Everyday Hero Essay Example for Free

Everyday Hero Essay When I think of the word hero, I think of the countless Spiderman figures lying at the bottom of my brother’s toy chest, or even Prince Charming rescuing Sleeping Beauty from her seemingly endless slumber. However, what usually does not come to mind, are the true real life heroes that I believe posses higher superpowers than the Incredibles ever could. Though they do not have the ability to fly or read minds, one way or another, these people have helped someone in a tough situation. A true hero can be anyone from the firefighters at the station to your older sister living in the room next door. They may have helped to save your life, or merely helped you get through your math homework last night. Whatever the case, one quality that all true heroes must possess is the ability to be an example of goodwill in the world. A hero will help someone because they want to, not because they have to. Though they are not perfect, no one is, a hero will continue to put others first when they know that it is most important to do so. Three years ago, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. The news came as an utter shock to everyone, considering the fact that she was one of the healthiest and most active members of my family. She played tennis and practiced yoga at least four times a week; always ate healthy and organic foods, and on top of all this, there was barely any history of breast cancer on our family tree! Though her case was not as bad as others, it still required her to undergo weeks of arduous chemotherapy and radiation. Through her darker days, she herself would be the one to calm me down and reassure me that everything would be okay. The night before my mother’s surgery, I started to cry, scared and frustrated with what was happening around me. Though she was also frightened and anxious, my mother was the one to comfort me and explain that a plastic surgeon did not actually turn people into plastic, as I had imagined. Even during her most bleak and miserable moments, she put everything aside and reached out to help me deal with her pain. For this, she is my hero. No, she is not Superwoman, or a firefighter,  or even your everyday do-gooder; but she’s my mom, and that is good enough for me. This just goes to show that a seemingly ordinary woman can be a hero to someone in her own way. Heroes are everyday characters, and if you look hard enough you will find the hero in your own life. This I believe.

Steve Jobs Biography Essay Example for Free

Steve Jobs Biography Essay Steve Jobs’ success story began in 1976 when he and a friend built the first personal computer. He founded Apple in April 1, 1976; he was the Chairman and CEO of Apple Computers Inc. until he walked out due to a power struggle. He did not let this obstacle stop him. He went and started other businesses and developments. In 1984, he developed the Macintosh, which was the first small computer with a graphic user interface. In 1985, he started NeXT, a year later he bought Pixar Animated Studios. At Pixar he held the position as the CEO. Jobs contracted with Disney producing a number of popular animated films. Among these films were Cars, The Incredibles, Toy Story, and A Bug’s Life. He was certainly one of the world’s most successful businessmen. Twelve years after leaving Apple, Jobs returned as Apple’s interim CEO. Jobs changed the way the world thinks and feels about technology. Steve Jobs is also known for his unconventional leadership. He was a high-maintenance worker. He expected excellence from both himself and the employees. He was known for his direct criticism when he felt was necessary. There is no doubt that Jobs was an exceptional leader. Introduction Over the past forty years, the computer industry has taken great leaps to where it is today. One of the most influential people during this time was Steve Jobs. He is considered a leading figure in both the computer and entertainment industries. Jobs is listed as Fortune Magazine’s most powerful businessman of 2007. His life had many struggles, but he always found a way to make his ideas succeed. Childhood Steven Paul Jobs was an orphan adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs of Mountain View, California in February, 1955. Jobs was not happy at school in Mountain View so the family moved to Los Altos, California, where Steve attended Homestead High School. His electronics teacher at Homestead High, John McCollum, recalled he was something of a loner and always had a different way of looking at things† (Isaacson 23). After school, Jobs would attend lectures at the Hewlett-Packard electronics firm in Palo Alto, California, where he was hired as a summer employee. Another employee at HP was Stephen Wozniak, a recent dropout from the University of California at Berkeley. An engineering whiz with a passion for inventing electronic gadgets, Wozniak at that time was perfecting his blue box. The blue box was an illegal, pocketsize telephone attachment that would allow the user to make free long-distance calls. Jobs helped Wozniak sell a number of the devices to customers. This was the defining moment of their relationship, Wozniak as the brains, Jobs as the business (Isaacson 28). Instead of attending either Berkeley or Stanford, Jobs decided on the very liberal Reed University in Oregon. This is where he was introduced to philosophies, ideas that would shape how he would treat the business world, and LSD. At this time, school was not important and he withdrew after the first semester of college. When he returned home, he was thin and disheveled. He embraced a new goal of traveling to India in pursuit of â€Å"enlightenment (Isaacson 49). He was a very big advocate of Zen Buddhism. Going to work for Atari after leaving Reed College, Jobs renewed his friendship with Steve Wozniak. Jobs and Wozniak put together their first computer, called the Apple I, in Jobs’ family garage. They marketed it in 1976 at a price of $666. The Apple I was the first single-board computer with built-in video interface and on-board ROM, which told the machine how to load other programs from an external source. They managed to make their first killing when the Byte Shop in Mountain View bought their first fifty fully assembled computers (Isaacson 68). On this basis the Apple Inc. was founded, the name based on Jobs favorite fruit and the logo. The following year, Jobs and Wozniak developed the general purpose Apple II. The design of the Apple II did not depart from Apple Is simplistic and compactness design. The Apple II had built-in circuitry allowing it to interface directly to a color video monitor. Shortly after the release of the Apple II, Apple Inc. went public making the company worth $1. 2 billion (Butcher 94). Jobs was smart in that he positioned himself for success. He knew how to be at the right place at the right time. The downside to this was he always wanted more. He had a hard time putting his vision down in a practical manner. He saw a computer with an elegant exterior but the problem with his vision was that the way he had to have it would make production nearly impossible. These unreal expectations were called his â€Å"reality distortion field† (Isaacson 124). Jobs became fixated with a new idea for a personal computer, called the Macintosh. To help him market these new computers Jobs recruited John Sculley from Pepsi Cola for a position as president at Apple. Jobs was so focused that if you did not work in the Macintosh division, he treated you like an entirely separate person. The Macintosh division received higher salaries, invitations to company sponsored parties, and front row seats to company meetings (Butcher 136-148). While Mr. Jobs stated positions on management techniques are all quite noble and worthy, in practice he is a dreadful manager. It is an unfortunate case of mouthing the right ideas but not believing in or executing them when it comes time to do something†¦Jobs regularly misses appointments. He does not give credit where due. Jobs also has favorites, who can do no wrong—and others who can do no right. He interrupts and doesnt listen. He doesnt keep promises. He is a prime example of a manager who takes the credit for his optimistic schedules and then blames the workers when deadlines are not met (Butcher 161). NeXT and Pixar Jobs treated Sculley as if he were his best friend, but he actually despised him being at Apple. After a power struggle with the board of directors in 1985, Jobs left Apple and founded NeXT. His vision with NeXT was to create a computer for the higher-education and business market (Isaacson 211). In 1986, he acquired the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm, which was spun off as Pixar. During his time serving as the CEO of Pixar, movies such as Toy Story (1995) and A Bug’s Life (1998) were credited to Jobs as an executive producer. He served as CEO and majority shareholder until Disney purchased Pixar in 2006. Reinstated After the computer industry at NeXT began to fail, Jobs decided to focus on creating software. While this was happening, Gil Amelio had replaced John Sculley at Apple. Apple’s business was suffering due to there being no creative genius striving to invent something new. Amelio noticed that Jobs had created an operating system called NeXTSTEP and decided that it would be in Apple’s best interests to purchase NeXT, bringing Jobs back into the company that he created. NeXTSTEP platform later became the foundation for Mac OS X (Isaacson 305). Jobs returned to Apple as an advisor, and then took control of the company as interim CEO. During this time, he brought Apple from near bankruptcy to profitable by 1998. As the new CEO, Jobs oversaw the development of the iMac, iTunes, iPod, iPhone, and iPad. Jobs also developed the Apple Retail Stores, iTunes Store, and the App Store. Apple became the world’s most valuable publicly traded company in 2011 (Isaacson 348-511). Without Jobs’ intervention in 1996, Apple would have went bankrupt and had to close. The reinvigoration of the company is regarded by many commentators as one of the greatest turnarounds in business history (Isaacson 560). In Remembrance In 2003, Jobs was diagnosed with a pancreas neuroendocrine tumor. Jobs was against going to the doctor for most of his life, so he was reluctant to get his stomach pains checked out. Since he waited so long, the tumor was almost untreatable. In 2009 he received a pancreas transplant, but the cancer had already spread to different parts of his body. Jobs resigned from Apple in August of 2011 and was elected Chairman of the Board. As his health continuously declined, he died on October 5, 2011. Conclusion Jobs’ major strength lies in his curiosity and innovation within the market. To say that Steve Jobs is something of an enigma is an understatement; his style of management and his ability to accurately predict trends made him more than just a valuable industry leader, it almost guaranteed that those who paid attention reaped the profits of his predictions. Apple has been ahead of the curve time after time (Brayan 1). Jobs had the ability to see far beyond the limitations of time and space. He lived in his own little world where success was inevitable and the steps to get there would not always be appropriate, but if it meant that those decisions would lead in the direction he wanted, then those steps would not be questioned.

Marine Biology As A Career

Marine Biology As A Career I would like to begin this paper from the career notion definition. The main topic of this research paper is marine biology as a career and as for me it is not empty words, because I strongly believe that choosing career we choose our future. Looking into the roots of this question it is necessary to mention that folk wisdom says of that a profession is as riches. In many cases people who are around you judge about your activity on the base of your chosen career, that it why it is so hard for many young people to chose own career and own future. Moreover, if we will made an effort transfer all interests, desires, fascinations, a very long list would turn out, probably. Many of us have a wide circle of interests, and it is very difficult to choose, what from it would become a future profession, and what a hobby is. Mostly a preference to some type of activity determines interest to its maintenance. To accept a correct decision, it is necessary to get acquainted with maintenance of pot ential profession, labour duties and terms of labour. If you like maintenance of profession, you will be more successful in your chosen work, you will have an aim to promote the qualification, become an authoritative specialist in the professional area and, eventually, earn good money. At the beginning of professional cycle all persons efforts usually sent on the preparation to the future career and among these efforts we could find development of abilities, values, presentations and other aspects that are necessary for finding of professional identity. At the end of professional cycle person usually concentrates all forces on determination of degree of success. Thinking about myself I want to mention that I like marine biology and in my opinion this kind of career will be the best way of self-realization for me. I dont want to discuss this career without concrete facts in marine sphere, so lets consider this part of my paper as introduction to my research. I prepared my research not for one day and understood that choice of the right career path is not an easy step. First of all, if you were not determined from the beginning (for example, during study-time in a college), what it will be, your professional way, then, that coming you to accept in this life, a decision about the choice of kind of activity will become one of the most essential decisions in your life. If you thought over this question in enough earnest, then to the moment of final choice you have in a head few ideas which, however, yet coming to specify. Pointing necessary information is possible from the row of sources of knowledge and experience. As you understand from the previous words exactly now I try to find all necessary information about the career of my choice and maybe exactly this research paper will allow me to make my last choice in career sphere. Lets discuss marine biology as the career that Im interested in for my future and first of all it is necessary to define what it means in the wide sense of this word. Marine biology is a science that studies the organisms of seas and oceans. Marine biology is vast discipline, including the great number of directions, therefore a term is understood variously depending on that, who uses it in own practice. It is possible to name a specialist, qualificatory in a museum the standards of marine animals and plants delivered there a marine biologist; physiologist, studying functioning of the nervous system of squid; environmentalist, investigating distribution of marine inhabitants et cetera. We know that often as synonyms of marine biology are used terms biological oceanography and marine ecology. However, biological oceanography studies organisms, dwellings at sea mainly, i.e. more or less far from off-shore shoals. Marine ecology, strictly speaking, implies research of mutual relations o f marine inhabitants with each other and with surrounding them physical environment, what, however, most marine biologists really occupy. Although ocean waters are not divided by borders, their inhabitants at the distribution run into insuperable barriers the exposure of which behaves to the major problems of marine biology. If to move from a beach in the depths of ocean, it is possible to notice, as physical terms of environment change and simultaneously the types of animals and plants change each other. At the same time certain combination of environmental factors results in that one or other organisms often meet together. Using this analogy we should say that marine biology has in itself many components from other professions and exists in tight connection with them, in spite of their differences. For addition to above presented information I want to add that considerable part of works on marine biology is conducted now on the base of large laboratories, for example in Plymouth (England), in the USA and so on. In many cases we remember and use famous names of laboratories, but, however, a considerable deposit is brought in this science also by not yet deserving a world fame small stations, colleges and universities, located in the different countries of the world. According to information presented on website http://life.bio.sunysb.edu we could find easy and understandable answers on questions not only about marine biology, but also about the essence of the marine biologists work. For example next information is rather interesting to reading and thinking about it: Marine biology is the field of knowledge relating to marine organisms. But what is a marine biologist? To many, it means being a dolphin trainer but to others it means managing a marine wildlife sanctuary. There are many answers to this question and I would say that a marine biologist is someone who works in some way in studying, observing, protecting, or managing marine organisms, be they microbe, plant or animal. If you study marine fish populations you are a marine biologist. If you manage a marine wildlife preserve and are concerned with protection of marine organisms there, then you too are a marine biologist. You know youre a marine biologist if you have a notebook or computer that you record information often about marine organisms. But you may also be a marine biologist if you are collecting sponges, looking for bioactive drugs. You may be counting them, doing DNA sequencing of them, observing them in the laboratory or making theoretical models predicting their abundance once fishing is decreased. So marine biologists do many things, but what they have in common is working with marine organisms. (http://life.bio.sunysb.edu/marinebio/mycareer.html) In my opinion career of marine biologist is a good choice and based on above presented information we see that specialist in marine biology could find many areas for own talents implementation. Nowadays there are many universities where it is possible to receive quality education and the post-secondary institutions offering a degree or certificate in this field. For example, researching this problem I found next information that colleges and universities offer a range of degrees in marine biology from an associates degree to a doctorate. MarineBio has compiled the following list of US-based and International schools offering degrees in Marine Biology, and an accompanying list of marine laboratory research facilities. Marine Biology Degree Programs in the US. International Marine Biology Degree Programs. Marine Biology Laboratories, Institutes Graduate Programs. (http://marinebio.org/MarineBio/Careers/) I checked above mentioned information and I could say that above stated facts are true and it is possible to receive education in marine biology area in many universities, because there are many places where students can go for their new knowledge, but first requirement is talents in biology area and a great wish to study and become a good specialist. Thinking about salary range and analysing existed situation on the market of marine biologists I could come to the conclusion that the salary is enough high and it depends not only from the place where you work, but also from the necessity of your project and your level of education, I mean your degree in chosen area. In other words, future salary in marine biology sphere will depend on educational background, from employment sector and also from geographical location. Reading different facts about marine biology and listen to people who realize themselves in this sphere I understood that career of marine biologist is something like job and hobby at the same time. I like Jefferys words, who said that It was her best choice in the life and she likes her profession very much. Reading about this person next facts I understood that I want to have the same to her career: growing up, Sharon Jeffery knew that she wanted to be a marine biologist. This focus stemmed from a growing interest in biology during her secondary education, from family camping trips near the ocean, and spending her days swimming, snorkelling and turning over rocks on the beach to discover marine life. Sharon is now an Aquarist at the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre who designs and maintains exhibits of local fishes. She graduated from the University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Science degree in marine biology. At the Aquarium, Sharon enjoys the diverse duties of her job, from designing displays to scuba diving, and from collecting animals to talking with the media. Being wet and cold is a typical and dreary part of her job, but Sharon exclaims, You get used to it! (http://www.vanaqua.org/education/aquafacts/marinebiologist.html) I understand that career of marine biologists is a not easy career and it requires high level of responsibility and self-organization, also it requires attention and prominent talents in chosen are, because you will never become a good specialist without strong scientific mind. According to http://www.ehow.com we see that The college requirements for a marine biologist arent that different than the requirements of any science, but they may be harder to find as not all locations are conducive to learning about the ocean and ocean life. Depending on your career choice, commercial or conservation, you will want to find a degree from associates level to masters level, or possibly even a Ph.D. (http://www.ehow.com/facts_4796744_college-requirements-marine-biologist.html) I have read on one site www.marinecareers.net that One area of specialization, the emerging field of marine biotechnology, offers great opportunity for marine biologists. Marine biotechnology research presents a wide range of possibilities and applications. One focus area is the biomedical field, where scientists develop and test drugs, many of which come from marine organisms. An example of an application of biotechnology research can be seen in industry or defense, where researchers have developed non-toxic coatings that prevent the build-up of fouling organisms, such as barnacles and zebra mussels. Such coatings are useful for ships and intake pipes used in power plants. (http://www.marinecareers.net/field_marinebiology.php) Basing on this part of the article I want to realize myself in above described area and it will be interesting for me to work exactly in this field. Thus, based on all above researched information I could come to the conclusion that marine biology as a career is a good choice for me. I understand that my career path in this area will be also full of hardships, but I like this direction of biology so much that Im ready to meet all hardships, to receive a good education and become a good specialist. I agree with the statement that biologists should be able to work not only alone, but also in command and I have all required features of character that will allow me to work with people and coordinate our actions in the right direction. I went through one test in career area and according to it I should choose biology as my career, because it requires to my necessities and my type of mind. For the conclusion I want to say that I dont want to change my opinion about marine biology as a career and also based on my research I want to recommend for all people who are looking for sphere where they can realize themselves to be strict in judgments and seriously think about own future. I think that first of all it is important to define after finding out of the professional interests, whether you possess by capabilities, corresponding to these interests. For example, you can possess certain internals and capabilities which will provide successful work in one professional sphere, but will appear unavailing in other. Think, as far as your knowledge, abilities, capabilities, are wide and various. Professionally important descriptions are health, professional qualification, or knowledge. If some your internals are more expressed for mastering of certain profession, so, you are professionally suitable for this profession. From all professionally meaningful internals you are able to influence on the level of professional qualification for example, to promote it. In turn, professional capabilities and character traits are such individual features which very difficult yield to the change. I think that capabilities most full open up and develop exactly in operations to the studies or work. If you succeeded relatively easily to master the chosen speciality and then with pleasure to execute work, it is possible to say, that you possess necessary level professionally important capabilities for this speciality. In my research I have done all recommendations presented in this last part of my paper and maybe in future I will publish some new inventions in famous professional journals, because I really believe that when person choose right career it is possible to become great in it.

Comparing A Dolls House and Oedipus Rex Essay -- comparison compare c

Comparing A Doll's House and Oedipus Rex Ibsen's drama "A Doll's House", serves as an example of the kind of issue-based drama that distinguishes Ibsen from many of his contemporaries. The play's dialogue is not poetic, but very naturalistic, and the characters are recognizable people. Given the sense of modernity which the play possesses it seems unusual to compare it to a Greek tragedy produced more than two-thousand years previously. On closer examination however, there are certain similarities between the way in which "A Doll's House" is plotted and a tragedy such as Oedipus Rex. Both "Oedipus" and "A Dolls' House" depict disastrous events that occur to two very different characters. At the start of Oedipus, we encounter a hero who is almost universally adored. Oedipus is a popular king who by the end of the play will be reduced to the lowest level possible. Classically the tragic hero began a piece as a man of high position since this made his demise all the more tragic. That the tragic centre if Ibsen's play is both female and not particularly birth is a distinct departure from the classical condition of tragedy. Ibsen has moved many concepts of the genre and placed them in a domestic setting. In order to see the way Nora can be viewed as a true tragic heroine it is useful to examine some of the concepts which Greek tragedy frequently made use of. In both plays the trouble that befalls the lead characters are due to their own actions Oedipus commits a series of huge mistakes the significance of which are not really understood until it is too late. In "A Doll's House", Nora borrows a sum of money, an action that will tear her family apart. The idea that the tragedy of a play begins with a hug... ...2-838. O'Brien, Michael J. Introduction. In Twentieth Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex, edited by Michael J. O'Brien. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968. Segal, Charles. Oedipus Tyrannus: Tragic Heroism and the Limits of Knowledge. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1993. Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. Transl. by F. Storr. no pag. Available http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/browse-mixed new?tag=public&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&part=0&id=SopOedi "Sophocles" In Literature of the Western World, edited by Brian Wilkie and James Hurt. NewYork: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1984. Van Nortwick, Thomas. Oedipus: The Meaning of a Masculine Life. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998. Watling, E. F.. Introduction. In Sophocles: The Theban Plays, translated by E. F. Watling. New York: Penguin Books, 1974.

The Vanishing Chinese in American History Essay examples -- American A

The Vanishing Chinese in American History Our country’s history is filled with stories that are ignored: the Japanese Americans who were held against their will in internment camps during World War II, African-American pilots who fought bravely for our country during the second World War, Native Americans who sacrificed their lives in defense of territory that was rightfully theirs, and Chinese immigrants who toiled to build the western leg of the transcontinental railroad in the nineteenth century. Typical of this silencing of stories in American history is the exclusion of Chinese â€Å"paper sons†Ã¢â‚¬â€young men, many in their early teens, who came to this country with papers that fraudulently established their family relations to an American-born or naturalized father. The â€Å"paper son† phenomenon is not unusual in the history of the Chinese in America; it was a common way to get around the discriminatory immigration laws that prevented many Chinese from coming to the United States. Thus, the stories of â€Å"paper sons† should be told as we examine the racist attitudes and policies toward the people who built, shaped, and changed America alongside European immigrants. As former U.S. Congressman Norm Mineta so eloquently puts it, â€Å"When one hears Americans tell of the immigrants who built this nation, one is led to believe that all our forebears come from Europe. When one hears stories about the pioneers going West to shape the land, the Asian immigrant is rarely mentioned† (Takaki 6). We need to acknowledge the contributions of extraordinary individuals—â€Å"paper sons† such as my uncle, Stanley Hom Lau, who left their families and homeland behind to establish new roots and who made America the u nique salad bowl it is today. ... ...ide of the Pacific to the other and have opportunities they never dreamed possible. The voices of â€Å"paper sons† like Stanley Hom Lau should not be silenced; they should be included in history books because these people are an important component of U.S. history—as important as the Irish, German and Russian immigrants were to this country at the turn of the century. For, as Americans, we originally came from many â€Å"different shores† (Takaki)—Europe, Africa, the Americas, and Asia. Works Cited Chan, Sucheng. Asian Americans: An Interpretive History. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1991. Lai, H. Mark and Choy, Philip P. Outlines: History of the Chinese in America. San Francisco: Fong Brothers, 1971. Lau, Stanley. Personal Interview. May 2-3, 1997. Takaki, Ronald. Strangers From a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans. New York: Penguin Books, 1989.

U.S. Drug Policy Versus Drug Reality Essay examples -- Argumentative P

If the United States is serious about winning the war on drugs, it will have to face some hard facts about the failure of its drug policy to date. Since Reagan introduced the war on drugs in the early 1980s, the focus of anti-drug legislation has been on incarceration and eradication, not on drug education and treatment. Drug use is viewed as a crimethe same way that burglary and murder are viewed as crimeswithout examining the social and economic causes behind drug use. This categorization of drug use as criminal misrepresents the nature of addiction. Drug addicts do not abuse drugs because they are deviant or even because they consciously desire to cause harm to themselves or to those around them, they abuse drugs because they are physically dependent on those substances for survival. The only effective way to break that cycle of dependency is through extensive detoxification and treatment programs. Not all advocates of reshaping Americas drug policy are in favor of legalization or complete decriminalizaton of drug use, though such steps are being increasingly entertained as a possible solution to Americas drug problem. On the contrary, a growing number of doctors and scientists are coming out in favor of a shift in Americas policies from hard-line law enforcement to rehabilitation and education-based deterrence. The need for such a shift in policy becomes more apparent when one weighs the magnitude of government outlays on drug-related law enforcement against the ineffectiveness of the war on drugs to date. A few basic statistics on federal allocation of anti-drug funds and on federal prison records illustrate the extent to which American drug policy is focused on the blunt tool of punishment. In 1997, the federal budget f... ... their ability to impair a persons judgment, etc. The government should realize that drug users are not criminals. They should establish more government treatment facilities in low income areas so that treatment would be an option available not only to wealthy actors and models but to the anonymous mass of low-income addicts. The free distribution of sterile needles is needed to combat the transmission of AIDSnot as a tacit advocacy of drug use. At an international meeting of the United Nations Drug Control Program in 1994, the United States refused to sign any statement mentioning the phrase harm reduction, as such a stance was seen as taking a soft-line on drugs. It is time for the United States government to wake up to the reality that the future of the War on Drugs lies with doctors, educators and sociologists and not with law enforcement agents and politicians.

In Electricity Generation, an Electric Generator Is a Device

Electric generator In  electricity generation, an  electric generator  is a device that converts  mechanical energy  to  electrical energy. A generator forces  electric charge  (usually carried by  electrons) to flow through an external  electrical circuit. It is analogous to a  water pump, which causes water to flow (but does not create water). The  source of mechanical energy  may be a reciprocating or turbine  steam engine, water falling through a  turbine or waterwheel, an  internal combustion engine, a  wind turbine, a hand  crank,  compressed air  or any other source of mechanical energy.The reverse conversion of electrical energy into mechanical energy is done by an  electric motor, and motors and generators have many similarities. In fact many motors can be mechanically driven to generate electricity, and very frequently make acceptable generators. ———-Historical developments Before the connection between  magne tism  and  electricity  was discovered,  electrostatic generators  were invented that used  electrostaticprinciples. These generated very high  voltages  and low  currents.They operated by using moving  electrically charged  belts, plates and disks to carry charge to a high potential electrode. The charge was generated using either of two mechanisms: * Electrostatic induction * The  triboelectric effect, where the contact between two insulators leaves them charged. Because of their inefficiency and the difficulty of  insulating  machines producing very high voltages, electrostatic generators had low power ratings and were never used for generation of commercially significant quantities of electric power.The  Wimshurst machine  and  Van de Graaff generator  are examples of these machines that have survived. Faraday's disk In the years of 1831–1832,  Michael Faraday  discovered the operating principle of electromagnetic generators. The pr inciple, later calledFaraday's law, is that an  electromotive force  is generated in an electrical conductor that encircles a varying  magnetic flux. He also built the first electromagnetic generator, called the  Faraday disk, a type of  homopolar generator, using a  copper  disc rotating between the poles of a horseshoe  magnet. It produced a small DC voltage.This design was inefficient due to self-cancelling counterflows of current in regions not under the influence of the magnetic field. While current was induced directly underneath the magnet, the current would circulate backwards in regions outside the influence of the magnetic field. This counterflow limits the power output to the pickup wires and induces waste heating of the copper disc. Later homopolar generators would solve this problem by using an array of magnets arranged around the disc perimeter to maintain a steady field effect in one current-flow direction.Another disadvantage was that the output volta ge was very low, due to the single current path through the magnetic flux. Experimenters found that using multiple turns of wire in a coil could produce higher more useful voltages. Since the output voltage is proportional to the number of turns, generators could be easily designed to produce any desired voltage by varying the number of turns. Wire windings became a basic feature of all subsequent generator designs. Dynamo The  dynamo  was the first electrical generator capable of delivering power for industry.The dynamo uses  electromagnetic  principles to convert mechanical rotation intopulsed DC  through the use of a  commutator. The first dynamo was built by  Hippolyte Pixii  in 1832. Through a series of accidental discoveries, the dynamo became the source of many later inventions, including the DC  electric motor, the AC  alternator, the AC  synchronous motor, and the  rotary converter. A dynamo machine consists of a stationary structure, which provides a constant magnetic field, and a set of rotating windings which turn within that field.On small machines the constant magnetic field may be provided by one or more permanent magnets; larger machines have the constant magnetic field provided by one or more electromagnets, which are usually called field coils. Large power generation dynamos are now rarely seen due to the now nearly universal use of  alternating current  for power distribution and  solid state  electronic AC to DC power conversion. But before the principles of AC were discovered, very large direct-current dynamos were the only means of power generation and distribution.Now power generation dynamos are mostly a curiosity. Alternator Without a  commutator, a dynamo becomes an  alternator, which is a  synchronous singly fed generator. When used to feed anelectric power grid, an alternator must always operate at a constant speed that is precisely synchronized to the electrical frequency of the power grid. A D C generator can operate at any speed within mechanical limits, but always outputs direct current. Typical alternators use a rotating field winding excited with direct current, and a stationary (stator) winding that produces alternating current.Since the rotor field only requires a tiny fraction of the power generated by the machine, the brushes for the field contact can be relatively small. In the case of a brushless exciter, no brushes are used at all and the rotor shaft carries rectifiers to excite the main field winding. MHD generator Main article:  MHD generator A magnetohydrodynamic generator directly extracts electric power from moving hot gases through a magnetic field, without the use of rotating electromagnetic machinery. MHD generators were originally developed because the output of a plasma MHD generator is a flame, well able to heat the boilers of a  steam  power plant.The first practical design was the AVCO Mk. 25, developed in 1965. The U. S. government funded su bstantial development, culminating in a 25 MW demonstration plant in 1987. In the  Soviet Union  from 1972 until the late 1980s, the MHD plant U 25 was in regular commercial operation on the Moscow power system with a rating of 25 MW, the largest MHD plant rating in the world at that time. [2]  MHD generators operated as a  topping cycle  are currently (2007) less efficient than combined-cycle  gas turbines. ————————————————- Terminology The two main parts of a generator or motor can be described in either echanical or electrical terms. Mechanical: * Rotor: The rotating part of an  electrical machine * Stator: The stationary part of an electrical machine Electrical: * Armature: The power-producing component of an electrical machine. In a generator, alternator, or dynamo the armature windings generate the electric current. The armature can be on either the rot or or the stator. * Field: The magnetic field component of an electrical machine. The magnetic field of the dynamo or alternator can be provided by either electromagnets or permanent magnets mounted on either the rotor or the stator.Because power transferred into the field circuit is much less than in the armature circuit, AC generators nearly always have the field winding on the rotor and the stator as the armature winding. Only a small amount of field current must be transferred to the moving rotor, using  slip rings. Direct current machines (dynamos) require a  commutator  on the rotating shaft to convert the  alternating current  produced by the armature to  direct current, so the armature winding is on the rotor of the machine. ————————————————- ExcitationAn electric generator or electric motor that uses field coils rather than permanent magnets requires a current to be present in the field coils for the device to be able to work. If the field coils are not powered, the rotor in a generator can spin without producing any usable electrical energy, while the rotor of a motor may not spin at all. Smaller generators are sometimes  self-excited, which means the field coils are powered by the current produced by the generator itself. The field coils are connected in series or parallel with the armature winding.When the generator first starts to turn, the small amount of  remanent magnetism  present in the iron core provides a magnetic field to get it started, generating a small current in the armature. This flows through the field coils, creating a larger magnetic field which generates a larger armature current. This â€Å"bootstrap† process continues until the magnetic field in the core levels off due to  saturation  and the generator reaches a steady state power output. Very large power station generators often utilize a separate smaller generator to excite the field coils of the larger.In the event of a severe widespread  power outage  where  islanding  of power stations has occurred, the stations may need to perform a  black start  to excite the fields of their largest generators, in order to restore customer power service. ————————————————- Equivalent circuit The equivalent circuit of a generator and load is shown in the diagram to the right. The generator's  VG  and  RG  parameters can be determined by measuring the winding resistance (corrected to operating temperature), and measuring the open-circuit and loaded voltage for a defined current load. ———————————————— [edit]Vehicle-mounted generators Early motor vehicles until about the 1960s tended to use D C generators with electromechanical regulators. These have now been replaced byalternators  with built-in  rectifier  circuits, which are less costly and lighter for equivalent output. Moreover, the power output of a DC generator is proportional to rotational speed, whereas the power output of an alternator is independent of rotational speed. As a result, the charging output of an alternator at engine idle speed can be much greater than that of a DC generator.Automotive alternators power the electrical systems on the vehicle and recharge the  battery  after starting. Rated output will typically be in the range 50-100 A at 12 V, depending on the designed electrical load within the vehicle. Some cars now have electrically powered  steering assistance  and  air conditioning, which places a high load on the electrical system. Large commercial vehicles are more likely to use 24 V to give sufficient power at the  starter motor  to turn over a largediesel engine.Vehicle alternators do not use permanent magnets and are typically only 50-60% efficient over a wide speed range. [4]Motorcycle alternators often use permanent magnet  stators  made with  rare earth  magnets, since they can be made smaller and lighter than other types. See also  hybrid vehicle. Some of the smallest generators commonly found power  bicycle lights. These tend to be 0. 5 ampere, permanent-magnet alternators supplying 3-6 W at 6 V or 12 V. Being powered by the rider, efficiency is at a premium, so these may incorporate  rare-earth magnets  and are designed and manufactured with great precision.Nevertheless, the maximum efficiency is only around 80% for the best of these generators—60% is more typical—due in part to the rolling friction at the  tyre–generator  interface from poor alignment, the small size of the generator, bearing losses and cheap design. The use of permanent magnets means that efficiency falls even further at high speed s because the magnetic field strength cannot be controlled in any way. Hub dynamos  remedy many of these flaws since they are internal to the bicycle hub and do not require an interface between the generator and tyre. Until recently, these generators have been expensive and hard to find.Major bicycle component manufacturers like Shimano and SRAM have only just entered this market. However, significant gains can be expected in future as cycling becomes more mainstream transportation and LED technology allows brighter lighting at the reduced current these generators are capable of providing. Sailing yachts may use a water or wind powered generator to trickle-charge the batteries. A small  propeller,  wind turbine  or  impeller  is connected to a low-power alternator and rectifier to supply currents of up to 12 A at typical cruising speeds. Still smaller generators are used in  micropower  applications. ————————â⠂¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€ Engine-generator An  engine-generator  is the combination of an electrical generator and an  engine  (prime mover) mounted together to form a single piece of self-contained equipment. The engines used are usually piston engines, but gas turbines can also be used. Many different versions are available – ranging from very small portable  petrol  powered sets to large turbine installations. ————————————————- Human powered electrical generators A generator can also be driven by human muscle power (for instance, in field radio station equipment).Human powered direct current generators are commercially available, and have been the project of some  DIY  enthusiasts. Typically operated by means of pedal power, a converted bicycle trainer, or a foot pump, such generators can be practically used to charge batteries, and in some cases are designed with an integral inverter. The average adult could generate about 125-200 watts on a pedal powered generator, but at a power of 200 W, a typical healthy human will reach complete exhaustion and fail to produce any more power after approximately 1. 3 hours. 6]Portable radio receivers with a crank are made to reduce battery purchase requirements, see  clockwork radio. During the mid 20th century, pedal powered radios were used throughout the Australian outback, to provide schooling,(school of the air) medical and other needs in remote stations and towns. ————————————————- Linear electric generator In the simplest form of linear electric generator, a sliding  magnet  moves back and forth through a  solenoid  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ a spool of copper wire. Analternating current  is induced in the loops of wire by  Faraday's law o f induction  each time the magnet slides through.This type of generator is used in the  Faraday flashlight. Larger linear electricity generators are used in  wave power  schemes. ————————————————- Tachogenerator Tachogenerators are frequently used to power  tachometers  to measure the speeds of electric motors, engines, and the equipment they power. Generators generate voltage roughly proportional to shaft speed. With precise construction and design, generators can be built to produce very precise voltages for certain ranges of shaft speeds