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Just brushing up on my PhD in the American Political system but I've now realised that I need to update my notes to more current situations.
The debate is asking which President has damaged the Federal aspect of America's politica system more and by that i mean they've increased the power of the Federal government at the expense of reduce power from the state governments.
An example could be that President Bush pushed for the passing of the No Child Left Behind Act, which led to all schools being tested on a national standard, thus disabling states from taking their own initiative in setting grade boundries.
Evidence is required for preliminary arguments.
I've decided to do another PhD in English Literiture and this was one of the essay topics we were given. It isn't due for a few months but I just wanted to see what arguments people could come up with.
In popular culture we rarely see poetry in its original form, in the past going to a theatre to hear people speak poetry was a popular pasttime and good oral speakers could earn a lot of money that way.
Nowadays, poetry seems to be confined in rhyming books for children or are there other means of which poetry still plays an important role in shaping culture? Could it be argued that 'rap' is a form of poetry?
For those of you who have yet to hear about the prisoner's dilemma, I shall try give you a brief explanation, there are many versions of this, but they have little differences.
Imagine that you and an aquaintance have committed a crime, which the local constabulary have apphrended you for. However the only evidence that they will be able to convict you with is a confession which they have yet to obtain. To try get either of you to confess they provide you with the following options:
If neither of you confess then you'll both be delayed for a period of 1 month and then the police will be forced to release you.
If both of you confess then you are jailed for 6 months.
If one of you confesses then they will be released immediatly while the other is put in jail for 1 year.
This game works on the principle that each 'player' will choose the opition which gives them the most benifit. It is easy to realise that the best option to take is to confess.
However, both the parties confess (because it is the better option for them individually) but it would have been more beneficial for them to both not confess. (For those who still cannot grasp this theory, please mention so in your argument and I will try to reply).
This brings me to the nuclear weapons crisis, while many countries with nuclear weapons (or WMDs) feel it is in their best interest to keep hold of them, it would equally be better for none of the countries to have nuclear weapons.
With fastly growing populations and major shifts from agricultral land to urban areas, cities are finding themselves with many people to house. Many architects are currently looking into appealing solutions for this (such as the "Vertical Street"). However, current cities, such as Hung Kong, have talked the problem by using a concept of high architectural density.
A quick search on the internet showed me a site with several of these images. (http://www.boredpanda.com/architecture-of-density-hong-kong-michael-wolf/)
The question I am posing for this debate, is that will economic effiency mean that the same, small apartments repeated on a massive scale will mean that similar buildings as the one above will be copied all over the planet? Or will our civilizations opt for a more asthetically pleasing, less-practical design of structure?
When I was studying for my PhD in Geotechnical Engineering (University of Texas), the University had decided to reduce funding for the sciences by 50% so that they could replace their sporting equipment. Now I know popular culture and media promotes sports and athlectics over science and academics; so it is understandable why the Dean decided to switch funding like that.
Now I am retired (with a few more PhDs), I believe that it is the responsibility of the Government to improve the overall intelligence of our population and place more sponsership in academic, specifically scientific, learning in University to ensure that the next generation is able to achieve the skills they want.