The Simple Things free essay sample

Curious reader, I can tell you this, no feeling can compare to lying down in a shore, sand at your back, cool water at your feet, good friends at your sides, a drink and music by your head, and a blue, sunny sky on top. People say it’s the simple things that matter; I completely agree. In Puerto Rico, there is perhaps no simpler guilty pleasure than indulging on a summer’s day at the beach. At some point in every Puerto Ricans life (and I do mean everybody’s), they go through a stage where going to the beach is done almost routinely for a while and then it stops. Perhaps it’s the heritage we share or some form of collective consciousness that leads to this curious cultural trait, either way this is not the point, curious reader. I remember my childhood beach at the Caribe Hilton: a perfectly rock-less shore, water so clear and beautifully turquoise that I could see myself reflected in it, surrounded by tourist and natives tanning. We will write a custom essay sample on The Simple Things or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The beach had been literally made with a rock barrier to block waves and the sand had been rearranged to make the shore more flat. There were restaurants a few steps away and waiters waiting at your beck and call to bring you a cold beverage. It was a perfect, post card worthy scene. Growing up I would go there with my parents and my sister on countless summer days. That was during my first beach routine stage. However, time went by and I slowly stopped enjoying that beach. Other interests distracted me and the memory fluttered away. Years went by, and I was well preoccupied. I earned my black belt in Tae Kwon Do proudly at the age of 15. I travelled incessantly with my parents to over 47 countries, broadening my interest in other cultures and at the same time arousing my love for mine. Slowly I began to develop an interest in music learning to play the bass and it, in turn, took an interest in me, teaching me and stimulating in me one of the less common of intellectual curiosities ; a curiosity of the senses. Longing for experiences I became a Boy Scout and learned invaluable knowledge being exposed to other cultures attending national and international world scout jamborees. Being an intern to both a Puerto Rican senator and a congressman of Maryland I gained insight into life. My view of the world widened as I became older. One summer day, and I do not recall how the circumstances came to be, I ended up going to the beach with my friends. I did not go to the Caribe Hilton. I went to Ocean Park, its rocky shore overly crowded with people, the â€Å"less sophisticated† natives, a beach were an actual restaurant is a mile away and there is no such thing as a life guard. You won’t see a single tourist there and there is especially no rock barrier to block the waves. It was a new place for me. I was there for a short time but the visit was enough to spark my second beach routine stage. A week later I went to the Caribe Hilton with my family. As I stood at the beach in the Caribe Hilton, with the warm sun kissing my skin, looking at myself reflected in the beautiful turquoise water much like in my childhood, I realized I preferred the Ocean Park beach. I had out grown the Caribe Hilton beach. In reflecting on the events of my life I realized what had happened many years ago. I started to enjoy less the Caribe Hilton as my personality developed into something different, deviating away from the man made shores and the stone wave breakers. That wasn’t me anymore. I preferred the rocky shore because that’s how life is- it’s not going to be an easy road. I preferred the crowded beach because they were all different people much like the different cultures I had learned to love through my travels. I preferred the beach where I will go on an adventure to get to the actual restaurant. I had evolved and I had come to realize even if I did not know it at the time, I did not want life to be easier; I just wanted it t o be simpler. Curious reader, someday I may or may not return to the â€Å"fake† beach at the Caribe Hilton. If I don’t, I know it’s because I still prefer to dive into new experiences, to take the road less travelled, and to hunger for new knowledge. It means I still prefer the simple things.

History on Thomas Jefferson essays

History on Thomas Jefferson essays In the excerpts from Thomas Jeffersons Notes on the State of Virginia I get the idea that Jefferson was kind of two sided on his views of slavery in many ways. But in Jeffersons case he actually fought on the side of the slaves in the handout. He talks about how the slaves are much more hard workers then the whites. Also he talks about how they can do some of the little things in life better then the whites that they served and worked for. But toward the end of the handout it is possible to argue that Jefferson was proslavery and yet on the other hand antislavery in his views. You can argue that Jefferson was proslavery also for hinting that after the slaves were freed that they are not to be allowed to mix with the society and yet be cast far away from the reach of mixtures in the community. There needs to be a resolution in that was Thomas Jefferson actually fighting for the slaves and saying that slavery was wrong or was he just saying that to make the people of the congress happy and in secret showing that he personally didnt like them and didnt want them in the culture. In the Notes on the State of Virginia Jefferson goes on the record as saying that in his view the slaves work harder then the whites do for several reasons. One of the things he says is that They secrete more from the glands then from the kidneys, which gives them a very strong and disagreeable odor. This great degree of transpiration renders them more tolerant of heat and less so of cold, than the whites. From him saying this he is trying to say that the blacks can work harder under warmer and colder conditions since their bodies have the ability to sweat more keeps them going longer. From this we get the understanding that in the case of work that blacks are much better then the whites and in a sense that whites are inferior to the work that the blacks do. Jefferson also hints to the fact th...

Jonathan Letterman

Jonathan Letterman Jonathan Letterman was a surgeon in the U.S. Army who pioneered a system of caring for the wounded during battles of the Civil War. Prior to his innovations, the care of wounded soldiers was fairly haphazard, but by organizing an Ambulance Corps Letterman saved many lives and changed forever how the military operated. Lettermans accomplishments did not have much to do with scientific or medical advances, but with ensuring that a solid organization for caring for the wounded was in place.   After joining the Army of the Potomac of General George McClellan in the summer of 1862, Letterman began preparing the Medical Corps. Months later he faced a colossal challenge at the Battle of Antietam, and his organization for moving the wounded proved its worth. The following year, his ideas were utilized during and after the Battle of Gettysburg. Some of Lettermans reforms had been inspired by changes instituted in medical care by the British during the Crimean War. But he also had invaluable medical experience learned in the field, during a decade spent in the Army, mostly at outposts in the West, before the Civil War. After the war, he wrote a memoir that detailed his operations in the Army of the Potomac. And with his own health suffering, he died at the age of 48. His ideas, however, lived on long after his life and benefited the armies of many nations. Early Life Jonathan Letterman was born December 11, 1824, in Canonsburg, in western Pennsylvania. His father was a doctor, and Jonathan received an education from a private tutor. He later attended Jefferson College in Pennsylvania, graduating in 1845. He then attended medical school in Philadelphia. He received his M.D. degree in 1849 and took the examination to join the U.S. Army. Throughout the 1850s Letterman was assigned to various military expeditions which often involved armed skirmishes with Indian tribes. In the early 1850s he served in Florida campaigns against the Seminoles. He was transferred to a fort in Minnesota, and in 1854 joined an Army expedition that traveled from Kansas to New Mexico. In 1860 he served a stint in California.   On the frontier, Letterman learned to tend to the wounded while having to improvise in very rough conditions, often with inadequate supplies of medicine and equipment. Civil War and Battlefield Medicine After the outbreak of the Civil War, Letterman returned from California and was briefly posted in New York City. By the spring of 1862 he was assigned to an Army unit in Virginia, and in July 1862 he was appointed medical director of the Army of the Potomac. At the time, Union troops were engaged in McClellans Peninsula Campaign, and military doctors were grappling with the problems of disease as well as battle wounds. As McClellans campaign turned into a fiasco, and the Union troops retreated and began to return to the area around Washington, D.C., they tended to leave behind medical supplies. So Letterman, taking over that summer, faced a challenge of resupplying the Medical Corps.  He advocated for the creation of an ambulance corps. McClellan agreed to the plan and a regular system of inserting ambulances into army units began. By September 1862, when the Confederate Army crossed the Potomac River into Maryland, Letterman commanded a Medical Corps that promised to be more efficient than anything the U.S. Army had seen before. At Antietam, it was put to the test. In the days following the great battle in western Maryland, the Ambulance Corps, troops specially trained to retrieve wounded soldiers and bring them to improvised hospitals, functioned fairly well. That winter the Ambulance Corp again proved its worth at the Battle of Fredericksburg. But the colossal test came at Gettysburg, when the fighting raged for three days and casualties were enormous. Lettermans system of ambulances and wagon trains dedicated to medical supplies worked fairly smoothly, despite countless obstacles. Legacy and Death Jonathan Letterman resigned his commission in 1864, after his system had been adopted throughout the U.S. Army. After leaving the Army he settled in San Francisco with his wife, whom he had married in 1863. In 1866, he wrote a memoir of his time as medical director of the Army of the Potomac. His health began to fail, and he died on March 15, 1872. His contributions to how armies prepare to attend to the wounded in battle, and in how the wounded are moved and cared for, had great influence over the years.

Business Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 24

Business Law - Essay Example dismissing the contract because they no longer have confidence in Lewis to continue with the business because he does not have sufficient equipment, but they will still win so long as they demonstrate that there is an existing law, which is related to the issue of market price. In addition, the court may not be able to grant a summary of judgment if both parties dispute against a material fact. In this case, Lewis can defend himself by providing evidence that such law does not exist, or that it affect their contract, if it exists (Jorgensen 250). Both Nine Mile Mine and Lewis can defend their position; in support of the motion or opposition of the motion respectively, by use of information obtained during the initial stages of the proceedings, such as answers to interrogatories, deposition testimony, and answers to wishes for production. In addition, the disputing parties can use affidavits from experts to oppose or support the motion. If any parties lose on the judgment, then they are free to seek appeal, though the chances of overturning summary judgments on appeal are extremely rare (Jorgensen

Jesus as an Imperialist Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Jesus as an Imperialist - Essay Example While considering the principles of Christianity for which he lived, an imperialistic approach has been adorned by him since his birth. He was looked for as king to be born in the dynasty of David who would free the Jews from the imperialism of the foreign governance and would establish the reign of God. The Jews believed that the promised man would appear on a Maundy Thursday and would take over as their king. However the consideration of Jesus as the king of Kings, involves a varied concept on imperialism. It never goes along with the conventional approaches of the worldly governing systems, but had a holy view adorning the power of Jesus as a king and the manifest destiny allied with his life and times. Zechariah 9: 9 says, â€Å"Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.†

First Movement From Brandenburg Concerto No 2 By J S Bach

First Movement From Brandenburg Concerto No 2 By J S Bach One of Bachs most celebrated compositions, Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 was part of six compositions (known as the Brandenburg Concerti, collectively, though they were mostly musically unrelated) that Bach submitted in March 1721 to Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg as a job application of sorts. Bach, in the wake of the death of his wife, was trying to leave his musical position with Prince Leopold of Anhalt-CÃ ¶then. However, the individual composition dates for the Brandenberg Concerti cannot be precisely determined. The only thing that can be said with certainty about their chronology is that they were all composed by March 1721, the date on Bachs autograph copy, (Boyd, 1993) including Concerto No. 2. (Ironically, Bach did not get the job.) This piece is identifiable as being in the style of a Concerto Grosso. Concerto grosso, literally translated as great concert, was a popular compositional/performance style from the Baroque period, which is localized between 1650 and 1750. Generally, a concerte grosso was distinguished by a small set of solo instruments (the concertino) that interacted in a musical duel of sorts with a larger group (the ripieno), one answering the other. The Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 is just such an example, with the trumpet playing the most commonly well-known concertino voice. Concerto No. 2 was written in the key of F major, and scored for the following instruments: trumpet (as alluded to above), flute or recorder (the original instrument used), oboe, and violin from whose ranks came the solo instruments; and the viola, cello, and continuo (most commonly a harpsichord), which together formed the ripieno. The piece is divided into three movements, as follows: 1. Allegro (without tempo indication) 2. Andante 3. Allegro assai We shall focus on the first movement. The trumpet part stands out most notably, as it is written to be performed in the difficult clarion style, in which the trumpeter plays in the very highest registers within the instruments capacity, using only the power of rapid lip movements and precisely controlled breathing to change the instruments pitch. In Bachs time, trumpets did not have valves as they do now. In most contemporary performances, a piccolo trumpet is used to perform the original trumpet part as the piccolo trumpet is tuned higher. Whatever the case, the trumpet part stands out starkly in the texture of the piece, with its aggressive and lively tones soaring over the sonic landscape within this piece as it mirrors the orchestra and flies off on its own fancies. This trumpet part is considered a worthy challenge for any advanced player who dares take it on. Interestingly, in the first movement, it is the uniquely high pitch of the trumpet part, as opposed to the part it is playing, which endows it with its tendency to stand out. The reason for this is that here in the first movement, Bach toys with the expectations of the genre and has written the concierto and ripieno instruments the same or similar parts during a portion of the movement, rendering them in some cases indistinguishable. Melodically speaking, there are basically two repeating themes, or ritornello, upon which each instrument, whether concierto or ripieno, bases its movements. Even when the solo instruments deviate as they should in the genre, they are still riffing, if you will, off the material forming the two-movement foundation. They move off the first theme in pairs, venturing forth into repeating and augmenting the second theme while complimenting the first theme. Both the concierto and ripieno parts contain a large number of notes within most measures, often clusters of sixteenth notes. The net effect is parts and instruments blending together both textually and tonally. Two instruments that might normally be easily discernable from one another instead may be perceived by the inexperienced listener as one unique and different one playing the same rapid-fire series of notes. This sonic clustering, combined with the fact that the particular combination of instruments Bach specified for this particular concerto, makes the piece stand out and accounts in part for its enduring popularity. As far as overall texture in the first movement is concerned, the piece is certainly marked by a busy set of contrapuntal elements. The texture can also be generally described as somewhat generally higher and thinner, if you will, or at least less full-sounding and spread out than some other pieces in the Brandenberg family or other music of the time period. There is a good deal of sonic transparency, or open sonic space, left by the frequent collective high pitching of the concierto instruments, which are clustered together by virtue of the repeating ritornello. The individual instruments popping off their sixteenth-note creates a very unique polyphonic texture, and where the instruments diverge, also creates a nice sense of momentum which is reinforced by the well-organized and (deceptively so) focused harmonic structure of the piece. The harmonic structure of the piece is mainly a showcase of very deliberate and calculated dynamic harmony, intended to use harmonic elements to ensure the piece propels itself consistently forward, both emotionally and structurally. Specifically, Bach employs strong chord progressions, I-IV-V-I progression in many instances, as opposed to, for example, merely oscillating purposelessly between chords, which would have resulted in a lack of direction in the piece. The underlying dynamic harmonics serve to satisfyingly push along the already organically fluid chord progressions Even though the texture of the music is contrapuntal, and the writing is in two parts, the dynamic harmony is nevertheless much in evidence. (Sutcliffe, 1999) This harmonic structure, along with the other standout elements, are a testament to the sharp planning evident in so much of Bachs work. In particular, this first movement in the piece is so sprightly, energetic, and almost manic in some instances that it is easy to forget that the entire Concerto is in fact a tightly written and plotted piece, that simultaneously allows a certain creativity in interpretation which can vary by performance. All in all, the first movement in Concerto No. 2 is not only a time-honored musical standout in its own right, both in structure and difficulty, but an intriguing reflection of the larger musical trends evident in the classical music of the time, and Bachs own life.

Predictive Modeling Decision Tree

Predict ‘kicks’ or bad purchases using Carvana – Cleaned and Sampled. jmp file. Create a validation data set with 50% of the data. Use Decision Tree, Regression and Neural Network approached for building predictive models. Perform a comparative analysis of the three competing models on validation data set. Write down your final conclusions on which model performs the best, what is the best cut-off to use, and what is the ‘value-added’ from conducting predictive modeling?Upload the saved file with the assignment. I created 6 models for this project, which are DT1, DT2, Reg1, Reg2, Reg3, and NN. After testing, the parameters I used to predict â€Å"IsBadBuy† in all my models are: PurchDate, Auction, VehicleAge, Transmission, WheelType, VehOdo, All â€Å"MMRs†, VehBCost, IsOnlineSale, and WarrantyCost. Those parameters together can help me get better models (i. e. ROC Area > 0. 7) I used the cut-off of 0. 6, because after trying out other c ut-offs such as 0. 5, 0. 7, and 0. , the results were either â€Å"I’m eliminating too many Good Buys†, or â€Å"I’m accepting too many Bad Buys†. As we know, both of the situations will affect the business (i. e. if we want stronger confident of the model, we will have too many 0s in the result, which means we may accept more Bad Buys in accident). Finally, I decided to use 0. 6 as my cut-off to balance the situation. The best model I chose is Reg2 (Forward regression model). I have two reasons: First, Reg2 has the largest ROC Area in the Logistic Fit compression (Saved as â€Å"Lodistic1~6†), which is 0. 478; Second, it has a relatively low (the second smallest) number in the FalseNegative box from the Contingency Table among all models. For my second reason, I didn’t use overall accuracy because I think the FalseNegative will damage the business more than FalsePossitive does. Because accidentally having a BadBuy will cost the company to d o all require and fix job. For the Value-added calculation, as we can see in the Contingency tables (Saved as â€Å"Contingency 1~6†), the Baseline Accuracy is 49. 89. The accuracy of Reg2 is 82. 49. So the Reg2 provides the lift value of 82. 49/49. 89 = 1. 653.