Social Policy - Diabetes Essay Example for Free

Social Policy Diabetes Essay Examine a contemporary social issue (which may or may not have been covered during the module) paying particular attention as to why this issue has become problematic and for whom. Also, consider what should be done about your chosen issue and any role that nursing/social work might have in dealing with it. A social issue can be defined as ‘social conditions identified by scientific inquiry and values as detrimental to human well-being’ (Manis 1976). I believe that a social issue can be anything that affects a person in a bad way and affects their standard of living. It could be something from a health problem to something to do with a financial issue within someone’s home. I am going to focus on the health of the public and have chosen to pay attention to the social issue of diabetes type 2. I am going to pay particular attention to why diabetes has become problematic in the community and for who it is causing a problem to. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin to maintain a normal blood glucose level, or your body is unable to use the insulin that is produced (NHS Choices). You are likely to develop type 2 diabetes if you are over the age of 40, have a relative with the condition or are overweight. A person is normally thought to have type 2 diabetes if he or she does not have type 1 diabetes (insulin-dependent) or monogenetic diabetes (WHO). Patients that suffer from type 2 diabetes generally are given dietary guidance so that they can manage their blood sugar and they are also advised to take their blood sugar once a day to make sure that it is regular. Patients should also increase physical activity and control their weight. It is important that diabetes type 2 is controlled so that it doesn’t progressively get worse and lead to diabetes type 1 diabetes which would mean the patient would become insulin dependent. Diabetes type 2 is problematic for the patient as during everyday living they have to make sure they are aware of what they are eating and doing to make sure they control their own blood sugar to keep themselves healthy. A patient suffering from type 2 diabetes might feel self conscious at meal times as they may have to eat something different to the people they are dining with. This can cause the person’s self esteem to be decreased and they could be embarrassed to eat around other people as they might feel like they are being segregated from the group. A patient also has to exercise regularly which they might find difficult to fit into their lifestyle but in order to control their blood sugar effectively it should become an important part of their everyday life. It can also be problematic on the health costs. Current estimates suggest that direct health cost of diabetes accounts for 5% of the UK health cost (Payne, Barker 2010). This percentage doesn’t even include the full cost of the problem. There are also costs related to sickness from work, disability and more than 10% of hospital bed days. Since 1996 the number of people diagnosed with diabetes has increased from 1. 4 million to 2. 9 million. Most of these cases will be Type 2 diabetes, because of our ageing population and rapidly rising numbers of overweight and obese people. This suggests to us that the demands on the health service are going to increase which will therefore cost more money. These statistics also tell us that an increase in obesity is going to affect diabetes. Obesity is increasing in the UK such that over half the population are now overweight or obese. This has significant health consequences, causing an increase in the risk of diabetes (Payne, Barker 2010). The government have suggested that obesity is resulting in health costs increasing and life expectancy decreasing. One of the social consequences for a person that is obese or overweight is that they are seen negatively upon and discriminated against. This can happen in all situations in social environments and can affect a person in many different ways such as low self-esteem and depression. Obesity is causing an increase risk of diseases that are associated with it. This will also increase health costs as well as making the health of the public worse. If type 2 diabetes is not controlled then type 1 diabetes can develop. This is worse because the patient becomes dependant on insulin. It usually develops in the teenage years of someone’s life. This has to be given my subcutaneous injection (Payne, Barker 2010), this makes sure that the insulin levels are regular and forms the basis of dietary management. They will also have to regularly check their blood sugars. They will often need monitoring, assessment and treatment of cardiovascular risk factors because they have many features of metabolic syndrome. There are many different complications that are caused by diabetes. If you have diabetes, you are up to five times more likely to develop heart disease or have a stroke (WHO). When the blood glucose levels are increasing it results in the furring and narrowing of your blood vessels which may result in a poor blood supply to the heart. This can lead to a heart attack or a stroke. This doesn’t only put the patient’s life at risk but it also results in a huge cost on the NHS. It can also affect the patient’s family a friends hugely emotionally but also physically if they are in need of care after the event. It can change the patient’s life style dramatically. It is not only the blood vessels near the heart that are affected it is also the blood vessels in the nerves. This sometimes causes a tingling sensation in your limbs. If the nerves in the digestive system are affected a patient may experience nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea or constipation. This will make the patient’s life very uncomfortable. Blood vessels in the retina can become blocked or leaky, or can grow haphazardly. This prevents the light from fully passing through to your retina. If it is not treated, it can damage your vision (NHS Choices). If a patient doesn’t control their blood sugar levels they are very likely to develop serious eye problems. Having an annual eye check up with a specialist, an ophthalmologist, can help to see the signs of an eye problem sooner so that it can be treated. Another problem that diabetes can lead to in a blockage of the blood vessels in the kidney, this makes the kidneys work less efficiently. In very rare cases this can lead to kidney failure and the need for dialysis or even a kidney transplant. Another reason why diabetes affects people’s health and health costs is because 1 in 10 people with diabetes get a foot ulcer (WHO). Damage in the nerves of the foot can mean that small nicks and cuts are not noticed. They will not be noticed because the nerves are damaged the patient with these small cuts won’t feel the pain from them. If these small cuts are not noticed a serious infection can occur and it can lead to the development of a foot ulcer. If patients develop nerve damage they should check their feet every day and report any changes to a nurse or doctor. When a nurse is visiting a patient with diabetes they should look out for sores and cuts that do not heal as well as puffiness and swelling. There are always going to be other side effects to having diabetes but these are the most common. Another problem that diabetes can cause is an increased risk of a miscarriage or stillbirth. It is important that women that are pregnant are aware that they have diabetes so that the blood sugar level can be carefully controlled during the early stages of pregnancy. If it is not carefully controlled there is also an increased risk of the baby developing a birth defect (NHS Choices). Pregnant women with diabetes will usually have their antenatal check-ups in hospital or a diabetic clinic. As a nurse it is important we make sure pregnant women with diabetes are aware of this. This allows the care team to keep a close eye on the patient’s blood sugar levels and control your insulin dosage more easily, if you regulate your blood sugar using insulin. They will also be able to monitor the growth and development of your baby. Pregnant women are also at risk of having larger babies than normal which causes problems during the birth of the baby as well as the late stages of pregnancy. It can cause other problems to the mother during the birth such as ripping on the vagina or even to the stage they have to go through with a suzerain. All of these side affects cost the NHS money. This can be reduced by people eating healthier and exercising so that they do not form the illness of diabetes in the first place. One example of how much diabetes can cost health services is the Lucentis injection. This is a shot that helps to prevent people with severe diabetes going blind but it costs ? 1000. This is a huge amount of money when you put it into proportion to the amount of people that have diabetes in the UK. With around 5,000 new cases a year, NICE is reluctant to recommend the use of Lucentis for treating DMO, diabetic macular oedema (Global Diabetes Community). ‘A report by the NHS entitled Prescribing for Diabetes in England reported that over the last 5 years, the cost of drugs and treatments alone in order to treat people with diabetes had risen by 40% from ? 458.  6 million in 2004/5 to ? 649. 2 million in 2009/10’. These statistics tell us that the number of people in the UK with diabetes has risen. This could be due to the fact that the number of people that are obese in England has risen. The UK is the fattest country in Europe. The number of obese adults is forecast to rise by 73% over the next 20 years from to 26 million people, resulting in more than a million extra cases of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer (Global Diabetes Community). The cost of diabetes in 2010 was 13. 750 billion pounds just for the year on the NHS. This cost includes the treatment, drugs, inpatients and outpatient appointments for diabetes type 1 type 2. There is also other services that are included into the treatment such as the social service. The amount of money that is spent on each type of diabetes for each different area of expenditure can be seen in appendix 1. The cost of in patients with diabetes is the greatest. This is due to the fact when diabetes gets so severe people need time in hospital to recover and be treated for other illnesses that diabetes has caused them. Type 1 diabetes cost 1. 802 billion pounds in 2010 where as diabetes type 2 diabetes cost 11. 718 billion pounds. This is due to the fact type 2 diabetes is more common in the UK. Although it can be controlled by changing your lifestyle it is not always diagnosed and therefore can cause more problems than if the patient was aware they had this condition. There should always be actions in place to try and decrease the number of people in the UK that have diabetes. Published in 2001, The National Service Framework for Diabetes contains nine standards for the provision of high quality diabetes services in what it recognised as a growing area of need. The prevention of type 2 diabetes will play a major part in this because if people are eating healthier and exercising more they are less likely to form diabetes type 2 but if they do people should be able to identify that they have diabetes in order for them to control their own condition. By controlling their own blood sugar they will be less likely to end up in hospital with another illness related to this condition. In order to do this the NHS want to see public awareness campaigns to communicate the seriousness of diabetes and its complications, the risk factors of type 2 diabetes (Young 2011) This should hopefully point the public in the right direction to whether they have diabetes so that they can seek help and advice in order to keep as healthy as possible in their everyday life. It is important that as nurses we give advice to our patients they importance of NHS checkups and healthy living so that patients with diabetes reduce the risk of illness. As a nurse health promotion is always important for any condition. Health promotion has evolved into an extremely broad sphere of activity encompassing health education, lifestyle and preventative approaches (Scriven, Orme 2001). As nurses we have to concentrate on improving the health of our patients and the public. One way in which we can promote health to our patients is while we are working alongside them in hospital is to provide structured information in preparation for stressful events (Macdonald, Bunton 1992). When a patient has diabetes it could mean that we give the patient information about how to manage this condition at home so that they live a healthy lifestyle. There is a lot of substantial evidence that suggests passing on information to the patient and communicating with them reduces anxiety and speeds up recovery time. More recently, the need to adopt more individualised, patient-centred approaches, incorporating a recognition of the importance of self-efficiency beliefs and the wider barriers to taking health action, has been widely recognised (Norton 1998). This could suggest that one patient may just need the advice to be told to them while another patient needs instructions on how to use this advice at home, maybe written down or extra support at home depending on the health and well-being of this particular patient. While I was on placement it was an important job to help the patients chose what they would like to eat the next day by filling in a menu. For a diabetic they would have different choices and then a pudding with less sugar in to the other patients. It was important that as a student nurse helping them I helped to promote the healthier options to all patients in order for them to eat a healthy balanced diet. This would not only mean that they would eat healthier while in hospital but it would also give the patients an idea of what to eat at home to have a balanced diet. The department of health also help to ensure that the public with diabetes are cared for to reduce health costs and to improve the public’s health. One way that they do this is to ensure that local authorities commission a fully funded health check programme and a follow-up action.

Payroll Framework Implementation

Payroll Framework Implementation The following report marks the use of the organisation and gets proper use of the organizational support for the understanding of the situation that marks the development and the operation of the organization. The concerned project consists of three prime tasks which are marked as section 1, 2 and 3. Section 1 describes the implementation of two preliminary frameworks-COBIT and COSO in the payroll failure of the Queensland healthcare system. Section 2 of the report deals with describing various frameworks required to sustain the failure, which had been implemented by the health department, IBM and other parties. Section 3 develops an understanding of 2 stages concerning System Development Life Cycle and its working in the project. Importance of payroll framework in any organisation lies in marking and demanding proper as well as smooth development of the organisational management. The management of the organization and the play of the management in terms of dealing with the organisational workers mark the smooth operation of the organisation. It can be so detected that the organization along with the workers are bound with the relation of employer and employee common thread of paying and receiving of salary and wages respectively. The opportunity in the following will be based on the understanding of the consequences if the framework of COBIT and COSO were implemented by the organization. COBIT: As supported by De Haes et al. (2013, p.320), COBIT is one of the latest version of ISACAs globally accepted framework for the proper end to end governance of enterprises and organization related to IT. The central management of the framework helps in the creating of the values in the enterprises. The prime use of the organizational support and the use of the framework is the smooth management of the leadership, guidance and practice with the use of the analytical tool that is managed by COBIT. As supported by Rubino and Vitolla (2014, p.770), the framework helps in the better management of the enterprises IT sector and makes the most of it with the smooth development of the organisation. COBIT stands for Control Objectives for Information and related Technology. This frame work helps in the better bridging of the central breach in the field of the IT department of the organisation. Cobit framework allows implementation of the success factors that could essentially guide the f ailure of the payroll system in the health department of Queensland (Chang et al. (2014, p.200). Proper and appropriate level of governance is being provided if Cobit framework had been followed in the concerned project. It helps to maintain collaboration among the employees and support the financial base of the system so that any collapse would be sufficiently handled by the Ministry of health as well as the government of the nation. COSO: As supported by Rubino et al. (2017, p.99), the framework of COSO is used by the managers of the organization for the development of the organization in terms of gaining proper view of the organizations internal control and thus makes the managers of the organization smooth and better operating ground for the operation of the organization. This framework helps in the well management of the organization operation for the better development of the organisations internal process for for development. As mentioned by Seyal et al. (2016, p.240), the COSO framework helps in well understanding of the internal environment of the organization and marks the risk of the environment in order to gain risk assessment benefits. The COSO framework also helps in the proper management of the information also helps in the management of the communication gathered from external and inter source of the organization. The policies and the procedure help in better management of the organization provided by the COSO. As supported by Gantman and Fedorowicz (2016, p.80), the use of the managerial ground of COSO helps in proper formation of strategic planning for development of organization and maintaining of the development ground in the society. Lattice: As mentioned by Rubino et al. (2017, p.200), the LATTICE framework is an obsolete one ion the proper managing of the development of the organization. The smooth operation of the organization is based on the framework of the organization in the opportunity of the organization. The framework is literally based on the smooth operation of the organization with the help of the scaffold in the organisation. The guidelines of the organization help in the marking of the organisational procedures. The system of the organization is better managed by the organizational development and organizational use of the similar guidelines for the overall development of the organization. The overall development of the organization is based on the guidelines of the organization. The overall development as based on the guidelines does not allow the managers to go out of the space and think. Rather leads in the operation of the orgnisation with fixed and close ended opportunity. As supported by Gil- Pechuà ¡n et al. (2014, p.190), the development of the organization is not well supported by the LATTICE frame because of the close ended operation. The key strategies implemented by the health department of Queensland have been to identify the end users of the proposed system, train the management and staff along with defining requirements of the business (Goosen, 2016, p.70). The objectives of the framework as provided by the health department of Queensland focused on imparting adequate training and education to the staff and enlighten them about relevant information. The payroll system being disparate, two basic systems or support frameworks have been adopted- LATTICE and Environment for Scheduling Personnel (ESP). ESP as well as LATTICE has been progressively utilized since 1996 till 2002. The solution of LATTICE was gradually becoming obsolete with the passing years since it needed a minimum amount of interventions manually for accommodating complex award along with incentive structures to be paid to the employees. Opportunities in the organisation have been developed through the implementation of the framework now approved as one of the obsolete one. The situation of the organisation was into a greater alarming position because of the use in the framework of LATTICE,  that mark the closed Indian guidelines of the organisation in the development of the organisational manager skill and knowledge on the work performed by workers of organisation.  As mentioned by Pandeya et al. (2016, p.263),  the achievement of the success in an organisation can be only possible with the help of the development in organisational use and proper management of skill the managers have. The use of the LATTICE went down because of the minimum effect on the mitigation of problems that arise in the organisation. Due to the traditional framework of LATTICE as there was no has effective mitigation procedures that the managers could have a well for the development of the organisation out of the critical situation. As mentioned by IBM is one of the control process that help in managing organisational and managerial work in a smooth and development.  The queen Queensland State Government for shared service initiative (SSI) was implemented by IBM for preparation of the organisation.  at the IBM was not the only form for information that they used for the development of the organisation but logical and SAP were also out of the,  operation of Organisation in an organisation development situation.  In 2005 the IBM was contracted by FSI for transformation of the organisation formed.  The process and procedure of IBM was of performance award interpretation in the society. The implementation of the Operation of the organisation Was bitter supported by IBM because of the eradication of the old system used by the organisation and  implementation of the system that highest tax act in SAP finance, SAP HR, for the restoring system of the organisation worker. The implementation of the word with t he help of IBM was better in chance of making proper work to bring solution will gather the employee of the organisation and maintain a proper authority in operation of the organisation which also included management and implementation on new projects of the organisation with special care and effective efficiency. Development of the study and operation of the organisation have also mention the developed organisation of structure which grows to be IBMs one of the most important factor in the development of organisation society. According to the observation of Houghton et al. (2016, p.365), among the other parties or contractors who were involved in the payroll system of Queensland health department, Corptech was much well-known and reputed one. The main objectives of Corptech have been to oversee entire implementation of health payroll strategies across all the Department of Queensland Government, commencing strategy of SAP as a Human Resource (HR) practice as well as Work brain solution and managing of prime contractor. Payroll tests have been successful by implementing the solutions of SAP HR along with Work brain solutions unlike LATTICE solution. Since there was no specific methodology of project management had been followed, hence, these solutions tended to be appropriate and the ownership, responsibilities and roles had been crystal clear to the employees as well as managers for avoiding the collapse of the system. Supported by Fair, (2016, p.52),  the first stage of the system development life cycle manages to be the System study which mark sweep elementary stage of system development life cycle.  the investigation of the system development life  cycle system study can be traced back to actually and physical system of the organisation.  This is Temple along with System study health in and listing the study referring to the problem objective terms of reference constraint aspects and effect of the benefits and impacts of the demerits of the organisation.  The use of the system study in the society and in the organisation is for the better identification of the problem and for the initiation of the project. As inferred by Ling-Chin et al. (2016, p.377), the background analysis also is done by the help of system study.  Smooth operation of an organisation is maintained and accepted by the proposal of the cycle procedures from the next step.  The study helps in better identification o f the issues and the mitigation of such issues related to the inference and findings of the work done for the development of the organisational procedure and structure. As inferred by Ioppolo et al. (2016, p.180), the feasibility studies is determined by the option and development of the organisation through which study is accepted and used for the better management of the society.  The prime and the most important objective of a study thing feasible is not to solve the problems but to identify the scope of the object to that will help an organisation to add that precede into better developmental situation and opportunities. The economic feasibility is identified for the Solving problems of an organisation we use of better economic and cost effective methods. The use of the cost effective method and proper benefit analysis of the situation smart the feasibility of the study in terms of economic condition. The organisational feasibility is 5 determination of proposed system is consistent and helps an organisation in strategic objective development. Development of the organisation depends on the understanding of system that works for the operation of an object in an organisation As inferred by Houghton et al. (2016, p.363), Social feasibility marks the situation where the objective of the organisation is accepted and enjoyed by every community of the society without causing any social issues on cultural problems. It is essential to understand the impact of the society in an organisation for detecting the development of the operation and cultural views of the organisation.  It is evident that an organisation should maintain the technical feasibility also for coping with the problems of technical issues that arises in daily operation of an organisational work. Referring to the case study, it could be concluded that the health payroll system of Queensland in Australia has failed consistently and doctors along with other health professionals were not paid or wrongly paid. This resulted in imbalanced health institutional structure of Queensland. Even political unrest erupted due to this failure in the payroll system. The governance and the project management engaged in this project of payroll failure have been hardly successful in implementing appropriate framework for overcoming the system failure. However, these frameworks have been sincerely implemented and brought about few yet relevant changes in the payroll system in Queensland. References   Chang, S.I., Yen, D.C., Chang, I.C. and Jan, D., (2014). Internal control framework for a compliant ERP system. Information Management, 51(2), pp.187-205. De Haes, S., Van Grembergen, W. and Debreceny, R.S., (2013). COBIT 5 and enterprise governance of information technology: Building blocks and research opportunities. Journal of Information Systems, 27(1), pp.307-324. Fair, M., (2016). Generalized record linkage system-Statistics Canadas record linkage software. Austrian Journal of Statistics, 33(12), pp.37-53 Gantman, S. and Fedorowicz, J., (2016). Communication and control in outsourced IS development projects: mapping to COBIT domains. International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, 21, pp.63-83. Gil-Pechuà ¡n, I., Pullicino, P. and Garcà ­a, M.P.C., (2014). Implementation Methodology of Effective Governance to Ensure the Quality of IT Service. In Action-Based Quality Management (pp. 175-192). Springer International Publishing. Goosen, R., (2016). The development of an integrated IT risk assessment questionnaire for internal auditors use. Southern African Journal of Accountability and Auditing Research, 18(1), pp.63-71. Houghton, R.J., White, C., Golightly, D. and Wilson, J.R., (2016). Span of control in supervision of rail track work. Cognition, Technology Work, 18(2), pp.361-378 Ioppolo, G., Cucurachi, S., Salomone, R., Saija, G. and Shi, L., (2016). Sustainable local development and environmental governance: A strategic planning experience. Sustainability, 8(2), p.180 Ling-Chin, J., Heidrich, O. and Roskilly, A.P., (2016). Life cycle assessment (LCA)-from analysing methodology development to introducing an LCA framework for marine photovoltaic (PV) systems. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 59, pp.352-378 Pandeya, N., McLeod, D.S., Balasubramaniam, K., Baade, P.D., Youl, P.H., Bain, C.J., Allison, R. and Jordan, S.J., (2016). Increasing thyroid cancer incidence in Queensland, Australia 1982-2008-true increase or overdiagnosis?. Clinical endocrinology, 84(2), pp.257-264 Rubino, M. and Vitolla, F., (2014). Internal control over financial reporting: opportunities using the COBIT framework. Managerial Auditing Journal, 29(8), pp.736-771. Rubino, M., Vitolla, F. and Garzoni, A., (2017). The impact of an IT governance framework on the internal control environment. Records Management Journal, 27(1), pp.81-101. Rubino, M., Vitolla, F. and Garzoni, A., (2017). How IT controls improve the control environment. Management Research Review, 40(2), pp.155-205. Sanyanunthana, K., 2016. Education Quality Development for Excellence Performance with Higher Education by Using COBIT 5. Education, 1, p.524 Seyal, A.H., Poon, S.H. and Tajuddin, S., (2016), November. A Preliminary Evaluation of ICT Centers Performance Using COBIT Framework: Evidence from Institutions of Higher Learning in Brunei Darussalam. In International Conference on Computational Intelligence in Information System (pp. 235-244). Springer International Publishing.

Computers :: essays research papers

This paper is about the computer. Today computers are used by hundreds of millions of people. There have been many advances in the computer. The computer used to weigh 30 tons and filled warehouse size rooms, but today can be as light as 3 pounds and fit in a persons pocket.There were basically three times the computer was mentioned. One as a mechanical computing device, in about 500 BC The other as a concept in 1833, and the third as the modern day computer in 1946. The first mechanical calculator was called the abacus. The abacus is a is a string of moving beads.The first concept of the modern computer was first outlined in 1833 by the British mathematician Charles Babbage. His outline contained all of todays features in a computer today. Those features are memory, a control unit, and output devices. Even though Babbage worked on the machine for over 40 years he never actual saw it work. The modern computer grew out of intense research efforts mounted during World War II. The military needed faster ballistics calculators, and British cryptographers needed machines to help break the German secret codes.Early as the 1940's the German Inventor, Konrad Zuse, produced the first operational computer. It was used in aircraft and missile designs, but the German government would not let him improve the machine so it never reached its maximum capability. Two engineers called John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert Jr. from the University of Pennsylvania constructed a calculator. Its construction was an enormous feat of engineering. The 30-ton machine was 18 feet high and 80 feet long, and contained 17,468 vacuum tubes linked by 500 miles of wiring. This calculator performed 100,000 operations per second, and its first operational test included calculations that helped determine the feasibility of the hydrogen bomb. Computers were finally made to a smaller size in 1958 by Jack Kilby. He used less expensive silicon chips, this made it possible to cram as many as 10 million components on 1 chip. Another big step in the computer chip was made by American Engineer Marcian E. Hoff. He combined the uses of a computer into 1 tiny silicon chip which he called the microprocessor. This microprocessor was called the Intel 4004. By the mid 1970's the microprocessor or microchip reduced the cost of computers. The first affordable desktop computer designed specifically for personal use was called the Altair 8800 and was sold by Micro Instrumentation Telemetry Systems in 1974.

Aliens Built the Pyramids Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Aliens built the Egyptian pyramids. Recent research supports the theory that the Pyramids were built long before humans inhabited the area now known as Egypt. It is also nearly impossible for the Egyptians to have lifted and moved the limestone brick used to build these massive structures. Only a more advanced form of life could have constructed such an enormous undertaking, while using advanced mathematics and geography that were not yet known to ancient peoples.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Archeologists suggest that the large stones used in building the pyramids were transported by rolling them over logs or a wet, slippery, clay surface. These methods may have been effective in moving the blocks close to the building site, but do not explain how the massive bricks, weighing as much as a Ford F250 truck, were lifted on top of each other.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When the Great Pyramids at Giza were built, the Egyptians had not invented the wheel yet, but the limestone blocks that they grudgingly transported, in an effort to build pyramids, weighed about 2 tons each. If all of the stone from the pyramids was cut into one foot, square blocks, it would extend two thirds of the way around the earth. No human life forms could have possibly erected these structures using that much limestone, because they did not have the technology to work in such scale. Only aliens, with more advanced mechanical and mental abilities, could have designed and ...

Effects Of Mercury On The Enviroment

LA Gear and other shoe companies have been using mercury to make the switch active in their shoe that light up when a person walks. The shoes should return to the company after the user is done with the to be recycled. Since LA never advertises this, people just thrown them away like any other pair of old shoes. Eventually the shoes end up in a land fill and the mercury can leak out into the environment. Mercury is a highly toxic substance and is the cause of the Minamata Disease in the 1950’s. On the top 20 toxic chemical list, mercury rates 3rd. Mercury bioaccumulates in the body and has difficulty eliminating it. It may reach dangerous levels over time and causes sever damage to the central nervous system. Mercury’s Effect on the Environment and People Mercury is one of the biggest environmental problems that exist because it is hard to get of once in the environment. In the past, mercury was used to make things like paper, put in paint and thermometers, and as an agricultural pesticide. The Minamata Disease is a good example of what could happen if mercury enters into the environment. In the mid 1950’s, more than 100 Japanese were poisoned by fish that contained methyl mercury. The mercury came from industrial waste that had been dumped into the bay where the fish were caught. The mercury bioaccumulated up the food chain. The cats the were eating the fish showed the symptoms first. They began to act very strange; running into walls and acting like they were â€Å"in a trance. † The people in the village developed mental retardation, insanity, and birth defects from eating the poisoned fish. Fifty people died and 150 people suffered from these disorders. Another example of mercury’s effect on people and the environment comes from the saying â€Å"mad as a hatter. † In the 1800’s, hats were made with mercury to stiffened the brim. The hatters that made the hats worked with mercury all the time. The mercury was absorbed into their skin and caused them to develop neurological and physiological disorders. People just assumed they were going crazy. From then on, when someone thought another was going out of their mind they would say they were â€Å"mad as a hatter. †

Saint Telemachus

The Roman Catholic faith is one of the religions that believe in martyrs and saints and honored their lives because of the sacrifices that they have made in the name of fighting for their religion and in the name of preaching the values and morals that the Roman Catholic faith is teaching and preaching to everyone. How these martyrs and saints lived was somewhat similar – a moment of recognition of the presence of God in their lives, the life of prayer and devotion to the faith, the episode of their life wherein they become the tool or vessel of God for an important mission before they die. While their lives seem to follow a certain pattern, their death is somewhat not always the same. There are those who die peacefully in their sleep or because of old age, and there are those who die a violent death in front of an angry crowd. Jesus Christ, the son of God and one of the three personas of the Roman Catholic God, in life mortal human form, died a very violent and brutal death. So did other saints, martyrs and other individuals who are considered faithful to the Roman Catholic faith especially during its early stage and during the time the religion’s main enemies are persecution of the faith and the presence of a set of social norm that strongly go against the paradigm of the Roman Catholic faith, The setting of the world at the time of St. Telemachus’ life, whose death, like Jesus Christ and the other saints, were violent and brutal, and became a source of an important catalyst in the social landscape inside Rome. This paper will discuss the life of St. Telemachus and the significant aspects related to St. Telemachus that will help establish St. Telemachus as one of the important and noteworthy saint and martyr whose contributions were very realistic and practical and transcended the basic act of religious theoretical teaching and selfless public service. ABOUT SAINT TELEMACHUS Saint Telemachus was known by different other possible names, including Saint Tilemahos as well as Almachus, whose birth is remains unknown. He was a monk who was believed to be the one who influenced the policy about gladiatorial fights after his very popular but seriously challenged story about stopping the fighting gladiators that resulted to his death. His proclamation as a martyr and the stopping of the entertainment of the crowd for armed combats which is usually a fight to the death to which spectators gamble. St. Telemachus was mentioned in many different literary forms by authors from different places. Little is known about St. Telemachus, and because of this, many theological experts, historians, as well as critics and analysts, challenge the veracity and truthfulness in the story about Telemachus. The usual tempo and outline of the available St. Telemachus story – from his journey to Rome, his entry in the arena, his stoppage of the fight, his death and martyrdom, runs something like this: â€Å"The emperor Honorius first prohibited gladiatorial shows at Rome, on occassion of the death of St. Telemachus, who coming thither from the East, during the exhibition of these spectacles, went down into the arena, and exerted himself to prevent the gladiators from continuing the sport . † THE STORIES SURROUNDING THE DEATH OF SAINT TELEMACHUS There were many versions of how exactly St. Telemachus died after he supposedly stopped a fight between two gladiators inside a Roman fighting arena during the height of the fad of this particular type of death match entertainment. Authors like Alban Burns explained that there were two versions believed by the Catholic faithful about how St. Telemachus died. The first version is the death of St. Telemachus from the stoning he got from the audience who were â€Å"infuriated† b y his mediation and intervention that spoiled the excitement of the action that was already progressing by the time he arrived and tried to stop the fight. Another version pointed the death of St. Telemachus towards the actions of the â€Å"city prefect,† who, like the audience, found St. Telemachus’ action inside the arena not agreeable to his preferences and interests. Because of that, the prefect of the city ordered the gladiators (whether the ones who were fighting or those on standby inside the arena is not exactly ascertained by Butler and Burns) to kill him, who supposedly said before dying that â€Å"Today is the octave day of the Lord, cease from the superstitions of idols and from polluted sacrifice . † This act cost his life, but in return earned him the stature of a martyr in the annals of the Roman Catholic faith. THE IMPORTANCE OF SAINT TELEMACHUS Despite the fact that St. Telemachus is not a very popular name or saint among many Roman Catholics compared to other popular saints and martyrs (largely because of the fact that very little was written or known about St. Telemachus besides his action inside the Roman gladiatorial arena compared to other saints and martyrs whose life and works are well written, well documented and well publicized), there are those, especially the devout and the learned religious faithful who does not forget the place of St. Telemachus not just in the religious aspect of the understanding of his life and the significance of his contribution, but also historically as a person who in one particular time, in the history of the Roman Catholic faith and faithful, made his mark and contribution in the effort of the religion to sustain the values and moral preached by Roman Catholic faith. St. Telemachus is nonetheless considered and appraised with the same fervor as with t he other saints and martyrs, especially when discussed alongside his contemporaries and those whose life and location was never far before or after him. For almost four hundred years the martyrs of the Church met here, beginning with St. Ignatius†¦ and ending with St. Telemachus who, dying, implored the mob: ‘In the name of Christ, forbear. ’ They loved and suffered enough to finally change the mind of Rome . † ST. TELEMACHUS AND THE IMPACT ON LITERARY WRITING St. Telemachus was indeed an inspiration not just to the traditional and conventional religious individuals but to literary artists as well. The life and tragedy of St. Telemachus perhaps was a source of inspiration for Sir Alfred Tennyson when he wrote the poem featuring this particular saint, a poem which was another solid contribution and addition to the long list of literature of the same genre, but unlike some of the works which is very puritan and hard line in the messages that it wishes to throw across the audience, St. Telemachus and the poem dedicated to him somehow managed to break off from the general trend a bit. â€Å"Tennyson’s St. Telemachus, who accepts martyrdom in the Colosseum as he repeats to himself ‘the call of god'†¦ s a notable exception to this secularized application (Jeffrey, p 816). † ANALYSING ST. TELEMACHUS’ LIFE THROUGH LITERARY REFERENCES It is really hard to ascertain why St. Telemachus did what he did. But a very good source of information is the analysis of the critics about St. Telemachus and the parallelisms that he and his life shares with other characters in real life and fictional stories that talk about the boldness and honor in the act of sacrifice as the climactic event in a life that is dictated by a life in solitude and constant communing with God and nature and heightened by the belief of a mission from a vision, which, in St. Telemachus’ case led him towards westward from his Asian point of origin towards Rome. In reading how he is appraised and put side by side with other characters to which he seemed to share a particular likeness or similarity, the individual looking for a deeper understanding about the personality of St. Telemachus will be given a chance to expand his or her knowledge about St. Telemachus. â€Å"Several other poems in the collection share significant thematic elements with ‘The Death of CEnone. ’ ‘St. Telemachus,’ for example, immediately follows ‘The Death of CEnone’ and similarly depicts a hermit living alone in a cave, muttering ‘Vicisti Galilae,’ as in Swinburne’s ‘Hymn to Proserpine’ . † This particular side by side analysis of equally significant literary materials and notable characters somewhat provides an individual an idea about how St. Telemachus lived his life and the level of significance he bears, as a person and as a central character in a literary material that is written by one of the most notable and popular poet that ever lived. Like CEnone, Telemachus is drawn out of his cave by the vision of a burning image, in this case the sun, and he leaves the cave to commit an act that will bring his life to a close. Telemachus travels to Rome to attempt to put a stop to the deaths of gladiators in public spectacles . † ST. TELEMACHUS AND HIS CONTRIBUTION TO THE IDEA OF HUMAN RIGHTS St. Telemachus can be considered as one of the earliest examples of advocates for human rights. He was merely batting for human rights during his interference midway in the game and the plea to stop because he believes that killing each other is not morally right. He was not a political pawn that was sent to create a situation that is profitable or favorable for a particular group or individual. All that was obvious was that the prospect of what he planned to do will no doubt put his life in peril since he was set to do an action that will put him in cross current with the existing social practice, like the gladiatorial fights. But he did it, and it cost him his life as well as a posthumous recognition, as well as an action that was inspired by his own initial move to stop gladiatorial fight. â€Å"Though he is killed in his attempt, his act draws the attention of the Emperor Honorius, who thereby prohibits such combats in the future . † The claim that gladiatorial fights were indeed ordered stopped after the reported murder of St. Telemachus was supported by many other different literary sources explaining the same repercussion of St. Telemachus' action as the springboard towards the stoppage of such kinds of fights. â€Å"Never again after St. Telemachus implored them in the name of Christ to cease did gladiatorial fights take place in the Colosseum. † A proof that St. Telemachus led a life that exemplifies the passion for a humanitarian cause and to improve the situation of human rights crisis during his time is the fact that some observers describe St. Telemachus as a martyr who died for the cause of humanity, â€Å"the only monk who died a martyr in the cause of humanity . † ISSUES ON THE STORY OF ST. TELEMACHUS Besides the presence of many different version of the story of St. Telemachus, particularly the story of his death as was discussed earlier in the paper, there are also other significant issues that are involved everytime critics and analysts try to ascertain the veracity of the information available and surrounding St. Telemachus’ life and death. What is not clear, however, is the extent of the political impact of the death of St. Telemachus which was enough and sufficient to actually order the stoppage of such practice. Bear in mind that St. Telemachus was an ascetic; he was not well connected, politically and his death is not important inside the political circles of the Roman legislative body; his death was of no serious repercussions, meaning the death of St. Telemachus was far from being akin to political killings or assassination that affect politics and social order. Bear in mind also that gladiatorial fights inside the Roman Colosseum and arenas are a long standing traditional practice that seemed to be not that easy to demolish, especially since many individuals depend their lives on the regular undertaking of this fights, including the fighters themselves as well as the slave traders, merchants, gamblers and many other different individuals. Because of this, it is really very difficult to really understand how it happened that the death of an unknown hermit who is not a native of Rome managed to result in such impact like the stoppage of the gladiatorial fights. And because of this vague, gray part in the history and story of St. Telemachus that begs for more explanation and proof, it is not surprising that many individuals find it difficult to believe in the veracity of the story. McCabe provided a very insightful input in the discussion of the possibility that St. Telemachus indeed put a stop to the gladiatorial fights and how this may not be socially and realistically possible. McCabe discussed in his book that the gladiatorial fights nonetheless persisted long after Telemachus was dead, and that this particular bloodsport featuring man versus beast and man versus man is an important institution in the Roman entertainment that it cannot just be stopped in one fell swoop, just because one person said so by act of intervention and mediation in an actual fight. There are socio-political as well as socio-economical implications that make the story of St. Telemachus very weak and the fact that it is poorly supported in literature by actual real information makes it less and less credible. â€Å"And it is historically false that the games were suppressed in 404; though even this is ninety years after the bishops began to have influence over the emperors . † Some of those who are also very critical about their assessment of what qualify as martyrdom and what is not a considerable act or life of martyrdom questions the martyrdom of several different saints and martyrs, and St. Telemachus has not escaped the criticisms. Those who dissect the understanding of sainthood and martyrdom in a very puritan and very skeptical and crucial way questions the manner by which martyrs and saints like St. Telemachus was proclaimed martyrs in the first place, including in the assessment the understanding of selflessness as well as sacrifice and what really constitutes as real acts of selflessness and sacrifice that is considered as sufficient and legitimate to make the individual a saint or a martyr in the Roman Catholic faith. â€Å"It is likely enough also that martyrs to charity – men like St. Telemachus and St. Philip of Moscow, Abp. Affre and Bp. Patteson – have their portion with the perfect martyrs to faith; in some cases, as in the last, it is hard to draw a line between the two: any way, those who suffer for righteousness sake suffer for Christ†¦ but to suffer for conscience's sake, however noble, is not necessarily quite the same thing: and it is hardly right to claim the name of martyr for the victims – certainly not for the victims on one side only – in the fratricidal contests of Christians . † But even this kind of assessment or criticism does not provide enough ground to challenge the merit of the martyrdom of St. Telemachus. Even with the surfacing of this particular criticism, those who believe in him seem to feel that their faith in the saint did not diminish, especially since the presence of the criticism is not credible or strong enough to push for the review or even the relinquishing of the martyrdom of St. Telemachus. A very difficult problem that needs to be addressed when it comes to establishing the veracity of St. Telemachus as a person, as well as his martyrdom and sainthood is the fact that those who would really want to believe in St. Telemachus finds it odd that there is no cathedral, church or chapel as well as shrines and even statues of St. Telemachus found in popular as well as small religious establishments for the Roman catholic faith. This is odd because Roman Catholicism is one of the religions that is characterized by the penchant of its religious leaders as well as religious followers to create stone, wood, glass or steel statues of Jesus, Mary, the Holy Spirit, as well as the saints and the angels and other holy individuals who are related to the Roman Catholic faith. If this was the practice of this religion, then why one of their Roman civilization-era saints was not featured in any tangible, three dimensional sculpture at least placed in at least one of the lowliest and smallest church in the world? If this is true, then this affects in a negative way the manner by which St. Telemachus is being seen and appreciated as a real martyr and saint in the Roman Catholic domain. â€Å"I wish to believe in the story of St. Telemachus. Yet no church has been dedicated, no altar has been erected † for St. Telemachus. There are critics, historians and analysts who downplay the storyline of St. Telemachus, dismissing it as no more than a work of imagination or fiction and pointing that the socio-political aspects of the time, as well as supporting information (or lack of) makes the idea about St. Telemachus untrue and grossly inconsistent of the closest possible facts that might have really happened. Add to the fact that consistent to the question of fratricide among the Christian brothers belonging to the same religious affiliation, making the story of St. Telemachus close to being fabricated for PR purposes it the fact that St. Telemachus would have surely died in the hands of the same Christian crowd. This scenario seem like it cannot stand well on the moral and values of Christianity that St. Telemachus was though to have been preaching. â€Å"On the other hand, the claim that Christianity redeemed the Romans of their callousness by suppressing the gladiatorial games is a piece of rhetorical d eceit. It is chiefly based upon a pretty story of a monk, Telemachus, throwing himself into the arena at Rome in protest. Those who repeat the story do not add that the monk is supposed to have been killed by the Christian mob, but the story is worthless . † McCabe went to the great extent of challenging the notion of reality of the story of Saint Telemachus and the veracity of the true Telemachus as a person and as a martyr by providing an important point. The name of St. Telemachus, according to McCabe apparently is not found in the list of martyrs that are officially recognized by the church. â€Å"There is no St. Telemachus in Roman lists of martyrs . † CONCLUSION. Whether St. Telemachus and the story of his martyrdom is real or merely fabricated by historians who seek to improve the list Roman Catholic devout and faithful throughout the history by creating a person who will symbolize the stand of the Roman Catholic faith against one of the barbaric past times and forms of leisure in the history of mankind, it cannot be denied that St. Telemachus and his life was an inspiration to some people. It maybe true, it maybe untrue, it may even be a story that is a combination of both, but the important thing is that St. Telemachus was capable of symbolizing the ability of the human individual for sacrifice and act of faith even at the cost of his life. Religious faith, after all, is all about the ability for selfless and unquestioning faith. If St. Telemachus can help them achieve this state, then he will no doubt be an important personality in the Roman Catholic history, unless of course, a very competitive and authoritative work can actu ally challenge St. Telemachus’ life and prove that none of the stories surrounding him were true, real or consistent with facts that should be proven and authenticated. Until that time, the religious can rest their faith on the martyrs and the saints, including St. Telemachus. Even if St. Telemachus was criticized by some, there are those who feel that St. Telemachus should also be taken highly and accorded their necessary fervor, an example of which is how Charles Kingsley referenced St. Telemachus in ‘Hypatia,’ where he wrote: â€Å"Take care, sir, of your words. You revile the blessed martyrs, from St. Stephen to St. Telemachus, when you call such a deed foolish . †

When I Was a Lad

Throughout my life, a number of events have happened that I have never forgotten. None of these things are particularly important, but each of them have made such an impression on me that I have never been able to get them out of my mind. Each of them have remained seared on my memory. The first occurred when I was about five or six years old, every weekend my family and I would go into town to do the weekly shopping. My sisters and I would each be given a pound with which to buy an ice cream. If we had any change left over, we would go to a nearby sweet shop and buy a small pick ‘n' mix. However, one day, we passed by a bookshop which was filled from floor to ceiling with shelves upon shelves of books and magazines. In the window, was the 1992 Beano Annual which I wanted more than anything in the world. I used to buy the Beano comic every week on the way home from school with the change from my dinner money. I pleaded with my parents to buy me it but they told me that I would have to save up my change from my ice cream every week until I had enough money to buy it myself. My elder sister had also seen a book she liked and so decided to save up her money as well. So every weekend I would purchase a small ice cream instead of a large one so as to receive more change. However, my sister still purchased a large ice cream so she received less change than me. After a month or two of saving, my father took my sister and I back to the bookshop. I was quite confident that I would have a bit of money left over and I was correct, after I had purchased the Beano Annual I had a pound to spare. However, when it came to buying my sisters book she was just under a pound short of purchasing it. I thought that it served her right for being so greedy by purchasing a large ice cream every week. However, she started to cry, right in the middle of the shop. People were turning around and staring at us, so my dad took my pound off me and gave it to my sister! I was outraged! I hadn't had small ice creams all those weeks while she had large ones just so I could give my money to her! I stormed out of the shop and ran away as fast as I could, but my father soon caught up with me and gave me a good telling off before dragging me home. Now that I look back, I don't see why I made such a big deal about it. The next thing that stands out in my mind, happened two or three years later when my family and I went on holiday to Majorca. We stayed in an apartment on the top floor of the building that was directly next to the beach. The sun beamed down on us every day that we were there so we were on the beach most days. The beach was in a secluded bay in Porta Pollenca and the water was a lot warmer than at any British beaches. A couple of days into the holiday, my elder sister and I rented a pedalo. A pedalo is a funny looking rowing boat that is sailed by means of pedals and steered by a sort of joystick. We decided to pedal out into the middle of the bay where there was a small rocky island that would only be able to hold about three people at a squeeze. It took about five minute to reach the tiny island and we decided to get out and sit on it. We sat and looked out back at the beach and talked for what must have been about five minutes. My sister looked at her watch and said that we should be going as our parents would be wondering where we were so we turned around to get back into the pedalo only to find that it had gone! We looked around the bay and saw that it had floated quite a long way away, we were stranded! None of us could swim very well so we couldn't swim out to the pedalo. It was then that a large green crab crawled up onto the rock. My sister is afraid of anything with eight limbs, spiders and crabs alike, so she started to scream at the top of her voice and jump up and down, flailing her arms around. Everybody on shore started to point and stare at us. In the end, someone phoned the lifeguard and they came out and took us back to shore, it was so humiliating! It is memories like these that have shaped me into who I am today. I still have the 1992 Beano Annual up in the attic along with photographs of my holiday to Majorca. But in several years time, when these things are covered in layers of dust and are just about ready to fall apart, the memories that they have given me will live on for eternity in my mind, and when I'm old and senile, I can torture any grandchildren I may have by regailing them with tales of ‘when I was a lad'.