Was Moby Dick a Real Whale

When Herman Melvilles novel Moby Dick was published in 1851, readers were generally puzzled by the book. Its mixture of whaling lore and metaphysical introspection seemed strange, yet one thing about the book would not have been shocking to the reading public. A huge albino sperm whale with a violent streak had fascinated whalers and the reading public for decades before Melville published his masterpiece. The whale,Mocha Dick, was named for the island of Mocha, in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Chile. He was often seen in nearby waters, and over the years a number of whalers had tried and failed to kill him. By some accounts, Mocha Dick had killed more than 30 men, and had attacked and damaged three whaling ships and 14 whaleboats. There were also claims that the white whale had sunk two merchant ships. Theres no doubt that Herman Melville, who sailed on the whaling ship Acushnet in 1841, would have been quite familiar with the legends of Mocha Dick. In May 1839 the Knickerbocker Magazine, a popular publication in New York City, published a lengthy article about Mocha Dick by Jeremiah N. Reynolds, an American journalist and explorer. The magazines account was a vivid tale purportedly told to Reynolds by the eccentric first mate of a whaling vessel. The story by Reynolds was noteworthy, and its significant that an early review of Moby Dick, in the International Magazine of Literature, Art, and Science in December 1851, referred to Mocha Dick in its opening sentence: The new nautical story by the always successful author of Typee has for its name-giving subject a monster first introduced to the world of print by Mr. J.N. Reynolds, ten or fifteen years ago, in a paper for the Knickbocker entitled Mocha Dick. Its little wonder that people remembered the tales of Mocha Dick as related by Reynolds. Following are some excerpts from his 1839 article in the Knickerbocker Magazine: This renowned monster, who had come off victorious in a hundred fights with his pursuers, was an old bull whale, of prodigious size and strength. From the effect of age, or more probably from a freak of nature, as exhibited in the case of the Ethiopian Albino, a singular consequence had resulted — he was white as wool!Viewed from a distance, the practised eye of the sailor only could decide, that the moving mass, which constituted this enormous animal, was not a white cloud sailing along the horizon. The journalist described the violent nature of Mocha Dick: Opinions differ as to the time of his discovery. It is settled, however, that previous to the year 1810, he had been seen and attacked near the island of Mocha. Numerous boats are known to have been shattered by his immense flukes, or ground to pieces in the crush of his powerful jaws; and, on one occasion, it is said that he came off victorious from a conflict with the crews of three English whalers, striking fiercely at the last of the retreating boats at the moment it was rising from the water, in its hoist up to the ships davits. Adding to the white whales ghastly appearance were a number of harpoons stuck in his back by whalers who failed to kill him: It must not be supposed, howbeit, that through all this desperate warfare, our leviathan passed [unscathed]. A back serried with irons, and from fifty to a hundred yards of line trailing in his wake, sufficiently attested that though unconquered, he had not proved invulnerable. Mocha Dick was a legend among whalers, and every captain wanted to kill him: From the period of Dicks first appearance, his celebrity continued to increase, until his name seemed naturally to mingle with the salutations which whalemen were in the habit of exchanging, in their encounters upon the broad Pacific; the customary interrogatories almost always closing with, Any news from Mocha Dick?Indeed, nearly every whaling captain who rounded Cape Horn, if he possessed any professional ambition, or valued himself on his skill in subduing the monarch of the seas, would lay his vessel along the coast, in the hope of having an opportunity to try the muscle of this doughty champion, who was never known to shun his assailants. Reynolds ended his magazine article with a lengthy description of a battle between man and whale in which Mocha Dick was finally killed and towed alongside a whaling ship to be cut up: Mocha Dick was the longest whale I ever looked upon. He measured more than seventy feet from his noodle to the tips of his flukes; and yielded one hundred barrels of clear oil, with a proportionate quantity of head-matter. It may emphatically be said, that the scars of his old wounds were near his new, for not less than twenty harpoons did we draw from his back; the rusted mementos of many a desperate encounter. Despite the yarn Reynolds claimed to have heard from the first mate of a whaler, legends about Mocha Dick circulated long after his reported death in the 1830s. Sailors claimed that he wrecked whaleboats and killed whalers into the late 1850s, when he was finally killed by the crew of a Swedish whaling ship. While the legends of Mocha Dick are often contradictory, it seems inescapable that there was a real white whale known to attack men. The malicious beast in Melvilles Moby Dick was no doubt based on a real creature.

Values. Value Is Defined As Something That Has Moral Worth.

Values Value is defined as something that has moral worth. These values determine ones priorities and are fundamentally the things that one believes and stands for in life. Throughout my life, I have met people and experienced a plethora of situations that have shaped who I am today. I value many things in my life, however, it can be easily forgotten due to the privileges and securities of all the things I am blessed with. I place value on things that I believe benefit my life and the people around me. In essence, I value my parents, my health, music, freedom, and money. My parents met in Tehran, Iran where they eventually got married and had two kids. A couple years after my birth, they decided to uproot their entire lives and move to†¦show more content†¦However, being healthy is not only a physical thing but emotional as well. Being surrounded by friends that family that care for you are important as well to a stable mental state. Furthermore, constantly thinking negative thoughts is extremely bad for one’s self esteem, confidence, and overall health. I try always look at the bright side of any situation rather than looking at the glass half empty. Music is one of the few things that I could not live without. It is something that I can turn to every day no matter what the situation is. If I’m sad, there’s a song for that. If I want to dance, there’s a song for that. There is music for any moment at any place in the world and that is what makes it so beautiful. Music to me is extremely important because there is no other form of art that can connect with a person so deeply and actually have them feel some type of way. Another reason why the value of music is high to me is because there is so much you can learn about a person through their music tastes that you could not discover by yourself. While someone might seem like a quiet or mellow person, that same person might listen to death metal on their free time. 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Advantages of Rainwater Harvesting in a Modern World Free Essays

Professor Renville English I 14 September 2012 The Advantages of Rainwater Harvesting in a Modern World Picture yourself on a hot summer day†¦is water involved? Does your damp skin feel the cooling effect of a light breeze? Maybe you’re thirsty and sipping on a glass of lemonade, ice cubes bobbing at the surface. Perhaps you are at the beach, listening to the waves crash onto the shore, or you’re in your backyard hearing the sprinklers on the lawn. Yes, water is involved. We will write a custom essay sample on Advantages of Rainwater Harvesting in a Modern World or any similar topic only for you Order Now Water, in all of its forms, is one of the most essential substances on Earth and provides the opportunity for life. We, as a society, take water for granted. Every day, if you want water, all you have to do is walk to the nearest sink and turn it on. There is no thought as to where that water comes from, or the fact that it may not be there forever. Our everyday consumption behaviors such as showering and clothes washing can have a significant impact on the environment. Imagine a future where water is scarce and restricted. How would you survive? All over the world regions with sustainable ground water balance are shrinking every day. This can be due to depletion because of overdraft, salinization from inadequate drainage or pollution from agricultural and industrial activity. In Yemen alone, ground water extraction is expected to exceed recharge by 400 percent. Aquifers in Mexico are declining at an average rate of 1. 79 to 3. 3 meters per year (Shah, Molden, Sakthivadivel and Seckler, 2000). At such an alarming rate of recession, it is important to find another alternative source of water to help recoup some of the ground water supply. For this reason I do believe that rainwater harvesting is a viable option to substitute ground water extraction in some regions and to help replenish ground water. About 70% of the Earth is covered with water, and 96. 5% of that is part of the oceans. Only a small portion of the Earth’s water is fresh water. 1. 7% is below ground and 1. 8% is above ground in ice caps, glaciers and permanent snow, with only . 06% usable above ground in lakes, rivers and swamps (Shah, Molden, Sakthivadivel and Seckler 2000). Rainwater harvesting can be used in many ways. Rainwater can be used as water for livestock, irrigation for crops, to water plants around your house, to replace water for showering, flushing your toilet, for your dishwasher or for laundry, and with the right treatment, it can be used for drinking water. There are many advantages to rainwater harvesting. After the initial cost for equipment, rainwater harvesting is essentially free. It eliminates the need for intricate and expensive dispensing systems. It can replace groundwater supplies where the groundwater is unacceptable or unavailable or it can increase finite ground water supplies. Rainwater has a nearly neutral pH and is not hard, so it eliminates the need for adding salts for softening the water and it is also sodium free. Plants thrive in rainwater (as seen when it rains). One of the most interesting aspects of rainwater harvesting is learning about the methods of capture, storage and use. The idea of rainwater harvesting is to intercept precipitation before it gets dirty. Contamination can still take place in the air, on the collection surface or in the storage facility itself. For that reason it may be more desirable to treat the water or restrict it to non-potable use (non-potable meaning not for consumption). Boiling is resource intensive and there is the danger of accidental scalding. Chemical disinfection requires some management, but it is well understood and compatible with water storage (Thomas 1998). However, possibly the best way to treat rainwater is via a filtration system. When assessing the health risks of drinking rainwater, consider the path taken by the raindrop through a watershed into a reservoir, through water treatment and distribution systems to you, the consumer. Water absorbs contaminants and minerals on its way to the reservoir. While in the reservoir, the water can come into contact with all kinds of materials: oil, animal wastes, chemical, pharmaceutical and industrial pollution and trash. It is the water treatment plant’s job to remove contaminants and kill pathogens, however when chlorine is used, it degrades into byproducts that may pose health risks. The raindrop harvested on site will travel down a roof by way of a gutter to a storage tank. Before it is used for drinking, it is treated by a simple process with filtration equipment that occupies about nine cubic feet of space (Krishna 2005). Rainwater harvesting can also reduce the volume of storm water lessening the impact on erosion and decreasing the load on storm sewers. This would help to keep pollutants, such as pesticides and fertilizers, out of rivers and ground water (Krishna 2005). The summer of 2012 was harsh. Several regions suffered. Almost 61% of the country was in drought according to Brian Fuchs in an interview with USA Today posted on their website July 17, 2012. Rain was few and far between, however a lot of rainwater was wasted. Having water shipped in can be very expensive, and so many farmers cannot afford the added cost. Harvesting rainwater for irrigation is already utilized in some regions of the world such as India where the bulk of their rainfall happens in about 100 hours of heavy downpour with little time to replenish the ground water supply (Keller, Sakthivadivel and Seckler 2000). If more farmers would utilize rainwater harvesting during the times that it does rain, and build up a back up supply, then when rain is scarce, more of their crops could be irrigated, helping to offset some of the devastation. Next year, in 2013, the prices of gas as well as groceries are expected to rise immensely because of the scarcity of crops in 2012. It is no surprise that rainwater harvesting is utilized more in poorer countries where it is generally more difficult to get clean water; however, in the long term clean water scarcity is expected to intensify globally, even in richer countries (Thomas 1998). Systems can be as simple as a rain barrel for garden irrigation at the end of a downspout or the can be as complex as a potable (for consumption) system. It makes sense, then, that for showers and flushing the toilet, rainwater could be used to offset using water from other sources that are shrinking annually. Only three key elements are needed for this: a collection surface, such as a roof, guttering and a storage tank large enough to moderate fluctuations in usage and rainfall (Thomas 1998). It is the third element that poses the greatest cost burden, however it may be worth it to try to help alleviate groundwater usage and eventual depletion. From a financial perspective, a system for potable use cannot compete with water supplied from a municipality; however, it is cost-competitive with the installation of a well in rural settings (Krishna 2005). An estimated 100,000 residential rainwater harvesting systems are in use in he United States (Krishna 2005). More are being installed by gardeners and homeowners seeking a sustainable, high-quality water source. Rainwater harvesting is recognized as an important water conserving measure. I am not proposing that anyone completely rely on rainwater for their household consumption. It would be very hard to rely solely on a rainwater supply. Howev er to try to supplement some every day water usage such as shower water, toilet water or even water for laundry would greatly benefit the water supply and, in the end, the planet. Works Cited Krishna, Dr. Hari J. â€Å"Texas Manual on Rainwater Harvesting. † Texas Water Development Board (2005). Print. Pandey, Deep Narayan, Anil K. Gupta, and David M. Anderson â€Å"Rainwater Harvesting As an Adaptation to Climate Change. † Current Science, Vol 85 (2003). PDF file. Shah, Tushaar, David Molden, R. Sakthivadivel and David Seckler. â€Å"The Global Groundwater Situation: Overview of Opportunities and Challenges. † International Water Management Institute (2000). Print. Thomas, Terry. â€Å"Domestic Water Supply Using Rainwater Harvesting. † Diss. University of Warwick (1998). Print. How to cite Advantages of Rainwater Harvesting in a Modern World, Essay examples

Social Isolation and Withdrawal free essay sample

New technologies exacerbate social isolation with the advent of online social networking communities, there are increasing alternatives to do social activities that do not require real world physical interaction. Besides that, people are gaining support through hours of texting and social networking rather than meeting with each other face to face. either on their webcam or just simply sign in to Facebook to chit chat. Although chat rooms, message boards meeting the need for those who are far apart, but misuse of these communication tools pulls people away from traditional social settings. In a study conducted by Andrea Cockett, she concentrates on children that depend upon technology such as internet, phones, video game systems, etc. These technologies are isolating the children from what’s beyond home. Children are being isolated from the outside world. (Social isolation, 2012) Other than that, Hikikomori and Otaku are two particular groups of users of digital technologies causing social withdrawal problem in Japan. We will write a custom essay sample on Social Isolation and Withdrawal or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This issue begins due to the technological boom which altered Japan’s social structure. Hikikomori are people who do not want to leave their house or room and isolate themselves from society for a period of more than six months. (Cha, 2010) According to the Oxford English, Otaku is defined as a person who is skilled in the use of computer technology and is considered by some to be poor at interacting with others. (Tsutsui, 2008) They somewhat wander away from the social norms of society. Otakus are mostly Japanese computer nerds who live in front of their computers and play stations surfing the Net and playing computer games, totally alienated and isolated from the outside world. For instance, a monster otaku is an otaku into TV and manga monster. (Otakus, 2004) There are also Pasocon otakus, who are people obsessed with their personal computers. Another would be the Gemu otaku, who is obsessed with video games. (Basil, 2012) The overrated use of Internet has brought coldness and distance between people. Instead of meeting people, internet addicts choose to stay at home and surf through different web pages and are alone with their personal computers. (Social Isolation and New Technology, 2012) That’s how technology makes us less sociable.