and contractors. Benefits are important to all employees sometimes more than. MegaJava will have a benefits package that includes health and dental insurance, retirement plans, life insurance, disability and vacation. Full-Time employees will be offered some mandatory benefits. The company will be required legally to have unemployment and worker’s compensation for all employees because it is federally mandatory. Along with compensation MegaJava will implement programs that will serve as tools to drive productivity and performance while reducing risk within the organization. Recognition programs will boost morale while empowering employees. The site GreatBizTools listed that only 25% of employees work at their full capacity and 50% give the bare minimum. GreatBuzTools. (NA). Future Growth As the demands of the business increase, the company must have sufficient managers to create a workload planner, delegate tasks and supervise employees. MegaJava will comply with all Federal, State and Local laws dealing with discrimination based on al race, color, gender, religion and handicap. The company will maintain high ethical standards of confidentiality when dealing with an applicant’s privacy and all employees handling personal records; complying with all IRS, Immigration & Disability laws for all employees and contractors. MegaJava is predicting to hire an additional 250 employees over the next 5 years. The estimated payroll for the hiring will be over 2.3 million dollars. â€Å"A growing, entrepreneurial company, with variable sales and income, may be better off controlling the levels of base salaries† Heathfield, S. The recommendation will be to hire an estimated 50 employees annually. Reducing the number of management hired every year will give the company the opportunity to develop and promote current employees to the next level. Development is a great recognition tool for any company because most employees will like to feel they are growing along with the success of their company. Defining Roles: Positions and Responsibilities Hourly positions that can be beneficial to the HR team would be an Administrative Assistant which would require 1 to 5 years’ experience, high school diploma or equivalent and a starting salary of 47k annually. The Administrative Assistant will be coordinate support for the organization. Duties for this position includes record keeping, answering the phones, mail distribution, submit work orders and track employee attendance. The employee within this position can be developed and promoted into the HR Specialist and/or Customer Service Representative position  Human Resources Specialist and Human Resources Manager are important position to the recruiting and retaining of employees. Qualifications for a strong HR Specialist and Manager would be 1 to 5 years’ experience directly in the recruiting field, minimum of a Bachelor’s degree and has a starting salary of 52k annually for a HR Specialist and 99k annually for a HR Manager. Both positions recruit, interview, and hire applicants, however the HR Manager focuses more on strategic planning and performance management. Candidates within this role can transition into a Benefits Coordinator or Benefits Manager position. Bureau of Labor Statistics, (2012)  The Compensation and Benefits department is responsible for planning and coordinating how and how much the company pays and the benefits available to the employees. Working within this department employees are required to monitor market conditions while staying updated and within compliance of local, state and federal law with wages and benefits. The department maintains that operations of the business stays within the budget created at the beginning of the fiscal year. Other advancements for employees within this position would be Accounting & Finance.

Articles Of Confederation

Articles Of Confederation Essay Articles Of ConfederationIn the 1770’s, as America’s great thinkers and writers were declaring their desire for independence; they also established a committee to lay the foundation for the American form of government. These brilliant writers and philosophers hesitantly began designing the national level of government for use in America and named their final draft the Articles of Confederation . Out of their utter distrust of a centralized government, due to their association with the English monarchial system, the drafters deliberately established these articles as a loose confederation of states, rather than a firmly united nation. Life under the Articles of Confederation was filled with hardships and uncertainty, and the political scene was paralyzed with inability due to the lack of sovereignty in a central executive branch and the unanimous state consent required for the ratification of an amendment together with the lack of a taxation privilege . However, despite its inherent flaws, the Confederation government did prove capable to accomplish a few foreign and domestic achievements. Under the authority of the Confederation, the United States began to introduce itself in the global scene. The United States determined its place in the community of nations by establishing diplomatic relations and its participation in the world economy. The Confederation Congress also accomplished something many historians overlook. They successfully managed, organized, and eventually won the Revolutionary War . After winning the war, the Congress went on to successfully negotiate the Treaty of Paris and compelled the British to recognize American independence. On the domestic home front, the Congress began to effectively solve the land ordnance problem. The Confederation Congress established a procedure for governing the new territories and organized them into prospective states, giving each prospective state full and equal status with the original thirteen sta tes. Furthermore, they institutionalized systems of local government, and public education . Moreover, while accomplishing all this, the congress managed to keep the national economy afloat. This proved to be an enormous feat because the economy was suffering from the loss of colonial privileges. These major achievements were all accomplished despite the inherent flaws in the basic structure of the Confederation government. The Articles of Confederation created a unicameral Confederation Congress, with each state having only one vote. On most political matters this legislative body required the approval of 9 out of 13 states to ratify any proposed Congressional intention. In Article 13, the Articles declared that in order to ratify an amendment to the Articles the consent of all 13 states were required . This left the national government, running through the Confederation Congress, powerless and unable to proceed with the most trivial matters of politics. The Confederation Government, under the Articles, lacked an executive and judicial branch. This caused Congress to be severely handicapped when it came to the enforcement of her requests. This lack of an executive, coupled with the Congress’s negated power of taxation, caused a crippling financial difficulties. The Congress, having only enough power to request essential national funds from the states, found that many refused to pay, or were late in doing so. Due to the lack of an executive branch, Congress soon found itself facing a mounting national debt that it was unable to pay on its own or force states to assume their share of the burden. Since change was virtually impossible, due to the unanimous amendment process, the Articles remained unchanged and hardships continued to mount for many Americans. The major hardships of America in the period of Confederation rule were primarily between the debtor and the creditor . The economic downturn of the mid 1780’s, caused by the removal of the guaranteed English markets, left many farmers ruined and inundated with debt . These farmers pleaded with their state governments for help, but in most cases states refused to interfere, in one case in particular, these angered mobs of farmers rebelled against the government. This rebellion was known as Shays’ Rebellion in 1786 . Alarmed by the rebellion, other state governments agreed to help the angry farmers to thwart these rebellions. Their help came in the form of coining money to cause inflation, thus making the debt seem smaller and smaller. Under the Articles, this coinage was completely legal and it caused terrible interstate controversies. Congress, lacking the power to regulate interstate commerce, could only helplessly watch as rival states began a series of tariff wars o ver the inflation. These tariff wars, which devastated the national trade, coupled with Shays rebellion, seemed to be the culmination of all the downfalls and weaknesses of the fledgling government and change was deemed to be necessary . READ: Parts Of The Computer EssayBy 1887, some of the American leaders realized if the country was to survive a new plan of government needed to be considered. Thus, the Annapolis Convention of 1786 was held to address regional issues such as trade, but delegates were soon calling for a national convention . At this convention in Philadelphia 1787, the authors of a new plan proposed change of the loose confederation of states to a solid national union. They then changed the mode of representation in Article 1, section 3, as to better represent the people of America. In article 1, section 8, they empowered congress to regulate trade among states, raise revenue through taxation, coin national money, discontinue state coining, and enforce federal laws and treaties . The Constitution also imposed a federal executive and judicial branch to act directly on the individual citizens of America and to execute and interpret the laws of Congress. The Articles of Confederation, which were in for ce from 1781 to 1789, had many shortcomings and flaws, most due to the inherent distrust of a strong central power. These weaknesses caused many problems in America. Inflation grew, tariff wars between states commenced, and the uncertainty of a possible mob-rule lived in the minds of many. However, despite the flaws and setbacks imposed by the Articles, the fledgling Congress proved capable enough to establish mechanisms for westward expansion, establish the United States in the World Scene, and maintain a running economy . Still, a need for constitutional change was illustrated by the severe problems, and the Philadelphia convention answered the call. The drafters of the new constitution looked at all the mistakes created by the Articles, and to their great credit, successfully learned from them. They used the Articles as a foundation, and established the United States Constitution which today still stands as the greatest republic known to man. History Essays

The measurement tecniques of Particulate Matter2.5 (PM2.5) Essay

The measurement tecniques of Particulate Matter2.5 (PM2.5) - Essay Example An earlier research has shown a relationship between hydrogen and a trace element (ANSTO, 2003). For analyzing these suspended particulate matters, these particles have to be collected as per a standard procedure and thereafter have to be investigated. For analyzing the nature of these suspended particles especially PM2.5 various analytical techniques are used. Analytical techniques such as particle induced X-ray emission or particle induced gamma ray emission; IR spectroscopy and gas chromatography are used for finding the elements, inorganic compounds and organic compounds respectively (Measurement methods, 2007). In the present study a literature search has been carried out to study the impact of bushfires on our environment and the examples of Australia and Singapore bush fires has been covered. A brief introduction of PM2.5 has also been covered. A few analytical instruments utilized by the various environmental protection agencies have been studied with respect to their advantages in bushfires. The through principles of the instrument techniques were also studied and a conclusion of the study has been made. The most common measurement in air quality is the concentration of suspended particles in it and is reported as the PM index. ... PM10 (where the total concentration of all particles having diameter less than 10 m) are being monitored by various government agencies in many countries such as US, Canada (Baird, 2005). Many government agencies are also looking for monitoring fine suspended particles having diameter less than 2.5 m, as these are within the respirable range and can penetrate deep into the lungs. US EPA specification for PM 2.5 US EPA National Ambient Air Quality standards (NAAQS) have set standards for particulate matter PM2.5 and PM10. For PM2.5 it has set an annual average of 15 g/m3 with a 24 hour standard of 65g/m3 and for PM10 an annual average of 50 g/m3 with a 24-hour standard of 150 g/m3 (ANSTO, 2003). A short term US EPA NAAQS standard for air borne particulate matter is given in Table-1. As many countries still do not have their own specifications for PM2.5, most of the countries follow US EPA guidelines. Sampling of Particulate Matters: It is really difficult to collect a representative sample especially from a bushfire. However the sample should be collected from multiple locations so that the analysis gives more prcis and meaningful results. The sample collected from different part can either be mixed or separate analysis can be carried out. There are various methods involved for collecting particulate matters. A few methods are summarized below. a) Filter cups: Filters are the simplest way of collecting particulate matters. Aerosol sample is passed through a set of filters at a controlled rate so that a specific particulate matters are collected through a specific filter. These filter papers are cellulose, glass fiber, teflon or a combination of materials (Thompson, 1998). b) Cyclones:

Is Infinity Possible Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Is Infinity Possible - Essay Example A mathematician just have to round off the figure in order to mark the end of the mathematical problem otherwise the sequence would be written to the length of an equator and still fails to end. These are some few examples that prove the existence of infinity. To conceptualize this in a thought, if everything in existence is put in a box and sealed tight, it means that a boundary has been created between what is inside the box and what is out side the box. In this line of thinking, one can possibly end up to a conclusion that all that is out side the box is a continuation of all that is inside the box be it space, solid, liquid or a gas. What is infinite therefore is that that can never be measured and ca never be traced to an origin. Religiously, the Almighty God can be logically viewed as infinite. This is because no matter how hard mankind can try to understand His origin, there will never be a definite answer (Gökdeniz & Dilek p12). He is the Alfa and the Omega. He has always been there, is there and will always be there forever more. These words from the scripture suggest that God’s existence is infinite; and never dies. Regardless of what the atheists and the theists think of this, the concept of infinity has been present ed. The quality of infinity is infinite and infinity therefore is the quality that is applicable to a number of infinite qualities. Think of space and beyond; it is endless and this is infinity; think of matter; think of levels of life forms in the universe and intelligence levels; think of the largest and the smallest thing that can ever be, and think of time. These are all forms that can only be traced to infinite dimensions proving that infinity does not only exist in numbers but exist in the physical realm as well (Cleqq p158). If only someone can prove of an existence that is beyond infinity or give a word that gives this extension a meaning,