Basic qualities of the perfect forms free essay sample

Essential QUALITIES OF THE PERFECT FORMS The Modern English flawless signifiers have been the subject of a drawn-out treatment which has non so far realized an unequivocal result. The difficulties natural in these signifiers are clear bounty and may exceed be outlined by the current great. This signifier contains the these days of the action word haveand is called present great, yet it indicates a move which no longer makes topographic point, and it is ( about ever ) converted into Russian by the past tense, e. g. has writ10s # 8212 ; # 1085 ; # 1072 ; # 1087 ; # 1080 ; # 1089 ; # 1072 ; # 1083 ; , has shown up # 8212 ; # 1087 ; # 1088 ; # 1080 ; # 1077 ; # 1093 ; # 1072 ; # 1083 ; , and so on. The spot of the ideal signifiers in the arrangement of the English action word is a vocation which has been treated from various perspectives and has occasioned a lot of dispute. Among the various situations on the portion of the ideal signifiers in Modern English the undermentioned three boss inclinations ought to be referenced: 1. The class of impeccable is an inquisitive tense class, I. e. a class which ought to be classed in a similar rundown as the classs present and past . This position was held, for representation, by O. Jespersen. 1 2. The class of flawless is an inquisitive aspect class, I. e. one which ought to be given a topographic point in the rundown comprising normal feature and continuous aspect . This position was held by a figure of bookmans, including Prof. G. Vorontsova.2Those who hold this position have communicated various notions about the particular aspect speaking to the bit of the ideal signifiers. It has been differently characterized as review , resultative , back to back , etc.3 3. The class of flawless is neither one of tense, nor one of aspect however a particular class not the same as both. It ought to therefore be assigned by a specific term and its dealingss to the classs of aspect and tense ought to be researched. This position was communicated by Prof. A. Smirnitsky. He took the ideal to be an office of demonstrating the class of clasp connection ( # 1074 ; # 1088 ; # 1077 ; # 1084 ; # 1077 ; # 1085 ; # 1085 ; # 1072 ; # 1103 ; # 1086 ; # 1090 ; # 1085 ; # 1077 ; # 1089 ; # 1077 ; # 1085 ; # 1085 ; # 1086 ; # 1089 ; # 1090 ; # 1100 ; ) .4 This wide divergency of positions on the very portion of a verbal class may look astonishing. In any case, its causes seem, by all accounts, to be away from the purpose of position of contemporary etymology. These causes fall under the undermentioned three boss caputs: 1See O. Jespersen, The Philosophy of Grammar,p. 254ff. 2See # 1043 ; . # 1053 ; . # 1042 ; # 1086 ; # 1088 ; # 1086 ; # 1085 ; # 1094 ; # 1086 ; # 1074 ; # 1072 ; , # 1054 ; # 1095 ; # 1077 ; # 1088 ; # 1082 ; # 1080 ; # 1087 ; # 1086 ; # 1075 ; # 1088 ; # 1072 ; # 1084 ; # 1084 ; # 1072 ; # 1090 ; # 1080 ; # 1082 ; # 1077 ; # 1072 ; # 1085 ; # 1075 ; # 1083 ; # 1080 ; # 1081 ; # 1089 ; # 1082 ; # 1086 ; # 1075 ; # 1086 ; # 1103 ; # 1079 ; # 1099 ; # 1082 ; # 1072 ; ,1960. # 1089 ; # 1090 ; # 1088 ; . 191 # 1089 ; # 1083 ; . 3Ibid. 4See # 1040 ; . # 1048 ; . # 1057 ; # 1084 ; # 1080 ; # 1088 ; # 1085 ; # 1080 ; # 1094 ; # 1082 ; # 1080 ; # 1081 ; . # 1055 ; # 1077 ; # 1088 ; # 1092 ; # 1077 ; # 1082 ; # 1090 ; # 1080 ; # 1082 ; # 1072 ; # 1090 ; # 1077 ; # 1075 ; # 1086 ; # 1088 ; # 1080 ; # 1103 ; # 1074 ; # 1088 ; # 1077 ; # 1084 ; # 1077 ; # 1085 ; # 1085 ; # 1086 ; # 1081 ; # 1086 ; # 1090 ; # 1085 ; # 1077 ; # 1089 ; # 1105 ; # 1085 ; # 1085 ; # 1086 ; # 1089 ; # 1090 ; # 1080 ; . # 1048 ; # 1085 ; # 1086 ; # 1089 ; # 1090 ; # 1088 ; # 1072 ; # 1085 ; # 1085 ; # 1099 ; # 1077 ; # 1103 ; # 1079 ; # 1099 ; # 1082 ; # 1080 ; # 1074 ; # 1096 ; # 1082 ; # 1086 ; # 1083 ; # 1077 ; , 1955, # 8470 ;1, 2. Fundamental Qualities of the Perfect Forms91 1. Researchers have been looking to indicate the fundamental character of this class without paying adequate taking care of the arrangement of classs of which it will undoubtedly do a part. As we will see soon, contemplations of the framework overall guideline out a portion of the proposed arrangements. 2. In looking for the criticalness of the class, bookmans have non ever been mindful so as to isolate between its fundamental centrality ( the steady ) and its adjustments because of impact of setting. 3. In looking for the essential essentialness of the class, bookmans have non ever pull an away from of separation between the hugeness of the syntactic class all things considered and the significances which have a place with, or are affected by, the lexical importance of the action word ( or action words ) utilized in one of the ideal signifiers. In the event that we cautiously quench these three beginnings of mix-up and disarray we will hold a greatly improved chance of geting at a valid and equitable arrangement. Let us currently consider the positions communicated by various bookmans in the request in which we referenced them above. In the event that we are to occur out whether the ideal can be a strained class, I. e. a strained among different tenses, we should see its dealingss to the tenses previously settled and non adept to questions about their fundamental character, I. e. past, these days, and from now on. There is no existent difficulty here. We need simply recall that there are in Modern English the signifiers 1present great, past great, and future great. That present, past, and henceforth are tense classs, is ardently settled and has neer been questioned by anybody. Presently, if the ideal were other than a strained class, the current flawless would be a fraternity of two unique tenses ( the these days and the ideal ) , the past impeccable would correspondingly be a fellowship of two distinct tenses ( the days gone by and the ideal ) and the great beyond great, unreasonably, would be a fraternity of two distinct tenses ( the great beyond and the ideal ) . This is obviously inconceivable. In the event t hat a signifier as of now has a place with a strained class ( state, the present ) it can non simultaneously have a place with another strained class, since two tense classs in one signifier would, figuratively speaking, impact and destruct one another. Consequently it follows that the class of flawless can non be a strained class. We need non see here arranged positions communicated by the individuals who imagined that the ideal was a strained, since their positions, whatever within informations might be, are demonstrated to be shaky by the above thought. So the position that the ideal is a specific tense class has been invalidated. So as to occur out whether the ideal can be an angle class, we should see its dealingss to the aspects previously settled, 1We use here the wary term signifier to maintain a strategic distance from any pre-judgment refering the part of the class in request. We will use the term in comparative settings somewhere else. 92The Verb: The Perfect viz. the normal and the continuous features. 1This occupation does non show any particular difficulty, either. We need only recall that there are in Modern English such supports as is creating # 8212 ; hasbeen forming, was making # 8212 ; had been making, will make # 8212 ; will hold been composing,i. e. present continuous and present flawless continuous, past continuous and past impeccable continuous, future continuous and future immaculate continuous. These signifiers have a place with the continuous feature, so the distinction between them can non perchance be founded on any perspective class. For outline, since the two was composingand had been composingbelong to the continuous feature ( as unmistakable from wroteand had composed ) ,they can non be said to contrast from one another on a perspective line ; else they would at a similar clasp have a place with one aspect and to various features, which is obviously incomprehensible. Consequently the choice is ineluctable that the ide al is non a feature. The places of the individuals who believe the ideal to be a viewpoint request non subsequently be talked about here in thing. Since the ideal is neither a strained nor an aspect, it will undoubtedly be some specific syntactic class, distinctive both from tense and from feature. This position, however non rather unequivocally expressed, was first put frontward by Prof. A. Smirnitsky in an after death article.2It is in finished congruity with the standard of distributive examination, however Prof. Smirnitsky did non, at the clasp, use the term distributive examination . The piece of the syntactic class communicated by the ideal, and varying both from tense and from aspect, is hard to indicate and to happen a name for. Prof. Smirnitsky proposed to name it the class of clasp connection , which is non an extremely glad term, since it appears to pass on us back to the old position that the ideal is a specific kind of tense # 8212 ; a position which Prof. Smirnitsky rather legitimately battled. Later it was proposed to supplant his term of clasp connection by that of correlativity ( # 1089 ; # 1086 ; # 1086 ; # 1090 ; # 1085 ; # 1077 ; # 1089 ; # 1077 ; # 1085 ; # 1085 ; # 1086 ; # 1089 ; # 1090 ; # 1100 ; ) , which has the upside of smothering the undesirable term cut . This is irrefutably the term to be liked. Regarding the opposition in such supports as composes # 8212 ; has written,wrote # 8212 ; had composed, will create # 8212 ; will hold composed, is forming # 8212 ; has been making, was making # 8212 ;had been making, will compose # 8212 ;will hold been composing,Prof. Smirnitsky proposed to mean it by the relate footings non-great and immaculate . While this 1We are proceeding here on the reason that the being of these two features, and, thus, of aspect as a class of the English action word has been perceived. On the off chance that its being is denied the activity introduces itself in an alternate obvious radiation ( see p. 81 ) . 2See # 1040 ; . # 1048 ; . # 1057 ; # 1084 ; # 1080 ; # 1088 ; # 1085 ; # 1080 ; # 1094 ; # 1082 ; # 1080 ; # 108

Commercial Analysis and Planning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Business Analysis and Planning - Essay Example At the point when airplanes were concocted, persistent observing and hands-on by pilots was compulsory if the flight must be flown progressively (Bruseberg, and Johnson, 4). Nonetheless, with the progression it airplane innovation, planes that could encourage extended periods of time of flight were made. Subsequently, pilots experienced weariness and consequently a component must be concocted to limit this, autopilot: the initial step to cockpit mechanization. In 1912, an organization by the name Sperry, turned into the first to create airplane with autopilot highlight. It was made out of a gyroscopic heading and mentality pointers which were associated with lifts and rudder that were worked by water power. This empower the plane to follow the compass bearing and fly straight without arranging corners (Damos, 11). Many were propelled by the development and in the year 1930, Royal Aircraft Establishment, a company of England thought of their own autopilot which was alluded to as pilot s’ assister. It was worked from, pneumatically-spun gyrator, a progression from the underlying using pressurized water worked ones. The improvement developed with the innovation and incorporation of instruments that would permit the plane to be flown during the night. Autopilot has experienced computerization in present day planes. Current degree of autopilot are one-pivot, two-hub and three-hub. Complex plane uses the three-hub autopilot. The reason for autopilot is to control the plane when it takes off, during climbing, the smooth level air flight and during landing individually (Billings, 23). At last, current autopilot depends intensely on PCs as opposed to the physical compass that was utilized by before airplanes. Another period of cockpit robotization is in auto-choke. In starting airplanes, the pilot used to physically control the progression of fuel to the motor. In any case, auto-choke has supplanted this hence decreasing pilots’

Roentgenium Facts - Rg or Element 111

Roentgenium Facts - Rg or Element 111 Roentgenium (Rg) is component 111 on the intermittent table. Barely any molecules of this engineered component have been created, however it is anticipated to be a thick, radioactive metallic strong at room temperature. Here is an assortment of intriguing Rg realities, including its history, properties, utilizes, and nuclear information. Key Roentgenium Element Facts Considering how to articulate the component name? Its RENT-ghen-ee-em Roentgenium was first made by a global group of researchers working at the Gesellschaft fã ¼r Schwerionenforschung (GSI) in Darmstadt,Germany, on December 8, 1994. The group, drove by Sigurd Hofmann, quickened cores of nickel-64 into a bismuth-209 objective to create one single iota of roentgenium-272. In 2001, the Joint Working Party of the IUPAC/IUPAP chose the proof was not adequate to demonstrate disclosure of the component, so the GSI rehashed the examination and identified three molecules of component 111 of every 2002. In 2003, the JWP acknowledged this as proof that the component had genuinely been synthesized.If component 111 had been named by the terminology formulated by Mendeleev, its name would be eka-gold. In any case, in 1979 the IUPAC prescribed efficient placeholder names be given to unconfirmed components, so until the lasting name was chosen, component 111 was called unununium (Uuu). In view of their disclosure, the GSI group was permitted to recommend another name. The name they picked was roentgenium, to pay tribute to the German researcher who found x-rays, physicist Wilhelm Conrad Rã ¶ntgen. The IUPAC acknowledged the name on November 1, 2004, almost 10 years after the primary blend of the component! Roentgenium is relied upon to be a strong, respectable metal at room temperature, with properties like those of gold. In any case, in view of the distinction between the ground state and first energized condition of the external d-electrons, it is anticipated to be silver in shading. On the off chance that enough component 111 is ever delivered, the metal will probably be significantly gentler than gold. Rg is anticipated to be the mildest of all the metal ions.Unlike lighter congeners which have face-focused cubic structure for their precious stones, Rg is required to shape body-focused cubic gems. This is on the grounds that the electron charge thickness is diverse for roentgenium. Roentgenium Atomic Data Component Name/Symbol: Roentgenium (Rg) Nuclear Number: 111 Nuclear Weight: [282] Discovery: Gesellschaft fã ¼r Schwerionenforschung, Germanyâ (1994) Electron Configuration: [Rn] 5f14â 6d9â 7s2 Component Group: d-square of gathering 11 (Transition Metal) Component Period: period 7 Thickness: Roentgenium metal is anticipated to have a thickness of 28.7 g/cm3 around room temperature. Conversely, the most noteworthy thickness of any component estimated tentatively to date has been 22.61 g/cm3 for osmium. Oxidation States: 5, 3, 1, - 1 (anticipated, with the 3 state expected to be the most steady) Ionization Energies: The ionization energies are gauges. 1st: 1022.7 kJ/mol2nd: 2074.4 kJ/mol3rd: 3077.9 kJ/mol Nuclear Radius: 138 pm Covalent Radius: 121 pm (evaluated) Precious stone Structure: body-focused cubic (anticipated) Isotopes: 7 radioactive isotopes of Rg have been created. The most steady isotope, Rg-281, has a half-existence of 26 seconds. Every realized isotope experience either alpha rot or unconstrained parting. Employments of Roentgenium: The main employments of roentgenium are for logical examination, to get familiar with its properties, and for creation of heavier components. Roentgenium Sources: Like generally overwhelming, radioactive components, roentgenium might be created by intertwining two nuclear cores or by means of rot of a much heavier component. Poisonousness: Element 111 serves no known organic capacity. It presents a wellbeing hazard on account of its outrageous radioactivity.

Dracula As The Anti-Christ Essays - Fiction, Literature, Free Essays

Dracula As The Anti-Christ Essays - Fiction, Literature, Free Essays Dracula As The Anti-Christ Dracula as the Anti-Christ Hostile to Christianity is a significant reoccurring subject all through Bram Stokers Dracula. The tale depicts Anti-Christian qualities and convictions, through one of its characters. Dracula one of the primary characters in the novel is utilized to assume the qualities of the Anti-Christ. Stoker utilizes numerous convictions from the Christian religion to show various measures of Anti-Christian qualities, eccentric convictions of the security towards detestable, and to investigate the forces of God with those of Dracula. It is a subject that is utilized all through the whole book. There are numerous ways that Bram Stoker's character Dracula can be viewed as the Anti-Christ, for the most part as a result of the appearing of Anti-Christian qualities and maltreatment of the Christian religion. In section one as Jonathan Harker is making a trip to Castle Dracula he is met by a few people who give him a cross when he discloses to them where he is going. One notion is that a rosary will shield you from all underhanded, and in this novel the shrewdness is Dracula. This rosary secures him when Jonathan cuts himself shaving the following day and Dracula thrusts for his throat, however stops when he sees the cross around Jonathan's neck. Later in the book it talks about how you can guard yourself from Dracula and different vampires by the ownership of a cross or for all intents and purposes any blessed thing from the Christian religion can be utilized to spare you from the assault or nearness of a vampire. Another case of one of the offbeat demonstrations is later in th e book when Van Helsing utilizes a Host to keep Dracula from entering his final resting place or when he makes a Holy Circle with the Hosts to keep vampires out and to guard Mina. These are models in which a few types of Christian convictions are utilized to forestall the assault of Dracula. Dracula has a few powers that the Christian's accept nobody yet God could control. For example, Dracula can control the climate, wild, or unclean creatures, he can change structure, and has the intensity of sorcery. Christians accept that expending God's body and blood will give them everlasting existence with God in paradise, Dracula is remaining undead, or nosferatu, by devouring the blood of the living to endure and to manufacture his quality. By this, Dracula is depending on people to reestablish his eternal life and not focusing on God as the wellspring of life. It is said that you should give God access to your heart, Dracula may not enter somebody's home except if they let him in. God is alluded to in the Bible just like the light, which represents joy or life. Dracula's forces are constrained during the light and his forces are more grounded in the night, during murkiness, which represents insidious. Dracula moves to an old surrendered Church not utilized any longer which can show that God is not, at this point present which would achieve Dracula's motivation of spreading detestable. Dracula is additionally depicted as the Anti-Christ by having similitudes with Jesus however in detestable manners. As Dracula benefits from the blood of the living he makes supporters as Jesus had pupils. All through the book a few times, ordinarily while Reinfield (one of his supporters or followers) is talking, when Dracula is alluded to the pronoun is promoted, as Christians would do when alluding to God. Reinfield sees Dracula as god-like and all-incredible, he additionally alludes to him as his lord. All through the novel, Bram Stoker utilizes numerous scriptural references to show the god-like way of Dracula, for example, the blood is the life said by Reinfield and when Renfield cites Enoch. Renfield needs to stroll by Draculas side as Enoch strolled by Gods side. At the point when the include is crushed at long last, he becomes dust. This is significant in light of the fact that transforming into dust speaks to Christian opportunity in death and liberates him from his shrewd ways. Bram Stokers Dracula underlines job of Christianity against Draculas Anti-Christian nearness. Dracula himself is a wicked figure, both in appearance and in conduct, and could be viewed as the Anti-Christ. From multiple points of view Dracula is spoken to as the encapsulation of abhorrence. At long last, he is vanquished by heavenliness. Dracula utilizes numerous scriptural references and shows a genuine similarity between

The 2009 Brass Rat

The 2009 Brass Rat Friday evening was the unveiling of the Class of 2009 Brass Rat. Ring Premiere, as its called, is one of the largest milestones of the MIT undergrad experience. A lot of you probably have class rings from high school, or might even be in the process of picking one out right now. If yours is anything like mine, its got a pretty simple design. Theres a birthstone with my high schools name winding around it on the front, my class year and high schools symbol on one side, and a custom design on the other (mine has my name and a field hockey symbol). Here at MIT, we do thingsa little differently. First, some history: the MIT class ring is officially called the Standard Technology Ring, and has been affectionately nicknamed the Brass Rat. Its not brass and its not a rat, dont ask me. (If anyone else has an explanation for this, by all means, drop me a note.) Its been an Institute tradition since about 1929 for each class to customize the ring to reflect their time here. At the end of the freshmen year, about a dozen students are appointed to the Ring Committee (by the class council, I believe). The Ring Committee spends the first half of the sophomore year designing the ring, which is unveiled at an event called Ring Premiere. I was really excited about Ring Premiere, until the Ring Committee accidentally leaked the design early (oops!) so I heard some gossip about some of the rings details beforehand. This ruined the fun a little bit, but Im glad I went to the Premiere, which was a really fun experience. Now for the fun part: Class of 2009 Ring Design A friend of mine was quoted in the Techs article about the ring leak (Carlos 09s comment was rather.colorful) saying, Thats gross and disgusting. I found this hilarious (partly because Carlos is pretty hilarious to begin with), and when I talked to him about it, he said that he mentioned a bunch of positive things too, but somehow the reporter forgot to mention those. So Id just like to get my actual opinion of the ring out there before my name appears in the Tech in a similar fashion on Tuesday. =) (The girl sitting in front of me during the Premiere happened to be a Tech reporter, and I think she probably asked for my opinion because she heard me making loud and sometimes sarcastic comments the whole time. Hey, I missed Charm School this year.) Overall, I like the ring. Designing a ring for 1000 people cant be easy, and no one is ever going to be 100% satisfied. I definitely have some problems with it, (which Ill elaborate on in a minute) but there are some really cool things as well. Each ring typically has 5 components: the skylines on the sides of the ring, the map on the underside, the bezel (the front or top of the ring), the seal shank and the class shank (which go on opposite sides). Here are the images, along with my comments. Anything in quotes was taken directly from the design description page linked above. The Skylines The Cambridge skyline is shown at night, in tribute to the fact that MIT students are primarily nocturnal. =) The Hackers Map Each class has a hackers map on the underside of their ring, which depicts all of the campus buildings as well as the underground tunnels that connect them. One neat detail specific to the 09 ring: building 6 is not connected to anything, to commemorate the fact that it has been inaccessible due to construction since our arrival. Class Shank The class shank is usually centered around the image of the Great Dome and Killian Court, and our design is no different. My thoughts on the 09 Class Shank: The Awesome: Pluto! In solemn remembrance of the former ninth planet, Pluto is engraved to the left of the Great Dome. =) Also cool is the dollar bill behind the columns in Killian Court- back in the 70s, a student pained a big mural of a dollar bill over the cashiers office door. Years later, the cashiers office was moved, and the space was renovated and made into a lounge. There was a huge controversy over this, as many students resented the removal of the mural as an attack on MIT culture. (You can read some of the Techs coverage of the story here.) In the end, the mural was removed, but a small image of it, along with an explanation, was left on the glass wall of the new lounge. While I personally was not upset by the removal of the mural, Im glad the Ring Committee included a tribute to it on the Brass Rat. Also, below Building 10 is an ambigram. Its an awesome idea that didnt really come across so well, but basically the image reads punt, until you turn the ring over to reveal the word tool- both of which are MIT slang for screw around instead of doing work and work really hard, respectively. The Less Awesome: The zero with wings (to represent the fact that were the last class to be able to abbreviate our year with a 0, as in 09) and the T token (on the left of the inscription, included to symbolize the retirement of the token in favor of the card form of payment) areweird. Theres also supposed to be a fire department symbol to the right of the inscription in tribute to the fire truck hack, which would have been awesome. Unfortunately, the symbol is so small and obscure that its impossible to recognize, which makes its inclusion pretty much pointless, in my opinion. The infinity on the dome is also kind of silly- its supposed to represent the infinite possibilities at MIT or some such thing, but I think they could have come up with something much cooler for such a prominent symbol (the 08 ring has their class number in binary, for example). Bezel The bezel is the top of the ring and always features the Tech mascot, the Beaver. The bezel often has the most room for personalization. Cool things: The motto IHTFP is artfully hidden in the beavers tail. Look along the up and right diagonals if you dont see it right away- its hidden pretty well. Theres also a canon in the background to represent MITs unique hacking community and rivalry with other institutions. Then theres this line: The gnawed logs in the lower left represent the hard work of the beaver and of MIT students. Below the fallen log are eight ivy leaves crushed by the beavers accomplishments. =) Uncool things: The hands of the watch have been replaced with the male and female symbols, to represent how gender balanced the class is. Ill explain my take on this in just a minute Seal Shank The seal shank features the official MIT seal. Theres also some room for customization, and most classes add a few symbols to this shank. The seal shank is the part of the ring that has the most potential for controversy lately. Heres a quick history lesson: the official MIT seal shows two figures- a scholar and an artisan to represent the two parts of MITs official motto Mens et Manus (Mind and Hand). The Class of 2002 Ring Committee modified the seal on their ring to include a woman. The Class of 04 originally intended to do the same, but when the design was leaked early and the class reacted negatively, they changed the seal back. More recently, the Class of 07 modified the seal, and there are some interesting quotes from students in the article in the Tech about the 07 Brass Rat. Heres my take on the whole thing: I personally would have preferred to have a woman on the ring. Why? Because Im a woman, and I go here, and when I look at the ring and seal without a woman, I dont see myself. So yes, Im a little disappointed that the seal features two men. But heres the thing- Im still going to buy one, for crying out loud. If no one had ever put a woman on the seal, I doubt Id be organizing some crusade to get one on there. But the fact is that once the 02 Ring Committee opened that can of worms, theres no shutting it. The thing that really, really, really ticks me off (to use the polite term) is how angry other people get when the topic is raised. People walked out of the 07 Ring Premiere, all because the class ring had a person of the female gender on it. Are you freaking kidding me? They tried to put together a petition to have an alternate version of the ring. They were that offended by a symbol indicating an even gender ratio at MIT that they never wanted to w ear it. That may not sound so bad, but youve got to understand that the Brass Rat is a BIG DEAL here. Nearly everyone buys one and wears it for years and years. I met an alum from the class of fifty-something last semester who showed off his ring to me. A lot of people claim that the seal should be unaltered because its tradition. Its always been my personal opinion that tradition is a silly thing to hold as an absolute. I love that MIT has so many traditions here- like the Brass Rat, and hacking, and smaller cultural symbols like IHTFP and so on. But I see no reason why traditions cant change. I mean, once upon a time it was tradition for only men to apply to college in the first place. Should we have held on to that particular tradition? When Melis blogged about last years Ring Premeire, she said she was most upset by the members of her class who cheered at the reveal of the all-male seal, and I have to agree (there was a similar reaction to this years reveal, although I think Meliss classs reaction was stronger). I may not be offended very much if theres no woman on the ring, but I am offended by the people who stood and cheered because there wasnt one. Just like Melis, it really ticks me off that people at a place like MIT arent more open-minded to progress and change, and would be offended by the alteration of an MIT symbol that does not relfect forty-something percent of the student body simply because it breaks with tradition. So yeah, I do think the male and female symbols on the stopwatch are a cheap cop-out to dealing with the actual issue. /rant Like I said, I really do like the ring. I would have preferred a woman on the seal, but Im not adamant about it. I am upset about peoples reaction to that whole issue, but theres not much that can be done about that, is there? In the end, there were some awesome icons (Pluto and the canon were my favorites) and Im just excited to get my very own piece of MIT history in April. More Reading about the Brass Rat: A Bevy of Beautiful Brass Rat bezels (by Matt) Presentingthe 2008 Brass Rat!!! (be Melis) The Brass Rat (by Matt, about the 2007 Ring Premiere) Tech article about the 08 ring 2007 Brass Rat (by Mitra, who was on the 07 Ring Committee) Ring Delivery Photos (also by Mitra) Post Tagged #Brass Rat