Order, Age, and Pareidolia

Order, Age, and Pareidolia Order, Age, and Pareidolia Order, Age, and Pareidolia By Maeve Maddox In his Essay on Criticism (1711), Alexander Pope (1688-1744) wrote: A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: there shallow draughts [swallows] intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely [drinking great quantities] sobers us again. In Greek myth, drinking from the Pierian spring instilled knowledge. In modern terms, Pope is saying that superficial knowledge makes people imagine they know more than they do about a topic; this false sense of knowledge leads to extravagant conclusions that do not hold up with further information. An example of a little knowledge being a dangerous thing is the web of misinformation and conspiracy theory that has grown up around a Latin quotation on the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States. Note: Images of both sides of the Great Seal can be seen on the back of a one-dollar bill. The image of the reverse is on the left. The reverse of the Great Seal shows an uncompleted pyramid with an eye in a rayed triangle above it. The words ANNUIT COEPTIS appear above the eye, and the words NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM appear on a scroll beneath the pyramid. Both quotations are taken from Vergil’s Latin epic, the Aeneid. The first quotation, annuit coeptis, translates as â€Å"[He] favors the undertaking.† In the context of the poem, the line is part of a prayer by Aeneas to Jupiter, and the understood subject He refers to the chief Roman god. Aeneas was praying about â€Å"undertakings† that included the foundation of Rome. (According to Vergil, Romulus and Remus were descendants of Aeneas.) To the eighteenth-century Deists setting up a country they viewed as a â€Å"new Rome† destined to endure for centuries, the eye- and the implied pronoun- represented Divine Providence. The second quotation, novus ordo seculorum translates as â€Å"new order of the ages,† not, as conspiracy theorists would have it, â€Å"New World Order† or â€Å"New Secular Order.† The designers of the Great Seal did not attach the same meanings to the Latin words ordo and seclorum that modern conspiracy theorists do. In the quotation from Vergil, ordo implies a sequence of historical periods. And seculorum does not denote the same thing as the English adjective secular. The most common use of secular today is as an adjective meaning â€Å"worldly, not sacred.† To Vergil, the adjective saecularis, (â€Å"relating to a long period of time†) derived from the noun saeculum, which could mean â€Å"a generation,† â€Å"a century,† or â€Å"a very long period of time.† For example, to a modern English speaker, the phrase â€Å"secular entertainment† would mean â€Å"entertainment having nothing to do with religion.† For ancient Romans, â€Å"secular entertainment† meant shows or games that were put on at very long intervals. The ancient Ludi Saeculares (secular games), for example, took place every 100 or 110 years. The classically trained men who approved the final design of the Great Seal in 1782 were acquainted with the ancient belief that human history progresses and declines by Ages. For example, Ovid describes four ages: Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age. The quotation from Vergil reflects the founders’ feeling that the creation of the new nation represented the beginning of a new age in the history of the world. Some conspiracy theorists who misinterpret the quotation also claim to see occult symbols hidden in the designs on both sides of the Great Seal. There’s a word for seeing meaningful images in random patterns: pareidolia /pair-eye-DOLE-ee-uh/ noun: the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful, image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern. One type of pareidolia is face pareidolia: the illusory perception of non-existent faces. Another is letter pareidolia:  the illusory perception of non-existent letters. Claims to see satanic images in the Great Seal are examples of symbol pareidolia. This type of pareidolia is especially troublesome in the context of logo design because the same image can appear differently to different viewers- even to the same viewer at different times. Symbol pareidolia occurred with the 2014 World Cup logo: some viewers saw it as the depiction of a soccer fan doing a facepalm: a gesture in which the palm of ones hand is brought to ones face, as an expression of disbelief, shame, or exasperation. Sometimes an artist intentionally plays to pareidolia by creating an image intended to be seen in two ways. A famous example is the drawing called All Is Vanity by Charles Allan Gilbert (1873-1929). At first glance, the viewer sees a lovely Victorian-era woman looking at herself in the large round mirror above her cosmetic-laden dressing table. With a second look, the viewer discerns not the woman, but the image of a deaths head- a human skull that represents death and the fleeting nature of life. Alexander Pope would probably be amused to see the amount of nonsense about the US Great Seal that has resulted from a little learning and a lot of pareidolia. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the General category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:16 Substitutes for â€Å"Because† or â€Å"Because Of†40 Synonyms for â€Å"Different†"Wracking" or "Racking" Your Brain?

Tourism in Switzerland and Kenya. Advantages and disadvantages Essay

Tourism in Switzerland and Kenya. Advantages and disadvantages - Essay Example Kenya and Switzerland have registered an impressive record in tourists’ attendance, especially international tourists. Both countries have diverse tourist attractions sites and locations, receiving recognition across the globe. In Kenya, tourism is an industry that has sustained thousands of people in their daily living. It remains the second great foreign exchange earner, after the leading agriculture. Wildlife remains the core tourist attraction. Kenya is also rich in cultural heritage especially along its coastal region (Akama, pg. 8). This too acts as a source of tourist attraction. The coastal beaches are a superb place to visit especially during winter in the West. Switzerland also remains a famous tourist destination location. It does possess an abundance of natural resources and beautiful landscape. The Alps peaks creates a fascinating site. Their rich culture attracts tourists from various locations across the world (Banfi, Filippini, and Hunt, pg. 690). Both countries do acknowledge that tourism does fetch immense income. A major exchange earner has steered the growth of the various locations in both countries. There has been a steady rise in the number of revenues collected from tourism activities. Such revenue goes a great way in improvement of Gross Domestic Product. Essentially, it is the business and the fastest growing service industry in the mentioned countries. It does hold immense potential in it. The growth of t tourism sector has led to the upsurge and development of other sectors such as infrastructure, agriculture, manufacturing, retailing, and hotel industry. Tourism contributes directly or indirectly to the macro-economic growth of the countries. Dues to the stimulation of development ion technology, investments, industries and infrastructures, there is creation of an environment that favours economic growth. The foreign currencies stimulate growth. Taxes emanating from

History Lectures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

History Lectures - Essay Example In the years that followed, humans started to come up with ways to develop reliable food supplies through the planting of crops and domesticating of animals (Levack, Muir, Mans, & Veldman, 2010). People began to live longer, and as a result, were able to increase their population. Most people became farmers, increasing food supplies to the point of excess, with which they would trade and barter with others (Levack et al., 2010). With these initial commerce practices, the civilized societies slowly emerged. Around 6000 B.C.E., the picture in Southwest Asia presented that of farming and interactive communities. From these communities, the Sumerians from Southern Mesopotamia, slowly emerged, and they built cities to govern their ways of life (World History, 2007). It is important to note that the existence of these cities were dependent on the ability to control the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers because most of these cities relied on water for their sustenance and for the support of their farms and their livestock (Dellapenna and Gupta, 2008). As in contemporary rule, the traditional Sumerian cities were also ruled by a leader; these cities were controlled by kings. The people from these times worshipped the sun and the moon and sometimes inanimate objects and they built temples to honor their gods. They made a valuable contribution to society with their introduction of cuneiform writing which is now the basic foundations of our current writing and reading (Levack et al., 2010). War and conquest were common themes during these early times. The Sumerians were no exception, as they were conquered by the Akkadian empire (Northern Babylonia which is now a portion of Iraq) (Abrams and Wang, 2003) and made a part of a multi-ethnic empire being exposed to various languages and cultures. Other societies emerged at this time, bringing about the Assyrian and Babylonian cultures. A significant contribution by the Assyrians (later

Financial Statements Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Financial Statements - Essay Example This project aims at studying and analyzing the annual report of Home Depot as submitted to the United States SEC in the year 2008. The basic financial statements including the income statement, the balance sheet and the cash flow statements of the company are studied and mapped against the managerial decision making processes of the company in the specific year under study. The consolidated statement of earnings of Home Depot indicates that the company has been extremely proficient in generating revenues in 2008. The total revenue in 2008 was USD 77349 million. The operating expenses of the company were USD 18755 million. This indicates that the company was much efficient in generating high revenues while being able to maintain much lower operating expenses. The net earnings of Home Depot in 2008 were USD 4395 which is favorable when mapped against the industry requirements. In overall, as per the consolidated statement of earnings of Home Depot, the company was performing at a standard level in the year 2008 (Home Depot Inc., 2008, p. 4). The consolidated statement of earnings or the income statement of a company summarizes the revenues that a company has earned during the period of reporting through the sale of its products and services. Also, it includes the expenses that a company has made to produce the revenues during the same period. These expenses may include the selling expenses, overheads, general expenses and depreciation of the assets. The comparison of the revenues and the expenses of a company show the net operating profit of a company. After the deduction of various statutory deductions like taxes and interest expenses, the consolidated statement of earnings of a business represents the net earnings of the company over a specific period of time. The key business decisions like how the return on investment for the company can be improved are

Ethnic Diversity of Counseling Clients Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethnic Diversity of Counseling Clients - Essay Example California has been one of the leading states of the United States of America in terms of diversified ethnicity. The state has wide range of population which includes major proportion of African – Americans, Hispanics and Asians along with the white populace. The need of counseling is observed more in to the lower strata of the society especially among those who have immigrated from the lesser developed nations. The fight for the survival often takes toll of those struggling minds. It is observed that they often need counseling because of drug over dose, alcoholism and other social curses that they become part of. In the broader perspective, the need of the counseling is felt in two ways namely voluntary counseling and that mandated by the judicial system. The voluntary counseling is such counseling, the need of which, the recipient himself can understand. On the other hand, the judicially mandated counseling is that which the court of law orders the recipient to receive (the treatment of counseling) as it deems fit. The diversifying need of the mental health treatment in the state of California is high among the Africans – Americans, Hispanics and Asians. A report of the year 2001 suggested that 16.3% of the entire population of the state needed mental health treatment which was a hopping figure of 4 million adults (Lund, 2005). Another important report in the mental health care segment, which is also directly related with counseling, depicts those more than 600,000 persons to receive health care treatments in the state of California itself in between 2004 to 2005 (Jew-Lochman, 2008). Mental counseling has been one of the fastest upcoming sectors in the health industry. It has been observed that almost every day the number of affected person increases. The requirement of well trained professionals is on the rise. The other important aspect of the counseling is that sometimes the client himself can feel the need of counseling while many

Building Engineering Services Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Building Engineering Services - Research Paper Example Depending upon the location, the nature of the building, residential or commercial, renewable energy sources of appropriate origin can be employed (EERE, 2005). One of the major reasons for power consumption in buildings is for heating and cooling the buildings (EST, 2006). This consumes almost 42% of the energy consumed by the entire building. If this could be brought under the energy optimization and under renewable energy portfolio, it could result in immense savings for the buildings. A solar-powered energy source is one of the renewable sources that are adopted. Solar energy is a constant and free for use source that is available during the day time and has to be stored to make use of during the night. This is accomplished using two methods of solar energy tapping. One, solar energy is trapped as heat and is used to heat the house or building and it is insulated in such a way that it continues to maintain the warmth in the house throughout the day and the night. Secondly, solar energy is also converted into electric energy using solar photovoltaic cells. This gets saved in the batteries are is directly employed to run the types of equip ment for heating and cooling like the HVAC systems in association with the regular power supply. Transpired solar collectors are used to collecting solar heat. These are normally dark, the perforated metal wall that would collect almost 80% of the solar heat that falls over it. This is then used to heat the air draught that would provide needed heat for the ventilation of the building. Two methodologies are adopted in using the heat collected in the solar collectors. The draught of air gets heated up during the course of the day and continues to heat the entire building as it continues through the night. The other method heats the water to a high degree from which the heat is distributed through the regular heating lines in the building. Both the methods are used at different locations depending on the convenience. Solar Photo Voltaic Cells Solar panels are extensively used in environmentally friendly buildings to collect the heat of the sun and convert it directly into electricity to enable employing it effectively in all the spheres of work. This has been done extensively in many locations, as roof fitted photo panel; also as separate panels that would help in augmenting the electricity consumption exercises. Ground Source heat pumps These are normally pipes or bores dug into the ground to depths of about 200 to 300 feet is sunk and the additional heat is pumped into the ground during summer and taken off later during the winter when heating is needed. These ground source heat pumps are effectively employed in some of the locations in the US and in the rest of the world. It has been repeatedly found that the ground source heat pumps are efficient in pumping in and out the energy, contain it for a period of time and can be used as a large storage space for energy (EST, 2006). These are specifically suited in locations where there is a cooling requirement in the summer and a heating requirement in the winter.

Campaign post-morterm analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Campaign post-morterm analysis - Research Paper Example The Obama campaign had faced different rhetorical challenges at the outset: the negative turnout in 2010 which shifted the confidence of the voters from the Democrats to the Republicans; the eventual developments in the economy and national security; less control over rhetorical strategy in presidential debates and forums; and time constraints and fewer communication alternatives. Surfacing The primary purpose of surfacing is to help determine the focus of the campaign (Smith 189). Barack Obama establishes the rhetorical theme for the campaign. Running for his second term, as he travels around the country, he begins to understand the concerns of the people, begins to relate himself to those concerns, and begins to develop solutions to issues that appear to be in agreement with popular opinion. The mass media reiterate Obama’s statements and hence help transform the issues and opinions into state or national concerns. Barack Obama officially declared his re-election campaign on the 4th of April 2011 (EM Publications (b) 18). The very first communication activity they engaged in was a promotional video depicting Obama supporters mobilizing for the re-election campaign. They used Facebook and Twitter to reach a larger target audience. Even the official announcement of his re-election plan was carried out through an online video that can be viewed on his campaign website. The campaign started with the slogan ‘It Begins with Us’ (EM Publications (b) 18). Another communication strategy of the Obama campaign for 2012 was the decision to base the campaign in Chicago, where recent former U.S. presidents also based their re-election campaigns. On the 30th of April 2012, the campaign launched a new slogan: ‘Forward’ (EM Publications (b) 18). Basically, Obama had a massive campaign effort. Obama applied his 2008 campaign communications to reinforce his goals for 2012. The campaign had created comprehensive records of its supporters and had an accurate knowledge of the people it can recruit to take part in demonstrations, communicate with legal representatives, and attract others to support Obama programs. The exigencies of the campaign, embedded in their slogan ‘Forward’, were to help improve employment opportunities, health care, education, and energy autonomy of the country. The target audience of the campaign was the masses or the working class, which was also reflected in the refusal to base the campaign in Washington, DC. The main factor that constrained the campaign’s choices was the negative turnout of the 2010 election. The voters held President Obama responsible for the economic downturn, rising unemployment, poor health care system, and other issues that should be prioritized. At the time, American voters had more confidence in Republicans than Democrats on major concerns about the U.S. economy. Within the perspective of narrative analysis, the communication choices of the Obama campaign for 2012 worked persuasively. The narrative framework had demonstrated the effectiveness of evaluating and discussing changes in the political and historical situation of America. The Obama campaign concentrated its rhetorical force mainly on policy appeals. The rhetorical strategy at this stage was governed by policy discourse, particularly as regards the economy. The strength of this rhetorical strategy, based on narrative analysis, rests in its outcome, stability, and importance, and the degree to which it is rooted in the interest