Microraptor Gui: The Dinosaur with Four Wings :: Anthropology Essays Paleontology Papers

Microraptor Gui: The Dinosaur with Four Wings Knowing that pterodactyls belong to a separate group of reptiles than dinosaurs, the thought of a dinosaur with wings may seem somewhat strange. But a fairly recent archeological find adds an extra detail to make this idea truly bizarre: a dinosaur with four wings. Microraptor gui, discovered by Xing Xu and colleagues, is believed to be a kind of missing link between strictly ground-dwelling dinosaurs and birds, namely Archaeopteryx, the earliest known creature to be considered a bird. While there can be no debate over the discovery itself, the implications made from its discovery haven’t been entirely accepted, with many arguing them altogether. Besides being an oddity, what makes this particular find so significant? What are these implications that have riled some scientists up, and what is it that these experts argue? Before any sort of discussion on the debate of what M. gui implies, however, the details of this odd reptile’s discovered fossils should be given. Through past research and findings, the leading theory on the origin of birds traces them back to dinosaurs, more specifically a type of bipedal dinosaur called theropods. Within this group of mostly carnivorous dinosaurs are the dromaeosaurids, and they specifically are believed to be the closest dinosaur ancestors of birds. The discovered fossils of the dramaeosaurid M. gui form of a nearly complete skeleton, and it’s been compared with a similar, previously discovered Microraptor skeleton. The place of M. gui’s discovery was Dapingfang, Chaoyang County in western Liaoning, China, also known as the Jiufotang Formation_. Xu and colleagues declare the fossils to be dated from the early Cretaceous period (about 124 - 128 million years ago_)_ through others’ radiometric dating and biostratagraphical correlations of that region_. Interestingly, the closest ancestors of many of the dinosaurs found within this area of China are believed to have lived not during the early Cretaceous, but the late Jurassic_. Paleogeographers have theorized that this area was thoroughly isolated during the very late Jurassic and into the early Cretaceous_. With paleontologists theorizing that Archaeopteryx came into existence 25 million years before the dated existence of these M. gui fossils_, M. gui i s still believed to be a basal dromaeosaurid, meaning that it’s one of the earliest of this type of theropod, maintaining that these fossils are of an ancestor to Archaeopteryx and all birds.

A Treasure of a Lifetime essay

A Treasure of a Lifetime There are many great gifts that I have received in my life blessed and beyond words. The foremost greatest gift that stands out to me the most is my son. I don’t just look at this gift as just a gift; I look at it as a blessing and a true gift from God. Each and every day I wake up I am thankful for my son. I try my best to enjoy and cherish every moment that we have together every day. Not everyone that wants children can have them so not only do I cherish every moment with my son I take advantage of this great opportunity of bringing a child as great as mine into this world.My child is the greatest gift that I have received because he is smart in so many ways, he brings nothing but joy and happiness into my life, and he is my biggest inspiration for why I strive for the best in life. One reason why I think my child is such a great gift to me is because, sometimes in life people don’t get to enjoy the special moments with their children. I can only speak for myself and the wonderful moments that I have enjoyed with my son. Ever since he was a baby, I have enjoyed just watching him grow up to be a smart kid. My son knows how to sing his alphabets as well as saying them and he knows how to count his numbers.He knows all his shapes and colors he even knows how to spell and recognize the letter of his name. I’m not trying to brag but it’s just a thrill and an amazing feeling to just sit and watch your child grow and learn new things each day. It makes me a proud parent of a wonderful child with such great potential. Another reason why I say he’s smart is because he can go to the bathroom on his own I don’t have to tell him to go he just get up and go to the bathroom. He sometimes gets himself dressed, even though he might not match, but it makes me a proud to know that my son is trying.I award my child for everything he does right, I don’t criticize him about the things he does wrong. I try to help him as well as showing him all of his mistakes, my son knows I love and care about him and I’m here to help him every step of the way. Another reason why my child is the greatest gift that I have received is because he brings so much joy and happiness into my life. Just knowing our struggle from the time he was born until now, I tried to raise him all by myself, yes it was hard but it just made me stronger and happier to be his mother.I take advantage of being a part of my son’s life because I love him so much and I know another day is not promised to me and him or anyone else. So I enjoy our time together each day. I know my child loves me unconditionally and I know he knows I love him the same way. My son looks up to me as a positive role model in his life and as a provider, teacher, and friend. I’m here for all of those reasons, but when it comes down to discipline I want him to know there are rules and regulations that he has to follow. It’s j ust a selfless act of love, because my life is not my own and it’s not just about me.In addition, to my son bringing so much joy into my life he is also a big inspiration in my life as well. He is what keeps this smile on my face from day to day. My son is the reason why I strive for the best in life. My child is the reason why I wake up and go to school and work, there are plenty of day that I wake up and don’t want to go to work or go to school. I just think about my son and I ask God to give me the strength to make it through the day, because I know this is something that I want and I don’t want to give up on.I want my son to feel proud of me to know where we came from and to see how far we’ve made it through. I truly don’t believe I would have made it this far without him. But I still say all things happen for a reason. God knew exactly what he was doing. I am more than glad to have this child a part of my life he has helped me to motivate myse lf to achieve many goals and accomplish many things in life. This is still a learning experience for me when I first had my son I wasn’t concerned about being a mother.I was mostly concerned about would I make a good mother because God knows it was hard to raise a child and still go to school and try to work, it’s not something that is easy but as these years have gone by I’ve learned to be a good mother to my child and except the challenges of motherhood. Today, I am a proud mother of a three year old little boy that bring so much joy and happiness in to my life I couldn’t ask for anything else greater than this gift God granted me with. Sometimes in life things are thrown at you from every open door and it just makes you want to give up.These things that are thrown at you are called obstacles, these obstacles are thrown at you to make your way hard and to make you think you’re worthless but it’s up to you to continue to fight your way thro ugh these obstacles. Sometimes you need a little push and a little motivation. This is the reason why I consider my son a reason to why I kept going because I knew there was some work for me to do. God saw nothing but great opportunities in my life and I’m making it each day to have faith in myself and to believe that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.I highly would like to recommend this to all the young girls that had children at a young age and wanted to finish school and didn’t and had obstacles thrown their way that knocked them down and they couldn’t find their way back up. I’m here to tell you there is no such thing as â€Å"I can’t† because â€Å"I did†, I kept going. I got pregnant when I was fifteen years old I had my son when I was sixteen I didn’t stop I graduated from high school and I made it to college. But I’m not giving up on my goals and my future that I can see before me, I am going to continue to stroll down that road called success.

Rhetoric of the Gulf War essays

Rhetoric of the Gulf War essays It was August 2,1990, in an effort to make his country whole again that Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. Kuwait is a small country, and within four hours he controlled not only the region, but also 24% of the worlds oil supplies. It seemed as if his next target was Saudi Arabia. This was the exigent that the United States used to get involved in the affair. Under the claim that Saudi Arabia had asked for their assistance, the U.S. set a deadline of January 15, 1991, demanding all Iraq forces out of Kuwait. We were told that Saddam Hussein ignored the warning, which triggered Desert Shield, or the build-up of troops in the region and eventually led to Desert Storm, an all-out attack to free Kuwait. It wasnt just the U.S. who got involved however. According to the Desert Storm web site, the Bush Administration involved the U.N. in an effort to bypass Congress. Constitutionally they are the only ones who can declare war be it foreign or domestic in the United States. Congress w ould eventually be involved, but the result was 28 countries standing against Iraq and its population of 17 million. On the U.S. home front was an economic recession. This according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch was a primary reason for their willingness to free Kuwait. But there where others as well... Those reasons included jobs for Americans, a determination to nip aggression in the bud and not allow it to grow, as Nazism did, through appeasement, and a need to guarantee the flow of oil at reasonable prices from the world's largest known reserves. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch January 2, 1991, Wednesday, Five Star Edition) The issue of declaring war was highly contested by the American people, however, which lead to three days of nationally televised congressional debates on January 10-12. When the votes where in both houses of Congress voted for a military attack on Iraq. At 6:50pm E.S.T., on January...

Free Essays on Hindu Caste System

The principle of Varnasrama Vindaloo Dharma, also known as Yachti, or caste, is one of the most fundamental aspects of Hinduism. Its origins may be traceable back as far as 6000 BC, when during the course of the tribal warfare that was prevalent in the region, the complex hierarchy was devised as a system to facilitate the subjugation of the conquered people. It is thought by some that even today, the members of the lowest castes are descendents of those conquered tribes. (Wikipedia: Georges Dumezil) The caste system is based upon the principle that human society is like a huge, complex machine, with the individuals and communities being like its parts. If the parts are weak and broken, the machine will not work. The body can only work efficiently if its parts and organs are in sound and strong condition. And lubricated. But if there is pain in any part of the body, if there is disease in any organ or part of the body, this human machine will go out of order. It will not perform its usual function or work. Likewise, no organ can fulfill any other organ’s function. And thus it is that Hindu society traditionally was divided into four main castes, with those castes themselves being divided into literally hundreds of subcastes. The function of these names is to quantify how close a person was to freeing himself from the cycle of death and rebirth. Being born to a higher caste was an indication that one had lived one’s previous lives in a holy manner. Likewise, the higher castes had to be careful to live holy lives themselves, less they regress to a lower caste in the next reincarnation cycle, or even worse, reincarnate as some kind of animal. The highest class is the Brahmans, the priestly class. Their dharma is to study and understand the Vedas, Hindu’s holy texts, and bring this knowledge to others. The second class is the Kshatriya, the warrior class, who acted as the protectors of the peace. I made a doody. Vaishya, the ... Free Essays on Hindu Caste System Free Essays on Hindu Caste System The principle of Varnasrama Vindaloo Dharma, also known as Yachti, or caste, is one of the most fundamental aspects of Hinduism. Its origins may be traceable back as far as 6000 BC, when during the course of the tribal warfare that was prevalent in the region, the complex hierarchy was devised as a system to facilitate the subjugation of the conquered people. It is thought by some that even today, the members of the lowest castes are descendents of those conquered tribes. (Wikipedia: Georges Dumezil) The caste system is based upon the principle that human society is like a huge, complex machine, with the individuals and communities being like its parts. If the parts are weak and broken, the machine will not work. The body can only work efficiently if its parts and organs are in sound and strong condition. And lubricated. But if there is pain in any part of the body, if there is disease in any organ or part of the body, this human machine will go out of order. It will not perform its usual function or work. Likewise, no organ can fulfill any other organ’s function. And thus it is that Hindu society traditionally was divided into four main castes, with those castes themselves being divided into literally hundreds of subcastes. The function of these names is to quantify how close a person was to freeing himself from the cycle of death and rebirth. Being born to a higher caste was an indication that one had lived one’s previous lives in a holy manner. Likewise, the higher castes had to be careful to live holy lives themselves, less they regress to a lower caste in the next reincarnation cycle, or even worse, reincarnate as some kind of animal. The highest class is the Brahmans, the priestly class. Their dharma is to study and understand the Vedas, Hindu’s holy texts, and bring this knowledge to others. The second class is the Kshatriya, the warrior class, who acted as the protectors of the peace. I made a doody. Vaishya, the ...

Civil Rights and Black Power Movements Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Civil Rights and Black Power Movements - Essay Example From this essay it is clear that as the movement was aimed at using peaceful means to achieve its goals, it started its activities by influencing churches to preach equality though this faced a lot of opposition from the police as churches were expected to put emphasis on spiritual matters. The movement also believed that for the blacks to acquire equal rights with their white counterparts they had to be aware of their civil rights. This caused them to start state citizenship schools in 1954 that majored in teaching adults to enable them to pass literacy tests though they secretly offered democracy and civil rights classes against the law.As the discussion highlights unlike the SCLC, which believed in peace, the Black Panther Party founded in 1966 by Boy Scale (served as chairman) and Huey Newton believed in the use of military power by the minority against the government to earn freedom against segregation. Though both movements had an aim of gaining freedom against Negro segregatio n, BPM appeared to be more radical in their quest for freedom. Most of the protests involving BPM always turned out violent as the members believed in violence as a means of acquiring freedom. Important to note, however, unlike the SCLC, which was led by older church ministers and political activists like Martin Luther, most of the BPP leaders were in their early twenties and others even below twenty years, for example, Bobby Hutton, who was only seventeen years old.

Neo-Surrealism - Alejandro Jodorowsky Term Paper

Neo-Surrealism - Alejandro Jodorowsky - Term Paper Example The essay "Neo-Surrealism - Alejandro Jodorowsky" discusses surrealists and, especially, Alejandro Jodorowsky. Surrealists also believed in the omnipotence of dreams. After the surrealist movement, like many other movements, certain people felt that theirs was still more that could be derived from the movement, particularly as it concerned their time; so they brought it back. These set of people that decided to bring back surrealism in their own age, are the neo-surrealists. One of them is Alejandro Jodorowsky. Alejandro Jodorowsky is known to be a man of many parts; he is an author, a spiritual leader, filmmaker, playwright and an actor. Many of his works shift towards avant-gardism. His works are not like the average work that would be found in the time they were produced. Even now, his work will still be strange, at least in the surreal sense, yet they still apply to present times. They are often filled with images that are violent and surreal. They are also filled with a mix of r eligious mysticism and provocation. As a result of the â€Å"never-do-well† feature that can be found in many of his movies, one would realize that there seems to be continuity in his works. Jodorowsky’s move into surrealism did not start all of a sudden. There are insinuation that it may have started since the time he was very young. In fact, he may be said to have really had every course to embrace the movement as he did. Being raised in a family that he hated would have definitely taken its toll on him. (Jodorowsky 39-40, 140). He also had contempt for the people who lived in his neighbourhood because most of them saw him as an imposter, as a result of the fact that he is the son of an immigrant (Jodorowsky 39-40, 140). All these experiences inadvertently had effects on the kind of works he produced, although not exactly in the manner in which it had happened to him. In â€Å"El Topo†, in which he starred and also directed, Jodorowsky may be said to have depicted a version of the uncertainties of life. As always, he does this by presenting a dream-like world. Yet, one would discover that, because no literature can totally annul its link with real life, â€Å"El Topo† is very much a story that can happen in real life. It is about a Mexican brigand who takes on a journey with the sole end of enlightening himself spiritually. Yet, while on the journey with his young son, he seems to be unable to take away his violent part. The violence depicted in this movie may have som ething to do with the director’s upbringing. He attacks people before he kills himself. He later ascends to society where deformed people are unable to escape the cave where they are. Like in almost all his movies, he depicts a distorted reality. We, as humans, all have the idea of what is perfect, yet most times we do not attain it. The best we often do is to aim at it because in reality, perfection cannot be attained because our reality is distorted. Of â€Å"El Topo†, Jodorowsky (97) says "I ask of film what most North Americans ask of psychedelic drugs. The difference being that when one creates a psychedelic film, he need not create a film that shows the visions of a person who has taken a pill; rather, he needs to manufacture the pill". Against music provided by a six-piece rock band, a set consisting of a smashed automobile, and the visual frisson provided by a cast of bare-chested women (each body painted a different color), Jodorowsky appeared dressed in motor cyclist leather. He slit the throats of two geese, smashed plates, had himself stripped aholynd whipped, danced with a honey-covered

How the World Trade Organization (WTO) Impacts Intellectual Property Essay

How the World Trade Organization (WTO) Impacts Intellectual Property Rights - Essay Example Finally, economics affects the governments by determining a nation’s financial resources needed in the sustenance of the country’s requirements. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an international body charged with the responsibility of regulating trade between the different countries engaged in trading activities. For example, the WTO standardizes trading policies by finding a common ground between the different domestic policies in existent, in the different nations (Kroll, 1999). Intellectual property rights are a crucial issue of contention between countries engaged in trading activities on an international level (Kroll, 1999). This is because of the differences in policies regarding the ownership and transference of this right from one person to another. The WTO continues to resolve disputes arising with regard to intellectual property rights by providing a standardized set of rules used in the judgment of these cases (Kroll, 1999). †¢Compare and contrast f ree trade and protectionist theories Free trade is a product of capitalism which replaced the once popular mercantilism (Craig, 1994). Through the recognition of individual rights to own and dispose of property, capitalism thrived. Capitalism allows for privatization of wealth and the subsequent reduction of restrictions on trade thus free trade (Craig, 1994). Free trade is an economic provision for exchange of goods and services without the intervention of the government especially in view of foreign trade. In this scenario, the traders utilize the principle of comparative advantage meaning both parties benefit from the trade interactions (Craig, 1994). Matters of guiding policies dictate that free trade ought to rely on supply and demand which governs the prices and availability of the goods and services (Craig, 1994). However, comparative advantage, demand and supply do not guarantee fair trade. Nonetheless, free trade is a charitable foundation on which competitive markets thriv e. It is easy for states and individuals to accumulate wealth and gunner profits from exporting and importing when they practice free trade (Craig, 1994). Protectionist theorists, on the other hand, criticize capitalism and the principle of free trade. Like mercantilism, protectionist theories hold that the government’s control on the importation, exportation and other forms of foreign trade is imperative and extremely beneficial to the nation and individuals (Craig, 1994). Through policies such as tariffs, import quotas export subsidies and exchange rates; the government controls the processes of importation and exportation. Some states even impose embargoes on individuals and firms (Craig, 1994). These protectionist principles have one significant benefit. They favor domestic trade through increased domestic demand and expansion of domestic industries. Elements of protectionism also protect a state against predatory pricing and may subsequently lower the chances of inflatio n in an economy (Craig, 1994). In view of international trade, firms, individuals and governments prefer the distributional effect to the aggregate effect of a policy or strategy (Craig, 1994). When it comes to free trade, the result will be a net gain. On the other hand, restricted trade encompasses net loss. Therefore, most economies prefer designer strategies to a strictly outlined one. Free trade is the â€Å"