The Hurt Locker Essay -- Film Analysis

â€Å"The rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug.† This quote is the first thing that flashes across the screen as viewers begin their journey into The Hurt Locker, a critically acclaimed war movie written by Mark Boal and directed by Kathryn Bigelow (Hurt). The quote was written by former New York Times war correspondent, Chris Hedges and it perfectly sets the stage for a story that depicts just how potent and addicting war can be (Corliss). The 2008 movie won six Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Actor in a Leading Role (â€Å"Nominees & Winners†). The Hurt Locker is an exceptional movie that contains everything one would expect from an award-winning film: an intriguing plot, heart-wrenching tragedy, breathtaking visuals, top-notch acting, believability, and even a bit of controversy. An intriguing plot is the first thing people look for in a movie. War is a complicated subject so in a film about war, while it is important for the plot to be interesting, it is even more important that it is sensible and flows smoothly. This allows the audience to be entertained and keeps them from getting lost in too many complicated details. The Hurt Locker is the story of three men who are part of a United States Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (E.O.D.) team stationed in Baghdad in 2004. Sergeant First Class William James is a daring specialist who knows everything there is to know about bombs, inside and out. He begins his rotation with Bravo Company after the former team leader is killed while attempting to disarm a roadside bomb. Bravo Company has just 38 days left on rotation and since James has arrived, those days are fraught with tension. James d... ...es." Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Web. 01 Mar. 2011. . Ryzik, Melena. â€Å"A Lawsuit for ‘Hurt Locker,’ in Time for Oscars.† The New York Times. 04 Mar. 2010. Web. 24 Feb. 2011. Schmidt, Michael. â€Å"Fatal Bombs in Iraq Seemed Aimed at Militia.† The New York Times. 09 Feb. 2011. Web. 26 Feb. 2011. Seal, Karen H., Daniel Bertenthal, Christian R. Miner, Saunak Sen, and Charles Marmar. "Bringing the War Back Home: Mental Health Disorders Among 103 788 US Veterans Returning From Iraq and Afghanistan Seen at Department of Veterans Affairs Facilities." Archives of Internal Medicine 167.5 (2007): 476-82. Print. Zoroya, Gregg. "In 'The Hurt Locker,' war is like a drug." USA Today n.d.: Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 24 Feb. 2011.

Comparing the Victorian Times of Great Expectations with Today Essays

Comparing the Victorian Times of Great Expectations with Today There are many things about the Victorian Age that are different from our way of life today. Evidence of this can be found in such elements of the 1800's as courting manners, child- rearing, transportation, housing and careers. The novel and film Great Expectations give many examples of the contrast of the present and the past. Victorians were a very class-conscious society. These days, just about anyone can manage to have fairly nice clothes, a decent car, a place to live, and reasonable job security. Not so in Victorian times. Great Expectations clearly illustrates the rich and poor extremes of the society. As a boy, Pip was seen as obviously poor by Estella, due to his calling knaves jacks, and having coarse hands and thick boots. She was disgusted even to be around him simply due to this fact. Pip simply couldn't afford many nice clothes because he was a blacksmith's son. The other end of the dress spectrum is shown by Pip's trip to the tailor later in the book. His money has all of a sudden made him an important man and he can have only the finest clothes. He spends much of the book walking around London decked out in suits and a top hat like he's better than everyone. While dress prejudices still exist in today's times, they are not as drastic as they seemed to be in the Victorian period. If you're looking to go to a bar and pick up a one-night stand, the 1800's are not the spot for you. Many marriages w...

Examine critically the GLA proposal to introduce congestion charging

Traffic congestion has been a major problem for many of the cities in the UK and nowhere more than in the central of the largest UK city and capital London. It is known that 50% of drivers' time going though central London is spent in queues and at peak times and that times of high amounts of traffic average speeds of vehicles are under 10 miles per hour (Transport for London, 2001, Congestion Charging: Introduction). It has been a key issue for the transport authorities for some time and many efforts have been aimed at levelling this problem. The GLA (Greater London Authority), and in particular the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, has now decided to confront this problem head on and has issued a congestion charging scheme for central London. The charge is set to come into place on the 17th February 2003. The congestion charging scheme is intended to reduce the amount of motorists taking unnecessary trips through the centre if London, and to make them think of using public transport where possible. There will be a charge of i5 for drivers who still wish to go through central London. The charge will occur on weekdays between the hours of 7am and 6. 30pm, there will be no charge on weekends and public holidays, the fee of i5 will be at a flat daily rate with no limit on the number of times motorists go through the charging zone. The fee can either be paid on the day or in advance, with passes to the zone available on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis (TfL, 2001, Congestion Charging: How the scheme will work? ) Not everyone has to pay the charge; there are a number of discounts and exemptions as part of the scheme. Residents who live within the charging zone will receive a 90% discount; providing they can give appropriate verification that they do in fact own the vehicle, they will then be subject to a i10 administration charge to register with the TfL. Disabled badge holder will receive a 100% discount but they will have to register and pay the i10 fee. Others receiving a 100% discount are certain NHS vehicles and firefighters' operational vehicles. There are also a number of exemptions from the charge, which do not have to register with TfL either. These are motorbikes, Black cabs and mini-cabs. Also exempt from the charge are Emergency Service vehicles, NHS vehicles exempt from vehicle excise duties, buses and coaches. There are a number of other types of vehicles that are exempt or receive a 100% discount for the charge (TfL, 2001, Congestion Charging: Who will pay? ). They're will be a fine for the registered keeper of any vehicle which has been caught in the charging zone without having paid the charge will be penalised by the amount of i80, this will go down to i40 for payment within the week, or it will rise to i120 if the fine is not paid on time. However, motorists will be able to pay the charge at the normal rate of i5 before 10pm on the day and at a rate of i10 from 10pm till midnight (TfL, 2001, Congestion Charging: Penalties). The scheme will be enforced by a number of powerful and highly technological camera's which will be situated a in and around the congestion charging zone. There is an initial set up budget of i200 million, and i100 million worth of traffic management measures. The scheme is set to raise around i130 million a year, which is by law, should all be spent on transport improvements within Greater London. After rounds of public consultation over a ten-week period starting in July 2001, the London Mayor has decided to go ahead with the proposed scheme, and without any glitches should go ahead on the 17th February 2003 (TfL, 2001,Congestion Charging: Fact Sheets: Basic proposals of the central London scheme). The scheme itself has many benefits along with drawbacks to road users, residents, businesses motorists and the environment. All of these will be affected and care and consideration should be taken when considering the significance of the charge on the various groups. The largest and foremost benefit of the scheme would be the reduced amounts of congestion in the key zone, i. e. Central London. Even though there are many motorists who consider their trips through central London vital, there will be a number of motorists who will avoid the zone during the charging hours, because they do not need to make that trip. The estimated level of reduction in vehicles passing inside the zone would be 10-15%, with a 20-30% reduction in the in the levels of congestion. This would then aid in the speeding up of traffic, which is estimated to increase by 10-15% (TfL, 2001, congestion charging- benefits). The levels of traffic now cause negative externalities, where Marginal Social Costs (MSC), public costs, is greater than Marginal Private Costs (MPC), costs to the individual. The motorists only take into account the cost of petrol and time taken for the trip, MPC. This does not take in to account the levels of pollution, noise and other people's time that their vehicle is effecting, MSC. With the charge leading to the above levels of reduced traffic the size of the externality is reduced as the individual driver is bearing more of the cost. The charge that the Tfl have brought in is in relation to the size of the externality caused by the driver therefore getting closer to the social optimum in road use and traffic congestion. Traffic congestion in London being at its worst ever is also costing industry in and around greater London millions of pounds every year. In a study Alan Griffiths & Stuart Wall (2001), estimate that if traffic were reduced then London's economy would be better off by i1m a day. This would be a major boost for a city that at the moment looks unattractive and is sometimes over looked in favour of other cities because of the traffic congestion and the additional costs to business because of it. The scheme would also improve business efficiency and reduce the time employees and deliverers spend on the roads, and would spend less on fuel consumption (Greens on the GLA, 2001). The TfL expect the scheme to raise around i130 million a year, with a ten year investment plan to plough it all in to transport improvements. This would no doubt improve public transport, namely buses and the underground, in many areas with improved and new routes planned and an increase in the number of buses and trains. There are investments planned in all areas in public transport, including implementing more safety regulations (TfL, 2001, Congestion Charging: Public Transport Improvements). This all has to occur fairly swiftly as the demand for the use of public transport will be stretched. The congestion charging scheme also has many consequences to it. With the reduction in congestion in the charging zone, there will be an obvious increase in traffic around the surrounding areas of the zone. The TfL are expecting there to be a 5% increase in traffic levels on orbital routes. This would raise the externalities, and the difference between MPC and MPC will increase. There is also an issue of this being like just another tax and being regressive in its cause, therefore benefiting the rich and adversely affecting the poor. The rich will be able to pay the tax with no qualms, and will actually benefit from paying it as the people less able to pay the tax will be forced, not to drive in the zone.

Urban deprivation is one of the characteristics of large cities in all parts of the world

The inner city areas of many Global cities have an image of decay with poverty, pollution, crime, overcrowding, poor housing conditions and unemployment. Such problems are more prevalent in inner-city areas than in other areas of the city. Deprivation has been caused by old industries closing down and increasing the unemployment levels which are not tackled due to the old workers not being skilled enough to work in these new factories or line of jobs. This happens more in MEDC's compared to LEDC's where overpopulation and urbanization have cause the problems in the inner city. Counterurbanization has been another problem within MEDC's as it has left houses derelict and the people would rather commute than live in the inner city. This has then led to out of town shopping centers being set up. In MEDC's the inner city initiatives for reversing the decline of the inner city started back in 1945 with comprehensive redevelopment. This program involved large-scale clearance of old terraces in order to provide space for new housing and inner city environmental features. Over twenty years 1. 5 million properties wee knocked down in the inner city. Elswick and Kenton in Newcastle were two areas embarked for comprehensive redevelopment. Existing residents were moved either into new towns of Cramlington or to extensive council houses estates built in areas such as, Byker. Many local authorities followed identical planning and soon the landscape of the inner city was transformed with huge concrete and glass tower blocks separated by flat expanses of grass. At the time these high-rise flats were a great success architecturally however the policy failed due to redevelopment underachieving demolition. This gave a housing shortage and vast spaces of derelict land. This policy that lasted till 1967 also failed to tackle the social and economic problems. 1968 saw another scheme come into action; the Urban Aid programme gave grants to local authorities to expand services in deprived areas and to establish community development projects using self help. This scheme was a great deal more localized and it was unfortunate that the economic downturn limited the funds and therefore by 1977 the scheme had finished. The next year the new towns policy was abandoned in an effort to stop decentralization of people and businesses. For the first time inner cities were officially declared problem areas. In 1988 Margaret Thatcher introduced the â€Å"Action for cities† policy. From 1991 onwards-Local authorities were able to bid for funds for specific urban projects. An example is Sunderland; the money was used to redesign parts of the city center with a new shopping precinct. And bus station. A single government department, the end of the 1990's had created the Urban Regeneration Agency. In Greater Manchester 4. 5 hectares of the city were destroyed with 30,000 homes left damaged form the bombing of World War II. By the end of the war 70,000 homes were deemed unfit for living mostly in the high density Victorian inner center. The plan for Manchester was launched in 1945 with the aim of clearing all Victorian housing. Following the repair of the war the Manchester Slum Clearance Programme restarted in 1954. Over five years 7500 properties were demolished mostly in the Miles Platting area. In 1961 the policy of comprehensive development took place with the clearance programme expanding in four main areas: Hulme, Beswick, Longsight and Harpurhey. Over 55,00 new houses, a mixture of low and high rise were built to replaced the cleared terraces reducing the housing density and population by up to 50% in some areas. The Hulme area was a typical Victorian area of Manchester and was tightly packed with terraces. Conditions were overcrowded and polluted with few housing having toilets. After the demolition of the terraces, shopping facilities were introduced in three areas. By 1972 the redevelopment of Hulme was completed with 5,000 new houses being built. Problems did arise with new properties leaking and then the heating bills were too high for the residents and many found the accommodation inappropriate. This area fell into a spiral of decline with growing unemployment, drugs and violence along with eh deteriorating environment. The Hulme city challenge was launched in 1992. This plan involved building of 3000 new homes, shops, roads, offices and community facilities to replace existing properties in a 60-hectare area. The funds of i200 million came from the government, local authority and private finance. Manchester faced other problems form the closure of the nineteenth century industries that left 24,000 jobs unavailable between 1974 and 1984. Plans included 2000 new houses and 375,000 square meters of industrial and commercial floor space to provide 10,000 jobs. In 1988 central Manchester was given n UDC to regenerate 200 hectares of land and buildings in the southern part of the city center. This area included six conservation areas, over ninety listed buildings, three universities, the Granada Studios Tour and the Museum of Science and Industry. However these were the areas of contaminated land, derelict warehouses, mills and canals. The IDC ended in 1996 and in the eight years of operation invested i420 million. Urban deprivation in the LEDC's have been tackled in many ways however there have been schemes that have proven to be a lot more successful than the others. In Chennai there has been a rapid increase in population due to the rural to urban migration and the high birth rates. About one third of the population lives in the slums, mostly shantytowns. The planning solutions began with the building of four to six storey blocks however these largely failed due to high maintenance and lack of uptake as the tenants would be unable to afford the rent. If the rent were reduced the scheme would lose money. After this initial failure The Board took up a new idea of upgrading the slums. The aims set were providing one bath and one toilet per ten families; one public fountain per twenty families; one street light per forty meters of road and one pre school per two hundred families. Other initiatives required self-help financing after an initial investment had been made either by the World Bank or welfare organizations. These schemes encouraged greater community involvement. Some of the start up loans were gave to families to build their own homes. Site and service schemes were implemented with finance provided for the acquisition of land; purchase of building materials, road building and the provision of basic services such as, water and sewage. New owners were then responsible for building the property on their allocated land. The upgrading after that often led to the sale of homes to higher income groups. The generated some money for the poor families and allowed the Board to re-invest in new schemes. An area in the southern outskirts of Chennai was the location for a site and services scheme known as Velacheri. It provided fourteen hectares of land to house 2,640 families many of whom were being forced out of Chennai. Waiting for the new residents building their homes would have caused a delayed the rail building so contractors were used to begin the building of properties. Along with the roads, water supply, streetlights and many other services. These services did face problems with many being left unfinished and extra floors being added without regulation. Some families sold their home for profit and the poorest were unable to afford these houses. These are some example of the initiatives being taken in order to solve the problem of urban deprivation. However there have been many other schemes and one of the most successful was that of the Favelas in Brazil redevelopment that won several prizes such as, the famous Habitat Award from the United Nations. These have been more successful as it didn't break up the families and kept the community spirit and the families could continue to access their place of employment. The similarities between the initiatives of the MEDC and LEDC worlds that have been undertaken for there reduction of urban deprivation are not all that similar. This is due to the fact that the MEDC's have more finance so there are able to use other schemes to tackle their problems. Also the fact that the problems they face are of a different cause. In the LEDC's it tends to be shanty towns are therefore have to look to house these people unlike the MEDC it not so overcrowding but unemployment due to the decline of the Industrial Revolution and recently Counterurbanization has left old Victorian buildings derelict and an eye-saw.

5th and 6th amendment

The Fourth Amendment protects the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, and provides that no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons to be seized. In order to establish probable cause, the officer must establish that there is a fair probability that the area to be searched contains evidence or the person to be arrested has committed a crime; a mere possibility is insufficient.A search without a warrant is presumed unreasonable absent the resence of a recognized exception. U. S. v. Johnson. The Supreme Court has held that this is permissible, but only under certain circumstances. The first issue is whether Detective Davis (DD) committed a search when she went down to the basement. A search occurred if Bishop Short had a subjective expectation of privacy which society would deem to be reasonable (Katz v. U. S. The defense would likely argue that the Bishop (B) had a subjective expectation of privacy in the basement, and that there was an objective expectation of privacy also because only the area where services took place were open to the public. The government would counter by arguing that DD simply walked downstairs during the services, which were open to the public, so anyone nad access to this area. Additionally, there was a children's playroom, which could be used to take loud or crying babies during the services, and that was therefore accessible to the public.If other members of society could gain access and view the basement, then there was not an objective expectation of privacy. Accordingly, DD did not commit a search simply by going into the basement. Whether a search occurred becomes less clear once DD entered B's office. The overnment would argue that the door was open, so DD did not commit a search by merely entering B's office. Whether this was a search was l ess significant, however, than the opening of the desk drawer. Even if DD had legal access to the office, she certainly â€Å"searched† when she opened the drawer.According to the plain view exception of the warrant requirement, a police officer can seize anything in plain view once legally in a space, but the officer needs probable cause to believe that what is immediately apparent is contraband or evidence of a crime, and it cannot require further investigation. Arizona v. Hicks. The Supreme Court has even eld that lifting a turntable to view a serial number is an illegal search that extends beyond the limits of the plain view doctrine. Arizona v. Hicks.Certainly, opening the desk drawer is more of an invasion ot privacy than litting a turntable. Further, the detense would argue that B had both a subjective and objective (an expectation that society is prepared to recognize as reasonable) expectation of privacy in the contents of the drawer. Katz. B would argue he had a sub jective expectation of privacy, mostly because the drawer was closed, but also that society would recognize this as a reasonable expectation because the drawer was closed.If the government had not brought this up earlier, it would certainly bring up the argument by now that it had probable cause to believe there was evidence of the crime (possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute) based on the informant's tip. Whether an informant's tip is sufficient for establishing probable cause depends on the Gates totality of the circumstances test, where there should be particularized facts that show given all the circumstances, there is a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found.To simply say that the drugs are â€Å"stored somewhere in the church† is not necessarily enough to establish probable cause. Even if it was enough to establish probable cause, DD certainly had time to get a warrant before searching the church. Accordingly, by the time DD opened the drawer, a court would likely find that DD committed a â€Å"search†, and anything she found therein wou d be suppress certainly ed. The detense woul d take this one step turtner and argue that opening the bible was a search, even if opening the drawer wasn't.DD would have needed to get a warrant to open and search the bible. Accordingly, a court would likely find that DD illegally searched B's drawer when she opened the drawer and opened the bible, and the ocaine would likely be suppressed as evidence to be used against B. A court would likely similarly suppress the cocaine, spreadsheets, and cash found in the room next to the office. The defense would argue that B had both a subjective and reasonable, objective expectation of privacy in this room (Katz) and that DD had no warrant that allowed her to legally enter this area.

Assignment 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Assignment 4 - Essay Example The bus which I used for this experiment was filled with many passengers. Some foreigners like Indians and Pakistanis were also there inside the bus. I was seated at the middle portion of the bus. Immediately after the bus was started to move, I started to sing loudly. The person sitting next to me was an American and he asked me to stop singing. The driver also looked back and shown signs to stop singing. I did not obey and continued my singing. All the passengers inside the bus looked at me with different facial expressions, body languages and gestures. Some of the Indians and Pakistanis inside the bus enjoyed my performance along with some of the Americans and they took this incident lightly. However, some other passengers, mostly the Americans have shown signs of agony and discomfort. Some of the passengers approached the driver and asked him to stop the bus and throw me out of the bus. Some others murmured that I have some mental disorders. Surprisingly, after five minutes, ever ything started to stabilize. My fellow passengers started change their attention from me and focussed more on outside sceneries and sights. Even though, I tried to vary the volume of my sound very much in order to irritate my fellow passengers, many of the passengers did not care and I stopped singing after some time. Suddenly people again started to look at me.

Alzheimer Disease Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Alzheimer Disease - Essay Example Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia that attacks the brain and accounts for 60 to 80 percent of cases. The more gradual form, with slow progress of symptoms, begins around ages 65 to 70 and affects approximately 1%-6% of the AD patients. See Table 1.1. About 60% of early-onset AD is familial, with 13% being inherited due to family history [Rocca et al 1991, Campion et al 1999]. A rapidly progressive form begins around ages 36 to 45. Both sexes are affected usually beginning in middle age and older adults, but women are more likely to develop Alzheimer's than men, as women live longer, on average, than men. According to the research from the Aging, Demographics and Memory Study (ADAMS), 14% of all people aged 71 and older have dementia. The estimate done in 2008, states that 2.4 million women and 1 million men aged 71 and older have dementia. As many as 5.3 million people in the United States are living with Alzheimer's. This figure includes 5.1 million people aged 65 and older and 200,000 individuals under age 65 who have younger-onset Alzheimer's. Based on these estimates, approximately 500,000 Americans under age 65 have Alzheimer's or other dementia. Of these, about more than 46% are estimated to have Alzheimer's disease. See Table 1.2 AD is a genetically complex and heterogeneous disorder. Particularly for genetic studies, Alzheimer's disease is often categorized according to age. ... Commonly knowm as the "Mild Cognitive impairment". (Petersen et al. 1999) Mild cognitive impairment is a major focus of research to facilitate early intervention while functional status is preserved. It can be further classified into Psychiatric Genetics or Molecular Genetics. Late on-set Familial AD: According to Smoller, Sheidley and tsuang, the research evidence proves the presence of additional AD genes. For example, the family history (Payami et al, 1997) or monozygotic twin status (Bergem et al, 1997) remains after APOE4 is controlled for. Also, a segregation analysis points to the existence if many additional late on-set AD genes (Daw et al, 2000) and the peak age at onset is in the 60's. Linkage analysis has provided several clues to where such AD genes may reside (reviewed in Bertram and tanzi 2004; Kamboh 2004). Other than the APOE region on chromosomes 9, 10 and 12. (Blacker et al 2003); Myers et al 2002). More than 200 genes have been tested for association with AD, with discouraging results (Alzheimer research Forum 2005; Kamboh 2004). There is a possibility of huge understanding in AD genetics. The discovery of the APP, PSEN1, and PSEN2 has contributed greatly to the AD, and at least 20 drugs are in the process of development in genetics research. These may help in early detection and intervention and further prevention. In addition, the study can help in providing genetic counseling and genetic testing for patients with family history. Early-onset familial AD (EOFAD): Early-onset cases can occur in families with generally late-onset disease (Brickell et al 2006). At least three subtypes of molecular genetics EOFAD (AD1, AD3, and AD4) have been identified based on the causative gene.