avalanches essays

avalanches essays Avalanches are massive downward and outward movements of snow and ice as well as soil and rocks. Three main factors that determine whether avalanches are likely to occur are the weather, the snowpack, and the terrain. The weather is the most important factor in determining if an avalanche will occur, but the other two factors need to be taken into consideration as well. Since ninety percent of all avalanches involve human subjects that trigger them, they are a major threat to life (McCafferty 38). Avalanches can leave death and destruction in their path and pose a great threat to the skiing industry. Most ski resorts in the western part of the United States try to prevent avalanches. They acquire specially trained personnel to toss grenade like explosives or shoot a bazooka like shell into the slope. The gun they use to shoot these projectiles is a 105-millimeter recoilless rifle (Cone 148). The explosives trigger the avalanche. They fire them into the mountain early in the morning so that the risk of having an avalanche during ski hours is lowered but even though they do this, it is not a definite that an avalanche could not happen. By studying the mountain the avalanche patrol learns where avalanches normally occur. These are called sweet spots. Avalanches often follow the same tracks year after year because they get funneled into the same valleys. In these areas, trees do not grow because they keep being removed by the avalanches. The shooting of these explosives is very successful and fortunately no one has ever been injured or killed (Goodwin 42). Avalanche experts offer these recommendations for skiers to follow so they can avoid or deal with avalanches. Their first rule is to know your terrain. Most avalanches occur on mountainsides where the slope is thirty degrees or greater. Secondly, do not ski alone. Only a few avalanche victims survive without help from others. Another recommendation is to know wha...

Andrew Cunningham - Admiral Andrew Cunningham - World War II - Royal Navy

Andrew Cunningham - Admiral Andrew Cunningham - World War II - Royal Navy Andrew Cunningham - Early Life Career: Andrew Browne Cunningham was born January 7, 1883, outside Dublin, Ireland. The son of anatomy professor Daniel Cunningham and his wife Elizabeth, the Cunninghams family was of Scottish extraction. Largely raised by his mother, he began schooling in Ireland before being sent to Scotland to attend the Edinburgh Academy. At the age of ten, he accepted his fathers offer of pursuing a naval career and left Edinburgh to enter the Naval Preparatory School at Stubbington House. In 1897, Cunningham was accepted as a cadet in the Royal Navy and assigned to the training school aboard HMS Britannia at Dartmouth. Highly interested in seamanship, he proved a strong student and graduated 10th in a class of 68 the following April. Ordered to HMS Doris as a midshipman, Cunningham traveled to the Cape of Good Hope. While there, the Second Boer War began ashore. Believing there to be opportunity for advancement on land, he transferred to the Naval Brigade and saw action in Pretoria and Diamond Hill. Returning to sea, Cunningham moved through several ships before commencing sub-lieutenants courses at Portsmouth and Greenwich. Passing, he was promoted and assigned to HMS Implacable. Andrew Cunningham - World War I: Promoted to lieutenant in 1904, Cunningham passed through several peacetime postings before receiving his first command, HM Torpedo Boat #14 four years later. In 1911, Cunningham was placed in command of the destroyer HMS Scorpion. Aboard at the outbreak of World War I, he took part in the failed pursuit of the German battlecruiser SMS Goeben and cruiser SMS Breslau. Remaining in the Mediterranean, Scorpion participated in the early 1915 attack on the Dardanelles at the beginning of the Gallipoli Campaign. For his performance, Cunningham was promoted to commander and received the Distinguished Service Order. Over the next two years, Cunningham took part in routine patrol and convoy duty in the Mediterranean. Seeking action, he requested a transfer and returned to Britain in January 1918. Given command of HMS Termagent in Vice Admiral Roger Keyes Dover Patrol, he performed well and earned a bar for his DSO. With the end of the war, Cunningham moved to HMS Seafire and in 1919 received orders to sail for the Baltic. Serving under Rear Admiral Walter Cowan, he worked to keep the sea lanes open to newly independent Estonia and Latvia. For this service he was awarded a second bar for his DSO. Andrew Cunningham - Interwar Years: Promoted to captain in 1920, Cunningham moved through a number of senior destroyer commands and later served as Fleet Captain and Chief of Staff to Cowan in the North America and West Indies Squadron. He also attended the Army Senior Officers School and the Imperial Defense College. Upon completing the latter, he received his first major command, the battleship HMS Rodney. In September 1932, Cunningham was elevated to rear admiral and made Aide-de-Camp to King George V. Returning to the Mediterranean Fleet the following year, he oversaw its destroyers which relentlessly trained in ship handling. Raised to vice admiral in 1936, he was made second in command of the Mediterranean Fleet and placed in charge of its battlecruisers. Highly regarded by the Admiralty, Cunningham received orders to return to Britain in 1938 to assume the post of Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff. Taking this position in December, he was knighted the following month. Performing well in London, Cunningham received his dream posting on June 6, 1939, when he was made commander of the Mediterranean Fleet. Hoisting his flag aboard HMS Warspite, he began planning for operations against the Italian Navy in case of war. Andrew Cunningham - World War II: With the beginning of World War II in September 1939, Cunninghams primary focus became protecting the convoys that supplied British forces in Malta and Egypt. With the defeat of France in June 1940, Cunningham was forced to enter into tense negotiations with Admiral Rene-Emile Godfroy regarding the status of the French squadron at Alexandria. These talks were complicated when the French admiral learned of the British attack on Mers-el-Kebir. Through skillful diplomacy, Cunningham succeeded in convincing the French to allow their ships to be interned and their men repatriated. Though his fleet had won several engagements against the Italians, Cunningham sought to dramatically alter the strategic situation and reduce the threat to Allied convoys. Working with the Admiralty, a daring plan was conceived which called for a nighttime air strike against the Italian fleets anchorage at Taranto. Moving forward on November 11-12, 1940, Cunninghams fleet approached the Italian base and launched torpedo planes from HMS Illustrious. A success, the Taranto Raid sank one battleship and badly damaged two more. The raid was extensively studied by the Japanese when planning their attack on Pearl Harbor. In late March 1941, under heavy pressure from Germany to halt the Allied convoys, the Italian fleet sortied under the command of Admiral Angelo Iachino. Informed of enemy movements by Ultra radio intercepts, Cunningham met the Italians and won a decisive victory at the Battle of Cape Matapan on March 27-29. In the battle, three Italian heavy cruisers were sunk and a battleship damaged in exchange for three British killed. That May, following the Allied defeat on Crete, Cunningham successfully rescued over 16,000 men from the island despite taking heavy losses from Axis aircraft. Andrew Cunningham - Later War: In April 1942, with the United States now in the war, Cunningham was appointed to the naval staff mission to Washington, DC and built a strong relationship with the Commander-in-Chief of the US Fleet, Admiral Ernest King. As a result of these meetings, he was given command of the Allied Expeditionary Force, under General Dwight D. Eisenhower, for the Operation Torch landings in North Africa late that fall. Promoted to admiral of the fleet, he returned to the Mediterranean Fleet in February 1943, and worked tirelessly to ensure that no Axis forces would escape from North Africa. With the conclusion of the campaign, he again served under Eisenhower in commanding the naval elements of the invasion of Sicily in July 1943 and the landings in Italy that September. With the collapse of Italy, he was present at Malta on September 10 to witness the formal surrender of the Italian fleet. Following the death of the First Sea Lord, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound, Cunningham was appointed to the post on October 21. Returning to London, he served as a member of the Chiefs of Staff committee and provided overall strategic direction for the Royal Navy. In this role, Cunningham attended the major conferences at Cairo, Tehran, Quebec, Yalta and Potsdam during which plans for the invasion of Normandy and defeat of Japan were formulated. Cunningham remained First Sea Lord through the end of the war until his retirement in May 1946. Andrew Cunningham - Later Life: For his wartime service, Cunningham was created Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope. Retiring to Bishops Waltham in Hampshire, he lived in a house that he and his wife, Nona Byatt (m. 1929), had purchased before the war. During his retirement, he held several ceremonial titles including Lord High Steward at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Cunningham died at London on June 12, 1963, and was buried at sea off Portsmouth. A bust was unveiled in Trafalgar Square in London on April 2, 1967 by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in his honor. Selected Sources History of War: Admiral Andrew Cunningham Royal Navy Museum: Andrew Cunningham

Analyzing Primary Sources Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Analyzing Primary Sources - Essay Example Second, primary sources are biased by the personal views of the narrator and may lack objectivity and neutrality. This is unavoidable, not because people have bad intentions but because humans are subjective. Our personal views and observations can be influenced by our ethical and moral standards and intentions, which can and do change the way we recount events. Third, primary sources vary in quality, so not all have equal credibility. Some people are more observant and notice details others do not, while others notice more details than are objectively evident and necessary. Examples are the "Georgia" article writer's obvious stand against slavery shown in the harsh comments against the slave buyers and Sadie's more credible cheery disposition in "Shorrow". Lastly, primary sources vary in degrees of reliability. Narrations close to the date and place of the events would be more reliable because personal experience shows that human memory fades over time. Primary sources need to be checked against other sources on the same event to establish truthfulness and credibility. Offhand, none of the documents is completely unbelievable because each one is based on firsthand accounts. ... Knowing all these, historians should practice critical analysis when studying primary sources. Was any document completely believable, or completely unbelievable Offhand, none of the documents is completely unbelievable because each one is based on firsthand accounts. Unless we can prove the person identified never existed, or the event recounted never took place (e.g., the sale of slaves in Savannah on March 2-3, 1859 as in "Georgia"), these primary sources should be given the benefit of the doubt. However, we can also state that none of the documents is completely believable for similar reasons until we can establish the actual existence of characters (of Mrs. Hawkes who wrote "Shorrow", the Holt family in Walton County who owned the slaves, etc.), of minor details (was there a Senator John Hill from Madison, Georgia who served two terms on the Whig ticket as in "Evans"), and of events (Mrs. Brice closing her school in June 1861 in "Freedmen"). All facts need cross-checking to definitely establish each document's credibility. Some sources seemed less believable, notably "Freedmen" because of its pompous and exaggerated tone, and "Georgia" because the author sounded like someone vehemently against slavery, giving these articles their biased tone. The others were more believable because they sounded like a recording, the characters in "Bowers", "Shorrow", and "Evans" speaking in a way that is verified by my personal experience. The documents provided a wide range of information about slavery in the U.S., from the harsh and cruel to the gentle and kind. While some slaves really suffered at the hands of their masters ("Freedmen" and "Georgia"), others enjoyed working and were treated well ("Shorrow", "Bowers", and "Evans"). The slaves' ambitions

Legal and Ethical Issues Confronting the Education of English Language Essay

Legal and Ethical Issues Confronting the Education of English Language Learners (ELLs) - Essay Example Lastly, the use pedagogical method to teach the ELLs in mastering the English Language has also been debated. Most schools meet the needs of ELLs in several ways without breaking the law. For example, the state requires the ELLs to excel on all state exams before the school year of 2013/14. In addition, most schools ensure there is integration of the ELLs into the accountability system of the law and other annual progress goals like other learners (Bustamante 2007). Furthermore, schools ensure that the ELLs participate in all state assessment systems. Integration into the state assessment systems is effected promptly by all schools to incorporate the ELLs into learning. There are two tests offered by schools to assist the ELLs in learning, namely English Proficiency tests and academic content tests. In the English Proficiency test, the school evaluates the improvement of the ELL in understanding

Why was William successful Essay Example for Free

Why was William successful Essay When William was crowned King of England he had actually only captured the Southeast. The rest of England was all still Anglo-Saxon. In 1066/1067 William, according to the Normans was the legitimate King of England. He had got Edward the Confessors promise that he would be King. He also had a kinship with Edward, which made it that much easier to become King. It didnt hurt Williams cause when Harold apparently usurped the throne and took it for him self it gave William a legitimate reason for invading. Then after William had gained control of the Southeast the rulers of England submitted to him at Little Berkhamstead. Then they allowed him to be crowned King of England with an Anglo-Saxon Service. This shows their acceptance of William as their King. BUT William had made a mistake. He assumed that once he had been crowned King everyone would follow him as their King. William had not gone West of Faringdon and North of Bedford. It just so happened that the remainder of Harolds family was in the West and Edwin and Morcar (the Northern Earls) who were in the North. Both of these groups had not really submitted to William as their king and were willing to start a rebellion to stop William becoming even more powerful. The rebellions started because when William went back to Normandy. He had to leave regents in his place to rule for him. He chose Bishop Odo and William fitzOsbern. These two people were kinsmen of Williams and so he knew that he could trust tem. But according to Oderic Vitalis: behaved in a violent and cruel fashion and so because of the violent and cruel fashion in which they behaved rebellions started to spring up. The first rebellion was in Exeter and involved Harolds family. This is the first time that William shows his policies for rebelling against him. William reacts decisively and with great force. He marches to Exeter, building castles along the way. When he got to Exeter he brings out a hostage and blinds him in front of the walls so that everyone could see it. Then he lays siege to the city. After 18 days the city submits. All William does is to build a castle in the city its self and garrison it. This is Williamss policy: He will act with violence (the blinding of the hostage) and he will build castles. The violence scares the people and the castles ensure that the area around them is secure. So far William has been successful against the rebellions against him because he has got superior technology (castles which the Anglo-Saxons have not come up against before) and because he has acted decisively and with violence. He has scared the common people that he has come up against so much that they will not do it again. 1068 was a far more serious year for William. This took place in the Earldoms of Mercia and Northumbria. Edwin and Morcar decided that they had had enough of William and that they were going to join the Welsh. William once again marches up as fast as he could, only stopping off to build castles. The key one being at Warwick which he entrusted to Henry of Bomont. Initially he manages to make peace with Edwin and Morcar, and he pardons the Earls. Whilst all this has been happening Edgar ? thling had deserted William and had gone to Scotland. Once in Scotland he persuades the King, Malcome, to marry his sister and so joining them together. The Northumbrians with the Scots seize York. So William once again sets off, again building castles wherever he goes. William then marches on York and captures it. The only thing that he does is to build a castle in York its self. There were many more rebellions on 1068, and all of these William squashed and then built castles all over the area, thus making sure that all the problem parts of England were covered with Castles. William seemed obsessed by the idea of covering the face of England with castles. That also coupled with the face that he took charge personally were ever he could and got to the heart of the revolt as quickly as possible meant that there was not really too much damage. The rebellions of 1067 1072 failed, in my view, because of the fact that they were all so spur of the moment and so dispersed form one another. If they had joined up together and planned together, then they might have had a chance. Especially of they had joined up with the Vikings that came and invaded in 1069. The Vikings gave William the most trouble, but because William already had a series of castle sin place all over the country it wasnt as bad as it could have been. William completely destroyed the area around York, so that the Vikings and his other enemies could not make use of it. He destroyed them so badly that the effects were still apparent in the Doomsday book, written many years later. Williamss ferocious suppression of the north of England in 1069 1070 in response to the English and Scandinavian resistance is often regarded as the darkest deed in his reign. William eventually had to pay the Danes to go away so that William could deal with the English rebels him self. So William was successful against the rebels in 1067 1072 purely because he was more ruthless than they were and because he had access to greater technology, mainly castles building. William terrorised the English so much that they didnt dare rebel again.

Comparing Treatment of Death During the Renaissance and in Shakespeare’

Treatment of Death During the Renaissance and in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is arguably the most well known and well-read play in history. With its passionate and realistic treatment of universal themes of love, fate, war, and death, it’s not difficult to see why. However, most people don’t realize that there are several versions of the play, each with their own unique additions and/or changes to the plot, dialogue, and characters. After thumbing through the texts located here on this website, you can see even at a glance the distinct differences between the versions of Romeo and Juliet. This essay will explore how people dealt with death during the Renaissance in context to Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet (Lamentable Tragedie.) More specifically, I will show that the added monologue in act 4, scene 5, regarding the convention of death, is consistent to the social and religious beliefs of the time period. Act IV, scene V of the Lamentable Tragedie is perhaps the most insightful scene dealing with the coping of death during the Renaissance. Previous to the scene Romeo has been banished for slaying Tybalt, and Juliet’s father has forced her to marry her betrothed Paris. In a desperate attempt to avoid the marriage and reunite Juliet with her love, the Friar gives Juliet a sleeping elixir to stage her death. Convinced that a marriage to Paris would be worse than death, Juliet takes the deathly potion and falls into a coma-like sleep. At the beginning of the scene the house is stirring with excitement in preparation for the wedding and the nurse is sent to wake the sleeping Juliet. After much calling and shaking, the nurse begins to suspect that something is wrong. Could her mistre... ...ents in such a manner, royalty reigned supreme during Shakespeare’s day and could do and speak as they saw fit. Finally, it is important to understand the historical context for which the characters were written. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet was written for an audience that had survived the destructive forces of the Black Death, and shared a different philosophy on death altogether. Works Cited Heitsch, Dorothea. â€Å"Approaching Death by Writing: Montaigne’s Essays and the Literature of Consolation.† Literature and Medicine 19, Jan. 2000: pp 1-6. Huizinga, Johan. The Waning of the Middle Ages. London: Edward Arnold, 1924. Spinrad, Pheobe. The Summons of Death on the Medieval and Renaissance English Stage. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1987. Wilcox, Helen. Women and Literature in Britain 1500-1700. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998.

Investment Analysis-Derivatives: Options and Warrants Essay

This report will encompass brief explanation of common derivatives namely, options and warrants. What are Options? A contract which enables the investor to buy or sell a particular financial instrument is known as an option ( Rao, 2003, p. 676). The underlying financial product in equity option is stocks. These contracts have expiry dates; hence an investor can exercise option before its expiration. The options can be exercised at a specific price which is known as striking price or exercise price (Rao, 2003, p. 676). Essentially options are of two types, call option and put option. Call option:   It is an option which allows the option holder to buy or call a specific number of shares at a specific price, within an already specified time period (Rao, 2003, p. 677). For instance, 3 months ago, an investor purchased a 6-months call-option on 500 shares of Hewlett Packard at the strike price of $40 per share. If the current market price of the stock is $50, the investor has a choice to exercise the option and purchase 500 shares at $40 instead of $50. This implies that an investor would want to buy a call option if he expects the market price to rise above the exercise price (Rao, 2003, p. 677) Put option: It is an option which allows the option holder to sell or put a specific number of shares at a specific price, within an already specified time period (Rao, 2003, p. 678). This is exactly vice versa to call option; therefore an investor would purchase a put option if he expects the market price of the stock to get lower than the exercise price. Risk and Returns associated with options A lot of investors employ options as tools to mitigate their risk in investment, in other words, they insure their investment in stock against any fall in market price (Rao, 2003, p. 679). For e.g. an investor holding a put option has saved himself from even a 100 percent decline in the market price of shares of ABC Company, and he can still sell the stocks at the specified strike price. This practice is also known as hedging, as the name suggests; the investors hedge their risk in the respective investment. However, despite its ability to hedge risks, it should never be neglected that like any other investment it has no guarantee of 100 percent return or security. An investor can risk investing huge sum in the shape of premium price of an option. For e.g. if an investors buys a call option and the price of the stock falls below the exercise price, he gets exposed to potential losses. But it is evident that the losses will be relatively lower than what actual stock holders will bear. Hence it can be verifiably be said that options are great instruments for mitigating risk, provided that an investor is able to predict the future stock price movement with much precision and exercise options at the right time in order to make profit. What are warrants? A warrant is a security issued by a company which grants the warrant holder, a right to purchase a specific number of common shares at a specified price, before the warrant expires (Mathur, 2000, p. 436). Investors exercise their warrants when they buy shares directly (trading between the broker and the investor), or trade over the counter. Warrant holders have no claim on dividends and no voting rights. Warrants also are issued with bonds and preferred stocks.   Moreover, warrants with bonds can be traded separately in the market as well (Mathur, 2000, p. 437). Characteristics of Warrants There are three main characteristics of warrants which are as follows, 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Expiration date: Investors can exercise their option of converting the warrants into shares any time before the warrant expires (Mathur, 2000, p. 437). Generally the life of a warrant is 5-10 years. Hence, during this time, the warrant holder can easily exercise the warrant as per the need and opportunity. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Premium price: The price that warrant holders agree to pay for buying shares in future, is known as exercise or premium price Mathur, 2000, p. 437). This price is generally 10% to 30% above the prevailing market price of the shares. For e.g. if the market price of Microsoft Corporation is $80, then the warrant issued can be set at $96 (20% above the market price). Therefore, if the stock price rises, the warrant holder can either exercise the warrant to buy shares or sell the warrant in market. However, if the current market price of the stock becomes equal to or less than the exercise price, the value of the warrant becomes zero (Mathur, 2000, p. 438). 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Exposure to investor: Warrants are always issued by with provisions which clearly specify the number of shares that can be bought with a single warrant (Mathur, 2000, p. 438).