Dinosaur Fossils in Antarctica :: Anthropology Essays Paleontology Papers

Dinosaur Fossils in Antarctica Millions and millions of years ago the continents lay together as one super-continent known as Pangea. As time went on and the plates underneath the Earth began to separate, the continents land moved towards the poles where glaciation occurred. Glaciation is the process in which glaciers were formed during the ice age. Glaciation causes a drop in temperature which in turn causes water to freeze and form many layers of ice (http://palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk/Palaeofiles/Permian/intro.html, 1). Due to this layering of ice that has occurred at both poles it has not been easy to discover new dinosaur fossils. However, in a press release of the National Science Foundation researchers, working in two distinct sites of Antarctica found what seem to be fossil remains of two different dinosaurs that had previously never been introduced to the world of science (http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/newsroom/pr.cfm?ni=52, 1). The two different dinosaurs were found in opposite areas of Antarctica. The first dinosaur found was uncovered on the James Ross Island off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula while the second dinosaur was discovered on the Antarctic interior on a mountain elevating nearly 3900 meters near the Beardmore Glacier. The discovery of these two dinosaurs was important for a couple reasons. First off, dealing with the dinosaur carnivorous dinosaur found off the James Ross Island the discovery was important was because not many dinosaurs from the Cretaceous Time Period had been uncovered in Antarctica. The second reason the finding of this fossil was important was because in the James Ross region of the Antarctic Peninsula there had previously only been six uncovered dinosaur fossils and this finding adds to that number. Lastly, it is a very uncommon to find a dinosaur that was so well preserved considering it died roughly 70 million years ago. In order for it to be in such good shap e it had to float out to sea and lie in the bottom of what was then an extremely shallow part of the Weddell Sea (www.sciencedaily.com, 2). When it comes to the plant-eating dinosaur found on the interior of Antarctica the discovery of this dinosaur was also important because of its rarity. William Hammer, who led the research team said from Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois said, â€Å"This site is so far removed geographically from any site near its age, it’s clearly a new dinosaur to Antarctica.

Dominican heritage

Angie Cruz’s Soledad is a marvelous story of family and integrity, myth and mysticism, racial identity, culture and chaos and various other themes. The background of the author has deeply influenced the setting of the novel as the story is deeply influenced by her Dominican heritage. Author herself has testified that her cultural upbringing highly impacted the novel. Even though she authored it with keeping ‘community’ in her mind, the novel also turned out to be a story of family, relationships, girlhood, motherhood and extended to several other premises.The main voice in the story is that of an art student Soledad who wants to fly to her sick mother to take care of her. She is about to leave her neighborhood behind as only she can help her mother to recover from the emotional coma. Soledad also has her aunt Gorda, her wild cousin Flaca to tame in her family. As she comes back to her house, she is confronted with a big challenge to negotiate or forget the painful or chaotic past for rebuilding her fellowship with her mother. ‘Family’ and relationships become the centre theme of the story.Soledad had left her contentious family at the age of eighteen as she got fed up with petty fights, struggles and endless tragedies. She joined as an art student at Cooper Union and also had a gallery job (along with a hip East Village walk-up). Soledad was imminently cool, fine, peaceful being infinitely far from her belligerent, superstitious neighborhood where she had her upbringing. Soledad however could not continue for a long time as she got call from Tia Gorda saying that her mother badly needs her as she had slipped into an emotional coma. Soledad's return was the only solution to save her mother.The love that remained for her family made Soledad to return home though she was haunted with the terrible recollections about leering men, open hydrants, and dreadful slick-skinned teen girls with bawdy mouths and snapping gum. Soledad had muc h to face in her home at West 164th Street. She had to adjust with the raucous behavior of her cousin Flaca and had to keep her from falling for Richie, the neighbor. Soledad struggles and she falls into a big challenge. She was also disturbed by the memories and ghosts of her mother’s past and also had to mend their relationship so that she may recover.She had to fight the memories of all painful past experiences to help her love her mother. The story is all about the family burden suffered by young Soledad. Soledad always had strained relationship with the family members, especially her widowed mother Olivia. Much of the novel is about the family of Olivia, her female relatives. Soledad had her aunt Gorda who can better be called a witch. She opt ceremonies and home remedies for treating her sister. Soledad had much to suffer from the fiery adolescent Flaca her cousin. More than all this was the nightmares, terrifying flashbacks and fearful memories.Soledad struggles being ‘caught between two worlds’ for the sake of her family. The bad images of her mother’s Dominican youth, Soledad returns to her family. Soledad’s responsibility for her family and love for her mother constraints her to forgive or forget Olivia's past as a prostitute, her spurious paternity, and the death of her father in the hand of Olivia. She says â€Å"And when I surrender to the warmth of the water, I feel the past, present, and future becomes one. My mother becomes the ocean and the sky, wrapping herself around me†. The family warmth engulfs Soledad as she gets into a spiritual epiphany.Soledad is found to be compelled by guilt and responsibility and a forced loyalty and start to take care of the family that she once left. This forced loyalty or the love remnants make Soledad come back to the place that she longed to leave and meet her family that she wanted to forget. Soledad took herself away from her collapsed family as she wanted to have a d ifferent future than everybody else. She separated from everything, explored new paths and found herself successful in her new world. However the little love residue that remained in her heart made her sacrifice everything for the sake of her family (or her sick mother).She was back to her old neighborhood and finds something that longed for and that she did not expect. She finally recognizes that everything she was yearning for was there in front of her. We can say that the novel Soledad is all about family relationships. The news of her mother’s sickness melted the heart of young Soledad and made her take the crucial decision to leave her happy world and come to her family from which she was fleeing away. Even though Soledad was reluctantly returning to her family, her time with her family becomes too crucial in the novel that it occupies majority of the pages.Soledad’s plight was painful but her family members turned out to be characters that made the whole story in teresting, rather than Soledad. The background of the novel is in the family or cultural background of the author Angie Cruz. Author’s childhood experience in the ethnic barrio of New York City's Washington Heights neighborhood highly influenced the story. The story more or less appears as an autobiography where the family of Soledad represents the entire women folk of the superstitious neighborhood.The bizarre mother, jealous cousin Flaca, her crazy Aunt Gorda, the entire family of Angie Cruz speaks of the predicament of the entire neighborhood. Even though the whole story intended to report the helpless womanhood of the undeveloped neighborhood, the novel turned out to be a tale of family relationships that sprang up from an extremely collapsed background. The family of Soledad, her mother, cousin and her aunt filled the novel making it a tale family story. References Angie (2001) Cruz Soledad, Simon & Schuster Trent Masiki (2001) Soledad – Review – Black Issu es Book Review, Matthews & Associates.

Adapting Coffee Market Trends in China Free Essay Example, 2500 words

The case study example that is being used in this study is Starbucks. The objective of this Report is to assess how Starbucks could improve its marketing strategy to boost sales. With the current recessionary trends, sales of all consumer products have been affected and coffee is no exception. Furthermore, one of the major problems posed to boosting sales is the competition offered by tea consumption in China, although coffee is already becoming popular in the country. It would be a good strategy for Starbucks to focus upon reaching the younger segment of the Chinese population, hence its advertising and marketing strategy should be geared towards this section of the public. With increasing globalization and the emergence of China as a major player in the global marketplace, especially during the current recession, there is a higher level of transfusion of western ideas and culture into China, especially in cities such as Shanghai. This is especially so among Chinese youth, who thro ugh the medium of the Internet, have been placed in touch with a global community. Since American music and culture are a big draw with the youth in China who are gradually being exposed to elements outside the traditional structure of Communism and thereby being freed from its restrictions, the stores could feature many of the symbols of American culture that are popular abroad. We will write a custom essay sample on Adapting Coffee Market Trends in China or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now The advertising for Starbucks retail outlets should present it as a successful American icon, a ubiquitous symbol of American culture. Products such as burgers and hot dogs could also be offered at Starbucks outlets. This is likely to prove to be a strong draw for the younger generation. Starbucks could also consider setting up entertainment centers within its retail outlets, where extra large television screens could broadcast videos of American pop stars such as Eminem, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake and other popular stars of today. Music is an integral part of youth culture and China has been experiencing a trend for an increased number of bars and dance spots where rock bands play.