Linux MUOS Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Linux MUOS Report - Essay Example Servers, such as a Linux or Windows Server, 2009, can provide real-time access to numerous users on a network. Most multiuser systems use preemptive, multitasking technology. These systems are intended to handle up to about 10 simultaneous users before they buckle under the load. A server system can typically handle hundreds of users at once. Linux is a UNIX look-alike system that is popular as a server operating system in business, education, and government and is rapidly replacing UNIX (Benvenuti 2006). Linux operating systems are particularly popular for servers because they take advantage of a huge open source software community. Open source software is typically developed by thousands of volunteers, relies on peer review, contains code in the public domain, and is typically distributed free. The principle features of a multi-user operating system Resource Sharing One of the critical responsibilities of an OS is to manage the available resources such as memory, or processor time. Multiuser systems must implement an execution setting in which several processes can be active concomitantly and compete for system resources, mainly the CPU (Bovet and Cesati n.d.). Even though a computer has two or more CPUs, it is still important that one user does not dominate all of the time on a CPU; the computer might appear to hang and possibly crashing the computer. The operating system uses specialized programs called resource managers to ensure that memory is used properly without any memory conflicts (Palmer and Walters n.d., p. 12). The operating system will give each user a time slice on the CPU. Each user does a little work during its time slice and then hands the CPU access over to the next user for its time slice. Multi-tasking Multitasking is another crucial feature of a multiuser operating system. A multitasking OS can handle more than one processor, as the jobs are executed different processors. (Buchanan 1999, p. 42). The running state of the program is called a process or task. A multitasking OS supports two or more simultaneously executing processes. A multiuser OS allows concurrent admittance to a computer system via two or more terminals. Although commonly associated with multiprogramming, multiuser OS does not imply multitasking. A multiuser system usually breaks the disk space up into user directories, so that each user has his data files in a separate place (Baldwin 1986, p. 271). Background Processing In a multiuser operating system, two or more active processes are permits. During the execution of such processes, the OS protects the memory space reserved for one process from other processes. Out of multiple processes, most of these systems only process and recognize input from mouse, keyboard, or other input devices (Yadav 2010, p.146). This process is known as the foreground processes. The rest of the processes are said to be background processes. Background processes cannot accept interactive participation from a user, but they can access information stored on a disk, ready to write it to the video display. In a large multiuser OS, the number may be hundreds of processes running, with each having several active services at once. In fact, even though no users use the system that is running, dozens of background processes, called daemons (Liu, Yue, & Guo 2011, p. 82), are executing. Types of multi-user operating system Multi-processor There are many types of multiuser operati

Critical Summary and Evaluation Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Critical Summary and Evaluation - Term Paper Example Moreover, he believes that the education system needs to be reformed to such an extent that only the best students can be attracted to become teachers, especially in high school and middle school. This will encourage students to learn and excel in their academics, because they will be taught by people who know what is best for them. He observes that this is not the current case in most schools because most of those who are assigned as teachers are the ones who used to perform poorly in class. This, in Gutting’s opinion, is one of the reasons why there is so little motivation among students to perform in their academics; these students are not even focused on what they want to do in life, instead concentrating on irrelevant things. The same case seems to apply to those who teach them because they have no new knowledge to provide students. Since the teachers themselves were not strong performers in class, they do not concentrate on building the intellectual capabilities of their students. It can therefore, be said that more incentives should be provided to those teachers who are highly educated, so that they can comfortably be able to teach high school, hence do away with the need for students to go to college. ... Gutting suggests that steps be taken to ensure that high schools are as attractive to teach in as colleges are. Only the best teacher should be recruited to teach the students so that their performance can be improved. Furthermore, it is also necessary to improve the infrastructure in schools so that both teachers and students feel comfortable working within it. If all these are implemented, then, Gutting suggests, a high school education would be sufficient to allow an individual to function perfectly in the workplace. Only those who want to specialize in certain fields should be the ones going to college. Evaluation When one considers the article by Gutting, one will find that most of his arguments make sense. It is, indeed, true that the quality of high school education in America has been gradually eroding over the years. This is due to the lack of qualified people to teach high school students. If the majority of the teachers today were competent enough in what they were doing, then it would not have been necessary for students to go to college in the first place. College would have been only for those people who were interested in furthering their education. Making high school teaching jobs attractive would require the introduction of equal or more incentive than that given to college professors. This will ensure that more professionals who would otherwise have opted to teach in colleges going to teach in high school. Such a move would almost instantly ensure that the quality of education in high schools went up. It would offer high school students an insight into what exactly they would like to do in their lives. Furthermore, these teachers would function as role models for their students, who would

The Cold War Between The USSR And US

The Cold War Between The USSR And US The time in the Cold War era between 1945-1991 was a turbulent direction for both the newly amassed superpowers of the United States and Soviet Union. The cold war is referenced as a continuous time of military and political tension between powers of the United States with NATO and other allies and the Soviet Union with the Warsaw Pact and other allies. The Arms race in the Cold War, had profoundly negative effects on the opposing superpowers. These effects created a deteriorating relationship between the USA and the USSR, the Cuban Missile Crisis and contributed to the financial downfall of the Soviet Union in its final days. The United States and Russia have a much more acceptable relationship in the current day, but in the Cold War era, the hostilities rose to a near breaking point level. Hypothetically, if hostilities were not prevented in time, the world could have been permanently silenced through a potential Nuclear holocaust. The United States and the Soviet Union relationship during the Arms Race period in the Cold War era was one of unpredictable possibility; brimming with hostility and tension. The two nations promoted opposing political and economic ideology and the two nations competed for international control. This aroused a geopolitical, ideological, and economic struggle, lasting from 1947 to the period leading to the collapse of the Soviet Union on December 26, 1991. With Capitalism versus Communism as a constant factor; ever present between the two factions, relationships between governments and citizens of two began to disassemble. Stocking of Weapons of Mass Destruction, also kept the intimidation factor present along with unrivaled competition between both countries. With these factors present, the Mutual Assured Destruction doctrine of military strategy and national security policy was put into effect. M.A.D consisted of full-scale use of weapons of mass destruction by two rivaling sides. W hich, would effectively result in destruction of both the attacker and the defender, becoming a war that has no victory but only total destruction. With this as an ever present danger, both sides remained hostile but did not commit to weapon fire. Obviously knowing the dire consequences that would result. The compilation of Nuclear Armament was only one tool used between the two nations in this Silent War. Propaganda by both countries and assimilation of other nations by the U.S and Soviets was a factor as well. Propaganda posters consisted of anti-communist art on the US side while anti-capitalism was present on the Soviets side. With propaganda influencing citizens of both countries, any Necessary actions needed to be taken by either country, would have most likely been uncontested by civilians. Due to the rising hostilities and danger. Present danger not only due to Nuclear armaments, but from shadow wars as well. An example would be the communist occupation of Vietnam. War histo rians often say that the viet cong who fought aggressively against the United states, were only the tools of communist Russia to indirectly fight the united states. With immense numbers of casualties present for both vietnam and united states, relations between them soured. This war helped fuel the Russian machine to create more weapons and fuel communist encroachment upon other countries. This war was not only of contested territory, but a source of wealth for russia. With Viet-cong needing weapon and russia supplying them, wealth was made. The united states had discovered this and it became essentially a war against communism. The United States and Russia often had times of dà ©tente; which gave the race brief periods of break for negotiations and other settlements. The presence of periods eventually allowed the competing superpowers to come to a settlement and end superpower cold war/arms race, allowing the world to finally relax from pure tension. The Cuban missile crisis was the most severe Cold War confrontation between the United States and the USSR and that took place in October, 1962. The U.S. discovered that the Soviets were in the process of positioning nuclear missiles in Communist Cuba. The United States then tried to interrupt and stop the process by placing naval blockade to stop Soviet ships carrying missiles to Cuba. On October 22, U.S. military alert was set at Defcon 3 and Fidel Castro began to mobilizes all of his military forces. On October 24, Soviet ships entered the quarantine line placed by the US and received orders from Moscow to hold their positions while being backed up by Soviet reinforcements. President John F Kennedy concluded that if he attempted to invade within ten days, the missile bases in Cuba would likely fire a portion of the missiles at US targets. With the missiles armed with nuclear warheads, the result would have disastrous. On October 25, American military units were forced to enter Def con 2- the highest of all time in U.S. history. On October 26, Khrushchev received a cable message from Fidel Castro demanding a nuclear strike against the US in the event Cuba was actually invaded. The intensified moment of the Cuban Missile Crisis was during the evening of Saturday, 27 October 1962, when the negotiations of the crisis, had disappeared . Soviet ships didnt try to break the U.S naval blockade of Cuba, but, Soviet missile bases stayed on the island and were becoming operational and ready to fire. President Kennedy was pressured to order an air strike or invasion was increasing rapidly, especially after the American U-2 reconnaissance plane was taken down over in cuba that same Saturday afternoon and its pilot was unfortunately killed. Any hope of a resolution to the crisis that could be achieved between Washington and Moscow had begun to disappear. A letter from Soviet leader Khrushchev arrived on that Saturday morning demanding that the United States needed to agree to remove its Jupiter ballistic missiles from Turkey in for the Soviets removal of missiles from Cuba. Khrushchev`s letter was felt to U.S. officials as an ominous event of the Soviet decision from the older letter from Khrushchev, didnt mention the U.S missiles in Turkey but instead implied that Washingtons agreement not to invade Cuba at the time would have been sufficient to end the need for Soviet`s nuclear protection of Castros government. On October 28, the crisis finally ends with the U.S agreement to remove their Jupiter missiles from Turkey. During a speech aired on Moscow Radio, Khrushchev announced the process of dismantling the Soviet missiles in Cuba and insisted on his demands concerning the elimination of U.S. missiles from Turkey. During the Cuban missile crisis, both superpowers discovered that risking war in pursuit of political ideals and gain was intelligibly too dangerous. It was the final event during the Cold War that both sides would escalate hostilities to create a hazard of this level. Even after the Crisis, the USSR and U.S still imposed their competition in conflicts in other locations of the planet . Africas independent nations such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, received military interruption from the United States and the USSR. In this era, Cuba played a significant role alongside the USSR. The Chinese, who were now cautious of the USSR, participated against them on the side of the United States. The early 1980s was the concluding area of disputes between the United States and the USSR, resulting directly from the 1979 Soviets invasion of Afghanistan to establish and create a Communist regime. In 1983, president Ronald Reagan announced the creation of Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). SDI is was brought forward as a satellite defense system, which would destroy incoming missiles in space. During August of 1985, the Soviet Union announced a nuclear testing pausing. In December of 1987, Mikhail Gorbachev and President Reagan signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces; the first arms accord signed by both Washington and Moscow that calls for the elimination the intermediate-range ballistic missiles. During July of 1991, the U.S. and the USSR signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Act finally ceasing anything related to a Cold War or an Arms race. The world was finally at peace from a possible Nuclear fallout. The downfall of Soviet Union can be connected to the Arms race between the two superpowers of the U.S and the USSR. The results from the arms race left too much unused waste material, such as the stockpile of nuclear warheads and costed both superpowers a hefty sum. The Soviets continued to invest too much currency into their government to keep up with the U.S. The Soviets had to increase effort to reach where they were before the escalation and the results to this upsurge were not pleasant. The Soviet economy was becoming stagnant, while their military spending passed the threshold of acceptable. President Reagans Defense Initiative was a threat that needed to be countered, and the Soviets threw increased amounts of money at the military . The US had spent about 18% of its Gross Domestic Product at their military, while the Soviets were spending up to 35%. This resulted in Russia bankrupting itself. There was far too much nepotism of government elites, and tampering with the account s and ledgers to fulfil the plans. The Soviet economy was becoming stagnant, while their military spending passed the threshold of acceptable. To stop all stagnation occurring, Gorbachev introduced the ideals of Glasnost and Perestroika to patch the communist system, and make it work more suitable. All it really did was allow people to openly criticise their system and soon there was a calling for it to be replaced by citizens. The Communist ideology was not delivering theparadise for workers the government had promised, wages were stagnant, housing was poor, transport was difficult and from the lifestyle was extremely different from the West. Soviet children were becoming languor of being told that they watch certain films, that they couldnt listen to music from the west, and listen to Western Radio station. Glasnost had allowed them to speak out against their regime and allowed them to listen music they chose. In the Republics, people were becoming tired of the Soviets. Citizens w anted to govern themselves, or have more choice within the Soviet idea, but the government would not falter. Glasnost created the opportunity where they could criticise and begin to organise themselves. Eventually the people in the Republics started protesting, requesting independence, and after the collapse of the union, it was achieved. The event that finally ceased the Soviet Union into the history was the failed coup of August 1991. Communist associates attempted to remove Gorbachev from office, and place in a more stalinist style government. In two months of the coup the Soviet Union was no longer existed. In all of this, was the fact that the state elite no longer believed in communism ideals, and began to see how capitalism gave the chance to gain wealth like their Western rivals earn. The elite abandoned any previous thoughts of communism from 1989 and below, setting up banks and businesses and taking ownership of the companies where they worked. The final revolution had end ed the Soviet Union. In conclusion, the Arms race in the Cold War era between the USSR and U.S in 1945-1991 was a poor situation for both superpowers. The Arms race in the Cold War, had negative results on the opposing superpowers. Due to the cold war being a continuous state of political and military tension between the United States with NATO and other allies; against powers like the Soviet Union with the Warsaw Pact and other allies.These effects created a deteriorating relationship between the USA and the USSR, the Cuban Missile Crisis and contributed to the financial downfall of the Soviet Union in its final days. The United States and Russia have a much more acceptable relationship in the current day, but in the Cold War era, the hostilities rose to a near breaking point level. The events that occured, created a time in history that can be referenced for many generations of how competing ideologies and too much power competition between superpower countries can result in dire situations like the of October 25 of 1962 if not handled correctly.

802.11 standards :: essays research papers

Abbreviation of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, pronounced I-triple-E. Founded in 1884 as the AIEE, the IEEE was formed in 1963 when AIEE merged with IRE. IEEE is an organization composed of engineers, scientists, and students. The IEEE is best known for developing standards for the computer and electronics industry. In particular, the IEEE 802 standards for local-area networks are widely followed. Anyone that has worked with a computer on a network has at some point been exposed to the 802 standards. The 802 standards developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electonics Engineers for the primary use in the computer and electronics industry. The IEEE 802 standards for local area networks are widely followed. The IEEE only establishes the standard. The industry leaders in network technology have for the most part accepted these standards and develop their products to meet these standards. What are the pros and cons of developing to a set standard? The standards developed under the 802 title cover several aspects of networking technology. A short list of the standard and the area covered are: LAN/MAN Bridging & Management (802.1) Logical Link Control (802.2) Token Ring Access Method (802.5) Wireless LANs (802.11) Demand Priority Access Method (802.12) Wireless Personal Area Networks (802.15) Broadband Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks (802.16) Resilent Packet Rings (802.17) (http://standards.ieee.org/catalog/olis/lanman.html) There has been volumes written on each of these standards. The one that most individuals have been exposed to is the 802.11(X) standard. This standard deals with the setup and use of a wireless local area network. This LAN for many is setup as a home network consisting of a high speed moden, wireless router and a pc/laptop with a wireless network interface card. Some of the more popular vendors for wireless NIC’s and routers are Netgear, D-link and Belkins. The size and shape of the hardware might be slightly different but they all conform to the 802.11 standard. Until recently most people didn’t pay much attention to the small â€Å"b† following the 802.11 (802.11b). Most non-engineers would buy the product, install the device and hoped that it worked. In today’s environment it may not be quite that easy. The type of NIC must match the router being used in terms of the 802.11( ) standard in use. These wireless products come in 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11b/g. These suffix letters have a distinct meaning in the world of wireless. Knowing what they mean even at a novice level will be a time and money saver.

Angel of Death Dr Josef Mengele Essay

During world war two, the holocaust affected millions of lives, especially those of the twins and the children at Auschwitz, who were brutally experimented on with no pan management while under the supervision of Dr. Joseph Mengele. Many died and the rest lived the rest of their lives with severe medical problems. Dr. Mengele was not a simple creature though. The creation of the Nazi angel of death began as a child in a cold distant family, and gradually evolved with his enrolling into college, joining of his political party and the military. Both of which were vital for his desire to perform his twisted experiments. Experiments that were so cruel and brutal he was forced to flee Germany after the war for fear of being put to death himself. What Joseph Mengele did at Auschwitz left his victims scarred both mentally and physically for the rest of their lives. Dr. Joseph Mengele was born to Karl and Walburga Mengele in the Bavarian village of Gunzburg. He was the eldest of three children his two brothers were Alois and Karl Jr. ife at home was not a gentle loving embrace by any means. From all accounts Karl Mengele was a harsh and distant man. One who’s main concern in life was the pursuit of his fortune. Karl owned a factory that manufactured farm equipment. He was never home for he was so preoccupied with work. All this left Walburga with the children and she ruled her home with a cold iron fist, the boys were not allowed and form of pleasure at all they led strict Roman Catholic lives just as their parents did, days filled with hard labor and prayer. Posner & Ware). This cold and emotionally withdrawn life at home is most likely what caused young joseph to defy his father’s wishes of taking over the family business to enroll in college at the University of Frankfurt. Although not an especially outstanding student as far as academics or his marks in school, he was considered to be a bright young man and a very punctual student. It was in the subjects of medicine and the arts of healing that joseph found he infatuated with. But also he held a great interest in eugenics and genetics, specifically genes that caused human deformities and ‘imperfections’. It was also at this time that he became involved with the idea of the unworthy life theory. in 1934 he was awarded a Ph. D. for his thesis ‘racial morphological research on the lower jaw sections of four racial groups. By 1935 Josef had already delved deep in to the world of politics and the military intrigue of the day. In 1937 he was recommended for and received a position at the third Reich institute for heredity, biology and racial purity in Frankfurt. Here he met the man who would become his mentor, surrogate father and the one who would be the inspiration for his most vile acts professor Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer. (Astor). By 1938 Josef, twenty-eight years of age, at the time held positions of enormous power within the Nazi party but that year it all changed when he joined the Waffen SS. Hitler’s elite killing squad, and with his joining of the Waffen SS he was assigned to be the head of Auschwitz the German hell. Mengele quickly made his blood lust apparent when he ordered one thousand gypsies gassed the day after he arrived. But above all his favorite job at Auschwitz was the sorting of the new arrivals. He would be at the train every day in hand tailored freshly pressed uniforms and the while gloves that he would become infamous for. He would walk down the line as the inmates were herded off the cattle cars and with his riding crop he would direct them right or left. Those who were sent to the right were to be put to death immediately. The ones sent to the left were to be made to do slave labor and be animals for the doctor’s experiments. His favorites were the children, especially the twins. Mengele regarded twins higher than all others. The other officers who would aid Mengele in the sorting were given special orders to search for twins. They were even given special quarters away from the rest of the inmates. (Astor). These twins were afforded many niceties that the other inmates would only dream of such as they were allowed to keep their hair, their own clothes and often times given candy; the twins were even provided with medical treatment should they become ill. No one would dare let one of the doctors become overly ill or die from an illness. (Kor). He was infamous for going into a flurry of rage if one of his twins were to die. What was in store for the twins that he loved so much were what can only be described as the most appalling and inhumane events that occurred in the second great war. Some of the tests were fairly run of the mill, questionnaires, and height and weight measurements. Standard procedure for any doctor but the worst was yet to come. Mengele was known for many of his experiments. Just a few of his favorites were those which involved eye color, resistance to disease and live human dissection. Mengele would find pair of twins which he believed was suitable for his desired experiment. (Lagnado & Dekel). The eyes for example one twin would be a control for the experiment. The other would have a colored dye injected into their eye. No anesthesia was ever involved; the insertion of the dye often times would result in nasty infections or complete blindness. Others involved live human dissection of infants and very young children. He carried out twin-to-twin transfusions, stitched twins together, castrated or sterilized twins. Many twins had limbs and organs removed in macabre surgical procedures, performed without using an anesthetic. He also did multiple sex changes and tests to see if twins needed each other to survive one would be placed in isolation with little or no food and no clothes. As part of his normal practice he did not use and sort of pain numbing agents in any of his procedures. While Dr. Mengele was doing these dissection’s he would often try to remove organs and observe the effects that this would have on the live subjects. (Bulow). Although many Nazi doctors justified Mengele’s experiments as scientifically relevant. But they were no more than a sick psychopath acting out his most hellish desires and fantasies. It was a commonly known fact that Dr. Mengele kept trophies from his experiments. He would keep the eyes from his experiments and pin them on the wall of his office much as one would pin a butterfly to a corkboard to be admired later. Also he had a lampshade which he made with his own two hands which was crafted out the ears of the children he had experimented on. Among other things Mengele often tried gene splicing or genetic alterations on his patients. He would do so be transfusing large amounts of blood or other bodily fluids from one subject to another or subject them to massive amounts of radiation. Other methods included but were not limited to exposure to noxious gases or other types of chemical weapons. Dr. Josef Mengele fled from Auschwitz on January 17th, 1945, as the Soviet army advanced across the crumbling German Reich towards Berlin. During the first few years of the post-war era, Mengele remained in hiding on farm near his native Gunzburg. He assumed a fake identity, and worked as a farm hand, keeping informed of events through secret contacts with old Gunzburg friends. Incredibly, he at first aspired to continue his career as a research scientist, but it became increasingly apparent that the Allies were not going to let a notorious war criminal such as he simply resume the life he had enjoyed prior to the war without paying for the crimes he had committed during it. Mengele finally decided that he was no longer safe in Europe and escaped through Italy to an ocean liner bound for Argentina. Kor). Mengele arrived in Argentina in 1949, a country that was ruled by the popular dictator Juan Peron. The right-wing ruler had already cultivated a friendly relationship with Nazis in Europe, as well as with those who lived in the German expatriate community in Argentina. Mengele was able to slip unnoticed into such a setting with ease and had soon established a network of Nazi devotees who were willing to help him assume a new identity in South America. Mengele was to spend the next thirty years on the run from international authorities. While he received aid and shelter from the neo-Nazi network in Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil, Mengele was also inadvertently assisted by a lack of commitment on the part of the West German government to bring the Angel of Death to justice, and a similar lack of commitment on the part of the United States Justice Department. (Astor,137)The Israeli government had no such lack of commitment to his capture, trial and execution. In fact, Israeli agents were close to seizing Mengele on a handful of occasions in the early-to-mid 1960s. However, international uproar over Israel’s kidnapping of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann from Argentina in 1960, and pressing security issues involving hostile Arab states, sidetracked Israeli efforts to pursue Mengele. (Kor). While Nazi-hunters such as Simon Wiesenthal continued to press for Mengele’s capture and execution, the notorious Nazi doctor seemed to drop off the radar screen of most international governments. Interest in his case was suddenly reinvigorated when, on January 17, 1985, a group of Auschwitz survivors returned to the death camp to memorialize friends and family who had perished there. A week later, many of the same survivors gathered in Jerusalem to try Mengele in absentia. The event was televised around the globe, and for four consecutive nights, the airwaves were filled with images of survivors recounting their gruesome, barbaric treatment at the hands of Josef Mengele. Within less than a month, both the United States Justice Department and the Israeli government had announced that the case of Josef Mengele was officially reopened and strategies were redrawn to bring the Nazi doctor to justice. (Kor). However, these fledgling efforts were stopped in their tracks when, on May 31, 1985, West German police raided the home of Hans Sedlmeier, a lifelong friend of Mengele’s, and his contact person in Europe. The police seized several letters from Mengele and other German expatriates living with him in Brazil, and Brazilian authorities were immediately notified. Within a week Brazilian police had identified the families that had harbored Mengele, and through them were able to locate the grave where Mengele’s body had been buried after a drowning accident in 1979. Forensic tests on the skeletal remains confirmed that the body was indeed that of Josef Mengele. (Posner & Ware). Survivors of Mengele’s treatment who had longed all of their post-war lives to confront this cruel and demonic man denied that this could indeed be him. â€Å"Time’s essay said Mengele ‘defiled science†¦ He defiled Germany’†. (Astor,278. ). Many still live for the day when they will be able to extract justice for their suffering from the man who was responsible for so much of it, both during and after the war. At last, Mengele has escaped earthly judgment through that act over which he sought to wield total control of death itself. The horror of the angel of death was still felt and lived on a daily basis long after his death and after the war had ended. Almost all of his victims that survived his atrocious deeds lived life with ever physical and sometimes psychological disabilities. Dr. Josef Mengele was truly the living incarnation of the angel of death his deeds are unmatched even today as some of the worst event to ever occur in human history.

Music Reaction Essay

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, Movement, 1 and Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite are two compositions that initially sound quite similar. They are both dramatic, extremely intense, and have the ability to leave a lasting impression upon listeners. There are, however, several key differences that separate the two, including expression, timbre, and overall effect. Although the melodies and general manner of the two pieces may seem alike, Symphony No. 5 is much more grand and composed while the Firebird Suite is more erratic and less sophisticated as a whole. Symphony No.5 is arguably one of the most famous compositions in the world, and begins with a melody with which most people are familiar. Within the first four notes, it is evident that the piece was written in a minor key with a respective melody. There is a vast range of notes throughout the symphony, with the high and low pitches resulting in two different effects. In many compositions, the most dramatic part of a song will typically consist of notes in higher octaves; but in Symphony No. 5, it is the lower pitches that make up the main melody and seem to be the most dramatic. By building the song around lower pitches, Beethoven has created an air of potential energy, with light runs and scales from the string sections providing the harmonies and escalating the drama of the lower notes. One of the most noticeable characteristics of the main melody line is the rhythm and repetition of the phrase. It consists of a triplet that stays on one note, and then jumps to a lower note that is sustained. As this phrase is repeated, it also starts to create the beat of the symphony, which is extremely clear. Even as the instruments add in quicker-paced scales that go up and down in the background, there is a strong and steady pace that is maintained by the melody line. With the melody line being able to stand out amongst all the other symphony parts, it develops a very bold and brooding musical expression. It is so vivid and moody, that one can picture Beethoven himself, walking briskly through the streets of Vienna while everyone else automatically clears the way for him. Symphony No. 5 has essentially became an extension of its composer, reflecting everything he was trying to express—the various components of his own personality and outlook. Beethoven also adds variation to the song through changes in tempo and dynamics. The quicker tempos tend to serve as a way of building up each musical phrase, yet are played at a fairly piano to pianissimo level. Like the drama that the lower pitches create, the parts that are played quietly also create potential energy that makes the louder, slower, and lower parts of the song that much more impactful. In terms of texture, Symphony No. 5 is surprisingly simple considering the intricacy of the notes and the way all of the instrumental parts are pieced together. There are several pauses that add tension to the song, while also eliminating too much unnecessary sound or instrumentals. This symphony, overall, has a very dark and intense timbre. It is dramatic and moody, but at a sustainable level that is not too harsh on the listeners’ ears—that is, it is relatively easy to listen to for a lengthy period of time due to the lower pitches and pianissimo parts that allow for the audience not to be overwhelmed. Stravinsky’s Firebird, similar to Beethoven’s piece, also begins with an introduction of accented notes and lower pitches. In this song, however, it is the higher notes that are accented rather than the lower pitches. The melody is also not nearly as easy to follow, as there is significantly less repetition. Even though both compositions involve similar instruments, Firebird uses many of the higher voices as the focal point of the song rather than the lower instruments. Throughout the piece, high strings, the xylophone, and even higher octaves played by the trombone can all be heard. The Firebird harmonies are also much more muddled and not necessarily played in sync with the melody line. There seems to be several different rhythms that are being played simultaneously during the louder, more dramatic sections of the song. This makes it quite difficult to find and maintain the beat of the piece, whereas Beethoven’s symphony is easier to follow. Regardless of its lack of simplicity, Firebird is just as expressive as Symphony No. 5. The significant change in tempo and dynamics create emotion within the piece, adding depth to the song. Firebird’s dynamic changes, in fact, may be even more dramatic as it ranges from pianissimo to fortissimo; and since the higher pitches are the tones being emphasized, it is much less understated than Beethoven’s piece. It is also more complex in terms of texture. Not only does the showcasing of more instruments add to the composition, but Firebird also has more measures that serve as a relief from the otherwise frantic nature of the song. While most of the piece is intense, there are bits of it that sound light-hearted and carefree. During these sections, the tempo is not always slower but there are fewer instruments overlapping each other, resulting in less chaos. Still, it is Firebird’s timbre that makes it clear how different it is from Symphony No. 5. It is bright, brilliant, and harsh, simply because of the pairing of high pitches with a loud dynamic marking and a quick tempo. Perhaps this is a clever decision by Stravinsky, trying to mimic the calls of a wild bird—shrill, shrieking, and somewhat harsh on the ears at times. When comparing the two compositions, it is clear that Stravinsky’s Firebird is more complex; but Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 is much more composed overall. It is not as aggressive in terms of loud, shrieking high notes, but rather understated and intense. This also evokes more emotion out of the audience, as it plays on the darkness and moodiness of Beethoven’s personality. Firebird is undoubtedly entertaining and a complicated work of art; but when it comes to which piece is easier to listen to and which makes more sense upon first impression, it is surpassed by Symphony No. 5.