Where is Iwo Jima, and what is its significance Essay

Where is Iwo Jima, and what is its significance - Essay Example The little volcanic island of Iwo Jima is situated a little over 650 miles southeast of Japan, about halfway between Tokyo and the American airfields on Guam, Saipan and Tinian in the Mariana Islands. Guam, the biggest island, was a U.S. protectorate, before the Second World War, and the Navy had a communications station there. The neighboring Saipan and Tinian were Japanese colonies. American forces raided the Marianas in mid 1944 and instantly began construction of what came to be the world’s biggest aerodrome for the Super fortress bombers of the U.S. 20th Air Force. The Super fortress bombers were earlier stationed in mainland China, but providing them with enough fuel was a logistic nightmare (Rogers, 1). When Marines saw Iwo Jima for the first time, it was an ugly lump of volcanic sand and clay. It was different from any other island they had ever seen. They saw an ugly lump of volcanic sand and clay, which was treeless, craggy, and blistered with endless sand hummocks rather than palm trees and a white ribbon of beach, or the green cane fields of Saipan and Tinian. Mount Suribachi, at the southern tip, appeared like something out of an inferno; the plateau at the north was a series of hills and ridges. The beach was black instead of white, while the vegetation that grew sparsely was wilted, colorless and burned out (Bradley, 10). Luft adds that Suribachi Mountain was given this name because of its shape which looks like an upturned bowl. Joe Rosenthal captured the iconic photo of the raised Marine flag here on Feb. 23, 1945. Despite the last full-scale eruption occurring in 1727, looking into the center of the crater, steam can be seen rising from a vent while the smell of sulfur f ills every breath (38). Iwo Jima was the step to the Japanese heartland for the 70,000 Americans and to the end of a terrible war. However, for the 22,000 Japanese defenders, Iwo Jima

Nude in art Essay Example for Free

Nude in art Essay The nude has changed dramatically throughout time in terms of its role in the art world. It has been used to portray a person’s power and their weakness, the way they see themselves and the way others see them. The majority of nude artworks are of the female nude, as highlighted by John Berger, ‘men look at women, women look back at themselves being looked at. ’ Vanessa Beecroft, a contemporary artist deems to challenge the way society views the nude in both high art and everyday contemporary society. She challenges the way women are judged on their appearance a base concept that is seen throughout many pervious images of the nude in art. In 1599 Pieter Pauwel Rubens depicts just that, the judgment of a women based on looks in his painting, The Judgment of Paris, which depicts Venus the goddess of beauty and love being judged as the most beautiful female by the judge Paris. In contrast to these female nudes, during the renaissance, Michelangelo’s nudes consisted of mainly males. He used the nude to show both desire and strength as well as his devotion to religion and art. The nude in art can been seen changing as society does throughout time. In the contemporary society we live in today, we, the audience, are more likely to accept the nude as part of everyday life because of the way mass media has influenced us as a society. However, before times when the nude was common sight and open sexual desire was seen as something preposterous, artists used the nude as a way of portraying their personal aesthetic ideals though religious figures, showing their love for both the art itself and their nude subjects. Michelangelo was first and foremost a sculptor. One of his most famous nude sculptures was that of David – depicted in the moments before he defeated Goliath. Created in 1504, Michelangelo sculpted for four years to create, in his own eyes, the finest sculpture of David possible. Michelangelo’s own dedication to the piece highlights his love for the subject as well as the art form. David was depicted as athletic but natural with some fetchers such as his hand and head enlarged for emphasis. David’s naked form symbolised his high religious status to Michelangelo. He felt that perfection such as David’s should not be hidden, this can be seen throughout a range of Michelangelo’s works, both sculpted and painted where he depicts religious figures of high value as nudes and covers lower class subjects with the cloth of a slave as if to cover their shame. Therefore, it can be seen that Michelangelo mirrors his own ideals in the form of religious figures to depict the perfection he desires as well as display this to the audience for them to subconsciously judge the subjects of his work under their own ideals. During the Baroque era, Rubens depicts the scene of the judgment of Paris, this painting allows the male subject to openly judge the female on their beauty alone. While depicting this mythological tale Rubens also himself paints the Venus to meet his ideal expectations of a woman’s desirable qualities, both physically and temperamental and offers her to the audience’s judgment also. Rubens has posed the women to show off their bodies in the most desirable way as well as highlight their key fetchers’ such as their nipples and lips in deep red and gold against their pure skin, he paints the woman with small breasts and wide hips – the ideal representation of female beauty at the time. Implied innocence hides the male voyeurism in this scene – all figures are equally naked however, only the female body is on show, all male’s in the image are either turning away from the audience or are modestly hidden by lavish draping’s, furthermore, the woman are surrounded by small winged children named, Putti; these figures are associated with love and sexual encounters. The ultimate goal for all the women in this painting is to win the love of Paris through their beauty and Venus’ ideal attraction symbolises the high value placed on this virtue and highlights their love and physical beauty as the most important quality they have to offer. Contemporary artist, Vanessa Beecroft challenges the way the nude has been viewed throughout past art as well as how it is perceived in modern society. Beecroft is most known for her confronting live performances in which a selection of like women are stood on high heels and not much else, facing the audience’s gaze. Beecroft aims to provoke reaction from the audience, both male and female, the gaze these models hold as well as their physical closeness to the audience highlight the fact that these women know they are being looked at and judged and consequently look back and judge the audience creating an uncomfortable but eye opening experience for both the models and the viewer. Beecroft challenges the way the nude body is perceived by both high art and by the public and questions a woman’s need to conform to societies expectations as well as focusing on how the concept of beauty can change over a period of time, Beecroft states, ‘maybe if they (the audience) see it twenty times they’ll start not to think of it in the same way, I’m not sure, it’s an experiment. In conclusion it can been seen that the nude has changed dramatically throughout time however, it has always been associated by different forms of beauty and judgment, due to the human nature of the artists that create such works. It can also be highlighted that the way the audience as well as the artist sees the nudes they depict can change during the artwork or during their lifetime depending on how they are influenced by the changing world around them.

Monopolies Essay -- Monopoly Business Marketing Essays

Monopolies What is a monopoly? According to Webster's dictionary, a monopoly is "the exclusive control of a commodity or service in a given market.† Such power in the hands of a few is harmful to the public and individuals because it minimizes, if not eliminates normal competition in a given market and creates undesirable price controls. This, in turn, undermines individual enterprise and causes markets to crumble. In this paper, we will present several aspects of monopolies, including unfair competition, price control, and horizontal, vertical, and conglomerate mergers. Unfair Competition Barriers to Entry. In general, a monopoly by one company possesses the power to create barriers to entry for competing companies in a particular market. Also, once a company has achieved a loyal following, it then becomes easy for that company to maintain control of the market. Thus, leading to elimination of potential competition. Increasing Returns. In some markets, the profits for high volumes of goods are extremely exaggerated. For example, in the manufacturing industry, each product requires a certain material and labor cost to produce it. Large companies are often able to under-cut competitors’ prices, drive them out of the market, and then raise prices again.1 Consequently, this increased volume increases profit, allowing such companies an even greater power. Incomplete Information. Often, once a company gains control of a particular market, that company does not disclose complete information in regard to their products. Such is the case in the current Microsoft antitrust case. Microsoft not only does not disclose complete information on their software products, but also goes one step further by making their software products incompatible with other operating systems. As a result, the consumer has no choice but to buy Microsoft software products exclusively. Once a company has successfully dominated a business market, they can use that control to move into other markets by:  · Squeezing out competitors  · Dominating sales of the product  · Controlling prices of the product  · Acquiring additional companies, inside and outside, of the field Enforcement. The Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice is responsible for protecting the competitive process through enforcement of antitrust laws. The Division has challenged bar... ...titive effects. Third, the Agency assesses whether entry would be timely, likely and sufficient either to deter or to counteract the competitive effects of concern. Fourth, the Agency assesses any efficiency gains that reasonably cannot be achieved by the parties through other means. Finally the Agency assesses whether, but for the merger, either party to the transaction would be likely to fail, causing its assets to exit the market. The process of assessing market concentration, potential adverse competitive effects, entry, efficiency and failure is a tool that allows the Agency to answer the ultimate inquiry in merger analysis: whether the merger is likely to create or enhance market power or to facilitate its exercise. Conclusion No one company or individual should have exclusive control of a commodity or service in a given market. Prosperity in the high-technology economy of the 21st Century will depend on strict enforcement against monopolies that lessen competition along with continued encouragement of innovation. The Department of Justice must continue to open markets and ensure that they are competitive for the benefit of American businesses and consumers. Monopolies Essay -- Monopoly Business Marketing Essays Monopolies What is a monopoly? According to Webster's dictionary, a monopoly is "the exclusive control of a commodity or service in a given market.† Such power in the hands of a few is harmful to the public and individuals because it minimizes, if not eliminates normal competition in a given market and creates undesirable price controls. This, in turn, undermines individual enterprise and causes markets to crumble. In this paper, we will present several aspects of monopolies, including unfair competition, price control, and horizontal, vertical, and conglomerate mergers. Unfair Competition Barriers to Entry. In general, a monopoly by one company possesses the power to create barriers to entry for competing companies in a particular market. Also, once a company has achieved a loyal following, it then becomes easy for that company to maintain control of the market. Thus, leading to elimination of potential competition. Increasing Returns. In some markets, the profits for high volumes of goods are extremely exaggerated. For example, in the manufacturing industry, each product requires a certain material and labor cost to produce it. Large companies are often able to under-cut competitors’ prices, drive them out of the market, and then raise prices again.1 Consequently, this increased volume increases profit, allowing such companies an even greater power. Incomplete Information. Often, once a company gains control of a particular market, that company does not disclose complete information in regard to their products. Such is the case in the current Microsoft antitrust case. Microsoft not only does not disclose complete information on their software products, but also goes one step further by making their software products incompatible with other operating systems. As a result, the consumer has no choice but to buy Microsoft software products exclusively. Once a company has successfully dominated a business market, they can use that control to move into other markets by:  · Squeezing out competitors  · Dominating sales of the product  · Controlling prices of the product  · Acquiring additional companies, inside and outside, of the field Enforcement. The Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice is responsible for protecting the competitive process through enforcement of antitrust laws. The Division has challenged bar... ...titive effects. Third, the Agency assesses whether entry would be timely, likely and sufficient either to deter or to counteract the competitive effects of concern. Fourth, the Agency assesses any efficiency gains that reasonably cannot be achieved by the parties through other means. Finally the Agency assesses whether, but for the merger, either party to the transaction would be likely to fail, causing its assets to exit the market. The process of assessing market concentration, potential adverse competitive effects, entry, efficiency and failure is a tool that allows the Agency to answer the ultimate inquiry in merger analysis: whether the merger is likely to create or enhance market power or to facilitate its exercise. Conclusion No one company or individual should have exclusive control of a commodity or service in a given market. Prosperity in the high-technology economy of the 21st Century will depend on strict enforcement against monopolies that lessen competition along with continued encouragement of innovation. The Department of Justice must continue to open markets and ensure that they are competitive for the benefit of American businesses and consumers.

Japan’s Occupation: An American Operation

The occupation of Japan was, from start to finish, an American operation. General Douglans MacArthur, sole supreme commander of the Allied Power was in charge. The Americans had insufficient men to make a military government of Japan possible; so they decided to act through the existing Japanese gobernment. General MacArthur became, except in name, dictator of Japan. He imposed his will on Japan. Demilitarization was speedily carried out, demobilization of the former imperial forces was completed by early 1946. Japan was extensively fire bomded during the second world war. The stench of sewer gas, rotting garbage, and the acrid smell of ashes and scorched debris pervaded the air. The Japanese people had to live in the damp, and cold of the concrete buildings, because they were the only ones left. Little remained of the vulnerable wooden frame, tile roof dwelling lived in by most Japanese. When the first signs of winter set in, the occupation forces immediately took over all the steam-heated buildings. The Japanese were out in the cold in the first post war winter fuel was very hard to find, a family was considered lucky if they had a small barely glowing charcoal brazier to huddle round. That next summer in random spots new ho uses were built, each house was standardized at 216 square feet, and required 2400 board feet of material in order to be built. A master plan for a modernistic city had been drafted, but it was cast aside because of the lack of time before the next winter. The thousands of people who lived in railroad stations and public parks needed housing. All the Japanese heard was democracy from the Americans. All they cared about was food. General MacArthur asked the government to send food, when they refus ed he sent another telegram that said, Send me food, or send me bullets. † American troops were forbidden to eat local food, as to keep from cutting from cutting into the sparse No food was was brought in expressly for the Japanese durning the first six months after the American presence there. Herbert Hoover, serving as chairman of a special presidential advisory committee, recommended minimum imports to Japan of 870,000 tons of food to be distributed in different urban areas. Fish, the source of so much of the protein in the Japanese diet, were no longer available in adequate quantities because the fishing fleet, particularly the arge vessels, had been badly decimated by the war and because the U. S. S. R. closed off the fishing grounds in the north. The most important aspect of the democratization policy was the adoption of a new constitution and its supporting legislation. When the Japanese government proved too confused or too reluctant to come up with a constitutional reform that satisfied MacArthur, he had his own staff draft a new constitution in February 1946. This, with only minor changes, was then adopted by the Japanese government in the form of an imperial amendment to the 1889 constitution and went into effect n May 3, 1947. The new Constitution was a perfection of the British parliamentary form of government that the Japanese had been moving toward in the 1920s. Supreme political power was assigned to the Diet. Cabinets were made responsible to the Diet by having the prime minister elected by the lower house. The House of Peers was replaced by an elected House of Councillors. The judicial system was made as independent of executive interference as possible, and a newly created supreme court was given the power to review the constitutionality of laws. Local governments were given greatly increased powers. The Emperor was reduced to being a symbol of the unity of the nation. Japanese began to see him in person. He went to hospitals, schools, mines, industrial plants; he broke ground for public buildings and snipped tape at the opening of gates and highways. He was steered here and there, shown things, and kept muttering, â€Å"Ah so, ah so. † People started to call him â€Å"Ah-so-san. Suddenly the puyblic began to take this shy, ill-at-ease man to their hearts. They saw in him something of their own conqured selves, force to do what was alien to them. In 1948, in a newspaper poll, Emperior Hirohito was voted the Civil liberties were emphasized, women were given full equality with men. Article 13 and 19 in the new Constitution, prohibits discrimination in political, economic, and social relations because of race, creed, sex, social status, or family origen. This is one of the most explicitly progressive statements on human rights anywhere in law. Gerneral Douglas MacArthur emerged as a radical feminist because he was â€Å"convinced that the place of women in Japan must be brought to a level consistent with that of women in the western democracies. † So the Japanese women got their equal rights amendment long before a oncerted effort was made to obtain one in America. Compulsory education was extened to nine years, efforts were made to make education more a traning in thinking than in rote memory, and the school system above the six elementary grades was revised to conform to the American pattern. This last mechanical change produced great confusion and dissatisfaction but became so entrenched that it could not be revised even after the Americans departed. Japan's agriculture was the quickest of national activities to recover because of land reform. The Australians came up with the best plan. It was basis was this: There were to be no absentee landlards. A person who actually worked the land could own up to 7. 5 arcers. Anyone living in a village near by could keep 2. 5 acres. Larger plots of land, exceeding these limits, were bought up by the government and sold on easy terms to former tenants. Within two years 2 million tenants became landowners. The American occupation immediately gained not only a large constituency, for the new owners had a vested interest in preserving the change, but also a psychological momentum for other changes they wanted to initiate. The American labor policy in Japan had a double goal: to encourage the growth of democratic unions while keeping them free of communists. Union organization was used as a balance to the power of management. To the surprise of the American authorties, this movement took a decidedly more radical turn. In the desperate economic conditions of early postwar Japan, there was little room for successful bargaining over wages, and many labor unions instead made a bid to take over industry and operate it in their own behalf. Moreover large numbers of workers in Japan were government employees, such as ailroad workers and teachers, whose wages were set not by management but by the government. Direct political action therefore seemed more meani ngful to these people than wage bargaining. The Japanese unions called for a general strike on February 1, 1947. MacArthur warned the union leadership that he would not countenace a nationwide strike. The strike leaders yieled to MacArthur's will. The reafter the political appeal of radical labor action appeared to wane. The Americans wanted to disband the great Zaibatsu trust as a means of reducing Japan's war-making potential. There were about 15 Zaibatsu families such as – Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Yasuda, and Sumitomo. The Zaibatsu controled the industry of Japan. MacArthur's liaison men pressured the Diet into passing the Deconcentration Law in December 1947. In the eyes of most Japanese this law was designed to cripple Japanese business and industry forever. The first step in breaking up the Zaibatsu was to spread their ownership out among the people and to prevent the old owners from ever again exercising control. The stocks of all the key holding companies were to be sold to the public. Friends of the old Zaibatsu bought the stock. In the long run the Zaibatsu were not exactly destroyed, but a few were weakened and others underwent a considerable shuffle. The initial period of the occupation from 1945 to 1948 was marked by reform, the second phase was one of stabilization. Greater attention was given to improvement of the economy. Japan was a heavy expense to the United States. The ordered breakup of the Zaibatsu was slowed down. The union movement continued to grow, to the ult imate benefit of the worker. Unremitting pressure on employers brought swelling wages, which meant the steady expansion of Japan domestic onsumer market. This market was a major reason for Japan's subsequent economic boom. Another boom to the economy was the Korean War which proved to be a blessing in disguise. Japan became the main staging area for military action in Korea and went on a war boom economy with out having to fight in or pay for a war. The treaty of peace with Japan was signed at San Francisco in September 1951 by Japan, the United States, and forty-seven other nations. The Soviet Union refused to sign it. The treaty went into effect in April 1952, officially terminating the United States ilitary occupation and restoring full independence. What is extraordinary in the Occupation and its aftermath was the insignificance of the unpleasant. For the Japanese, the nobility of American ideals and the essential benignity of the American presence assuaged much of the bitterness and anguish of defeat. For the Americans, the joys of promoting peace and democracy triumphed over the attendant fustrations and grievances. Consequently, the Occupation served to lay down a substantial capital of good will on which both America and Japan would draw in the years ahead.

Brand Failures

Companies don't blame the product, (but) they blame the brand. Brands also transformed the process of marketing into a process of perception-building. Image is now everything: consumers consider more important the perception of the brand than the real product. Why branding is everything? Because companies live or die on the strength of the brand: one mistake and the customer can break the loyalty bond RULES why brands fail l. Brand Amnesia. For old brands, memory becomes a problem. When a brand forgets its identity and try to create a new identity, like Coca-Cola with New Coke. Brand Ego. Brand overestimates its importance, believe to dominate the market alone (like Polaroid in the photography market) or enter new markets that don't fit (like Harley Davidson selling perfume) 3. Brand deception. Companies sometimes lie when branding, and today consumers are really connected via Internet and can't be cheated. 4. Brand paranoia. When the brand feels an inferiority complex, imitating the competitors and reinventing the brand every six months. 5. Brand Relevance. When a market evolves, the brands risk to become obsolete.There are some myths associated with branding: I If a product is good, it will have success. This is not always true, Because good products can fail exactly like bad products. For example, Bateman was better than VS., but failed. 2. Brands are more likely to succeed than fail. Wrong. Brands fail every single day, the 80 per cent dies when introduced, and 10 per cent within five years. 3. Big companies Will always have brand success. This is false, because famous brands are also weaker. For example â€Å"New Coke†. 4. Strong brands are built on advertising.Advertising can support brands, but not build them. There are many types of failures, one of them is Classic failures Reasons why brands fail: marketing errors: like setting the wrong price or name or getting paranoid about the competition or consumers can boycott the brand because of a scand al via internet or simply because they are bad ideas New Coke case In the case of New Coke, the brand forgot its identity.

Sunlight effects on Color essays

Sunlight effects on Color essays Color is light. Light is a form of energy and, according to theory, travels in waves. Sir Isaac Newton discovered this in 1666 by passing a beam of light through a prism. The renowned English scientist was 23 years old at the time. He was made to stay home from Cambridge University for over a year because the plague that was sweeping Europe had closed it down. It was during this period that Newton performed his famous spectrum experiments. To alleviate the boredom of quarantine, he punched holes in the curtains of his darkened room to study the effects of light passing through a prism. The light separated into the same progression of colors found in the natural rainbow. Although he found an infinite number of colors in this spectrum, Newton wanted to show that there were just seven main colors. He identified red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. This was also in keeping with Aristotle's seven classes of color, which he thought were all mixes of black and white (What is). There are three Primary colors, red, blue and yellow. If you mix two primary colors together, a secondary color is produced. The primary colors are the base of all secondary colors. Red, yellow, and blue wavelengths may be mixed to produce all colors. All colors can be made by mixing these three colors. Mixing all three colors makes white light. Mixing any two of these colors makes the complementary color of the other primary. Mixing a primary color with its complementary color makes white light. Secondary colors are the colors you get when mixing two primary colors together in equal amounts. Orange, green, and violet are secondary colors. The colors are made by mixing equal amounts of primary colors together to produce a different color or shade. Each secondary color is made from the two primary colors (Color Theory). By mixing together various amounts of red, green and blue, you can m ...

Tone (In Writing) Definition and Examples

Tone (In Writing) Definition and Examples In composition, tone is the expression of a writers attitude toward subject, audience, and self. Tone is primarily conveyed in writing through diction, point of view, syntax, and level of formality. In  Writing: A Manual for the Digital Age (2012),  Blakesley and Hoogeveen make a simple distinction between style and tone: Style refers to the overall flavor and texture created by the writers word choices and sentence structures. Tone is an attitude toward the events of the story- humorous, ironic, cynical, and so on. In practice, theres a close connection between style and tone. EtymologyFrom the Latin, string, a stretching Tone and Persona If persona is the complex personality implicit in the writing, tone is a web of feelings stretched throughout an essay, feelings from which our sense of the persona emerges. Tone has three main strands: the writers attitude toward subject, reader, and self. Each of these determinants of tone is important, and each has many variations. Writers may be angry about a subject or amused by it or discuss it dispassionately. They may treat readers as intellectual inferiors to be lectured (usually a poor tactic) or as friends with whom they are talking. Themselves they may regard very seriously or with an ironic or an amused detachment (to suggest only three of numerous possibilities). Given all these variables, the possibilities of tone are almost endless. Tone, like persona, is unavoidable. You imply it in the words you select and in how you arrange them. (Thomas S. Kane, The New Oxford Guide to Writing. Oxford University Press, 1988) Tone and Diction The main factor in tone is diction, the words that the writer chooses. For one kind of writing, an author may choose one type of vocabulary, perhaps slang, and for another, the same writer may choose an entirely different set of words. . . .Even such small matters as contractions make a difference in tone, the contracted verbs being less formal: It is strange that the professor had not assigned any papers for three weeks.Its strange that the professor hadnt assigned any papers for three weeks. (W. Ross Winterowd, The Contemporary Writer: A Practical Rhetoric, 2nd ed. Harcourt, 1981) Tone in Business Writing Tone in writing . . . can range from formal and impersonal (a scientific report) to informal and personal (an email to a friend or a how-to article for consumers). Your tone can be unprofessionally sarcastic or diplomatically agreeable. Tone, like style, is indicated in part by the words you choose. . . . The tone of your writing is especially important in occupational writing because it reflects the image you project to your readers and thus determines how they will respond to you, your work, and your company. Depending on your tone, you can appear sincere and intelligent or angry and uninformed. . . . The wrong tone in a letter or a proposal might cost you a customer. (Philip C. Kolin, Successful Writing at Work, Concise 4th ed. Cengage, 2015) Sentence Sounds Robert Frost believed sentence tones (which he called sound of sense) are already there- living in the cave of the mouth. He considered them real cave things: they were before words were (Thompson 191). To write a vital sentence, he believed, we must write with the ear on the speaking voice (Thompson 159). The ear is the only true writer and the only true reader. Eye readers miss the best part. The sentence sound often says more than the words (Thompson 113). According to Frost: Only when we are making sentences so shaped [by spoken sentence tones] are we truly writing. A sentence must convey a meaning by tone of voice and it must be the particular meaning the writer intended. The reader must have no choice in the matter. The tone of voice and its meaning must be in black and white on the page.(Thompson 204) In writing, we cant indicate body language, but we can control how sentences are heard. And it is through our arrangement of words into sentences, one after another, that we can approximate some of the intonation in speech that tells our readers not only information about the world but also how we feel about it, who we are in relationship to it, and who we think our readers are in relationship to us and the message we want to deliver. (Dona Hickey, Developing a Written Voice. Mayfield, 1993) We are not won by arguments that we can analyze but by the tone and temper, by the manner which is the man himself. (Attributed to novelist Samuel Butler)