Monday, January 27, 2020

Terrorism -The Effects on Society

Terrorism -The Effects on Society Terrorism is defined as a deadly act which causes fear in peoples lives. It is mainly caused because of the hate towards certain group of people. The weapon of terrorism targets the non-combatants in order to achieve an objective through the use of deadly acts is termed as terrorism. These acts are also similar to the acts performed during the freedom struggle in many countries, but the act of terrorism has a vast difference with the freedom struggles. There are several reasons for the act of terrorism as portrayed by the media experts. They are poverty and economic disadvantage, ethnicity, religion, inferiority problems, government suppression etcWe can distinguish terrorism in two different categories. They are Domestic terrorism and International terrorism. Domestic terrorism involves attacking their own people and opposing their government for certain reasons. On the other side, International terrorism involves people taking the weapon of terrorism for religious beliefs and makin g it as a medium for portraying their message to the world by these deadly acts. As there are several reasons for the act of terrorism, I am going to explain the causes of terrorism in the lives of Ajmal Kasab (terrorist who performed the Mumbai attacks), Faisal Shehzad (who was accused for car bombing in U.S) and S.A.Baasha (Coimbatore 1998). The terrorist that are mentioned here have three causes for them to fall in the pits of the terrorists organisations such as Lakshar-e-Toiba and Al-Queda. Poverty proved to be a major cause for Ajmal to join the terrorist militant groups in Pakistan to wage terrorist activities on the people of Mumbai in 2008. The best reasons for many of the people to become terrorists are dedicated to the cause of religion. This is very much true for the above mentioned terrorists of Faisal and S.A. Baasha. The religion that comes under my scrutiny is Islam or Muslim. Though this is not a terrorist religion, many terrorist uses Islam as a medium to achieve their objectives. In the case of Faisal, his prime target was United States as they have allied with Jewish country Israel. In the mindset of the Islamic terrorist, they believe that if they suicide and kill people in the process of terrorism, they go to heaven and before Allah. S.A.Baasha, mastermind of the Coimbatore 1998 attack is also a Muslim and was head functionary of the Muslim fundamentalist group Al-Umma. This group was formed to fight against the oppression of the Tamilnadu government on Muslims and their fellow men. So they formed this terrorist organisation to oppose the government by attacking the majority group in Tamilnadu, the Hindus. Poverty and Terrorism Terrorism is one of the deadliest acts prevailing in the world. There is no country without terrorism. Destruction of infrastructure, killing of non-combatants is the results of Terrorism. Terrorism is prevalent in countries like Pakistan, Africa, Iraq and Palestine where poverty has engulfed the lives of the people. Poverty causes many innocent people to target non-combatant to get rid from hunger. This has also been advantageous for the militant groups to target these people by offering money and influencing them to join their groups. These innocent people join these terrorist organisations to save their families from poverty. These people become an instrument to execute the commands of the genuine terrorists. Rich are getting richer, Poor are getting poorer. According to the media resources, they say that extreme poverty and hunger are the main causes for a person to become a terrorist. IMF and World Bank are trying to reduce the income inequalities in many countries by giving aid to the needy. Poverty was the main cause in the life of Ajmal Kasab, the only person caught and accused for carrying out the Mumbai attack in the commercial capital of India, Mumbai. Ajmal Kasab, a poor boy who had all the ambitions of a normal boy to go to school and earn a good job to save their family in the future. But, Poverty and unemployment changed his mind to join Lashkar-e-Toiba to kill 166 people in the bloody 26/11 Mumbai attacks. Ajmal Kasab comes from Southern Punjab, from the province of the Rawalpindi district which has become a recruiting ground for the religious militant groups of Lashkar-e-Toiba and Al-Queda. According to the crime branch investigation, Kasab was a street criminal who joined Lashkar-e-Toiba just for the money that they promised to give his family in order to carry out the Mumbai 26/11 attacks. Kasab comes from a poor family in Okara district in Pakistani Punjab. He and his parents made their living by selling snacks to the small shops around their village. Their life in that village was terrible and this has caused him to become a street criminal. It was at this stage, when Kasab while going around the bazaar streets to buy a gun he came across LeT stalls who offered him and his family Rs 1,50,000 only if he becomes their soldier to wage terror on non-combatants. Extreme hunger and poverty compelled him to join LeT and carry out the Mumbai Massacre killing 166 people and injuring more t han 200 people. It is only in the hands of the government to reduce poverty by improving employment in their districts and villages. The government should come up with some projects which help the people to live a better life. The Holy War (Jihad) The holy war or Jihad began was dated back to 623 B.C when the founder of Islam, Muhammed gathered a group of 300 men and fought against an enemy group of almost 1000 men in a place called Badr. In that battle, Muhammed lost only 14 men and defeating his enemy in the war. Muhammed recruited more soldiers to join his army. After two years, he trained and assembled more than ten thousand army men who fought for God (Allah) and his Prophet. They conquered Mecca and many other places with ease. In fact, in later years Mecca became the holiest place for all Islams. Muhammed during his old ages wrote his revelations as Koran, a book of Gods commands in accordance with belief, prayer, conduct and matters of law. After Muhammeds Death, Adu Bekr became his successor and the leader of Islam. In his regime, he drifted away from the written principles after stating that there lived no Prophet to authorise their millitary actions. He formed a more vigorous army and waged a war against the enemies of Islam in Arabia in the first Jihad. Thus Islam served as the guide and justification for the acts of terror against the enemies and the oppressors by Faisal Shehzad. The next example for conducting the Deadly acts of Terrorism is Faisal Shehzad. His cause for becoming a terrorist can be stated as his true belief in his religion, Islam. Faisal Shehzad comes from a well-educated and a rich family. He was accused for planting a car bomb in the commercial street of New York by the FBI. Faisal comes from a family of rich national heritage. His father served in the Pakistani Air force as a Air vice Marshall, a brother, who is a mechanical engineer in Canada, a uncle who is former Inspector General of Frontier Corps and his father-in-law who runs a successful business in Karachi. Faisal is very different and doesnt fit the profiles of a Jihad terrorist. According to the media, Faisal has a looks of a common man who wages a war against America just for the cause of hatred and for the belief of his religion. Faisal was educated in a private school and went to university as a professional scholar. For his master degree, he went to United States on a student visa and was graduated from University of Bridgeport in 1990.He then joined an American firm where he met his love Huma Mian who was a citizen in U.S. He led a happy life with his wife in America. His happy life came to an end when he discovered the violent version of Islam and of the holy war. When he was accused and was caught for planting the car bomb in the busy streets of Times Square, his residents in Pakistan was shocked and remember Faisal as a boy who came from a decent family with strong millitary background and a Muslim who didnt believe in the rules of the religion. Faisal in this case took the weapon of terrorism to express the anger and hate against the Americans which led him to the activity. The terrorist activity of Faisal to set off a bomb in the Times Square of New York had made him the Pakistans first Jihad terrorist. In this present situation the militant organisations around the world recruit terrorist according to the terrorist activities that they are going to perform. Nowadays, the terrorist like Faisal are recruited by these organisations to carry out huge operations like that of the Twin Tower Attack in 9/11 which require knowledgeable skills. The main reason for that is that the western recruits have more knowledge and education about the place where the attack is going to be held and to perform the complex task like flying a commercial aircrafts to demolish the buildings. The concept of Jihad as depicted in Koran believes to be a perfect reason for most of the terrorists like Faisal to carry out terrorists attacks on innocent people. The most annoying part is that the political leaders fail to suppress the terrorist activities because to their own faith and belief object them to do so. Whereas, many Islamic leaders who believe that holy war and terrorist activities are against the act of religion Islam, there are some clear evidences and justifications written in Koran to carry out such bloody acts of terrorism. Communal Riots and Terrorism The riots sparked between two religions in a country also cause many people to take terrorism as a weapon to show their vengeance against each other. The example for this cause of terrorism can be illustrated by the Coimbatore 1998 bomb blasts. The communal violence that had occurred in India can be stated back to 1980s when 1200 Hindus converted and started to worship the gods of Islam in 1981. Since then there were many people converting to the religion Muslim in order to get social empowerment. The people of Hindu religion visited the places of the converted Muslims to return back to their religion. These incidents increased the tensions between both the groups and provoked many people to become terrorists. Another important reason for this incident is that of the demolition of Babri Masjid at Ayodya in Uttar Pradesh in the early 1990s. There was an organisation formed to protect the welfare of the Muslims and was named as Al-Umma. This organisation was funded by a Muslim business man and became influential after series of attacks in and around Tamil Nadu state in India during 1997. Al-Umma, the organisation formed by the Muslim fundamentalist group was headed by S.A.Baasha and was funded by a Muslim businessman. S.A.Baasha came from a middle class family and was a timber merchant in Coimbatore. His main aim was to protect the welfare of Muslims from the majority community and the government. He was accused and arrested for attempting murder on the leader of Bharthiya Janatha Party (BJP), Krishnamurthy but was released due to lack of evidence and because of the governments interventions in the case. The DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kalagam) was at regime and released S.A.Baasha and his colleagues just because they didnt want to hurt the feelings of Muslims and reduce the number of votes from the minority Muslims. After many riots curtailing the sentiments of Muslims, S.A.Baasha and others decided to plant bombs on the city of Coimbatore. Coimbatore was known as a M anchester of India and was on the rise in economic front. It was one of the fastest growing cities in India and was subject to the next IT hub of South India. Demolition of Babri Masjid in Uttar Pradesh by the BJP leader L.K.Advani was also a prime cause for this event. The Coimbatore blast took place when L.K.Advani planned to visit Coimbatore for an election campaign in 1998. There were 13 consecutive blasts which took place in eight different places in Coimbatore. All the blasts took place just around the radius of 12 kilometres and there were around 60 people died and more than 200 people injured. After the post violence, the city saw an economic drift that took place due to these terrorists attacks. Moreover, even after Al-Umma was banned and its members were arrested, the tensions prevailed for more than 5 years. These riots also provoked hatred between two communities and enmity among each other. Conclusion Terrorism has many causes to show their vengeance on other people. Of the three terrorist that we discussed in the essay, they had three different reasons to choose terrorism as their weapon. Ajmal, a young boy who joined the LeT, became a weapon for the terrorist organisation to make money and save his family from hunger. Faisal, who was rich and well off American citizen decided to choose the path of terrorism to wage a holy war against the Americans. Whereas S.A.Baasha, who is a common man with a small and happy family resorted to terrorism just to oppose government who oppress their religion in India. These three terrorists represent the three ends of a triangle that are groomed by the militant groups around the world. In a broader view, we can say terrorism as a functional utility. Terrorists use violence on non-combatant people in order to achieve a particular goal like releasing of the prisoners, for money or for the holy war. The causes of terrorism in the minds of people can be blamed at the government who didnt suppress the issues at the initial stage.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

About Ginger

Ginger or ginger root is the rhizome of the plant Zingiber officinale, consumed as a delicacy, medicine, or spice. It lends its name to its genus and family (Zingiberaceae). Other notable members of this plant family are turmeric, cardamom, and galangal. Ginger cultivation began in South Asia and has since spread to East Africa and the Caribbean. Ginger oil has been shown to prevent skin cancer in mice and a study at the University of Michigan demonstrated that gingerols ([6]-gingerol) can kill ovarian cancer cells. Ginger can also heal inflammation. Ginger is particularly useful in treating chronic inflammation because it partially inhibits two important enzymes that play a role in inflammation gone awry — cyclooxygenase (COX) and 5-lipoxygenase (LOX). Ginger does not cause stomach irritation; instead it helps protect and heal the gut. Ginger also treats a broader range of the inflammatory problem because it affects both the COX and the LOX enzymes. And because it doesn't shut down the inflammatory process entirely, ginger may actually allow it to work properly and then turn itself off, the way it does with an injury. Besides reducing inflammation, ginger has many other benefits. It helps relieve nausea, destroys a host of viruses, and in some laboratory studies has shown promise as an anticancer agent. Health care professionals may recommend ginger to help prevent or treat nausea and vomiting from motion sickness, pregnancy, and cancer chemotherapy. It is also used to treat mild stomach upset, to reduce pain of osteoarthritis, and may even be used in heart disease. Ginger extract is not widely known as a solution for hair loss, but it has properties to improve blood circulation in the scalp, which may protect the hair from falling off.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Family Guy Essay

Family guy is a dysfunctional family that lives in Quahog, Rhode Island. The parents: Peter and Lois. The children: the oldest, Meg, the middle child, Chris and the baby is Stewie. Last but not least, the dog Brian. This TV show exhibits crude, adult humour. There are many different opinions on this show, many parents are ok with letting there children watch it and other refuse to do so because of the kind of humour some parents are on edge. So is family guy a negative influence on children? I believe it does have a negative influence on kids. To start the language they use, secondly the violence and actions towards each other and other and also it is a very sexist show. Firstly, the language used in the episodes of family guy is a very vulgar, crude, dirty and coarse. They swear a lot for example when Brian talks to Megs friend he says, quote â€Å"you know Connie, I think I have a theory about why you’re such a bitch†. If kids watch this on TV by fictional characters they can’t tell that its not the way to talk so they can repeat it at school or even say it to there parents and they do not want their children to talk that way. Also the language they use that discriminates different races, religions and gay people is negative on the children watching this show it gives them the impression that it’s ok, so if in school or at the shopping center they see a person of colour or even if they know a person of different religion they might talk to them and say things that are very inappropriate. For example where the children could get it from, episode two of season eight , the whole episode is about Jewish people, Louis finds out that she and her mother are Jewish and wants to peruse fallowing the Jewish culture but then peter says to her â€Å"Jews are gross Lois. It’s the only religion with the word ew in it. And there are also the comments that discriminate against people of colour and to do so they use Kermit the frog, the black man sitting in a boat (looks like he is escaping from being a slave) asks him â€Å"which way to get into town? † Kermit replies with a shot gun in his hand â€Å"back from where you came from†. This is just a tiny bit of what happens in the show. This show is very negative on children and they way they will interact with other in public. They also make fun of amputees, this can be very harmful to the way children interact with other kids that have this kind of problem example Joe is Peter Griffins neighbour and there is an episode that says no legs no service. Also, this show is a very sexist show, they always make reference to women being in the kitchen and that is all they’re good at for example, in one episode peter tells Louis that making sandwiches and babies are the only thing she is good for. This kind of behaviour shows to young children that women are no good for anything because that is how the men on this show treat the women. There’s also lots of coarse language towards women, for example Quagmire a neighbours always has many women over to his house for pleasurable reasons and you hear him call them names like whores, bitches, sluts and more this foul language towards women is another bad influence. Also peter has a teenage daughter Meg, everyone in the show is mean to her. This girl is treated very badly for example in an episode she had sexual intercourse with a guy and a little after that the guy Brandon, broke up with her, in another episode she has another boyfriend Luke and Louis, her mother stole him away from her. Peter never listens to her and Brian always picks on her. This gives the children watching a sense that’s it is ok to treat women like dogs because in the end they stay with you. Because no matter what kind of pranks or insults Peter does to Louis she never leaves him. Lastly, the amount of violence and the stupid actions that the characters do is a big part of family guy there’s always someone getting hurt or doing something illegal for example doing drugs. They have an episode dedicated to four-twenty; there are many episodes that show peter, Louis and Brian doing weed and other drugs like meth and cocaine. Also one of the episodes shows peter bringing Stewie his baby to a man that injects him with steroids because he was beat on by another baby but it was a girl and peter wanted Stewie to be a strong baby. This give the impression to children that taking drugs is ok because family guy does it. Nothing bad ever happens to these characters only funny events or they come out of it. It doesn’t show them the side effects or any of the real effects it has on them so kids think its only play and when its offered to them by others like friends they will take it and this can all lead to hospitalization and even death. But the children won’t see that on TV. Also there’s an episode that Stewie shoots Louis and pushes her over a boat into the water and dies but there’s a turn around and at the end of this episode Louis is really alive. If a child who doesn’t know any better sees this he will not understand that it is not real and that if you shoot someone they will most likely die. So if this child happens to find a gun in his father’s drawer and starts playing with and they’re playing cops and shoots the other child he will not think anything of it because in family guy the character came to life again, but in real life the child is dead. This will have a negative effect on the child and all he thought was that he was playing. The violence in this show is for an older audience, it will only have a negative effect on younger children. In conclusion, family guy is a show full of violence, drugs, sex, coarse language, racism and more. It should only be viewed by an older audience and not younger because it makes younger children who don’t know what is real and what’s not and what’s wrong and what’s not, react to different situations. So should TV shows like family guy be cancelled completely?

Thursday, January 2, 2020

The Geoglyphic Art of Chiles Atacama Desert

More than 5,000 geoglyphs—prehistoric works of art placed on or worked into the landscape—have been recorded in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile over the past thirty years. A summary of these investigations appears in a paper by Luis Briones entitled The geoglyphs of the north Chilean desert: an archaeological and artistic perspective,  published in the March 2006 issue of the journal Antiquity.   The Geoglyphs of Chile The best-known geoglyphs in the world are the Nazca lines, built between 200 BC and 800 AD, and located approximately 800 kilometers away in coastal Peru. The Chilean glyphs in the Atacama Desert are far more numerous and varied in style, cover a much larger region (150,000 km2 versus the 250 km2 of the Nazca lines), and were built between 600 and 1500 AD. Both the Nazca lines and the Atacama glyphs had multiple symbolic or ritual purposes; while scholars believe the Atacama glyphs additionally had a vital role in the transportation network connecting the great South American civilizations.Built and refined by several South American cultures—likely including Tiwanaku and Inca, as well as less-advanced groups—the widely varied geoglyphs are in geometric, animal and human forms, and in about fifty different types. Using artifacts and stylistic characteristics, archaeologists believe the earliest were first constructed during the Middle Period, beginning around 800 AD. The most recent may be associated with early Christian rites in the 16th century. Some geoglyphs are found in isolation, some are in panels of up to 50 figures. They are found on hillsides, pampas, and valley floors throughout the Atacama Desert; but they are always found near ancient pre-Hispanic trackways marking llama caravan routes through the difficult regions of the desert connecting the ancient people of South America. Types and Forms of Geoglyphs The geoglyphs of the Atacama Desert were built using three essential methods, ‘extractive’, ‘additive’ and ‘mixed’. Some, like the famous geoglyphs of Nazca, were extracted from the environment, by scraping the dark desert varnish away exposing the lighter subsoil. Additive geoglyphs were built of stones and other natural materials, sorted and carefully placed. Mixed geoglyphs were completed using both techniques  and occasionally painted as well.The most frequent type of geoglyph in the Atacama are geometric forms: circles, concentric circles, circles with dots, rectangles, crosses, arrows, parallel lines, rhomboids; all symbols found in pre-Hispanic ceramics and textiles. One important image is the stepped rhombus, essentially a staircase shape of stacked rhomboids or diamond shapes (such as in the figure).Zoomorphic figures include camelids (llamas or alpacas), foxes, lizards, flamingos, eagles, seagulls, rheas, monkeys, and fishes includin g dolphins or sharks. One frequently occurring image is a caravan of llamas, one or more lines of between three and 80 animals in a row. Another frequent image is that of an amphibian, such as a lizard, toad or serpent; all of these are divinities in the Andean world connected to water rituals.Human figures occur in the geoglyphs and are generally naturalistic in form; some of these are engaged in activities ranging from hunting and fishing to sex and religious ceremonies. On the Arica coastal plains can be found the Lluta style of human representation, a body form with a highly stylized pair of long legs and a square head. This type of glyph is thought to date to AD 1000-1400. Other stylized human figures have a forked crest and a body with concave sides, in the Tarapaca region, dated to AD 800-1400. Why Were the Geoglyphs Built? The complete purpose of the geoglyphs is likely to remain unknown to us today. Possible functions include a cultic worship of mountains  or expressions of devotion to Andean deities; but Briones believes that one vital function of the geoglyphs was to store knowledge of safe pathways for llama caravans through the desert, including the knowledge of where salt flats, water sources, and animal fodder could be found. Briones terms these â€Å"messages, memories and rites† associated with the pathways, part sign post and part story-telling along a transportation network in an ancient form of combined religious and commercial travel, not unlike the rite known from many many cultures on the planet as pilgrimage. Large llama caravans were reported by Spanish chroniclers, and many of the representational glyphs are of caravans. However, no caravan equipment has been found in the desert to date (see Pomeroy 2013). Other potential interpretations include solar alignments. Sources This article is a part of the About.com guide to the Geoglyphs, and the Dictionary of Archaeology. Briones-M L. 2006. The geoglyphs of the north Chilean desert: an archaeological and artistic perspective.  Antiquity 80:9-24. Chepstow-Lusty AJ. 2011. Agro-pastoralism and social change in the Cuzco heartland of Peru: a brief history using environmental proxies. Antiquity 85(328):570-582. Clarkson PB. Atacama Geoglyphs: Huge Images Created Across the Rocky Landscape of Chile. Online manuscript. Labash M. 2012. The Geoglyphs of the Atacama Desert: A bond of landscape and mobility. Spectrum 2:28-37. Pomeroy E. 2013. Biomechanical insights into activity and long distance trade in the south-central Andes (AD  500–1450). Journal of Archaeological Science 40(8):3129-3140. Thanks to Persis Clarkson for her assistance with this article, and to Louis Briones for the photography.