Spider-man

Spider-man Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer and editor Stan Lee and artist and co-plotter Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15 (Aug. 1962). Lee and Ditko conceived of the character as an orphan being raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben as an ordinary teenager, having to deal with the normal struggles of youth in addition to those of a costumed crime fighter. Spider-Mans creators gave him super strength and agility, the ability to cling to most surfaces, shoot spider-webs using devices of his own invention which he called web-shooters, and react to danger quickly with his spider-sense, enabling him to combat his foes. When Spider-Man first appeared in the early 1960s, teenagers in superhero comic books were usually relegated to the role of sidekick to the protagonist. The Spider-Man series broke ground by featuring Peter Parker, a teenage high school student to whose self-obsessions with rejection, inadequacy, and loneliness young readers could easily relate.[1]:210 Unlike previous teen heroes such as James Buchanan Bucky Barnes and Robin, Spider-Man did not benefit from being the protege of any adult mentors like Captain America and Batman, and thus he had to learn for himself that with great power comes great responsibility a line included in a text box in the final panel of the first Spider-Man story, but later retroactively attributed to his guardian, the late Uncle Ben. Marvel has featured Spider-Man in several comic book series, the first and longest-lasting of which is titled The Amazing Spider-Man. Over the years, the Peter Parker character has developed from shy high school student to troubled but outgoing college student to married high school teacher to, in the late 2000s, a single freelance photographer, his most typical adult role. He is now a member of an unofficial splinter group of the Avengers, one of Marvels flagship superhero teams. In the comics, Spider-Man is often referred to as Spidey, web-slinger, wall-crawler, or web-head. Spider-Man is one of the most popular and commercially successful superheroes. As Marvels flagship character and company mascot, he has appeared in many forms of media, including several animated and live-action television shows, syndicated newspaper comic strips and a successful series of films starring actor Tobey Maguire as the friendly neighborhood hero. Spider-Man was named Empire magazines fifth-greatest comic-book character.[2] Spider-Man has been adapted to television many times, as a short-lived live-action television series, a Japanese tokusatsu series, and several animated cartoon series. There were also the Spidey Super Stories segments on the PBS educational series The Electric Company, which featured a Spider-Man (played by Danny Seagren) who did not speak out loud but instead used only word balloons. Spider-Mans first cartoon series ran from 1967-1970. It became known famous for its catchy theme song, which begins, Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can From 1978-1979, Nicholas Hammond starred as Peter Parker in the live-action television series The Amazing Spider-Man. Two Spider-Man cartoons aired on television in 1981: the syndicated series Spider-Man which ran for one twenty-six episode season, and the more popular Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, which aired on the NBC network for three seasons (ultimately totaling twenty-four episodes). hand appears shooting a web to save a citizen in the Third season X-Men Episode Phoenix Saga 5 Child Of Light, This episode aired just months before The web-swingers longest-running show, Spider-Man, which ran five seasons from 1994-1998, totaling 65 episodes, on Fox Broadcastings afternoon programming block, Fox Kids (in this series, Spider-Man was voiced by Christopher Daniel Barnes in the English version, and by Toshiyuki Morikawa in the Japanese dub, who later played Venom in the Japanese dub of Spider-Man 3). That series continued as Spider-Man Unlimited the following year. A small reference is made to Spider-Man in the X-Men: Evolution episode On Angels Wings, when Angel is seen reading the Daily Bugle, the place Spider-Man/Peter Parker usually works. In 2003, MTV aired a 13-episode Spider-Man CGI series based loosely on the film continuity, Spider-Man: The New Animated Series, developed by Mainframe Entertainment. Peter Parker made a cameo in the Fantastic Four: Worlds Greatest Heroes episode Frightful. Johnny Storm hires him to make him look good it, no one let him state what his name was so Johnny Storm refers to him as photographer guy. Johnny Storm also stated he was freelance. A new series, The Spectacular Spider-Man, premiered on March 8, 2008. In its first season it received critical acclaim and rocketed to the top of the ratings. Spider-Man/Peter Parker is voiced by Josh Keaton. * The original Spider-Man cartoon theme song has been covered and reinterpreted by numerous musical acts, including The Mr. T Experience, Ramones, Aerosmith, Michael Bublà ©, Moxy Frà ¼vous and Tenacious D. The 2002 and 2004 movies have featured buskers performing the song; Jayce Bartok and Elyse Dinh respectively. * In 1972, Buddah Records released Spider-Man: From Beyond The Grave, a rock musical story LP record with an included wordless comic strip for listeners to follow. Kingpin appears as the villain and Doctor Strange guest stars. * In 1975 Ramsey Lewis released a single titled Whats the Name of this Funk? (Spider Man) [sic].[14] * In 1975 Marvel Comics and Lifesong Records released an album entitled, Spider-Man: Rock Reflections of a Superhero. It contained songs of various styles altered to elucidate certain moments and feelings of Spider-Mans origin, such as No Ones Got a Crush on Peter and Peter Stays and the Spider-Man Goes interspersed with narration clips by Stan Lee. * In 1979, German singer Peter Griffin had his first hit with a song called Spiderman. * In 1983, Muse Records released Woody Shaws jazz version of Spider-Man Blues, based on the television theme, on Shaws Setting Standards album. * In 1992, the Italian rock band 883 made it onto the European charts with a song called Hanno ucciso luomo ragno (They Killed Spider-Man) from an album of the same name, describing how after the death of the superhero, the streets are being overrun by gangs of stressed accountants in double-breasted suits.[15] * In the 1993 Wu-Tang Clan song Protect Ya Neck, Inspectah Deck raps the lyric Swingin through your town like your neighborhood Spider-Man in his verse. * In 1994, Joe Perry of Aerosmith wrote and performed the theme song for the Fox Kids Spider-Man: The Animated Series. He is a noted fan of Spider-Man. * In 1998 Michale Graves wrote the song Spider-Man (aka The Spider-Man Song aka Spider-Man Save Me) while still in The Misfits. It is yet to be officially released, although he has played this song live in every band hes played in since. On his 2006 solo release, Return to Earth, Michale again mentions Spider-Man in the song Butchershop. * The 2003 Weird Al Yankovic album Poodle Hat has a track entitled Ode to a Superhero. It is a parody of the Billy Joel song Piano Man, and recounts the events of the 2002 film. * In 2004 Nelly performed a song called Spida Man, on his double album Sweat/Suit. * A soundtrack album and score was released with each of the two Spider-Man films. The two soundtracks were mainly songs thematically linked to the film, performed by popular rock acts. Both soundtracks included hit singles (notably Hero by Chad Kroeger and Josey Scott, Bother by Corey Taylor (of Stone Sour and Slipknot), and Vindicated by Dashboard Confessional. The two scores were composed by Danny Elfman. * For the second Spiderman film, Michael Bublà © recorded a big band version of the Spider-Man theme. * Danish pop group, Aqua, mention Spider-Man in the chorus of their single, Cartoon Heroes. * In his 2005 album, Lost and Found, Will Smith uses the theme music from the 1960s Spider-Man cartoon series in his song Here he Comes. This song was produced by DJ Jazzy Jeff. * In their 2005 album Animetal Marathon VII, Japanese heavy metal band Animetal cover the opening of the 1970s tokusatsu adaptation. * In his 2006 album, Kingdom Come, Jay-Z raps Peter Parker: Spider-Man, all I do is climb the charts. * J-pop singer DJ Ozma heavily dedicates Spider-Man in his 2007 single Spiderman. The music video for song features a club full of dancers wearing black Spider-Man masks and a man dressed in a white Spider-Man suit. * There is an underground song called Crank Dat Spiderman. In this song Spider-Man is a sexual action in which the male ejaculates in his hand and throws it into the females face like Spider-Mans web. * The British indie pop band Los Campesinos mention Spider-Man in their song entitled Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats. * On the song Candy Land from Insane Clown Posse Member Violent Js album The Shining rapper Esham references Spider-Man.

Shopping is a Pastime for Women Essay -- Womens Clothing Clothes

SHOPPING IS A PASTIME Women’s clothing does not bite, but every guy I know seems to think it does. If it’s hanging on a rack or sitting patiently in a store for someone to handle, poke, or prod, it’s dangerous. Other adjectives— provided kindly by my guy friends—include â€Å"expensive,† â€Å"a waste of time,† and â€Å"unnecessary,† proving that men just don’t know anything about shopping and what it means to women. Combing through racks of clothing and looking for the cutest outfits may take hours, but many girls feel great satisfaction in doing so. Whenever my friends and I are bored, one of us will usually exclaim, â€Å"Let’s go shopping!† We all get excited and prepare for an intensive day-long outing, usually going to as many clothing stores as we can possibly carry ourselves, or until our wallets become weightless and our plastic gets maxed out. The idea of shopping is social and fun to us. While guys will usually walk into a store (even with friends) and rush to find what they need, girls will often hover around merchandise just to enjoy and inspect it. If we don’t buy anything and only browse for a whole day, simply looking at new things is a pleasurable experience and evokes happiness. Beyond clothing, the wonders of accessories, shoes, and interesting home dà ©cor excite our senses and spending possibilities. For others—typically men—the idea of getting off the couch and out of the house incites complete agony. When my younger brother hears the suggestion of shopping, he yells, â€Å"I HAVE A STOMACH ACHE. I CAN’T GO!† (unless, of course, you mention Best Buy or Micro Center). When my boyfriend hears it, he sternly says, â€Å"Mary, don’t make me sit in some chair for three hours like last time.† (Oops!) Shopping evokes... ...t turns out it was on the OTHER SIDE of the store, exactly where my guy friend said it WASN’T. If I hadn’t asked, we would have been there all night. Although I don’t believe guys will ever truly appreciate shopping and the obsession many women have with it, I do think that many have come to terms with the issue. It’s common for my guy friends to not drop their jaws if my friends and I blow a few hundred dollars in a single day on only clothing . . . especially after we point out their latest and most expensive electronic purchase. As Adams, (the design director for NBBJ Retail Concepts) states, â€Å"the woman is the decision-maker (229),† and therefore, is the primary shopper between the two sexes. Works Cited Gladwell, Malcolm. â€Å"The Science of Shopping.† 1996. The Text-Wrestling Book. Eds. Donna LeCourt, et al. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendal/Hunt, 2005. 222–231.

Home Depot Analysis

Home Depot – 2010 Financial Report For fiscal year ended January  30, 2011 (â€Å"fiscal 2010†), Home Depot reported Net Earnings of $3. 3  billion and Diluted Earnings per Share of $2. 01 compared to Net Earnings of $2. 7  billion and Diluted Earnings per Share of $1. 57 for fiscal year ended January  31, 2010 (â€Å"fiscal 2009†). The results for fiscal 2010 included a $51 million pretax charge related to the extension of our guarantee of a senior secured loan of HD Supply, Inc. (the â€Å"HD Supply Guarantee Extension†). The results for fiscal 2009 reflected the impact of several strategic actions initiated in fiscal 2008. These strategic actions resulted in store rationalization charges related to the closing of 15 underperforming U. S. stores and the removal of approximately 50 stores from their new store pipeline, business rationalization charges related to the exit of our EXPO, THD Design Center, Yard birds and HD Bath businesses (the â€Å"Exited Businesses†) and charges related to the restructuring of support functions (collectively, the â€Å"Rationalization Charges†). These actions resulted in pretax Rationalization Charges of $146 million for fiscal 2009. The results for fiscal 2009 also included a pretax charge of $163 million to write-down our investment in HD Supply, Inc. Additionally, fiscal 2009 included earnings of $41 million from discontinued operations, net of tax, for the settlement of working capital matters arising from the sale of HD Supply. Home Depot reported Earnings from Continuing Operations of $3. 3  billion and Diluted Earnings per Share from Continuing Operations of $2. 01 for fiscal 2010 compared to Earnings from Continuing Operations of $2. 6  billion and Diluted Earnings per Share from Continuing Operations of $1. 5 for fiscal 2009. Excluding the HD Supply Guarantee Extension charge from their fiscal 2010 results, and the Rationalization Charges and the write-down of their investment in HD Supply from their fiscal 2009 results, Earnings from Continuing Operations were $3. 4 billion and Diluted Earnings per Share from Continuing Operations were $2. 03 for fiscal 2010 compared to Earnings from Continuing Oper ations of $2. 8 billion and Diluted Earnings per Share from Continuing Operations of $1. 66 for fiscal 2009. Net Sales increased 2. 8% to $68. 0  billion for fiscal 2010 from $66.   billion for fiscal 2009. Home Depot’s comparable store sales increased 2. 9% in fiscal 2010, driven by a 2. 4% increase in their comparable store customer transactions and a 0. 5% increase in their comparable store average ticket to $51. 93. Comparable store sales for their U. S. stores increased 2. 5% in fiscal 2010. In fiscal 2010, Home Depot focused on the following four key initiatives: Customer Service: Home Depot’s focus on customer service is anchored on the principles of taking care of their associates, putting customers first and simplifying the business. The roll out of their Customers FIRST training to all store associates and support staff in fiscal 2009 has brought simplification and focus across the business, and they repeated and refreshed the Customers FIRST training during fiscal 2010. The Customers FIRST program is part of their ongoing commitment to improve customer service levels in their stores, and they continued to see the benefit of this training in improved customer service ratings for fiscal 2010 compared to fiscal 2009. Also in fiscal 2010, Home Depot completed the deployment of their FIRST Phone, a new hand held device that provides multiple functions such as inventory management, product location and mobile checkout. The core purpose of this new device is to reduce tasking time for their store associates to allow them more time to focus on customer service. Home Depot ended fiscal 2010 with more than half of their store payroll allocated to customer facing activities rather than tasking activities. They have a customer facing store payroll target of 60%, and they believe they will achieve that by 2013. Product Authority: Our focus on product authority is facilitated by our merchandising transformation and portfolio strategy, including innovation, assortment and value. In fiscal 2010, we made significant progress on our merchandising tools in the U. S. that helped us manage markdown and clearance activity and better control inventory. Our inventory turnover ratio was 4. 13 times at the end of fiscal 2010 compared to 4. 06 times at the end of fiscal 2009. Additionally, we continued to form strategic alliances and relationships with selected suppliers to bring a number of proprietary and xclusive brands across a wide range of departments. Productivity and Efficiency: Home Depot’s approach to driving productivity and efficiency starts with disciplined capital allocation focused on building best-in-class competitive advantages in information technology and supply chain, as well as building shareholder value through higher returns on invested capital and total value returned to sh areholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases. At the end of fiscal 2010, they completed the roll out of their Rapid Deployment Centers (â€Å"RDCs†) and now have 19 RDCs that serve 100% of their U. S. stores. Also during fiscal 2010, they repurchased 80. 9  million shares for $2. 6 billion, and on February  22, 2011 Home depot announced a six percent increase in their quarterly cash dividend to 25 cents per share. Interconnected Retail: Home Depot’s focus on interconnected retail is based on the view that providing a seamless shopping experience across multiple channels will be a critical enabler for future success. Their multiple channel focus is allowing them to greatly expand their assortment of merchandise, and they are making the investment to build these capabilities, including the roll out of â€Å"buy on-line, pick-up in store† next year. Home depot is committed to having a best-in-class website, and during fiscal 2010 their site was named as a Most Improved Website for customer satisfaction by Foresee, a leading customer satisfaction analytics firm. Home Depot opened eight new stores in fiscal 2010, including one relocation, and closed three stores, bringing our total store count at the end of fiscal 2010 to 2,248. As of the end of fiscal 2010, a total of 272 of these stores, or 12. 1%, were located in Canada, Mexico and China compared to 268 stores, or 11. 9%, at the end of fiscal 2009. Home Depot generated approximately $4.   billion of cash flow from operations in fiscal 2010. They used this cash flow along with cash on hand to fund $2. 6 billion of share repurchases, pay $1. 6  billion of dividends and fund $1. 1 billion in capital expenditures. At the end of fiscal 2010, Home Depot’s long-term debt-to-equity ratio was 46. 1% compared to 44. 7% at the end of fiscal 2009. Their return on invested capita l for continuing operations (computed on net operating profit after tax for the trailing twelve months and the average of beginning and ending long-term debt and equity) was 12. 8% for fiscal 2010 compared to 10. % for fiscal 2009. This increase reflects the impact of the Rationalization Charges which they included in their operating profit for fiscal 2009. Excluding the Rationalization Charges, their return on invested capital for continuing operations was 12. 7% for fiscal 2010 compared to 11. 1% for fiscal 2009. Week 2 Activity Ratios of Home Depot vs. Lowe’s One key to profitability is how well a company manages and utilizes its assets. Some ratios are design to evaluate a company’s effectectiveness in managing assets. Of particular interest is the activity, or turnover ratios, of certain assets. The greater the number of times an asset turns over, the higher the ratio the fewer assets are required to maintain a given level of activity (revenue). Given that a company incurs costs to finance its assets with debt (paying interest) or equity (paying dividends), high turnovers are usually attractive. |Receivable Turnover | |Year |2009 |2010 |2011 | |Home Depot |68. |63. 9 |53. 9 | |Lowe’s |0. 0 |0. 0 |0. 0 | Receivable Turnover ratio is calculated by dividing a period’s net credit sales by the average net accounts receivables. The receivables turnover ratio provides an indication of a company’s efficiency in collecting receivables. The ratio shows the number of times during a period that the averages accounts receivable balance is collected. The higher the ratio, the shorter the average time between credit sales and cash collection. As we can see above, Lowe’s has zero receivables, which can be translated to no credit sales. |Inventory Turnover | |Year |2009 |2010 |2011 | |Home Depot |4. 21 |4.. 19 |4. 34 | |Lowe’s |4. 0 |3. 72 |3. 63 | Inventory Turnover is an important measure for a merchandising company. The ratio shows the number of times the average inventory balance is sold during reporting period. It indicates how quickly inventory is sold. The more frequently a business is able to sell, or turn over, its inventory, the lower its investment in inventory must be for a given level of sales. The ratio is computed by dividing the period’s costs of goods sold by the average inventory balance. The denominator, average inventory, is determined by adding beginning and ending inventory and dividing by two. A relatively high ratio, as in the case of Home Depot compare to Lowe’s, usually is desirable. A high ratio indicates comparative strength, perhaps caused by a company’s superior sales force or maybe a successful advertising campaign. However, it might also be caused by a relatively low inventory level, which could mean either very efficient inventory measurement or stock outs or lost sales in the future. Comparing the two industries, we can conclude than Home Depot turns over their inventory a bit faster than Lowe’s. Asset Turnover | |Year |2009 |2010 |2011 | |Home Depot |1. 73 |1. 62 |1. 73 | |Lowe’s |1. 48 |1. 43 |1. 41 | Asset Turnover is a broad measure of asset efficiency. The ratio is computed by dividing a company’s net sales or revenue by the average total assets available for use during a period. The denominator, average assets, is determined by adding beginning and ending total assets and dividing by two. The asset turnover ratio provides an indication of how efficiency a company utilizes all of its assets to generate revenue. Also, it shows how many sales dollars are generated for every dollar invested in the company’s assets. Lowe’s had relatively lower asset turnover than Home Depot because their recent investment in PP&E has not yet reached their potentials. Home Depot is a financially sound company and performs well when compared to its competitors. Based on current business conditions and the potential growth opportunity facing Home Depot, we feel that the bottom line will continue to grow at a healthy rate above the competition in the near future. We believe that the relatively low levels of debt, slightly wider margins, and lower costs make Home Depot an attractive investment for the long run. Shares of Home Depot are currently trading at $33. 92 to what we believe is gaining momentum in the market. This increase is possibly derived from the market’s belief that better than predicted growth will be seen from expansion into foreign markets, specifically China. Week 4 Home Depot – Accounting Policies The retail industry, in general, presents a very competitive market with high price competition and low product differentiation. Although almost any retailer, from supermarkets to superstores, can offer home improvement items at a competitive price, the home improvement industry currently provides a great opportunity for differentiation in regards to the types of services home improvement retailers offer. To successfully maximize sales and increase revenues in the home improvement industry, retailers such as Home Depot must successfully combine product variety, quality and price and specialized services. As discussed earlier, Home Depot has adopted a business strategy based on these key factors. Consequently, as we look at Home Depot’s overall financial results, it is necessary to focus on key accounting policies adopted by the company to measure critical factors and risks. In the â€Å"Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Results of Operations and Financial Condition† of The Home Depot, Inc 2011 Annual Report (www. omedepot. com), management identified three major areas as areas of critical accounting policy and discussed the adoption of four different accounting pronouncements. In addition to the four recently adopted accounting pronouncements identified in the management’s discussion, The Home Depot identified four other major accounting policy change s in it’s â€Å"Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements†. Specifically, The Home Depot adopted four different accounting pronouncements in regards to service revenue recognition, vendor allowances, goodwill amortization and stock based compensation. The three critical accounting policies, as identified by The Home Depot management refer to the treatment of merchandise inventories, self insurance and revenue recognition. Merchandise Inventory policy is specifically addressed by The Home Depot management in â€Å"Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Results of Operations and Financial Condition† and is assessed in two different ways. Approximately 93% of total inventory is valued at the lower of cost or market utilizing FIFO under the retail inventory method with the other 7% valued under the cost method. The Notes section of the Financial Statements accounts for the two different methods. According to the Notes, the 7% of inventory valued under the cost method was due to inventory policy of certain subsidiaries and distribution centers. In addition, The Home Depot, Inc. takes a physical inventory count on a regular basis at each store to verify that inventory amounts in the merchandise inventory section of the Consolidated Financial Statements are accurate. Lastly, in regards to merchandise inventory, the company does account for possible inventory shrinkage or swell based on historical results and industry trends. Self Insurance accounting policy for Home Depot addresses it’s treatment of â€Å"losses related to general liability, product liability, workers’ compensation and medical claims†. The total liability is estimated on the total cost incurred as of the specific balance sheet date and is not discounted. The estimate is based on â€Å"historical data and actuarial estimates†. The company also explains in it’s Management Discussion that they ensure estimates of liability are as accurate as possible by having both management and third-party actuaries review the estimates on a quarterly basis. Revenue Recognition is the third critical accounting policy identified by The Home Depot management. Revenue recognition at the Home Depot follows the industry norm of recognizing revenue when the customer takes possession of the merchandise or, if a customer makes payment prior to take ownership of the merchandise, Home Depot records the sale as Deferred Revenue on the balance sheet until the sale is finalized when the customer takes possession of the paid merchandise. Additionally, because The Home Depot also provides a variety of services through their installation and home maintenance programs, they also recognize service revenue at the time when the service is completed and also record any customer pre-paid service revenue as Deferred Revenue on the balance sheet. Week 5 Internet The internet has completely changed the way companies communicate and market to their prospects. Home improvement businesses in the U. S report that the ways they have traditionally generated leads (i. . yellows pages, direct mail, print media, tv and radio) aren’t working like they use to. In fact, 85% of all products and service inquiries now start online and 97% of U. S internet users gather shopping information online and of those more than half characterize their behavior as ‘Shop Online, Purchase Offline. ’ The convenience of online shopping and the ability to make price comparisons on the internet has completely changed retail trends in the p ast decades. Even though most people tend to shop for building materials by visiting physical locations, still Home Depot cannot ignore e-commerce because people increasing buy items of nearly any kind online. Home depot being the largest home improvement retailer is expanding in the online channel aggressively and targeting it as a major growth opportunity. Home depot made it’s biggest e-commerce investment over the last two years since it started internet sales in 2001. According to research, 45% 0f the 9. million consumers who visited Home Depot’s website on average in any given week said their next step was a trip to a Home Depot store, which translates to about 225 customers a day per location. However, e-commerce for the home improvement industry is an underleveraged opportunity. A lot of people think of home Depot as a place you go on a Saturday, or when you do window treatment or carpeting. As such, they can do a better job online for things like branded power tools and repl enishable items and also offer delivering services for those items. Home Depot’s operating cost will decrease if customers interacted through the use of the internet due to the folllowing: †¢ Online customers are used to doing their own shopping without any salesperson assistance; therefore the cost of the salesperson would be eliminated as such. †¢ The range of products that can be offered through the website can be far greater than what one could find at Home Depot’s location, thereby giving customers a clear reason to prefer the internet. These are all advantages that Home Depot can benefit from as a result of the internet. As with the advantages, there are also disadvantages (issues) that Home Depot needs to put into consideration and work diligently to address them. The foremost of these issues are lack of site maintenance and lack of integration between the e-commerce site and the corporate back-office systems. As such, Home Depot must work through these issues in detail in order to arrive at the true cost-benefit for an e-commerce.

About the Perseid Meteor Shower

About the Perseid Meteor Shower The Perseid meteor shower is one of the best-known showers in the year. Its one of the great astronomy events of Northern Hemisphere summer and Southern Hemisphere winter. It begins in late July and extends halfway through August, peaking around August 11 or 12th. When conditions are good, you might be able to see dozens of meteors per hour. It all really depends on the weather and what part of the meteor stream Earth moves through each year. Also, the viewing is best when theres no interference from the Moon, although you can still see the brighter meteors as they flash through the sky.   This year (2017) the peak of the shower occurs not long after full moon, so its light will wash out the view of the dimmer meteors. You will likely see a few bright meteors during this time, but dont buy into the hype about the best, the brightest shower.   Its hype and probably clickbait. Do your viewing armed with reasonable expectations and you will be rewarded (unless its cloudy).   What Causes the Perseids? The Perseid meteor shower is really material left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle. It passes through our part of the solar system every 133 years. As it travels, this icy dirtball leaves behind tiny grains of ice, dust, rock, and other debris, similar to a messy tourist scattering debris from an automobile. As Earth makes its trip around the Sun, it passes through this debris field with some spectacular results, which we know as the Perseids. As Earth moves through the stream - which can stretch across 14 million to 120 million kilometers of interplanetary space -   its gravity interacts with the particles and spreads the stream out. As the comet passes by, it releases new bursts of particles, constantly refreshing the supply of material that will eventually collide with Earths atmosphere. The stream changes constantly, and this affects future Perseid meteor shower events. Sometimes Earth passes through rather thick areas of the stream, and that results in a heavy meteor shower. Other times, it traverses a thin part of the stream, and we dont see quite so many meteors.   Although there are many meteor showers annually, such as the Leonids, Lyrids, and Geminids, to name a few, the Perseid shower is the most reliable, and can be very spectacular if conditions are right. How it looks depends on several factors - ranging from whether the Moon is nearby (and bright enough to wash out the view) - to what part of the stream Earth encounters. The stream is not uniformly thick with particles, so some years the supply of materials might be less than others. In any given year, observers see anywhere from 50 to 150 meteors an hour on average, increasing at times to around 400 to 1,000 per hour.   The Perseid meteor shower, like other meteor showers, is named after the constellation from which it appears to radiate:  Perseus  (named after a Greek mythological hero)  which is located near Cassiopeia, the Queen. This is also called the radiant, since that is the direction the meteors seem to travel from as they streak across the sky. How Do I View the Perseid Meteor Shower? Meteor showers are easier to view than many other astronomical objects or events. All you need is a fairly dark location and a blanket or lawn chair. Always make sure you have a jacket handy, even if you live in a warm weather climate. Viewing late at night and early in the morning can expose you to some chilly temperatures. It may be useful to have a star chart  to help you locate Perseus, and other constellations while you’re watching, but it’s not a necessity. The shower is active from mid-July each year  when Earth enters the outer edges of the Swift-Tuttle stream.  The best viewing time varies but is often between 2:00 and 4:00 a.m. around the 12th of August. The actual peak time ranges from the 9th to the 14th and then tapers off after that. For August 2017, the best viewing time is after midnight early in the morning of August 12th. There will be some interference from the Moon, which will be just past full. But, you should still be able to see the brightest ones. Also, start watching a few nights before and continue a few nights after; Perseids happen for nearly three weeks. Find a good, safe viewing area where you can get a clear view of the sky. Arrive early to set up, and  give yourself time to adjust your eyes to the darkness. Then, just sit (or lie) back, relax, and enjoy the show. Most of the meteors will appear to radiate from the constellation Perseus, and streak across the sky. As you gaze, make note of the colors of the meteors as they streak through the sky. If you see bolides (larger streaks), note how long they take to traverse the sky  and notice their colors, too. The Perseids can be a very rewarding observing experience for anybody - from younger children to experienced stargazers.   Edited and expanded by Carolyn Collins Petersen.

Thank You, M’am Essay Essays

Thank You, M’am Essay Essays Thank You, M’am Essay Paper Thank You, M’am Essay Paper Indirect word picture is when the writer makes the reader utilize his ain judgement to make up ones mind what a character is like. In â€Å"Thank You. M’am† . by Langston Hughes. Mrs Jones was described as a big black adult females with a big bag. She was decoded as really austere by keeping him tightly and stating â€Å"Pick up my pocketbook† ( Hughes 86 ) . Besides an illustration from the short narrative was when â€Å"Mrs Jones stopped. jerked him around in forepart of her. set a half Nelson about his cervix. and continued to drag him up the street† ( Hughes 86 ) . In â€Å"Thank You. M’am† . by Langston Hughes. the writer uses indirect word picture to demo Mrs Jones’ attitude and personality in the short narrative. Mrs Jones visual aspect and personality is revealed by utilizing indirect word picture. For illustration. â€Å"She was a big adult females with a big bag that had everything in it but a cock and nails† ( Hughes 86 ) . This quotation mark describes the visual aspect of Mrs Jones by stating she was a big adult females. This means that she was a really prepared and was really organized. â€Å"Now here. take this 10 dollars and purchase yourself some bluish suede shoes† ( Hughes 86 ) . This shows that she is really sort hearted even thou she appeared mean. She really had trust in him non to steal anything and so gave him 10 dollars. about like a wages. By utilizing indirect word picture. you are able to happen Mrs Jones visual aspect and personality in the narrative without the writer straight stating you!

Grant Wood, How Painting Influenced his Life Essay

Grant Wood, How Painting Influenced his Life - Essay Example The essay "Grant Wood, How Painting Influenced his Life" discovers the art of Grant Wood. He began with painting advertisements and flyers in order to maintain a stable but low source of income and then moved on to sketching and painting home dà ©cor, overseeing stain glass making and other such jobs. With time, he began to absorb larger influences within his life and one of the first of such influences was regionalism; Wood associated himself with the regionalism that prevailed within the Midwest and took to painting themes concerned with rural American backgrounds, homes and people, ‘in an aggressive rejection of European abstraction.’ Wood was extremely influenced by the repression faced by the rural people in America at the time and felt their pain probably because he belonged to a similar background; thus his American Gothic, one of the most renowned paintings after Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and Munch’s The Scream, reflected his personal ideals and brought him immediate recognition. The painting depicts a man and a woman, dressed in 19th century American clothing that the rural or working class wore; the man is holding a pitchfork in his hand symbolizing the hard work and laborious effort that one had to use in order to earn their daily bread. The countenances of both the man and the woman speak for the artist excellently as they display the frustration and annoyance, along with stress and tension that the couple have been bearing throughout their lives, and know that they have to continue this way. in order to sustain each other. The couple interestingly however is a man and his daughter, and not a married couple, further suggesting the difficult lives that people at the time lived that they could not even get their daughters married. For this particular piece of work, Wood has stated that his influence lies in Eldon, a place in the southern part of Iowa, where one can still find a number of gothic styled buildings and architecture with pointed roofs and medieval windows. The house in the background of his painting has been inspired from one such home in southern Iowa and the atmosphere that it adorned also provided him the influence to imagine the kind of people that might have lived within that house. Wood was extremely interested in studying the nature of the working class and the same may be seen in the detailing of the clothes in his painting as he took every care in order to depict the life of a true family living in the era of gothic life. Wood himself has also stated that his influences arise from northern renaissance paintings and that his technique could be traced to a number of such European paintings. (European Traditions in Grant Wood) Though an American, Wood heavily loved the severity with which European artists made their work; he travelled to Europe a few times in order to adopt the Impressionistic style of art as well as adorn his art with surrealistic touches. While he was in Paris, he was g reatly influenced by Seurat’s work entitled Un Dimanche a la Grande Jatte and Wood’s Dinner For Threshers displays a resemblance to Seurat’s work. He experimented with his work a great deal after returning to America and began to develop his own style instead of trying to be like a European artist; he made contemporary paintings, influenced by images around him for example his mother, to whom he dedicated Woman with Plants. Many of his paintings have also emerged from the pain that he felt due to the historical

Is Facebook Response for our Loneliness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Is Facebook Response for our Loneliness - Essay Example During her last days, she looked for companionship from fans whom she met through Internet sites and fan conventions. When news of her death got out, she was the subject of over 16,000 posts on Facebook and more than 800 tweets. In â€Å"Is Facebook Making Us Lonely,† published in the May 2012 edition of The Atlantic magazine, Stephen Marche looks at the phenomenon of Facebook and how it affects our relationships as human beings. In a similar way to most of us, Vickers’s network of communication had increased yet decreased at the same time. Many of us can be easily accessed but yet we live in isolation. In recent years, technology has moved us to a way of life (technology) that we wholesomely rely on. In the extreme, several miles of fiber-optic cables were installed between the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and New York Stock Exchange in order to increase the speed of transmission during trading by three milliseconds (Marche 2012). But, in spite of absolute and instant c ommunication, we can suffer from loneliness. The more the new socializing modes, the less of an actual society exists. The more the connection, the lonelier we become. As of last year, Facebook had over 800 million users and revenue in excess of $3 billion (Marche 2012). The company further aims to be the largest internet IPO ever. Although it is the first site to have more than a trillion page views in a month, the way in which it is used is causing harm to its users without them knowing (Lushing and Atwan 45). Even Facebook’s owner, Mark Zuckerberg, who is one of the youngest billionaries in the world, experiences loneliness like the rest of us. As can be seen in the film The Social Network, his loneliness is evident when he sends a friend request to his ex-lover and then waits for a response while refreshing the page (like many of us have desperately done). Unlike the Friends circle in Google+, which suggests that people only include his or her real friends, Facebook has c reated a cyber world that includes people with whom we have never interacted. This depicts the interference that Facebook has brought about in relationships—it promotes the isolation that it was designed to overcome. Many people thought that Facebook was developed as a solution to people suffering from loneliness. This innovation seemed to be a solution at the time; however, recent studies show that loneliness rates in American have significantly increased. Additionally, isolation has increased unhappiness in the U.S. To understand the real effect social media forms have caused, we need to realize there is a difference between loneliness and being alone. Being alone is a beautiful thing. On the other hand, loneliness is a sad thing; it is also a psychological condition. Analyzing data from Dutch twins in 2005 showed that they both had similar genetic conditions as they did psychological problems (Marche 2012). Nonetheless, loneliness is difficult to explain. The UCLA loneline ss scale is the best tool to measure the loneliness of a person. Studies using the scale have shown that loneliness is increasing rapidly within a short time. A leading American study shows about 20 percent of Americans suffer from loneliness (Marche 2012). Single people suffer from loneliness more than married couples who are confidants. Another study found that active believers who perceived God as helpful and nonfigurative were less lonely than those who saw God as wrathful. Due to increased rates of loneliness there is a fear of an epidemic across Europe, as suggested by health experts. Loneliness and bein