ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Born in 1819, John Ruskin has been known for his contribution to architecture as well as his tenure at Oxford. His portrayal of various features through architecture remains unique to date and has contributed to the body of knowledge embedded in different styles of architecture. As a child, he grew up with good knowledge of art as his father was an avid art collector. This led him to explore his artistic talents through various watercolor paintings, during his undergraduate years at Christ Church in Oxford. This is a period when his literary skills also emerged. Ruskin indulged in writing poetry and doing criticisms of various art and literary work during this time. His friend circle consisted of loud and vivacious characters. A notable feature of this time was that his mother was often with him at Oxford during his undergraduate years. (Landow, 2000). A watercolor of Christ Church Oxford by John Ruskin It was in the year 1842 that John Ruskin came out with his first volume titled Modern Painters. This was followed by an important volume known as The Seven Lamps of Architecture. (Landow, 2000) In this volume, one can find the beginnings of “Ruskinisms” which refers to a certain category of connoisseurship as well as criticism. Ruskinisms defined the elements in architecture that were desirable and those that were grotesque. He did so by providing drawings as well as case studies of various buildings that he criticized. For example, his brand of writing and depicting these elements, or Ruskinisms, was apparent in his volume titled Stones of Venice. (Ruskin, 2003). Ruskin’s influence on architecture can be all over the world, especially in Oxford where he spent the majority of his years. The Oxford University Museum of Natural History is replete with his portrayals of gothic architecture. In this regard, the structure has been shown as one that has immense scope to improvise upon gothic architecture. Ruskin has shown, through this structure that the gothic brand of architecture is meant to be one that simply shows a modern form of culture by portraying the destructive nature of the Goths, after whom this form of architecture is named. (Ruskin, 1989) The windows in this structure are tall and lavish with ornamentation that consists of features like savage-like qualities as well as fear-invoking elements. The basic theme of this structure is to demonstrate how gothic elements can be modified used to usher in a modern form of expressing culture through art and architecture. This was one of the most successful portrayals of Ruskinisms, as described in his literary work. Based on the elements of Ruskinisms, Ruskin managed to modify a particular brand of architecture to show its most dramatic and grand details, and yet imbibe freshness into the same. The Oxford University Museum of Natural History The above picture depicts the details that have been rendered to the structure to portray the gothic style of architecture – one that Ruskin was particularly fond of
Introduction U.S. political history is directly connected to social movements occurring at different times. Since politics is the sphere that is supposed to react to emerging circumstances and societal processes, its adaptability defines the changing nature of political parties. Hence, their ideologies reflect acute problems and address them in a way that increases their influence. One of the examples of the effects of social unrest on political institutions in American history is the Civil Rights Movement, and it defined the general courses of the main parties as well as the political attitudes of people. Thus, the consideration of this historical period with regard to the country’s change in politics will reveal to what extent it contributed to the changing nature of political parties in the United States. Political Attitudes of U.S. Citizens Societal shifts can be seen in citizens’ attitudes, and they are primarily reflected in the country’s current politics. Researchers claim that protests tend to lead to a change in people’s perceptions of emerging issues and result in the formation of their political views. According to the study conducted by Mazumder, white citizens of the states that were engaged in the fight for civil rights tend to identify as Democrats and recognize the importance of racial equality for the government’s prosperity. In the case of the Civil Rights Movement, such an outcome explains the increased political influence of the Democratic Party that, in turn, triggered the change in its nature because of the views of people affecting the general direction. In light of the above, it can be concluded that the shift in political perceptions resulting from emerging social unrest such as the fight for civil rights defines the changing nature of parties. In this way, they attempt to address the societal issues based on their ideologies and by adjusting to the needs of specific categories of people. This consideration allows viewing them as continuously changing institutions with a high degree of adaptability. In order to trace the effects of the Civil
Summary Both Judaism and Buddhism are religions with a rich history and an impressive global following. There are distinct differences between certain beliefs, aspects, traditions, and rituals that illustrate the contrast between Judaism and Buddhism. However, specific philosophical dogmas and ideas are similar in both teachings of the two religions. While Judaism and Buddhism have similarities and differences, it is essential to acknowledge the two doctrines’ major historical, social, and religious influence worldwide. Judaism Judaism is a monotheistic religion practiced by religious Jews. According to researchers, Judaism is the oldest religion, established around four millenniums ago (Goodman, 2019). There are multiple forms in which individuals practice it. According to Lebens (2020), some of the most significant branches are orthodoxy, conservatism, and Reform Judaism. Orthodox Jews are more traditional and strict regarding Halakha (Jewish religious laws). This is why they have set rules regarding:   * Clothing (Tzitzit for men, modest dresses and covered hair for women)   * Physical contact (no touching people of the opposite sex outside of marriage)   * Food (separating meat from dairy)   * Shabbat (no activities unless a life-threatening situation requires implication) Reform Judaism is a much more modern take on religion. Ethics and moral aspects are much more prevalent for this particular denomination than ceremonies. Reform Jews believe the sacred texts do not need a literal interpretation. Moreover, since modern science contradicts specific scriptural texts, they should be interpreted as metaphors rather than direct instructions. If reform Judaism is on one side of the spectrum and orthodox Judaism is on the other one, conservative Jews are in the center. Conservatives still honor the preserved traditions and concepts from the past while being more modern in terms of allowing females to become rabbis, driving during the Sabbath, and having both males and females sitting alongside during services. Ancestry Honoring ancestors and traditions regarding mourning the dead is crucial to most religions, including Judaism. For example, most Jewish holidays involve prayer for the deceased parents/relatives. Moreover, after a member of a prior generation passes, the mourners honor them by grieving for 12 months in which no Jewish holidays are celebrated. Another tradition involves reading Kaddish, a prayer cited during the anniversary that correlates with the death of a parent. Salvation Salvation in Judaism is illustrated as redemption in a destructive state of a person’s human nature. Salvation in Judaism does not correlate with the sole belief in God but instead having an individual morality that, by definition, does not allow a person to engage in immoral behavior. Moreover, this term refers to God as the being that saves Israelites from various exiles. This being said, salvation holds a rather individualistic tone, meaning each person is responsible for living a righteous life to receive redemption. Forgiveness The noti
Introduction to Disgrace Disgrace is literally to lose honor, respect, or the destruction of a person’s reputation and leads to shame. This has been well elaborated in the book Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee written during the post Apartheid era in Southern Africa to pronounce the ignominy that existed among various social groups. The book covers the mid-life of David bringing to the fore the events which he has contributed to himself and some he hasn’t that are set in motion and lead to his near-total destruction. In this book, the various kinds of disgrace include relationship disgrace, professional ethics disgrace, workplace disgrace, animal and human disgrace, relationship disgrace, human harassment, robbery, and even divorce disgrace have been highlighted. The main character David Lurie in the book of Disgrace has been highly disgraced in several instances in the various chapters. Different kinds of Disgrace At the start of the book, the first kind of disgrace that is shown is that of divorce. David is a fifty-two-year-old man. He is accomplished academically and in his career. He is also considerably financially stable. In contrast to all these, his personal life is in shambles. He has been divorced twice. He is living a lonely life with no one to share his late years with. This kind of life led him to seek sexual gratification from various prostitutes starting with Soraya. When he could no longer meet her he decided to look for another prostitute with the same name but was not impressed with the sex. This lack of satisfaction made him seek more sex elsewhere. He slept with the married secretary but still, there was no gratification. After that he moved on to Melanie, then there was Bev and he also thought of sleeping with Melanie’s younger sister together with Melanie in the same bed. This kind of sleeping around can be attributed to the fact that David is not in a stable marriage due to his divorces. This is not a fact that could inspire admiration from any family life-loving person. David seemed to be constantly looking for adventure due to his sexual appetite and this led him into trouble at his workplace. This is depicted in disgrace professional ethics disgrace. In every profession, there are professional ethics that have to be upheld. The teaching profession is no exception. As a University professor, David was not supposed to be involved in sexual relationships with his students. He did not see any reason to think of this, but instead went ahead and not only got sexually involved with his student Melanie, but he forced himself on her. In his house after they had dinner, he had sex with her even though she was not willing. He also had sex with her without her will at her cousin’s house. He had basically raped her but he justified himself with the excuse that she did not resist but merely averted her lips and eyes. The action was denounced by Melanie’s father at the inquiry into the affair when he asked the professors who the parents could trust with their children if it was not the professors who he termed as vipers. He told David that could he had been him, he would
Introduction Laocoon and His Sons, also known the Laocoon Group, is a colossal marble statue, now in the Vatican Museums, Rome. The statue is credited by the Roman author Pliny the Elder to three sculptors from the island of Rhodes: Agesander, Athenodoros and Polydorus. It shows the Trojan priest Laocoon and his sons Antiphantes and Thymbraeus being choked by sea serpents. Laocoon, in Greek mythology, is priest of Apollo who advised the Trojans not to touch the timber horse made by the Greeks in the times of the Trojan War. While he and his two sons were sacrificing to Poseidon at the shoreline, two serpents came from the water and squashed them. The Trojans understood this event as a sign of the gods’ condemnation of Laocoon’s prediction, and they brought the horse into the city. Following events justified Laocoon’s judgment, however, since the horse was filled with Greeks, who waited until night and then sacked Troy. A magnificent Greek statue by Agesander, Athenodorus, and Polydorus, uncovered in Rome in 1508 and now in the Vatican, shows Laocoon and his sons in their death resist. This Hellenistic statue had a significant influence on the artists of the Renaissance. Different dates have been proposed for the statue, ranging from about 160 to about 20 BC. Writings found at Lindos in Rhodes date Agesander and Athenedoros to a period after 42 BC, making the years 42 to 20 the most probably date for the Laocoon statue’s construction. The statue, which was probably originally charged for the home of a wealthy Roman, was unearthed in 1506 near the site of the Golden House of the Emperor Nero (who reigned from 54 to 68 AD), and it is likely that the statue was owned to Nero himself. It was acquired by Pope Julius II, an excited classicist, soon after its detection and was located in the Belvedere Garden at the Vatican, now part of the Vatican Museums. The ancient Laocoon applied a strong aesthetic power on the artists of the High Renaissance. The rediscovery of the sculpture – which portrays a Trojan priest punished by the gods for warning his fellow countrymen about the Greek trick of the Trojan horse – hastened the rediscovery of the traditional aesthetic. The Laocoon became a standard against which Renaissance art was regarded, thereby instituting a canon of beauty that influenced the making of art for the next 400 years. Impact on art The discovery of the Laocoon made a great consciousness on Italian sculptors and considerably influenced the course of Italian Renaissance art. Michelangelo is known to have been chiefly influenced by the massive scale of the work and its sensuous Hellenistic aesthetic, predominantly its image of the male figures. The influence of the Laocoon is confirmed in many of Michelangelo’s later works, for instance the Rebellious
Today, more than ever before, companies must continually develop strategic options to remain ahead of their competitors in the ever shrinking marketplace. Apple is no exception. Of great concern is the fact that Apple plays in the same league with other big boys such as IBM, Microsoft, HP, and Dell. As such, its short-term and long-term survival in a market that is drifting towards saturation will principally depend on aggressive market research to inform its strategic options (Marcus 19). The year 2010 will mark a motivating stage of transition for Apple if it embarks on exploiting its strategic options to the fullest potential since the negative effects of the current global economic recession are slowing fading away. Apple’s short-term and long-term strategic options must entail the development and harmonization of all innovative action-oriented responses to the many challenges that the company continues to face, either internally or externally (MDF 1). A perfect starting point for Apple would be to undertake a comprehensive institutional assessment that keeps in focus the company’s core objectives and aspirations in order to identify and screen all available strategic options. The key drivers of any organization should always inform the direction of its strategic options, and for Apple, innovative technology seems to be at the core of its operations (Marcus 23). Apple’s peripherals and entertainment market has a lot of potential for growth, especially with the realization that gadgets such as the iPod and the iPhone appeals to the young working class. This affluent market segment is known to spend highly on products that make their lives more interesting and manageable. This, certainly, is a window of opportunity for Apple. Another strategic option available
Introduction The poem is about lonely man and woman who are searching for lovers. These man and woman in search of a companion prefer a lover specifically from Northern London. Any person who is interested in them can reach them through an address the man has given with a photograph. The relationships may turn into marriage depending on how the two will be compatible as time moves on. This paper responds to the poem basing on the author’s word choice, tone, and point of view. For instance, in terms of word choice, the poem is a well-packed chef-d’oeuvre with each of its words strategically fixed to address an idea. Word choice This is a well-written and captivating poem, which is about, a Libran a young man in need of a lovely young beautiful woman who will come into his life and bring to an end his loneliness. The poet brings out the idea of love candidly and through his simple expressions and use of questions geared at finding answers in his quest to find a lover who will best matches his requirements and fill his emptiness. For instance, the phrase “can someone make my simple wish come true?”, as used by the poet emphasizes the wish of the young man to find a girl who will come into his life and provide him with company to empty the hollowness and emptiness he is experiencing. The poet is selective in the choice of his words. For instance, he uses simple words that convey a message in a straight and direct way. The words are also well structured in that they facilitate understanding of what the poem is. It therefore fosters easy understanding because there is no use of abstract words, which could have hindered clear conceptualization of the intended message in the poem. For instance, the words like “Do you live in North London? Is it you…” depict a simple word choice simply meaning that the man is in need of a woman who preferable is living in North London. As the poem unfolds, the persona is hopeless. Tone The poet presents the tone of the poem as desperate as witnessed in the way the he uses his words. For instance, the use of the phrase, “can someone make my simple wish come true” implies pessimism. The young man is unhappy of his present lonely life and seems as if he has exhausted all means of getting rid of the singleness unsuccessfully. In addition, the use of the word ‘can’ illustrates the young man’s feeling of the impossibility of getting a woman and hence the reason for despair and the tone of the poem. It shows that the young man will fall for any opportunity that comes his way because he want to do away with his loneliness. Point of view The poet presents the poem from a couple’s point of view showing the level of loneliness that it encounters before marriage as well as the struggle in the search for each other. The poet through this view presents his message clearly and successfully managing to enhance communication by using words that are understandable hence making the process of understanding easier. The poem is also well st
Introduction Over time, the idea of political economy has gained multiple distinct meanings. In this case, the political economy, which emanated from moral philosophy, is viewed as the means to understand production and trade as they relate to laws and regulations, governments, practice, as well as sharing of national resources, income, and wealth. In the realm of political economy, a question may be raised concerning certain economic policies adopted by a government. For instance, what is the fuel that drives capitalism? This question can be effectively answered using capitalism as a model of political economy. This paper compares and contrasts Adam Smith’s and Karl Marx’s perspectives on capitalism. Specifically, the paper examines some of the key concepts (e.g. division of labor, mode of production, creative destruction, and gender oppression) and the underlying assumptions of each theorist concerning factors that drive capitalism in the 21 st century. In this regard, the paper strives to show that these two theorists’ works have some inherent strengths and weaknesses. While these perspectives present diverse viewpoints, they continue to provide interesting insights for economists and scholars to understand market systems of political economy. Capitalism Capitalism, from an economic system perspective, is an economic and a political system in which private owners, rather than the state, control means of production and operations of profits. Capital accumulation, private property, wage labor, competitive markets, voluntary trade, and pricing are some of the major features of capitalism where owners who control factors of production solely undertake decision-making and capital investment. However, external factors, such as competition and location, tend to influence investors’ decisions. The market economy is responsible for determining supply and demand in the common market. That is, no central planning is employed to run the economy. In its purest form, capitalism is recognized as laissez-faire capitalism. In this case, private individuals act freely to determine investments, production, selling, and
Introduction The case study is about the launch of Mamma mia as performance art by Judy Craymer. Judy joined ABBA to work on a musical performance based on Mamma mia, a song produced by ABBA in 1975. Judy had worked previously with Chess. However, Chess had collapsed as a result of poor Broadway reviews. The case study describes the success of Mamma mia as a musical performance. This paper addresses four questions from the case study. Can the performing arts be considered an industry? The changes currently taking place in performing art qualifies it as an industry. According to the United States’ Bureau of Economic Census, performing art is an enriched industry that improves the quality of life. Besides entertainment, performing art contributes to the economic growth of a place by attracting people to spend money on local products and services. Performing art also promotes creative thinking in local people where it thrives (Stone, 2001). Performing art is one of the major industries that contribute to the economic basket of the United States. In 2001, an estimate of $ 44 million was spent in musical performance in the United States (Stone, 2001). Besides this contribution, the performing art industry creates full and part-time jobs for many people around the world. It is estimated that performing arts created 9000 full and part-time jobs in the United States in 2000 (Stone, 2001). The above contributions underscore that performing art is an industry. From an entrepreneurship perspective, highlight the issues that must be considered when dealing with creations in the performing arts that have cultural or classical roots. The major entrepreneurial issues in performing art are related to business ethics and its effects on society. A piece of work in performing art with classical roots and culture has issues with originality and intellectual property rights. From an entrepreneurial perspective, a musical producer should evaluate different items before settling on the viable ones. Viable ideas should then progress through concept, product development, test marketing, and commercialization stages (Hisrich et al., 2007). According to Hisrich, et al. (2007), a shrewd entrepreneur ought to assess ideas of performing art keenly to ensure a successful launch. The first issue that can be encountered by an entrepreneur in performing art regards the originality of the idea. The credit of performing art is shared between the entrepreneur and the original producer. In the case study, Craymer wondered why people were praising her for the success of Mamma mia, yet she was not the author of the original work. The original work was done by ABBA. She knows that credit for the success of the work should go to the original producer. Therefore, the issue of