Land Vegetation Ethiopia

Land Vegetation Ethiopia 1. Project Summary Land cover/use Study projects provide policy makers, industry and community interest groups, and landholders with accurate information on  woody vegetation cover, information on changes in the cover, mapping and providing statistical information. In earlier times the northern Ethiopian highlands were characterized by humid climate and denser vegetation (Bard et al., 2000). Significant human impact on the land resource resulted in 65 per cent of the total land mass to be a dry land. Land clearing for agricultural activity has become an increasingly main topic in the natural resource debate that contrasts the economic aspects of land development to the people dependent on it and with the ecological need to conserve. This project is a one of the initiative to investigate the land cover and its respective slope of the study site and to recommend technologies applicable to the overall land cover study projects in the dry high lands of Ethiopia. The study combines field verification  and computer processing using state-of-the-art remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies. The study specifically applies and eexplore the potential of Visible and Near Infrared (VNIR) bands of the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer ASTER images to discriminate land use categories where the land is fragile with mixed uses villages, patches of forest, patches of grazing land, crop land, wasteland, etc. the study will also explore the potential of ASTER images to provide stereo images for DEM generation of the scene that can be used to generate the Slope. The DEM generation task will investigate developing a rational polynomial function model. At last integration of the land cover and the DEM together with other GIS data can be used as input data to classify the suitability of land for specific land use. 2. The Problem Statement and Justification for the Research More than 63% of all smallholders in Ethiopia have less than 1 hectare of land. Population is growing rapidly and, although in the northern parts of the country the average rural population density is only 33 persons per square km, the population density per unit of arable land is much higher (138 persons per square km). Land fragmentation is common and the more fragmented holdings are, the more time it takes to manage them, with potential consequences for productivity. The national average is 3.2 parcels per smallholder, though districts averages vary from a little over 1 to more than 5. The broadest areas of high fragmentation are in eastern Amhara and Tigray, although there are also districts with high average fragmentation in Gambella, parts of SNNP, and the eastern highlands. (Ethiopian Agricultural Sample Enumeration, 2001/02. Central Statistical Authority.). As a result of fragmentation, farm sizes are very small and the use of fallow is rapidly disappearing, causing problems of declining soil fertility and erosion. Population growth increases the demand for land and contributes to farming on steep and fragile soils, also leading to erosion problems. It increases demand for biomass as a source of fuel, leading to deforestation and increased burning of dung and crop residues, thus increasing the problems of erosion and nutrient depletion. Population growth increases demand for livestock products and therefore leads to increased livestock numbers, causing overgrazing and consumption of crop residues by animals. In such situation Land degradation is a great threat for the future and it requires great effort and resources to improve. The major causes of land degradation in Ethiopia are the rapid population increase, severe soil loss, deforestation, low vegetative cover and unbalanced crop and livestock production. Inappropriate land-use systems and land-tenure policies enhance desertification and loss of biodiversity. The balance between crop, livestock, and forest production is disturbed, and the farmer is forced to put more land into crop production. The government has envisaged long- and short-term strategies to reduce the pressure on land and land fragmentation. Among the short term strategies are providing technical and vocational training to the landless youth to enable them to find off-farm employment and encouraging emigration to urban centers and to other parts of the region for resettlement. These strategies recommended allocation and reallocation of land to be based on the land use classification to be done in detail study. Understanding the current status of land use is very important and this project will come up with important elements of current land use study using remote sensing technologies to provide reliable information that help to prepare a complete land use plan. Justification Land Cover/ Slope Study To approach the growing problems of natural resource management, spatially explicit information about physical, biotic, and human factors must be available in a variety of geographic and temporal scales (USFWS 1976). Local planners and managers require detailed knowledge of the region for which they have responsibility as well as information on the regional, state, and national levels. Land cover data are essential at several scales. Current land cover data are vital to many applications including: making basic habitat assessments, delineating specific vegetative communities, calculating soil loss, and evaluating water quantity/quality within and between watersheds. The list of categories to be mapped is determined through the objectives of the mapping effort. This thesis describes such a mapping effort, one of presenting a basic land cover/Slope map, along with methods useful for land use planning applications. The conventional methods in producing DEMs need large campaigns that result in land surveying teams using analogue or analytical techniques. In the last decades satellite stereo image based topographical map production is turned into operational state from its experimental state. Recently many local scale landscape or topographical monitoring requirements are maintained by high resolution satellite images (Kanab 2002, Zomer et al. 2002, Baily et al. 2003, Su ¨zen and Doyuran 2004a, b, Liu et al. 2004). Advantages of ASTER for land evaluation The ASTER sensor is carried on board the Terra satellite that was launched in December 1999. The sensor has 14 spectral bands; three for Very Near Infra Red (VNIR) at 15 meters resolution, six for Short Wave Infra Red at 30 meters resolution, five for Thermal Infra Red at ninety meters resolution. Graphic 1 (below) shows the band coverage of the ASTER sensor. Thus with such resolution and number of bands it is possible to discriminate small fragile lands typical of Ethiopian highlands. In addition ASTER imagery has an extra channel of image data that is created by the sensor capturing a backwards looking image for the third VNIR band. So for image band three there exists one (nadir) image channel and also a backwards looking (off nadir) image channel. This creates an along-track stereo effect that provides DEM generation capability to be used for slope study. Scope This thesis presents a small watershed land cover/Slope map representing for the northern region of the country. It will provide information just beyond the local watershed by demonstrating feasibility of using selected satellite imagery for regional planning as well. It is known that Land suitability analysis is the process of matching demand, crop requirement, and supply, the quality of the land. Where it is necessary to specify the type of specific land use (e.g for forest plantation, maize, rangeland, etc.) so as to match with crop requirement, basic land characteristics, such as depth of soil, climate, amount of pH, level of soil nutrient, depth to ground water, etc.. Thus the scope of this thesis is limited to generating parameters necessary for the land suitability analysis. Project Objectives General objective To demonstrate the feasibility of Advanced Space borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) imagery to provide base line data for land use planning for sustainable land management Specific objectives Investigating discriminating power of ASTER Imagery in studying land cover in highly fragmented high lands of northern Ethiopia. To develop rational polynomial function model to generate a DEM that will be further processed to develop slope information. 4. Description of Project Activities and Methodology Selecting Study Area The landscape of Ethiopia is extremely diverse. In order to map land cover on a regional scale, it is necessary to understand the structure and dynamics of land cover on a local scale. To this end, the study area will be located to approximately represent throughout the northern part of the region. Thus the site will include major physiographic regions, i.e., predominantly mountains, valleys, and plains. On top of that the study site will be chosen on the following criteria: ease of access to allow comparison of actual land cover to images in hand, availability of current digital cover maps, and representation of regional land cover. Classification Scheme The first step in land cover mapping is to determine a classification system, i.e., to list the land categories to be mapped. Several items will be considered in this process: The objectives The characteristics of the data And the accuracy requirements. As in most well planned mapping efforts, the objectives determine the classes and the procedures used. Since the objective of this study is to identify fragmented land use types rather than classifying different vegetation types, emphasis will be placed on land impacted by human activities. The data available also determined the level of detail. ASTER imagery is assumed to be the best data currently available. The relatively high spatial resolution and the number of spectral bands of this imagery offers the best opportunities for discriminating a variety of cover types among any available satellite data such as Landsat. Imagery ASTER imagery with 15m spatial resolution, which is taken in the dry season of 2003, is the basic dataset from which land cover and Slope will be mapped. The data to be used for land cover study will be the VNIR bands (Band 1: 0.52-0.60 Lm; Band 2: 0.63-0.69Lm and Band 3N: 0.76-0.86Lm) of and 3N and 3B bands for the Slope study. A DEM created from ASTER level 1A (L1A) imagery can be expected to have a vertical accuracy of approximately 25 meters. Although in areas with less vegetation or man made features, this can rise to approximately 11 meters. It is therefore useful for small to medium scale mapping applications, 1:50,000 to 1:100,000. Only the near-infrared (NIR) channel of ASTER image has stereoscopic view capability as another NIR sensor is located as back view on board Terra satellite. Therefore, one NIR sensor collects image in nadir direction while another NIR sensor gets image in back-looking direction. Using two different looking directions, stereo imaging and DEM generation can be attained (Welch et al. 1998, Toutin 2002, Hirano et al. 2003). Training Data for image classification Since this study applies supervised classification, training data are needed at the start of classification. To this effect training data will be acquired from a variety of sources such as available maps, aerial photography of the same year and expert knowledge and review. Image Classification One scene for the land cover study and another nadir scene for the Slope study will be used for classification. To georeference the image, Ground Control Points (GCPs) will be collected from easily identifiable points using Geographic Positioning System (GPS). Image classification will be done either using pixel based supervised image classification or with object-oriented image classification depending on the accuracy to be achieved. ILWIS 3.3 software format will be the major image processing tools that will be used. Ground Truth and Classification Accuracy Assessment Before a map should be used, it is necessary to know its accuracy (Congalton1996). Accuracy assessment will be made using ground truth points to be collected from the major land use/cover types using GPS. It is recommended to have a ground truth at the same time of data acquisition, or at least within the time that the environmental condition does not change. A general rule of thumb is 75 to 100 reference points per category for a large image (Congalton 1996). However; for such a small scale study quite less number of reference points will be feasible. Statistics The Confusion Matrix In order to determine the errors in the classification, the following model called confusion matrix: (IDRISI module CONFUSE.) will be applied where: Matrix columns = ground data (assumed ‘correct) Matrix rows = map data (classified by the automatic procedure) Cells of the matrix = count of the number of observations for each (ground, map) combination Diagonal elements = agreement between ground and map; ideal is a matrix with all zero off-diagonals Errors of omission (map producers accuracy) = incorrect in column / total in column. Measures how well the map maker was able to represent the ground features. Errors of commission (map users accuracy) = incorrect in row / total in row. Measures how likely the map user is to encounter correct information while using the map. Overall map accuracy = total on diagonal / grand total Statistical test of the classification accuracy for the whole map or individual cells is possible using the kappa index of agreement www.sc.chula.ac.th/courseware/2309507/lec_content.htm). Users and producers accuracy measure the correctness of each category with respect to errors of commission and omission. Accuracy of each class cannot be completely stated in one statistic; both accuracies are needed for a valid assessment. Users accuracy is obtained by dividing the number correctly classified by the total number of pixels, within the classified image, of that class assessed. A low users accuracy represents a high error of commission. Producers accuracy is calculated by dividing the number of pixels correctly classified by the total number of reference points within that class (bottom row of error matrix). A low Producers accuracy represents a high error of omission. The Kappa statistic describes the degree of superiority (expressed as a proportion), that the classification results have as compared to a random classification. DEM Generation Developments in computers, broadening of visualization applications and the availability of geospatial data, made the use of digital elevation models (DEM) an indispensable quantitative environmental variable in most of the research topics. The landscape change and process-based studies in digital Earth sciences require the excessive use of DEM (Ka ¨a ¨b 2002, Zomer et al. 2002, Baily et al. 2003, Su ¨zen and Doyuran 2004a, b, Liu et al. 2004), for landslide susceptibility/hazard assessment, erosion susceptibility, glacier monitoring, geomorphological mapping, etc., in order to quantitatively represent or to analyse the morphology or the landscape. Within this study, the major steps that will be performed are (1) pre-processing and (2) The first step in pre-processing is the orthorectification of raw L1A images. The whole scene ASTER L1A image will be orthorectified using available 1: 50,000 scaled topographic maps. DEM generation from stereoscopic imagery is dependent on establishing the mathematical model relating the scene coordinates of conjugate points to the ground coordinates of the corresponding object point. Either rigorous or approximate models can be used to establish such a relationship. Rigorous modeling necessitates a full understanding of the imaging geometry associated with the involved sensor. Moreover, it involves the external characteristics (as represented by the Exterior Orientation Parameters EOP) and the internal characteristics (as represented by the Interior Orientation Parameters IOP) of the imaging sensor. Such characteristics are derived with the help of control information, which might take the form of a calibration test field, ground control points, and/or onboard navigation units (e.g., GPS/INS). However, the derivation of these parameters might not be always possible due to: the lack of sufficient control; weak imaging geometry (especially for satellite imaging systems with narrow angular field of view); and/or intentional concealment by the data provider (e.g., Space Imaging does not release the IOP and the EOP for their commercially available imagery). Therefore, there has been an increasing interest to investigate approximate models, which do not explicitly involve the internal and external characteristics of the imaging system. (A. Habib, E. M. Kim, M. Morgan, I. Couloigne, 2005). There has been an increasing interest within the photogrammetric community to adopt approximate models since they require neither a comprehensive understanding of the imaging geometry nor the internal and external characteristics of the imaging sensor. Approximate models include Direct Linear Transformation (DLT), self-calibrating DLT (SDLT), Rational Function Model (RFM), and parallel projection (Vozikis et al., 2003; Fraser, 2000; OGC, 1999; Ono et al., 1999; Wang, 1999; Gupta et al., 1997; El-Manadili and Novak, 1996). This thesis will apply RPF; it is based on the ratios of polynomials with different degree which can vary from 1 to 3. The coefficients are estimated using a large number of Ground Control Points (GCPs). In general, the procedure for DEM generation from stereoscopic views can be summarized as follows (Shin et al., 2003): †¢ Feature selection in one of the scenes of a stereo-pair: Selected features should correspond to an interesting phenomenon in the scene and/or the object space. †¢ Identification of the conjugate feature in the other scene: This problem is known as the matching/correspondence problem within the photogrammetric and computer vision communities. †¢ Intersection procedure: Matched points in the stereo-scenes undergo an intersection procedure to produce the ground coordinates of corresponding object points. The intersection process involves the mathematical model relating the scene and ground coordinates. †¢ Point densification: High density elevation data is generated within the area under consideration through an interpolation in-between the derived points in the previous step. The image orientation with rational polynomial functions involves general transformation to describe the relationship between image and ground coordinates. They provide a generic representation of the camera object-image geometry. The RPF provided with the high resolution satellite images connect image space and object space by: Row or column = rpf (ÃŽ », Ï•, h) Where row/column is the image coordinates and ÃŽ », Ï•, and h are longitude, latitude and ellipsoidal height in geographic coordinates of WGS84 datum (Grodecki et al., 2004). Direct solutions use rational function coefficients and sensor parameters information without any control points and refinement the original coefficients. Indirect solutions use ground control points for computing coefficients without using sensor parameters (Tao, Hu 2001). Our solution is based on ground control points without any initial values of coefficients. First approximate values of parameters extract and then precise values compute with using ground control points. Rational Function Model with 20 parameters (Valadan, Sadeghiam 2002) is used in this paper as follow: Where : are the normalized row and column of pixel in image. : are the normalized coordinates of the image point in the Conventional Terrestrial (CT) coordinate system. : Rational Function Coefficients (RFCs). Estimating the RFM coefficients The method by which the RFM coefficients are recovered depends on the availability of a physical sensor model. In cases where a physical model is provided a terrain independent scheme can be applied. This scheme is based on the generation of a 3D grid in object space, using the physical sensor model. The 3D grid should contain several layers of points and its characteristics are determined by the coverage of the image and the terrain relief differences. Then, a Least Squares solution of the RFM coefficients can be derived. Finally, an estimation of the quality of the derived RFM coefficients should be carried out based on an evaluation of the residuals in a higher density 3D grid. When a physical model is not available, a terrain dependent scheme is used. As in this scheme it is not possible to generate a 3D grid, the solution is highly sensitive to the terrain relief, as well as to the distribution, number, and quality of the GCPs used. Generation The generation process involves four steps: primitive extraction, primitive matching, space intersection, and interpolation. Primitive extraction: At this stage, a decision has to be made regarding the primitives to be matched in the normalized scenes. Possible matching primitives include distinct points, linear features, and/or homogeneous regions. The choice of the matching primitives is crucial for ensuring the utmost reliability of the outcome from the DEM generation process. In this research, point features are chosen. Fà ¶rstner interest operator (Fà ¶rstner, 1986) will be used to extract distinct points from the imagery. The operator identifies points with unique grey value distribution at their vicinity (e.g., corner points).The next section discusses the matching procedure of these points. Primitive Matching: The matching criteria deal with establishing a quantitative measure that describes the degree of similarity between a template in the left scene and a matching window, of the same size, within the search space in the right scene. Either correlation coefficient or least squares matching could be used to derive such a similarity measure Space Intersection: Following the matching process, conjugate points undergo an intersection procedure to derive the ground coordinates of the corresponding object points. The RPF equation will be used for such computation. Interpolation: So far, the ground coordinates of matched interest points, which passed the consistency check, are derived through space intersection. These points are irregularly distributed and are not dense enough to represent the object space. Therefore, they need to be interpolated. In this research, Kriging will be used to interpolate the resulting object space points into regular grid. The Kriging methodology derives an estimate of the elevation at a given point as a weighted average of the heights at neighboring points. 5. Project Milestones and Expected outputs 5.1. Expected output Following are the expected outputs from this research; Based on the success of ASTER imagery in demonstrating land cover classification and slope generation, the result herein may be used as basic data to assist slope management, land use planning, and other land management efforts such as land suitability, and landslide susceptibility mapping when combined with other GIS data. Provides a procedure based on the rational polynomial function model for generating DEM directly from a stereo ASTER images, and other experimental results. In particular, the method can be quickly and easily applied to areas with little map data, and at low cost. Based on the success it can be extended for all the northern high lands of Ethiopia. 5.2. Dissemination plan The immediate users of the research result are policy makers, teaching institutes and other planning and development organization in their programming of land use management. It will also assist the local government in the design and making of policy issues. The small holder farmers are the ultimate users of the research results through well designed land management projects that are effective in ensuring sustainable development of the resources they are dependent on. 6. Work Plan 7. References Fraser, C. S., H. B. Hanley (2003). Bias compensation in rational functions for Ikonos satellite imagery. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 69(1): 53-57. Ganas, A. E. Lagios, N. Tzannetos (2002). An investigation into the spatial accuracy of the Ikonos2 orthoimagery within an urban environment. Int. Journal of Remote Sensing, 23(17): 3513-3519. Grodecki, J. and G. Dial (2003). Block adjustment of high resolution satellite images described by rational polynomials. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 69(1): 59-68. Hu, Y., C.V., Tao (2002). Updating solutions of the rational function model using additional control information. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 68(7): 715-724. MARCAL, A.R.S., BORGER, J.S., BOMES, J.A. COSTA, P.J.F. (2005) Land cover update by supervised classification of segmented ASTER images. International Journal of Remote Sensing 26, 1347-1362. www.sc.chula.ac.th/courseware/2309507/lec_content.htm YAN, G., MAS, J.F., MAATHUIS, B.H.P., XIANGMIN, Z., VAN DIJK, P.M. (2006) Comparison of pixel-based and object-oriented image classification approaches—a case study in a coal fire area, Wuda, Inner Mongolia, China. International Journal of Remote Sensing 27, 4039-4055.

Doc Holliday :: essays research papers

Few gunmen in history have been as notorious as the late John"Doc" Holliday. Part of the reason Doc has enjoyed such a famedhistory is because of the overall descent man he was, that is when hewasn’t gambling, drinking, and gunslinging. When Doc died he mighthave had a handkerchief, a pocket knife, a deck of poker cards, a flaskhalf full of whiskey, and a small essay entitled "My Friend DocHolliday" by Wyatt Earp. The most important item Doc would have had on him when he diedwas a handkerchief. Doc most likely had a handkerchief because of thesevere case of tuberculosis he had, which led to his untimely demise. Doc contracted this disease while traveling the west, staying up long hours, drinking, smoking, and gambling most of the time he was awake. This handkerchief would have helped Doc wipe up any blood, and ordead lung tissue he might have coughed up on his last day of life. Doc was not only a very sick man, he was also a very cultured man. Being cultured might have provoked Doc to wear a handkerchief as a fashion accessory, because rumor has it that although Doc was a mans man, he still liked to look as good as possible no matter where he went. This handkerchief in his eyes may have shown people his intelligent, well educated side. This educated side is a side of Doc that few people know about today. Usually when someone hears the name Doc Holliday, they think about fighting, drinking, and gambling, all of these are true of Doc, but these people had barely scratched the surface. As a young man Doc attended Valdosta institute where he became knowledgeable of the Greek, Latin, and French languages. Amazingly Doc’s favorite subject was rhetoric, his teachers claimed that Doc had a way with words unsurpassed by anyone in his class. All of these factors may have contributed to Doc having a handkerchief with him on his final day of life. A second item which might have been found in Doc Hollidays pocket on the day he died is a small pocket knife. Doc might have had a pocket knife first of all because he was a dentist by trade. Being adentist may seem like it has nothing to do with having a pocket knife,but being a dentist by trade helped Doc develop amazing skills with cutlery. Doc was famous mostly for his gunrunnig, but could rarely be found without a pocket knife.

Life vs. Death Penalty

The death penalty has been one of the most debated topics in America for years. It holds the same level of importance in politics as abortion or gun control because it is such a controversial subject. The stance that I currently hold with this debate is closer towards life in prison. Not because I don't fully believe that someone who kills a lot of people or does Just horrible acts should 100% be punished and possibly killed themselves, but because I find more benefits towards keeping someone in Jail for life. For example, the cost to keep someone in Jail is a lot cheaper than it is to kill them.A study in 2011 showed that it cost California more than $4 billion dollars to do executions since 1978. $1. 94 billion went towards the trails, $925 million towards Automatic Appeals and State Habeas Corpus Petitions, $775 million towards Federal Habeas Corpus Appeals, and $1 billion went towards Costs of Incarceration. And we can't forget how much it costs to pay for the security guards who look over these inmates. The total cost to pay these security guards a year comes up to $90,000 PER INMATE a year. It's also been said that the death penalty trails are 20 times more expensive than a trail for imprisonment without parole.If the Governor of California sentenced the inmates that are on death row to life in prison he could save almost $170 million a year! The Executive of the DPIC stated, â€Å"The death penalty in the U. S. is an enormously expensive and wasteful program with no clear benefits. All of the studies on the cost of capital punishment conclude it is much more expensive than a system with life sentences as the maximum penalty. In a time of painful budget utbacks, states are pouring money into a system that results in a declining number of death sentences and executions that are almost exclusively carried out in Just one area of the country.As many states face further deficits, it is an appropriate time to consider whether maintaining the costly death pena lty system is being smart on crime. † Another reason that life in Jail is a better punishment is because it is an actual effective punishment. There is nothing that shows that the death penalty has been effective in lowering crimes. To be in a prison cell for your entire life with nothing to o but think, sit, sleep, eat, and maybe a recreational activity or two, that is actually worse than death.Being in prison sends some people crazy or can possibly change them completely, which I believe is a way better punishment because they are forced to live with the crime that they committed. Death would be an easy and quick way out. Granted, the death row inmates are doing nothing but sitting, thinking, and waiting. That is what they are doing, waiting. They are waiting for the end, because they, unlike the other inmates, have an end. And honestly how is that fair, we for hatever reason think that if we kill them that will teach them and others like them to never commit the bad acts ag ain, when in fact we are making it simple for them.The DPIC executive said, â€Å"The nation's police chiefs rank the death penalty last in their priorities for effective crime reduction. The officers do not believe the death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder, and they rate it as one of most inefficient uses ot taxpayer dollars in tgnting crime. Criminologists concur that the death penalty does not effectively reduce the number of murders. † The death sentence is absolute, here is no reversing it so if we execute someone and more evidence comes up that later proves someone innocent, we can't take back the execution. 40 people were wrongly executed since 1973. The most common reason for people wrongfully being charged with the death penalty are false confessions, witness errors, government misconduct, faulty science, bad lawyers or snitch testimonies. Also believe it or not but race does play a factor in whether or not someone can receive the death penalty vs. life in pris on. Just about 68% of inmates that are on death row are non-whites. We simply cannot say we live in a country that offers equal Justice to all Americans when racial disparities plague the system by which our society imposes the ultimate punishment. Senator Russ Feingold, 2003. In 1990, a report from the General Accounting Office said that 82% of the cases that were reviewed showed that if the criminal killed a white person they were more likely to be sent to death row than if they killed another minority. There are currently 1,822 minority inmates on death row and there has been approximately 394 minorities executed since 1976, comparing his to the 1,475 white death row inmates and the 643 that have been executed.Something interesting is the death rate by homicide in California varies sole by race. African Americans are six times more likely to be murdered than whites in California. While 27. 6% of murder victims are white, 80% of executions in California have been for those convict ed of killing whites. Lastly, the death penalty is Just morally wrong. How do we as a country Justify that someone is being punished for murder or something of that sort and to correct/ punish this behavior we execute them. That is o backwards.America is a country that frowns upon other countries who don't value life but we don't really know how to back up that thinking because we are a country who grew up knowing to fix problems with violence. After George W. Bush stated in the 2000 presidential elections, â€Å"l don't think you should support the death penalty to seek revenge. I don't think that's right. I think the reason to support the death penalty is because it saves other people's lives† Family guy retaliated with, â€Å"l support the death penalty to teach people killing is wrong† Brian on Family Guy.When you think bout it, how does killing the inmate keep us any safer than Just keeping them in Jail forever? At the end of the day no one is being harmed, and ev eryone who is outside of prison is safe. The families of the victims can have peace of mind that they know the person will rot in prison and everyone else no longer has to even wonder if that person will come for them next. It's a win win situation. Until someone comes up with a plan that is more cost effective, humane, and still effectively punishes people for crimes the same or better than life in prison does, that seems to be the best way to handle criminals.

Free Essays on at People and Their Acceptance into Today’s Society

Fat People and Their Acceptance into Today’s Society With nearly twenty percent of the U.S. population falling into the category of obesity, is this country being faced with a widely spread epidemic? Or are those individuals just another facet of American society? Some see overeating as a disease that has plagued our society with no hope of being cured any time soon, while others see it as another aspect of American culture. Authors Greg Crister, Mary Ray Worley, and Hillel Schwartz touch upon these topics in their works, â€Å"Too Much of a Good Thing,† â€Å"Fat and Happy: In Defense of Fat Acceptance,† and â€Å"Fat and Happy?† respectively. Due to the recent wave of obese individuals, much of society looks down upon those who overeat. However, the general public should stop worrying about body image and learn to be happy with what they are given, particularly because such worrying can be physically and emotionally dangerous. The current mentality of the average American is that those who are overweight are a kind of second class to those who are of ideal weight. But what is ideal weight? Ideal weight is what is portrayed in magazines and on television as being beautiful and what everyone else should look like. The slim and sexy are highly glorified in the media making those who are not exactly beauty queens feel unattractive. In addition those who are not of ideal weight are looked down upon and treated as different people, solely based on their eating habits. Author Greg Crister argues these issues, and suggests that we as a society should stigmatize overeating, while being careful to stigmatize the act of overeating, as opposed to the person. His focus is mostly directed towards obesity and its impact on children; that being the most pivotal issue of our time. Moreover, if one is going to stigmatize overeating, than one needs to begin at the source where the eating begins: with children. Eating habits are taught when a child... Free Essays on at People and Their Acceptance into Today’s Society Free Essays on at People and Their Acceptance into Today’s Society Fat People and Their Acceptance into Today’s Society With nearly twenty percent of the U.S. population falling into the category of obesity, is this country being faced with a widely spread epidemic? Or are those individuals just another facet of American society? Some see overeating as a disease that has plagued our society with no hope of being cured any time soon, while others see it as another aspect of American culture. Authors Greg Crister, Mary Ray Worley, and Hillel Schwartz touch upon these topics in their works, â€Å"Too Much of a Good Thing,† â€Å"Fat and Happy: In Defense of Fat Acceptance,† and â€Å"Fat and Happy?† respectively. Due to the recent wave of obese individuals, much of society looks down upon those who overeat. However, the general public should stop worrying about body image and learn to be happy with what they are given, particularly because such worrying can be physically and emotionally dangerous. The current mentality of the average American is that those who are overweight are a kind of second class to those who are of ideal weight. But what is ideal weight? Ideal weight is what is portrayed in magazines and on television as being beautiful and what everyone else should look like. The slim and sexy are highly glorified in the media making those who are not exactly beauty queens feel unattractive. In addition those who are not of ideal weight are looked down upon and treated as different people, solely based on their eating habits. Author Greg Crister argues these issues, and suggests that we as a society should stigmatize overeating, while being careful to stigmatize the act of overeating, as opposed to the person. His focus is mostly directed towards obesity and its impact on children; that being the most pivotal issue of our time. Moreover, if one is going to stigmatize overeating, than one needs to begin at the source where the eating begins: with children. Eating habits are taught when a child...

Compare and Contrast Out, Out by Robert Frost and Mid- Term Break by Seamus Heaney Essays

Compare and Contrast Out, Out by Robert Frost and Mid- Term Break by Seamus Heaney Essays Compare and Contrast Out, Out by Robert Frost and Mid- Term Break by Seamus Heaney Paper Compare and Contrast Out, Out by Robert Frost and Mid- Term Break by Seamus Heaney Paper Essay Topic: Literature Seamus Heaney Poems In this essay I will be analysing two poems on the theme of death, Out, Out by Robert Frost, a poet from rural America and Mid-Term break by Seamus Heaney an Irish poet. I will be looking at the effects created by the poets. I will explore how their respective cultures affect their poems. I will first examine Robert Frosts Out, Out-. Robert frost lived from 1874 to 1963 and is regarded as of Americas best poets. He won the Pulitzer Prize four times for his contribution to literature. Robert Frost grew up on a farm; this obviously influenced the setting of this poem. The poems title is Out, Out- and is an extract from Macbeths last soliloquy, Out, out brief candle Lifes but a walking shadow. This indicates that the poem will be about death as Macbeth knows that death is inevitable. It suggests that death will take place in this poem. The hyphen in the title suggests that it is from a larger quote and when we discover its meaning, it creates a fatalistic atmosphere in the poem. The theme of the poem is death. Frost also employs the theme of time but commentates without love or emotion when he is narrating, so this is conspicuous by its absence. The poem is in one long stanza. This increases the feeling that it is in prose. This also moves the story along faster. There is no rhyme scheme which is also like prose. The rhythm differs in each section of the poem. The poem is written objectively and even though it seems as if Frost is watching the story unfold, he shows a lack of concern for the victim. In the first line of the poem Frost personifies and makes the buzz saw animalistic. This quote proves that, The buzz saw snarled .. This creates a sinister atmosphere and instantly makes the saw seem evil. Frost then attempts to distract the reader from the evil saw by describing the saw dust, using sibilance, Sweet scented stuff. This changes the mood of the poem for the next four lines. It goes onto describe the dramatic Vermont scenery. This quote shows that the boy is not concentrating on the task, Lifted eyes could count, Five mountain ranges one behind the other. This shows that he is not concentrating. The description makes the atmosphere very relaxed and the tension from the first lines is lost. The tension is then restored though in the seventh line as Frost uses repletion to make the saw scarier. Then Frost describes the mundane atmosphere of the day, this creates the feeling that something bad will happen. Then Frost subtly suggests that the boy will die, The day was all but done. I think that day is a metaphor for life and that it indicates that the boy will die. He states it like it is inevitable and unavoidable. Frost obviously foresees the accident as he says that they should have finished earlier, then the accident would have been avoided. Frost then personifies the saw once again as he describes the actual accident. He states that the saw leaps as the boy is surprised by his sisters cry. Frost describes the accident as a meeting between the boys hand and the buzz saw. This is a really impersonal thing to write. There is no real gory description of the accident. This leaves the image to the readers imagination it is horribly effective. Frost then states that the boy, Must have given his hand. This indicates that the boy knew that he knew that he was going to chop his hand off, strange as this may seem. The Poet then describes the boys reaction to the accident, Frost describes the boys initial as a Rueful laugh this shows that the boy has some idea of what trouble he is in and that he is nervous. He instinctively holds his arm up clenching his hand in place. Frost then describes the folly of child doing a mans work. This changes the poem to a mood of pathos. He then describes the boys death in the last ten lines. Frost never puts in any emotional attachment to the boy. The boy then sees that his injury is very serious. He asks someone to tell the doctor not to cut his hand off. He refers to the person as sister. This person can be interpreted as his sister or a nurse; I like to think that it is nurse as it explains her distinct detachment from the boy. Frost then says that his hand was already detached and there was nothing that the doctor could have done. The doctors then put the boy in, The dark of ether which means a crude form of anaesthetic, ether is also linked strongly with death, which might suggest that the doctor put him to sleep. Frost portrays the boys innocence by describing, Puffed out lips with his breath. Dark also represents death as contrast to day. Frost utterly understates the death forcing you to imagine it. The doctors are shocked at the boys failing pulse and his death. The most shocking line in the poem is the last, Since they were not dead, they turned to their affairs. This illustrates the detachment between people and suggests that death often takes place. This poem confuses and makes me wonder more about the characters. It does make me read in between the lines and it uses metaphors when describing death and life to very good use. This poem is quite obscure. I now move onto Mid-Term Break. The poet Seamus Heaney wrote this autobiographical poem in the twentieth century. Heaney describes his wait to go home at the start of the poem. We dont know what he is waiting for but we have an indication of death when Heaney says that he was Counting bells knelling Funeral bells knell so that indicates death has taken place. You get the idea that has died when his neighbours come and pick him up from school. This shows that his parents cant face him. This strongly indicates that something bad has happened. Another sign of this is when he sees his, Father crying, in the porch this must be a sad thing to greet you as you enter your house. This empathised again as he states that his father, Had always taken funerals in his stride the mention of a funeral certifies the death. Heaney then uses very effective contrast by describing his baby brothers reaction. The first four stanzas are written as if in a daze, he is aware of what is going on around of him but doesnt describe his feelings deeply. He is obviously shocked. He then describes the embarrassment as he is greeted solemnly by old men. It is if they treat him as one of them now that he has suffered a tragedy. Heaney uses enjambment to link together verses to great effect. The old men arent blunt about the death saying that they are, Sorry for my trouble. This builds tension and makes you wonder who has died. In the fourth stanza you learn that Seamus has been away at boarding school. The family are obviously very close to each other. The mother, Coughs out angry tearless sighs this suggests that she has been crying for some time and that the death was violent. In the middle of the fifth stanza Seamus comes out of his daze and describes the arrival of the corpse at his house. Heaney is still building tension in the poem as he still does not name the body. His parents obviously prevent going into the room where the corpse is. His parents are obviously making it as nice possible for him. Heaney finally names the corpse as his brother. This makes more sympathetic for him. It is the first time he has seen his brother in six weeks. This is also very sad. The only way that he describes is that he is paler this shows that he is still a child. The only wound that Seamus can see is, A poppy bruise. This is a reference to the Second World War and the poppy is often associated with death. Heaney finds it difficult to accept that his brother is dead and says it is similar the way his brother looks dead with sleeping. On the last line of the stanza it reveals that his brother was run over with a reference to a bumper. The last stanza is one line long for effect. It reads, a four foot box, a foot for every year. This is shocking as you dont know how old the brother is until this point. This poem makes me very sad and the enjambment is used to great effect. This is a timeless poem as the sadness of death is felt by people every day and you can relate to it. I will now compare and contrast the poems. Both poems are on the theme of death. The layouts are a lot different as in Out, Out is written in one stanza to increase the speed of reading and to show the mood, whereas Mid Term break is eight stanzas long to show the differing emotions of Seamus Heaney. The titles also differ in their help in predicting the theme of the poem. Out, Out- is an obvious reference to death whereas Mid Term break is more obscure. Out, out- is written in first person narrative like Mid Term Break but Mid Term Break is emotional. So it is more subjective. The use of the senses is used in both. In Out, Out- the use of sight is used when he describes the scenery as in Mid-Term break as Heaney describes his dead brother. They use sound in both as Frost describes the saw and in Mid-Term Break when Heaney describes his naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve baby sibling. The sense of smell is used in Out, Out- as Frost describes the saw dust as Sweet scented stuff. The writing techniques are different as personification is used in Out, Out-. The techniques are similar as enjambment is used in both poems and alliteration are used as Frost describes Sweet scented and in Heaneys poem as he describes his brothers coffin as a Four Foot box I conclude that I preferred Mid Term Break as it is a timeless poem with a tear jerking mood. It is easy to relate to and you really feel for Seamus Heaney.

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