Monday, May 18, 2020

History of Post Office Technology

At the turn of the 20th century, the Post Office Department relied entirely on antiquated mailhandling operations, such as the pigeonhole method of letter sorting, a holdover from colonial times. Although crude sorting machines were proposed by inventors of canceling machines in the early 1900s and tested in the 1920s, the Great Depression and World War II postponed widespread development of post office mechanization until the mid-1950s. The Post Office Department then took major steps toward mechanization by initiating projects and awarding contracts for the development of a number of machines and technologies, including letter sorters, facer-cancelers, automatic address readers, parcel sorters, advanced tray conveyors, flat sorters, and letter mail coding and stamp-tagging technology. Post Office Sorting Machines Post Office Cancelers Post Office Optical Character Reader Mechanization increased productivity. By the mid-1970s, however, it was clear that cheaper, more efficient methods and equipment were needed if the Postal Service was to offset rising costs associated with growing mail volume. To reduce the number of mail piece handlings, the Postal Service began to develop an expanded ZIP Code in 1978. The new code required new equipment. The Post Office entered the age of automation in September 1982 when the first computer-driven single-line optical character reader was installed in Los Angeles. The equipment required a letter to be read only once at the originating office by an OCR, which printed a barcode on the envelope. At the destinating office, a less expensive barcode sorter (BCS) sorted the mail by reading its barcode. Following the introduction of the ZIP4 code in 1983, the first delivery phase of the new OCR channel sorters and BCSs was completed by mid-1984. Today, a new generation of equipment is changing the way mail flows and improving productivity. Multiline optical character readers (MLOCRs) read the entire address on an envelope, spray a barcode on the envelope, then sort it at the rate of more than nine per second. Wide area barcode readers can read a barcode virtually anywhere on a letter. Advanced facer-canceler systems face, cancel, and sort mail. The remote barcoding system (RBCS) provides barcoding for handwritten script mail or mail that cannot be read by OCRs. Walk-It Until now, most of the emphasis in automation has been processing machine-imprinted mail. Still, letter mail with addresses that were handwritten or not machine-readable had to be processed manually or by a letter sorting machine. The RBCS now allows most of this mail to receive delivery point barcodes without being removed from the automated mailstream. When MLOCRs cannot read an address, they spray an identifying code on the back of the envelope. Operators at a data entry site, which may be far from the mail processing facility, read the address on a video screen and key a code that allows a computer to determine the ZIP Code information. The results are transmitted back to a modified barcode sorter, which pulls the 11-digit ZIP Code information for that item, and sprays the correct barcode on the front of the envelope. The mail then can be sorted within the automated mailstream. Handling Paper Flow Competition and Change Competition grew for every postal product. The rise of fax machines, electronic communications, and other technologies offered alternatives for conveying bills, statements, and personal messages. Entrepreneurs and publishing companies set up alternate delivery networks in an attempt to hold down the costs of delivering magazines and newspapers. Many third-class mailers, finding their mailing budgets reduced and their postage rates increased higher than expected, began shifting some of their expenditures to other forms of advertising, including cable television and telemarketing. Private companies continued to dominate the market for the urgent delivery of mail and packages.

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Essay on the Soul of the Artist in A Portrait of the...

Soul of the Artist in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man As James Joyces A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man unfolds, protagonist Stephen Dedalus personal vision grows closer and closer to that of an artist. Stephen attempts throughout the story to understand the inspiration he receives while being tormented by influences that seem to distract him. Stephens thoughtful approach to his experiences, brings him through his tormented youth to a refined understanding of his feelings about art. After explicitly stating his aesthetic theories, Stephen composes a villanelle whose structure and classically Joycean crafted diction implicitly represent Stephens entire story. Once the parallel is established, it†¦show more content†¦But evidence does exist to suggest that this poem is not merely the raw artists first work but a representation of Joyces dramatic art, wherein he [the artist] presents his image in immediate relation to others (481): this poem is implicitly a condensation for the reader of the key elements of Stephens whole story. First, consider the fact that there are nineteen lines in the poem, and nineteen sections (as separated by three asterisks) in the novel. If not for the further evidence presented in the villanelles structure and content, this could be dismissed as coincidence. But the first and third lines are repeated in the stanzas following: line 1 in the second and fourth, and line 3 in the third and fifth. Likewise, throughout his story, Stephen grapples with the church and with his sexuality, alternating between the two. Major instances of this vacillation appear in each chapter: as a young boy at Clongowes, he considers the implications of Gods name (262); the young adolescent Stephen struggles to allow himself to be kissed by a prostitute (353), leading to guilt as he tries to reconcile himself with the church (395-7); and the vision of a woman on the beach keeps him from promising himself to the priesthood (434). The final two lines of the villanelle present lines 1 and 3 repeated as a couplet. As we will see in the next section, they represent the change of focus that takes place in Stephen as he writes this poem, redirecting his energy from theShow MoreRelatedStephen As A Fan Of Lord Byron s Poetry1503 Words   |  7 Pagesattending his first year at Belvedere College. He was accused of heresy by Mr. Tate, the English master. While in class, Mr. Tate accused Stephen of heresy, and Stephen knew his essay contained heresy because he, â€Å"did not look up. [†¦] He was conscious of failure and detection [†¦]† (Joyce, 69) After opening Stephen’s essay to find the heresy in question, Mr. Tate proclaimed, â€Å"Ah! without a possibility of ever approaching nearer. That’s heresy,† to which Stephen mumbled, â€Å"I meant without a possibilityRead More A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Essay1512 Words   |  7 PagesA Portrait of the Artist as a Young M an Stephen Dedalus - Rebel Without a Cause? His soul had arisen from the grave of boyhood, spurning her grave-clothes. Yes! Yes! Yes! He would create proudly out of the freedom and power of his soul, as the great artificer whose name he bore, a living thing, new and soaring and beautiful, impalpable, imperishable Throughout A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man Stephen Dedalus is persistently portrayed as the outsider, apart from the society he andRead More The Key Elements of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Essay1853 Words   |  8 PagesKey Elements of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   James Joyces A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man provides an introspective exploration of an Irish Catholic upbringing. To provide the reader with a proper interpretation, Joyce permeates the story with vivid imagery and a variety of linguistic devices. This paper will provide an in-depth of analysis of the work by examining its key elements. The central theme of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is Stephen DedalusRead MoreDorian Gray And Dr Faustus Literary Analysis1278 Words   |  6 PagesFinal Essay Dorian Gray and Dr Faustus By Mohammad Hussain Starting with greed and temptation, then with a sense of immortality, and ending with destruction of one s morals and soul. In the novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde, the main character trades his soul for what he desires most, beauty and eternal youth. He ends up dying after living a tortuous life because of the damage he has to his soul. Similarly, in Dr. Faustus, a play by Christopher Marlowe, a doctor sells his soul to theRead MoreA Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man1594 Words   |  7 Pages EL111 The purpose of this essay is to discuss how James Joyce’s seminal novel A Portrait of the Artist as a young man, is experimental with regards to plot, point of view, language, symbolism, style and character development, and will begin with a brief introduction. Many artists, be they of the pen, brush or instrument, seek through innovation an artistic immortality that has the potential to act as a blueprint from which imitation is spawned. Joyce’s Portrait is at its core innovative pioneeringRead More James Joyces A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Flann OBriens At Swim-Two-Birds and Modernist Writing2431 Words   |  10 PagesJames Joyces A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Flann OBriens At Swim-Two-Birds and Modernist Writing The Twentieth Century found literature with a considerably different attitude and frame-of-mind than had the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Two hundred years is, of course, a long time to allow change within genres, but after the fairly gradual progression of the novel as a form, its change in the hands of modernism happened rapidly in comparison. Explaining how textsRead MoreEssay James Joyce and Catholicism in Portrait and Dubliners3374 Words   |  14 Pagesreligion is a motif brought forth prominently in Joyces works. In Dubliners, his book of short stories as well as his supposed autobiography, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Joyce shows religious turmoil and indecision through his characters. Stephen Dedalus, the main character in the journal-like story of Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, goes through an internal turmoil of his own throughout the entire book on how he would view religion. He shows certain extremities of religiousRead MoreDedalus and Daed alus In James Joyce’s novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Joyce tells1500 Words   |  6 PagesDedalus and Daedalus In James Joyce’s novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Joyce tells us a story of a young man who struggles with who he is and who he is to become. Stephen Dedalus was born into an Irish Catholic family with very strong beliefs. Stephan believes in God and follows the path he is taught. His young life is very doctrinaire, but he believes in his God. He follows the ways of the Church because he does not want to let God down. Later, as Stephan matures, he struggles withRead MoreEssay on Oscar Wildes Success at a Gothic Novel1489 Words   |  6 PagesIn this essay I will be looking at how successful Oscar Wilde was at creating a gothic novel. I will be using Edgar Alan Poe’s short story The Fall of the House of Usher and the film Bram Stokers, Dracula and the The Picture of Dorian Gray. In this essay I will be looking at how successful Oscar Wilde was at creating a gothic novel. I will be using Edgar Alan Poe’s short story ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ and the film ‘Bram Stokers, Dracula’ and the earlier version ‘Nosferatu’ asRead More Stephen Dedalus in James Joyces A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man3169 Words   |  13 PagesStephen Dedalus in James Joyces A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man When the soul of a man is born in this country there are nets flung at it to hold it back from flight. You talk to me of nationality, language, religion. I shall try to fly by those nets The spirit of Ireland is embodied in young Stephen Dedalus, the central character of James Joyces A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Like the Dedalus of Greek myth, Stephen must grow wings so that he may fly above the tribulations

Music from around the world Essay Example For Students

Music from around the world Essay World Claude Debussy and the Javanese Gametal Article Summary The article Claude Debussy and the Javanese Gametal clearly showed a change in Claude Debussy music style from the time before he originally heard the native gametal music at the Paris Exhibition, until all of the time after he was influenced by this music. There were many examples of how Debussy was greatly influenced by the gametal music. The author of this article uses quotes from letters, and other writings, as well as the author lists five pieces of criteria required to show that a song imposed by Debussy after the Exhibition was influenced greatly by gametal in comparison to the composed works of Debussy prior to this experience. The quotes that Debussy stated in some of his letters mainly hit the points that the gametal music shows its freedom from rules of functional harmony, its free forms, unrelated to those of European music, the fascinating timbre of the percussive instruments, and the layered texture, free from the European rules of counterpoint. Next, the five pieces of criteria to show the influence on Debussy music included and were listed n the article as, titles suggestive of the orient or exoticism. Passages or formal structures built around station techniques or large-scale repetition, including forms which are built on circular or symmetrical patterns, rather than on the tonal logic of western music. After that, Pitch materials, motives or scales suggestive of gametal. Aside from the few examples of direct borrowing, this mostly consists of the use of non-diatonic scales (whole-tone and pentatonic, among others) which suggest slender and people tunings used in gametal music, or at least scales and tunings which are different from the major-minor system. Timbres and tone colors evocative of the gametal. The resonating piano is perhaps Western musics closest approximation of the sound of the gametal. Soft, pedaled, staccato notes, soft seconds, low fifths held in the pedal, and high, fast, station-type figures all suggest aspects of the gentlemans timbre. Finally, Textures reminiscent of layered gametal texture. The most characteristic texture is a low, slow-moving, sustained gong sound, overlaid by a moderately moving melody in the middle range of the piano, and faster- vowing fugues in the upper range of the piano. These were all ways that the author of this article was able to see the clear influence of Gametal music on Debussy music. The author believes that Debussy was definitely influenced by their music, but he did not Just try to make a form of Western music using Gametal influence, he tried to write include many of their techniques in his musical repertoire. Also the author still asks the question at the end of the article in wonder if Debussy was fully influenced by Gametal or was he influenced by many other unknown forms and quenches of other musical cultures. I found this article to be extremely interesting as well as informative due to many reasons. For example, I liked the authors way of testing to see if Debussy music compositions changed greatly after seeing the Gametal music exhibition. Another thing I found to be interesting was the quotes and ideas Debussy had regarding music, as well as gametal music more specifically. It truly seemed like he grew to love music from around the world By filtered well written, and was very informative when it came to the history of Gametal and its influence on Claude Debussy.