Survival (on The Book Night) :: essays research papers

The book Night is about the holocaust as experienced by Elie Weisel from inside the concentration camps. During World War II millions of innocent Jews were taken from their homes to concentration camps, resulting in the deaths of 6 million people. There were many methods of survival for the prisoners of the holocaust during World War II. In the book Night, there were three main modes of survival, faith, family, and food. From the examples in the book Night, faith proved to be the most successful in helping people survive the holocaust.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   While obtaining food seemed to be the entire purpose of life for the people imprisoned in the camps, it often killed more people than it saved. Though focusing on food seemed like a logical thing to do when you are being starved, it was not always very effective in helping people survive. There are many situations in the book illustrating how living for the sole purpose of acquiring food—under any condition—could turn out to be lethal. Elie wrote of one time, during an air raid, when two half-full cauldrons of soup were left unguarded in a path. Despite their hunger, the prisoners were too frightened for their lives to even touch the cauldrons. One brave man dragged himself to the cauldrons intending to drink some of the forbidden soup. Before he could so much as take a small taste of the soup, he was shot, and he fell to the ground, dead. In Night, Elie recalled him as a 'Poor hero, committing suicide for a ration of soup'; (Weisel, 56). Later in the story, there is yet another example of how food could kill. While the prisoners were in cattle cars, being moved to a different camp, a worker in one of the towns they passed through threw a piece of bread into one of the cars, and watched as they literally killed for just a mouthful. Through that experience, Elie witnessed a man kill his own father for a few meager crumbs of bread, only then to see that man be killed moments later for the same small portion of bread. 'Men threw themselves on top of each other, stamping on each other, tearing at each other. Wild beasts of prey, with animal hatred in their eyes; an extraordinary vitality had seized then, sharpening their teeth and nails'; (Weisel, 95). Clearly, food as a method survival wasn't a particularly effective way to stay alive.

Nuclear Energy Social Benefits and Costs

Its impacts on the environment are almost Non-existent if well managed: It occupies only small surfaces of land and consumes small amounts of fuel; its waste is small, confined, and isolated from the environment. there is no industry in the world that can present the same excellent record of safety performance as the nuclear industry. Introduction to Nuclear Energy for Civilian Purposes * Most early atomic research focused on developing an effective weapon for use in World War II.After the war, the United States government encouraged the development of nuclear energy for peaceful civilian purposes while continuing to develop, test, and deploy new nuclear weapons. * The Experimental Breeder Reactor I at a site in Idaho generated the first electricity from nuclear energy on December 20, 1951. * As of 2008, 13% of the world’s electricity comes from nuclear energy. Fewer than 400 nuclear power reactors were operating as of May 2012 (Japan's 54 reactors were gradually taken offline after the March 2011 meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi).There were also 60 nuclear reactors under construction. * In the United States alone, there are 103 nuclear power reactors, which provide about 19% of the nation’s electricity. * A new nuclear power plant has not been ordered in the U. S. since 1973. How It Works – The Scientific Process Behind Nuclear Energy * Nuclear energy relies on the fact that some elements can be split (in a process called fission) and will release part of their energy as heat. Because it fissions easily, Uranium-235 (U-235) is one of the elements most commonly used to produce nuclear energy. It is generally used in a mixture with Uranium-238, and produces Plutonium-239 (Pu-239) as waste in the process. * A nuclear power plant generates electricity like any other steam-electric power plant. Water is heated, and steam from the boiling water turns turbines and generates electricity. * The main difference in the various types of steam-electric p lants is the heat source.Coal, oil, or gas is burned in other power plants to heat the water. Heat from a chain reaction of fissioning Uranium-235 boils the water in a nuclear power plant. Some have compared this process to using a canon to kill a fly. * On March 11, 2011, a strong earthquake hit off the coast of Japan. The resulting tsunami caused meltdowns at multiple reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. For more information on the accident at Fukushima,  click here. * On April 26, 1986, the No. 4 reactor at the Chernobyl power plant (in the former U.S. S. R. , present-day Ukraine) exploded, causing the worst nuclear accident ever. SOCIAL COSTS External Costs * The waste material generated by nuclear energy from nuclear fleets to nuclear plants is radio-active, and for this waste to naturally decompose it takes from hundred thousand to millions of years, if it is not fully decomposed it still poses a threat. * The waste material created by nuclear energy if it isn’t disposed well, and terrorists can have access to it the result would be disastrous, as it can be used for nuclear weapons. If there is any nuclear accident the reaction would spread to a large area and apart from destroying people’s lives it would also cause other people and different organisms to be radio-actively exposed creating long-term health problems. * Nuclear accidents tend to destroy the natural ecosystem, by polluting water-bodies and animals. * Nuclear accidents can cause climate change: extreme heat waves or droughts. Private Costs * Allocating the resources (land) for building the nuclear energy power plant is very difficult, as finding a fairly sparsely populated region close to a water-body isn’t available readily. The investment needed for to build a nuclear energy power plant, and the capital for its safety measures all costs a lot of money(in billions). * If a nuclear power station wants to shut down, the process of nuclear decommissioni ng (process of entrusting the land for other uses) is also very expensive. * The process of getting rid of the nuclear waste is very costly, as the investors need to hire highly skilled people to enclose this waste into tin boxes for it to degrade, and the capital (equipment) and transportation facility for this process is very expensive. Nuclear accidents can three times more than the operating revenue of that nuclear power plant. SOCIAL BENEFITS External Benefits * Nuclear energy has very high chances for development, as some can produce less nuclear waste, others have chances of efficiently reproduce the waste, and nuclear power plants can run on other types of radio-active materials, or with little waste products producing huge amount of electricity. * Nuclear energy running on different types of radio-active material is predicted to fulfil the increasing demand for electricity for more than 3000 years. Nuclear energy is the one of the energy type which does not release any gree nhouse gases into the atmosphere, but only releases water-vapour as a by-product, but yet still has the capacity to produce a lot of energy. * The waste product generated from fossil fuel is far greater than nuclear energy, the burning of coal not only produces greenhouse gases but also fairly radio-active materials which are leashed into the environment, but in nuclear energy the radio-active waste is shielded from the environment and is far less compared to that of burning fossil fuels. Nuclear energy plants have the ability to produce large amounts of electricity which would not only be cheap but would have a high voltage; this would help a country’s industrial (secondary) sector. Private Benefits * The amount spent on buying fuel (uranium rods, etc. ) is very less. * For investors according to their scale of preference to develop a power station, a nuclear energy plant would be high on the scale.Because the chances of there being a nuclear accident is very low, as there i s no power industry in the world that can present the same excellent records of safety measurements than the nuclear energy industry. Despite the Chernobyl disaster which was because of the USSR developing very fast and lack of the type of technology available today, and the Fukushima nuclear disaster being an act of God, which the world wasn’t prepared for but now is.

Television and Media Violence - Is Aggressive Behavior...

Is Aggressive Behavior Linked to Television Violence? According the Centerwall (1992), the average child aged 2-5 in 1990 watched 27 hours of television per day, or almost 4 hours per day. When much of what is on television, including cartoons and television shows targeted at children, contains violence, it becomes important to know whether watching televised violence can lead to or increase aggressive behavior. Social learning theory tells us that children model their behavior after those they see. It is reasonable, then, to infer that watching violence on television will lead to behaving violently, due to the modeling effect. The present study reviews some relevant prior research, and then investigates†¦show more content†¦Centerwall found that in between 1945 and 1975, the homicide rate in the US increased by 93%, while in Canada, the homicide rate increased by 92% after the introduction of television. In South Africa, however, the homicide rate decreased by 7%. In case we might think that South Africa is just a less violent country than the US or Canada, Centerwall included the homicide rates for the three countries in 1987. In the US and Canada, no significant changes were noted, Homicides per 100,000 1945 1974 % Change 1987 % Change United States 3 5.8 +93 5.4 n.s Canada 1.3 2.5 +92 2.2 n.s South Africa 2.7 2.5 -7 5.8 +130 Page 3 showing that the homicide rate had reached a plateau, at a rate that was nearly twice the pre- television rate. In the fifteen years after South Africa received television, between 1975 and 1987, the homicide rate increased by 130%. This is convincing evidence that television had an impact on the homicide rates in the US and Canada, doubling the rate in 30 years, and more than doubling the homicide rate in South Africa in only 15 years. Centerwall notes that there was a delay of about 10-15 years between the introduction of television in each country and the increase in homicide rates. He suggests thatShow MoreRelated Is Media Violence To Blame? Essay528 Words   |  3 Pages Is Media Violence To Blame? Today, there is more violence on TV, in video games and in music than ever before. Many times, media violence is linked with kids and teenagers committing violent acts. This is an attempt by parents and critics to eliminate violence in the media. Although, many think media violence is a cause of violence among children, they should be looking at what else causes violence. Many people believe media violence is not good and that it makes kids aggressive. Laboratory studiesRead MoreThe Criminal Justice System: Media Violence and Social Justice724 Words   |  3 Pagesadults who are exposed to the media are aggressive and violent. According to such articles, violent content provokes aggressive behavior and violence. Ferguson illustrates that watching satanic content, like in Harry Potter, or teaching of witchcraft can lead to Satanism or mental illness. 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