A Post Rock Analysis Media Essay

A Post Rock Analysis Media Essay In the year of 1994 highly acclaimed music critic Simon Reynolds was embraced for fabricating the term Post-Rock in the popular modern music magazine The Wire. He defined the term post rock as using rock instrumentation for non-rock purposes and using guitars and facilitators of timbre and textures rather than riffs and power chords. From this moment onwards the genre began to expand with the immersion of various Post Rock artists slightly differing in style. In the remainder of this essay, I aim to explain what the complex genre of Post Rock is, how it began, how it developed and most importantly, what sets it aside from traditional rock and roll. With the emergence of countless pop artists at the start of the 1990s such as Rick Astley and Mariah Carey many journalists and critics alike labelled the 90s as the death of rock and roll. However the introduction of Post Rock seemed re-invent rock music in a totally different form. Post rock was something totally different and was seen as a breath of fresh air to the music industry. Everyone knows that numerous groups of musicians struggle to find a suitable vocalist, and this was one of the main reasons for the beginning of post rock. Post rock is largely instrumental with any included vocals normally being sample and effect based. In this genre freedom is basically unlimited; this is why many post rock acts sound very different in style. For instance Don Caballero and Tortoise who were seen as founders of the post rock movement bare very little similarities. The main idea behind post rock was to totally ignore traditional musical structures and concentrate on throwing various creative ideas to produce a piece rather than a track. Due to the total dis-regard of verses and choruss, the motif of each piece will normally build up over the duration, normally reaching a climatic stage at the end. Post rock artists admittedly took a lot of influence from the velvet underground and their implementation of the musical technique; dronology. Dronology is the use of repeated sounds or notes. Post rock uses an extensive range of instruments, stretching from traditional rock and roll instruments, to brass to a diverse sweep of electronic instruments and samples. Post-Rock is probably dependent on the effects that are implemented on nearly every instrument, basically making a guitar sound nothing like a guitar. Post Rock has changed throughout its current 20 year timeline, as its believed we have endured 3 waves of post rock material. However, from the very beginning of the post-rock movement nearly all artists follow The DIY conception. This means that artists will have not contracts or sponsorship from famous and corporate labels. A majority of their work is produced and distributed by the band themselves with the help of other post rock bands. The belief of the DIY conception is that if music becomes accessible to expensive labels the artists will be stripped of their creativity and freedom. During the lifespan of the post-rock genre we have been spiked with 3 waves. The first wave of this genre included acts such as Slint, Tortoise and Talk Talk. These artists are seen as being architects of the genre that gave post rock the foundations to grow further. However, not entirely post rock; this was the start of the genre. The Album entitled Spiderland by Slint is seen as many as the birth of post rock. Released in 1991 this album contained various features that were unheard of in traditional rock music. Such as, no singing vocals, all vocals being spoken similar to a narrator building up a story as the song continued. Drummers working with totally irregular time signatures and basing all their beats and fills on the snare and tom drums, totally abandoning the use of cymbals. Guitarists creating tones rather than riffs, and also implementing of the technique howling feedback. Many bands took influence from this album, including post rock mainstays, Mogwai. Another essential post rock release was à gà ¦tis byrjun in 1999 by Icelandic band Sigur Ros. This album help shaped the genre as it showed listeners that post rock could branch off into other genres, as this album was seen as being ambient post rock. Sigur Ros produced this effect with various musical techniques. The main technique they used was playing guitars and bass guitars with a bow rather than plucking on strumming. This technique helped produce a very atmospheric effect which added to the overall ambient sound. The band continued the idea of minimal vocals when they produced theyre own gibberish language entitled Volenska. This is an Icelandinc take on the old jazz technique that was dubbed scat singing. Sigur Ros are seen as being definers in the second wave of post rock. Soon after à gà ¦tis byrjun came the release of Lift Yr. Skinny Fists like antennas to heaven by Canadian artists Godspeed You! Black Emperor. This album as seen by many fans and critics alike as the most definitive post rock release to date. This album combines various musical concepts such as chamber music, minimalism, drone and of course crescendos. As well as covering a lot of concepts, it also covers many genres such as rock, ambience, jazz and classical. Following Post-Rock trends the album has no tracks as such, but 4 pieces which last a total of one hour and twenty minutes, these pieces are named movements. Also, as before, no vocals except one movement which uses sampled inserts. The start of the 3rd wave of Post Rock was started with the album Mirrored By Battles. The bands consists of Ex-Members from other post rock groups such as Don Caballero, who helped pioneer the genre. Mirrored started to using a lot of math rock as well as post rock in this album, it is also described by many as having a weird alien sound. Along with Mogwai, Battles were one of the first to start doing this. Battles re-invented post rock to some extent with new techniques such as the introduction of beatboxing. However they also continued other post rock trends such as effect driven vocals which sound like gibberish. Scottish band Mogwai have cemented themselves as principal artists within post rock genre due to the release of 6 well received studio albums. Mogwai have been vital in the development of the genre as they have influenced bands as far a field as China as Chinese post rock Wang Wen claim to be influenced by them. American rapper/singer/songwriter Jared Evans also claims to be influenced by the Scottish post rock mainstays. Although Mogwai are in theory a post rock band, they branch off into other genres such as math rock, shoegazing, art rock and even metal. This showed us that post rock could take various paths and this helped development the genre as it heightened up and coming bands ideas. The bands influences mainly come from punk. Bands such as Fugazi, Sonic Youth and the MC5 are said to be among the bands main influences, and of course like many other bands of this genre, they were influenced by Slint. Their tracks are normally long instrumental pieces focusing on guitar and mel odic basslines with heavy breakdowns with metal properties. Due to metal properties the band has, they have a heavy usage of effects, with distortion and overdrive taking centre stage. Mogwai were another band the follow the DIY conception rule within the post rock genre by having their first album signed by independent record label Chemikal Underground in Glasgow, Scotland in 1997. Lyrics are a real comfort to some people. I guess they like to sing along and when they cant do that with us they get a bit upset. This line by Stuart Braithwaite, the guitarist of Mogwai. The line does a good job of explaining the acquired taste of Mogwai and Post-Rock in general. This is why Post-Rock was stuck in the underground bracket for sometime. Another band who has had great critical acclaim within the genre is Godspeed You! Black Emperor. The band from Canada influenced by Tortoise and Slint have released 5 albums since 1994. Even tough the band has 9 solid members; they have had as many as 20 members on the stage at once. The band use various techniques and concepts such as drone, minimalism, chamber music, music concrete and sampling. Also the band totally dis-regards any vocals except sampled inserts. As said before, the band have undertaken many changes, covering genres such as post rock, experimental rock, ambient, jazz and traditional rock. Once again the band follows the DIY conception as they produce theyre albums through a small independent record label in Montreal, Quebec. Perhaps the most important articles regarding the genre was the description of the band Bark Psychosis where the term was first properly coined. Simon Reynolds described Post Rock as using rock instrumentation for non rock purposes using guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures rather than riffs and power chords. Simon further expanded on the term stating that perhaps the really provocative area for future development liesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ in cyborg rock; not the wholehearted embrace of technos methodology but some kind of interface between real time, hand on playing and the use of digital effects and enhancement. This description helped drive the genre forward as other artists started being labelled Post-Rock and listeners started understanding what the music was. It describes the balance of electronic effects to hands on traditionally rock instruments. Even today, some original post rock albums from the early 90s are still receiving sparkling reviews. From a review in 2010 from music website Sputnik Music, Spiderland by Slint is said as being classic and received a 5/5 rating. The journalist continued to explain You can ask me to explain why I love it, or why it works, or the situational context in which it was created. Just dont ask me how they did it. Please, just listen. This shows that original Post-Rock artists will continue to have a positive affect on those who are listening to it from the first time, and who dont quite understand it yet. There are various sources online which help with the understanding of the complex genre. Such as www.postrocking.org which is a post rock radio streaming website, which lets up and coming artists submit their tracks. It also contains a popular forum where fans can share their views. Also killwhat.com which is French fanzine company which cover and cater for post rock fans. One main entity of post rock bands is that to grab media attention, they usually have strange band or album names. For Example Godpseed You! Black Emperor and their album Lift Yr Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven. Other examples of this are bands such as ILiKETRAiNS Meanwhile Back in Communist Russiaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. and I Love You But Ive Chosen Darkness. The list is endless. The strange and abnormal band names partially tie in with the unique and somewhat strange sounding music they produce. I have included 3 Audio files with the essay. The first track being Nosferatu Man. This shows what the birth of post rock was like and how it was essential. It also shows how vocals were in a narrator style and how the time signatures were irregular and ever changing, as the song switches from 5/4 to 6/4 to 4/4. The track also gives a decent idea of the howling guitar sound used by the band. The next track is Christmas Steps by Mogwai. This track pinpoints and shows the soothing melodic side of post rock and also the steady build up to the more aggressive and distorted crescendos. This giving a good insight to what the development and definition of post rock sounds like and how even genres such as heavy metal can have an influence. It also considered a post rock piece as it lasts 10 minutes. The last track is Atlas by Battles. This shows the current state of post rock and how it differs. It lets us hear how effects are implemented more to create an Alien Sound Also how post rock can branch into other genres and while still keeping traditionally ideas such as gibberish vocals, build up sequences, crescendos, tom based drumming and longer track times at seven minutes long. Battles are a good example of keeping traditional ideas but bringing new ideas to the table. Overall, Post Rock is a creative genre which gives artists unlimited freedom. Pioneered by Slint, Defined by Mogwai and evolved by Battles, it seems that its a really complex genre thats tough understand, but it definitely is genre you have to appreciate due to the creativity it requires and its uniqueness. Post rock is still evolving and new artists are still peddling out year after year with many bands producing new styles and techniques. However the roots of Post rock constructed by Slint and Tortoise are still evidently rooted within the music.

The Effect of the Cold War on Stem Education

The Effect of the Cold War Arm’s Race on STEM Occupations during the Cold War Ketib Oldiais Mr. Kelley IB Asian and European History HL 00450- A. Plan of Investigation 5 marks During the Cold War, the struggle for power between the communists of Soviet Russia and the pro-democracy politicians of the United States escalated in numerous proxy wars, acts of espionage, and potential nuclear warfare. Behind it all however, the Cold War was a breeding ground for competition in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.From the 1960s, upon the spark of the Space Race with the Soviet Launch of Sputnik, to the 1990s with the reunion of East and West Germany, the Cold War was a period of increase in occupations related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Using statistical data during the Cold War’s time frame related to this increase, we can ask the question—to what extent did the Cold War effect the number of occupations related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics?Answering such a question will provide us with the necessary details in understanding why and how the increase of such occupations occurred specifically during the Cold War compared to other historical eras. For the sake of keeping this research paper within the word count limit, the term â€Å"science, technology, engineering, and mathematics†, will be shortened to STEM. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which STEM related variables of the Cold War such as the space race, acts of espionage, proxy wars, as well as the improvement of military weapons, affected the statistics regarding STEM related occupations at the time.To achieve the purpose of providing an answer to the research question, I will utilize statistical data from before, during, and after the Cold War. This data will be presented in such a way that they may be compared to each other, providing the understanding that there was indeed an increase and decrease of such STEM related occupations. After establishing this, such fluctuations in statistical data will be attributed to Cold War events at the time of the fluctuation. A large proportion of the statistical data utilized will be from government statistical agencies and university polls.By achieving my purpose, the reader may come to understand the role STEM related variables and occupations in global affairs, and the extent to which they effect B. Summary of Evidence 4 marks Throughout much of the Cold War, competition between pro-Democracy countries and their Communist counterparts was tense. The Soviets and their proxies were determined to expand their influence, the United States was just as determined to stop them. STEM related resources were almost always credited with decisive victories, whether in espionage or wartime.Science and technology, as Daniel Yankovich, a social scientist from Harvard University had once stated, â€Å"were almost universally credited wit h a decisive role in gaining victory in war, prosperity in peace, enhancing national security, improving our health, and enriching the quality of life†. Throughout much of the 1950s, the United States felt, and appeared, as though it had the upper hand and prowess in STEM related fields. This was still the mind set throughout the decade, even with the introduction of Soviet made nuclear bombs.By 1957 however, America had been beaten to the space race. With the launch of the Soviet Sputnik, America’s comfort in the idea that they were the leaders of this particular field was shattered. Quick on its feet, the United States immediately began pushing effort for a larger STEM taskforce. Congress began focusing in on funding the American education system, and the result was a huge growth in STEM related occupations. By the 1980s, there were approximately 2. 5 million employees in STEM related fields (National Science Board, Science and Engineering Indicators 2008, Figure 3-1) .This increase in public interest in the STEM related fields, both on the local public and national level, was very clearly a product of the rivalry between the Soviet Union and America. Both sides clearly understood the power of having the best possible weaponry, something that could only be attained with the brightest minds. Gone were the days were having the most men would win the battle; the Cold War was an era of scientific and technological progress. Even in the American education system, trends in doctorate degrees were evident enough of the public’s enthusiasm in participating in a new, fruitful field.From 1971 to 1985, the number of engineering and engineering technology master’s and doctorate degrees increased from 16,443 to 21,555 degrees. (National Science Board, Science and Engineering Indicators 2008, Figure 3-1). It is very evident that the American people were just as concerned about national security and patriotism at the time than the politicians were . From 1950, there were less than approximately 500,000 STEM employees. By 1960, this figure had increased to approximately 1. 25 million, by 1970 at least 1. 75 million, and by 1980 about 2. million ((National Science Board, Science and Engineering Indicators 2008, Figure 3-1). (Refer to appendix 1 for a more accurate line graph of this trend. ) It is important to note however, that all these growth spurts were sparked by the technological, scientific, engineering, and mathematical advancements that both the Soviet Union and the United States accomplished. It was during the Cold War that atomic energy, the most powerful energy that could possibly be harnessed with the technology at the time, came under heavy research.Both Soviet and American physicists and engineers strived to construct powerful atomic bombs. The soviets went on to construct an even more powerful bomb, the hydrogen bomb, and even detonated the most powerful hydrogen bomb in history, the AN602 HB â€Å"Tsar Bombaâ €  in 1961. (Gerovitch: ‘Mathematical Machines’ of the Cold War: Soviet Computing, American Cybernetics and Ideological Disputes in the Early 1950s page 54)The bomb triggered even more efforts by the United States in improving their aerospace, aeronautical, and national security fields.The internet also came into being in the early 1970s, originally intended as a security network in keeping classified nuclear codes top secret. Satellite technology was also at its peak during the Cold War, the USSR having sent the Sputnik in 1957, and America’s Explorer 1 the following year. It was also during the Cold War that the United States sent the first man onto the man, Neil Armstrong, on July 20, 1969. (Gerovitch: ‘Mathematical Machines’ of the Cold War: Soviet Computing, American Cybernetics and Ideological Disputes in the Early 1950s page 53)It is not a coincidence that the increasing STEM occupation trend during the Cold War occurred at the height of th e â€Å"cold† conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union. The two were rival powers, both competing ideologically, and ultimately, in engineering, science, technology, and math. This competition resulted in huge advances in the STEM fields, many of which still hold a great deal of impact today, such as nuclear weaponry, satellite technology, espionage, and space travel.This research study will aim at answering the question, to what extent did the Cold War effect the number of occupations related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics? By answering this question, you, as the reader, may come to understand the implications the Cold War had on STEM occupations at the time, as well as the value STEM occupations held in shaping what the Cold War was and ultimately, the present day. C. Evaluation of Sources 3 marks Researching this topic, I utilized a number of resources.Of all my resources, I relied greatly on the American National Science Board’s Science and Engineering Indicators, 2008 document, which provided statistics on the growth of STEM related occupations from 1950 until 2000. There were a number of other resources I could rely on, but I felt that this gave the most accurate and credible description of the Cold War effect on STEM fields through a critical, statistical analysis. The resource itself is held credible through the fact that the National Science Board is the single government organization that represents the broad U. S. cience and engineering community. The members of this board are appointed by the President of the United States of America, and are approved by the Senate. The statistics presented in the document, Science and Engineering Indicators, 2008, utilized for this particular Internal Assessment is an accumulation of statistical surveys conducted from 1950 until 2000. Another resource that I found extremely useful in producing an accurate portrait for analysis was ‘Mathematical Machines†™ of the Cold War: Soviet Computing, American Cybernetics and Ideological Disputes in the Early 1950s by MIT’s Slava Gerovitch.The document explored an interesting phenomenon, the effect of the Cold War on scientific, technological, engineering, and mathematical growth, from two different sides—the U. S. A. , and the U. S. S. R.. Gerovitch’s document carefully explores the application of STEM products from both sides of the Cold War, analyzing such applications from both the Soviet and American perspective. The statistics mentioned in this Internal Assessment can all be found in the appendix, all of which are derived from the American National Science Board’s Science and Engineering Indicators, 2008 statistics document.The resources utilized in this research paper are credible, coming from both government agencies as well as research done by professors from top tier American universities. It is important to note that statistics can only go so far in pro ving the answer to the research question I have presented. Given the fact that it is not difficult to fabricate such numbers, I understand that there is a limitation of the scope of this research, whose parameters are set specifically at establishing a relation between a statistical increase of STEM occupations and Cold War tension.In order to fully understand the scope, content, and limitations of this Internal Assessment, one must assume that all forms of statistical data and historical documents utilized as resources, are in fact, true and credible forms of data. D. Analysis 6 marks The Cold War definitely affected the rate at which STEM related occupations grew from the 1950s to the mid 1990s. Growth of STEM related occupations was merely a symptom of the tension between the United States and the USSR.Both the United States and the USSR were competing for the position as the head technological global power, a position that at the time was, and still is, a symbol of national secu rity and foreign dominance. As Paul Josephson, a Soviet technological historian, noted in his research, the more Stalin demanded a ‘great transformation of nature’ the more industrial and technological research projects ensued. Despite the fact that the statistics did indeed show a growth of nearly 6. 5% from the 1950s to the mid 1990s, it is important to note the environment at which STEM related occupations grew.Although both competitors, the United States and the USSR both demanded an increase in high tech defense systems, some forms of STEM related research were deemed â€Å"unnecessary† to the cause, and as a result, were left unfunded. The lack of funds literally suppressed such research. As Slava Gerovitch puts it, campaigns against such research â€Å"destroyed personal careers and closed whole areas of research; in a number of disciplines, the most dogmatic of trends prevailed, imposing narrow conceptual frameworks and stifling creative thought. It is i nterpretations of historians such as Slava Gerovitch that it is important to understand that, although the demand for STEM related research was great, it was limited to STEM related research that fit the goals of the two competitors. Physiology, medicine, cybernetics, and genetics, for example, were suppressed during Stalin’s reign, fields that were deemed to idealistic and too Western. Genetics, for example, was labeled a â€Å"whore of capitalism† by Soviet ideologists.It was these STEM fields, fields that were far too close to clashing with Soviet political ideology, that STEM related research did not grow. The Soviet Union wanted to â€Å"surpass† Western research, not â€Å"criticize† it. Fields such as physiology, cybernetics, and genetics, were far too ideologically charged, meaning they invoked some level of philosophical, ethical, and political clash, and had very little to do with technological prowess at the time. Fields such as physics, inform ation technology systems, mathematics, and physical engineering were the most desired.Physics brought the USSR their first atomic bomb as well as their, and the world’s, first man in low earth orbit, information technology systems brought the soviet MESM, the first operating stored program computer in continental Europe, and engineering brought the construction of Soviet missiles and Nuclear submarines. All these fields and their products were â€Å"appealing† to the Soviet administration and its ideologists, specifically because they flourished even under a totalitarian system, and gave power to the Soviet Union during the Cold War’s arms race.The growth in the United States had a similar characteristic with that of the USSR. Within STEM growth, the life science fields (biology, genetics, etc. ) grew the least. This characteristic however, resulted from lack of interest in the field, unlike the Soviet Union’s deliberate banning of such fields. This lack of interest was a direct of product of the lack of funding. Federal and military funding during the Cold War was primarily aimed at the physical science fields (physics, chemistry, technology, physical engineering, etc. , as they were the forms of measurement in global power. It was because of this lack of funding that the United States public lost interest. From a practical point of view, it is a logical conclusion to make, given the economic conditions of the time. Physical sciences were where the most attainable and lucrative forms of income existed, and it was only natural for the average American to head into a financially attractive field.As a conclusive analysis, it is not difficult to recognize that both the United States and the USSR experienced remarkable growth in STEM related occupations as a result of their competitive nature in the arm’s race during the Cold War. The term â€Å"STEM† encompasses fields ranging from the most technical of fields as nuclear physics all the way down to the most ideologically and philosophically charged fields as biology. As a result, to answer the question, â€Å"To what extent did the Cold War affect the growth of STEM related occupations? one must interpret the whole definition of the term STEM, recognize its parameters, and understand that even with the growth of STEM related occupations, there was a slower, declined, or even non-existent, growth in politically charged and â€Å"uninteresting† fields such as that of the life sciences, whether politically induced or because of lack of interest. E. Conclusion 2 marks In conclusion, the statistics presented by the National Science Foundation of the United States clearly shows an increase in STEM related occupations from the 1950s to the mid 1990s.Occupations that experienced the most dramatic increase included physicists, and engineers. Upon the introduction of computers and other computational tools, mathematics and information technology syste ms also experienced an increase. Based on when these increasing trends occurred, and other events that occurred along those times, it is not difficult to see a correlation between the positive growth trends and the tense, competitive events that occurred between the USSR and the United States.From nuclear bombs, the space race, and computational and information technologies, the USSR and the United States competed against each other to gain the position as the leading global power. And given the nature of the competition, the only method of attaining such a position was to have the top scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and information technology specialists. With a sudden demand for such occupations, STEM occupations, it was inevitable for an increase to occur. But one must also be aware that with great demand for certain STEM occupations came a great level of ignorance for others.Biology and genetics for example, experienced the least growth. Such was the case in the United St ates and the USSR, although the circumstances leading up to the phenomenon were very different. Biology and genetics did not thrive in the United States for inadequate funding and lack of public interest, while the same situation held true in the USSR due to their overtly philosophically and politically charged nature. As a result, to answer the question, â€Å"To what extent did the cold war effect the number of STEM occupations from the 1950s to the 1990s? , one must understand that although the Cold War did increase the amount of STEM occupations, it also brought upon a certain level of negligence towards other fields, such as biology and genetics. But even more important than answering the question, the implications of this study are clear—that STEM related occupations effect the world to a very high degree. The course of the Cold War was literally paved by these STEM occupations, and even in the real world today, STEM occupations shape world affairs. Everything from a l aptop to an atomic bomb, are all products of STEM occupations.As a result, it is important that we understand that the scope of this internal assessment is not merely limited to answering the core question of this internal assessment, but to assess the degree to which STEM related occupations play in world affairs, both in the past and present. F. Sources and Word Limit 3 marks Websites â€Å"The Cold War and the Early Space Race, an Article from History in Focus. †Ã‚  Institute of Historical Research | The National Centre for History. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. . This resource gave me a very general idea of the impact the Cold War had on the space race that occurred between the United States and the Soviet Union. It did not give me very specific details such as statistics, but it did give me general parameters of the research I was going to be working with. â€Å"Engineering: Underground Cold War – TIME. †Ã‚  Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video , Tech Reviews – TIME. com. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. . * On this website, a more indebt account on the role engineering played in the cold war was defined.What the first website offered, this gave a more accurate portrayal. The parameters of the research were much more clearly defined in this article. â€Å"Top Ed-Tech Trends of 2011: STEM Education's Sputnik Moment. †Ã‚  Hack Education. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. . * This website gave me a defined view of the role education played in the Cold War. The 2nd website noted the role of education as a determining factor in the trends regarding engineering, and this article provided me the opportunity to look at the bigger picture of education.Viswanathan, Vidya B. â€Å"Cold War Conflict Prompted Education Arms Race | News | The Harvard Crimson. †Ã‚  Harvard News | The Harvard Crimson. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. . * I would not say that this article was extremely crucial to the investigation, but the technical writing involved in presenti ng its topic, which is very closely related to mine, gave me some ideas on the lexicon and syntax my investigation should be presented as. Measurement and Statistics on Science and Technology: 1920 to the Present – Benoit Godin. †Ã‚  Google Books. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. ;http://books. google. com/books? id=ojC8o0YKZFcC;. * This article was useful in the sense that it provided some very useful statistics regarding STEM research from 1920 until 2000. Given the fact that my investigation relies very heavily on statistics, this website/online book, proved very useful. â€Å"How the Cold War Was Won  « Engineering Radio. †Ã‚  Engineering Radio. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. ;http://www. engineeringradio. us/blog/2010/10/how-the-cold-war-was-won/;. This website offered a podcast by a group of engineers discussing the Cold War and the role engineering played. It is definitely interesting to see the topic from an engineer’s standpoint. â€Å"Pioneering Rocket Engineer Develop ed Cold War Missiles, Competed in X PRIZE | UTSanDiego. com. †Ã‚  San Diego News, Local, California and National News | UTSanDiego. com. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. ;http://www. utsandiego. com/news/2010/oct/08/pioneering-rocket-engineer-developed-cold-war/;. * This website provided examples Cold War technologies that essentially promoted the â€Å"coldness† of the Cold War.Some of the examples provided were explored and mentioned in my investigation when addressing the factors of defining the â€Å"coldness† of the Cold War. NebraskaStudies. Org. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. ;http://www. nebraskastudies. org/0900/frameset_reset. html? http://www. nebraskastudies. org/0900/stories/0901_0105. html;. * I would not say that this resource was extremely crucial to the investigation, but it did give me insight as to how the American public viewed the importance of engineering and other STEM related fields during the Cold War.Books/Documents Hamblin, Jacob Darwin. â€Å"Arming Mother Nat ure: How Modern Science and the Cold War Gave Birth to Catastrophic Environmentalism. † Diss. 2011. Web. * This document gave examples of the implications Cold War technology had on society, and overall, the friction between the Soviets and the Americans, as well as the implications placed upon proxy nations used between the two both in the past and in the present day. Imhotep, Edward Jones. â€Å"Disciplining Technology: Electronic Reliability, Cold-War Military Culture and the Topside Ionogram. † Diss.Harvard University, 2000. Harvard Department of History of Science. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. * Dr. Imhotep of Harvard wrote this document on how technological advancements were â€Å"disciplined† or utilized, during the Cold War. The level of social/scientific analysis in this paper definitely provided me ideas on how to address the more negative side of technological advancement. Bernard, William J. , and James Glanz. â€Å"Does Science Matter? † Editorial. New York Times  11 Nov. 2003. New York Times. New York Times, 11 Nov. 2003. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. ;www. newyorktimes. com;. This article is exactly what it title says, it aims to answer the question, â€Å"Does Science Matter? †. It attempts to answer this question through the implications science had on the Cold War, and ultimately daily American life. As of now, I have not found use for the information and ideas I have obtained from this article, but it definitely does give me some idea on the direction my conclusion should be pointing towards. Olwell, Russell. â€Å"Physics and Politics in Cold War America: The Two Exiles of David Bohm. † Diss. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1993.Program in Science, Technology, and Society, MIT. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. * This long essay, written by Russel Olwell, gave me a very detailed picture of the relationship held between physicists and American politicians. Understanding this relationship is key to my investigation, as it is thi s relationship that sort of glues all the other factors together. Gerovitch, Slava. ‘Mathematical Machines’ of the Cold War: Soviet Computing, American Cybernetics and Ideological Disputes in the Early 1950s. Cambridge: Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology, 1990. MIT. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. This document gave me a very detailed, and personal account, of the advancements the Soviets accomplished in the STEM fields, and how these advancements served as the precursor to American attempts at their own advancements. Rappert, Brian, Brian Balmer, and John Stone. â€Å"Science, Technology, and the Military: Priorities, Preoccupations, and Possibilities. † Diss. University College London, 2008. University College London. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. * This final document gave a very analytical standpoint on how science, technology, and the military shared certain, specific goals and restrictions.

Accounting Equation Paper

The accounting equation which we know as Assets equals to Liabilities plus Equity for a sole proprietorship and for a corporation we know it as Assets equals to liabilities plus stockholders & equity. Assets are company owned, liabilities are what company owes and the difference between the both of them is the owner’s equity, these three things are what the companies are measured by in the financial field. In order to understand them more clearly and how the accounting equation shows a simple way of understanding the three amounts relating to one and another, which are the assets that include cash, account receivable, equipment. Then the liabilities include notes payable, accounts payable and salaries payable. Finally, owner’s and stockholder’s equity includes common stock and retained earnings. The accounting balance sheet is one of the biggest financial statements used by accountants and business owners, these are income statements, cash flow statements, and stockholders equity statements. Balance sheet allows the creditor to see what a company owns as well as what he owes. These are very important things for someone to know for potential investors and others. So as we know, the balance sheet reflects the accounting equation, it shows the reports of company’s assets, liabilities, and owner’s and stockholders’ equity. If a company keeps their records up to date and accurate, the accounting equation will always be in balance, showing that the left side should always equal to the right side. This keeps the balance sheet balanced since all assets are financed either by equity or liabilities and also the accounting equation serves as the basis for the balance sheet. The balance sheet shows that the assets are on the debit side and liabilities and equity are on the credit side, so the accounting equation formulates in a way where the total debits should always equal the total credits. Every accounting equation has its effects on the accounting equation, because every transaction alters the components presented in the equation, in a way that the equation is satisfied after each modification.

Why Did Dinosaurs Have Feathers

Asking why certain dinosaurs had feathers is no different, in principle, from asking why fish have scales or why dogs have fur. Why should the bare epidermis of any animal possess any type of covering (or, in the case of human beings, practically no covering at all)? In order to answer this question, we have to address a deeper conundrum: what evolutionary advantage did feathers confer on dinosaurs that couldnt be accomplished with fur, or bristles or simple, reptilian scales? The Majority of Feathered Dinosaurs Were Theropods Before we start, though, its important to recognize that not all dinosaurs had feathers. The vast majority of feathered dinosaurs were theropods, a broad category that includes raptors, tyrannosaurs, ornithomimids and dino-birds, as well as the earliest dinosaurs like Eoraptor and Herrerasaurus. Furthermore, not all theropods were feathered: its a pretty sure bet that the late Jurassic Allosaurus had scaly skin, as did other large theropods like Spinosaurus and Tyrannosaurus Rex (though an increasing number of paleontologists believe that the hatchlings and juveniles of these dinosaurs may have been adorably tufted). Theropods werent the only members of the order of saurischian (lizard-hipped) dinosaurs: oddly enough, their closest relatives were the giant, lumbering, elephant-legged sauropods, which were about as different in appearance and behavior from theropods as you can possibly get! To date, theres absolutely no evidence for any feathered relatives of Brachiosaurus or Apatosaurus, and such a discovery seems extremely unlikely. The reason has to do with the differing metabolisms of theropod and sauropod dinosaurs, of which more below. What Is the Evolutionary Advantage of Feathers? Extrapolating from the example of modern birds, you might think that the primary purpose of feathers is  to sustain flight; feathers trap small pockets of air and provide the crucial lift that enables a bird to soar into the air. By all indications, though, the employment of feathers in flight is strictly secondary, one of those contingent developments for which evolution is so famous. First and foremost, the function of feathers is to provide insulation, just like the aluminum siding of a house or the polyurethane foam packed in its rafters. And why should an animal need insulation, you ask? Well, in the case of theropod dinosaurs (and modern birds), its because it possesses an endothermic (warm-blooded) metabolism. When a creature has to generate its own heat, it needs a way to retain that heat as efficiently as possible, and a coat of feathers (or fur) is one solution that has been repeatedly favored by evolution. While some mammals (like human beings and elephants) lack fur, all birds have feathers--and the insulating prowess of feathers is no better demonstrated than in flightless, aquatic birds inhabiting cold climates, i.e., penguins. Of course, this raises the question of why Allosaurus and other large theropod dinosaurs lacked feathers (or why those feathers were only present in juveniles or hatchlings). This may have something to do with the climatic conditions in the regions where these dinosaurs lived, or with a quirk in the metabolism of large theropods; we dont yet know the answer. (As for the reason sauropods lacked feathers, thats because they were almost certainly cold-blooded, and needed to efficiently absorb and radiate heat to regulate their internal body temperature. If they had been covered with feathers, they would have baked themselves from the inside out, like microwaved potatoes.) Dinosaur Feathers Were Favored by Sexual Selection When it comes to otherwise mysterious features in the animal kingdom―the long necks of sauropods, the triangular plates of stegosaurs, and, possibly, the bright feathers of theropod dinosaurs―one should never discount the power of sexual selection. Evolution is notorious for picking out seemingly random anatomical features and putting them into sexual overdrive: witness the enormous noses of male proboscis monkeys, a direct result of the fact that females of the species prefer to mate with the biggest-nosed males. Once insulating feathers had evolved in theropod dinosaurs, there was nothing to prevent sexual selection from taking over and driving the process even further. As yet, we know very little about the color of dinosaur feathers, but its a sure bet that some species sported bright greens, reds, and oranges, probably in a sexually dimorphic fashion (i.e., the males were more brightly colored than the females or vice versa). Some otherwise bald theropods may have sported tufts of feathers in odd locations, such as their forearms or hips, another means of signaling sexual availability, and some early, famous dino-birds like Archaeopteryx were equipped with dark, glossy feathers. What About Flight? Finally, we come to the behavior that most people associate with feathers: flight. Theres still a lot we dont know about the evolution of theropod dinosaurs into birds; this process may have happened multiple times during the Mesozoic Era, with only the last evolutionary wave resulting in the birds we know today. Its an almost open-and-shut case that modern birds evolved from the small, skittery, feathered dino-birds of the late Cretaceous period. But how? There are two main theories. It could be that these dinosaurs feathers provided an extra bit of lift when they were chasing prey or running away from larger predators; natural selection favored increasing amounts of lift, and finally, one lucky dinosaur achieved takeoff. In contrast to this ground-up theory, theres the less popular arboreal theory, which posits that small, tree-living dinosaurs evolved aerodynamic feathers while leaping from branch to branch. Whatever the case, the important lesson is that flight was the unintended byproduct, not the foreordained purpose, of dinosaur feathers! One new development in the feathered dinosaurs debate is the discovery of small, feathered, plant-eating ornithopods like Tianyulong and Kulindadromeus. Might this imply that ornithopods, as well as theropods, possessed warm-blooded metabolisms? Is it at least possible that birds evolved from plant-eating ornithopods, rather than meat-eating raptors? We dont know yet but count on this being an active area of research for at least the next decade.