Organized Crime and Kentucky Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Organized Crime and Kentucky - Research Paper Example When considering organized in the United States, one often hears a discussion centering around the crime families of New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago.   In fact, much is known about the organized criminal elements throughout history in these major cities.   We can trace their development, origin, and arrive at various sociological theories to explain away their existence.   Less is understood, however, about the reality that organized crime has also flourished throughout the rural areas of America during the course its relatively young existence.   Kentucky is certainly a worthy example of this. We know, for example, those criminal elements are not only a part of the state's history, but that organized groups continued to develop in Kentucky throughout the 1940s and 50s.  Such organizations became a central part of society in the areas of Newport and Covington. Sociologists have long been interested in studying the perplexity that would create the need for such organized crime.   What has been discovered is that individuals will typically continue to seek out access to those activities that are either deemed illegal by the government or taboo by current the current standards and mores of society.   Examples of these, common during the Kentucky of the 40s and 50s, include illicit gambling activities, bootleg liquor, prostitution services, and a host of others. The history of Kentucky is certainly layering with various groups that have sought to capitalize on these areas of gambling and vice.

Confession found in Prison Essay Example for Free

Confession found in Prison Essay Charles Dickens starts his story with a very light atmosphere with him describing a man who was sent abroad to fight for his country and how he was sent home and so he retired from the service. He doesnt expand on his experiences from the war at all, which maybe could be due to shame or loss of character. His wife and he then withdrew to the estate inherited by his wife which then belonged to him, as this was the done thing in at that time. After such a light hearted opening the atmosphere drops dramatically as he says this is the last night I have to live, this then causes the reader to want to read on with the question in the back of their head, why is that the last night he has to live? In that same paragraph he says I was never a brave man, and had always been from my childhood of a secret, distrustful nature this straight away informs the reader of the nature of this man, but I found this strange that a man who has come out and said that he was never very brave as a child, but years later found himself enrolled into the army. I speak of myself as if I had passed from the world, this indicated to me that he has come to terms with the fact that he is going to die, for whatever reason that may be, which builds increasing tension even this early in the story. The next paragraph explains the abstracted relationship with his brother, but they both found themselves married to two sisters. When I first read his wife knew me well, I never struggled with any secret jealousy or gall when she was present but that woman knew it as well as I did. I never raised my eyes at such times but I found hers fixed on me there are a few interpretation that could be taken from this, either she was really gazing upon him as they were in each others presence or that he found his imagination getting the better of him, however we can not be sure as I dont really trust his judgement as the narrator. I think the tension increases considerably and the atmosphere becomes very heavy when he talks of his relief that his brothers wife died abroad, I was afraid of her; she haunted me even after her death and this is where I started to question his sanity, he is almost saying that he can feel her eyes on him through her grave. When my brother knew that all hope of his own recovery was past, he called my wife to his bed-side, and confided child of four years old, to her protection I was very curious as to why he called his brothers wife to his bed-side rather than his brother, maybe he also shared the suspicions that not all was normal with his brother. Perhaps I hide the truth from myself, but I do not think that when this began, I meditated to do him any wrong at this point I believe he is realising that something is wrong with him and I found the tension rising as the reader is then wondering what the man is contemplating to do to the child, he implies that he is thinking of killing the child when he says I was under a fascination which made it a kind a business with me to contemplate his slight and fragile figure and think how easily it might be done it obviously being the killing, but with this statement he felt no remorse for what he was saying, which I found quite abnormal which of course this man is. I spent days in shaping with my pocket knife a rough model of a boat, which I finished and dropped in the childs way this made me realise that the boat was just a lure to get the child to the lake, which obviously a four year old would be completely oblivious to. He sometimes denies thinking about killing the child but goes to such lengths as to spend days making a boat as a lure for the child and the way that he stole down after him, creeping under certain shrubs almost like if the child sees him he will suspect his actions, this again signals his tendency to become pointlessly paranoid. As I reader I got very tense as the child was preparing to play with his boat in the lake, and the man was preparing to drown the child. As he was just about to push the child he saw his shadow and turned around, this was when he decided not to drown him, but to stab him instead. I think he decided to do this because as the child turned around and saw him his mothers ghost was looking from his eyes and stabbed the child on the spur of the moment. I sat at the bedroom windows all day long and watched the spot where the dreadful secret lay even though he doesnt admit this, I believe he was genuinely disgraced by what he had done, even though it was premeditated I think he was haunted by his actions and that he has to stay and watch the spot so as nothing disturbs it. He describes his anguish when a bird landed on the plot of grass he thought the bird would be instrumental in the discovery. After three days of ceaseless watching of the plot of grass, two officers visited about the missing child on the fourth. Then I sat down with my chair upon the grave, I am sure he did this so as long as he was sat upon the grave nothing could be discovered. Later on a pair of bloodhounds came into the garden and started circling around the chair the man sat on the atmosphere gets very heated as everyone is shouting at each other In heavens name move! Or you will be torn to pieces shouted one of the officers, let them tear me limb from limb, Ill never leave this place, I think this is where the officers were aware of the mans crime, as he would rather get torn limb from limb by the two bloodhounds than give up his position where his secret lay. I am alone in this evil dungeon with my evil spirit, I die tomorrow I think he is now along the line of thinking that him dying would part him from his evil spirit. I think this is because he knows he deserves to die, just as the child didnt. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Miscellaneous section.

Christianity & Paganism in Beowulf :: Epic of Beowulf Essays

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Beowulf was written in the time when the society was in the process of converting from Paganism to Christianity. In this epic poem, these two religions come through the actions of its characters. The acceptance of feuds and the courage of war are just a few examples of the Pagan tradition, while the Christian mortalities refrain from the two.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Beowulf is torn between his Christian heart to help the people as well as the selfish reward of Paganism. Though he wants the Christian’s respect he thrives for the satisfaction of fighting. Beowulf is known as a hero and in that aspect he believes he should be the one to defeat Grendel. Beowulf despises weapons but relies on his strength. This is just one of many battles that suggest Beowulf was a Pagonist. He also would drink and tended to kill people and creatures, which also leads to the speculations of Paganism.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Even though many Pagan influences appear in the poem, Christian influences override them. An example would be when Beowulf saved the Danes from Grendel. He also expressed a fair attitude towards battles when he refused to use a weapon. The idea of loyalty, a hero, and a giver are all signs of Christianity. Beowulf could be seen as Christ when trying to help the people as Grendel could be compared to Satan who tries to destroy happiness and well-doing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The last battle in Beowulf was against the fierce dragon that could also be saw as the power of Satan. During this battle Beowulf chooses to use a weapon because of the dragon’s deadly venom, it would only be fair. It was a hard fight but Beowulf wasn’t capable of defeating the dragon. This battle could be compared to the will of Christ, in which Christ gave his life for the people, while Beowulf did the same. The dragon now represents the evil a man must fight in order to preserve the good in life. Although Beowulf was defeated, it was not shamelessly, just like Christ he saved the people. Beowulf had a good heart but was sometimes overturned by the bad influences in life. He represents the fact that everyone makes mistakes, you can’t be perfect all the time, everyone’s bound to lose.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Grendel was a very hateful and disturbed creature.

The History of the Piano

Piano, stringed keyboard musical instrument, derived from the harpsichord and the clavichord. Also called the pianoforte, it differs from its predecessors principally in the introduction of a hammer-and-lever action that allows the player to modify the intensity of sound by the stronger or weaker touch of the fingers. For this reason the earliest known model (1709) was called a gravicembalo col pian e forte (Italian for â€Å"harpsichord with soft and loud†). It was built by Bartolomeo Cristofori, a harpsichord maker of Florence, Italy, who is generally credited with inventing the piano. Two of his pianos still exist. The case of one, dated 1720, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City; the other, dated 1726, is in a museum in Leipzig, Germany. Early Evolution of the Piano Beginning about 1725, when the noted German organ maker Gottfried Silbermann of Freiberg adopted Cristofori's action, the next major developments took place in Germany. Perhaps the most important contribution was made by Johann Andreas Stein of Augsburg, who is credited with inventing an improved escapement that became the foundation of the â€Å"Viennese† piano praised by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and favored by most German composers of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Twelve masters from central Germany migrated to London about 1760 and established the English school that, under John Broadwood and others, turned to the production of pianos of a stronger build, resembling those of our own day. The French manufacturer Sebastien Erard founded the French school in the 1790s, and in 1823 created the double action that is still in general use. By this time artisans in all Western nations were working to perfect the pianoforte. Numerous improvements were and are still being made in design and construction. Germany and the United States have long been distinguished for fine pianos, notably those of the German firm founded by Karl Bechstein and the American firms of Baldwin, Mason & Hamlin, Steinway, and Chickering. The pianos of the Austrian Bosendorfer firm are also highly respected. The compass of the early piano was, like that of the harpsichord, only four, or at most, five octaves, but it has gradually increased to a compass of more than seven octaves as structural changes allowed for increases in tension amounting to several tons. Modern Structure The modern pianoforte has six major parts (in the following discussion, the numbers in parentheses refer to the accompanying diagram (Diagram #1 below) of the structure of a pianoforte): (1) The frame is usually made of iron. At the rear end is attached the string plate, into which the strings are fastened. In the front is the wrest plank, into which the tuning pins are set. Around these is wound the other end of the strings, and by turning these pins the tension of the strings is regulated. (2) The soundboard, a thin piece of fine-grained spruce placed under the strings, reinforces the tone by means of sympathetic vibration. (3) The strings, made of steel wire, increase in length and thickness from the treble to the bass. The higher pitches are each given two or three strings tuned alike. The lower ones are single strings made heavier by being overspun—that is, wound around with a coil of thin copper wire. (4) The action is the entire mechanism required for propelling the hammers against the strings (see Operation of the Action below). The most visible part of the action is the keyboard, a row of keys manipulated by the fingers. The keys corresponding to the natural tones are made of ivory or plastic; those corresponding to the chromatically altered tones, of ebony or plastic. (5) The pedals are levers pressed down by the feet. The damper, or loud pedal, raises all the dampers so that all the strings struck continue to vibrate even after the keys are released. The soft pedal either throws all the hammers nearer to the strings so that the striking distance is diminished by one-half, or shifts the hammers a little to one side so that only a single string instead of the two or three is struck. Some pianos have a third, or sustaining, pedal that does not raise all the dampers, but keeps raised only those already raised by the keys at the moment this pedal is applied. The use of these pedals can produce subtle changes in tone quality. Many upright pianos have been built in which the application of a pedal interposes a strip of felt between the hammers and strings so that only a very faint sound is produced. (6) According to the shape of the case, pianos are classified as grand, square, and upright. The square form (actually rectangular) is no longer built. For use in private homes it has been entirely superseded by the upright, which takes up far less room. Grand pianos are built in various sizes, from the full concert grand, 2. 69 m (8 ft 10 in) long, to the parlor or baby grand, less than 1. 8 m (6 ft) long. Upright pianos include the late 19th-century cottage piano, of which the upright grand is merely a larger form. The modern spinet and console pianos are small uprights related to the cottage piano. In the upright pianos the strings run vertically, or diagonally, from the top to the bottom of the instrument. Uprights and small grands are sometimes overstrung; that is, the bass strings are stretched diagonally across the shorter treble strings, thereby gaining extra length and improved tone quality. The combined tension of the strings on a concert grand piano is about 30 tons, on an upright about 14.

How Does Military Bearing Affects the Work Center and the People Around You

Military bearing affects the work center and the people around you in different ways. Having good and bad military bearing will always have different results. With a mess up no would not want to work with you at all. Good military bearing affects everyone in a positive way. You will have a positive attitude about everything you do and more. Everything wills eventually workout the way you want and need it to be. With good military bearing show that you know what you are doing.Someone will task you with something and know for a fact you will get the job done with no supervision. Bad military bearing will definitely affect and everyone else. Your bad military bearing will have a negative affect on yourself and will start to rub off on everyone else. Bad military bearing someone will never go to you with a task, if they have to someone will go with you to make sure that job get finished. Having a mess up attitude about everything you do. No one will never want too work with or for you at all.With a great attitude will always want to work with and for all the time. With military bearing it will always affect what you do and how you do it. Always think about it and realize is it the right thing or the wrong thing to. Always keep proper military bearing because you will never know what might happen when you don’t. No matter what military bearing will always be there even when you’re out on liberty. Your direct representative of the armed forces, so always remember that.