Traveling West: Diary of Mary Graddy :: essays research papers

August 20th, 1821 Today is a day of hope and of great anticipation. John, my husband, has told me we are to leave to California tomorrow. We are to leave our small, pitiful home here in Massachusetts and find many opportunities in the west. We have heard of many men who have traveled west and discovered gold. â€Å"Gold covers California like a blanket,† they have told John. Our farm here leaves no opportunities for our family. Our two sons and three daughters are growing older and we wish for them to be prosperous. Not like now. Now, we have no money and our only value, our farm, is falling apart. I must pack very few belongings into our wagon and we must be ready to leave with the others when the sun rises in the morning. The elder girls, Anna, who is fifteen, and Lucy, who is twelve, are to help with the cleaning and packing all day. Fannie, seven years old, is very sick, and has some sort of flu. The doctor costs money, which we don’t have, so we are relying on our prayers and faith in God to help her. John and our two sons, William who is seventeen, and Andrew who is ten, are taking care of all last minute details for the farm, and my brother from Virginia is arriving tonight with his wife and baby daughter to care for the farm while we are gone and they are to live here unless we return. August 23rd, 1821 This is our third morning traveling and we are all anxious and eager to see this great place called California. The oxen are behaving well, and I believe we will make it there in a few months. Fannie is slightly better and she has ceased crying throughout the night as she did before we left. This is a sign from God. The Lord shall guide us through this and we shall overcome all obstacles and since Fannie’s fever has gone away I feel better about each new day. September 1st, 1821 Eight days since I have written and those days have been very relaxing. My children and I walk beside the wagon throughout the day and sing many joyous melodies. The weather is starting to cool down now and the breeze feels sensational as it whips through my hair and brushes over my skin. Traveling West: Diary of Mary Graddy :: essays research papers August 20th, 1821 Today is a day of hope and of great anticipation. John, my husband, has told me we are to leave to California tomorrow. We are to leave our small, pitiful home here in Massachusetts and find many opportunities in the west. We have heard of many men who have traveled west and discovered gold. â€Å"Gold covers California like a blanket,† they have told John. Our farm here leaves no opportunities for our family. Our two sons and three daughters are growing older and we wish for them to be prosperous. Not like now. Now, we have no money and our only value, our farm, is falling apart. I must pack very few belongings into our wagon and we must be ready to leave with the others when the sun rises in the morning. The elder girls, Anna, who is fifteen, and Lucy, who is twelve, are to help with the cleaning and packing all day. Fannie, seven years old, is very sick, and has some sort of flu. The doctor costs money, which we don’t have, so we are relying on our prayers and faith in God to help her. John and our two sons, William who is seventeen, and Andrew who is ten, are taking care of all last minute details for the farm, and my brother from Virginia is arriving tonight with his wife and baby daughter to care for the farm while we are gone and they are to live here unless we return. August 23rd, 1821 This is our third morning traveling and we are all anxious and eager to see this great place called California. The oxen are behaving well, and I believe we will make it there in a few months. Fannie is slightly better and she has ceased crying throughout the night as she did before we left. This is a sign from God. The Lord shall guide us through this and we shall overcome all obstacles and since Fannie’s fever has gone away I feel better about each new day. September 1st, 1821 Eight days since I have written and those days have been very relaxing. My children and I walk beside the wagon throughout the day and sing many joyous melodies. The weather is starting to cool down now and the breeze feels sensational as it whips through my hair and brushes over my skin.

Cyber Laws and Cyber Crime

Presented by: Kale Sandeep N. Gaikwad Avinash R. S. E. (Comp) S. E. (I T) E-mail: [email  protected] com E-mail: avi. [email  protected] com Mob: 919970061442 Mob: 919960308551 G H Raisoni Institute of Engineering and Management, Jalgaon (M. S) Index Topics Page No. 1 Abstract 1 2 Introduction 2 3 Cyber crime 2 4 Classification of Cyber crime 2 5 Status of Cyber Crime 6 6 Cyber law 7 7 Cyber Law in India 8 8 Advantages of Cyber Law 9 9 General Suggestions and information 10 0 Suggestions for better security 10 11 Conclusion 11 12 Reference 12 Abstract: Cyber law and cyber crime is becoming an important issue for social and economical concerned. The use of computer, electronic devices and software is increased; the need to protect these devices and software properly is inherently appeared with this. To protect these, it becomes necessary to know about cyber crime and cyber law. Cyber crime is unlawful act in which computer is either tool or target. After development of internet ev ery computer is able access data and information from all over the world. This also lead to the misuse of computer and internet for Crime such as Financial crimes, Cyber pornography, Online gambling, Intellectual Property crimes, Forgery, Cyber Defamation, Cyber stalking, Email spoofing, Email bombing, Denial of Service attack, Salami attacks, Virus / worm attacks, Web jacking, Data diddling etc. Now days most of financial and non-financial activities are done with computer and computer related services such as Internet. Also the concept of e-Governance coming in picture, where the confidential document of an organization is process and stored. The need of protection Cyber security resulted into development of cyber law in India and all around the world. Cyber law is important because it touches almost all aspects of transactions and activities on and concerning the Internet, the World Wide Web and Cyberspace. The paper throw light on the brief types of cyber crime, status of cyber crime and cyber awareness in India, Cyber law in India , Advantages of it in brief. Also this paper suggests the precaution measures and tips for cyber security for the users of computer and internet. 1. Introduction The first recorded cyber crime took place in the year 1820! That is not surprising considering the fact that the abacus, which is thought to be the earliest form of a computer, has been around since 3500 B. C. in India, Japan and China. The era of modern computers, however, began with the analytical engine of Charles Babbage. Today, computers have come a long way, what with neural networks and nano-computing promising to turn every atom in a glass of water into a computer capable of performing a billion operations per second. Cyber crime is an evil having its origin in the growing dependence on computers in modern life. In a day and age when everything from microwave ovens and refrigerators to nuclear power plants is being run on computers, cyber crime has assumed rather sinister implications. 2. Cyber crime At the Tenth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders, cyber crime was broken into two categories and defined thus: 2. 1. Cyber crime in a narrow sense: Any illegal behavior directed by means of electronic operations that targets the security of computer systems and the data processed by them. 2. 2. Cyber crime in a broader sense: Any illegal behavior committed by means of, or in relation to, a computer system or network, including such crimes as illegal possession offering or distributing information by means of a computer system or network. As per Indian law, Crime has to be voluntary and willful, an act or omission that adversely affects a person or property. A simple definition of cyber crime would be â€Å"unlawful acts wherein the computer is either a tool or a target or both†. 3. Classification of Cyber crime Cyber Crime is classified into 4 major categories as (A) Cyber crime against Individual B) Cyber crime Against Property (C) Cyber crime Against Organization (D) Cyber crime Against Society 3. 1. Against Individuals 3. 1. 1. Email spoofing : A spoofed email is one that appears to originate from one source but actually has been sent from another source. E. g Avinash has an e-mail address [email  protected] com His enemy, Rohan spoofs his e-mail and sends obscene messages to all his acquainta nces. Since the e-mails appear to have originated from Avinash, his friends could take offence and relationships could be spoiled for life. 3. 1. 2. Spamming: Spamming means sending multiple copies of unsolicited mails or mass e-mails such as chain letters. 3. 1. 3. Cyber Defamation This occurs when defamation takes place with the help of computers and / or the Internet. E. g. someone publishes defamatory matter about someone on a website or sends e-mails containing defamatory information to all of that person’s friends. 3. 1. 4. Harassment and Cyber stalking: Cyber Stalking Means following the moves of an individual's activity over internet. It can be done with the help of many protocols available such at e- mail, chat rooms, user net groups. The Oxford dictionary defines talking as â€Å"pursuing stealthily†. Cyber stalking involves following a person’s movements across the Internet by posting messages (sometimes threatening) on the bulletin boards frequented by the victim, entering the chat-rooms frequented by the victim, constantly bombarding the victim with emails etc. 3. 2. Against Property: 3. 2. 1. Credit Card Fraud :You simply have to type credit card number into www page of vendor for online transaction. If electronic transactions are not secured the credit card numbers can be stolen by the hackers who can misuse this card by impersonating the credit card owner. . 2. 2. Intellectual Property crimes: These include Software piracy i. e. illegal copying of programs, distribution of copies of software ,Copyright infringement Trademarks violations ,Theft of computer source code 3. 2. 3. Internettimetheft: The usage of the Internet hours by an unauthorized person which is actually paid by another person. 3. 3. Against Organization 3. 3. 1. UnauthorizedAccessingofComputer: Accessing the computer/network without permission from the owner. This activity is commonly referred to as hacking. The Indian law has, however, given a different connotation to the term hacking, so we will not use the term â€Å"unauthorized access† interchangeably with the term â€Å"hacking†. It can be of 2 forms one is Changing/deleting data i. e. unauthorized change in data and other is Computer voyeur where the criminal reads or copies confidential or proprietary information, but the data is neither deleted nor changed. 3. 3. 2. Denial Of Service When Internet server is flooded with continuous bogus requests so as to denying legitimate users to use the server or to crash the server. Denial of service attack involves flooding a computer resource with more requests than it can handle. This causes the resource (e. g. a web server) to crash thereby denying authorized users the service offered by the resource. Another variation to a typical denial of service attack is known as a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack wherein the perpetrators are many and are geographically widespread. It is very difficult to control such attacks. Denial-of-service attacks have had an impressive history having, in the past, brought down website like Amazon CNN, Yahoo and eBay 3. 3. 3 Virusattack A computer virus is a computer program that can infect other computer programs by modifying them in such a way as to include a possibly evolved copy of it. Viruses can be file infecting or affecting boot sector of the computer. Worms, unlike viruses do not need the host to attach themselves to. 3. 3. 4. Email Bombing: Email bombing refers to sending a large number of emails to the victim resulting in the victim’s email account (in case of an individual) or mail servers (in case of a company or an email service provider) crashing. 3. 3. 5. Salami Attack: When negligible amounts are removed & accumulated in to something larger. These attacks are used for the commission of financial crimes. The key here is to make the alteration so insignificant that in a single case it would go completely unnoticed. 3. 3. 6. Logic Bomb : Its an event dependent program , as soon as the designated event occurs, it crashes the computer, release a virus or any other harmful possibilities This implies that these programs are created to do something only when a certain event (known as a trigger event) occurs. E. g. even some viruses may be termed logic bombs because they lie dormant all through the year and become active only on a particular date. . 3. 7. Trojan Horse A Trojan is an unauthorized program which functions from inside what seems to be an authorized program, thereby concealing what it is actually doing. There are many simple ways of installing a Trojan in someone’s computer. The Common Types of Trojan horse are †¢ Remote Administration Trojans (RATs) †¢ Password Trojans †¢ Privileges-Elevating Tr ojans †¢ Destructive Trojans †¢ Joke Programs 3. 3. 8. Data diddling This kind of an attack involves altering raw data just before it is processed by a computer and then changing it back after the processing is completed. Electricity Boards in India have been victims to data diddling programs inserted when private parties were computerizing their systems. 3. 4. Against Society 3. 4. 1. Forgery: Counterfeit currency notes, postage and revenue stamps, mark sheets etc can be forged using sophisticated computers, printers and scanners. Outside many colleges across India, one finds touts soliciting the sale of fake mark sheets or even certificates. These are made using computers, and high quality scanners and printers. 3. 4. 2. Cyber Terrorism: It is use of computer resources to intimidate or coerce others. Computer crime has hit mankind with unbelievable severity. Computer viruses, worms, Trojans, denial of service attacks, spoofing attacks and e-frauds have taken the real and virtual worlds by storm. The term â€Å"cyber terrorism† can be defined as â€Å"Cyber terrorism is the premeditated use of disruptive activities, or the threat thereof, in cyber space, with the intention to further social, ideological, religious, political or similar objectives, or to intimidate any person in furtherance of such objectives. 3. 4. 3 Web Jacking Hackers gain access and control over the website of another, even they change the content of website for fulfilling political objective or for money. This occurs when someone forcefully takes control of a website (by cracking the password and later changing it). The actual owner of the website does not have any more control over what appears on that website. 4. Status of Cyber Crime Ba ck in 1990, less than 100,000 people were able to log on to the Internet worldwide. Now around 500 million people are using the net around the globe. UK has the largest number of infected computers in the world followed by the US and China. The US is the leading source country for attacks. China is second and Germany is third. 4. 1. In India: i) During 2003, a total of 411 cases were registered under IPC Sections as compared to 738 such cases during 2002 thereby reporting a significant decline of 44 percent in 2003 over 2002. ii) A total of 475 persons were arrested in the country for Cyber Crimes under IPC during 2003. iii) The age-wise profile of the arrested persons showed that 45 percent were in the age-group of 30-45 years, 28. percent of the offenders were in the age-group of 45-60 years and 11 offenders were aged 60 years and above. Above figures doesn't mean that cyber crime is declining in India, the fact is that people in our country do not report cyber crimes for the following reasons: a) They don't want to face harassment by police. b) The fear of bad publicity which could hurt their reputation in society. Also, c) It becomes extremely difficult to convince the police to register any cyber crime, because of lack of awareness about cyber crime and cyber law and also about their registration and handling by the police. A recent survey indicates that for every 500 cyber crime incidents that took place, only 50 are reported to the police and out of that only one is actually registered. These figures indicate how difficult it is to convince the police to register a cyber crime. The establishment of cyber crime cells in different parts of the country was expected to boost cyber crime reporting and prosecution. However, these cells haven't quite kept up with expectations. 5. Cyber law The cyber world has no physical boundaries, no single authority who governs the internet. The Internet is the medium for freely sharing information and opinions; It provides everyone with round the clock access to information, credit and financial services, and shopping. Even network information systems are being adopted by the government worldwide, that's why the governments across the world are recognizing the need to securing & regulating the cyber world. 5. 1. Why Cyber law? When Internet was developed, the founding fathers of Internet hardly had any inclination that Internet could transform itself into an all pervading revolution which could be misused for criminal activities and which required regulation. Today, there are many disturbing things happening in cyberspace. Due to the anonymous nature of the Internet, it is possible to engage into a variety of criminal activities with impunity and people with intelligence, have been grossly misusing this aspect of the Internet to perpetuate criminal activities in cyberspace. Hence there is need for Cyber laws in India. Cyber law is important because it touches almost all aspects of transactions and activities on and concerning the Internet, the World Wide Web and Cyberspace. Whether we realize it or not, every action and every reaction in Cyberspace has some legal and Cyber legal perspectives. . 2 Who should concern about Cyberlaw? Everyone, Cyber law is of everyone’s concern. As the nature of Internet is changing and this new medium is being seen as the ultimate medium ever evolved in human history, every activity of yours in Cyberspace can and will have a Cyber legal perspective. From the time one register Domain Name, to the time one set up a web site, to the time one promote a website, to the time when one send and receive email, to the time one conduct electronic commerce transactions on the said site, at every point of time, there are various Cyber law issues involved. One may not be bothered about these issues today because one may feel that they are very distant from him/her and that they do not have an impact on Cyber activities. But sooner or later, you will have to tighten your belts and take note of Cyber law for your own benefit. 6. Cyber Law In India: Cyber Crimes are a new class of crimes to India. It is rapidly expanding due to extensive use of internet. India is among few countries in the world that have a separate law for cyber crimes. Recently Nepal has passed Bill against Cyber crime. Indian parliament has passed the legislation known as Information Technology Act 2000 drafted by the Ministry of Communication and Information. The Information Technology Act came into force on 17th October, 2000. IT Act amends some of the existing legislation, such as Indian Penal Code,1860 Indian Evidence Act, 1872 Bankers Book Evidence Act. 1891, Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 6. 1. Features of The IT Act 2000: i)Legal recognition of electronic contracts, digital signature, digital certificates. ii) Various types of cyber crime committed in India and outside India is covered alongwithpenalties. ii) Appointment of Certifying Authorities(CA) to issue digital signature, digital certificates. iv)Controller of Certifying Authorities to act as depository for all Certifying Authorities. v) Appointment of Adjudicating Officer for holding enquiries under this Act. vi) EstablishmentofCyberAppellateTribunal. vii) Cyber Regulations Advisory Committee who will advice the Central Government an d CA. Technology. The act is based on the â€Å"United Nations Commission on International Trade Law†(UNCITRAL) model on electronic commerce. 6. 2. IT Act 2000 does not include: ) Specific Definition of cyber crime is not given.. ii) Intellectual Property Rights such as trade Marks, Patents, Digital Copyright Issues. iii) Domain name disputes and their resolution, Data protection issues are not covered. iv)No provision is made for the Taxation issues arising due to e-commerce 7. Advantages of Cyber Laws The IT Act 2000 attempts to change outdated laws and provides ways to deal with cyber crimes. We need such laws so that people can perform purchase transactions over the Net through credit cards without fear of misuse. The Act offers the much-needed legal framework so that information is not denied legal effect, validity or enforceability, solely on the ground that it is in the form of electronic records. The IT Act 2000 and its provisions contain many positive aspects. Firstly, the implications of these provisions for the e-businesses would be that email would now be a valid and legal form of communication in our country that can be duly produced and approved in a court of law. Digital signatures have been given legal validity and sanction in the Act. The Act throws open the doors for the entry of corporate companies in the business of being Certifying Authorities for issuing Digital Signatures Certificates. The Act now allows Government to issue notification on the web thus heralding e-governance. It shall now be possible for corporates to have a statutory remedy in case if anyone breaks into their computer systems or network and causes damages or copies data. The remedy provided by the Act is in the form of monetary damages, not exceeding Rs. 1 crore. 8. General Suggestions against cyber crime †¢ Don't delete harmful communications (emails, chat logs, posts etc). These may help provide vital information about the identity of the person behind these. †¢ Try not to panic. †¢ If you feel any immediate physical danger of bodily harm, call your local police. †¢ Avoid getting into huge arguments online during chat or discussions with other users. †¢ Be extremely careful about how you share personal information about yourself online. †¢ Make sure that your ISP and Internet Relay Chart (IRC) network have an acceptable use policy that prohibits cyber-stalking. And if your network fails to respond to your complaints, consider switching to a provider that is more responsive to user complaints. If a situation online becomes hostile, log off or surf elsewhere. If a situation places you in fear, contact a local law enforcement agency. †¢ Save all communications for evidence. Do not edit or alter them in any way. Also, keep a record of your contacts with Internet System Administrators or Law Enforcement Officials. 9. Suggestion s for better security †¢ Use strong passwords. Choose passwords that are difficult or impossible to guess. Give different passwords to all other accounts. †¢ Make regular back-up of critical data. Back-up must be made atleast once in each day. †¢ Use virus protection software. Checking daily for new virus signature updates, and then actually scanning all the files on your computer periodically. Use a firewall as a gatekeeper between your computer and the Internet. †¢ Do not keep computers online when not in use. Either shut them off or physically disconnect them from Internet connection. †¢ Do not open e-mail attachments from strangers, regardless of how enticing the subject line or attachment may be. †¢ Regularly download security patches from your software vendors. 10. Conclusion Thus, the awareness of cyber crime and cyber law has become a necessity for persons in cyberspace. The study of cyber crime and its different aspects will be helping to individual in cyberspace to avoid and restrict the cyber crime around them and related to them. Also the study of cyber crime will keep them alert against cyber crime. Absence of Cyber security policy in organization may lead to critical problem for Management to maintain the data security of organization. Recent incidents relating to cyber crime have not just increased the vulnerability of various socio-economic constituents, but also brought forth the need for better managerial and operating capabilities of our legal framework in stopping this growing menace. Cyber law in India is nothing but the outcome of this need. Cyber law will be helpful to control the cases of cyber crime. IT act 2000 has given constitutional support to fight against cyber criminals. This act has also given legal status to e-business, digital signature cause to increase faith in online trading. The number of cases reported is much less than what it is in reality. This is because of unawareness of law. Awareness program on Cyber law and Cyber Crime should undertaken by Social Organisation. The program may include basic information of cyber law, internet security, and minimum hardware and software security measures required for an individual or organisation. Reference: (1) Cyber and Information Technology –Article By Talwant Singh (Judge) (2) Perspective of Cyber crime in India – Kernila Seth (3) Cyber law ,Data Protection in India – Article by Gurpreet Singh (4) www. cuil. com (5) www. cyberlawsindia. net (6) www. cybersmart. in (7) www. indlii. org (8) www. asianlaws. org (9) www. report cyber crime. com (10) www. scribd. com

Conjoined Twins

Conjoined twins happen once in every 200,000 live births (Maryland). Conjoined twins are identical twins whose bodies are joined in utero. Most are stillborn and others are born with severe abnormalities that make living a normal life almost impossible. The survival rate of conjoined twins is between 5 percent and 25 percent (Maryland). The most common form of conjoined twins is thoracopagus twins. These types of twins share the same heart. Some of the other types of conjoined twins include omphalopagus in which the twins are conjoined at the lower chest but no heart is involved.Parasitic twins are when twins are asymmetrically conjoined. One twin is dependent on the larger twin for survival. Another type of twin is the craniopagus twins in which the skulls are fused together. Surgical separation of conjoined twins is a risky procedure and requires extreme precision. Success rates have been improving but it is still rare. Surgical separation is often the only way that the conjoined t wins can survive. The success rates of separation make it difficult though to make this decision. Separation often results in one or both twins deaths. This leads to the ethical dilemma on whether to separate conjoined twins.Recent research has found that the quality of life for conjoined twins is often higher than is commonly supposed. There have been many different controversial cases regarding the separation of conjoined twins. A noted case is the â€Å"Jodie† and â€Å"Mary† judicial decision. Jodie and Mary were a set of combined twins that were brought to the court of appeals in England. Mary was dependent on Jodie for survival because many of her vital organs were within Jodie’s skeletal structure. The twins’ parents were devout Catholics and were against the separation of the twins, despite the doctors wishes.The physicians decided to bring the matter the courts. The judicial decision was to separate the two and this ultimately led to Mary’ s death. Jodie survived and is still doing well after a year (Kaveny). The case of Jodie and Mary caused many ethicists to look at the ethical and legal issues regarding surgical separation. The article â€Å"One into two will not go: conceptualizing conjoined twins† responds to the judicial decisions following the surgery. The article discusses three conceptual possibilities. One possibility is that one twin is a person and the other twin is just an extra body.This allows for an easy decision which involves separation and the survival of one twin. Another possibility is that the two conjoined twins are two separate physical beings. A third possibility is that the twins are psychologically different people but they share the same body, so neither has rights over the body. Another article, â€Å"The Case of Conjoined Twins: Embodiment, Individuality, and Dependence,† Cathleen Kaveny analyzes the same case and discusses two different views of embodiment. The two differen t views are the â€Å"Bodily Distinctness View† and the â€Å"Bodily Relatedness View. Kaveny discusses both views and their role in making an ethical decision regarding separating conjoined twins. There are many reasons to keeping twins conjoined. Conjoined twins are two separate people with their own personalities. So much has been done to accommodate for their lifestyle and make it easier for them to live a normal life. The twins become close with each other along with their parents and others. If the twins are old enough, separating them can often lead to psychological issues from the separation and guilt that comes with losing a twin.Guilt and separation issues also happen with parents and those in charge with making the decision. Losing a child is extremely devastating and that is ultimately what the parents are doing. Most often one twin can survive but the other will die. The quality of life of the twins has to bad enough that risking one life or possibly two will be worth it. There are also many reasons for surgically separating conjoined twins. Conjoined twins often need to be separated in order to survive. Separating the conjoined twins can help to save one or possibly both twins. It is also allowing for one or both to have a normal, long life.Separation can guarantee survival for at least one twin which seems to be the most beneficent. A good quality of life for at least one person seems to outweigh a bad quality of life and possibly a shortened life of two conjoined persons. One ethical principle relating to the issue is beneficence. Beneficence means to do what is good. Beneficence is tough when it comes to the separation of conjoined twins because of the many issues that lie in the decision. The beneficent principle goes hand in hand with the utilitarian theory which is making a decision that brings about the most benefit to the most people.Both choices have beneficent aspects. Keeping the twins conjoined is good for the parents of the c hildren, the children, and anyone who is close with them such as family and friends. It can make them happy and help them psychologically. Separating the twins can be good for the parents and the twins if they survive and get to live a productive and good life. It also is good for the community to have someone who is productive and capable of taking care of themselves in the community. According to the beneficent principle it seems that separating the twins will do the most good for the most people.Another ethical principle relating to the issue is autonomy. Autonomy states that people should be allowed to reign over themselves and make their own decisions. This means that making a decision to separate the twins is up to the parents or the twins according to their age. This is one of the reasons that the ‘Jodie’ and ‘Mary’ case is an ethical issue. The debate is that the decision should ultimately be the parents due to the autonomy principle. The surgical s eparation of conjoined twins is a much debated topic on what the best choice is and who is ultimately in charge of making this decision.The decision will most likely never be made and it will be a highly debated topic for as long as conjoined twins are being born. Doctors, parents, and government officials will always be debating on whose decision it is to separate conjoined live twins. After doing research on the ethical issues surrounding the separation of conjoined twins, I have formulated many opinions on this dilemma. The best way to resolve the dilemma, I believe, is to leave the decision of separating conjoined twins to the parents or the twins. Taking the decision to the courts and trying to go above the parent’s choice seems ethically unfair and wrong.Leaving the decision to the parents seems to be the most beneficent and regards the ethical principle of autonomy. I am undecided on whether the best decision would be to separate the twins or keep them conjoined. There were many ethical issues surrounding this dilemma and the pros and cons for both sides were just too complicated for me to make a complete decision. The decision would be a tough one This conclusion was reached after reading the articles about the ‘Jodie’ and ‘Mary’ case and reading research on other cases. Both articles that I have chosen bring up many points regarding both sides of the argument.One article was focused on the choice of whether to separate conjoined twins or keep them conjoined and the other article discussed the ethical reasons on not allowing the parents to decide the fate of their own children. The success rates of separation are low but the quality of life for the separated twins is much more. Bibliography 1. Bratton, M. Q. , and S. B. Chetwynd. â€Å"One into Two Will Not Go: Conceptualising Conjoined Twins. † J Med Ethics 30 (2004): 279-85. 2. Kaveny, Cathleen M. â€Å"The Case of Conjoined Twins: Embodiment, Individuality, a nd Dependence. † Theological Studies (2001): 753-86

Human †Religion Essay

I really have to give credit for my religion & beliefs for my search on the meaning of life. I’m a fully baptized Catholic, and a part of God’s Church. 17 years of being a Catholic and in search of the meaning of life, I have always thought it is about the Call to Holiness. My religion taught me that being a part of God’s Church is no accident, but because God wanted to share in His own blessed life, and in doing so He wanted me to desire & serve Him freely by following His will. And by following his will, God will grant me eternal happiness which will lead to my salvation. All Catholics knew that God sent His son, Jesus, to set an example for us. Jesus showed the perfect example & answered the call to Holiness. He showed us that we should love our neighbors as God showed His love for us; and that is what the Call to Holiness is. In search for the true meaning of life, it will take plenty of years, but for now I plan to stick with what my religion has taught me. Carl Rogers Carl Rogers emphasized & focused on self-actualization. He believed that a person should develop his/her potential to the fullest, and in good condition. In doing so, the environment of a person should be inherently good. A person will only stop developing if constraints block the development. A fully developed person shows that he/she achieved the highest level of being a right & fully-functioning human being. Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi, which means â€Å"great soul,† was an ideologist during the Independent movement of India from the British. As an ideological leader he believed violence should never be an answer to fight for his people’s rights, and should never take discrimination. He also believed that harmony, truth & equality exists between all religions. With these 2 influential personas, I have noticed similarities between them. They both talk about human beings having a common good inside of them. They emphasized that all humans were born good, but because of destructive  environment, they tend to turn their backs on what is right. Sources: http://www.simplypsychology.org/carl-rogers.html. http://www.ask.com/question/what-were-gandhi-s-beliefs.

Troy vs Iliad

The movie Troy written by David Benioff and directed by Wolfgang Petersen was inspired by The Iliad, an ancient Greek poem about the time of warrior Achilles argument with King Agamemnon during the Trojan War. Some events the film where taken straight from the Iliad, and is at times the two stories are very similar to one another. However there are several major differences between them, as Troy the movie was made to appealing to twenty first century audiences, where as the Iliad was meant to appeal to Greeks in the eighth century BC.The difference in time, culture, and format between the movie and the Iliad make differences such as the gods roles and time the stories covered, are necessary to allow both to be understood and interesting by their audience, and where producible at the time. Time difference. The Iliad only tells part of the story of the Trojan War, covering only a few weeks during the war. The Iliad begins nine years after the start of the war, during the final year of the war.However the movie begins before the Trojan War, and continues through to the end of the war. The movie aims to give more of an overview of the events leading to and during the war, where as the Iliad only focuses on a small piece of the full story. When hearing the Iliad the ancient Greeks would have known the rest of the story about the Trojan War, as it was part of their culture, they would have heard the stories from the time they were very young.Because of this the Iliad did not need to explain why the Trojans and Greeks where at war, as its audience would already know what had happened before the Iliad, and they would also know what happens after the Iliad. Modern audiences on the other hand have not grown up hearing tales of the Trojan War, it is not part of our culture, and so most people watching troy would not already know how the war started, or who the different characters are. Because of this the movie begins by introducing some of important characters, the warri or Achilles and king Agamemnon, leader of the Greek kingdoms.The first scene of the film lets the audience know who king Agamemnon is and how powerful he is. It also shows how Achilles and Agamemnon feel about one another. Referring to Achilles King Agamemnon says â€Å"Of all the warlords loved by the gods, I hate him the most. † Later in the scene when speaking about Agamemnon Achilles says â€Å"He's not my king. † This sets up the ill feelings between the two, which is very important in the rest of the movie, as well as in the Iliad.The movie then continues to explain why the Trojan War began, and introduces the rest of the main characters before showing the beginning of the war. This allows its audience to understand what is happening in the movie without already having knowledge about the war and the characters in it. The movie also continues on after the end of the Iliad, which ends with the King of troy, Priam getting his son, Hector’s body back from Ach illes, who had killed him and taken the body back to the Greek camp.The movie however continues on passed this point, going on to show the end of the war. This was changed because the film amid to give an overview of the whole war, if it ended the same as the Iliad modern audiences would most likely have felt confused by the ending, and would want to know what happened afterwards. To the modern audience it would seem like a strange place to end, as they would expect the main conflict of the film, the Trojan War, to be solved before the movie ends.The length of the Trojan War is also changed in the Movie, in the Iliad the war has already been going for nine years, implying it was a long hard struggle for the Greeks to take Troy. In comparison the movie makes it appear as though the entire war lasted a number of weeks. The ancient Greeks would have known about war, as it was part of their culture, and would find it believable that the war between two such strong armies, with Troy†™s strong walls to protect them would take time, they also knew the Iliad was only part of what happened, and they had other stories about the rest of the war.Modern audiences however, especially in western culture do not have war as a large part of their culture, so are happy to believe the war lasted only a few weeks. The movie also did not have time to explain what happened in the nine years before, and as it does not really affect the storyline of the movie or Iliad it would have been easier to cut it out, then try to explain to the audience how much time had passed between events. The role of the Gods The role of the gods differs greatly between the movie and the poem.In the Iliad the Olympic Gods and Goddesses play a major role in the lives of the characters, and the outcome of the war. The Gods continuously intervene in the characters lives, hugely involving themselves in all the main events in the Iliad. For example in the Iliad when Paris a prince of Troy, fights Menelaus , king Agamemnon’s brother, for the beautiful Helen, the Goddess Aphrodite intervenes to save Paris when she see’s he is losing: â€Å"Aphrodite hid Paris in a dense mist and whisked him away. There are many other examples in the Iliad of Gods becoming involved in the Trojan War, such as when Zeus, the king of the gods, persuades king Agamemnon to launch a full scale attack on Troy in a dream, and later when it looks like the war might be over Athena convinces a Trojan archer to fire at Menelaus to anger the Greeks and make sure the war continues. Smaller deities are also involved in the Iliad, such as the spirit of a river called Xanthus, which was near Troy.The river is on the side of the Trojans, and when Achilles killed many Trojan solders in and near the river, the river â€Å"raised a high wave and attacked him †¦ The great and terrible wave gathered about Achilles, falling upon him and beating on his shield, so that he could not keep his feet. † Ach illes was saved by the rivers anger by another deity, Hephaestus, god of metal work, who boiled the river. In the Iliad Achilles mother, Thetis, is also a deity, she is a river nymph, who convinces Hephaestus to make Achilles new armor after Hector takes his old armor.The continued presence and intervention by the Gods in the Iliad is very different in the Movie. In the movie only one deity, Thetis, is ever seen. It is not inertly clear in the movie if she is a goddess, though it seems more likely that she is not one. A boy who wakes Achilles for battle mentions a rumor he heard about her, saying â€Å"They say your mother is an immortal goddess† the only time we see Thetis in the movie keeping with her being a river nymph she is standing walking in the ocean, collecting shells.However apart from this she appears to be mortal, as there is nothing godly about her, she looks like an older women, which you would not expect if she was an immortal nymph, but makes sense if she is Achilles mortal mother. Thetis only appears the movie once, near the beginning, before Achilles goes to Troy, to prophesize that if Achilles goes to Troy he will die there. The rest of the gods are never shown in the movie, although they are mentioned.The film makes it clear the Greeks and Trojans believe in the gods, at one point Achilles has his men ransack a temple of sun god Apollo, one of his followers Eudorus tells Achilles â€Å"Apollo sees everything. Perhaps it is not wise to offend him. † However Achilles does not care and cuts the head off a statue of Apollo. The Trojan king Priam asks a priest of Apollo for advice before he goes to battle, listening to the priest, as he believes the man is â€Å"a servant of the gods. † And that the signs the priest sees are from the gods, telling him what will happen. Achilles also speaks of the gods, but not in as kind a light as the others, when briam

A Case Study on the Mental Health Problems of Ora and Will

A Case Study on the Mental Health Problems of Ora and Will When it comes to the amount of energy invested referring to Ora a lot of her energy is probably drained through her health problems and her family relationships when it comes to her husband. She has been diagnosed as overweight, having anxiety and depression, she has an eye condition she doesn’t know if there is a cure, and she has colitis. All those things can really put stress on you, it can’t be healthy to deal with so much especially when it seems like there is no real way to fix it. It also mentioned the resentment she is feeling towards her husband who always criticizes her calling her lazy and complaining about her housekeeping. When dealing with so many conditions it would be very helpful to have some type of support and she isn’t getting that from her husband. Now the little bit of energy that is being returned is the fact that she has food stamps and Medicaid to help when it comes to your basic needs and although it is probably not a lot it is still som ething. When it comes to the amount of energy invested referring to Will his health is probably the most draining. He is labeled â€Å"borderline retarded† and â€Å"borderline schizophrenic†. When it comes to having a learning disability, it can’t be easy because you are constantly judged and treated differently. You are often disrespected and not taken seriously because of it so that would be very stressful for anyone. Also, to have a mental disorder like schizophrenia makes things worse because people see you as a monster and want nothing to do with you or they pity you and treat you as if you are incapable of doing anything for yourself which I bet is annoying. Now the bit of energy that is returned is probably from his job. He’s a night watchman and before that he had other jobs, all paying about minimum wage but it is a steady income and that must be a little bit of relief to at least get the house food. As well as he’s good at cleaning and fixing thi ng so he will have the car fixed soon and that will make it easier to get to work. I feel this can be used as a tool to help first get everyone in the family proper tests and exams to see if they have these mental issues or if it honestly was discrimination. If so then the proper resources could be provided to help the children when it comes to school and the adults can go through programs that help you adjust to every day life. I think counseling should be an option just for them to voice out all their stress and have a sense of relief even if only temporary. Another thing to consider is if there are any resources that can be used to fix their utilities, cooking on a couple of hot plates can’t be healthy or that sanitary. If they could cook food properly I feel that would make a big difference, it wouldn’t fix anything but it would be a start.

Should the United States involve in a war in Libya Essay

Should the United States involve in a war in Libya - Essay Example Libya is one country in which people started agitations against dictatorship of Gaddafi. However, Gaddafi tried to use iron fist to suppress the public agitation which forced United Nations to declare a no fly zone over Libya in order to save the innocent people from air strikes from the Gaddafi’s forces. Currently United States and its allies are protecting the Libyan agitators from the hands of Gaddafi. However many people believe that United States should declare war against in order to save the Libyan public from the dictatorship of Gaddafi. At the same time many people oppose America’s interference in Libya since they believe that attacking a sovereign state without enough reasons is morally and politically wrong. In my opinion, America should attack Libya in order to save the life of innocent people and this paper argues in favor of attacking Libya. Why Gaddafi should be expelled? The major reason why I support America’s intervention in Libya is the massacr es against the innocent people conducting by Gaddafi. â€Å"Many in Libya still remember how Gaddafi used to execute those who opposed him — or those he felt had opposed him — and would leave their bodies hanging from nooses for days as a warning† (Abdulrahim, n. d). ... Gaddafi is trying to sustain his administration and he using all false means to suppress the public agitation against him. Majority of the Libyan population like to see the ouster of Gaddafi since they like breath the air of freedom. Human right violations appear in many forms in Libya. Those who are expressing their opinion against the administration will be imprisoned in Libya. In the name of Islamic administration, Gaddafi is exploiting the weaknesses of the public. Gaddafi succeeded in enforcing censorship upon media so that the to and fro motion of unhealthy information between Libya and external world is impossible. The entire world is currently undergoing drastic changes because of globalization. Even the communist China has made lot of changes in their internal and external policies to give a humanitarian face to communism. In a civilized world like ours, people always like to enjoy equality, freedom, liberty etc. Only a democratic administration would be able to provide all these things to its citizen. Only a democratic administration would give power to the people in choosing their political leaders. Gaddafi is trying to prevent people from enjoying all such freedoms and hence America should do everything possible to expel Gaddafi. â€Å"Hope for a new government and for more fearless opposition to the regime is reflected in the ongoing protests. Multiple Libyan diplomats and politicians, including the justice and interior ministers, have resigned† (Soliman, 2011). The support for the ouster of Gaddafi not only comes from the public, but also from the colleagues of Gaddafi. In other words, nobody has any satisfaction over the Gaddafi administration which means America will get immense public support if they decide to