Free Essays on Writing Approach

The Writing Process The mental and mechanical aspect is the way you approach writing for every topic. The way you approach writing is determined by your attitude and the way you view things. By using past experiences it only allows you to better yourself as well as the final outcome of your paper. Brainstorming, editing and revising are all parts of a procedure in the mechanical approach to writing. Both the mental and mechanical aspects will determine your finished piece of work. Being open minded to all types of writing gives you an edge to any topic assigned. Allowing more time to complete your paper you enable yourself more room to think of complex ideas that give you a better finished product. Writing does not come easy to most people in fact every writer goes through different stages to receive that final piece of work. A mental and physical approach is involved with every writing process. The mental aspect of writing is difficult and frustrating. It becomes very disturbing trying to write a paper when you dislike the topic. The overall effect on how to get your point across while being creative at the same time is demanding. Writing is time consuming and allows your full mental capability. All of the grammatical errors of writing are just another frustrating aspect. People spend time worrying on having the perfect paper, which instead does not allow them to express themselves. In all the frustration past experiences can help you write a better paper. Think of what all the red marks on your paper were telling you. A certain problem of mine in writing is jumping around and not sticking to a specific point. Along with specifying is elaborating. Making sure you get the poin t across with clarity. Keeping your paper flowing and creative. Being creative to appeal to your audience is complex yet patience will overcome it. The mental outlook to writing is all in how you open your mind to the topic at hand. The mechanical aspect of ... Free Essays on Writing Approach Free Essays on Writing Approach The Writing Process The mental and mechanical aspect is the way you approach writing for every topic. The way you approach writing is determined by your attitude and the way you view things. By using past experiences it only allows you to better yourself as well as the final outcome of your paper. Brainstorming, editing and revising are all parts of a procedure in the mechanical approach to writing. Both the mental and mechanical aspects will determine your finished piece of work. Being open minded to all types of writing gives you an edge to any topic assigned. Allowing more time to complete your paper you enable yourself more room to think of complex ideas that give you a better finished product. Writing does not come easy to most people in fact every writer goes through different stages to receive that final piece of work. A mental and physical approach is involved with every writing process. The mental aspect of writing is difficult and frustrating. It becomes very disturbing trying to write a paper when you dislike the topic. The overall effect on how to get your point across while being creative at the same time is demanding. Writing is time consuming and allows your full mental capability. All of the grammatical errors of writing are just another frustrating aspect. People spend time worrying on having the perfect paper, which instead does not allow them to express themselves. In all the frustration past experiences can help you write a better paper. Think of what all the red marks on your paper were telling you. A certain problem of mine in writing is jumping around and not sticking to a specific point. Along with specifying is elaborating. Making sure you get the poin t across with clarity. Keeping your paper flowing and creative. Being creative to appeal to your audience is complex yet patience will overcome it. The mental outlook to writing is all in how you open your mind to the topic at hand. The mechanical aspect of ...

How to Make Black Snake or Glow Worm Fireworks

How to Make Black Snake or Glow Worm Fireworks Black snakes, sometimes called glow worms, are small tablets that you light, using a punk or a lighter, that burn to produce long black snakes of ash. They produce some smoke (which had a characteristic, probably toxic odor), but no fire or explosion. The original fireworks used to contain salts of a heavy metal (such as mercury), so while they were marketed for kids to play with, they really werent that much safer than conventional fireworks, just dangerous in a different way. However, there is a safe way to make black snakes. You can heat baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) with sugar (sucrose) to produce carbon dioxide gas that puffs up black carbon ash (see a video). Black Snake Materials SandAlcohol or fuel oil (High-proof alcohol or lighter fluid works well for this  project)Baking sodaSugar (Powdered sugar or you can grind table sugar in a coffee grinder) Steps to Make Snakes Mix 4 parts powdered sugar with 1 part baking soda. (Try  4 teaspoons sugar and 1 teaspoon baking soda)Make a mound with the sand. Push a depression into the middle of the sand.Pour the alcohol or other fuel into the sand to wet it.Pour the sugar and soda mixture into the depression.Ignite the mound, using a lighter or match. At first, youll get a flame and some small scattered blackened balls. Once the reaction gets going, the carbon dioxide will puff up the carbonate into the continuously extruded snake. You can also make black snakes without sand mix baking soda and sugar in a metal mixing bowl, add the fuel and light the mixture. It should work fine. These will have a distinct, familiar smell... of burnt marshmallows. Finally, rest assured that if you use pure ethanol, sugar, and baking soda, there is nothing toxic about this project. One caution: Dont add fuel to the burning snake, since you risk igniting the alcohol stream. How Black Snakes Work The sugar and baking soda snake proceeds according to the following chemical reactions, where sodium bicarbonate breaks down into sodium carbonate, water vapor, and carbon dioxide gas while burning the sugar in oxygen produces water vapor and carbon dioxide gas. The snake is carbonate with black carbon particles: 2 NaHCO3 → Na2CO3 H2O CO2 C2H5OH 3 O2 → 2 CO2 3 H2O These instructions were adapted from a tutorial given on Boing Boing which in turn came from a defunct Russian site. The Russian site suggested two additional ways to make chemical snakes: Ammonium Nitrate Black Snake This works the same way as the sugar and baking soda snake, except using ammonium nitrate (niter) instead of sugar. Mix one part ammonium nitrate and one part baking soda. This recipe is more like what you would see in commercial black snake fireworks, which are supposedly composed of soda with nitrated naphthalenes and linseed oil. Its another very safe demonstration, though not safe enough to eat, like sugar and baking soda. Ammonium Dichromate Green Snake The green snake is a variation on the ammonium dichromate volcano. The volcano is a cool chemistry demonstration (orange sparks, green ash, smoke), but its a chemistry-lab-only demonstration (not safe for kids at all) because the chromium compound is toxic. The green soda snakes are made from: Two parts of ammonium nitrateOne part of powdered sugarOne part of ammonium dichromate Mix the ingredients, add a small amount of water, and roll the result into a snake shape (using gloves is strongly recommended). Allow the snake to dry (the tutorial suggests using a hairdryer to speed the process). Light one end of the snake.  Its worth knowing how to do this demonstration if you have ammonium dichromate and ammonium nitrate on hand, otherwise, let the Russian photos suffice and play with the sugar and baking soda snakes instead.  In this case, an orange snake burns to green ash.  Another (spectacular) form of black carbon snake results from reacting sugar and sulfuric acid. Disclaimer: Please be advised that the content provided by our website is for EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. Fireworks and the chemicals contained within them are dangerous and should always be handled with care and used with common sense. By using this website you acknowledge that ThoughtCo., its parent About, Inc. (a/k/a Dotdash), and IAC/InterActive Corp. shall have no liability for any damages, injuries, or other legal matters caused by your use of fireworks or the knowledge or application of the information on this website. The providers of this content specifically do not condone using fireworks for disruptive, unsafe, illegal, or destructive purposes. You are responsible for following all applicable laws before using or applying the information provided on this website.

Global pharmaceutical industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Global pharmaceutical industry - Essay Example As mentioned in the company's annual report (2003, p21), "In the fourth quarter of 2003, the Company reviewed its overall business cost structure, which resulted in a reduction in force at each of its segments. The Company expects this work force reduction to generate annual cost savings of approximately $10.0 million in 2004 and $13.0 million in subsequent years. The Company is evaluating other actions to reduce its cost base in 2004 and beyond". This program was designed to improve the company's ability to retain the profit gained through sales turnover by minimising the cost incurred by the company in maintaining the large number of employees. The company even raised an expense of $8.7 million in introducing and implementing this program in the organisation as mentioned in the company's annual report (2003, 8) as, "incurred an $8.7 million pre-tax charge, in connection with an employee reduction program". Alpharma Inc, as stated above, is said to be one of the giants in the international pharmaceutical industry. The company's business can be segmented into four dimensions of activities i.e., International Generics, Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients, US Human Pharmaceuticals, Animal Health etc (Annual report 2003, p7). The International Generics are basically the dosage pharmaceuticals that are provided to several countries around the world including the UK, the Middle East, China, and Indonesia etc. The Active Pharmaceutical ingredients consist of antibiotic medicines that are sold to other pharmaceutical industries in the United States, serving as the raw material for certain medicines in such industries. Human Pharmaceutical provides liquid and solid based medicine to other middle businesses in the country. Animal Health business segment provides a range of product line dealing in animal health medicine (Annual report 2003, p7). The company is engaged in doing business activities in around 60 countries around the globe. According to the company's annual report (2003, p7), "the Company conducts business in more than 60 countries and has approximately 4,700 employees at 40 sites, in 27 countries". The company reduced a considerable number of employees in the year 2003, on the rationale to combat the increasing costs and expenses affecting the company's profit margin. The company had been incurring severe losses for the past few years due to the increasing costs and expenses either incurred during the production and distribution, or during the operating activities of the business. However, the company's results for the year 2003 seem to be improving the financial position of the company as the company's management introduced a workforce reduction program, curtailing the number of employees in the company in order to minimise costs. This paper discusses the impact of workforce reduction program in Alpharma on the financial statements of the company for the year 2003. In the pursuit of discussion, financial ratios have been analysed in order to provide a better insight on every aspect of the company's financial position and performance. KEY RATIO ANALYSIS A company's financial statements are the representatives of the company's financial worth i.e., the financial position and performance in terms of facts and figures. In order to get a better picture of the key impact of the employee layoff program initiated by the Alpharma's management on the financial

Create advertising development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Create advertising development - Essay Example Again, millions of people in the world today are enjoying an exceptionally wide range of products offered by Unilever in all segments of retail from food to cleaning materials. The final executing materials form the online advertisements shows that Lipton is one of the largest refreshments brands in the world. It delivers the best in the sell of tea brands and currently is available in more than hundred countries (Blanchard and Ben 2012). This shows that it is one of the leading companies in the world. Lipton offers an array of tea based drinks from tealeaf bags and Lipton ice tea soft drinks. Critical evaluation of the rain forest alliance certified tea farms shows that there is a commitment of sustainability where by Lipton tea bags come from rainforest alliance certified farms by the year 2015. This means that there is an assurance of tea which is sourced from farms which respect good conservation practices and payments on fair wages to the labor as far as harvesting is concerned. Consideration to this information is that it offers a wide range of tea products with different tastes, options and preference and still on the same; the product focuses on innovation on strong brands. Lipton aims to have all the tea sold in turkey by 2018 which is fifth largest producer of tea in the world, and it will be sourced from accredited farms. The above information is gotten from online because I wanted to know the current and clear information about Unilever brand. Presently, the target products on mass markets are generally positioned in the middle of the tea price. Most of branded teas of Lipton’s are bled and selected from many different plantations around the world like Kenya and china which are well known countries producers. Critical evaluation of initial searches for information shows that Lipton global market shares outstanding brand available in 110 countries (Porters et al 2004.

Sam Harris and Free

Sam Harris and Free Will Essay Convince that free will is an illusion Worse than an illusion- a totally incoherent idea Impossible to describe a universe in which it could be true Two Assumptions: Each of us was free to behave differently than we did in the past Example: I could have chosen chocolate ice-cream but I chose vanilla We are the conscious source of our thoughts and actions The experience of wanting to do something is in fact the proximate cause of action Example: I feel that I want to move and then I move Both assumptions are false We live in a world of cause and effect. No way of thinking of cause and effect that allows the affirmation of free wills assumptions Either our wills are determined by a long chain of prior causes And we are not responsible for them Or they are the product of chance And we are not responsible for them Or they are some combination of determinism and chance No combination allows us free will Example: Murderer As sickening as I might find the persons behavior, I have to admit if I were to trade places with him, atom for atom, I would be him. There is no extra part of me that could resist the impulse to victimize innocent people. Nobody picks the life influences which shape the development of their nervous system You are no more responsible for the micro structure of your brain than you are for your height The role of luck appears decisive Imagine the murderer was found to have a tumor in the place of the brain that would explain his impulses We would view him as a victim of biology A brain tumor is a special case of physical events giving rise to thoughts and actions Deeper than cause and effect We have a subjective experience of free will which cannot be mapped onto physical reality The subjective experience is also intangible Thoughts simply appear in consciousness what are you going to think next? Thoughts just emerge in consciousness- we are not their authors That would imply that we think them before we think them Is it willed? Utterly unaware of the neurophysiological events which produce changesin thought Were you free to choose that which did not occur to you to choose? No position to know why you picked what you picked†¦. Though you may ascribe narratives- they are divorced from reality – post hoc- evidenced by psychology Even if you were right, you still can’t explain why the memory occurred or had the effectit did. You as a conscious witness of your inner life Does not depend on philosophical materialism where the mind is dependent on the physical The unconscious operations of a soul grants you no more freedom than the unconscious operations of your neurophysiology The endurance of the philosophical idea that free will exists is borne of our feeling of its existence Emerges from a felt experience divorced from logical and scientific terms Compatibilism To argue that free will is compatible with the truth of determinism A person is free as long as he is free from any outer or inner compulsion that would prevent him from acting on desires or compulsions Misses the point. Where is the freedom in doing what one wants when one’s wants are the product of prior causes which one cannot inspect and therefore could not choose- and one had absolutely no hand in creating Compatibilism- a puppet is free as long as it loves its strings Compatibilist response: Even if our thoughts are the product of unconscious causes, they are still our thoughts and actions. It is something that you have done. The unconscious neurophysiology of your brain is just as much you as your conscious thoughts are. Bait and Switch- Trades a psychological fact, the subjective experience of being a conscious agent, for a conceptual understanding of ourselves as persons The psychological truth is that people feel identical to and in control of a certain channelof information in theirconscious minds- and they are mistaken The fact that we are stardust does not drive our moral intuitions of politics You simply cannot take credit for your unconscious mental life Are you making red blood cells at this moment? Hopefully your body is- but if it decided to stop, you wouldn’t be responsible for that change†¦. You would be a victim of that change A claim which bears no relationship to the actual experience which has made free will a problem for philosophy The truth is we feel or presume an authorship over our own thoughts and actions that is illusory How can we be free as conscious agents if everything we consciously intend was caused by events in our brain which we did not intend and over which we had no control – we can’t Confusion between determinism and fatalism Our choices matter There are clearly paths to making wiser choices How much a conversation could change you? But we cannot choose what we choose in life When it seems we can choose what we choose. We don’t choose to choose what we choose – there is a regress here that ends in darkness We have to take a first step for reasons that are subjectively mysterious You have not built your mind. And in moments when you seem to build it, when you make an effort to learn a new skill or improve yourself, the only tools at your disposal are those inherited from moments past. It is possible to change. In fact, viewing oneself as an open system, open to a myriad of influences makes change even more possible. You are by no means condemned to be who you were yesterday. In fact, you can’t be that person. The self is a process. This is what makes growth possible. The self is not a stable entity. Subjectively speaking, the unfolding of our lives is a mysterious process. None of us know how it is we came to be in this moment. And we don’t know what’s going to happen next really on any level. We don’t know what we are going to think and feel next. To declare my freedom is to say I don’t really know why I did that but I don’t mind that I did You are free to do what you want but where do your wants come from It takes away an egocentric view of life We are part of a system, of history.

Comparing League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Mary Reilly, and Dr. Jekyl

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Mary Reilly, and Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde      Ã‚   Robert Louis Stevenson's short novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde has spawned many retellings of Dr. Jekyll's tale, as well as variations on the theme. The Jekyll and Hyde conceit is one that lends itself to many different forms of literature, such as motion pictures and sequential art. Sometimes liberties are taken in reinterpretations of Mr. Hyde from the original text. This can be distinguished in two recent works, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, a comic book miniseries by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill, and Mary Reilly, a film by Stephen Frears.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The appearance of Mr. Hyde has always tended towards the   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   stereotypical hairy man. In fact, the transformation of Jekyll into   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Hyde in movies seem like werewolf transformations. This comes from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   the frequent mention of Hyde's hands as being "of a dusky pallor and   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   thickly shaded with a swart growth of hair" (82). Although Hyde's   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   face is never described as hairy, it tends to be a logical      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  assumption that if the hands are hairy, then the face may be as   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   well. Jekyll's own appearance is described by his lawyer, Utterson,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   as being a "smooth-faced man of fifty" (44) and Hyde, for all   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   intents and purposes, is the opposite of Jekyll. The hairiness of   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Hyde is maintained in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Hyde is   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   drawn as a dark brown man with coarse hair all over his arms and   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   chest, whereas Jekyll is a sm... ...er features are in common. Robert Louis Stevenson, in writing The   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde touched upon an universal   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   theme that many others would return to in the years after   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Stevenson's novel was published.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Return to Writing Stuff       WORKS CITED      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Mary Reilly. Dir. Stephen Frears. Perf. Julia Roberts and John Malkovich.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Columbia/TriStar, 1996.         Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Moore, Alan, and Kevin O'Neill. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Vol. One. [reprints 1-6 and Bumper Compendiums] 2nd Print. La   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Jolla, California: America's Best Comics, 2000.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ed. Martin A. Danahay. Orchard Park: Broadview Literary Texts, 2000.      

Recent Trends on China Activated Carbon Industry Essay

All Market Research include new market research report â€Å"http://www.allmarketresearch.com/wiki/china-activated-carbon-industry-report-2013-2015.php† to its huge collection of research reports. All Market Research announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue:â€Å"http://www.allmarketresearch.com/wiki/china-activated-carbon-industry-report-2013-2015.php† . In recent years, China has seen a growing surge in terms of the production and demand of activated carbon with the export proportion ever declining, on account of intensifying environmental-friendly policies in China as well as accelerated trade protectionism carried out by European and American countries. In 2012, China’s production of activated carbon sustained upward mobility, with the output growing by 5.4% year-on-year to 521,100 tons; and the domestic demand surged by 13.5% year-on-year to 303,000 tons, while the export volume slightly decreased by 3.6% year-on-year to 232,500 tons, with the proportion in output dropping to 48.8%. The estimation shows that the production and consumption of activated carbon in China will grow in a steady way till 2015, with the respective targeted figure realizing 754,000 tons and 448,000 tons. To Have a Copy:http://www.allmarketresearch.com/wiki/china-activated-carbon-industry-report-2013-2015.php In China, the production of activated carbon concentrates in regions abundant in coal resources such as Shanxi and Ningxia. In 2012, enterprises with the annual capacity exceeding 50,000 tons included Ningxia Huahui Activated Carbon Company Limited and Shenhua Ningxia Coal Industry Group. In addition, other coal tycoons also spread their wings towards activated carbon field. A case in point was Datong Coal Mine Group, which started its 100,000 tons/a coal-based activated carbon project in June 2012 with total investment of RMB1.17 billion. Once finished, the expected sales will harvest RMB760 million annually. Wooden activated carbon enterprises in China are largely located in Fujian, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Jiangsu. But most of them are small-sized ones with the annual capacity ranging from hundreds of tons to thousands of tons. As of late 2012, Fujian Yuanli Actice Carbon Co., Ltd. had realized the capacity of 55,000 tons/a in the wake of capacity expansion and merger of Huaiyushan Activated Carbon and Manzhouli XinFu Activated Carbon, with business coverage from sugar making, food & beverage and food fermentation to medical, water treatment and waste gas treatment. Moreover, enterprises with the annual capacity of wooden activated carbon surpassing 20,000 tons consisted of Zhixing Activated Carbon, Xinsen Carbon Corp., Ltd, etc.

Reaction for marriage and family

I can really relate to this, in certain ways I have felt that my parents have tried to make me like them instead of letting me blossom into whom I want to be. I may not always make the choices that they want, or that they would choose, but in the same essence we are all different and we are all created to be who we want to become. The choices and decisions we make may not always be good or right, but the things we go through help us to grow up and learn things that we other wise would have never came to understand. I also agree very much with the part where he was talking about to being able to give your children your thoughts.Parents can preach to their kids and tell them their opinions all they want, but at the end of the day we are all our own individuals and we all have our own views and opinions, through the things that we have went through. Not one person on this earth goes through exactly the same pattern as anyone else, we all go through things that make us who we are, and we all have and see things differently. The beauty of that Is our thoughts are what make us, Some of the things that I do not particularly agree with are where he Is saying that hillier come through you, but are not really yours.That does not really sit well with me, because I feel that children are a gift to you and that they are yours. I believe that they are also gifts from God, but they are yours until you dedicate them back to God. That Is Just my opinion though; I suppose It could be wrong. I feel that you are suppose to raise your kids and take care of them and supply for them so therefore that means that they are yours. That was really the only part that did not sit very well with me. Overall, I can relate to his philosophy of parenting.I think that this writing was beautiful. Just reading It really made me think a lot about parenting and life. It Is a very deep and meaningful philosophy. It Is almost as though he Is saying that a child Is never really yours, and that you are merely there to be Like them. I do not think that to many parents actually live by this philosophy. I see a lot of parents that try to control or live through their children's lives. Sometimes I think that parents Just want to protect or they care to much which Is why they control, but It does not make It right.I think that If more parents lived by the philosophy there would be a lot more mature children In the world, because they would have been learning how to make hand things to their kids and plant their own views in their kids head, they do not let experience and question life so they never really get to grow, then when they are on their own they go crazy because they never had the chance to learn. I really liked this article, it really did make me think quite a bit and think about things my parents did and things that I would like to do in the future.

How Scientists Estimate the Weight of Extinct Dinosaurs

How Scientists Estimate the Weight of Extinct Dinosaurs Imagine that youre a paleontologist examining the fossilized remains of a new genus of dinosaura hadrosaur, say, or a gigantic sauropod. After youve figured out how the specimens bones are put together, and what type of dinosaur youre dealing with, you eventually go on to estimate its weight. One good clue is how long the type fossil is, from the tip of its skull to the end of its tail; another is the estimated or published weight estimates for comparable types of dinosaurs. If youve discovered a huge titanosaur from late Cretaceous South America, for example, you might venture a guess of 80 to 120 tons for a full-grown adult, the approximate weight range of South American behemoths like Argentinosaurus and Futalognkosaurus. Now imagine that youre trying to estimate the weight not of a dinosaur, but of an obese stranger at a cocktail party. Even though youve been around human beings all of your life, of all shapes and sizes, your guess is more likely than not to be inaccurate: you might estimate 200 pounds when the person actually weighs 300 pounds, or vice-versa. (Of course, if youre a medical professional, your guess will be much closer to the mark, but still potentially off by 10 or 20 percent, thanks to the masking effect of the clothing the person is wearing.) Extrapolate this example to the 100-ton titanosaur mentioned above, and you can be off by as many as 10 or 20 tons. If guessing the weight of people is a challenge, how do you pull off this trick for a dinosaur thats been extinct for 100 million years? How Much Did Dinosaurs Really Weigh? As it turns out, recent research demonstrates that experts may have been drastically overestimating the weight of dinosaurs, for decades. Since 1985, paleontologists have used an equation involving various parameters (the total length of the individual specimen, the length of certain bones, etc.) to estimate the weight of all kinds of extinct animals. This equation produces reasonable results for small mammals and reptiles but veers sharply from reality when larger animals are involved. In 2009, a team of researchers applied the equation to still-extant mammals like elephants and hippopotamuses and found that it vastly overestimated their weight. So what does this mean for dinosaurs? At the scale of your typical sauropod, the difference is dramatic: whereas Apatosaurus (the dinosaur previously known as Brontosaurus) was once thought to weigh 40 or 50 tons, the corrected equation puts this plant-eater at a mere 15 to 25 tons (though, of course, it doesnt have any effect on its enormous length). Sauropods and titanosaurs, it seems, were much more slender than scientists have given them credit for, and the same probably applies to plus-sized duckbills like Shantungosaurus and horned, frilled dinosaurs like Triceratops. Sometimes, though, weight estimates veer off the tracks in the other direction. Recently, paleontologists examining the growth history of Tyrannosaurus Rex, by examining various fossil specimens at various growth stages, concluded that this fierce predator grew much more quickly than was previously believed, putting on as many as two tons per year during its teenaged spurt. Since we know female tyrannosaurs were bigger than males, this means that a full-grown T. Rex female may have weighed as much as 10 tons, two or three tons heftier than previous estimates. The More Dinosaurs Weigh, the Better Of course, part of the reason researchers impute enormous weights to dinosaurs (though they may not admit to it) is that these estimates give their findings more heft with the general public. When youre talking in terms of tons, rather than pounds, its easy to get carried away and carelessly attribute a weight of 100 tons to a newly discovered titanosaur, since 100 is such a nice, round, newspaper-friendly number. Even if a paleontologist is careful to tone down his weight estimates, the press is likely to exaggerate them, touting a given sauropod as the biggest ever when in fact it wasnt even close. People want their dinosaurs to be really, really big! The fact is, theres still a lot we dont know about how much dinosaurs weighed. The answer depends not only on measures of bone growth, but on other still-unresolved questions, such as what type of metabolism a given dinosaur possessed (weight estimates can be very different for warm-blooded and cold-blooded animals), what kind of climate it lived in, and what it ate on a daily basis. The bottom line is, you should take the weight estimate of any dinosaur with a big grain of Jurassic saltotherwise, youll be sorely disappointed when future research results in a slimmed-down Diplodocus.

President Andrew Jackson - Fast Facts

President Andrew Jackson - Fast Facts Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) was the first president to be elected based on popular sentiment. He was a war hero who gained popularity with the War of 1812. Nicknamed Old Hickory, he was elected more for his personality than for the issues of the day. He was a very strong president who used his veto power more than all the previous presidents combined.   Following are some fast facts and basic information about Andrew Jackson.   For more in-depth information, you can also read the  Andrew Jackson Biography. Fast Facts: Andrew Jackson Birth: March 15, 1767Death: June 8, 1845Known for: President of the U.S.Term of Office: March 4, 1829 to March 3, 1837Number of Terms Elected: 2 TermsSpouse: Rachel Donelson Robards, died in 1828.Also known as: Old Hickory; King AndrewQuote: Perpetuity is stamped upon the Constitution by the blood of our Fathers. Additional  Andrew Jackson Quotes. Major Events While in Office Peggy Eaton Affair (1828-1831)Veto of Maysville Road Bill (1830)Indian Removal Act of 1830 (1830)Ordinance of Nullification (1832)Veto of Recharter of Second Bank of the United States (1832)Black Hawk War (1832)Assassination Attempt (1835)Texas Revolution (1836) States Entering Union While in Office Arkansas (1836)Michigan (1837) Related Andrew Jackson Resources These additional resources on Andrew Jackson can provide you with further information about the president and his times. Andrew Jackson Biography: Learn about Andrew Jackson childhood, family, early career, and the major events of his administration.Jacksonian Era: Learn about this period of great political upheaval and the events that would lead to more party involvement and a greater democratic sense.War of 1812 Resources: Read about the people, places, battles and events of the War of 1812 that proved to the world America was here to stay.War of 1812 Timeline: This timeline focuses on the events of the War of 1812.Top 10 Significant Presidential Elections Andrew Jackson was involved in two of the top ten significant elections in American History. In 1824, John Quincy Adams beat him for the presidency when it was put into the House of Representatives through what has been called the Corrupt Bargain. Jackson then went on to win the Election of 1828. Other Presidential Fast Facts John Quincy AdamsMartin Van BurenList of American Presidents

Ecology and Diversity of Cambrian Faunas Lab Report

Ecology and Diversity of Cambrian Faunas - Lab Report Example It was required to compare the results with information on modern faunas and normal Cambrian faunas. Also, it was required to discuss the representativeness of the former and the differences between the latter and Cambrian faunas.   It represents most of the deep marine but not shallow or tropical one. The reason for this is that Cambrian rocks only have marine fossils, mainly for species that lived on hard substrates on the sea floor and this includes Burgess Shale fauna   6. How does fauna of Burgess Shale compare with that of Cambrian deposits exhibiting normal (mineralized hard part-only) preservation, in terms of higher taxa represented and their relative proportion? How representative therefore are normal faunas?   In terms of higher taxa representation, Cambrian deposits exhibiting normal (mineralized hard part-only) preservation accounts for only a minor component of the total diversity. Similarly, in most Burgess Shale-types deposits, the Shelly assemblage normally represents a small proportion of the collected specimen. In this case, soft-bodied organisms fossilized remains especially from Burgess Shale the Cambrian ecosystem knowledge could be totally limited   Burgess fauna consists of many soft-bodied animals’ fossils as well as those with hard parts. A completely soft-bodied animal normally rot away before it is fossilized. Hard parts are crucial because they are more easily preserved; they are seen to help an organism last for a longer time to become fossilized. Burgess Shale is rich in life most of the fauna in it are soft bodies while it contains only 0.89% of mineralized hard parts.   Burgess Shale, organisms lived in underwater mud banks, the moving water buried living organism in moving sediment. They are therefore found in random orientation. Modern muddy marine invertebrates usually curl up upon dying but fossils of the Burgess Shale locality never exhibit such coiling and there is evidence that this organism died instantly.