Five Things Your Fingers Tell About You Essay Example for Free

Five Things Your Fingers Tell About You Essay Purpose: To inform the audience about what their finger length tells about them. Theme: How to know more about yourself using your ring and index finger. Thesis Statement: Finger length cannot be an indicator of what or who you really are because it just informs us more about ourselves through our fingers length. Introduction: Hello there! Guys, did you know that your index finger is the best one to lose? Although it seems you need this finger more than any other, hand surgeons say that this is the best one to lose if you had a choice given by terrorists. But wait! Don’t lose it yet! Listen to me first and look at your fingers. Did you know that the length of your fingers can indicate how healthy you are, your sporting ability and even your sexuality? Body: It is thought that prenatal androgens affect the genes responsible for the development of fingers, toes and the reproductive system. High levels of androgens, such as testosterone increase the length of the fourth finger in comparison to the second finger. It is also important in the development of masculine characteristics such as aggression and strength. Evidence is growing that the length of your fingers can tell you a lot about yourself. So here are the five things your fingers say about you. Your sexuality. The most obvious thing the length of your finger tells you is your sexuality. Scientist from the University of California taught that higher levels of androgen in the womb influence both finger length and sexual orientation. According to the study, mens ring fingers are normally longer than their index fingers, while in women, ring fingers are normally shorter or tend to be the same length as their index fingers. A study also showed that lesbian women also tended to have more â€Å"masculine arrangement†-that is, they had shorter index fingers. Comparison between all men showed no differences. Only gay men with several older brothers had an unusually â€Å"masculine† finger ratio-in other words, they had significantly shorter index fingers. Homosexual men without older brothers had finger length ratios indistinguishable from heterosexual men, indicating that factors other than hormones-such as genetic influences-also contribute to sexual orientation. That you make a lot of money, or not. Researchers in Cambridge discovered that stock traders with long ring fingers made more up to 11 times their earnings than colleagues with shorter ring fingers. Again, this can be chalked up to higher testosterone, which can make men more assertive and likely to take risks. According to a new study, having a relatively long ring finger, augurs well for success in those high-stress financial arenas where fast thinking, good reflexes and good-old fashioned guts matter most. A long ring finger indicate greater exposure to testosterone in the womb which in turn gives â€Å"high-frequency† traders a biological leg up by encouraging the development of the right mix of mental attitude and physical skills for making money in a cutthroat business. How good you are at sports. Men and women whose ring fingers are longer that their index fingers are more likely to have an aptitude for sports. The correlation is particularly strong says finger expert Dr. John Manning, in middle and long distance runners. Those who have short index fingers may also do better in playing tennis and soccer and they are also more likely to be left-handed. That you are good at math. It has long been known that boys tend to do better on math tests while girls do better at writing, reading and verbal tests. Scientist behind this study suggests that measurement of finger length could help predict how well children will do in math and literacy. Scientist at the University of Bath found that children with masculine ring fingers- that is, long ring finger than their index fingers, do better in math tests than in literacy tests. Alternately, children whose second and fourth fingers are the same length perform better in literacy tests. Again, this is because of hormones called testosterone and estrogen. Testosterone lengthens ring fingers and is associated with greater math and spatial functions, while estrogen lengthens index fingers and is associated with greater verbal skills. If you are prone to arthritis. Researchers at the University of Nottingham have now discovered that arthritis could be connected to the hands. Having a ring finger longer than an index finger nearly doubles the chance of developing osteoarthritis in the knees and hips. And according to the study, the risk was grater in women than in men. Conclusion: Fingers are really significant to all of us and it is impossible for us to live without them. These things are facts gathered from the studies that can help us to know and inform ourselves better. But still, you yourself can define what or who you really are even without knowing these facts. These ideas that I have brought onto you are just guidelines. Your finger length differences won’t exactly define who you really are. Our health always depends on our lifestyle. Our future is the reward or the consequences of what we are doing in our present, it is in our hands not on our fingers. Let me end this speech with a quote by Fred Dehner, â€Å"The best helping hand that you would ever receive is the one at the end of your own arm.†

The Duchess and the Jeweller :: Literary Analysis, Virginia Woolf

â€Å"The Duchess and the Jeweller† by Virginia Woolf is a short story about Oliver, a poor man who has become a successful jeweler, and his interaction with a Duchess. In the story, Oliver struggles with the Duchess over social power, where she has the ability to cheat him by selling him fake pearls in exchange for a weekend spent with her daughter whom he is in love with – a classic battle of the sexes. While the conflict between man and woman is evident, Virginia Woolf uses flashback, point of view and imagery to also convey the dispute between the rich and the poor. Oliver is first introduced as a man who lives very well â€Å"with the right brandies, whiskeys and liqueurs† (Woolf 90), in a house where â€Å"a more central position could not be imagined† (90). He is a man of power who has â€Å"his breakfast brought in on a try by a manservant† (90) and receives invitations from â€Å"duchesses, countesses, viscountesses and Honourable Ladies† (90). When the Duchess first arrives to see him, he has her wait for ten minutes, displaying that he, a jeweller, has the authority to make her wait. However, Woolf uses flashback to display the underlying battle of the rich and the poor. The reader sees that Oliver came from less fortunate roots where he sold stolen dogs and cheap watches. While superficially it may seem that he has the â€Å"Duchess of Lambourne, daughter of a hundred Earls† ( 93) wait because he has the masculine power to have her wait to see him, Woolf introduces the idea that Oliver, the impecun ious boy who earned his wealth, has the Duchess, a woman whose wealth was inherited, wait for his pleasure. While we see the struggle of control between Oliver and the Duchess, the reader also observes Oliver’s mother’s dominance over him. Using flashback, Woolf shows that as a child when he was swindled while selling stolen dogs, his mother disapprovingly wails, â€Å"Oh, Oliver! When will you have sense, my son?† (90). Later, Oliver talks to a picture of his mother saying, â€Å"I have won my bet† (91) while reminiscing about his past as a indigent boy â€Å"in a filthy little alley† (90) and reflecting on his success. This shows that he has something to prove to his mother, that he is still constrained by her and her thoughts of him.

Immigration in the 1920’s

The way people were treated in the early 1920s would be considered outrageous today, but the discrimination has not come to a hault just yet. After carrying on for years, immigration laws are still being established today. Immigration has had a huge impact on modern day America because it created the quota laws, which have successfully helped the immigrants find their place in this society today, and discrimination has decreased dramatically, but has not concealed itself from this problem completely. The immigrants wanting to come to our country saw our world as a new start or even a new life for them, that’s when 1920s they decided to take immigration laws to the extreme to keep the massive flow of people out, â€Å"In 1919 a bill was introduced to suspend all immigration entirely while congress worked out a permanent plan for a more tightly restrictive policy† (Wepman 242). Although this law was only temporary, just shortly after more things started changing, â€Å"Signed by President Harding on May 19, 1921 called ‘the most important turning-point in American immigration history. An act to limit the immigration of aliens into the United States. † (Wepman 242). The limiting of the immigrants into the United States wasn’t the worst part, â€Å"One of the most painful results of the new quota restrictions was that they made no distinctions for personal relationships and often seperated families. †(Wepman 244). With of the family troubles that the immigrants had to deal with, â€Å"After the civil war the former slaves began to drift away from the rural south, where more than 90 percent of the black population of the United States had lived in antebellum era. †(Archdeacon 131).Even though right before World War I started, â€Å"Immigration dropped to new lows. During the 1930’s the annual quota was never completely filled, the total numbering less than 100,000 a year, and many emigrated out of the country. †(Daniels 247). With all these quota laws and such, that didn’t stop the discrimination from occurring. Many things with discrimination and the process of going through Ellis Island changed a lot over the 1920s. After World War I the immigration level reached an all time high after the lull during the war. â€Å"The Immigration Act of 1924 created a permanent quota system (that of 1921 was only temporary), educing the 1921 annual quota from 358,000 to 164,000. † (Wepman 243). Eventually they negotiated enough and got the number of immigrants down to 154,000.The whole point of the quota acts was to maintain the â€Å"character† of the United States. Although President Johnson wanted to eliminate all immigration not everyone did, â€Å"The unions, which had approved Johnson’s idea of banning all immigration, accepted it as a good compromise, and the New York Daily news applauded it for its protection of American job market from a flood of aliens willing to work for low wages. (Wepman 242). Now, as we are in the 21st century, and the economy at one of its lowest points, the immigrants of the world today are lucky to get a job with a minimum wage pay or even a job because of their race. After all these new laws were set, they had to have some kind of protection to keep the immigrants out, that is when they created Border Patrol. There was an over flow of laborers coming from the South which resulted in the establishment of U. S. Border Patrol on May 8, 1924.The Border Patrol consisted of over 450 officers; â€Å"Their main job was to ride the Mexican border on horseback seeking out smugglers and the hiding places of illegal aliens. †(Tischauser 100). Not only did they create the Border Patrol, they mad a ten-dollar visa fee with an additional six-dollar head tax for each applicant trying to get through. That new rule alone limited down the number of people to cross the border because only very few Mexicans made enough money to pay that fee. â€Å"During the first three years of operation, the Border Patrol turned back an annual average of fifteen thousand Mexicans seeking illegal entry. †(Tischauser 100).These numbers looked great for congress but the number of illegal immigrants started to become outrageously large, â€Å"Because of such fears, Congress, in 1929, voted to double the size of the Border Patrol and demanded a crackdown on illegal entry, and increased Border security. †(Tischauser 101). Although the 1920s was filled with glamour, there were other sides to this nation with horrible discrimination and racial issues. The Ku Klux Klan was a racist group of people that would do anything and go to any extreme to get the racial segregation they wanted and the white supremacy.There are over 40 different Klan groups that have previously xisted, â€Å"At first, the Ku Klux Klan focused its anger and violence on African-Americans, on white Americans who stood up for them, and against the federal government which supported their rights. Subsequent incarnations of the Klan, which typically emerged in times of rapid social change, added more categories to its enemies list, including Jews, Catholics, homosexuals, and different groups of immigrants. † (Anti-Defamation League). Throughout the years, the Klan had reached over four million members and just as they hit their peak, until people started realizing how racially absurd this group of Klansmen really was.Not shortly after that the Klan had split at the Democratic presidential convention and the public did not heed this very well, â€Å"by the end of the 20's, a power struggle among the top positions of the Klan caused the group to split. The Klan quickly fizzled out with the conviction of the head of the Indiana Klan. Only a handful of Klansmen was the remainder of the millions that so previously had approved of the Klan's violent acts† (Keeney). After all was said and done, the simplest way to put the KKK was, â€Å"they became champions of vigilante justice against bootleggers, wife-beaters, and adulters. (Keeney). Although the Klu Klux Klan â€Å"saw themselves as protecting the American family† (Kenney 1), many of the quota laws would set immigration up to fail. In our society today, we could have possibly reached an all time low in racism. In the state of Arizona, the governor has now passed a very sketchy law, â€Å"It requires police officers, â€Å"when practicable,† to detain people they reasonably suspect are in the country without authorization and to verify their status with federal officials, unless doing so would hinder an investigation or emergency medical treatment. †(New York Times). Having the discrimination back in the 1920s has carried on throughout the years, to the point where if a person walking down the street looks slightly Hispanic, police can demand to see documents that prove you are a citizen of this country that we live in. Immigrants’ back then thought they had it bad, the United States now bring all that racial hate back. . Immigration has had a huge impact on modern day America by setting the quota laws, the immigration acts, creating Border Patrol, and by trying to help people realize that even though you are from a different racial descent, you are still just as important as anyone else. Even though people may look at those of different ethnicities as less capable to do your job, they are actually the ones that are doing all the dirty work that we don’t want to do, so in the long run, we should be thanking them. Although Arizona has brought about the discrimination again, mostly throughout the United States people keep their hateful comments to themselves, and you don’t really find many gang members out there anymore, but everyone walking down the street should watch their back because you never know what’s coming for you. Works CitedArchdeacon, Thomas J. Becoming American. New York: The Free Press, 1983Daniels, Roger. Coming to America. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1990Wepman, Dennis. Immigration: From the founding of Virginia to the closing of Ellis Island. New York: Facts on File Inc. , 2002Strelssguth, Thomas. The Roaring Twenties. New York: Facts on File Inc. , 2001â€Å"Racism in the 1920s: The rise of the KKK and anti-immigration. † Kim Kenney. 15 January 2009, 2 May 2010. http://americanhistory. suite101. com/article. cfm/racism_in_the_1920sâ€Å"Racial and Ethnic Discrimination† 2 May 2010. http://law. jrank. org/pages/9625/Racial-Ethnic-Discrimination. html

The Feminist Movement Hawthorne and Chopin Essay - 694 Words

In our history, women have always been inferior to men. The role they have in society, at this time, is to care for the family and household while the male earns the income. As a result of this, women begin to fight for their rights in what we call the feminist movement. This movement is also relevant in the literature of the time. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a woman by the name of Hester Prynne is found guilty of adultery and is made to wear a scarlet letter on her breast as a sign of her sin. In At the Cadian Ball and The Storm, Chopin shows a more modern age of feminism through the adulteress Calixta. Hawthorne and Chopin show how society and the feminist movement advance over time through their works. How†¦show more content†¦In The Scarlet Letter and â€Å"The Storm†, Hester and Calixta demonstrate the ability to make their own choices to be with a man. Hawthorne has Hester Prynne choose to be with Dimmesdale because she loves him. She realizes that this affair breaks society’s laws, but it does not break her own laws. She is in charge in the relationship. Chopin also had her main character, Calixta, have an affair with the man she loves instead of with the man with whom she agrees to marry. What differs, though, is that no one is in charge of the relationship between Calixta and Alcà ©e Laballiere. They love each other, but their community does not recognize them for it. Their love does not matter because Calixta has chosen to be with someone different. This ability of a woman to make her own decisions regarding men shows that a woman’s decision is important. Both Hawthorne and Chopin give their characters, Hester and Calixta, a sense of seduction. This sense is made known in The Scarlet Letter as Hawthorne describes Hester. The description illustrates Hester as beautiful, with her long, flowing hair and intricate clothing. She is different than the other Puritan women and looks more feminine. Men take notice of how attractive she is. In â€Å"At the ‘Cadian Ball†, Chopin describes Calixta as dark and beautiful. Calixta, like Hester, is seen as being different than all of the other women, but still the most beautiful. More than one man goes to the ball just for her, where she isShow MoreRelated Kate Chopin The Awakening Essay2357 Words   |  10 PagesKate Chopin The Awakening To what extent does Edna Pontellier, in Kate Chopins The Awakening, mark a departure from the female characters of earlier nineteenth-century American novels The Awakening was published in 1899, and it immediately created a controversy. Contemporaries of Kate Chopin (1851-1904) were shocked by her depiction of a woman with active sexual desires, who dares to leave her husband and have an affair. Instead of condemning her protagonist, Chopin maintains a neutral,Read MoreTerm Paper1494 Words   |  6 PagesMatthiessen calls the years between 1850 and 1855 an â€Å"extraordinarily concentrated moment of literary expression.† (p. vii) This text centers its discussion around five nineteenth century authors—none of which include women. They are: Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, and Whitman. Matthiessen reveals their origins of the nature and function of literature and the extent to which these were realized in their writings. Matthiessen overlooked and completely disregarded the women writers of the nineteenthRead MoreHistory of the Development of the Short Story.3660 Words   |  15 Pagesdays. Cultural and social identity played a considerable role in much of the short fiction of the 1960s. Phillip Roth and Grace Paley cultivated distinctive Jewish-American voices. Tillie Olsen’s â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† adopted a consciously feminists perspective. James Baldwin’s â€Å"Going to Meet the Man† told stories of African-American life. Frank O’Connor’s â€Å"The Lonely Voice,† a classic exploration of the short story, appeared in 1963. The 1970s saw the rise of the post-modern short story in