ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Photography is one of the youngest but at the same time most fascinating forms of art ever invented by the human mind. In the development of the art of photography numerous technical, biological and chemical inventions participated equally with the inventions of photo cameras, lenses, optical devices, and many other phenomena. Traditionally, the birth of photography is considered to have happened in the early 19 th century when first photographers used polished plates made of pewter and covered with small amounts of petroleum, some silver-based elements or chalk compounds that interacted either with the air or the sun and produced the projections of the image photographed on the intended plate or paper (Rosenblum, 2008). However, the development of photography was rather fast and already by the end of the 19 th century brilliant masterpieces appeared, which were followed by not less perfect pieces of work by 20 th century artists. The focus of this paper is the comparison of works of two famous American photographers who dedicated their lives to picturing the Yosemite National Park –Carleton E. Watkins and Ansel Adams. Carleton E. Watkins Background Carleton Emmons Watkins (1892 – 1916) was the first widely known photographer who earned his living by working commercially and fulfilling the orders of various companies that demanded advertising and wanted to use photography as a means of it. His whole life was spent between the two places in California – San Francisco where he lived and worked and Yosemite National Park where the majority of masterpieces by Watkins were created. His work in the National Park took him twenty years of his life and resulted in the brilliant collections of photos that were published in such books and monographs as “The Yosemite Book” (1869), “Photographs of American Scenery” and some others. The beauty of nature that inspired the photographer for his works served as the reminder for the society that National Parks should be defended and taken care of. This fact led to the appearance of the so called Conservation Movement that fought for protection of national nature resources of the United States (Longmire, 1997).
Popular culture is the sum of a society’s actions, beliefs, traditions, and other such similar engagements that define a given society and its people. Although sometimes is described as an expression of the people occupying the lower classes of a society, as opposed to those occupying the higher classes, popular culture effectively encompasses a society’s wholesome activities and expressions. Since the turn of the 21st century, the use of cell phones has increased tremendously all over the world, and more specifically in the United States. Unfortunately, the use of the cell phone while driving has also increased, posing a danger both for the driver and other road users. Currently, the use of cell phones for reading or writing text messages while driving causes a significant number of road accidents in the US, leaving victims emotionally traumatised, maimed and even dead. Insurance claims arising, and healthcare needs for these victims puts unnecessary and avoidable strain on the economy. Currently, nearly half of the states in the US have passed laws, or are in the process of passing laws declaring the act of texting while driving illegal, with fines and jail terms of various degrees for the offenders. The theory of progressive evolution states that popular culture is an expression of inherent and intrinsic activities of a society. Accordingly, the act of cell phone texting while driving – however dangerous – would be an expression of an aspect of the American lifestyle, a part of its intrinsic identity. Indeed, many of the culprits of this dangerous practice are teens and the youth, ordinarily the most ardent expressers of popular culture in a society. Adults, too, use their cell phones while driving, but to a comparatively lesser degree. Another theory of popular culture that expresses the act of texting while driving is the theory of the culture industry, where consumer needs for gadgets such as the cell phone is the principal contributing factor of the high presence of cell phone amongst Americans, with its use in texting while driving being a logical consequence. The cell phone, according to this theory, is portrayed as a must have communication tool, leading many Americans to acquire it. Heroes in American society are highly regarded and respected. In the American society, heroes belong to both the past and present times, and are given near mythical attributes (Browne, 2005, p.35). American heroes include former presidents such as Washington and Lincoln, or adventurists such as Charles Lindbergh. Celebrities are more numerous and easily identifiable in today’s celebrity-obsessed American popular culture. Oprah Winfrey is one such celebrity, and her fame and philanthropic deeds make her a veritable American heroin. Oprah has been the face of the campaign to stop the practice of texting while driving. Because cele
The issue of women’s rights was a serious matter at the beginning of the 20th century. Women around the world were deprived of property rights and proper education. Moreover, at that time, women were not legally protected in divorce and child custody cases. All these problems stimulated the Suffrage Movement, which began in Britain. Their initial demand was giving women voting rights, as the lack of them was considered the most prominent problem. Suffragists in Britain resisted the traditional views of women’s roles in family and society and successfully encountered many challenges during their battle for rights to vote and economic independence. The Industrial Revolution of the 19th century changed the way the economy worked, and more women started to work in factories, while still taking care of the household. Over the years, they realized the need to unite in order to fight for their rights and created several Suffragette organizations. One of the most famous unions was the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), which was formed by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters, Christabel and Sylvia (Remy-Hébert 5). The main agenda of WSPU was to accelerate the process of women’s emancipation and hold the government accountable for the delays. Their campaign, however, included militant tactics, such as demonstrations, property destruction, which did not harm civilians and was aimed mostly for publicity. However, the British government and police were not pleased with these actions; thus, they began to imprison suffragettes. Nevertheless, even when arrested, suffragettes organized hunger strikes to protest the imprisonment and to draw public attention. The Women’s Suffrage Movement in Britain triumphed when the Equal Franchise Act of 1928 was passed. This Act gave all women aged over 21 years the right to vote. This was a major event in Britain that set an example to women in other countries. Despite all the challenges and acts of violence that suffragettes had to experience, in the end, women obtained the right to participate in politics, for the first time in British history. Work Cited Remy-Hébert, Brigitte. “ The first women’s movement. ” Suffragist struggles in the 19th and early 20th centuries . 2016. Web.
Reinaldo Arenas is a famous Cuban writer that lived in a period of great political changes. His book Before Night Fall is an autobiographical narration about all the hardships that Arenas had to overcome, including his imprisonment and Castro’s revolution regime. The book also has its screen version directed by Schnabel in 2001. However, the autobiographical narration emphasizes the details of Arenas relations and his homosexual orientation whereas the movie is more focused on the representation of the political and cultural situation in the United States and Cuba and how those events affected Arenas’ life. At the age of six, Reinaldo discovered that he was a homosexual so that in his narration he reflected on how his childhood was spent. Living in poverty, he was always surrounded by women so that female excessive attention played his role. The feminine environment was usual for him and he got quickly used to them. In his book, Arenas makes the flashbacks to Saint John’s Day where on the riverbank he watched naked men bathe. From that moment, he discovered his sexual revelation. “To see all those naked bodies, all those exposed genitals, was a revelation to me: I realized, without a doubt, that I liked men” (Arenas 8). As a significant point in Arena’s life, Schnabel recreated this scene in the movie; the six years old boy hiding behind the tree and staring longingly at the naked men bathing, splashing, and engaging in horseplay. Comparing the book description of this moment and its screen adaptation, it should be stressed that Arenas presents the reader with more detailed passages related to his relationships and experience in childhood whereas the movie gives only some brief images of these events. Instead, the director is more concerned with Arena’s description as a future writer. In the memoir, Arenas explores the later years of his childhood thus reflecting on the relationships that facilitated his sexual explorations. One of the first experiences Arenas chooses to mention to the reader is not one with another, but one with animals, “First there were the hens, then the goats and the sows, and after I had grown up more, the mare” (Arenas 10). When Arenas was engaged in the intercourse of several animals, his first experience of mutual penetration to be with his cousin Orlando, when he was eight and Orlando was twelve. While playing together around a plum tree, Orlando decided to drop his pants, and expose himself to Arenas. Both started to play a game of chase. However, when Orlando caught up with Reinaldo,
In society, governmental entities are usually given the mandate to enact laws that govern the people and their activities, make policies and also allocate the resources at all levels. The best definition of public policy therefore is a system that is made up of regulations, laws, funding priorities and course of action regarding an issue that is being disseminated by a certain arm of the government or at times, a representative of the government. Public policy is usually shaped by people or groups through mobilizing interest groups, advocating or even educating the masses. The shaping of this policy in developed countries especially those in the west differs significantly from other governments. The process however always involves interest groups trying to outdo each other by convincing the policy makers to side them. Law is very significant in public policy. Law involves certain legislation as well as the constitutional or even the international law. Law may for example influence how violence victims are handled and their rights. Legislation is needed to identify areas for research funding it may even be used to determine the amounts. This usually results in public policy debates over the proposed legislation as well as the funding (Fox 33). On numerous occasions, public policy has come under intense pressure from various advocacy groups who are intent on influencing it by utilizing different techniques, such as the application of education, political pressure, and lobbying. Advocacy groups often try to educate the public and the lawmakers about the problems that people face on a daily basis. In addition, they also try to educate the members of the public on the various services that they are entitled to, and the possible legislative solutions to ensure that the members of the publ
Introduction The idea of dr. café coffee came up after its founder Yousef began exploring the world in search of the best tasting coffee. In fact, he traveled from one state to another visiting various coffee houses different cities. He went to Yemen in order to understand about coffee since Yemen is known to have discovered coffee. He visited coffee plantations and observed all processes involved in production and roasting of coffee. Then after developing interest in the berries he decided to enquire more about the trade. Then he went ahead to find out different species of coffee and how they can be prepared to offer different tastes (Corte swearingen, 2010). Therefore, dr. café coffee started from a small kiosk where coffee was brewed using finest coffee beans. The first coffee kiosk was set up in a shopping mall where guests would walk in and have their favorite coffee. At that level, the shop had no name, and for a long time Yousef referred to it as his “small sport of joy”. In fact, the name was decided by his guest after being requested to give their favorite joint a name of their choice. After considering the many names proposed, they settled on dr. cafe coffee. Product The company offers services as their products where they offer coffee to their guest. In order to ensure that they keep ahead of their competitors, they ensure that they offer quality coffee for their customers. This is extremely powerful because if customers feel dissatisfied with services offered by dr. café coff
Introduction In his book Continental drift, Russell Bank reveals some very important facts that have developed and caused very major differences between distinct parts and societies in the world. He narrates the life encounters that two main characters underwent in their quest to escape their poor conditions that they viewed as having originated from their locality and their overall society. Hence, they chose to migrate to a different continent that was more developed and economically stable and which they thought was a land of opportunities (Banks, 1994). The two characters undergo different experiences and to their disappointment they never realize their life dreams. In the contrast, they encounter very hard and humiliating experiences that are a result of their disadvantaged condition especially financially, in skills and even in the lines of race and language, causing them to lack proper employment and to be subjected to such unfortunate circumstances as poor livelihood, inequality, injustice and economic imbalance. At the end of the day, the two characters end up in more trouble than what they had previously escaped and even Bob loses his life, leaving his family with only an option of going back home a very helpless and poor family (Banks, 1994). In this book, Banks (1994) illustrates different social factors that have developed as a result of the drifts and separations in races and societies. He compares such differences to the physical drifts between continents, as illustrated by the theory of the drift of the continents, where different continents gained distinct features resulting to even more differences in facts such as the climate and natural resources. In the same way, the differences in locality, cultures and even development factors have resulted to creation of distinct features between societies resulting to the many characteristics of those societies. This is even more elaborate in the economic activities and factors of the societies. This is clearly shown in the narrations made by Banks in the novel (Banks, 1994). Economic Imbalance There were very distinct differences in economic factors between New Hampshire and Florida. First, New Hampshire was still at its development stage and hence was a developing country. However, Florida was one of the main stopping points in the USA, a developed country, and was marked by a high level of economic stability, high living standards, great economic and business opportunities and even high literacy levels that caused the society to have a lot of experiences associated to the modern world (Banks, 1994). After Bob moved from his country to the state of Florida, he was expecting to have a grip in all t
Companies have attempted to analyze and invent global commercial approaches through the presentation of various ideas. There exist a unique connection between organizational arrangements and competition in the universal arena. An examination of the domestic potential of an organization to generate competitive gains has also been done. The solution to an effective global strategy lies in the suitable construction and supervision of an organizational universal value chain. Most often than not, divergent requirements of universal integration against regional reactions are scrutinized (Wit and Meyer, 2010). Online market auction has been the core competency of eBay. It specializes in initiating and recovering equipment that enhances information flow through the buyers and sellers a safe. eBay users engaging in assorted types of products are authorized to generate innovations base on the equipment provided. However, success has been attributed to various activities for instance technical know-how, reliability and improved rapport with client and supplier relationships. Besides, the company has further assured inventory and broadened the distinguished competencies for the products. eBay has helped businesses to link with other partners, therefore, selling products that would be less worth to them (Joyner, 2005 ). A firm with out-of-date products is most likely to sell them at a lower value as compared to a company that could sell the same products at a higher value on eBay, for instance, 70 cents to the dollar against 15 cents to the dollar. The value of eBay is very inclined. It offers the necessary infrastructures for trouble-free business. Even though major technologies are consolidated, it is necessary to carry out business in local exchange as demanded by the need to keep consignment of products within the locality. It has centralized expertise for international coordination and decentralized constructions for transportation currencies and regional languages. On the other hand, there is a needs that eBay use local words to illustrate merchandise. In effect, these massive subsidiaries have been built up for autonomous states. The majority of eBay’s value is virtual. Furthermore, the main objective is to generate virtual sites for trade. The idea behind eBay is to coordinate virtual contact among traders and their clients. The company has by no means dealt with any or part of the merchandise it sells. As earlier mentioned in this essay, eBay strives to raise a perfectly protected society through which consumers and buyers can trade in various physical commodities. eBay’s role in the process is basically to stimulate, preserve, and strengthen the virtual ties created by users that lead to the real
Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk , written in 1903, is an undoubtedly powerful work representing a series of essays and concerning the topic of the people of color in the twentieth century. In this series, Du Bois introduces the notions of “double consciousness” and “a veil,” interpreting them as phenomena regarding the life of Afro-American folks in the United States. The author’s concepts are the touchstones of black people’s presence within and out of the community. They are about the life behind the veil that results in double consciousness, which presupposes evaluating oneself through the perception of others. Though these concepts were introduced long ago and greatly affected not only the blacks, the theme of double consciousness is still persecuting Afro-Americans around the globe. Du Bois strived to present the previously mentioned ideas and concepts fully, therefore reflected them in a collection of situations and experiences a black man was exposed to during the reconstruction period. The author described the life within “the veil” and how people of color faced discrimination due to skin color. Du Bois mentioned the process of marginalization of Negroes, leading to misunderstandings and even wars. However, before Emancipation, Negroes did not lose hope that slavery would be abolished, and violence, along with injustice, would become infamous phenomena. When slavery was over, but the rest remained changeless and not subjected to any alterations. Then Du Bois told about his teaching background in a rural community when the industrialization occurred, and the population became obsessed with wealth and materialization. Later the author describes the South part of the U
A large number of Americans now speak English as a first language but what becomes rare is the fact that it is very difficult to find two people who speak exactly the same English. It is this argument that is made by Amy Tan in her story Mother Tongue. Amy is a first-generation Asian American who migrated to Oakland from China. She became a famous writer in Oakland and in this story, she narrates her experiences about the English she uses and about how the people around her influenced the way she conversed. At home, she spoke with her mother in broken and uneven English so that she understood in view of her faint knowledge of the language. In speaking with people while she worked or with whom she dealt professionally, she used clear and grammatically correct English. Amy’s mother dreamt of coming to America with her daughter in order to get away from poverty and to provide a better quality of life for her. Amy Tan became a writer and in Mother Tongue, she describes her relationship with her ancestry and traditions. For her English as a language becomes a creative tool and she shares how she was affected by the imperfect English of her mother. The story becomes very consequential and universal since it is not merely about the language itself; it also delves into the relationships with parents and about social and ethnic influences. One is bound to ponder about the consequences of leaving his or her country and then living in a new country. The questions and issues that arise pertaining to maintaining one’s identity and ancestral roots. In writing about the limited knowledge that her mother has of English, Amy Tan is able to show how this lack of knowledge is perceived by others around her and how it impacted her while she was growing. Her audience is primarily her mother who has been reading her writings. But she also addresses a broader audience in terms of the entire generation of Americans who have immigrant parents. This is so because she wants to highlight the several problems faced by such children daily. She has attempted to make people aware of the struggles faced by emigrants. In being inadequately equipped in regard to the command of the English language, they are not always viewed seriously. They are either ignored or people intentionally pretend as if they have not understood them. Amy Tan considers that it is alright to speak different kinds of English with different people which depends on the kind of person one is speaking to; whether it is a teacher, instructor, friend or a family member. The story relates to coping with change and involving oneself in the balancing act. Amy Tan emphasizes the role of the generation gap and how difficult it becomes at times in avoiding having a complex in regard to the parents’ inability to keep up with the status that one expects from them in maintaining his or her professional image. Surely, all such meanings could