Michael Smyth vs. Pillsbury Company. Essay Example for Free

Michael Smyth vs. Pillsbury Company. Essay STYLE: Michael Smyth vs. Pillsbury Company. COURT: United States District Court of Pennsylvania. CITATION: 914 F. Supp. 97; 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 776; 131 Lab. Cas. (CCH) P58, 104; 11 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 585. ISSUE: Can an employer be accused of violating public policy, tortuously invading privacy and subsequently be estopped from firing or discharging an at will employee, if for the purpose of company’s interest, it monitor an employee’s email communications over the company’s email system just to find them contrary to company’s interest? FACTS: Plaintiff, a manager at defendant’s company had work email account with access from home. Plaintiff was assured by defendant that email communication is private and confidential with no messages being intercepted and used employment termination. Plaintiff in reliance to promise to its detriment used work email system to make threatening email comments with supervisor was intercepted and employment was terminated. Court ruled in favor of Defendant as it was not evident if termination threatened or violated a clear mandate of public policy or Plaintiff’s common law right to privacy. HOLDING: An employer cannot be accused for violating public policy, privacy and/or discharging an employee according to restatement definition of tort of intrusion upon seclusion. LAW: Restatement (Second) of Torts  § 652B: Liability only attaches when the intrusion is substantial and would be highly offensive to the ordinary. Unless an employee identifies a specific expression of public policy violated by his discharge, it will not be labelled as wrongful and within the sphere of public policy†. EXPLANATION: The clear mandate of public policy must strike at the heart of a citizen’s social right, duties and responsibilities. Plaintiff was not fired for serving on jury duty, for prior conviction or for reporting violation of federal regulations to NRC. Plaintiff’s alleged unprofessional communication over email system utilized by entire company diminishes expectation of privacy. Plaintiff was not asked to disclose personal information by defendant. JUDGEMENT: The motion of the defendant to dismiss was granted. The complaint was dismissed with prejudice

Free Oedipus the King Essays: Metamorphosis of Oedipus :: Oedipus the King Oedipus Rex

Metamorphosis of Oedipus in Oedipus Rex (the King)Â   Â   The metamorphosis of Oedipus in Sophocles' "Oedipus Rex" is sudden and climactic. Sophocles wrote the tragedy to bring a certain moral conclusion to fruition by the end of the novel. To have change, the character of Oedipus first had to reveal his tragic flaw. He begins the story as a brilliant conqueror and becomes a bereft and blind man at the play's surface. However, the moral of the play is not merely the consequences of attempting to circumvent one's fate. The running theme of the play is blindness, and Oedipus is blind the way through, comparable in every way to Sampson of the Bible. A quick-witted man at first glance, Oedipus soon showed himself to be arrogant and narrow-minded in his dealings with Tiresias, Creon, and the Old Man. After solving the puzzle of the Sphinx, he went on to unknowingly kill his father and try to save another city. His destiny was laid before him prior to his journeys, and by choosing to try to dodge it, he first showed his blindness. Tiresias was Oedipus' inverse at that point. He was the seer who had not vision while Oedipus had full use of his eyes, but was unwise and blinded to the events that circled him. Creon was cool-tempered and forgiving. After Oedipus harangued Creon with accusations of being in cahoots with Tiresias, Creon still wanted to bring the truth and have all be overlooked. At the end of the novel, Creon is kind towards Oedipus in his weakness, for even the strong fall. Oedipus is not aware that he has killed his father or is married to his own mother and has had children by her. As he realizes that the prophecies h as come to pass because of and despite him, his alteration takes place. Sampson was like Oedipus in many aspects of his character and life. Oedipus conquered the Sphinx; Sampson conquered an army using only a donkey's jawbone. Oedipus grew weaker and weaker until he finally discovered the truth and was held accountable, as was Sampson. Both engaged in sexual immorality, though one was less deliberate than the other. Towards the end of their lives they were both physically blinded, but could see the truth and stood more upright because of it. Both Sampson and Oedipus experienced a metamorphosis in which they were originally the greatest men, but by placing themselves and their "wisdom" above the gods or God's, they fell.

Volkswagen of America: Managing It Priorities

Matulovic who is the chief information officer of Volkswagen of America (VWoA) has a tough decision to make. Volkswagen’s subsidiary launched a new process for allocating budgets across the business. With the new process, they have derived at a list of approved projects that no one is happy about. Calls came flooding through to Matulovic with an informal request to insert an unfunded project into the IT department’s work plans. VWoA had projects requiring $210 millions and the parent company of VWoA (Volkswagen Group, VWAG) budgeted only $60 million. In choosing the right projects to fund was a process that consisted of three phases: Phase 1-Calling for projects, communicating process, and identifying dependencies, Phase 2-Formal project requests for business unit, and Phase 3-Transforming business unit request into enterprise goal portfolios. Phase I was able to reduce and re-categorize projects because business units realized that many of their initiatives were very similar to other initiatives throughout the company which lead projects to become grouped together into common enterprise projects. This phase identified dependencies among projects. Therefore, without completed projects, the other projects could not be started. This phase also involved members becoming exposed to information about proposed initiatives across the company which gave them a greater understanding and appreciation of different business units. This helps migrate away from the current silo thinking and start focusing on initiatives in an enterprise-wide level. At the end of this phase, the proposed $210 million was simplified to a list of projects that required $170 million. Phase 1 was a critical starting point in aligning all business initiatives and trimming down projects. With the list in hand, we now step into Phase 2. During Phase 2 each business unit was required to classify each proposal into the type of investment (stay in business, return on investment, and option-creating investment) and technological application type (base-enterprise IT platform, enterprise applications, and customized point solutions). These classifications would influence how particular investments would be treated in the selection and prioritization process. Business units had to rank projects by priority and associate projects with enterprise goals. There was criticism that projects were reclassified as enterprise, but they really weren’t enterprise projects. The is because business units had to think of ways to associate their project with enterprise goals to improve chances of funding since the stay in business projects were given high priority, then the enterprise projects and finally individual business units. So if your project wasn’t a stay in business or enterprise project then the business units were tempted to reclassify their project to an enterprise project instead of a business unit. This built frustration as managers are looking for their own funding but don’t have the overall view to properly prioritize which lead other projects get the funding. Finally, Phase 3 consisted of ranking business unit goals based upon enterprise goals/needs. The key concept of governance is to align organizational activity with corporate goals and strategy. The assessment of the new process is to align business goals with enterprise goals and fund the top priority projects that would support the next round of growth goal areas. The NRG program is the readiness program called â€Å"Next Round of Growth† it was aimed to define the goals, functions, and organizational changes required to support and enable the new global product diversification strategy. The Next Round of Growth Enterprise Goal Areas is to support expanded product portfolio which is customer loyalty, new vehicle value, pre-owned vehicle business, stable infrastructure, and optimize supply flow. In order to reach a final project list, VWoA had to simplify and categorize projects, assess their business impact, and distinguish their alignment with goals all while making trade-off decisions. The process is an improvement over the old process since the business units were required to prioritize based on the enterprise-wide goals instead of their own business unit. It also avoided the less organized and less centralized method in prioritizing projects. The new process led business units to work together and make decisions that would affect their unit using the overall company strategy. They would also recognize other business unit’s priorities and provide a greater appreciation of their business unit and the work that they do. This helps alleviate other business units ranking their initiatives as more important than another. As this being a new process at VWoA, this process failed to capture and fund the supply flow project. The unfunded supply flow project revealed a flaw in the new process system. The supply flow project did not get funding because it was recognized at the global level and not at the VWoA importer level. The loss of funding would constitute a major setback for globalization initiatives based in Germany so this particular project must be funded somehow and Matulovic had to think of options on how to make this happen. The recommendation at this point is to remain focus on the most important strategic goals of VWoA and proceed funding all projects in the final project list in the top-ranked portfolio. He should not take funding from other funded projects to try and help fund the supply flow project. That would lead to intense push back and affect working relationships since projects which are important to VWoA’s strategic goals will be neglected. He should also not leave it to the supply flow area to work out what to do about this project because that decision would lead to a project waiting to fail. Dumping a project on them to figure out, without the proper resources is nearly impossible to successfully complete. Re-opening the new prioritization process that took nearly 3 months to complete is unnecessary and wasted time. The process will not have to be reopened, rather to find alternative sources for funding to proceed with the supply flow project. Due to the global reach of the project, it is unreasonable for the project to be funded solely by VWoA, but rather allocating the funds under the parent company or among all companies under the umbrella of the parent company, Volkswagen Group. Volkswagen Group sets the budget at VWoA and several organizational entities at VWoA would play a role in controlling which projects are funded. There are four specific teams involved in this process: the ELT (Executive Leadership Team), the ITSC (IT Steering Committee), the PMO (Project Management Office), and the DBC (Digital Business Council). If they are unable to find alternative funding then they should consider this project as an exception or special condition to figure out a way to fund the project. This is common where successful businesses continuously create new opportunities which cannot be covered by existing IT decisions. Matulovic should reach out to the supply flow group in Germany to present and communicate the different options for alternative funding and the importance of funding the top-ranked portfolio and the supply flow project and get them involved in the solution process. In managing IT priorities in the future, there needs to be a change in the new process to include support and recognize the global level projects and not just at the VWoA level. This ensures other vital projects don’t fall through the cracks like the supply flow project in this case study. The Volkswagen Group should reevaluate that proper funding is allocated for both the VWoA and global level initiatives. Matulovic’s fellow executives that communicated the concern of unfunded projects were involved in the decision making process and if they thought these goals didn’t align with the company’s goals, then they should have voiced their concerns to the process teams, ELT,ITSC, PMO, and/or the DBC, not to Matulovic. The expectation of all VWoA’s employees should be in support of the company’s overall strategic goals, not just their own business units. Volkswagen of America: Managing It Priorities Matulovic who is the chief information officer of Volkswagen of America (VWoA) has a tough decision to make. Volkswagen’s subsidiary launched a new process for allocating budgets across the business. With the new process, they have derived at a list of approved projects that no one is happy about. Calls came flooding through to Matulovic with an informal request to insert an unfunded project into the IT department’s work plans. VWoA had projects requiring $210 millions and the parent company of VWoA (Volkswagen Group, VWAG) budgeted only $60 million. In choosing the right projects to fund was a process that consisted of three phases: Phase 1-Calling for projects, communicating process, and identifying dependencies, Phase 2-Formal project requests for business unit, and Phase 3-Transforming business unit request into enterprise goal portfolios. Phase I was able to reduce and re-categorize projects because business units realized that many of their initiatives were very similar to other initiatives throughout the company which lead projects to become grouped together into common enterprise projects. This phase identified dependencies among projects. Therefore, without completed projects, the other projects could not be started. This phase also involved members becoming exposed to information about proposed initiatives across the company which gave them a greater understanding and appreciation of different business units. This helps migrate away from the current silo thinking and start focusing on initiatives in an enterprise-wide level. At the end of this phase, the proposed $210 million was simplified to a list of projects that required $170 million. Phase 1 was a critical starting point in aligning all business initiatives and trimming down projects. With the list in hand, we now step into Phase 2. During Phase 2 each business unit was required to classify each proposal into the type of investment (stay in business, return on investment, and option-creating investment) and technological application type (base-enterprise IT platform, enterprise applications, and customized point solutions). These classifications would influence how particular investments would be treated in the selection and prioritization process. Business units had to rank projects by priority and associate projects with enterprise goals. There was criticism that projects were reclassified as enterprise, but they really weren’t enterprise projects. The is because business units had to think of ways to associate their project with enterprise goals to improve chances of funding since the stay in business projects were given high priority, then the enterprise projects and finally individual business units. So if your project wasn’t a stay in business or enterprise project then the business units were tempted to reclassify their project to an enterprise project instead of a business unit. This built frustration as managers are looking for their own funding but don’t have the overall view to properly prioritize which lead other projects get the funding. Finally, Phase 3 consisted of ranking business unit goals based upon enterprise goals/needs. The key concept of governance is to align organizational activity with corporate goals and strategy. The assessment of the new process is to align business goals with enterprise goals and fund the top priority projects that would support the next round of growth goal areas. The NRG program is the readiness program called â€Å"Next Round of Growth† it was aimed to define the goals, functions, and organizational changes required to support and enable the new global product diversification strategy. The Next Round of Growth Enterprise Goal Areas is to support expanded product portfolio which is customer loyalty, new vehicle value, pre-owned vehicle business, stable infrastructure, and optimize supply flow. In order to reach a final project list, VWoA had to simplify and categorize projects, assess their business impact, and distinguish their alignment with goals all while making trade-off decisions. The process is an improvement over the old process since the business units were required to prioritize based on the enterprise-wide goals instead of their own business unit. It also avoided the less organized and less centralized method in prioritizing projects. The new process led business units to work together and make decisions that would affect their unit using the overall company strategy. They would also recognize other business unit’s priorities and provide a greater appreciation of their business unit and the work that they do. This helps alleviate other business units ranking their initiatives as more important than another. As this being a new process at VWoA, this process failed to capture and fund the supply flow project. The unfunded supply flow project revealed a flaw in the new process system. The supply flow project did not get funding because it was recognized at the global level and not at the VWoA importer level. The loss of funding would constitute a major setback for globalization initiatives based in Germany so this particular project must be funded somehow and Matulovic had to think of options on how to make this happen. The recommendation at this point is to remain focus on the most important strategic goals of VWoA and proceed funding all projects in the final project list in the top-ranked portfolio. He should not take funding from other funded projects to try and help fund the supply flow project. That would lead to intense push back and affect working relationships since projects which are important to VWoA’s strategic goals will be neglected. He should also not leave it to the supply flow area to work out what to do about this project because that decision would lead to a project waiting to fail. Dumping a project on them to figure out, without the proper resources is nearly impossible to successfully complete. Re-opening the new prioritization process that took nearly 3 months to complete is unnecessary and wasted time. The process will not have to be reopened, rather to find alternative sources for funding to proceed with the supply flow project. Due to the global reach of the project, it is unreasonable for the project to be funded solely by VWoA, but rather allocating the funds under the parent company or among all companies under the umbrella of the parent company, Volkswagen Group. Volkswagen Group sets the budget at VWoA and several organizational entities at VWoA would play a role in controlling which projects are funded. There are four specific teams involved in this process: the ELT (Executive Leadership Team), the ITSC (IT Steering Committee), the PMO (Project Management Office), and the DBC (Digital Business Council). If they are unable to find alternative funding then they should consider this project as an exception or special condition to figure out a way to fund the project. This is common where successful businesses continuously create new opportunities which cannot be covered by existing IT decisions. Matulovic should reach out to the supply flow group in Germany to present and communicate the different options for alternative funding and the importance of funding the top-ranked portfolio and the supply flow project and get them involved in the solution process. In managing IT priorities in the future, there needs to be a change in the new process to include support and recognize the global level projects and not just at the VWoA level. This ensures other vital projects don’t fall through the cracks like the supply flow project in this case study. The Volkswagen Group should reevaluate that proper funding is allocated for both the VWoA and global level initiatives. Matulovic’s fellow executives that communicated the concern of unfunded projects were involved in the decision making process and if they thought these goals didn’t align with the company’s goals, then they should have voiced their concerns to the process teams, ELT,ITSC, PMO, and/or the DBC, not to Matulovic. The expectation of all VWoA’s employees should be in support of the company’s overall strategic goals, not just their own business units.

A Similar Theme in Works of Neoclassical and Romantic

The genesis of Neoclassical Art and that of Romantic Art thrived in close proximity as far as chronology was concerned.Neoclassicism or Neo-Classicism marked the revival of Classical interests in literature, visual arts, music, theater and architecture between the mid-eighteenth and the nineteenth century. Mainly canonical works of ancient Greek and Roman times were reproduced by the neoclassicists, but not without experimenting with their own impressions and improvisations. Maintaining the tradition of a culture which was rich and opulent in the past was a major objective of the neoclassical craftsmen.But the Romantic genre of decorative and performing art, which hit the scene in the eighteenth century Western Europe, was a trendsetter in its own rights. While neoclassicism dealt with the resurgence of the antique ideal that was conceived of by Virgil, Raphael and many other eminent artists, the Romantic Movement was a reaction against the severities of reality and rationalization. Naturalistic cultural expressions were regained and given newer dimensions by the neoclassicists.On the contrary, the Romantics escaped from the sternness of routine life by delving into fanciful musings on nature in its untamed form. The point of resemblance between both these movements can be found in their dealing with aesthetics of art and subjective virtues. This essay is going to compare and contrast between two archetypal artworks from the eighteenth century Neoclassical and Romantic genres.The eighteenth century Europe was woken up from a slumber of inertia when the German art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann showered accolades on the ingenuity and authenticity of the ancient Greek sculptor in his essay Gedanken à ¼ber die Nachahmung der Griechischen Werke in der Malerei und Bildhauerkunst (Thoughts on the Imitation of Greek Works in Painting and Sculpture), published in 1755. While this treatise concerned only the Neoclassical frameworks of art, our proposed course of study in this paper is going to be based on finding a common theme from the Neoclassical and the Romantic era.The basic problem in doing so is to excogitate a way to match the sublimities of ancient Greek tastes and preferences with the realism of the Romantic Europe. Subject matter, style and period played a pivotal role in shaping the vision of the neoclassical artist.[1] Moreover, fastidiousness over maintaining the class is a definitive neoclassical approach. Now if we take into account the cultural influence as well as the artistic nuances of a given work of art, we are unlikely to appreciate it insightfully.[2] These two parameters are independent of each other in that the former has nothing to do with the artist’s vision and objective.The cultural precondition exists in the subconscious of the creator while he goes about his business with the brush and the canvas. The same holds true for the Romantic artist as well. Sublimity, as claimed by Prager,[3] is essentially a romantic quality. The Romantic preoccupation with aesthetics analyzes the underlying meaning of the theme which is being worked upon, and makes a differentiation between sublime and beautiful. But the paradigmatic cases of neoclassical painting do not distinguish between these two viewpoints. By and large, what stands out in any typical neoclassical artwork is its chastity of emotion and lofty ideals that are reflective of the root source and time.Mother of the Gracchi by Angelica Kauffmann is widely regarded to be a representative work of the eighteenth century neoclassical age. Being a trained and well-cultivated painter, Kauffmann was extremely scrupulous about the subtleties of expression and proper treatment of the theme.Hence, Mother of the Gracchi goes beyond the lifeless imitation of a Classical theme at a latter period. Drawing inspiration from the classical Greek and Roman history and literature, Kauffmann repudiated the ancient characters and replaced them with modern one s. The settings too were changed so that the modernistic charm of the neoclassical period could be retained.Revered as an exemplum virtutis (example or model of virtue),[4] this artwork superseded the more flaunty and playful rococo style both in the gravity of theme as well as in taste. This painting thematically concerns the virtue of Cornelia, mother of Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus. It displays motherly affection in its most profound manner as Cornelia is seen bringing her two sons as jewels to a visitor who is seated.The Romantic artwork we have picked up in our present study is Alexander Cozens’ paintings. Just as Kauffmann belonged to a learned community of painters, Cozens too was aware of the systematic and accurate drawing procedures from the very beginning of his career as a painter.His works were largely influenced and shaped by his prolonged academic tenure in Italy, where he had to make topographical pen and wash drawings in oil. The salient features of Cozensâ₠¬â„¢ works included â€Å"speed and spontaneity in execution† along with a firm focus on the subject at hand.[5]While it is a daunting task to compare and contrast between two entirely different schools of painting, it would be worth taking a look, first of all, at the similarities. In many ways, Cozens’ works captured the pastoral beauty of nature in its unblemished form. Albeit Kauffmann addressed to a historical theme, she portrayed Cornelia as emblematic of Mother Nature.Moreover, Cozens’ drawings continue to evoke a sense of awe and bewilderment among contemporary critics for their taste and sublimity. Like Kauffmann, he too was able to convey his powerful feelings by using select washes of a few basic colors.Now if we are to look into the contrasting aspects of the Neoclassical and the Romantic artworks, we should be beginning with the cultural remnants of the Classical times that shaped the neoclassical attitude towards painting. It was imperative that Ka uffmann should incorporate the Roman architectural patterns in Mother of the Gracchi – a compulsion Alexander Cozens did not have to pay attention to.Again, the spontaneous flow of emotions, which is so typical of the Romantic movement at large, are missing in the neoclassical paintings. It was as if the neoclassicists were more preoccupied by the exactness of form than by imbibing a sense of freedom and expressionism into their works.Much in sync with the prerequisites of the Romantics, Cozens was a visionary poet who could blend colors with subtle use of light and shade to render a mystic charm to his works. But Kauffmann had to follow stricter rules and norms set by the earlier trends of the Classicism. However, the use of symbolism was more prominent and effective in Mother of the Gracchi and other neoclassical works than what was observed in the works of Cozens.[1] Kleiner et al., p. 767 [2] Binkley, p. 12 [3] Prager, p. 93 [4] Kleiner et al., p. 767 [5] Murray, p. 227

Biography of Darius the Great, Persian King

Biography of Darius the Great, Persian King Darius the Great (550 BCE–486 BCE) was the fourth  Persian king  of the  Achaemenid Empire. He ruled the empire at its height, when its lands included much of  West Asia, the  Caucasus, as well as parts of the  Balkans, Black Sea  coastal regions, North Caucasus,  and Central Asia. Under Darius rule, the kingdom stretched to the  Indus Valley  in the far east and portions of north and northeast Africa including  Egypt, Libya,  and Sudan. Fast Facts: Darius the Great Known For: Persian king  at the height of the  Achaemenid EmpireAlso Known As: Darius I, DarayavauÃ… ¡, DariamauiÃ… ¡, DariiamuÃ… ¡, DrywhwÃ… ¡Born: 550 BCEParents:  Hystaspes,  RhodoguneDied:  486 BCE  in IranChildren: Darius had at least 18 childrenSpouses:  Parmys,  Phaidime,  Atossa,  Artystone,  PhratagoneNotable Quote: Force is always beside the point when subtlety will serve. Early Life Darius was born in 550 BCE His father was Hystaspes and his grandfather was Arsames, both of whom were Achaemenids. In ascending the throne, Darius noted in his own autobiography that he traced his lineage to Achaemenes. From long ago, said Darius, We are princely, from long ago our family was royal. Eight of my family were formerly kings, I am the ninth; nine are we in two lines. That was a bit of propaganda: Darius achieved his rule of the Achmaenids chiefly by overcoming his opponent and rival for the throne Gaumata. Dariuss first wife was a daughter of his good friend Gobryas, although we dont know her name. His other wives included Atossa and Artystone, both daughters of Cyrus; Parmys, the daughter of Cyruss brother Bardiya; and the noblewomen Phratagune and Phaidon. Darius had at least 18 children. Accession of Darius Darius ascended to the Achmaenid throne at the tender age of 28, despite the fact that his father and grandfather were still alive. His predecessor was Cambyses, the son of Cyrus the Great and Cassandane, who ruled the Achaemenid empire between 530 and 522 BCE Cambyses died from natural causes, but he left his throne in dispute. By right, Cambyses heir should have been his brother Bardiya- Darius claimed Bardiya had been slain by Cambyses, but somebody showed up claiming he was the missing brother and heir to the throne. According to Dariuss version of events, the imposter Gaumata arrived after Cambyses death and claimed the vacated throne. Darius slew Gautama, thereby restoring the rule to the family. Darius was not a close relative of the family so it was important for him to legitimize his rule by claiming descent from an ancestor of Cyrus. This and details of Darius violent treatment of Gautama and the rebels are inscribed on a large relief at Bisitun (Behistun), in three different languages: Old Persian, Elamite, and Akkadian. Carved into a cliff face 300 feet above the Royal Road of the Achaemenids, the text was not legible to the passersby, although the images of Gautama being subjected certainly were. Darius saw that the cuneiform text was widely circulated throughout the Persian Empire. In the Behistun Inscription, Darius explains why he has the right to rule. He says he has the Zoroastrian god Ahura Mazda on his side. He claims royal blood lineage through four generations to the eponymous Achaemenes, the father of Teispes, who was the great-grandfather of Cyrus. Darius says his own father was Hystaspes, whose father was Arsanes, whose father was Ariamnes, a son of this Teispes. Notable Accomplishments Darius expanded the Persian empire from the Sakas beyond Sogdiana to the Kush, and from Sind to Sardis. He also refined and expanded the Persian satrapy form of administrative rule, dividing his empire into 20 pieces and providing each piece an authority (generally a relative) to rule over them, and placing additional security measures to reduce revolt. Darius moved the Persian capital from Pasagardae to Persepolis, where he had built a palace and a treasury, where the enormous wealth of the Persian empire would be safely stored for 200 years, only to be looted by Alexander the Great in 330 BCE. He constructed the Royal Road of the Achaemenids from Susa to Sardis, connecting the far-flung satrapies and building staffed way stations so no one had to ride more than a day to deliver the post. Additionally, Darius: Completed the first version of the Suez Canal, leading from the Nile to the Red Sea;Was renowned for innovations in water control, including an extensive set of irrigation canals and wells known as qanats throughout his empire;Was known as a law-giver when serving as the king of Egypt during the Late Period. Death and Legacy Darius died in 486 BCE following an illness at about the age of 64. His coffin was buried at Naqsh-e Rostam. On his tomb is inscribed a memorial, in cuneiform script in Old Persian and Akkadian, stating what Darius wanted people to say about himself and his relationship with Ahura Mazda. It also lists the people over whom he claimed power: Media, Elam, Parthia, Aria, Bactria, Sogdia, Chorasmia, Drangiana, Arachosia, Sattagydia, Gandara, India, the haoma-drinking Scythians, the Scythians with pointed caps, Babylonia, Assyria, Arabia, Egypt, Armenia, Cappadocia, Lydia, the Greeks, the Scythians across the sea, Thrace, the sun hat-wearing Greeks, the Libyans, the Nubians, the men of Maka and the Carians. Dariuss successor was not his first born, but rather Xerxes, the oldest son of his first wife, Atossa, making Xerxes a grandson of Cyrus the Great. Both Darius and his son Xerxes participated in the Greco-Persian or Persian Wars. The last king of the Achaemenid Dynasty was Darius III, who ruled from 336–330 BCE Darius III was a descendant of Darius II (ruled 423-405 BCE), who was a descendant of King Darius I. Sources Cahill, Nicholas. The Treasury at Persepolis: Gift-Giving at the City of the Persians. American Journal of Archaeology 89.3 (1985): 373–89. Print.Colburn, Henry P. Connectivity and Communication in the Achaemenid Empire. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 56.1 (2013): 29–52. Print.Daryaee, Touraj. The Construction of the Past in Late Antique Persia. Historia: Zeitschrift fà ¼r Alte Geschichte 55.4 (2006): 493–503. Print.Magee, Peter, et al. The Achaemenid Empire in South Asia and Recent Excavations at Akra in Northwest Pakistan. American Journal of Archaeology 109.4 (2005): 711–41. Print.Olmstead, A. T. Darius and His Behistun Inscription. The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures 55.4 (1938): 392–416. Print.

The Definition of Suburban Sprawl

The Definition of Suburban Sprawl Suburban sprawl, also called urban sprawl, is the spread of urbanized areas into the rural landscape. It can be recognized by low-density single-family homes and new road networks spreading into the wild lands and agricultural fields outside of cities. As the popularity of single-family houses rose during the 20th century, and as mass ownership of cars allowed people to get to homes located far outside of city centers, new streets spread outwards to serve large housing subdivisions. Subdivisions built in the 1940s and 1950s consisted of relatively small homes built on small lots. Over the next few decades, the average house size increased, and so did the lot they were built on. Single-family homes in the United States are now on average twice the size of those inhabited in 1950. One or two-acre lots are now common and many subdivisions now offer homes each built on 5 or 10 acres - some housing developments in the western US even boast lots 25 acres in size. This trend leads to a hungry demand for land, accelerating road construction, and further spilling into fields, grasslands, forests, and other wild lands. Smart Growth America ranked US cities along criteria of compactness and connectivity and found that the most sprawling large cities were Atlanta (GA), Prescott (AZ), Nashville (TN), Baton Rouge (LA), and Riverside-San Bernardino (CA). On the flip side, the least sprawling large cities were New York, San Francisco, and Miami which all have densely populated neighborhoods served by well-connected street systems allowing residents close access to living, working, and shopping areas.   Environmental Consequences of Sprawl In the context of land use, suburban sprawl takes agricultural production off from fertile lands forever. Natural habitats like forests get fragmented, which has negative consequences for wildlife populations including loss of habitat and increased road mortality. Some animal species benefit from the fragmented landscapes: raccoons, skunks, and other small scavengers and predators thrive, driving down local bird populations. Deer become more abundant, facilitating the spread of deer tick and along with them, Lyme disease. Exotic plants are used in landscaping, but then become invasive. Extensive lawns require pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers that contribute to nutrient pollution in nearby streams. The housing subdivisions making up most of the sprawl are generally built well away from industry, business, and other employment opportunities. As a result, people need to commute to their workplace, and since these suburbs are generally not well served by public transportation, commuting is most often done by car. When using fossil fuels, transportation is a major source of greenhouse gases, and because of its reliance on commuting by car, sprawl contributes to global climate change. There Are Social and Economic Consequences of Sprawl Many municipal authorities are finding out that low density, large-lot suburban areas are a bum deal for them economically. The tax revenue from a relatively small number of residents may not be enough to support the construction and maintenance of the miles and miles of roads, sidewalks, sewer lines, and water pipes needed to service the scattered homes. Residents living in the denser, older neighborhoods elsewhere in town often need to essentially subsidize the infrastructure on the outskirts. Negative health outcomes have also been attributed to living in suburban sprawl. Residents of outlying suburban areas are more likely to feel isolated from their community and be overweight, in part because of their reliance on cars for transportation. For the same reasons, fatal car accidents are most common for those who have longer commutes by car. Solutions to Combat Sprawl Sprawl is not necessarily one of those environmental issues against which we can identify a few simple steps. However, awareness of some of the potential solutions can be enough to make you a supporter of important change initiatives: Be a supporter of smart growth programs at the county and municipal levels. This includes programs that revitalize development in already built-up areas. Reinvesting in neglected city centers is part of the solution, as is taking care of an abandoned property. For example, an abandoned shopping mall can be turned into a medium-density housing development without the need for new water pipes, road access, or sewage lines.Support mixed-used development. People like to live in close proximity to where they can shop, recreate, and send their kids to school. Building these types of neighborhoods around public transportation hubs can create very desirable communities.Support your local land use planning efforts. Consider volunteering for the town’s planning board and advocate for smart growth. Attend fund-raising activities for your regional land trust, as they work hard to protect prime farmland, working waterfronts, exceptional wetlands, or intact forests.Support sensible transpor tation policies that complement smart growth. This includes affordable and dependable public transportation options, investments in maintaining the existing road network instead of expanding it, building bike paths, and developing programs to make business districts pleasant places to walk. Make a personal decision to live in a less environmentally impactful way. Choosing higher density housing can mean lower energy needs, a more active lifestyle, and proximity to work, interesting businesses, art venues, and a vibrant community. You will be able to fulfill most of your transportation needs by walking, bicycling, or public transit. In fact, in a comparison of the environmental virtues of city vs. rural living,  urban dwellers have the edge.In a paradoxical but very understandable way, many people choose to move to low density, outlying suburban areas to be closer to nature. They feel that these large lots close to agricultural lands or forests would put them in close proximity to wildlife, with more birds visiting their feeders and ample opportunity for gardening. Perhaps this appreciation of nature makes them predisposed to finding other ways to reduce their carbon footprint.

Body of Stalin Removed From Lenins Tomb

Body of Stalin Removed From Lenins Tomb After his death in 1953, Soviet leader Joseph Stalins remains were embalmed and put on display next to Vladimir Lenin. Hundreds of thousands of people came to see the Generalissimo in the mausoleum. In 1961, just eight years later, the Soviet government ordered Stalins remains removed from the tomb. Why did the Soviet government change their mind? What happened to Stalins body after it was removed from Lenins tomb? Stalin's Death Joseph Stalin had been the despotic dictator of the Soviet Union for nearly 30 years. Though he is now considered responsible for the deaths of millions of his own people through famine and purges, when his death was announced to the people of the Soviet Union on March 6, 1953, many wept. Stalin had led them to victory in World War II. He had been their leader, the Father of the Peoples, the Supreme Commander, the Generalissimo. And now he was dead. Through a succession of bulletins, the Soviet people had been made aware that Stalin was gravely ill. At four in the morning of March 6, 1953, it was announced: [T]he heart of the comrade-in-arms and continuer of genius of Lenins cause, of the wise leader and teacher of the Communist Party and the Soviet Union, has ceased to beat.1 Joseph Stalin, 73 years of age, had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died at 9:50 p.m. on March 5, 1953. Temporary Display Stalins body was washed by a nurse and then carried via a white car to the Kremlin mortuary. There, an autopsy was performed. After the autopsy was completed, Stalins body was given to the embalmers to prepare it for the three days it would lay-in-state. Stalins body was placed on temporary display in the Hall of Columns. Thousands of people lined up in the snow to see it. The crowds were so dense and chaotic outside that some people were trampled underfoot, others rammed against traffic lights, and some others choked to death. It is estimated that 500 people lost their lives while trying to get a glimpse of Stalins corpse. On March 9, nine pallbearers carried the coffin from the Hall of Columns onto a gun carriage. The body was then ceremoniously taken to Lenins tomb on the Red Square in Moscow. Only three speeches were made - one by Georgy Malenkov, another by Lavrenty Beria, and the third by Vyacheslav Molotov. Then, covered in black and red silk, Stalins coffin was carried into the tomb. At noon, throughout the Soviet Union, came a loud roar - whistles, bells, guns, and sirens were blown in honor of Stalin. Preparation for Eternity Though Stalins body had been embalmed, it was only prepared for the three-day lying-in-state. It was going to take much more preparation to make the body seem unchanged for generations. When Lenin died in 1924, Professor Vorobyev had done the embalming. It was a complicated process that resulted in an electric pump being installed inside Lenins body to maintain a constant humidity.2 When Stalin died in 1953, Professor Vorobyev had already passed away. Thus, the job of embalming Stalin went to Professor Vorobyevs assistant, Professor Zharsky. The embalming process took several months. In November 1953, seven months after Stalins death, Lenins  tomb was reopened. Stalin was placed inside the tomb, in an open coffin, under glass, near the body of Lenin.   Secretly Removing Stalin's Body Stalin had been a dictator and a tyrant. Yet he presented himself as the Father of Peoples, a wise leader, and the continuer of Lenins cause. After his death, people began to acknowledge that he was responsible for the deaths of millions of their own countrymen. Nikita Khrushchev, first secretary of the Communist Party (1953-1964) and premier of the Soviet Union (1958-1964), spearheaded this movement against the false memory of Stalin. Khrushchevs policies became known as de-Stalinization. On February 24-25, 1956, three years after Stalins death, Khrushchev gave a speech at the Twentieth Party Congress that crushed the aura of greatness that had surrounded Stalin. In this Secret Speech, Khrushchev revealed many of the horrible atrocities committed by Stalin. Five years later, it was time to physically remove Stalin from a place of honor. At the Twenty-second Party Congress in October 1961, an old, devoted Bolshevik woman, Dora Abramovna Lazurkina stood up and said: My heart is always full of Lenin. Comrades, I could survive the most difficult moments only because I carried Lenin in my heart, and always consulted him on what to do. Yesterday I consulted him. He was standing there before me as if he were alive, and he said: It is unpleasant to be next to Stalin, who did so much harm to the party.This speech had been pre-planned yet it was still very effective. Khrushchev followed by reading a decree ordering the removal of Stalins remains. The further retention in the mausoleum of the sarcophagus with the bier of J. V. Stalin shall be recognized as inappropriate since the A few days later, Stalins body was quietly removed from the mausoleum. There were no ceremonies and no fanfare. About 300 feet from the mausoleum, Stalins body was buried near other minor leaders of the Russian Revolution. Stalins body was placed near the Kremlin wall, half-hidden by trees. A few weeks later, a simple dark granite stone marked the grave with the very simple, J. V. STALIN 1879-1953. In 1970, a small bust was added to the grave. Notes As quoted in Robert Payne,  The Rise and Fall of Stalin  (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1965) 682.Georges Bortoli,  The Death of Stalin  (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1975) 171.Dora Lazurkina as quoted in  Rise and Fall 712-713.Nikita Khrushchev as quoted in  Ibid  713. Sources: Bortoli, Georges.  The Death of Stalin. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1975.Hingley, Ronald.  Joseph Stalin: Man and Legend. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1974.Hyde, H. Montgomery.  Stalin: The History of a Dictator. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1971.Payne, Robert.  The Rise and Fall of Stalin. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1965.