Civil War Essay -- essays research papers fc

Civil War During the American Civil War, which lasted from 1861-1865, over 620,000 accounted soldiers were killed. Known as the "the first modern war", historians generally agree that the reason for this was because this was a time of transition for the military. Armies and Navies were still using tactics where they would gather large forces of firepower to bear on the enemy. At the same time, weapons were being developed which were accurate and lethal well beyond any arms of the earlier conflicts. As a result of these two conditions many more casualties were sustained. Add to that the lack of medical knowledge of disease and infection and the numbers truly began to grow. This paper is an overview of the types of weaponry that was used during this time. Artillery generally falls into three basic categories; guns, howitzers and mortars. The main difference between them being the trajectory of the round fire. A gun has a high muzzle velocity and a very flat trajectory. Normally a gun is used in a direct fire mode where the target can be seen and penetration is desirable. Good targets for a gun would be things like brick or earth forts, ships, buildings, and targets in tree lines. Howitzers have a somewhat lower muzzle velocity and arc their shells onto a target. They are used in both a direct fire and indirect fire mode. Keep in mind with the limited range of the pieces available during the Civil War there was no indirect fire such as we know it today. Targets were generally always within the line of sight of the artillery men. This is especially useful when an enemy is concealed behind a prepared position or the artillery men desire to have a shell explode over an enemy’s head. The air-burst does less damage to hardened targets such as masonry walls, and redoubts, but causes many more human casualties due to the shrapnel covering a large area. Mortars have a very pronounced arc of flight. They have a relatively low muzzle velocity and are unsuitable for direct fire. Their principle value comes from being able to lob shells behind an obstacle such as a fort or a hill. Unlike modern mortars, those used during the Civil War were bulky devises and mounted at a fixed angle usually between 45 and 50 degrees. They were not very accurate and depended solel... ... of War suggesting that the gun be officially used by the North, but nothing was done. Later, the Navy adopted the gun in 1862 and so did the Army but not until 1866. My conclusion is that I would not want to be shot by any of these guns. They used very heavy ammunition that devastated what ever it hit. I guess that is why the American Civil War was called the bloodiest war of all time. Not only are you trying to kill your opponent, you are trying to kill a fellow American which must of been tougher. Also, if we adopted the Gatling gun, I feel that the war would of been over a lot faster than it was. To be able to fire 250 to 300 rounds in one minute is devastating. That gun was very mobile because it could be moved around by the horses because it was on wheels. I give these men lots of credit for going out there and fighting like they did. Many really did not know why they were fighting and they still fought with courage. And with a total of 620,000 casualties, a lot of men did not come home. Bibliography 1. "The Civil War", Ken Burns, 1994, tape 5, "Weapons of the Civil War" 2. "The Civil War", CD-ROM, by Mathew Brady, Rom-Man technologies,1995

Island of the Sequined Love Nun Chapter 44~45

44 Revealed: The Perfect Couple Back at his bungalow, an argument went on in the still-sober brain of Tucker Case. I am scum. I should have told them to shove it. But they might have killed you. Yeah, but I would have at least had my integrity. Your what? Get real. But I'm scum. Big deal. You've been scum before. You've never owned a Learjet before. You actually think they'll give me the jet? It could happen. Stranger things have happened. But I should do something about this. Why? You've never done anything before. Well, maybe it's time. No way. Take the jet. I'm scum. Well, yes, you are. But you're rich scum. I can live with that. The dog tags and Jefferson Pardee's notebook lay on the coffee table, threatening to set off another fusillade of doubt and condemnation. Tuck lay back on the rattan couch and turned on the television to escape the noise in his mind. Skinny Asian guys were beating the snot out of each other in a kickboxing match from the Philippines. The Malaysian channel was showing how to fillet a schnauzer. The cooking show reminded him of surgery, and surgery reminded him that there was a beautiful island girl lying in the clinic, recovering from an unnecessary major surgery that he could have prevented. Definitely kickboxing. He was just getting into the rhythm of the violence when the bat came through the window and made an awkward swinging landing on one of the bungalow's open rafters. Tuck lost his breath for a minute, thinking there might just be a wild animal in his house. Then he saw the sunglasses. Roberto steadied himself into a slightly swinging upside-down hang. Tuck sighed. â€Å"Please just be a bat in sunglasses tonight. Please.† Thankfully, the bat said nothing. The sunglasses were sliding off his nose. â€Å"How do you fly in those things?† Tuck said, thinking out loud. â€Å"They're aviators.† â€Å"Of course,† Tuck said. The bat had indeed changed from rhinestone glasses to aviators, but once you accept a talking bat, the leap to a talking bat with an eyewear wardrobe is a short one. Roberto dropped from the rafter and took wing just before he hit the floor. Two beats of his wings and he was on the coffee table, as awkward in his spiderlike crawl as he was graceful in the air. With his wing claw, he raked at Jefferson Pardee's notebook until it was open to the middle, then he launched himself and flew out the window. Tuck picked up the notebook and read what Pardee had written. Tuck had missed this page when he had looked at the notebook before. This page had been stuck to the one before it; the bat's clawing had revealed it. It was a list of leads that Pardee had made for the story he had been working on. The second item read: â€Å"What happened to the first pilot, James Sommers? Call immigration in Yap and Guam.† Tuck flipped through the notebook to see if he had missed something else. Had Pardee found out? Of course he had. He'd found out and he'd followed Sommers to the last place anyone had seen him. But where was Pardee? His notebook hadn't come to the island without him. Tuck went through the notebook three more times. There were some foreign names and phone numbers. Something that looked like a packing list for a trip. Some notes on the background of Sebastian Curtis. Notes to check up on Japanese with guns. The word â€Å"Learjet† underlined three times. And nothing else. There didn't seem to be any organizational form to the notes. Just random facts, names, places, and dates. Dates? Tuck went through it once more. On the third page in, all by itself, was printed: â€Å"Alualu, Sept. 9.† Tuck ran to the nightstand drawer, where the Curtises had left him a calendar. He counted back the days to the ninth and tried to put events to days. The ship had arrived on the ninth, and the morning of the tenth he had made his first flight. Jefferson Pardee could be lying in the clinic right now, wondering where in the hell his kidney was. If he was, Tuck needed to see him. Tuck looked in the closet for something dark to wear. This was going to be different than sneaking out to the village. There were no buildings between the guards' quarters and the clinic, no trees, nothing but seventy-five yards of open compound. Darkness would be his only cover. It was a tropical-weight wet suit – two-mil neoprene – and it was two sizes two big, but it was the only thing in the closet that wasn't khaki or white. In the 80-degree heat and 90-percent humidity, Tuck was reeling from the heat before he got the hood on. He stepped into the shower and soaked himself with cold water, then peeled the hood over his head and made his escape through the shower floor, dropping onto the wet gravel below. In the movies the spies – the Navy SEALS, the Special Forces, the demolition experts – always sneak through the night in their wet suits. Why, Tuck wondered, don't they squish and slosh and make squeaking raspberry noises when they creep? Must be special training. You never hear James Bond say, â€Å"Frankly, Q, I'll trade the laser-guided cufflink missiles for a wet suit that doesn't make me feel like a bloody bag of catsick.† Which is how Tuck felt as he sloshed around the side of the clinic and peeked across the compound at the guard on duty, who seemed to be looking right at him. Tuck pulled back around the corner. He needed a diversion if he was going to make it to the clinic door unseen. The moon was bright, the sky clear, and the compound of white coral gravel reflected enough light to read by. He heard the guard shout, and he was sure he'd been spotted. He flattened against the wall and held his breath. Then there were more Japa-nese from across the compound, but no footsteps. He ventured a peek. The guard was gesturing toward the sky and brushing his head. Two other guards had joined him and were laughing at the guard on duty. He seemed to get angrier, cursing at the sky and wiping his hand on his uniform. The other guards led him inside to calm him down and clean him up. Tuck heard a bark from the sky and looked up to see the silhouette of a huge bat against the moon. Roberto had delivered a guano air strike. Tuck had his diversion. He slipped around the front of the building, grabbed the doorknob, and turned. It was unlocked. Given Beth Curtis's irritation at being buzzed and the amount of wine she'd consumed, Tuck had guessed that she'd get tired locking and unlocking the door. What did Mary Jean always say? â€Å"Ladies, if you do your job and assume that everyone else is incompetent, you will seldom be disappointed.† Amen, Tuck thought. He squished into the outer room of the clinic, which was dark except for the red-eyed stare of a half-dozen machines and the dancing glow of a computer screen running a screen saver. He'd try to get into that later, but now he was interested in what, or who, lay in the small hospital ward, two rooms back. He sloshed into the examination/operating room by the light of more LED eyes and pushed through the curtain to the four-bed ward. Only one bed held a patient – or what looked like a patient. The only light was a green glow from a heart monitor that blipped away silently, the sound turned off. Whoever was in the bed was certainly large enough to be Jeffer-son Pardee. There were a couple of IVs hanging above the patient. Probably painkillers after such major surgery, Tuck thought. He moved closer and ventured a whisper. â€Å"Pst, Pardee.† The lump under the covers moved and moaned in a distinctly unmasculine voice. â€Å"Pardee, it's Tucker Case. Remember?† The sheet was thrown back and Tuck saw a thin male face in the green glow. â€Å"Kimi?† â€Å"Hi, Tucker.† Kimi looked down at the other person under the covers. â€Å"You remember Tucker? He all better now.† The pretty island girl said, â€Å"I take care of you when you sick. You stink very much.† Tuck backed off a step. â€Å"Kimi, what are you doing here?† â€Å"Well, she like pretty thing, and I like pretty thing. She tired of having many means and so am I. We have a lot in common.† â€Å"He the best,† Sepie added with an adoring smile at Kimi. Kimi handed the smile off to Tuck. â€Å"Once you be a woman, you know how to make a woman happy.† Tuck was getting over the initial surprise and began to smell the smoke of his beautiful island girl fantasy as it caught fire and burned to ash. He hadn't realized how much time he'd spent thinking about this girl. She, after all, was the one who had revived his manhood. Sort of. â€Å"You right,† Kimi said. â€Å"Women are better. I am lesbian now.† â€Å"You shouldn't be doing this. This girl just had major surgery.† â€Å"Oh, we not doing nothing but kissing. She very hurt. But this make it better.† Kimi held his arm up, displaying an IV line. â€Å"You want to try? Put in you arm and push button. It make you feel very very nice.† â€Å"That's for her, Kimi. You shouldn't be using it.† â€Å"We share,† Sepie said. â€Å"Yes, we share,† Kimi said. â€Å"I'm very happy for you. How in the hell did you get in here?† â€Å"Like you get out. I swim around mimes and come here to see Sepie. No problem.† â€Å"You don't want to let them catch you. You've got to go. Now.† â€Å"One more push.† Sepie held the button, ready to administer another dose of morphine to Kimi. Tuck grabbed it from her hand. â€Å"No. Go now. How did you know about the mines?† â€Å"I have other friend. Sarapul. I teach him how to be a navigator. He know a lot of things too. He a cannibal.† â€Å"You're a cannibal lesbian?† â€Å"Just learning. How come you have rubber suit? You kinky?† â€Å"Sneaky. Look, Kimi, have you seen a fat white guy, an American?† â€Å"No, but Sarapul see him. He see the guards take him from the beach. He not here?† â€Å"No. I found his notebook. I met him on Truk.† â€Å"Sarapul say he see the guards bring him to the Sorcerer. He say it very funny, the white man wear pigs with wings.† Tuck felt his face go numb. All that was left of Pardee was a pelvic bone wedged in the reef, stripped of flesh and wrapped in flying piggy shorts. Oh, there might be the odd kidney left alive in someone in Japan, a kidney that he had delivered. Had the fat man died on the operating table during the operation, the surgery too much for his heart? Or was he put under and never meant to wake up? Tuck suddenly felt that getting into the doctor's computer was more important than ever. He grabbed Kimi's arm and pulled the IV needle out of his vein. The navigator didn't resist, and he didn't seem to feel it. â€Å"Kimi, see if you can get that back in Sepie's arm and come with me.† â€Å"Okay boss.† Tuck looked down at the girl, who had evidently picked up on the panic in his voice. Her eyes were wide, despite the morphine glaze. â€Å"Don't buzz the doctor until after we're gone. This button will let you have only so much morphine, and Kimi's used some of yours. But if it hurts, you still have to wait, okay?† She nodded. Kimi crawled out of the bed and nearly fell. Tuck caught him by the arm and steadied him. â€Å"I am chosen,† Sepie said. â€Å"When Vincent comes, he will give me many pretty things.† Tuck brushed back her hair with his fingers. â€Å"Yes, he will. You sleep now. And thank you for taking care of me when I was sick.† Kimi kissed the girl and after a minute Tuck pulled him away and led him through the operating room to the office section of the clinic. In the glow of the computer screen, Tuck said, â€Å"Kimi, the doctor and his wife are killing people.† â€Å"No, they not. They sent by Vincent. Sepie say Vincent come from Heaven to bring people many good things. They very poor.† â€Å"No, Kimi, they are bad people. Like Malcolme. They are taking advantage of Sepie's people. They are just pretending to be working for a god.† â€Å"How you know? You no believe in God.† Tuck took the boy by the shoulders. He was no longer angry or even irritated, he was afraid, and for the first time ever, not just for himself. â€Å"Kimi, can you swim back around the mines?† â€Å"I think.† â€Å"You've got to go to the other side of the island and you can't come back. If the guards find you I'm pretty sure you'll be killed.† â€Å"You just want Sepie for yourself. She tell me you follow her.† â€Å"I'll check on her and I'll meet you at the drinking circle tomorrow night – tell you how she's doing. I won't touch her, I promise. Okay?† â€Å"Okay.† Kimi leaned against the wall by the door. Tuck studied him for a moment to try and determine just how fucked up he was. It wasn't a difficult swim. Tuck had done it stone drunk, but he'd been wearing fins and a mask and snorkel. â€Å"You're sure you can swim?† Kimi nodded and Tuck cracked the door. The moon had moved across the sky throwing the front of the clinic in shadow. The guard across the compound was reading a magazine by flashlight. â€Å"When you get outside, go left and get behind the building.† The navigator stepped out, slid down the side of the building and around the corner. Tuck heard him trip and fall and swear softly in Filipino. â€Å"Shit,† Tuck said to himself. He glanced at the computer. It would have to wait. He slid out the door, palming it shut behind him, then followed the navigator around the building. He heard the guard shout from across the compound, and for once in his life, Tuck made a definitive decision. He grabbed the navigator under the arms and ran. 45 Confessions Over Tee Tucker Case dreamed of machine-gun fire and jerked as the bullets ripped into his back. He tossed forward into the dirt, mouth filling with sand, smothering him as the life drained out of a thousand ragged wounds, and still the guns kept firing, the rhythmic reports pounding like a violet storm of timpanis, like a persistent fist on a rickety door. â€Å"Just let me die!† Tuck screamed, most of the sound caught by his pillow. It was a persistent fist on a rickety door. â€Å"Mr. Case, rise and shine,† said a cheery Sebastian Curtis. â€Å"Ten minutes to tee time.† Tuck rolled into the mosquito netting, became entangled, and ripped it from the ceiling. He was still wearing his wet suit and the fragile netting clung to it like cobwebs. He arrived at the door looking like a tattered ghost fresh out of Davy Jones's locker. â€Å"What? I can't fly. I can't even fucking walk. Go away.† Tuck was not a morning person. Sebastian Curtis stood in the doorway beaming. â€Å"It's Wednesday,† he said. â€Å"I thought you might want to play a few holes.† Tuck looked at the doctor through bloodshot eyes and several layers of torn mosquito netting. Behind Curtis stood one of the guards, sans machine gun, with a golf bag slung over his shoulder. â€Å"Golf?† Tuck said. â€Å"You want to play golf?† â€Å"It's a different game here on Alualu, Mr. Case. Quite challenging. But then, you've been practicing, haven't you?† â€Å"Look, Doc, I didn't sleep well last night†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Could be the wet suit, if you don't mind my saying. Here in the tropics, you want fabrics that breathe. Cotton is best.† Tuck was beginning to come around, and as he did, he found he was focusing an intense hatred on the doctor. â€Å"I guess we know who got laid last night.† Curtis looked down and smiled coyly. He was actually embarrassed. Tuck couldn't quite put it together. The doc didn't seem to have any problem with killing people or taking their organs – or both – but he was blushing at the mention of sex with his wife. Tuck glared at him. Curtis said, â€Å"You'd better change. The first tee is out in front of the hangar. I'll go down and practice a few drives while you get dressed.† â€Å"You do that,† Tuck said. He slammed the door. Twenty minutes later Tuck, his hair still wet from the shower, joined Curtis and the guard in front of the hangar. He was feeling the weight of three nights with almost no sleep, and his back ached from dragging Kimi across the compound, then towing him in the water to the far side of the minefield. The guard had never caught up to them, but he had come to the edge of the water and shouted, waving his machine gun until Tuck and Kimi were out of sight. â€Å"We'll have to share a set of clubs,† Curtis said. â€Å"But perhaps now that you've decided to stay, we can order you a set.† â€Å"Swell,† Tuck said. He couldn't be sure, but he thought the guard might be the same one that had chased them to the beach. Tuck sneered at him and he looked away. Yep, he was the one. â€Å"This is Mato. He'll be caddying for us today.† The guard bowed slightly. Tuck saluted him with a middle finger. If the doctor saw the gesture, he didn't comment. He was lining the ball up on a small square of Astro Turf with a rubberized pad on the bottom. â€Å"We have to hit off of this. At least until someone invents a gravel wedge.† He laughed at his own joke. Tuck forced a smile. â€Å"The Shark People covered this entire island with gravel hundreds of years ago. Keeps the topsoil from being washed away in typhoons. This first hole is a dogleg to the left. The pin is behind the staff's quarters about a hundred yards.† â€Å"Doc, now that we've come clean, why don't we call them the guards?† â€Å"Very well, Mr. Case. Would you like honors?† â€Å"Call me Tuck. No, you go ahead.† Curtis hit a long bad hook that arced around the guards' quar ters and landed out of sight in a stand of palm trees behind the building. â€Å"I have to admit that I may have a bit of an advantage. I've laid out the course to accommodate my stroke. Most of the holes are doglegs to the left.† Tuck nodded as if he understood what Curtis was talking about, then took the driver from the doctor and hit his own shot, a grounder that skipped across the gravel to stop fifty yards in front of them. â€Å"Oh, bad luck. Would you like to take a McGuffin?† â€Å"Blow me, Doc,† Tuck said as he walked away toward his ball. â€Å"I guess not, then.† The pins were bamboo shafts driven into the compound, the holes were lined with old Coke cans with the tops cut off. The best part about it was that Tuck was able to deliver several vicious high-velocity putts into the shins of Mato, who was tending the pins. The worst part was that now that Curtis considered Tuck a confidant, he decided to open up. â€Å"Beth is quite a woman, isn't she? Did I tell you how we met?† â€Å"Yeah.† â€Å"I was at a transplant symposium in San Francisco. Beth is quite the nurse, the best I've ever seen in an operating room, but she wasn't working as a nurse when I met her.† â€Å"Oh, good,† Tuck said. Curtis seemed to be waiting for Tucker to ask. Tucker was waiting for the guard to rat him out for sneaking out of the compound last night. â€Å"She was a dancer in North Beach. An exotic dancer.† â€Å"No shit.† Tuck said. â€Å"Are you shocked?† Curtis obviously wanted him to be shocked. â€Å"No.† â€Å"She was incredible. The most incredible woman I had ever seen. She still is.† â€Å"But then, you've been a missionary on a remote island for twenty-eight years,† Tuck said. Curtis picked his club for the next shot: the seven iron. â€Å"What's this?† â€Å"Looks like blood and feathers,† Tuck said. Curtis handed the club to Mato for him to clean it. â€Å"Beth did a dance with surgical tubing and a stethoscope that took my breath away.† â€Å"Pretty common,† Tuck said. â€Å"Choke you with the surgical tubing and use the stethoscope to make sure you haven't done the twitching fish.† â€Å"Really?† Curtis said. â€Å"You've seen a woman do that?† Tuck put on his earnest young man face. â€Å"Seen? You didn't notice the ligature marks on my neck when you examined me?† â€Å"Oh, I see,† Curtis said. â€Å"Still, I, at least, had never seen anything like it. She†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Curtis couldn't seem to return to his story. â€Å"The wet suit this morning. Was that a sexual thing? I mean, most people would find it uncomfortable.† â€Å"No, I'm just trying to lose a little weight.† Curtis looked serious now. â€Å"I don't know if that's such a good idea. You're still very thin from your ordeal in getting here.† â€Å"I'd like to get down to about eight pounds,† Tuck said. â€Å"There's a big Gandhi revival thing going on back in the States. Guys who look like they're starving have to beat the babes off with a stick. Started with female fashion models, but now it's moved to the men.† Curtis look embarrassed. â€Å"I guess I'm a bit out of touch. Beth tries to keep up with what's going on in the States, but it, well, seems irrelevant out here. I guess I'll be glad when this is all over and we can leave the island.† â€Å"Then why don't you just leave? You're a physician. You could open up a practice in the States and pull down a fortune without all this.† Curtis glanced at the guard, then looked back to Tuck. â€Å"A fortune maybe, but not a fortune like we're accumulating now. I'm too old to start over at the bottom.† â€Å"You've got twenty-eight years' experience. You said yourself that the people you take care of are the healthiest in the Pacific. You wouldn't be starting over.† â€Å"Yes, I would. Mr. Case – Tuck – I'm a doctor, but I'm not a very good one.† Tuck had met a number of doctors in his life, but he had never met one who could bear to admit that he was incompetent at anything. It was a running joke among flight instructors that doctors made the worst students. â€Å"They think they're gods. It's our job to teach them that they're mortal. Only pilots are gods.† This guy seemed so pathetic that Tuck had to remind himself that the good doctor was at least a double murderer. He watched Curtis hit a nice hundred-yard bloodstained seven iron to within ten feet of the pin, which was set up on a small patch of grass near the beach. Tuck chased down his own skidding thwack of a nine iron that had landed between the roots of a walking tree, an arboreal oddity that sat atop a three-foot teepee of tangled roots and gave the impression that it might move off on its own power at any moment. Tuck was hoping that it would. The caddie followed Tuck, and when they were out of earshot of the doctor, he turned to face the stoic Japanese. â€Å"You can't tell him, can you?† The guard pretended not to understand, but Tuck saw that he was getting it, even if only by inflection. â€Å"You can't tell him and you can't fucking shoot me, can you? You killed the last pilot and that got you in a world of trouble, didn't it? That's why you guys follow me like a bunch of baby ducks, isn't it?† Tuck was guessing, but it was the only logical explanation. Mato glanced toward the doctor. â€Å"No,† Tuck said. â€Å"He doesn't know that I know. And we're not going to tell him, are we? Just shake your head if you're getting this.† The guard shook his head. â€Å"Okay, then, here's the deal. I'll let you guys look like you're doing your job, but when I wave you off, you're gone. You hear me? I want you guys off my ass. You tell your buddies, okay?† The guard nodded. â€Å"Can you speak any English at all?† â€Å"Hai. A rittle.† â€Å"You guys killed the pilot, didn't you?† â€Å"He tly to take prane.† Mato looked as if the words were painful for him to form. Tuck nodded, feeling heat rise in his face. He wanted to smash the guard's face, knock him to the ground, and kick him into a glob of goo. â€Å"And you killed Pardee, the fat American man.† Mato shook his head. â€Å"No. We don't.† â€Å"Bullshit!† â€Å"No, we†¦we†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He was searching for the English word. â€Å"What?† â€Å"We take him, but not shoot.† â€Å"Take him where? To the clinic?† The guard shook his head violently. Not saying no, but trying to say that he couldn't say. â€Å"What happened to the fat man?† â€Å"He die. Hospital. We put him water.† â€Å"You took his body to the edge of the reef, where the sharks would find it?† The guard nodded. â€Å"And the pilot? You put him in the same place?† Again the nod. â€Å"What's going on. Are you going to hit or not?† Tuck and the guard looked up like two boys caught trading curses in the schoolyard. Curtis had come back down the fairway to within fifty feet of them. Tuck pointed to his ball. â€Å"Kato here won't let me move that out for a shot. I'll take the penalty stroke, Doc. But hell, we don't have mutant trees like that in Texas. It's unnatural.† Curtis looked sideways at Tuck's ball, then at Mato. â€Å"He can move it. No penalty. You're a guest here, Mr. Case. We can let you bend a few rules.† Curtis did not smile. Suddenly he seemed very serious about his golf. â€Å"We're partners now, Doc,† Tuck said. â€Å"Call me Tuck.†

Beginners Guide to the Aztec Empire of Central Mexico

Beginners Guide to the Aztec Empire of Central Mexico The Aztec Empire was a group of allied but ethnically different city states who lived in central Mexico and controlled much of central America from the 12th century AD until the Spanish invasion of the 15th century. The main political alliance creating the Aztec empire was called the Triple Alliance, including the Mexica of Tenochtitlan, the Acolhua of Texcoco, and the Tepaneca of Tlacopan; together they dominated most of Mexico between 1430 and 1521 AD. The capital city of the Aztecs was at Tenochtitlan-Tlatlelco, what is today Mexico City, and the extent of their empire covered almost all of what is today Mexico. At the time of Spanish conquest, the capital was a cosmopolitan city, with different ethnic groups from all over Mexico. The state language was Nahuatl and written documentation was kept on bark cloth manuscripts (most of which were destroyed by the Spanish). A high level of stratification in Tenochtitlan included both nobles and commoners. There were frequent ritual human sacrifices, part of the military and ritual activities of the Aztec people, although it is possible and perhaps likely that these were exaggerated by the Spanish clergy. Timeline of the Aztec Culture AD 1110 - Mexica leave their homeland (Aztlan)AD 1110-1325 - Mexica travel throughout what is now Mexico, looking for a place to settleAD 1325 - Mexica settle TenochtitlanAD 1372-1391 - Rule of Acamapichtli, the first king of TenochtitlanAD 1391-1415 - Rule of Huitzilihuitzli; alliance with  Tepanecs AD 1415-1426 - Rule of ChimalpopocaAD 1428-1430 - Tepanec WarAD 1430 -  Triple Alliance  established between Mexica, Tepaneca of the city of Tlacopan, and Acolhua of the city of TexcocoAD 1436-1440 - Rule of ItzcoatlAD 1440-1468 - Rule of Motecuhzoma I (also called Montezuma)AD 1468-1481 - Rule of AxayactlAD 1481-1486 - Rule of TizocAD 1486-1502 - Rule of AhuitzotlAD 1492 -  Columbus lands in Santa Domingo AD 1496 - Columbus second voyageAD 1502-1520 - Rule of  Motecuhzoma II AD 1510 - Tenochtitlan floodsAD 1519 -  Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes lands  on the Yucatan peninsula and begins his assault on AztecsAD 1520 - Rule of CuitahuacAD 1520 - First smallpox epidemic; Cuitahuac diesAD 1520 - Rule of Cuauhtemoc AD 1521 - Tenochtitlan falls to the Spanish A Few Important Facts about the Aztec Empire Population:  In 1519, the population of the Basin of Mexico was estimated at 1 million inhabitants, between 100,000 and 200,000 in the capital city alone Extent:  Thirty-eight provinces were submitting tribute to Tenochtitlan in 1519, according to the  Codex Mendoza State Language:  Nahuatl, a Uto-Aztecan language Life Expectancy:  37 years, due to high  birth rates  and high infant mortality rates Writing:  State documents concerning administrative details such as the amount of tribute paid to the capital city by each province were preserved on colorfully painted bark cloth paper, made by soaking and pounding the inner bark of the fig or mulberry tree. Calendars:  Like the Maya and other American civilizations, the Aztecs had two cycles to their  calendar, one a 365-day solar year and one a 260 ritual year. Combined, they made a 52-year Calendar Round. The Aztecs believed bad things happened at the end of a Calendar Round. Marriage:  Men could take as many wi ves as they could afford. The first wife was principal, but all wives spun thread and wove cloth, both sources of wealth for Aztec families. Ethnographic Data:  The best information we have on the Aztecs today comes from the writings from members of the Spanish colonization force, such as  Bartolome de las Casas  and  Fray Diego Duran. Aztecs Ritual and the Arts Intoxicants:  Pulque, from fermented agave sap;  peyotl  buttons, datura, psilocybin, black nightshade,  tobacco, morning glory seeds,  chocolate  in a drink, sometimes flavored by  chili peppers  and/or  vanilla Lapidary Arts:  Jadeite,  obsidian, chalcedony,  spondylus  shell Metallurgy:  Two bronzes, one of combined copper and tin, and one of copper arsenic; cast bells,  rings,  and tweezers; some gold and silver. Much was imported from west Mesoamerican  mines,  and metalworkers;  craft work in Tenochtitlan  included hammering, filigree and lost wax methods. The Feathered Serpent:  This pan-mesoamerican fantastic creature was called Quetzalcoatl in the Aztec language. Tlachtli Ball Game:  Played with a rubber ball in a masonry court, the ball game called tlachtli was so important to the Aztecs that 16,000 balls were imported from the Maya lowlands into Tenochtitlan annually. Aztecs and Economics Markets and Trade Network:  Cortes reported that he found a  large market system  in place in the Aztec capital city, where 60,000 people came to trade goods. During the Aztec Empire (1325-1520), the distribution of goods was so widespread that many of the materials traded were mass-produced in villages. A  long-distance trade  exchange system was in place throughout the Aztec Empire, with professional traders called  pochteca  carrying goods such as bird feathers, cacao beans and, most importantly, information. Currency:  Gold jewelry, textiles, cacao beans, and beaten copper axes. Cultivated Crops:  Maize, beans, salvia, squash, tomatoes, cactus, cotton, chile, manioc, goosefoot, amaranth,  cacao (chocolate), avocado, agave Domesticated Animals:  Turkey, duck,  dog Agriculture:  The chinampa system of agriculture used by the Aztecs consisted of a raised planting platform built in a shallow swampland and irrigated through a series of dikes. Aztecs and Warfare Weaponry:  Bow and arrow,  atlatl, oak broadswords with obsidian blades, thrusting spears, round shields of fire-hardened cane, quilted cotton armor, and shield and armed canoes. Ritual  Sacrifice:  According to written records by the Spanish, prisoners of war were led to the top of the Great Pyramid in Tenochtitlan and sacrificed by having their hearts cut out. Their bodies were then thrown down the steps of the pyramid, where they were decapitated, dismembered and eaten by Aztec warriors. This may have been exaggerated by Sahagun, but there is no doubt that ritual sacrifice was part of the rituals of Aztec war. Ritual  Bloodletting  Bloodletting, or auto-sacrifice, was a personal ritual performed by Aztec elites. Empire:  The Aztec mode of imperialism was to conquer a new territory, and then put in a leader over the existing system, rather than replace the entire ruling leadership. This unique blend of force and bribery was extremely effective in maintaining a  far -flung empire. Important Archaeological Sites of the Aztec Empire Tenochtitlan  - Capital city of the Mexica, founded in 1325 on a swampy island in the middle of Lake Texcoco; now underneath the city of Mexico city Tlatelolco  - Sister city of Tenochtitlan, known for its huge market. Azcapotzalco  - Capital of the Tepanecs, captured by the Mexica and added to the Aztec hegemony at the end of the Tepanec War Cuauhnahuac  - Modern day Cuernavaca, Morelos. Established by Tlahuica ca AD 1140, captured by Mexica in 1438. Malinalco  - Rock cut temple built ca 1495-1501. Guiengola  - Zapotec city on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Oaxaca state, allied with the Aztecs by marriage Xaltocan, in Tlaxcala north of Mexico City, founded on a floating island Study Questions Why would the Spanish chroniclers of the Aztecs exaggerate the violence and blood of the Aztecs in their reports back to Spain?What advantages are there to placing a capital city on a marshy island in the middle of a lake?The following English words are derived from the Nahuatl language: avocado, chocolate, and  atlatl. Why do you think these words are the ones we use today?Why do you think the Mexica chose to ally with their neighbors in the Triple Alliance rather than conquering them?What role do you think disease played with the fall of the Aztec empire? Sources on the Aztec Civilization Susan Toby Evans and David L. Webster. 2001. Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America: An Encylopedia. Garland Publishing, Inc. New York.Michael E. Smith. 2004. The  Aztecs. 5th edition. Gareth Stevens. Gary Jennings. Aztec; Aztec Blood and Aztec Autumn. Although these are novels, some archaeologists do use Jennings as a textbook on the Aztecs. John Pohl. 2001. Aztecs and Conquistadores. Osprey Publishing. Charles Phillips. 2005. The Aztec and Maya World. Frances Berdan et al. 1996. Aztec Imperial Strategies. Dumbarton Oaks .

Clemencia Insane or psychologically damaged Professor Ramos Blog

Clemencia Insane or psychologically damaged Marisol Mendez Have you ever heard of the phrase, children are like sponges? Relationships begin at home as we all grow up with parents who either love each other or don’t. Clemencia in â€Å"Never Marry a Mexican† by Sandra Cisneros was never given the chance at a real relationship because of the way she was raised. Since she was a little girl, her mother always told her to never marry a Mexican. â€Å"Never marry a Mexican, my ma said once and always. She said this because of my father† (Cisneros 68). Clemencia, at a young age already is being told by her mother to not marry a Mexican. Giving her the idea that her mother never loved her father. This has affected Clemencia’s ability to love any man because she is afraid of the no love relationship that her parents had and the infedelity behind it. As an older woman, Clemencia becomes an adulteress who sleeps with a married man named Drew. Drew is not the only married man that Clemencia has been with but he is the man th at readers believe also has the blame as to why Clemencia is the way she is. This is the lifestyle Clemencia has chosen to follow because of growing up with a cheating mother. Clemencia’s mom cheated on her father while he was sick in the hospital, this caused Clemencia to resent her mother but also follow in her footsteps. â€Å"That man she met at work, Owen Lambert, the foreman at the photo-finishing plant, who she was seeing even while my father was sick. Even then. That’s what I can’t forgive† (Cisneros 73). Clemencia hates her mother for being with another man while her father was sick and losing his life. This showed her how little her mother cared about who she hurt. The real question is, can we really blame Clemencia for becoming who she is? Cisneros uses the Mexican folklore of La Malinche in this story to describe Clemencia. In Angela Noelle Williams article, â€Å"Malinche† she describes who La Malinche is; â€Å"La Malinche has been mythologized as everything from the beautiful Indian princess who fell in love with the conqueror and produced a noble offspring to the Eve figure whose seduction stained the race she engendered.† La Malinche was a native american woman who was seduced by the Spanish Conquistador Hernan Cortes, who killed off all her people with her help. She betrayed her people for love which in â€Å"Never Marry a Mexican† we see similarities between Clemencia and Drew. Drew actually refers to Clemencia as La Malinche. â€Å"My Malinalli, Malinche, my courtesan, you said, and yanked my head back by the braid† (Cisneros 74). Drew conquers Clemencia at a very young age and has manipulated her to become his sexual slave just like Cortez did with Malinche. Clemencia has a mistak en sense for what love actually is. According to Clara Sue Kidwell in her article, â€Å"Indian Women as Cultural Mediators† she writes about La Malinche’s act of betrayal but justifies and gives the readers information and reasoning behind her actions. â€Å"If we accept that she was virtually a slave in a state under military subjection to the Aztecs at Tenochtitlan, her actions become clearer. Whatever personal passions drove her, we can never know† (Kidwell 3). Kidwell explains that Malinche had reasons to betray her people because she was a slave that was give to Cortes. La Malinche had hatred towards the leaders of her people and hatred can lead to very dangerous acts. Clemencia had reasons to act the way she acted because she saw it first hand with her mother. The story also gives us a side of Clemencia that makes her seem devious and enjoy ruining a marriage. â€Å"Why do that? It’s always given me a bit of crazy joy to be able to kill those wome n like that, without their knowing it† (Cisneros 76). She finds joy in hurting the women with the men she sleeps with. I believe this gives her a sense of power because she knows she can have the man whenever she pleases. Throughout the story, Clemencia reveals to Drew’s son how their relationship began but she tells him indirectly. â€Å"I was your father’s student, yes, just like you’re mine now†¦.. And he took me under his wing and in his bed, this man, your father. I was honored that he’d done me the favor. I was that young† (Cisneros 76). Here Clemencia is speaking to Drew’s son telling him how they had met and how this unfaithful relationship began. In a sense, the way Clemencia speaks about her relationship with Drew, she sounds proud and evil. She is deeply in love with this married man but this love is so twisted. Clemencia is psychologically damaged from witnessing all this as a child. She uses Drew’s son as a way to stay close to Drew because as his son gets older Clemencia sleeps with him as well. â€Å"I sleep with this boy, their son. To make the boy love me like I love his father† (Cisneros 82). Clemencia has grown emotionles s and shows she does not care who she hurts along this destructive journey. We can never really say why Clemencia chose to live a loveless lifestyle, but we know enough about how her childhood has destroyed her vision of real love. Is Clemencia really just hurt that she is in love with a man who she can’t have? The moment Clemencia knew she was never going to be with Drew again, this made her turn vindictive. â€Å"I went over to where I’d left my backpack, and took out a bag of gummy bears I’d bought. And while he was banging pots, I went around the house and left a trail of them in places I was sure she would find them† (Cisneros 81). Clemencia with a feeling of revenge did this to Drew without his knowing and she explains how it made her feel really good with no regret to what she did. As said before, she did find pleasure knowing that she can hurt the people involved in these relationships. She feels no remorse for her actions and how they affect peop le. Is she psychologically insane or did her terrible childhood cause her to become a monster in our eyes? Cisneros, Sandra. Woman Hollering Creek: and Other Stories. New York: Vintage; 1st Vintage contemporaries ed edition, 1992. Print. Godayol, Pilar. Journal of Iberian Latin American Studies. Apr2012, Vol. 18 Issue 1, p61-76. 16p. DOI: 10.1080/14701847.2012.716645. Kidwell, Clara Sue. â€Å"Indian Women as Cultural Mediators.†Ethnohistory, vol. 39, no. 2, Spring 1992, p. 97. Williams, Angela Noelle. â€Å"MALINCHE [Doà ±a Marina, Malintzin, Malinali] (c. 1499/1505-1529).† Native American Women, July 2001, p. 193.

An informative report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

An informative report - Essay Example The stress that he experiences otherwise gets added to the stress that waits for him at the workplace. In today’s world where leaders have to cope with difficult economic situations, they essentially have to go through stress both emotionally and physically. During financial crisis, stress adds up. For the management, layoffs, delayed salaries, low budgets, and pressure from senior staff produces put strain over the managers’ minds which then results in decreased productivity and poor output. They undergo fear, become irritable, suffer through nuisance, and all this reflects in their relationship with the co-workers. Workplace stress includes: fatigue due to overworking without lunch or rest breaks or working for longer hours without naps dissatisfaction caused by lack of motivation when the employees are not given their due rewards lack of interest in the job due to constant pressure coming from seniors and poor communication among the leaders, management and the emplo yees. It becomes important for the leaders and the management to learn how to deal with stressful situations to escape fear, tension and uncertainty. This stress management ability decides whether a leader is going to prove himself as success or failure. Stress is, mostly, very much related to how a person deals with the situation. According to the research carried out by Professor Cox (qtd.

Network and protocol processes that occur in the network when you Essay

Network and protocol processes that occur in the network when you access X-Stream - Essay Example tors and students to collaborate and exchange information, we will discuss the insights of this portal by demonstrating the necessary methods, protocol techniques and processes. However, in order to give a better idea, we have to take TCP/IP protocol suite in to account. Moreover, the foundation for this technological layer that enables a communication channel for internet applications is the IP addresses itself. The priority of the IP is vital because the rest of the TCP/IP protocol suite is fabricated on the IP. However, a recently introduced modification for improving the efficiency of IPv4 32 bit addressing is the CIDS (Classless Inter-Domain Routing) (Linton 2011). Likewise, IP address is assigned a job for developing and constructing the data packets in the same standardized method along with packet management associated with data transmission between interlinked devices in an efficient way. The primary objective is to establish a path for data packets to travel and serve as a basis for delivering network based online applications and services via a TCP/IP suit. The purpose is to expand accessibility of these web-based applications globally and provide services to users such as sharing and uploading documents, pictures, videos, electronic email, video conferencing, chatting, forums, social networks etc. in a broad spectrum, a common platform is now established that is empowered with the mentioned services to make communication valuable. Consequently, for educational communication, a student portal named as X stream has been established, that will serve as a common platform for all the students and tutors, professors and staff for the same university or college. However, apart from some common examples of web enabled services above, the X stream provides advanced services bundled with customization options for students to gain insights on their studies effectively. The report will follow a thorough discussion of the semantics behind these services ranging from

Who Hates America The World Stage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Who Hates America The World Stage - Essay Example On one side, the 'American is still the greatest country in the world' faces off with their opponents - the 'America is the home of political tyranny and capitalist imperialists' tribe. Each group comes to the table with a particular set of talking points. Each group seems to have an ax to grind, and regardless of the amount of angst burning between them, either group rarely hesitates to through a bit more gasoline on the fire. At times, it seems that the purpose is to create a larger fire, rather than promote honest communication and positive progress toward constructive goals. But such is the life of those who have power vs. those who want to accumulate power. Conflict seems to be the chosen path. Hating America has been a staple of the American cultural battle since the 1960's. Since a large number of students dissented over the Vietnam War, and took their voice to the streets, and newspaper headlines, political distress has become commonplace in the American culture. ... One group believes that democracy, or a democratic republic can best guide its own destiny with tools, information, and opportunity. The other seems to desperately create reality following the communist principle, that 'if you repeat something long enough, often enough and loud enough, people will eventually believe it, and follow you. However, from a global viewpoint, the picture changes. The world has its own views of the American experiment on freedom and self governance. These views flow from their own worldview, and their own experiences within the political subsystems in their own countries. So when discussing "who hates America" the question of 'why' must also have added to it the question of 'what is the person's own paradigm and experience" as well as "What does the speaker have to gain be winning listeners to his or her point of view. Often this last question is more revealing than the person's own words. This phenomenon has gained momentum and stature during the last half decade since the terrorist bombings of Sept 11, 2001. Being the first act of war on American soil, this incident galvanized the American peoples to action. The terrorist network had been growing for some time during the 1990's. The bombing of the marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon (cnn.com, 2003), the subterranean truck bomb attack on the World Trade Center buildings in 1993 (Wickens, 2000), the attack on the USS Cole in 2000 (Rodgers, and Frieden, 2000) . . . and the list goes on. After each of these terrorist attacks, the American political leaders rattled their sabers a bit, but generally subjugated their efforts to the opinion of the world stage. However, when a terrorist attack killed thousands of American civilians, and was carried out on American