Meet the Celestial Bull and his Angry Red Eye

Meet the Celestial Bull and his Angry Red Eye Theres a starry bull in the sky called Taurus, the Bull that is visible from late October through March each year in the evening and pre-dawn skies. The face of the bull actually shows up in a vee-shaped  star cluster  in the sky that you can observe pretty easily. Its called the Hyades (pronounced HIGH-uh-deez) and is a naked-eye object for most people. Its also visible to stargazers from almost anywhere on the planet. To find it, search out the constellation Taurus using a star chart or digital astronomy app.   Thank the Ancients for Their Astute Observations We owe our ancient stargazing ancestors a great deal when it comes to exploring fascinating things in the sky. For example, Greek astronomers identified the Hyades and its nearby neighbor - the Pleiades star cluster - thousands of years ago. Other cultures noted it, too, seeing everything from the face of a bull to the figures of gods and goddesses in the structure. There are star tales for just about every object in the sky, from every culture that has lived on our planet. The Hyades were thought to be the daughters of the god Atlas, and sisters to another group of daughters portrayed by the Pleiades. The Greeks werent the only ones to tell tales involving these clusters. The Maori, for example, also told tales of the Hyades and Pleiades, as did cultures in ancient North America, China, and Japan. They were a popular sight and topic for mythology.   The Stars of the Hyades In reality, the Hyades are more closely related to another star cluster called Praesepe, or the Beehive, which is an early spring object for Northern Hemisphere observers. Astronomers have long suspected that these two clusters had a common origin in an ancient cloud of gas and dust. The Hyades stars lie about 150 light-years away from us and formed some 625 million years ago. They travel together through space in the same direction. Eventually, even though they do have a slight gravitational attraction for each other, they will go their separate ways, just as the Pleiades will do. At that point, even though their stars may have unlinked from the cluster, theyre still traveling along the original trajectory. Astronomers call them moving group or a moving cluster.   There are about 400 stars in the Hyades, but we only see about 6 or 7 with the naked eye. The four brightest Hyades stars are red giants, types of stars that are aging. Theyve run through their nuclear fuel and are heading toward old age and eventual destruction. These stars are part of the V shape that ancient stargazers thought made up the face of a celestial bull named Taurus.   Meet the Eye of the Bull: Aldebaran The brightest star in the Hyades really isnt in the Hyades. Its called Aldebaran and its name was, like so many other star names, based in mythology. It happens to lie on the line of sight between us and the Hyades. Its an orange-hued giant that lies only 65 light-years away. Aldebaran is an old star that will eventually exhaust all its fuels and could eventually explode as a supernova before collapsing to form a neutron star or a black hole. Unlike Betelgeuse (the supergiant star in Orions shoulder, which could explode anytime as a supernova), Aldebaran will likely be around for millions of years. Both the Hyades and Pleiades are open clusters. There are many of these groupings of stars in the Milky Way and other galaxies. They are associations of stars born in the same clouds of gas and dust but are not tightly bound together by gravity as stars in globular clusters do. The Milky Way contains at least a thousand of these collections of stars and astronomers study them to understand how stars of similar ages evolve over time. From the time they form together in their birth clouds to the time they die, cluster members show us how stars of roughly the same age, but different masses, can change over time. Those changes are what lead to the astonishing diversity of stars in the universe.   The highest-mass stars in the Hyades will use up their nuclear fuel very fast and die after a few hundreds of millions of years. Those same stars use up tremendous amounts of the original cloud as they form, which reduces the supply of star-making material available to their sibling stars. So, like the Hyades, many open star clusters contain members that are the same age, but some look older than others.

Gay Marriage and Adoption Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Gay Marriage and Adoption - Essay Example The major problem in the country is that the gay community feels that civil partnerships are less valued than marriages and therefore, there is need for the government to recognize their unions as marriage (Culley, 2007). However, critics argue that if this is implemented, it will redefine marriage, which according to them, is a union between a man and a woman. This paper is a critical evaluation of gay marriage and adoption in the United Kingdom. Discussion Gay marriage is a marriage which incorporates the unification of persons of the same sex. This is for example a marriage between a man and man or a woman and a woman. In the UK, this type of marriage is not recognized under the common law. Article 12 of the European convention on human rights, which the UK is party to, does not compel European countries to recognize gay marriage as a human right (Culley, 2007). This assertion has been applied in the European court of human rights while resolving disputes involving gay rights. For example, the court ruled out a case, which was presented before it by a French gay couple, Valerie Gas and Nathalie Dubois, who claimed that the denial of adoption rights by the French was discriminatory and against article 12 of the European convention on human rights (Bowater, 2012). However, the British government, with the support of the prime minister, has been consulting rigorously on the possibility of legalizing gay marriages. The ministry concerned with issues of equality in the country has made it clear than no threats or opposition will hamper efforts to ensure that these marriages are allowed by the end of 2015 (BBC, 2012). Currently, the country only recognizes civil partnerships involving same sex couples. It has been argued that this has already given these people more than enough civil liberties and therefore, the debate to legalize gay marriages is a waste of precious time, which could be spent in discussing other important issues affecting this community. However, gay couples feel that the categorization of their relationships as civil partnerships is not enough as this makes them inferior to heterosexual couples (Culley, 2007). They have the right to feel this way owing to the fact that there is a possibility of being treated unfairly whenever they indicate their marital status, for example in documents while seeking employment. Some of these documents have blank spaces in which one is supposed to fill whether he is married or in a civil partnership. This may have a direct impact on the decisions of the recruiting officers, who may be homophobic. Despite the fact that UK laws prohibit such discrimination, it may be difficult to prove that the reason a person was not hired was due to his or her sexual orientation. This may be worse in the private sector, where hiring processes are not closely monitored by government instruments. Recognizing gay marriage will definitely remove this obstacle thereby resulting to a situation where an interviewe e will only be required to state whether he is single or married. The law prohibits calling out people to identify their sexual orientation and therefore, it will be easy for victims to know what law to cite when defending their accusations (Hicks, 2008). Marriage is a union, which is founded on love and synchronization of bodily needs and desires. The move by some of

Learning and Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Learning and Development - Essay Example This report has recommended a multi-tiered and large-scale structural change to the Mumbai, India call centre. The first stage of the change involves the implementation of a training program. The next stage implements employee and customer evaluation practices that establish employee raises, as well as employees who can assume supervisory positions. While statistical models are greatly implemented during this phase, the next evaluative phase implements qualitative research methods to identify individuals for career counseling practices. These individuals will receive career counseling and then be given the option to receive higher levels education and then an upper level management or executive position with Acorn’s operations in the United Kingdom. Finally, the report has demonstrated that human resources contribute to both competitive advantage and business strategy. Introduction Organizational culture and behavior spans a wide array of elements and concerns. One witnesses a great many elements related to organizational concerns in the Acorn call centre that was recently opened in Mumbai, India. Opened in 2003 the Acorn India call centre is an off-shoot of the company’s main United Kingdom operations. While some cultural elements were considered in establishing this centre, including voice and accent training and cultural awareness, it is clear that there is a degree of dissonance between practice and perception. What has emerged is an organization that is experiencing high turnaround and an organizational culture that feels they are not a part of the main United Kingdom operations. Some of the most prominent theories have considered the nature of organizations as conforming to trends and values within the specific institutional environment Leong (1993, p. 42). Referred to an institutional theory this perspective offers an overarching perspective on organizational culture Leong (1993, p. 42). In terms of establishing organizational culture itâ⠂¬â„¢s recognized that such elements are established both within the employee community as well as in the structure the management and executives establish Leong (1993, p. 42). Within the context of Acorn institutional challenges have emerged as the company structure in the United Kingdom has not applied readily to its Mumbia, India operations. This research advances with the overarching contextual recognition that because of this organizational culture major changes needed to be implemented in relation to learning and development and career management. Specific considerations are given to the organization’s training programs, demographics, and in-built career advancement practices. Analysis Learning and Training While career elements constitute perhaps the greatest focus for needed organizational change at Acorn, more foundationally staff training constitutes a major area of concern. Just as Acorn has failed to establish a career management program the organization has also fallen short in establishing adequate training mechanisms. One of the central thorough-puts of this analysis then is the recognition that before Acorn has the necessary corporate infrastructure to implement the career system that will satisfy their employees at the Mumbai call centre it must first establish a

Rebecca Walker Short Biography Essay Example for Free

Rebecca Walker Short Biography Essay Rebecca Walker is a writer, philanthropist, feminist, and mother. She is the daughter of Alice Walker, who was also a famous feminist and writer. Growing up with a mother who was an active radical feminist heavily influenced her ideologies, although she states in her autobiography that she disagrees with many of Alice Walker’s more radical views. She has worked as a consultant on cultural diversity and gender roles for businesses like Sony, Microsoft, and JP Morgan. Rebecca Walker was born November 17, 1969 in Jackson Mississippi to Alice Walker and her husband Mel Leventhal, and Jewish American Lawyer. Her parents divorced when she was eight and she spent her childhood moving back and forth between her mothers home in San Francisco in a predominantly African American neighborhood and her Fathers home in New York in a Jewish neighborhood. While Walker was staying in San Francisco, she spent most of her time being looked after by relatives or neighbors because her mother was frequently away working in the feminist movement. Walker had the drive and determination to be able to receive an excellent education. She was able to receive an education at a private high school, the Urban School of San Francisco. She graduated from Yale University in 1992. In the same year, she helped found the Third Wave Foundation, a women’s leadership and activism organization. During her career as a writer, Walker has written in the subjects of gender roles, racism, sexism, politics, sexual orientation, and third wave feminism. In her autobiography Black, White, and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self she speaks about her parents’ divorce and how her bisexuality, and her biracial and bicultural heritage has affected her life. Walker had also been a contributor to several magazines and other publications. In her book To Be Real: Telling the Truth and Changing the Face of Feminism, Walker talks about her feminist views and call out her mother’s generation of feminists for â€Å"for denigrating men and encouraging women to seek independence whatever the cost to their families. † (Walker 1995). Walker became an active member of the feminist movement in 1992 shortly after she graduated from Yale. She helped co found the Third Wave Foundation Walker speaks at universities and conferences about multiculturalism, equality, intergenerational cooperation, and third–wave feminism. Walker says that the goal of third-wave feminism should not be to raise women above men, as she said her mother believed should be done, but to seek true equality for all people. Her books explained that feminists also need to work towards equality for other people in need like victims of racial discrimination and those living in poverty. As an adult, Rebecca Walker became estranged from her mother. The two frequently disagreed over Rebecca’s ideologies, which were not as radical as her mother’s. In 2004, Rebecca and her partner Choyin Rangdrol, a Buddhist teacher, had their first son Tenzin when Rebecca was thirty five years old. In 2007, Walker published her book Baby Love: Choosing Motherhood After a Lifetime of Ambivalence. Walker encourages feminists to pay attention to their age and not to miss out on the opportunity to be a mother and states the fact that she regrets waiting so long herself, as she is now unable to have second child. She argues against radical feminist ideas that motherhood is a burden to women and instead calls it a blessing. Walker has received many awards for her writing and for her activism work. She has received the â€Å"Feminist of the Year† award, the â€Å"Woman of Distinction† award, and the â€Å"Women Who Could be President† award. Her autobiography Black, White, and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self was given the Alex Award by the American Library Association.

Is There More Than One Message in an Ad? :: essays research papers

Is There More Than One Message In an Ad?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The personal ads can reveal a message about the author that is not intended to be put in the ad through ink. To find this type of information you have to look a little deeper to find these kind of messages. The author might not mean to, but in the form of their writing they send out bits of personal information that is not intended to be noticed. As in the ad of Woman Seeking Man, I find that the woman has been hurt in the past and that is why she is being a little mysterious and vague in her ad.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The woman in the ad crosses me to be hurt. It seems that maybe in some past relationships things might not have gone her way and she ended up with the short end of the stick. She lists so many qualities that the perfect man could have; it seems as if she is talking from things she learned from bad past experiences. For instance, she states that the man cannot have any dependents or baggage from the past. As if in her last relationship, her mate might have been dealing with an ex-girlfriend or wife. It might have even ruined her relationship to the point to where she does not want the guy to even be associated with an ex. She might be talking about children that the man might be committed to. She acts though as if the only children that she wants in her relationships are the ones that belong to her and her partner. She might be trying to suggest that she already have children that she is having to deal with and she does not want anymore to have to handle. She also puts a one-woman man at the beginning of the sentence that follows that sentence that takes up most of the article. As if to apply emphasis to it so that the guy gets the picture that she does not put up with a man that cheats or is a little to friendly with the ladies like a flirt. She could be emphasizing one-woman man because she has dealt with a cheater before and it has ruined a relationship or two in the past. She also keeps referring to the man needing good manners. She states that he should be well-mannered, mature, expert in the art of courtship, and always puts the toilet seat down, but she spreads them through out the passage so that the reader does not forget the point.

MKT Unit 5 DB

Nowadays there are many more marketing channels available than there were 15, or even ten years ago.   Now a company can market their products by means of a wide variety of channels open to them such as banners, video, wireless, desktop applications, etc – in addition to the more traditional marketing channels of print media and television. Marketing is a very important function which plays a role in strategic planning as it has a direct effect upon profitability and sales.   Larger businesses will dedicate specific staff and departments for marketing purposes, but it is not something that should be carried out in isolation from the rest of the business.   The departments need to work together in order for strategic planning and techniques to be successful (GCSE, 2006) Let’s take a look at how Sony may consider marketing its new PlayStation 3 (PS 3), which is to be launched in a couple of weeks in America.   It has already begun the marketing campaign with a pre product launch press release, wherein it allowed journalists to test the product.   This would be an effective strategy as it would enhance the mystery and curiosity surrounding the product. I think other channels which would be most effective in the marketing of this product would be all of the new channels listed above – banners, video, wireless, desktop applications, as well as television and the printed media, as long as the programs and publications used are aimed at the younger generation.     Retail outlets would also have their own promotional material such as posters and cardboard cutouts on display.   Sony could refer back to successes that they had in the marketing of the Sony Playstation 2, considering that according to them, an incredible 74 million Playstation 2s have been consumed – a figure trumped by sales of the two iterations of the original PlayStation hardware, now standing at 100 million. (Spong, 2006) References GCSE, 2006, retrieved 26 Oct 2006 from the website http://64.37.122.55/business/gcse/marketing_role_in_business.htm Spong, 2006, retrieved 26 Oct 2006 from the website http://news.spong.com/article/7902?cb=114

Organizational Behavior and Leadership Essay - 937 Words

1) A person is broadminded, courageous, and forgiving. Which type of values are these? Instrumental values 2) Which theory is a reworking of Maslows need hierarchy and is better supported by additional research than is Maslows theory? ERG Theory 3) Which stage of the five-stage group development model is characterized by developing close relationships and cohesiveness? Norming 4) What defines a set of expected behavior patterns attributed to a person occupying a given position in a social unit? Group role 5) Which type of group is defined by the organizations structure? Formal group 6) Which term describes the tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working collectively than when working individually?†¦show more content†¦Socialization process 16) How can an organization transmit its culture to its employees? By using material symbols and specific language 17) When is organizational culture considered dysfunctional? When cultural incompatibility deters making acquisitions or mergers 18) What is an advantage of a strong organizational culture? The company has low employee turnover. 19) Which contingency theory of leadership proposes that early in the interaction between a leader and a given follower the leader implicitly categorizes the follower as an in or an out? Leader-member exchange theory 20) What is an example of legitimate behavior in organizational politics? Bypassing chain of command 21) What is a characteristic employed by transformational leaders? Provides vision and sense of mission and gains trust 22) What is a purpose of employee performance evaluations? To provide feedback and determine reward allocations 23) In which circumstances would the use of 360-degree performance evaluations apply? When both internal and external customer feedback is helpful 24) What is organizational culture? What factors determine and maintain an organizational culture? 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