Robert Hooke :: biographies bio

Robert Hooke was an Englishman, born in Freshwater, Isle of Wight on July 18, 1635. He died in London on March 3, 1703. During his life he contributed a great deal to the world of science, contrary to what was expected of him at an early age. As a child, Robert Hooke was constantly in poor health. It was never expected that he would live past his childhood. He had frequent headaches which made studying for school very difficult. His parents decided to quit pursuing an education for their son, and Hooke was left to learn on his own accord. He became fascinated by mechanical objects such as toys and clocks. He also developed a talent for drawing. Hooke did survive to see adulthood, and old age. In his 68 years he held many positions in different fields. * Apprentice to Peter Lely, a portrait painter of the time * Professor of geometry at Gresham College in London * Assistant to Robert Boyle * London City Surveyor * Curator of experiments for the Royal Society of London * Lecturer on mechanics * Secretary of the Royal Society of London Robert Hooke invented many instruments for variable purposes. The following is a limited list of his many inventions. * modern air pump * wheel, double, & marine barometers * anchor escapement of clocks * spring control of the balance wheel in watches * arithmetic machine * 1st Gregorian telescope * compound microscope * reflecting telescope * diving engine * spiral gear * universal (Hooke's) joint * iris diaphragm * lens grinding machine * conical pendulum * springy saddle * horizontal sail for windmills * applied telescopic sights to surveying instruments * air gun Robert Hooke's first publication was in 1661, on the subject of capillary action.

History of La Cosa Nostra

Running Header: {History of La Cosa Nostra} History of La Cosa Nostra UNK Dr. Neal CJ 380 12. 01. 2011 Envision a world where crime is king; a world where mobsters were more influential than political figures, controlled law enforcement, and ran cities to line their own pockets. They stole from whom they wanted and murdered those that got in their way. While it sounds like something out of a movie, it actually happened here in the United States in the first half of the 20th century. The American Mafia has evolved over the years as various gangs assumed and lost dominance: the Black Hand gangs around 1900; the Five Points Gang in the 1910s and ‘20s in New York City; Al Capone’s Syndicate in Chicago in the 1920s. Since the 1900s, thousands of Italian organized crime figures, mostly Sicilian Mafiosi, have come illegally to this country. The Italian Immigrants crowded into older lower class neighborhoods of American cities, sometimes given names such as â€Å"Little Italy†. These neighborhoods suffered from overcrowding and poor sanitary conditions. Living together in such closed communities created little more than a microcosm of the society they had left in Europe (par. 3, Black Hand). Some criminals exploited this fact, and began to extort the more prosperous Italian’s in their neighborhood creating a crime that would eventually snow-ball into an epidemic known as ‘The Black Hand’ (par. 3, Black Hand). The extortions were done anonymously by delivering threatening letters demanding money, signed with crudely drawn symbols, such as a knife or a skull. People paid the Black Hand extortionists in the fear that American law had no understanding, or power, to help them (par. , Black Hand). Many who fled here in the early 1920’s helped establish what is known today as La Cosa Nostra or the American Mafia (par. 10, FBI). La Cosa Nostra, or the LCN as it is known by the FBI, consists of different â€Å"families† or groups that are generally arranged geographically and engaged in significant and organ ized racketeering activity (par. 30, FBI). The LCN is most active in the New York metropolitan area, parts of New Jersey, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, and New England. It has members in other major cities and is involved in international crimes (par. 1, FBI). During the 1920s Prohibition era, when the 18th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution banned the sale, manufacture and transportation of alcoholic beverages, Italian-American gangs along with other ethnic gangs entered the booming bootleg liquor business and transformed themselves into sophisticated criminal enterprises, skilled at smuggling, money laundering and bribing police and other public officials (par 2, History Channel). By the end of the ‘20s, two primary factions had emerged, leading to a war for control of organized crime in New York City. The murder of faction leader Joseph Masseria brought an end to the gang warfare and in 1931 Sicilian-born crime boss Salvatore Maranzano crowned himself the â€Å"capo di tutti capi,† or boss of all bosses, in New York (par 3, History Channel). Two of the most powerful La Cosa Nostra families, known today as the Genovese and Gambino families emerged from Maranzano’s restructuring efforts. Maranzano named Luciano the first boss of what would later be known as the Genovese family. Unhappy with Maranzano’s power grab, Lucky Luciano had him murdered that same year (par 3, History Channel). Charles â€Å"Lucky† Luciano became the new leader. Luciano then masterminded the formation of a central organization called the Commission to serve as a sort of national board of directors for the American Mafia, which by then consisted of at least 20 crime families across the country (par 3, History Channel). New York, which had become America’s organized-crime capital, had been divided into five main Mafia families; everywhere else the Mafia operated, there was just one crime family per city. The Commission’s role was to set policies and mediate disagreements among the families (par 3, History Channel). In 1936, Luciano was sentenced to 30 to 50 years in prison. Ten years later, he was released from prison and deported to Italy, never to return. When he was convicted, Frank Costello became acting boss (par. 49, FBI). Costello led the family for approximately 20 years until May of 1957 when Genovese took control by sending soldier Vincent â€Å"the Chin† Gigante to murder him. Costello survived the attack but relinquished control of the family to Genovese. Attempted murder charges against Gigante were dismissed when Costello refused to identify him as the shooter (par. 50, FBI). In 1959, it was Genovese’s turn to go to prison following a conviction of conspiracy to violate narcotics laws. He received a 15-year sentence but continued to run the family through his underlings from his prison cell in Atlanta, Georgia (par. 51, FBI). The Genovese family went through a succession of bosses until Lombardo, his two captains in prison and his health failing, turned full control of the Genovese family over to Gigante, the man who tried to kill Costello 30 years earlier (par. 56, FBI). Gigante ran the family from behind the scenes while pretending to be mentally ill until he was convicted of racketeering and murder conspiracy in December 1997. Gigante’s odd behavior and mumbling while he walked around New York’s East Village in a bathrobe earned him the nickname â€Å"the Odd Father† (par. 58, FBI). The other powerful New York mafia family was the Gambino Family. The Gambino family was named for its most powerful boss, Carlo Gambino, a smart, cunning individual with a fascination for the works of Prince Machiavelli. His sharp business sense, and traditional values, earned him the respect of his allies. Don Carlo was never arrested during his career as boss, and he died of natural causes in 1976, leaving brother-in-law Paul Castellano in charge of operations. From 1976 until his assassination by John Gotti in 1985, Castellano would come to be known as the â€Å"Boss of Bosses†. Big Paulie Castellano was never a mobster in the classic sense, but rather a racketeer. He didn't even hang out with other gangsters, preferring the company of businessmen, and other â€Å"important† individuals. Castellano had few enemies, but John Gotti believed Aniello Dellacroce should have been made boss, and he had often been chastised by Castellano for dealing drugs and conducting operations without prior consultation. When Big Paulie was arrested by the FBI after bugs planted in the mobsters home had provided several hours of recorded evidence, rumors began to circulate as to whether he would rat out fellow Gambino Family members, John Gotti, now acting in lieu of Dellacroce who had recently died of brain cancer, decided it was time to plan Big Paulie's retirement (par. 1, Gambino Family/Paul Castellano). Castellano was gunned down outside Sparks Steakhouse in Manhatten as Gottie and Sammy the Bull Gravano watched from a nearby car. Throughout the 80s, Gotti earned the nickname, the â€Å"Teflon Don†; for none of the charges brought against him would stick†¦ At least until the early 90s, when he was indicted and tried on a RICO (Racketeer Influenced, and Corrupt Organizations) case; this time facing a prosecution armed with mobster turned informant Sammy â€Å"The Bull† Gravano, who had been Gotti's own underboss, and who provided damning testimony against his former boss, particularly about about the Castellano murder. Gotti was sentenced to life imprisonment, and later made several attempts at a second trial, all of which were denied. John Gotti died of cancer in the Springfield, Missouri federal prison hospital, on June 10th, 2002 (par. 1, Gambino Family/ John Gotti). Another of the five families is the Bonanno crime family, originally headed by then twenty-six-year-old Joseph â€Å"Joe Bananas† Bonanno, Sicilian-born and one of the youngest bosses of all time. The Bonanno War or â€Å"Banana Split† occurred when the Commission demoted Bonanno to underboss, sparking fervent family in-fighting among those who sided with Bonanno and those who sided with the new boss, Paul Sciacca. The fighting continued until 1968, when Bonanno suffered a heart attack and retired, though by this point the Commission had stripped the Bonanno family of its seat (par. 3, Investigation and Discovery). Troubles with the law have plagued the family, leading one newspaper to report that 75 of its 150 members have been indicted on various charges (par. 5, Investigation and Discovery/ Bonanno). The Columbo Family is the fourth of the five families. Following the Castellamarese War of 1929-1931, the family emerged as the Profaci family. It was headed by Joseph Profaci, without much threat to his leadership, until the 1950s. After Profaci’s death, Joseph Magliocco took over for a short time before the family was handed over to Joe Colombo, and the family bears his namesake to this day (par. , Investigation and Discovery/ Columbo). The family has been greatly depleted from its heyday, and continues to be ruled by Carmine Persico, now 73 years old, from prison with help from those family members who remain on the ground (par. 6, Investigation and Discovery/ Columbo). The Fifth Family, the Lucchese crime family, as it is known today, emerged out of the Castellamarese War of 1929-1931 , with Gaetano â€Å"Tommy† Gagliano serving as the appointed boss and Gaetano â€Å"Tommy† Lucchese as the appointed underboss. The family was known for its successful forays into industries such as trucking and clothing. Following Gagliano’s death in 1953, Lucchese took over and successfully ran the organization for many years with an excellent reputation. He never received a criminal conviction in his 44 years in the Mafia (par. 1, Investigation and Discovery/ Lucchese). By the mid-20th century, there were 24 known crime families in America, comprised of an estimated 5,000 full-fledged members and thousands of associates across the country. Prior to the 1960s, some government leaders, including FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, voiced skepticism about the existence of a national Italian-American organized crime network and suggested instead that crime gangs operated strictly on a local level. As a result, law enforcement agencies made few inroads in stopping the Mafia’s rise during this period (par. 6, History Channel). Since its beginnings La Cosa Nostra has been involved in a variety of rackets including gambling, loan sharking, labor union corruption, prostitution, and drug trafficking to name a few. Labor unions provide a rich source for organized criminal groups to exploit: their pension, welfare, and health funds. There are approximately 75,000 union locals in the U. S. , and many of them maintain their own benefit funds. In the mid-1980s, the Teamsters controlled more than 1,000 funds with total assets of more than $9 billion (par. 66, FBI). Labor racketeers attempt to control health, welfare, and pension plans by offering â€Å"sweetheart† contracts, peaceful labor relations, and relaxed work rules to companies, or by rigging union elections (par. 67, FBI). Labor law violations occur primarily in large cities with both a strong industrial base and strong labor unions, like New York, Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia. Senator Estes Kefauver’s Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime did not out rightly expose the complete, brutal reality of the Mafia to the American public. Nor did the Appalachian incident ignite immediate action on the part of the federal government. However, something changed when dozens of Mafia bosses met one 1957 November day at Joseph Barbara’s estate to select Vito Genovese as the boss of bosses. The response by law enforcement of the past had been to try to take down the bosses. But what became evident with the realization of the existence of such a â€Å"syndicate† was that even if Mr. Big were removed, his family would remain intact; it would simply transfer hands, usually resulting in the family being renamed. New legislation would have to be of an entirely different mold in order to be of any use to law enforcement, and such a campaign wouldn’t come into play until after the death of FBI Director Edgar J. Hoover (par. 9, The Mafia and American Law). In 1970, Congress passed the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, this proved to be a powerful tool in the government’s war on the Mafia, as it allowed prosecutors to go after crime families and their sources of revenue, both legal and illegal. During the 1980s and 1990s, RICO laws were used to convict numerous high-level mobsters. Some Mafiosi, faced with long prison sentences, broke the once-sacred code of omerta and testified against their fellow mobsters in exchange for a place in the federal witness-protection program. At the same time, Mafia membership declined as insular Italian-American neighborhoods, once a traditional recruiting ground for mobsters, underwent demographic shifts and became more assimilated into society at large (par. 7, History Channel). References GangRule. com, The Black Hand. (2011). Retrieved 6:52, December 7, 2011, from http://www. gangrule. com/gangs/the-black-hand Italian Organized Crime, (2011). The Federal Bureau of Investigation website. Retrieved 2:32, December 7, 2011, from http://www. fbi. ov/aboutus/investigate/organizedcrime/italian_mafia Mafia in the United States. (2011). The History Channel website. Retrieved 5:25, December 7, 2011, from http://www. history. com/topics/mafia-in-the-united-states. The Five Families. (2011). The Investigation Discovery website. Retrieved 2:32, December 7, 2011, from http://investigation. discovery. com/investigation/mobs-gangsters/five-families-03. html The Gambino Family. (2002). The Gambino Family website. Retrieved 6:52, Dece mber 7, 2011, from http://www. gambinofamily. com/carlo_gambino. htm

Benefiting from Learning About the Flaws of People

Benefiting from learning about the flaws of people they respect or admire. Usually it just so happen that we people are young they tend to have a lot of heroes, or someone they respect or admire. They soon learn when they grow up that these people they have admired for so long have flaws just like anyone else. Leaving them feeling disappointed or upset, but what they don’t know is that learning about these flaws can be beneficial to them. People benefit from learning about the flaws of people they respect or admire. What they soon learn is that people make mistakes, no one is perfect.Including those they may look up to the most, for example their parents. Their parents are the ones who teach them right from wrong, and so the kids may expect their parents to go by this as well. Most of the times the kids are disappointed to find out their parents aren’t perfect either. After that, they either chose to make the same mistake or chose to learn from it. â€Å"Monkey see, mo nkey do. † It can even be beneficial coming from someone they don’t even know. It could be someone who sang their favorite song, or stared on their favorite TV show. For a kid to have a celebrity as an idol is very common.Celebrities are people just like us so they are going to make mistakes; it is how they deal with the problem that’s beneficial. But because they are famous, everyone can see their mistake. People can also benefit to one’s peers. Watching someone they love or admire, make a mistake than learn from it, is extremely beneficial. They can accept that person for who they are and become more mature. It is very important that we learn at a young age that no one is perfect, and they can’t always set high expectations for everyone. Especially if they set the expectations for someone they have known all their life.Everyone’s has flaws and they should be expected. â€Å"There are no mistakes, no coincidences. All events are blessings g iven to us to learn from. † It is not always good to have an admirer that makes mistake and they follow but don’t ever learn from. It important to, grasps it, learn from it, and consider it a blessing. Don’t be disappointed if their hero wakes up one morning and brushes his teeth with ice hot instead of tooth paste. Instead, always look up to what they admire about them, and try to relate to it. Work cited page: http://www. inspirationalspark. com/making-mistakes-quotes. html http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Monkey_see,_monkey_do

Night of Scorpion Essay

Night of the scorpion written by Nissim Ezkiel is an interesting poem and the poet brings about a very appealing contrast between good and evil in it; altogether giving the poem an essence of equality. The poet makes it a trouble-free task for the readers to visualize the scenes with the appropriate use of various imageries. He has also done a marvelous work of adding various different senses into the poem. All the senses, visual, smell, internal feelings and sound have been included. In this poem we can see the scenes vividly with the help of lines like,† †¦to crawl beneath a sack of rice,† and,† Peasants came like swarm of flies. Nissim Ezekiel is able to keep are mind alive and engaged the entire duration of the poem with the help of lines like,† Peasants came like swarm of flies. † When we read this line, we know that it is a simile and it help us to see how the peasants came along. But when think deeper we realize that it also shows us that the narrator does not admire the kind of care that the villagers are showing, he just wants them to leave him and his family alone. The reason the villagers are compared to flies is to show exactly how exasperating they are and that they are not welcome, just like flies. The poet has made this poem complex, which is always a good thing. This can be proved because to describe the scorpion he uses words like â€Å"diabolical† and â€Å"The Evil One† which show it as a demonic creature. On the other hand he also used lines like,â€Å" driven him to crawl beneath a sack of rice† and â€Å"†¦ risked the rain again,† which brings about a contradiction as this line shows that the scorpion is not at all the villain, it is simply scared. Among the many figures of speech used in this poem onomatopoeia is one of them. He has used this figure of speech efficiently, enabling us to hear the constant noises that were made. The poet write that the villagers â€Å"buzzed the name of god† which again stresses on the point that the noise and commotion being made by the villagers was not at all welcome. The poet further draws the interest of the reader by using a figure of speech to convey this message and not doing it directly. He has also written â€Å"They clicked their tongues,† which is another instance of onomatopoeia. The element of smell is brought about because the poet has introduced candles and burning oil in lanterns in his poem as well. Nissim Ezekiel has made the mother’s experience of getting bitten by the scorpion sound excruciating and eternal. He has conveyed this by using some very descriptive writing, example, â€Å"May the poison purify your flesh of desire, and your spirit of ambition,† Nissim Ezekiel successfully built the tense atmosphere by using just a short sentence,â€Å" My father, sceptic, rationalist, trying every curse and blessing,† There is also an instance in which the poet uses alliteration,â€Å" I watched the flame feeding on my mother. This line has also been able to build up the complex nature of the poem because of its dual meaning. We can simply say that the ‘flame’ refers to flame of the paraffin or we can also say that ‘flame’ refers to the scorpion’s poison. The poem ends sanguinely, with the mother surviving and being thankful to god for making her suffer and not her children. After all the tense moments of pain, suffering, torture and fear, the poem has a very touching and warm ending which proves the mother’s love for her children.

Summarize Comm Theories Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Summarize Comm Theories - Essay Example principle of human social organization is made up of three basic elements: The appearance of the other with the self, followed by the identification of the other with the self, and lastly the searching of self-consciousness through the other (p. 253). The three elements of human social organization are enabled through mass communication. The theme in this reading is supported by the critical cultural theory. The theory argues that mass media establishes the status quo that defines social movements to bring about positive social change. The critical cultural theory illustrates that; communication occurs through a psychological process referred to as â€Å"mob-consciousness† (Baran & Davis, 2015). The psychological process is identified through a quantitative research method. An experimental approach is adopted to indicate how mob-consciousness is influenced by attitude and the surrounding environment. The quantitative research method was efficient and effective in establishing that a speaker has the ability to influence the general attitude of the audience. The research concluded that; communication occurs when one party assumes an attitude passed from another party and adjusts the attitude in respect to a particular aspect of the environment. The environment that influences attitudes is of much importance to the parties in the audience. The text achieves a common ground between the authors and the readers. The authors successfully explain how the social foundations and functions of thought influence communication. The critical cultural theory supports the theme of human social interaction. Communication arises when attitudes are assumed and adjusted to accommodate a common ground between the speaker and the audience, and among the audience

Constantin Brancusis Work and its Reflection on Modern Art Essay

Constantin Brancusis Work and its Reflection on Modern Art - Essay Example Every person has a mind and a heart of his own. And what goes on in that heart of hearts is only shown or represented by art. Art of any kind can potentially do that job well. But for me, sculpturing is the spokesperson or the ambassador of human nature. Two sculptures of the same object that are made by two different people will be significantly different. This is because both of those people see differently. Their eye with which they see is different. Their mind with which they understand is different. Their heart with which they relate is different. And their hand with which they make is different. Therefore sculpturing for me is the way of expression and that inspires me. Constantin Brancusi is known as the pioneer or the leading figure of the modern movement. He was the one who practically gave birth to abstraction. He started as a woodcarver. And his journey from a craftsman in woodcarving to the art of sculpturing is a remarkable one. It speaks of the much-ignored fact that anything is possible and that it doesn’t matter where you begin. All that matters is that you know what you want. The right amount of passion and hard work can take you to places you could have never dreamt of going. This is what we learn from Constantin Brancusi’s life and that is what inspires me. The reason for my choosing this topic is exactly this too. Studying games design I have a great interest in this art of sculpting and this particular artist teaches me that a man can be an artist of any kind and genre as he wants. His life and work teach me that a man can be a jack of all trades and master of ONE. Brancusi revolutionized the art of sculpting. He eliminated all that wasn’t necessary and introduced all that WAS necessary but was being ignored previously. It is said that he learned the true purpose of art; a purpose different from the generally believed notion of representing different forms.  

Western Civ Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Western Civ - Essay Example However, this failed because the powers of the Europeans were limited. The New Imperialism occurred between the periods of 1870 to 1914. This followed the increasing interests of the industrialized European nations to venture more into other nations and colonize them. The New Imperialism majorly focused on Africa as well as Asia (Canterbury, 2010). During the period of New Imperialism, these two continents were faced with several political challenges involving decline in empires as well as wars. These left them so vulnerable thereby enabling the superior nations to colonize them. New Imperialism was caused by several reasons. These causes can be categorized into economic causes, social causes and political causes (Canterbury, 2010). Economically, there was need for the superior nations to access more natural resources and exploit them from such colonies. This meant that such countries with such resources had to be colonized in order for such countries to gain access to those resources. The other economic reason that led to New Imperialism is the need to create new markets for the goods from the colonizers (Canterbury, 2010). This aimed at expanding the market bases of the colonizers thereby contributing to strong economies back in their countries of origin. The colonies were to provide this market to the colonizers thereby informing the rise of New Imperialism. The New Imperialism also arose due to the need for the growing population in the superior countries to get places for settlement (Canterbury, 2010). The population pressure back in their countries of origin forced them to colonize other countries thereby expanding their territories. This follows that as a population increases, the place to accommodate such increases become limited. Therefore, there was need to expand the territories to accommodate the increase in population. The colonizers had massive and superior weapons that aided them in conquering the