Urban Legend of Glenn Dale Hospital :: Ghost Stories Urban Legends

Glenn Dale Hospital Background Over the recent break, I mentioned to a friend that I needed to write about a ghost-related urban legend. He offered to tell me about Glenn Dale Hospital, which is supposedly a famous ghost legend in Maryland. Since I am a lifelong Maryland resident and did not know about the hospital, I was eager to hear the story. The story was told in the living room of a house by a 19 year old white male native to southern Maryland. He is from a middle class family and his father and mother are a construction worker and a homemaker, respectively. He heard the story from another friend who claims to have visited Glenn Dale Hospital. The Story So, in the 30s and 40s they used to send tuberculosis patients to the [Glenn Dale] hospital for treatment. [normal relaxed tone] Eventually it was converted into an insane asylum and it became notorious for its treatment of patients. The staff experimented on the patients and locked them up all day. One day, all the patients revolted and the doctors ran out of the hospital and boarded up all the doors and windows. [talking faster] The patients were left inside to die and the hospital was abandoned. The insane still wander the halls. Today, if you sneak in the hospital you will be chased by the ghosts of the patients and catch tuberculosis. My friend went there and swears he saw a ghost watching him from the shadows, and he won’t go near that place anymore [gestures with hand in horizontal motion]. The cops arrest anyone they catch trespassing, but they say the cops won’t go in the hospital after you if you need help.† Context There is evidence to support some of this story. According to a Washington Post article from December 10, 2006, Glenn Dale Hospital does exist on over 200 acres in Prince George’s County, Maryland. In fact, it did house tuberculosis patients starting in the mid-thirties. However, that is essentially all the truth in the story. The article states, â€Å"It [Glen Dale Hospital] was never an insane asylum, as urban explorers and paranormal researchers suggest on the internet.† Since it was never an asylum, the idea of a revolt and the insane wandering the halls must not be true. Since tuberculosis does not last for decades without human hosts, it is impossible to catch the disease just by exploring the hospital.

Why College Students Cheat

Grades, rather than education have become more important to students. Students are feeling a great deal of pressure to succeed in college; so that they can land that terrific job. With saying all of that, the rate of college students cheating has been increasing every year. There are several forms of cheating that take place; from going old school and writing the answers on your body; to todays’ technology such as cell phones and cameras. Cheating with students has increased over the years and nothing has been done to stop it. Everyday students in this world grow lazier and lazier and begin to neglect their school work. Academic cheating is defined as representing someone else’s work as your own. It can take many forms, including sharing another’s work, purchasing a term paper or test questions in advance, or paying another to do the work for you (www. nocheating. org). Students with all types of majors cheat, Medical students, Engineering students, Business and even Law students. A Rutgers professor did a study on different fields of majors and students to find out how many students would actually admit to cheating. 56 percent of business students cheat; engineering students took 54 percent and law students only had 47 percent. He discovered that law students, although they don’t cheat the most, have the best reason to. â€Å"The stakes are much higher for law students,† McCabe says. â€Å"There's a fear you may not be able to take the bar exam after having spent these three years in law school†. (Gravers, L. ) In todays’ world, technology has made cheating much easier. Students use their cell phones to text students outside of the exam room to obtain the answers. As well as texting, students also take pictures with their cell phones of the material they are studying and use them during the exam.

Renaissance (1300-1650), the Industrial Revolution Essay

Throughout history, slavery has played a very prominent role in shaping the world’s societies and economies. Across three time periods in particular, slavery throughout the world has notable similarities and differences in areas such as the status of slavery, the way slavery influenced society, and the motivation for a civilization to practice slavery. These time periods are the Renaissance (1300-1650), the Industrial Revolution (1700-1900), and World Wars I and II (1914-1945). Renaissance The time period known today as the Renaissance was, as its name means, a â€Å"rebirth† of Greco-Roman values. It was a reaction against the Dark Ages and stood in stark contrast to the medieval time period before it. The practice of slavery was no exception. Whereas slavery had fizzled out during the Dark Ages, it was instituted again during the Renaissance. Slavery in the Renaissance began in Spain, and for a while the Spanish played the primary part in the slave market. Soon, though, slavery spread to the other parts of Europe. This was especially true with the case of the Italian city-states in which the Renaissance boomed. As the Renaissance grew in Italy and as the city-states expanded, slavery became more and more widespread until Italy became a main user of slaves (Hooker). In contrast to slavery in the later periods of the Industrial Revolution and the two World Wars which is explained later in this essay, slavery in the Renaissance was not solely based on race, but mostly religion (at least in Europe; another type of slavery was practiced in America during the Renaissance, as explained later). Europe and Africa at that time was divided between Christians and Muslims, and so slavery in nations dominated by either religion was based on captured people from the other religion. In other words, in the Renaissance, Christians mostly enslaved Muslims and Muslims mostly enslaved Christians. In the case of the Italian Renaissance, Muslims slaves came from â€Å"Spain, North Africa, Crete, the Balkans, and the Ottoman Empire† (Hooker). The vast majority of slaves at the beginning of the Renaissance were white (Hooker). But as the Renaissance progressed, black slaves began to be used more and more widely. In the beginning of the Renaissance, these African slaves were acquired through Arabs in North Africa, who also held them as slaves. When the Portuguese started exploring the African coast, they participated in a black slave market, shipping slaves to the Americas and back to Europe (Guild). El Mina was the first slave trading post set up by the Portuguese on the West Coast (â€Å"Gold Coast†) of Africa (Guild). Thanks to enslaved Africans, the Portuguese were especially successful in their plantations in the islands off the west coast of Africa known as the Cape Verde, where they transported many of the Africans they enslaved to work in plantations there (Gascoigne). While most slaves in the Industrial Revolution did hard labor in fields, most slaves in the Renaissance were domestic slaves. This means that they did work in the home, doing duties for their masters around the house. Rich people in the cities almost always had one or more slaves. Instead of the brutal, inhumane treatment of slaves common in the Industrial Revolution, slave-owners during the Renaissance commonly integrated their slaves into the family. In both the Industrial Revolution and the Renaissance, masters claimed all rights for their slaves; they did with them what they willed. Therefore, there arises the similarity between all three time periods in that commonly the slaves were used as sex slaves, although sex slaves in the World Wars were used mostly just for sex, not for hard labor. When masters in the Renaissance had an illegitimate child with a slave, the child was not a slave but was free (Hooker). However, when a child was born to a slave and its master in the Industrial Revolution, the child became a slave like its mother (â€Å"Master-Slave†¦). While most slaves were domestic in the Renaissance, another form of slavery was surfacing, slaves used for cheap labor in plantations. In the Renaissance, slaves were starting to be used in plantations, mostly in America, but also in plantations in Italy and off the coast of Africa (Gascoigne). So, in both the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution, at least some slaves were used for hard labor. The Portuguese were the first to put slaves to work in plantations, and slaves soon came to be used on plantations in the Americas by nations such as Spain, Holland, France, England, and the Netherlands. The first slaves they enslaved in these colonies were the native peoples, but soon, the native population began to dwindle. Since Portugal had been exploring the coast of Africa and since Africa had a booming population of people, Africans became the people they predominantly enslaved (Guild). Thus, racial slavery was started. Blacks came to be viewed as lower than human, and this view spread to all the nations which came to have plantations in America. Millions of blacks were imported to plantations for sugar, spices, tobacco, coffee, etc. during the span of the Renaissance (Hornsby). Industrial Revolution Slavery went through many changes during the course of the Industrial Revolution. At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, slavery on plantations that had developed in the Renaissance continued to grow in the Americas. With the success of the plantations in America, what is known as the triangular trade began to form, and this trade majorly affected the world’s economies and prosperity. This system of trade is known as the triangular trade because the directions of travel for the trade were in the shape of a triangle—from Europe to Africa to the Americas and back to Europe. Items such as weapons, liquor, jewelry, and products made from cotton were taken to Africa from Europe and traded for slaves. These were loaded on ships and taken to the Americas. Conditions in the ships were horrible. Thousands of slaves were chained in very tight spaces in the ships. Disease permeated the hold where slaves were kept. Slaves laid in their own excrement and urine, and were fed barely anything. Many slaves died or committed suicide—an average of 16% of slaves. When the horrible trip was over, the remaining slaves were auctioned and sold in slave markets to plantation owners in the Americas. The products made in the plantations, such as tobacco, coffee, sugar, spices, and molasses which could be made into rum were then shipped to Europe, completing the trade system. The British were the primary traders in this system, but other nations participated (Gascoigne). Slavery greatly affected the Industrial Revolution. It made it possible to create and grow products in a shorter period of time and for less money. All the master had to do was to provide food, which he have very little of, so slaves provided very cheap labor. In the case of America, slaves operated the new inventions such as the cotton gin to make cotton products easier. This greatly affected the economy of America. The prosperity in the South boomed as agriculture continued to see success. This cotton industry and therefore the textile industrial majorly drove the Industrial Revolution in America. It became the primary export and cash crop. Hundreds of thousands of slaves were imported until 1808, when the American slave trade was banned. Still, hundreds of thousands of slaves were moved across America to the South and West to work on cotton plantations. These plantations and slavery in general brought in a huge profit for the American people. A similarity between slavery in the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution can be seen here—both used slavery as a catalyst for economies (â€Å"Africans.. †). But a difference is that most slaves in the Renaissance were domestic slaves in homes and were considered part of the family (Hooker). However, most slaves in the Industrial Revolution were plantation slaves and were considered less than human and were subjected to incredibly harsh treatment by their masters. However, near the Industrial Revolution, there was more of an awareness of the brutalities of slavery and more of a movement to stop it than the Renaissance. The final time period that will be discussed in this essay is the World Wars from 1914 to 1945. World Wars Forms of slavery used during World Wars I and II from 1914 to 1945 were very different from slavery before it and slavery after it. The wars during this period of history had a huge impact on all aspects of society, and so the status of slavery and the motivation for slavery was largely based on the huge wars taking place. During World War I and the time after it before World War II, outright slave traffic continued to be curbed in the areas of the world still practicing slavery. The slave trade still continued underground between countries in eastern Africa, especially Ethiopia, and the Middle East, especially Arabia. Throughout this period before World War II, there were outrages about revealed underground slave trades with enslaved Africans in Liberia and the Congo, and enslaved Native Americans in northern Peru (â€Å"Slavery†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ). Joseph Stalin was the dictator of the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953. During his regime, millions of people were forced to work in labor camps. This was in accordance with the USSR’s Labor Code, which stated that all citizens must labor for the government. Prisoners, enemies of the state, and other convicts were sent to do hard manual labor in Siberia during this time. Citizens were accused of being enemies of the government and sent to work without a trial and without much grounds at all. Like in the Renaissance and Industrial Revolution, Stalin used his massive free labor force to build up the Soviet Union’s economy and to industrialize the nation. Labor projects included building roads and railroads, building houses and power plants, mining, cutting trees, working in fields, etc. The workers were given nothing but food. One third of all the workers died from the poor environment in which they worked and from starvation and the cold. They were brutally treated on unjust bases. Therefore, this â€Å"corrective labor,† as it was called, is really slavery at its core. World War II was the instigation of several other types of slavery, also, such as POW slavery, Holocaust slavery, and sexual slavery. Nazi Germany captured enemy civilians and soldiers and brutally enslaved them to fill the gaps in the workforce. Much of the weaponry made by the Germans during World War II was made by slaves. One manufacturing company alone – Krupp—held 100,000 slaves by the end of the war. Many of these slaves died from exhaustion, starvation, and lack of basic necessities. They were kept in stables like livestock. Those that didn’t die were forced to work in German factories and farms. In 1944, Germany held 9. 5 million slaves—7 million civilians and 2. 5 million captured soldiers. Russian women that the Germans captured were held as domestic slaves, and Russian adolescents that the Germans captured were apprenticed to German businessmen. Not only were the Germans notorious for their brutal system of slavery for prisoners of war, but even worse, they enslaved innocent Jews and other â€Å"undesirable† people during the Holocaust. As a method of exterminating them, these people were sent to labor camps where they were treated even worse than the prisoners of war. Children from 6-years-old up were forced to work in these camps. Slaves mined, built weapons, sewed, etc. Slaves there were driven to work too hard in tight spaces with the poorest of living conditions. They had poor and meager food rations and a shortage of shelter and clothing. Loads of people died from diseases such as tuberculosis, from being overworked, from the cold, and from starvation. Their corpses were systematically burned in huge crematoriums (Sylvester – everything above). The fact that there were scandals about slavery and labor camps during the time period of the World Wars indicates a similarity and difference between this time period and the Renaissance/ Industrial Revolution. A similarity is that all three time periods had some forms of slavery to enhance nations’ economies and extract resources. But a difference is that slavery in the World Wars was looked down upon and was underground, whereas it was not in the Renaissance. But there lies a similarity between the World Wars and the Industrial Revolution, in that in both, measures were enacted to end slavery and the slave trade. However, World War II had labor camps for prisoners of war and specific races, which had never been done before. It also had sexual slavery, which though it had been practiced before, never to the extent it was carried out in World War II. Some captured slaves in the World Wars were used as domestic slaves, as they were in the Renaissance. But in the World Wars, there was not the worldwide slave trade there was in the Renaissance and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Part 222 Introduction The 18th century English poet William Cowper’s poem, â€Å"Pity for Poor Africans,† accurately portrays the world’s mindset throughout history about slavery. A line from that poem reads, â€Å"I pity them [slaves] greatly, but I must be mum, for how could we do without sugar and rum? † This sums up much of the world’s motivation for millennia for slavery. Throughout history, slavery has been a way to easily derive resources and produce goods. It has played a very prominent role in shaping the world’s societies and economies. Though it may have struck a chord with peoples’ consciences, the world did not know how else to get luxuries and how to live without them, and so the world allowed this horrific practice to go on. This essay details more of how slavery was used as an economic stimulus, how the world finally took action against it, and what forms of it still were used after this action took place. Across three time periods in particular, slavery throughout the world has notable similarities and differences in areas such as the status of slavery, the way slavery influenced society, and the motivation for a civilization to practice slavery. These time periods are the Renaissance (1300-1650), the Industrial Revolution (1700-1900), and World Wars I and II (1914-1945). Conclusion As one can clearly see, slavery has been a major factor in affecting and molding the world’s economies and societies throughout all of history. It has gone through major changes, affecting the world as a whole, especially in three time periods, namely, the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, and World Wars I and II. Throughout all three and under many names, it was used as cheap labor to easily produce goods and advance civilizations’ economies. This slavery did, and it played a massive role in getting the world to where it is today. Without slavery, America might not have been industrialized or industrialized as quickly. Without slavery, we would not have the manufactured goods we have today. However, I am by no means condoning slavery; if slavery had not been practiced, millions of innocent, beautiful people would have lived their lives in freedom and would not have been torn away from their homeland, families, and livelihood to go labor without profit for people who abused and beat them. The Civil War would have been largely prevented if it weren’t for slavery. Though slavery was mostly domestic in the Renaissance, this does not make it any better. Also, the plantation slave emerged in that time period, and the triangular trade between Europe, Africa, and the Americas continued well into the Industrial Revolution. Men achieved luxury through the pain and misery of others. Thankfully, mankind realized, though later than it should have been, how deplorable this system was. Finally, they put an end to it through abolitionist movements that spread throughout the world at the end of the Industrial Revolution. Yet, slavery continued in several other forms into the 20th century. Throughout the time period of the World Wars, labor camps emerged. Though these were seen as punishment for criminals and war prisoners, they were slavery at root, used to industrialize and make transportation routes, weaponry, etc. These labor camps were even used against innocent Jews and other â€Å"undesirables† during the Holocaust. Unbeknownst to the world for a time, even outright and brutal slavery was still used as exemplified by King Leopold of Belgium. Sexual slavery is another often overlooked form of slavery that had been carried out through past time periods like the Renaissance and Industrial Revolution but that was executed en masse by the Japanese during World War II. Still today, the pernicious act of slavery continues to be practiced, though concealed to the world, in underdeveloped countries of the world. Let us hope that mankind’s conscience continues to overshadow its greed and that slavery continues to be fought until it is completely wiped out the whole world over.

Realism in Sweat Essay

In Zora Neale Hurston’s short story â€Å"Sweat† the author uses rhythm and repetition to shape her theme of survival and empowerment by simulating labored and conscious footsteps, rhythmic pounding of sledge hammers along a chain gang, and the loud beats of an anxious and overworked heart. This rhythm and repetition builds tension as Delia, the protagonist, finds within herself the strength necessary to survive and overcome the abuse with which she lives, and eventually conquering her abusive husband, Sykes, by allowing a snake’s venom to take over his blood stream, killing him. The rhythm and repetition found in the short story â€Å"Sweat† simulate the echoes of someone repeating to herself the motivational words necessary to her survival. It is the author’s use of rhythm and repetition that create detailed characters, plausible events, and the comprehensive and complex detail of banal activities of everyday life representative of realism in literature. In â€Å"Sweat,† Hurston tells the story of Delia, a middle-aged, black woman who works very hard washing clothes for white people to support her cheating, unemployed husband, Sykes, who continually berates her during bouts of physical abuse. Hurston uses accents in her rhythm to accurately and realistically simulate the sounds and actions of a washer woman bringing to life the torturous and necessary day to day activities of Delia. According to Kennedy, readers â€Å"favor a stressed syllable with a little more breath and emphasis† (429), and the author uses this technique to simulate in detail Delia’s mind and heart. True to the realism movement, Delia describes her life as, â€Å"Work and sweat, cry and sweat, pray and sweat† (233), as she works to grow beyond the poverty of her past. In reading this, one can hear Delia’s feet drag and pound, drag and pound, drag and pound. The author’s attention to detail allows the reader to hear and feel both rhythm and repetition with these phrases consisting of three words, each word being one syllable, and each phrase ending with, â€Å"and sweat. It is both the fact that Delia speaks to herself, as well as the words she uses, that inform the reader that Delia is pushing herself through the plausible life of a post Civil War washer woman in hopes for something better, and at the same time fighting for her survival. With the words â€Å"work† and â€Å"pray† the reader learns that the story’s protagonist is fighting for survival, hoping for survival, and begging her God for the assistance necessary for her survival . Delia’s life is one of begrudging hard work necessary for survival. When reading Delia’s words to her selfish husband, â€Å"Sweat, sweat, sweat† (233), the reader pictures the swinging sledgehammer of a southern slave sweating through life as he works endlessly in the heat of the sun. It is the rhythm of her words that allows the reader to envision an enslaved man swing the hammer back, up and over his head, and then come crashing down as the business end of the heavy tool connects with the rock at the very instant the reader hears Delia say, â€Å"Sweat. Despite the abolition of slavery, Delia’s life is one of servitude. Her master is Sykes. Her sledge hammer is â€Å"her knotty, muscled limbs, her harsh knuckly hands† (234). The reader feels the anxious dread of Delia as she works day in and day out at a hideous, painstaking job in order to earn the money necessary to feed herself and her husband, as she knows that the reality of her life is that she is the only person on whom she can depend to prevent her from becomin g homeless and/or dying from starvation. One begins to wonder how Delia survives the torment and abuse she receives from her husband, but she does. Delia accepts the abuse, and it strengthens her. The reader can feel and hear the rhythmic, â€Å"duh DUM, duh DUM, duh DUM,† pattern of Delia’s heart beat stronger and stronger in the author’s words, â€Å"Her tears, her sweat, her blood† (234). Her heart is tired. Her heart is overworked. Delia knows this. She feels this. She wants it to end. She works hard, and like other muscles, her heart gets stronger as it works. Delia continues to work her mind and body as endures the long, hard hours of work, as well as the physical and mental abuse of her husband. She will not succumb to the endless pain and suffering. The reader knows she is fighting in that she cries and works. One who is going to give into difficulty does not continue to work. Instead a person who wishes to give in lies down to die. Delia wants to survive. She fights for her survival everyday as she works, bleeds, cries, prays, and sweats. It is this drive to overcome that motivates Delia to continue existing in a Hell she hopes to someday escape. Hurston uses rhythm and repetition to create realistic details of the life of Delia as she shapes the theme of empowerment and survival in her short story â€Å"Sweat. † The author describes in detail the back breaking day to day reality of a Post Civil War woman as she strives with every ounce of her being to overcome the poverty of her past, and escape the bonds of slavery held by her husband.

Role Of The Medical Websites In The Awareness Of The Public Essay - 1

Role Of The Medical Websites In The Awareness Of The Public - Essay Example This website has considered all those factors and thus provides the email address, telephone number and even a live chat handle, where a member of the general public can directly chat with Ayuda en Vivo, who is available on weekdays at 8:30 am to 5:00 in the evening. In addition to this, there is a hotline that is toll-free and a fax number, catering for both English and Spanish speakers. This website is crucial to the general public, as far as their health is concerned. It is special since it provides information on a unique type of illness, a mental illness. Facilities providing treatment of these disorders are few; thus, there is dire need to provide enough information about their existence. This website has accurately done this by providing a mental health treatment locator, in addition to clear details of their offices and areas of specialization. The authors, who are officials in the U.S department of health and human sciences, exhaustively provide all the necessary data needed by the consumers, who are the general public. It, therefore, suffices to admit that the authors of this website are qualified to write it. The National Institute of Mental Health is the institution responsible for publishing this website, and the U.S government maintains it. The website is protected by various provisions of the U.S code. Any person in violation of this code is subject to criminal prosecution in a criminal court. To counter unauthorized attempts to add damage or change any information on the website, software programs are employed.Information from these soft wares is used in tracking down violators of the site for prosecution. The publications of NIMH are however available in the public domain. They may, therefore, be reproduced or copied without permission.

Performance Engineering Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Performance Engineering - Essay Example As the user continues to value the performance of a given project so is the time that the user also needs to concentrate on the risks that might lead to the failure of the set project. In addition, there are quality requirements that the user will have to put into consideration. For instance, scalability and performance are two qualities of service requirements. In addition, manageability as well as security are among other quality of the service requirements. The user needs to put into consideration in order to reduce risks as well boost performance of the system at he same time. Furthermore, the user can employ the mechanism of reactive against reactive mechanism in order to ensure that there is improved performance of any given project at a given time(Rangaswami et al.). In most organizations performance level is not in developers consideration until the point where the customer lounges a complaint against the performance standards of that particularly given project. Meaning, for the production, to meet the client’s expectation. Then it has to be frequently evaluated. On the other hand, there are many problems to consider when it comes to the reactive approach (Woodward M). Performance downfalls enter from time to time just from an early stage of the designs and at the same time the design problems can be hard to fix through more efficient coding. In addition, installing architectural problems thereafter in a given cycle is sometimes hard to make. Furthermore, making it at a later stage is not only difficult and complicated but also very costly to t he user. Performance is a persistent quality of hardware systems; everything has an impact on it, ranging from software itself to the rest of the underlying layers, such as hardware, system, communications network and middleware. The process involves a performance engineering, which incorporates efforts

Fat and Happy All at the Same Time Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Fat and Happy All at the Same Time - Essay Example She vividly discussed the convention activities and provided a touching and moving realization on what she referred to as overcoming her old assumptions. The second article Fat and Happy was written by Hillel Schwartz, presented two selections entitled Vindication of Fat and The Fat Society: A Utopia. Schwartz openly discussed in the first selection the prejudice and biases experienced by fat people which can range from childhood to adulthood. On the second selection regarding the Fat Society, Schwartz wittingly discussed the utopian spectacle of a Fat society, where size of your waists or hips does not matter in attaining social freedom or personal happiness. In Mary Ray Worley's Fat and Happy, the author's main argument was there are a "growing number of people who believe that it is possible to be happy with your body even if it happens to be fat." Worley successfully argued the aforementioned premises by sharing her own experiences and the realization of being fat and happy all at the same time. According to her, she was able to realize her full potential when she joined the NAFAA Convention.1 She was able to fully utilize and interpret the information she has gathered.