When should we discard explanations that are intuitively...

Intuition is like a coin. It has two sides and about a fifty-fifty chance of being right or being wrong. To fully understand intuition though, we must define it, trace its history, and grasp the purpose of its design. Intuition is defined by dictionary.com as â€Å"an immediate cognition of an object not inferred or determined by a previous cognition of the same object.† What does this mean though? To fully understand what it means, let us relate this to personal experience. Have one ever had a moment where you thought something was wrong, a gut feeling, without really having solid evidence? This feeling is called intuition. It is a moment in which a person â€Å"sees† more into a situation, without prior knowledge to the situation. However,†¦show more content†¦In this case, we realize that sometimes clear and solid evidence has to be used to prove that something is right, even if everyone believes the opposite. But yet, another question/case arises from clash between the idea of reasoning or relying solely for knowing. Take, for example religion. Natural scientists believe that there is clearly no physical evidence of a God, or that Jesus even existed; therefore a knowledge issue is raised was how is religion deemed as true? They also believe that the Bible is not solid evidence and that even the words in the Bible are altered to what really happened. Yet, is there any way to falsify that there is not a God. It is true that human beings believe in a higher authority. In life, there will always be someone to whom you must answer, for ex. at a job. Imagine a receptionist; he has a boss, who may have a boss, who also may have a boss. This concept transcends into something spiritual in which some people believe that there is someone greater than all human beings, greater than anything on this planet and that thing is God. In the case of religion, because of the fact that it has not been falsi fied by physical evidence, there is no reason to discard the intuitively appealing explanation. One great example for sense perception is the way in which people view themselves. One must note however, that there is a difference in the ways people in different culture reflect upon themselves. That is why I amShow MoreRelatedWhen Should We Discard Explanations That Are Intuitively Appealing?1316 Words   |  6 PagesWhen Should we Discard Explanations that are Intuitively Appealing? Intuition, knowing or considering something to be likely from an instinctive feeling and not from conscious reasoning, is a difficult concept to deal with. Intuition can be often be true, but also lead us down a path of poor judgement. The difficulty with intuition is knowing when to accept it or when to reject it. Complicating this dilemma is dealing with explanations that are intuitively appealing. The more we want an explainationRead MoreQuestions On The Free Will2144 Words   |  9 Pagesin determining which of the three theses to discard. The first thesis is the Free Will Thesis, which simply states that agents sometimes act freely. This thesis seems to be reasonable for at least two reasons. The first reason is that, more often than not, we feel as though we are free; that is we feel as though we make a choice based on what we want, whether it be after careful consideration or merely on a whim. The very idea that we feel as though we make choices freely seems to lend a certainRead MoreStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words   |  1573 Pagesappropriate page within text. Copyright  © 2013, 2011, 2009, 2007, 2005 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Prentice Hall. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. This publication is protected by Copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by any m eans, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. To obtain permission(s) to use materialRead MoreMonte Carlo Simulation218872 Words   |  876 Pages vi this book is the concept of a change of measure. This idea is so central both to derivatives pricing and to Monte Carlo methods that there is simply no avoiding it. The prerequisites to understanding the statement of the Girsanov theorem should suï ¬Æ'ce for reading this book. Whereas the language of mathematical ï ¬ nance is essential to our topic, its technical subtleties are less so for purposes of computational work. My use of mathematical tools is often informal: I may assume that a local

Similarities Between Pop Culture And Transcendentalism

Similarity Between Transcendentalism and Modern Pop Culture Even though there is about one hundred and eighty years apart from the year transcendentalism started to the year two thousand seventeen, we can still see many similarities, and some notable differences between these two era. Transcendentalism movement is a philosophical movement that happen in between 1820s to 1830s in the United States. The movement started with Ralph Waldo Emerson, a famous philosopher and writer. The main tenets of the philosophy are individualism, connect with nature, and religion. We can see a lot of their ideas still apply in today’s modern society, even after all these years. The one of most important tenet from transcendentalism is to have personal†¦show more content†¦He states that everyone in the universe is composed of nature and soul, we are all the children of nature. In the TV series, Avatar : The Last Airbender, the character, Huu, had said a quote correspond to the idea of nature in transcendentalism. He said, â€Å"You think youre any different from me? Or your friends? Or this tree? If you listen hard enough, you can hear every living thing breathing together. You can feel everything growing. Were all living together, even if most folks dont act like it. We all have the same roots and we are all branches of the same tree† (Volpe). Same as the passage from Nature, the quote from Huu has a very similar idea that everyone are composed of nature. They both suggest that everyone is composed of nature, and we as human should realize that. They all concluded we do not really have any difference, since we are all part of nature. Religion is always a big part of people’s life, but not for the transcendentalist. Most of them believe in nature than God. From the essay written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance, there are some paragraphs he talked about the religion and the church. â€Å"I remember an answer which when quite young I was prompted to make a valued adviser who was wont to importune me with the dear old

Political Undertones of Eurovision Essay Example For Students

Political Undertones of Eurovision Essay HSTY 2605 Essay Is the European Song Contest only an annual cultural event or does it have political undertones? The European Song Contest (ESC) is far more than simply a cultural event. It is an event, which not only portrays the political views of the time, but also effects how political events will be shaped in the future. The organisers of the ESC have attempted to maintain the contest as being apolitical however politically significant events constantly occur. Through this essay I will use a number of examples of different countries and acts throughout the history of the contest that have portrayed political sentiments of the time, and ways in which the ESC has influenced politics through its results. The ESC is a competition held annually between all active members of the European Broadcasting Union. It is the largest festival for popular music in the world, with up to six hundred million people watching internationally every year. Each country participating in the contest votes for their favourite act, excluding themselves, with twelve points going to the most popular, ten to the second, and so forth. The contest has been running for over fifty-five years, this year, and over this time there have been various instances where the contest has turned from being a cultural event, into an arena to showcase a political message. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) claims that the ESC is not a political stage and that any act that is too politicised shall not be included in the competition. This occurred in 2009 when the EBU informed Georgia that they would have to alter their entry which was entitled ‘We Don’t Want to Put In. ’ Which was an obvious stab at Russia, which had been attempting to control Georgia. Georgia altered their song but the message was still clear. The EBU does attempt to keep the ESC apolitical. Voting rights in the ESC are handled by the broadcasting organisations of each country, not by the government as a way to ‘prevent the kind of political interference by individual countries. The ESC was initially aimed to be a ‘contest of peace’ and the organisers were of the view that they ‘had to be above politics’. Yet there are extremely obvious political messages portrayed in Eurovision. In 1969 when the contest was being held in Spain, Austria refused to take part as a protest against the dictator Franco. In 1975 Greece withdrew from the contest as it was going to be Turkey’s first year in the competition and the following year Greece’s entry to the competition was a song, which protested Turkish occupation of Cyprus. Eurovision is legendary as an arena for settling diplomatic scores, venting ethnic grievance, baiting national rivals and undermining governments. ’ For all the EBU attempts to keep the ESC from becoming politicised, it has undoubtedly become a forum for political messages to be stated. It is claimed that the ESC is becoming more and more politicised with countries voting based not on the merits on the song, but on loyalty or to show support for a certain country. The analysing of voting patterns shows that certain countries tend to give their points to the same group of countries, generally because of their geopolitical relation. However it is claimed that this is not because of politicised bias, but instead because these countries are from similar area’s and share similar cultures and therefore enjoy each other’s taste in music. However throughout the history of the contest, particularly in recent years, there has been far more evidence which proves that there is indeed an agenda other than song merits behind who is voted for in the ESC. Another reason the ESC is claimed to be becoming politicised is the high number of citizens of European countries living outside of where they were born and claim to come from. The rules of the ESC state that one cannot vote for their own country, however this does not stop people from voting for their country if they are not living there. As a result there are high numbers of ex-patriots voting for their own country. Since the collapse of the USSR and the eastern bloc of communist countries, there have been a surge in the number of countries that participate in the ESC. These countries have signalled the arrival of a new cultural and political stage for Europe as in the past ten years, these Eastern European countries have dominated the ESC. In the past ten years, seven of the winners have been from previously communist countries. One of these countries, and their win is particularly significant is the Ukraine. The Ukraine won the ESC in 2004. As the winners in 2004, the Ukraine would host the contest in 2005 in Kiev. However just months before the competition was due to be held the Orange Revolution started. Under the revolution a large proportion of the public rejected the chosen political candidate claiming that the election had not been fair. There were thousands of supports of the western-leaning candidate, which culminated in hundreds of thousands camping at Independence Square in Kiev. A revote was ordered and the pro-western candidate was announced the winner. The Orange Revolution portrayed the Ukraine’s struggle to shift away from Russia and to a more western style governance. The ESC was held in Kiev just months after the revolution, which was an opportunity the Ukraine, used in order to portray their struggle. The Ukraine act for 2005 referred to the rigged election but was rejected for being ‘too political’. Eurovision marked the end of the revolution and was a very politicised event. A key example in the political nature of the ESC is the participation, failure and success of Yugoslavia during the Cold War period. Yugoslavia began taking part in the contest from 1961. In the first twenty years of its participation, Yugoslavia had limited success. It was trying to present to Western Europe its socialist views in a form which were popular to Eastern European audiences, but were relatively unpopular with Western audiences. Yugoslavia questioned whether it should change the form of how it presented itself to appeal to Western European audiences. Vuletic argues that this questioning reflected Yugoslavia at the time and its debate as to what form Yugoslavian culture and politics should take in this period. It is claimed that because Yugoslavia was the only Eastern European bloc country involved in the ESC its chances were hampered, as it could not rely on the support from is neighbours, which has become so significant in the ESC. Langston Hughes' Salvation EssayCountries, as a rule, do not vote based on musical preference, rather due to geopolitical and cultural similarities. Reference List Bjornberg, Alf, Return to ethnicity: The cultural significance of musical change in the Eurovision Song Contest, in Raykoff, Ivan Tobin, Robert Deam (ed), A Song for Europe: Popular Music and Politics in the Eurovision Song Contest. (Hampshire; Burlington; Ashgate; 2007) Bohlman, Philip, World Music: A very Short Introductiion (New York, Oxford University Press, 2002) Gol, Ayla, Turkeys Eurovision, (National Europe Centre Paper no 107. http://dspace. anu. edu. au/bitstream/1885/41667/2/Eurovision. pdf (viewed on April 29 2010) Mueller, Andrew, The Politics of Pop, The Guardian (26 March 2005) O’Connor, John Kennedy, The Eurovision Song Contest 50 years: The official history (Sydney, NSW, ABC Books, 2005). Pajala, Mari, Finland, zero points: Nationality, failure, and shame in the Finnish media, in Raykoff, Ivan T obin, Robert Deam (ed), A Song for Europe: Popular Music and Politics in the Eurovision Song Contest. Hampshire; Burlington; Ashgate; 2007) pp 71 Raykoff, Ivan (2002), Camping on the border of Europe, in Raykoff, Ivan Tobin, Robert Deam (ed), A Song for Europe: Popular Music and Politics in the Eurovision Song Contest. (Hampshire; Burlington; Ashgate; 2007) Rianovosti, Eurovision organizers reject Georgia’s ‘Put In’ lyrics, http://en. rian. ru/world/20090310/120503026. html (viewed on 29 April 2010) Solomon, Thomas, Articulating the historical moment: Turkey, Europe and Eurovision 2003, in Raykoff, Ivan Tobin, Robert Deam (ed), A Song for Europe: Popular Music and Politics in he Eurovision Song Contest. (Hampshire; Burlington; Ashgate; 2007) pp 135 Vuletic, Dean, The Socialist Star: Yugoslavia, Cold War politics and the Eurovision Song Contest, in Raykoff, Ivan Tobin, Robert Deam (ed), A Song for Europe: Popular Music and Politics in the Eurovision Song Contes t. (Hampshire; Burlington; Ashgate; 2007) pp 83 . O’Connor, John Kennedy, The Eurovision Song Contest 50 years: The official history (Sydney, NSW, ABC Books, 2005). Pp 4 . O’Conner, The Eurovision Song Contest 50 years pp 5 . Raykoff, Ivan (2002), Camping on the border of Europe, in Raykoff, Ivan Tobin, Robert Deam (ed), A Song for Europe: Popular Music and Politics in the Eurovision Song Contest. (Hampshire; Burlington; Ashgate; 2007) . Rianovosti, Eurovision organizers reject Georgia’s ‘Put In’ lyrics, http://en. rian. ru/world/20090310/120503026. html (viewed on 29 April 2010) . Rianovosti, Eurovision organizers reject Georgia’s ‘Put In’ lyrics, http://en. rian. ru/world/20090310/120503026. html (viewed on 29 April 2010) . Raykoff, (2002), Camping on the border of Europe, pp 3 . Bohlman, Philip, World Music: A very Short Introductiion (New York, Oxford University Press, 2002) . Svante Stockselius in Raykoff (2002), Camping on the border of Europe, pp 3 . Raykoff (2002), Camping on the border of Europe, pp 3 . Raykoff (2002), Camping on the border of Europe, pp 3 . Mueller, Andrew, The Politics of Pop, The Guardian (26 March 2005) . Bjornberg, Alf, Return to ethnicity: The cultural significance of musical change in the Eurovision Song Contest, in Raykoff, Ivan Tobin, Robert Deam (ed), A Song for Europe: Popular Music and Politics in the Eurovision Song Contest. Hampshire; Burlington; Ashgate; 2007) pp 13 . Bjornberg, Return to ethnicity, pp 20 . Bjornberg, Return to ethnicity, pp 21 . Raykoff (2002), Camping on the border of Europe, pp 11 . Raykoff (2002), Camping on the border of Europe, pp 11 . Raykoff (2002), Camping on the border of Europe, pp 4 . Raykoff (2002), Camping on the border of Europe, pp 4 . Eurovision TV, History of Eurovision, http://www. eu rovision. tv/page/history (accessed on 30 April 2010) . Raykoff (2002), Camping on the border of Europe, pp 4 . Raykoff (2002), Camping on the border of Europe, pp 4 . Raykoff (2002), Camping on the border of Europe, pp 5 . Raykoff (2002), Camping on the border of Europe, pp 4 . Raykoff (2002), Camping on the border of Europe, pp 5 . Raykoff (2002), Camping on the border of Europe, pp 5 . Raykoff (2002), Camping on the border of Europe, pp 5 . Vuletic, Dean, The Socialist Star: Yugoslavia, Cold War politics and the Eurovision Song Contest, in Raykoff, Ivan Tobin, Robert Deam (ed), A Song for Europe: Popular Music and Politics in the Eurovision Song Contest. Hampshire; Burlington; Ashgate; 2007) pp 83 . Vuletic (2003), The Socialist Star, pp 88 . Vuletic (2003), The Socialist Star, pp 88 . Vuletic (2003), The Socialist Star, pp 88 . Vuletic (2003), The Socialist Star, pp 88 . Vuletic (2003), The Socialist Star, pp 88 . Vuletic (2003), The Socialist Star, pp 89 . Vuletic (2003), The Socialist Star, pp 95 . Vuletic (2003), The Socialist Star, pp 94 . Vuletic (2003), The Socialist Star, pp 96 . S vilanovic, cited in Vuletic (2003), The Socialist Star, pp 97 . Solomon, Thomas, Articulating the historical moment: Turkey, Europe and Eurovision 2003, in Raykoff, Ivan Tobin, Robert Deam (ed), A Song for Europe: Popular Music and Politics in the Eurovision Song Contest. (Hampshire; Burlington; Ashgate; 2007) pp 135 . Solomon, Thomas, Articulating the historical moment pp 143 . Solomon, Thomas, Articulating the historical moment pp 140 . Solomon, Thomas, Articulating the historical moment pp 140 . Solomon, Thomas, Articulating the historical moment pp 138 . Solomon, Thomas, Articulating the historical moment pp 138 . Solomon, Thomas, Articulating the historical moment pp 140 . Solomon, Thomas, Articulating the historical moment pp 140 . Solomon, Thomas, Articulating the historical moment pp 138 . Solomon, Thomas, Articulating the historical moment pp 140 . Solomon, Thomas, Articulating the historical moment pp 140 . Solomon, Thomas, Articulating the historical moment pp 140 . Solomon, Thomas, Articulating the historical moment pp 142 . Gol, Ayla, Turkeys Eurovision, (National Europe Centre Paper no 107. ) http://dspace. anu. edu. au/bitstream/1885/41667/2/Eurovision. pdf (viewed on April 29 2010) . Gold, Turkeys Eurovision, http://dspace. anu. edu. au/bitstream/1885/41667/2/Eurovision. pdf (viewed on April 29 2010) . Gold, Turkeys Eurovision, http://dspace. anu. edu. au/bitstream/1885/41667/2/Eurovision. pdf (viewed on April 29 2010) . Solomon, Thomas, Articulating the historical moment pp 141 . Solomon, Thomas, Articulating the historical moment pp 142 . Pajala, Mari, Finland, zero points: Nationality, failure, and shame in the Finnish media, in Raykoff, Ivan Tobin, Robert Deam (ed), A Song for Europe: Popular Music and Politics in the Eurovision Song Contest. (Hampshire; Burlington; Ashgate; 2007) pp 71 . Pajala, Finland, zero points, pp 72 . Pajala, Finland, zero points, pp 72 . Vuletic (2003), The Socialist Star, pp 86 . Pajala, Finland, zero points, pp 76 . Pajala, Finland, zero points, pp 76 . Pajala, Finland, zero points, pp 79 . Pajala, Finland, zero points, pp 80 . Pajala, Finland, zero points, pp 82

Oil Spills Essays (873 words) - Ocean Pollution, Hazards, Oil Spill

Oil Spills Oil is a product used by everyone, but sometimes oil is a problem. An oil spill is a leakage from an oceangoing tanker, pipelines, or other oil sources. Oil spills occur very frequently, and cause enormous ecological harm. About eight million barrels of oil are spilled each year. Tankers usually carry about five-hundred million barrels of oil. Many oil spills, large in land or ocean coverage, have had major impacts on the earth and it's inhabitants. Many animals are die and some are injured in some way. Many plants and animals are endangered, or are now extinct. The largest oil spill to occur was when the Exxon Valdez went aground and covered 4,800 square miles in Prince William Sound, Alaska. This spill killed 35,000 sea birds, 10,000 otters, and at least nine whales. The spill left pools of oil up to three feet on some beaches. In December of 1989, an Iranian tanker leaked 70,000 tons, about 19 million gallons of oil off of the coast of Morocco. In January 1990 a broken Exxon pipeline leaked 567,000 gallons into the New York harbor. In June of 1990, another 260,000 gallons were spilled in New York Harbor. A tanker carrying 38 million gallons of oil caught on fire, and leaked oil into the Gulf of Mexico. This was a very serious threat to local shrimp nurseries and wildlife refuges. In February of 1990, 300,000 gallons leaked from a damaged tanker off Southern California, fouling miles of shoreline. In the Niger River delta, in Nigeria, Shell pipelines have repeatedly burst. In 1970 oil spilled across 8 square km, which remained contaminated for over 20 years. According to the U.S. Coast guard, the incident rate post is only 0.5 spills per year. In fact, there have been no large spills over 5,000 barrels from tankers in the US since 1991. The US Coast Guard data shows that the amount of oil spilled by tankers has decreased dramatically. Worldwide pollution from tanker spills is a relatively minor source of marine pollution. It only represents a small fraction of the oil released to the environment, when it is being compared to industrial waste, non-tanker shipping, and oil seepage from natural resources. Ships are but one part of an overall safety system that includes charting, aids to navigation, the condition of channels, and the resources that the Coast guard can bring to ensure standards are being met. The United States suffers from measurable neglect in portions of it's marine infrastructure. The Refuse Act, which was first enacted in 1899, makes it a crime to allow refuse to enter navigable waters. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act, makes it a crime to kill certain birds. These laws were not intended to apply to an oil spill, but prosecutors use them to intimidate and punish individuals without an obvious connection to a spill. The single most positive improvement that Congress can make to the legal regime, is to amend the Refuse Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, to make them inapplicable to oil spills covered in the Clean Water Act. Oil Spill Wildlife Management (OSWM), in business since 1989, is a wildlife consulting firm. OSWM offers it's clients an alternative to the wildlife dilemma. Donjon Environmental Marine Services is a synergistic organization created to provide the maritime industry with responsive, and cost-effective answers to meet the requirements of The Oil Pollution Act of 1990. Garner Environmental Services provides a 24 hour emergency response for any type of pollution incidents. Garner Environmental Services specializes in the management of disposal of waste streams, and maintains a fleet if equipment and drivers to transport these waste streams from industries on the Gulf Coast. Clean Venture Inc. is a leading contractor in handling waste, and hazardous oil materials. Since, it's establishment, Clean Venture Inc., has responded to more than five thousand oil and hazardous material spills and has performed over ten thousand projects, ranging in size from 1,000 to 3,000,000 dollars. How can we prevent oil spills? The US oil and natural gas industry, supplies more than 65 percent of America's energy. ?By nearly every measure, the volume of spills in US waters has been on a steady downward trend since 1973,? states Captain James D. Spitzer, the chief of the US Coast Guard's Office of Investigations. Most spills that occur are usually small, based on data from the US Coast Guard. In 1997, more than three-fourths of the spills in US waters were under ten gallons of