Nationalism in German History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Nationalism in German History - Essay Example And this was the nationalism period of Germany. The Congress of Vienna restored a Germany comprising thirty-nine states. Before 1789 these states had numbered over two hundred. At first glance it seemed that the 1815 arrangement was a move towards simplification and unity, but this was only an appearance (Hagen & Sarah 1991, pg. x). For one thing, many of the thirty-nine states were in possession of more territory after 1815 than they had ever had before, and they were far more interested in maintaining these gains than in any schemes for a single German government in which their own identity might be lost. Germany after 1815 was still a much divided country (pg. xi). This division of Germany exactly suited the aims of the Austrian Chancellor, Metternich, who had a decisive voice in the settlement. Austria could control a disunited Germany far more easily than a united one. While the German princes were divided by political jealously and distrust, the Austrians would have no united opposition to their policies and could exert a decisive influence in the affairs of Germany. An assembly for the whole Germany was created after 1815, but this was by no means an effective German parliament. It represented the princes, not the people, of Germany, and was not in any way elected by popular vote (Martin 2000, pg. 49). The Diet of the German Confederation met at Frankfurt and consisted of 17 members (pg. 50). Eleven of the big states had one member each, and various groups of the smaller states each had one member. Metternich secured the permanent presidency of the Diet for Austria, a position to be discussed and the procedure to be adopted (pg. 39). The Diet did discuss in 1816 the creation of a single Germany, but nothing came of these discussions, mainly because of jealousy between the states, and especially between the two largest states, Austria and Prussia. A scheme for the building of Federal fortresses for the defence of Germany was also abandoned. Lastly, whenever fundamental laws of the Confederation or the Federative Act itself were to be enacted, th e Diet was expanded into a General Assembly of 69 members (pg. 30). Those elements in Germany who had looked forward to real unity, the Nationalists, were intensely disappointed by this state of affairs. The Liberals, who had hoped at least for elected parliaments and governments responsible to the people in each of the German states, leading on to a united Liberal Germany, were also frustrated. A certain number of the German princes did introduce more liberal forms of government, especially in Bavaria where in 1818 a parliament was set up which represented the peasants, townspeople and nobles, and also in Baden, Wurttemberg and Saxe-Weimar (James 1990). But the great majority of thirty-nine states were governed by their princes in alliance with a highly privileged class of nobility, and politically the middle and peasant classes were ignored (James 1990). It must not be thought that the majority of German people were clamouring at this time either for Liberalism or Nationalism in Germany (James 1990). There were scarcely interested. Liberalism had its strongest hold amongst the intellectual class of writers, poets, scholars, university professors, lecturers and students. In the universities of Germany a number of student movements developed in these years, such as the Gymnastic Clubs and Students' Unions or Burschenschaften2,

Healthy Living Report Essay Example for Free

Healthy Living Report Essay Healthy livingâ€Å" Campaign report 1. Background research to the issue To find the way linked to my group topic and target made us to meet many times and discuss about social issues among students and young people. It made my group to think a lot what topic for campaign would be interesting to us – while working for this, and similarly what would be interesting for other people especially for students in Middlesex University. First of all, everyone in my group pay attention on unhealthy food and ingredients which make daily food able to be fresh for long term and even dangerous. My group decided to start doing campaign â€Å"tricky food† and we all fell into research on dangerous ingredients in popular supermarkets’ food. As we published in our Wiki page â€Å"Unhealthy substitutes used in food production† had to be our campaign stage. (Wiki, ResearchS08G1). From long list of various chemicals and acids which are used in food our group made a decision to focus on Aspartame the most. Aspartame is artificial sweetener which is 200 times sweeter than sugar and commonly used in food industry. In the internet is not difficult to find many articles and discussions about it, some people claim that it is very dangerous to human’s health because of its force to cause cancer, nerve disorders, birth defects and other healthy imbalances. From the other side of view, probably from the business side, some people are ready to prove that aspartame is not so bad, the right amount of it in food is not dangerous and it is cheaper to use in food industry than sugar. However, this sweetener is widely used and found in drinks such as diet coke, energy drinks and even some juice. In the United States aspartame is regulated by FDA – Food and Drug Administration which has set the ADI (acceptable daily intake) for aspartame 50mg/kg and similarly in the European Union – by European Food Safety Authority ADI is 40mg/kg. (American Cancer Society, Learn About Cancer 2011). Well, when the national administration has set the secure quantity of this sweetener it became allowable to use it in food widely. Due to that my group decided that there are no argues with food industry and during our campaign it is hard to change sweeteners usage in nourishment and we made another decision: to change campaign topic and target substantially. Every one of us is surrounded by bright adverts and slogans to be eco-friendly, to eat healthy food, to avoid junk food, to choose food without any preservatives and so on. My group and I also decided to join in those who are providing healthy living style. We started to do another research linked to it, to search what vitamins human need to recover healthy organism after winter and which fruit and vegetables have beneficial vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Also very important issue that UK is on the leading position in regards to obese citizens in Europe (Wiki, ResearchS08G1). Regarding to New York Times (2010, The World is Fat) in almost half of developed countries, one out of every two people is overweight or obese. In the figure is clearly visible that England was and will be second nation after United States which has overweight, till 2020 it can reach 70 per cent limit! These facts made us to take care for obese issue in United Kingdom. As a united group of different countries: two Lithuanians, Polish and two English we see our target to start informing students about this growing problem by providing healthy eating habits and healthy life style including exercises and view of it. 2. Process of campaign planning Firstly, we had chosen to run the campaign about â€Å"tricky food† and especially aspartame but as I mentioned in the first part of report, during the research we found facts that aspartame is legal sweetener and the right amount of it is not dangerous to human’s health. With our campaign we would be having too less force and evidence in order to avoid this sweetener use in food industry. Regarding to this, we left the idea about tricky food and during more than two meetings we were discussing about many topics which could be interesting and worthy to pay attention. It was not easy part of planning our campaign because we all understood that to find the topic with strong target and serious attitude it is difficult. We mentioned points such as how we could include more people to our team, how we could represent information for them and for our university, should we stay only in university or shall we go further: inform people about issue in our living areas, in the social websites, etc. how we could do our event and what to do so as to attract an attention. We were sure that we will have leaflets with useful information, that we will set up facebook page for our campaign and we will do our event in the university. In our meeting we had not have one  person as a chairperson, we all were equivalent and we all were suggesting our ideas. My idea was to look deeper how we are living, what are ours daily diet, daily routine – are we healthy enough or should we change something in our lives. While suggesting the topic Healthy living I also had an idea to raise the charity fund. Even more, to visit children schools or other meeting places and inform them about our campaign and targets. Unfortun ately, I had not got any assent from my team members for this action. However, I sent some emails to charities such as British Red Cross and Save the Children. I informed them about our campaign and targets, mentioned that we would like to do our campaign as a charity. While giving healthy food (fruit or veg) in university my team could collect some donation for one of the charities and later we could collaborate by doing volunteering jobs or events providing healthy living. I have got an answer from British Red Cross, they were interesting in our action and targets. Unfortunately, I had got that answer too late because we were already doing our campaign on ourselves without any outside organizations. 3. Work as a group From my view at this point I am quite happy while working with my group. As in every team work we faced with some advantages and disadvantages but the final result was nice. The best times and really strong team work were when all group members were attending the meetings. Sure, it had happen only few times, however, those meetings were pretty good. We had never have any argues or complaints, our discussions were always polite and with respect to each other. We always listened to each other’s ideas and discussed them together with giving some agreements or reasoned rejections. Usually our meetings were with three attended group members. Nevertheless, we were able to consider what would be the next step, what research we had to do until next meeting and all jobs or duties were apportion between every team member equally. Even more, if we were having enough spare time after meeting, some of us were going to library to do research together or to write down the minutes into the wiki page. For more questions or advice we were chatting online, by sending emails we arranged for the next meeting. On the other hand, this low attendance made some difficulties to organize all team work, it always takes time to text messages to inform other members about further actions. Because everyone has jobs it was difficult to find right times in order to meet all together, some group members were paying more attention for their jobs than to studies and especially for this campaign. Due to these issues our campaign was small and weak, its background were just two people who pay more attention to every organizing step. 4. Your action I value my action in the group as big part of whole campaign. The background and topic of Healthy living was my idea suggested in the group meeting. I came with the wide idea of it and I had some plans how to reach the main aim. As I mentioned above, I offered to do a campaign as a charity: while providing fruit or vegetables for students we can collect donation for a charity, later collaborate with that organization and hope for getting some support. Personally I always like to communicate with organizations such as charities or other help centres, I have previous experience by searching the support for some events that is why I feel free and confident while asking others to promote my plans. This time I had asked some charities but unfortunately I have not got any help from them. First of all, I think I had to call them straight away and reject sending emails and waiting for answers, second , I think I had to let them know more about my action, about our campaign, purpose and all details so as to make them interesting enough to support us. Finally, if I would be able to have enough force to influence others I would have asked other my group members to help me and to pay more attention on our campaign because I felt too weak to take this huge part alone. Anyway, at the end of March and beginning of April I was communicating with Community Fundraiser from British Red Cross. She replay to my email a bit too late than I was expected but it is always nice to let other communities know about my actions and attitude. I can be brave to say that I was that person in my group who was the most enthusiastic about campaign planning and actions. It was not difficult to take care and organize the event during which we were giving free apples, apple shaped stickers and leaflets with interesting information about fruit. In order to get apples each of us asked local shops to support us by giving some apples. I am living Hendon, so here I found many local shops where I am shopping almost every day and I visited them with my special request. First of all, while talking to the manager of the shop I let him know who I am and what I am doing, later I asked him to support our campaign and in the same way I made him sure that he is making big help not only for my group but also for some students who maybe will start thinking more about healthy life style. Some shops rejected my request but I did not give up and went ahead. Finally, I found one shop near to the Hendon Central Station which was very helpful and polite. People who are working there wished me luck and even know they look at me as at friendly shopper. 5. Supporting other campaigns Our group was working alone without any collaborate with other campaigns from our module. As we all got the topic food almost all campaigns were linked to healthy products. Some of them had chosen specifically one product (energy drink, junk food – hamburgers, etc. ) and they run campaigns in order to change people attitude and inform them how dangerous it is. Differently, we had not chosen any products – we looked into whole lifestyle which includes food, exercises and attitude. I really appreciate other people job, how they did their campaigns, how they had represented their ideas and what targets they had. Only one thing what I might to change could be the way how they did their events. Most of all campaigns were too silent, working only on social websites such as Facebook or Twitter, I would rather do it loudly in the centre of our university. References: Wiki, S08G1 â€Å"Healthy Living†, research 2012 [online], http://mcs1000campaigns. middlesex. wikispaces. net/ResearchS08G1 American Cancer Society, Learn about cancer 2011. [online], http://www. cancer. org/Cancer/CancerCauses/OtherCarcinogens/AtHome/aspartame The New York Times, The World is Fat 2012, [online], http://economix. blogs. nytimes. com/2010/09/23/the-world-is-fat/

Eric Fischl: A Journey Through His Life. Essay -- Art

The beauty of art really is in the eye of the beholder. Art is a diverse as the people who create it. Some of the most famous art comes from some of the least expected places and people but, their journey is what seems to make it incredible. From the suburbs of Long Island, New York to Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco during the Hippie movement in the 1960’s brought about one of the most influential, internationally acclaimed artists, Eric Fischl. This paper will go through his dysfunctional upbringing, his art education and teaching, his many accomplishments and how he became one of the most famous figurative artists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Eric Fischl was born in 1948 in New York City. His own biography states â€Å"Fischl’s suburban upbringing provided him with a backdrop of alcoholism and a country club culture obsessed with image over content.†(Eric Fischl: Biography) In an interview with Fischl, when asked about his upbringing and he states â€Å"I grew up in an upper, middle class, American family in the suburbs of long island. My father was a salesman and went to the city every day. My mother was a housewife who had a severe drinking problem and so the family was in a dysfunctional state when I was growing up.†(Davis) Although he dropped out of high school and lived the hippie lifestyle for a while he eventually moved to Arizona and attended college in Phoenix. (Davis) In 1972, Fischl went back to California to attend the California Institute for the Arts from which he earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts. Two years later he ended up in Halifax, Nova Scotia teaching painting at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. After just a year, in 1975, he had his first show at Dalhousie Art Gallery. Three years la... ...Print. Fischl, Eric. Bad Boy. 1981. Eric Fischl: Early Paintings. Eric Fischl Studios, 2010. Web. 23 Mar. 2012. . Fischl, Eric. Krefeld Project: Bathroom Scene 2. 2003. Eric Fischl: Krefeld Project. Eric Fischl Studios, 2010. Web. 23 May 2012. . Fischl, Eric. The Bed, the Chair, Jetlag. 2000. Eric Fischl: The Bed, the Chair... Eric Fischl Studios, 2010. Web. 23 May 2012. . HUGHES, ROBERT. "Art: Discontents of the White Tribe." Editorial. TIME 30 May 1988. Time Magazine. Time, 30 May 1988. Web. 20 Mar. 2012. . Louise Blouin Media. "In the Studio: Eric Fischl." Art+Auction 11 Jan.

Philly Fans: City of Brotherly Love Essay

â€Å"A true Philadelphia fan learns to boo before he learns to speak.† A quote that is not as exaggerated as it seems. In Philadelphia people are outspoken and live by the way they cheer, brutal. Philadelphia â€Å"fanatics† are the most rowdy fans in all of sports. This is proven by events such as throwing snowballs at Santa Claus, booing Michael Irving after a career ending injury, and the installment of a court inside the Eagles late Veterans Stadium. One example as to why people across the nation believe Philly fans to be the worst fans in sports is the legendary pelting of jolly old St. Nick. In 1968, Eagles fans booed and then pelted a man dressed as Santa Claus who was part of a halftime ceremony. Stories vary on the legendary incident as to why it happened. In 2003, the same man was asked to appear in the same Santa suit at a Sixers game, and as before, he was booed again. Another famous event that shows the rowdiness of dedicated Philadelphians is on October 11, 1999, when Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin suffered a career-ending neck injury at â€Å"the Vet†. Fans cheered as Irvin was crumpled on the ground. This goes to show if you’re a future hall of famer, but you happen to play for Dallas, you will still get booed. Although booing someone is all a part of sports, Philly fans seem to do it at the most unnecessary of times which give them the persona of rowdy. Another huge example as to why Philly fans have the reputation they do is because of the extremes of what happens at the sporting events. From time to time a game could go from having fun drinking a couple beers chanting â€Å"asshole† to the next Redskins fan you see walking by, to a huge brawl in the infamous 700 level at Veterans Stadium. The common occurrence of violence during Eagles’ games became so bad that Philadelphia installed a court, judge and jail inside Veterans Stadium. If being so passionate about your team leads to booing a crippled hall of famer, pelting Santa with snowballs, and the installment of a court system in your football team’s stadium means you’re rowdy. Every person wearing a green jacket on Sunday, waving a rally towel at Citizens Bank Park, or booing opposing teams at the Wells Fargo Center will gladly accept the â€Å"rowdy† nickname. What others take as rowdiness Philadelphians take as passion for their city and teams.

Second Foundation 12. Lord

Of all the worlds of the Galaxy, Kalgan undoubtedly had the most unique history. That of the planet Terminus, for instance, was that of an almost uninterrupted rise. That of Trantor, once capital of the Galaxy, was that of an almost uninterrupted fall. But Kalgan- Kalgan first gained fame as the pleasure world of the Galaxy two centuries before the birth of Hari Seldon. It was a pleasure world in the sense that it made an industry – and an immensely profitable one, at that – out of amusement. And it was a stable industry. It was the most stable industry in the Galaxy. When all the Galaxy perished as a civilization, little by little, scarcely a feather's weight of catastrophe fell upon Kalgan. No matter how the economy and sociology of the neighboring sectors of the Galaxy changed, there was always an elite; and it is always the characteristic of an elite that it possesses leisure as the great reward of its elite-hood. Kalgan was at the service, therefore, successively – and successfully – of the effete and perfumed dandies of the Imperial Court with their sparkling and libidinous ladies; of the rough and raucous warlords who ruled in iron the worlds they had gained in blood, with their unbridled and lascivious wenches; of the plump and luxurious businessmen of the Foundation, with their lush and flagitious mistresses. It was quite undiscriminating, since they all had money. And since Kalgan serviced all and barred none; since its commodity was in unfailing demand; since it had the wisdom to interfere in no world's politics, to stand on no one's legitimacy, it prospered when nothing else did, and remained fat when all grew thin. That is, until the Mule. Then, somehow, it fell, too, before a conqueror who was impervious to amusement, or to anything but conquest. To him all planets were alike, even Kalgan. So for a decade, Kalgan found itself in the strange role of Galactic metropolis; mistress of the greatest Empire since the end of the Galactic Empire itself. And then, with the death of the Mule, as sudden as the zoom, came the drop. The Foundation broke away. With it and after it, much of the rest of the Mule's dominions. Fifty years later there was left only the bewildering memory of that short space of power, like an opium dream. Kalgan never quite recovered. It could never return to the unconcerned pleasure world it had been, for the spell of power never quite releases its bold. It lived instead under a succession of men whom the Foundation called the Lords of Kalgan, but who styled themselves First Citizen of the Galaxy, in imitation of the Mule's only title, and who maintained the fiction that they were conquerors too. The current Lord of Kalgan had held that position for five months. He had gained it originally by virtue of his position at the head of the Kalganian navy, and through a lamentable lack of caution on the part of the previous lord. Yet no one on Kalgan was quite stupid enough to go into the question of legitimacy too long or too closely. These things happened, and are best accepted. Yet that sort of survival of the fittest in addition to putting a premium on bloodiness and evil, occasionally allowed capability to come to the fore as well. Lord Stettin was competent enough and not easy to manage. Not easy for his eminence, the First Minister, who, with fine impartiality, had served the last lord as well as the present; and who would, if he lived long enough, serve the next as honestly. Nor easy for the Lady Callia, who was Stettin's more than friend, yet less than wife. In Lord Stettin's private apartments the three were alone that evening. The First Citizen, bulky and glistening in the admiral's uniform that he affected, scowled from out the unupholstered chair in which he sat as stiffly as the plastic of which it was composed. His First Minister Lev Meirus, faced him with a far-off unconcern, his long, nervous fingers stroking absently and rhythmically the deep line that curved from hooked nose along gaunt and sunken cheek to the point, nearly, of the gray-bearded chin. The Lady Callia disposed of herself gracefully on the deeply furred covering of a foamite couch, her full lips trembling a bit in an unheeded pout. â€Å"Sir,† said Meirus – it was the only title adhering to a lord who was styled only First Citizen, â€Å"you lack a certain view of the continuity of history. Your own life, with its tremendous revolutions, leads you to think of the course of civilization as something equally amenable to sudden change. But it is not.† â€Å"The Mule showed otherwise.† â€Å"But who can follow in his footsteps. He was more than man, remember. And be, too, was not entirely successful.† â€Å"Poochie,† whimpered the Lady Callia, suddenly, and then shrank into herself at the furious gesture from the First Citizen. Lord Stettin said, harshly, â€Å"Do not interrupt, Callia. Meirus, I am tired of inaction. My predecessor spent his life polishing the navy into a finely-turned instrument that has not its equal in the Galaxy. And he died with the magnificent machine lying idle. Am I to continue that? I, an Admiral of the Navy? â€Å"How long before the machine rusts? At present, it is a drain on the Treasury and returns nothing. Its officers long for dominion, its men for loot. All Kalgan desires the return of Empire and glory. Are you capable of understanding that?† â€Å"These are but words that you use, but I grasp your meaning. Dominion, loot, glory – pleasant when they are obtained, but the process of obtaining them is often risky and always unpleasant. The first fine flush may not last. And in all history, it has never been wise to attack the Foundation. Even the Mule would have been wiser to refrain-â€Å" There were tears in the Lady Callia's blue, empty eyes. Of late, Poochie scarcely saw her, and now, when he had promised the evening to her, this horrible, thin, gray man, who always looked through her rather than at her, had forced his way in. And Poochie let him. She dared not say anything; was frightened even of the sob that forced its way out. But Stettin was speaking now in the voice she hated, hard and Impatient. He was saying: â€Å"You're a slave to the far past. The Foundation is greater in volume and population, but they are loosely knit and will fall apart at a blow. What holds them together these days is merely inertia; an inertia I am strong enough to smash. You are hypnotized by the old days when only the Foundation had atomic power. They were able to dodge the last hammer blows of the dying Empire and then faced only the unbrained anarchy of the warlords who would counter the Foundation's atomic vessels only with hulks and relics. â€Å"But the Mule, my dear Meirus, has changed that. He spread the knowledge, that the Foundation had hoarded to itself, through half the Galaxy and the monopoly in science is gone forever. We can match them.† â€Å"And the Second Foundation?† questioned Meirus, coolly. â€Å"And the Second Foundation?† repeated Stettin as coolly. â€Å"Do you know its intentions? It took ten years to stop the Mule, if, indeed, it was the factor, which some doubt. Are you unaware that a good many of the Foundation's psychologists and sociologists are of the opinion that the Seldon Plan has been completely disrupted since the days of the Mule? If the Plan has gone, then a vacuum exists which I may fill as well as the next man.† â€Å"Our knowledge of these matters is not great enough to warrant the gamble.† â€Å"Our knowledge, perhaps, but we have a Foundation visitor on the planet. Did you know that? A Homir Munn – who, I understand, has written articles on the Mule, and has expressed exactly that opinion, that the Seldon Plan no longer exists.† The First Minister nodded, â€Å"I have heard of him, or at least of his writings. What does he desire?† â€Å"He asks permission to enter the Mule's palace.† â€Å"Indeed? It would be wise to refuse. It is never advisable to disturb the superstitions with which a planet is held.† â€Å"I will consider that – and we will speak again.† Meirus bowed himself out. Lady Callia said tearfully, â€Å"Are you angry with me, Poochie?†*** Stettin turned on her savagely. â€Å"Have I not told you before never to call me by that ridiculous name in the presence of others?† â€Å"You used to like it.† â€Å"Well, I don't any more, and it is not to happen again.† He stared at her darkly. It was a mystery to him that he tolerated her these days. She was a soft, empty-headed thing, comfortable to the touch, with a pliable affection that was a convenient facet to a hard life. Yet, even that affection was becoming wearisome. She dreamed of marriage, of being First Lady. Ridiculous! She was all very well when he had been an admiral only – but now as First Citizen and future conqueror, he needed more. He needed heirs who could unite his future dominions, something the Mule had never had, which was why his Empire did not survive his strange nonhuman life. He, Stettin, needed someone of the great historic families of the Foundation with whom he could fuse dynasties. He wondered testily why he did not rid himself of Callia now. It would be no trouble. She would whine a bit- He dismissed the thought. She had her points, occasionally. Callia was cheering up now. The influence of Graybeard was gone and her Poochie's granite face was softening now. She lifted herself in a single, fluid motion and melted toward him. â€Å"You're not going to scold me, are you?† â€Å"No.† He patted her absently. â€Å"Now just sit quietly for a while, will you? I want to think.† â€Å"About the man from the Foundation?† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"Poochie?† This was a pause. â€Å"What?† â€Å"Poochie, the man has a little girl with him, you said. Remember? Could I see her when she comes? I never-â€Å" â€Å"Now what do you think I want him to bring his brat with him for? Is my audience room to be a grammar school? Enough of your nonsense, Callia.† â€Å"But I'll take care of her, Poochie. You won't even have to bother with her. It's just that I hardly ever see children, and you know how I love them.† He looked at her sardonically. She never tired of this approach. She loved children; i.e. his children; i.e. his legitimate children; i.e. marriage. He laughed. â€Å"This particular little piece,† he said, â€Å"is a great girl of fourteen or fifteen. She's probably as tall as you are.† Callia looked crushed. â€Å"Well, could I, anyway? She could tell me about the Foundation? I've always wanted to go there, you know. My grandfather was a Foundation man. Won't you take me there, sometime, Poochie?† Stettin smiled at the thought. Perhaps he would, as conqueror. The good nature that the thought supplied him with made itself felt in his words, â€Å"I will, I will. And you can see the girl and talk Foundation to her all you want. But not near me, understand.† â€Å"I won't bother you, honestly. I'll have her in my own rooms.† She was happy again. It was not very often these days that she was allowed to have her way. She put her arms about his neck and after the slightest hesitation, she felt its tendons relax and the large head come softly down upon her shoulder.

The Downward Path To Wisdom--A Review Essays - Knowledge

The Downward Path To WisdomA Review Essays - Knowledge The Downward Path To WisdomA Review The Downward Path to Wisdom was, to put it simply, a very confusing story for me to read. I am not exactly sure what message or meaning the author was hoping to pass on to the reader, but it does seem to make the reader feel much pain for little Stephen. Stephen seems to be a resilient young lad. He goes about his daily routines even though he is called dumb and is told how bad and mean he is. Perhaps he doesnt totally understand what his mother and grandmother say, but I know I could understand quite a bit when I was his age. I think he did, but it is not until the end when he sings about hating his family that the reader realizes how smart he actually is. I must say it did surprise me. Another thing that confused me was the time period of the story. It could be a story that takes place in the present, but it also could go back a hundred years, or possibly more. From the dialect, I assume it takes place within the last twenty years or so. Also, I doubt that parents were so cruel to there children many years ago; that is a current problem. Even though The Downward Path to Wisdom was very confusing, I still thought it was a good piece that evoked much emotion within me. [emailprotected]

Free PDF Library for Delphi Developers

Free PDF Library for Delphi Developers Are you developing a Delphi application with a task to do PDF document manipulations? Portable Document Format, PDF, is a file format created by Adobe for document exchange. While there are many (commercial) Delphi libraries designed to help you create PDF and/or manipulate PDF documents, if you only need to load an existing PDF document, get the information from it (number of pages, security, is it linearized) and even write some information to it (set page size, add text, add graphics), you might want to take a look at the Quick PDF Library Lite version. Quick PDF Library Lite offers a subset of the functionality found in Quick PDF Library - a royalty-free PDF developer SDK. Whats more: Quick PDF Library Lite is available as an ActiveX component and works with C, C, C#, Delphi, PHP, Visual Basic, VB.NET, ASP, PowerBASIC, Pascal or any other language that supports ActiveX. Heres a short list of the supported functions in Quick PDF Library Lite (names would give you the clue of the actual usage): AddImageFromFile, AddLinkToWeb, AddStandardFont, DocumentCount, DrawImage, DrawText, FindImages, GetInformation, HasFontResources, ImageCount, ImageHeight, ImageWidth, Linearized, LoadFromFile, NewDocument, NewPage, PageCount, PageHeight, PageRotation, PageWidth, RemoveDocument, SaveToFile, SecurityInfo, SelectDocument, SelectedDocument, SelectFont, SelectImage, SelectPage, SetInformation, SetOrigin, SetPageSize, SetPageDimensions, SetTextAlign, SetTextColor, SetTextSize. Note: the Lite version of Quick PDF Library comes as an ActiveX component. You need to register the ActiveX library with Windows, using the following command:regsvr32 \QuickPDFLite0719.dll Next, heres a simple usage example: uses ComObj;procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);var QP: Variant;begin QP : CreateOleObject(QuickPDFLite0719.PDFLibrary); QP.DrawText(100, 500, Hello World!); QP.SaveToFile(c:\test.pdf); QP : Unassigned;end;