Paradise Lost!

            When i was in school, i had lessons of english literature and one intresting topic was John Milton's Paradise Lost.If we look it up in the wikipedia we will see that:

Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books; a second edition followed in 1674,redivided into twelve books (in the manner of the division of Virgil's Aeneid) with minor revisions throughout and a note on the versification. The poem concerns the Judeo-Christian story of the Fall of Man; the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton's purpose, stated in Book I, is "justify the ways of God to men" and elucidate the conflict between God's eternal foresight and free will.

There was no point reading it all and then discussing each part. So we've learned only the main points about it. (If you are intrested in it,here is the whole content:
Book I: In a long, twisting opening sentence mirroring the epic poetry of the Ancient Greeks, the poet invokes the "Heavenly Muse" (the Holy Spirit) and states his theme, the Fall of Man, and his aim, to "justify the ways of God to men." Satan, Beelzebub, and the other rebel angels are described as lying on a lake of fire, from where Satan rises up to claim hell as his own domain and delivers a rousing speech to his followers ("Better to reign in hell, than serve in heav'n").
Book II: Satan and the rebel angels debate whether or not to conduct another war on Heaven, and Beelzebub tells them of a new world being built, which is to be the home of Man. Satan decides to visit this new world, passes through the Gates of Hell, past the sentries Sin and Death, and journeys through the realm of Chaos. Here, Satan is described as giving birth to Sin with a burst of flame from his forehead, as Athena was born from the head of Zeus.
Book III: God observes Satan's journey and foretells how Satan will bring about Man's Fall. God emphasizes, however, that the Fall will come about as a result of Man's own free will and excuses Himself of responsibility. The Son of God offers himself as a ransom for Man's disobedience, an offer which God accepts, ordaining the Son's future incarnation and punishment. Satan arrives at the rim of the universe, disguises himself as an angel, and is directed to Earth by Uriel, Guardian of the Sun.
Book IV: Satan journeys to the Garden of Eden, where he observes Adam and Eve discussing the forbidden Tree of Knowledge. Satan, observing their innocence and beauty hesitates in his task, but concludes that "reason just,/ Honour and empire" compel him to do this deed which he "should abhor." Satan tries to tempt Eve while she is sleeping, but is discovered by the angels. The angel Gabriel expels Satan from the Garden.
Book V: Eve awakes and relates her dream to Adam. God sends Raphael to warn and encourage Adam: they discuss free will and predestination and Raphael tells Adam the story of how Satan inspired his angels to revolt against God.
Book VI: Raphael goes on to describe further the war in Heaven and explains how the Son of God drove Satan and his minions down to Hell.
Book VII: Raphael explains to Adam that God then decided to create another world (the Earth), and he warns Adam again not to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, for "in the day thou eat'st, thou diest;/ Death is the penalty imposed, beware,/ And govern well thy appetite, lest Sin/ Surprise thee, and her black attendant Death".
Book VIII: Adam asks Raphael for knowledge concerning the stars and the heavenly orders; Raphael warns that "heaven is for thee too high/ To know what passes there; be lowly wise", and advises modesty and patience.
Book IX: Satan returns to Eden and enters into the body of a sleeping serpent. The serpent tempts Eve to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. She eats and takes some fruit for Adam. Adam realizes that Eve has been tricked, but eats of the fruit, deciding that he would rather die with Eve than live without her. At first the two become intoxicated by the fruit, and both become lustful and engage in sexual intercourse; afterwards, in their loss of innocence Adam and Eve cover their nakedness and fall into despair: "They sat them down to weep, nor only tears/ Rained at their eyes, but high winds worse within/ Began to rise, high passions, anger, hate,/ Mistrust, suspicion, discord, and shook greatly/ Their inward state of mind."
Book X: God sends his Son to Eden to deliver judgment on Adam and Eve, and Satan returns in triumph to Hell.
Book XI: The Son of God pleads with God on behalf of Adam and Eve. God decrees that the couple must be expelled from the Garden, and the angel Michael descends to deliver God's judgment. Michael begins to unfold the future history of the world to Adam.
Book XII: Michael tells Adam of the eventual coming of the Messiah, before leading Adam and Eve from the Garden. Paradise has been lost. The poem ends: "The World was all before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence Their guide: They hand in hand with wandering steps and slow, Through Eden took Their solitaire way."©Wikipedia
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The main thing that we've learned about this work was that it influenced a human's personality greatly and it also was criticized by church. We had only a small part of the whole verse to analyse so vast majority of the students forget about this epic poem on the next day but not me. I read brief summary of this work. And the thing that really striked me was that Satan wasn't shown solely as a negative character. On the contrary he was shown as an attractive hero, who want to rebell against total rulling of God. I have read about the Milton's work on some forums and people there said that Satan is shown as a typical romantic character. I was thinking like "O_o romantic character?Satan?In the epic verse of the 17th century while romantic period was a century after that!".But then I checked the main features of this archetype and found that:
The Romantic hero is a literary archetype referring to a character that rejects established norms and conventions, has been rejected by society, and has the self as the center of his or her own existence. The Romantic hero is often the main protagonist in the literary work and there is a primary focus on the character's thoughts rather than his or her actions.©Wikipedia

And WOW! All definitions fit! Satan is a typical romantic hero:
*He rejects establish norms(he rise his arms against God!)
*He is rejected by older society(God expels him from paradise)
*He is self-absorbed.
*He is the main character of the litarary work(Because the main conflict is made by him)

So who is Satan according to the Milton's understaning of the world? Is he a demon who tries to make the world more evil?Or he is just an angel that wasn't understood?He says that It's just better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven.

The ideas of the Paradise Lost influenced another english writer.His name is William Blake.We know that William Blake wrote 2 quite "opposite"books:Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. Poems that you find in the first book can make you think that William Blake was very religious person(For example poem "The Lamb"),but if you read poems from both books you will feel the difference. 

He wrote a poem called the Tiger("The Tyger" was published as a part of Songs of Experience):

Tyger, tyger, burning bright 
In the forests of the night, 
What immortal hand or eye 
Could frame thy fearful symmetry? 

In what distant deeps or skies 
Burnt the fire of thine eyes? 
On what wings dare he aspire? 
What the hand dare seize the fire? 

And what shoulder and what art 
Could twist the sinews of thy heart? 
And, when thy heart began to beat, 
What dread hand and what dread feet? 

What the hammer? what the chain? 
In what furnace was thy brain? 
What the anvil? what dread grasp 
Dare its deadly terrors clasp? 

When the stars threw down their spears, 
And watered heaven with their tears, 
Did He smile His work to see? 
Did He who made the lamb make thee? 

Tyger, tyger, burning bright 
In the forests of the night, 
What immortal hand or eye 
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

Reading this poem it's easy to notice that William Blake do not feel that everything is created by God.(For exaple we can see words "Fire,burning,anvil" may also refer to the Hell's flames, also in the second paragraph we can see that the author is not sure about who and where has created a tiger(this killing machine) either God in "skies" or Satan in "deeps".We can also notice many ritorical questions that make us THINK about the Creator.) 

We also know that William Blake was a painter too.And one of his paintings shows Satan:

It is called "Satan in it's original Glory" and we can't say that Satan is shown as an evil character. On the contrary he is drawn in white while outer space is black. He has a scepter and a crown so in my humble opinion Blake wanted us to think about the origins of the real world. Maybe people are more closer to Satan and maybe Satan does not mean evil.And by the way,WHAT is EVIL? How people define evil? How they understand what is good and what is bad?
When we are just little kids we are taught about the good and bad people/actions/ideas. But when we grow up a bit we understand that there are just different views on the thing. 

Hamlet's soliloquy

To be, or not to be--that is the question: 
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer 
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune 
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles 
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep-- 
No more--and by a sleep to say we end 
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks 
That flesh is heir to. 'Tis a consummation 
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep-- 
To sleep--perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub, 
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come 
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, 
Must give us pause. There's the respect 
That makes calamity of so long life. 
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, 
Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely 
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay, 
The insolence of office, and the spurns 
That patient merit of th' unworthy takes, 
When he himself might his quietus make 
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear, 
To grunt and sweat under a weary life, 
But that the dread of something after death, 
The undiscovered country, from whose bourn 
No traveller returns, puzzles the will, 
And makes us rather bear those ills we have 
Than fly to others that we know not of? 
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, 
And thus the native hue of resolution 
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought, 
And enterprise of great pitch and moment 
With this regard their currents turn awry 

And lose the name of action.

..have you seen this mologue before?What is the main idea of this part of Hamlet?We can think in two ways. First is the idea according to the content of the drama.

 Hamlet who's father was killed by his uncle can't decide  what to do: either to do nothing and just wait

[Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune ]

or to rebel against difficulties of life

[He Or to take arms against a sea of troubles

And by opposing end them.]

He thinks about the possibility of suicide,he says that the death can be compared to dream because death may end all difficulties

[ To die, to sleep-- 
No more--and by a sleep to say we end 
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks 
That flesh is heir to. 'Tis a consummation 
Devoutly to be wished.]

But right after that he thinks that when you are dead you can't see dream.

[To die, to sleep-- 
To sleep--perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub, 
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come 
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, 
Must give us pause. There's the respect 
That makes calamity of so long life.]

In the end he thinks about the fear(dread) of something after death and so he forgets about suicide.

[But that the dread of something after death, 
The undiscovered country, from whose bourn 
No traveller returns, puzzles the will, 
And makes us rather bear those ills we have 
Than fly to others that we know not of?]

That's one understanding of this internal monologue.
Reading my notes to this verse,you may notice that in the beginning Hamlet is thinking about suicide quite seriously while in the end he refuses this idea. He says:

[And thus the native hue of resolution 
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought, 
And enterprise of great pitch and moment 
With this regard their currents turn awry 
And lose the name of action. ]

Language of the second part of 16 century may seem a bit complicated. In the other wodrs he wanted to say that if you have an idea to take a plunge(to do something risky) and you think about it more and more, the "color" of your idea will soon become gloomy and you won't do the risk. So what's the sense here?Maybe you shouldn't always think about the consequences of this or that action?But that may cause negative results of the whole action. so......what do YOU think?

Chance.

What's the chance that your business will double real production costs? 20%?10%?40? Even market researches can not be exact. You can never predict customers' choice. Sometimes it's just easier to bet in the casino with the chance of 18/37 and double your money in one minute. It depends on the person's understanding of this bet. In my opinion it's just the same risks. The only thing is that you shouldn't wait for a long time to notice the market's attitude towards your product. So what's the easiest way of getting money?To think about the product and to built your enterprise with 30% chance of success?Or to take a risk and to place all money on the red with the chance of 48%?Just think about it.

Have you ever thought about the legalisation of the canabis?

    From the early age people all over the world are taught that drugs are bad. But have you ever thought that only strong drugs can heavily damage your health?Maryjuana is supposed to be a light drug but a drug. It can damage your health if you smoke it too much. That's the main argument of the people who are against it.But why THESE people do not ban alcohol and tobacco or red bull, that may damage your health even harder? It's said that maryjuane make people addicted to it, but alcohol and tobacco can do it too. Let's see the advanantages of smoking maryjuana instead of drinking whisky?When you drink,you are becoming more aggressive,you are almost loosing your mind.But if you smoke marujuana you are becoming more relaxed. What is better?

         Light drugs like canabis can do small harm, but at the same time can help!Let's think abot the positive points of certification of Maryjuana. Maryjuane can be used as an analgesic. It make people more relaxed. That's a positive point for the government because it's easier to control relaxed people than aggressive. Government can also be a monopolist in producing it, so that will cause greater income.

You may think that i'm talking trash, but it's your choice. i don't promote canabis or smth like this. I think it's just unfair when tobacco is certificated and maryjuane(that by the way don't make people SO addicted) isn't.

Why are newspapers,but not soft drinks, sold in vending machines that allow customers to take more units that they paid for?

I think to answer this question we need to understand who buys soft drinks and who buys newspapers. Newspapers usually contain new information, so when u read the newspaper, u don't need to get this information from another newspaper again. What about soft drinks? When you drink one, you may probably want to have another one!Or u may have 2 of them but leave one in the fridge and drink it afterwards! So the point is that you do not need to have two copies of one newspaper but u may need 2 bottles of the same drink!

(Probably i'm inclined to believe that this is working only in England...For example in Russia, there will be many people who will just take all newspapers and sell in nearby with half-price.

Why are some countries so much more succesful in resycling waste products?

In order to answer this question,let's think:) What countries are succesful? They are undoubtly Japan, The Uk, Germany, France and the Usa. Why this countries need to resycle? This question is easy with Japan and the Uk, because this countries are situated on the Islands so it's cheaper for them to resycle but not to dump waste(they just don't have enough space). But that is not the only point. Recycling means that you can reuse product or to make some PROFIT from it.
For example, you can either dump the waste in the landfill OR you can recycle it and by this to decrease the usage of natural resourses and to gain additional supply of energy? Some countries like Russia and Ukraine prefer to dump  wastes in the ladnfill because it's cheaper just to put waste somewhere and to have the same energy by burning coal. So why do some countries need to be succesfull in recycling waste products? Because they DO NOT have enough resourses to use them so unefficently.

Now a bit of homework)

why are whales but not chickens in danger of extinction?

there R many reasons for that.

Chickens are less fastidious to pollution/changes in environment. They don't need tons of food like whales. Mammals(and whales are mammals) usually don't breed fast. And usually they don't have more than 2 calves and chickens breed quiet fast + they have mane youngs.We also shouldn't forget that during long period whales were hunted and killed by people. Plus we shouldn't forget that chickens are farmed.

Just think about it!Not 4 business

Everything in the world is connected with profit or(and) fear. I mean that everybody is so egoistic that he(or she) thinks only about the profit.(Even when people are afraid of smth,they just think that this smth can bring pain and pain is not a profit,is it?:))  Even if  person seem to help you,that's because he(or she) just want something in return. For example, you walking with the girl near the river,then U suddenly notice that some1 in the river screaming for help. Even if u try to help him, u will think about the profit.I'm quiet sure u will. U may not inderstand it but u hope that this will be usefull for u. U may try to impress Ur girl,u may be afraid of the law, u may think that this man can be usefull for u. Seeking of profit is egoism. U hear that word very often and U think that there are people who are not egoistic.  But where are they? I haven't met any of them!

U may say "what about trully religious people?"Who serves God,help other people,etc.  But they R searching for profit too! They are just expecting to gain it in Heaven.

U may say "what about loving people?"Who is ready for all just to make their beloved happy?  But what do U expect when u say "I love U?I can answer this question u'r expecting ur beloved to say "i love u 2".Isn't that a hope to gain profit? So love is just a kind of a mutually beneficial exchange. 

so What's the result for all written above? THERE's NO ALTRUISM

Hello ever 1=) I wish 2 start my own business so i need some good ideas) It's my first post so plz be nice;) I've got several ideas and I'm gonna share them with u)so tell me Ur attitude to them)Thank u)