The Dominican Republic’s Expression Free Essays

Film about “Cleopatra” Essay

Cleopatra is portrayed as a strikingly delightful, steadfast however manipulative flirt, overflowing womanliness as she lures the two most influential men in Egypt, Marc Antony and Julius Caesar. An inquiry this raises is, would she say she was an uncertain Queen who felt that she required an all the more influential man to help secure her place on the seat of her darling Egypt, as opposed to lose it to one of them? As appeared in the 2005 TV creation ‘Rome’ Cleopatra is seen needing to get pregnant by Caesar to make sure about her position, however at long last she didn’t have any hesitations in the event that another person fathered the youngster, she would make it look like Caesar’s. Cleopatra is appeared on film as a practically mindful being and a savvy lady. In the 1934 creation, Cleopatra tells Antony as she kisses his hand â€Å"I am do not Queen anymore, I am a woman.† This recommends in that specific second, she is permitting her feelings to lead, maybe in any event, going as far to state that as a Queen she is a significant stony and hard character, however as a common lady, she is permitting herself to cherish. In the 1963 film, Cleopatra discusses â€Å"One World, one country, living in peace.† This again gives her mindful nature that she needs the world to live in congruity. In actuality, this could be a fairly evident reference to the UN and halting war. Once more, in the 1963 creation, a fairly chauvinist comment is made about Cleopatra â€Å"If she wasn’t a lady, one may think she’s an intellect.† This Roman portrayal demonstrates Cleopatra to be a shrewd and keen Queen, however as she is female, she isn't given fu ll credit. In most TV and film creations of Cleopatra, she is viewed as a delightful ‘Goddess’ with lashings of make up and wearing luxurious ensembles and gems to give her riches. This depiction of her makes her look practically high support and legitimate. Nonetheless, the Roman coins, which uncover her picture, unravel Cleopatra as to a lesser degree a marvel yet nearly witch like. As these coins are the main bit of history that show what Cleopatra may have resembled, I think it is a case this is one portrayal that has been glamorized by TV and film. During the time as different creations have been recorded, the entertainers playing Cleopatra have changed in appearance for example their ethnicity, which may show an adjustment in how society sees her. This shows how the world has changed by permitting increasingly ethnic gatherings into the world ofâ acting. Television and film appear to build up the delineations of Cleopatra to fit in with the world in which we live at the hour of which the creation was made. No doubt the Roman delineations of Cleopatra appear to be exact regarding her character, riches and luxurious way of life however not her looks, as this is the main irregularity against the chronicled antiques we have. As time and society change, we may never know the genuine character of Cleopatra.

Product Assessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Item Assessment - Essay Example An item could in this way be rendered out of date because of its failure to meet the specialized, useful or different viewpoints though different items in a similar line of activity might be reliably meeting these conditions. This paper will survey this thought with connection to the market of reduced tapes in the US. 2.0 Compact Cassettes Commonly known as tapes with some in any event, calling them sound tapes, they utilize an arrangement of recording where the usage of attractive tapes. The deals for this item has continually been going doing in the US showcase as not very many individuals are turning out to be increasingly current. The objective market for sound tapes has consistently been the youthful age who invest the greater part of their life energy in the country territories. As indicated by the segment information of the US discharged in April 2013, the absolute populace is marginally above 315million individuals. Out of this masses, about 82% are occupants of the urban com munities leaving others approximating around eighteen percent in the provincial territories. These hence are the ones that are focused by the minimized tapes because of the way that the innovation in the provincial zones has not been heightened to more elevated levels as found in the urban zones. Moreover, the individuals who aren’t in a situation to get to conservative circles are shockingly better fit to utilize the smaller tapes. Another measurement on a similar issue is that the reduced tapes utilize basic contraptions like radio tapes which are not entirely reliant on innovation (Lee and Winzenried, 2009). Others like the CDs require convoluted machines and rely upon the specialized capacity and parts of the client. The pace of joblessness in the USA, as indicated by similar insights, has crossed the 7% mark which implies that the vast majority of these individuals will pick tapes in bigger scope to cut on their expenses. The extra cash for this division of the whole pop ulace is low therefore should devise different methods for endurance whereby ease items will be looked for. Notwithstanding, the market for these items has been going down significantly and the equivalent may confront an unavoidable decay. The deals being enrolled have gone down hugely and despite the fact that these items are as yet performing admirably, peoples’ enthusiasm for them is getting rare by day. This has been rendered valid by a heap reasons, the vast majority of which the tapes have neglected to fulfill. Specialized oldness takes the middle stage in the entire issue. The appearance of CDs and other contraption that reason to serve a similar line of business combined with innovation has supplanted the old sound tapes regardless of them being still in usefulness. For instance, presentation of mixed media of excellent including the DVDs have rendered the conservative tapes pointless because of their instability and need effectiveness (Kalb, 2000). To accordingly sta y predictable with the propelling innovation in hardware, numerous individuals today in the US have settled on other elective intends to increase their music thirst and needs. Numerous other rendition which are more up to date in the business has been presented which additionally gives a hit to the use of sound tapes. Moreover, the advances accessible in the market have gone a progression of change therefore are no longer in a situation to deliver the tapes or even fix them. The tapes

Sisterhood Essay Example For Students

Sisterhood Essay Generally, ladies have been consigned to a constrained job in the public eye. In our maledominated culture, a significant number of individuals see the characteristic job of ladies to be that ofmothers and spouses. Along these lines, for some, ladies are thought to be more appropriate for childbearing andhomemaking than for inclusion in open life. In spite of these boundless and administering beliefs,women, disappointed and tired of their inadequacy and subjection, started looking for individual andpolitical equity, including equivalent compensation, conceptive decision, and opportunity from conventionalMassive restriction to an interest for women’s fairness with men incited theorganization of ladies to battle by and large for their privileges. The origination of American feminismwas Seneca Falls, New York. Here in 1948, at a milestone show, the main rush of women’srights activists assembled. Their essential objective was to acquire casting a ballot rights for ladies (M oore 1992,21). In the mid 1960’s, the seeds of mistreatment (which spread from prior common developments) werescattered and planted among other disappointed ladies. These seeds started to flourish, and growdramatically, at first inside the setting of the development of increasingly broad and across the board leftradicalism in Western social orders. Subsequently, starting around 1965, the second rush of women’srights activists started to rise with a self-governing motivation for female freedom. Themovement’s objective was to make sure about equivalent financial, political, and social rights for ladies. The women’s freedom development was made out of a relationship of ladies workingtogether in a typical reason. Youthful radical ladies who had been dynamic in the Civil RightsMovement assembled in little gatherings and started to concentrate on sorting out so as to changeattitudes, social builds, the impression of society toward ladies, and, for the most part , to raise theThe ladies received the stage â€Å"Sisterhood is Powerful,† with an end goal to communicate concisely the point of the development. This trademark was likewise an endeavor to bring together ladies by affirming a sharedconnection and situation, and in this manner to assemble major and enduring attachment. â€Å"Sisterhoodis powerful† was grasped by the ladies so as to pass on a typical character of sisterhood,one solidly grounded in family-based ideas of reliance. Natural sisterhood is aneasily comprehended relationship inside the family unit. As indicated by social character hypothesis, one approach to characterize a â€Å"in-group† is to characterize anâ€Å"out-group† (Hinkle and Brown 1990, 48). The freedom development endeavored to characterize femalesas the â€Å"in-group† and guys as the â€Å"out-group,† with the two gatherings unmistakably and sharplyseparated.The revitalizing cry â€Å"Sisterhood is Powerful† w as basically intended to cement theidentity of the â€Å"in-group.† However, as a general rule, it is simpler to characterize racial gatherings than it is todefine sex bunches as independent divisions, since dark individuals and white individuals are generallygeographically and socially isolated from one another, white people are most certainly not. So as to fuse ladies effectively into the development, it was fundamental to broadenand grow the significance of sisterhood to that of a typical security between ladies. Consolidatedby sisterhood, by a typical association of sexual orientation, heterogeneous ladies were normal todevelop a devotion and regular reason. In spite of the fact that the ladies working inside the movementwere for the most part white and working class (Tax, 319), the motto â€Å"Sisterhood is Powerful† was directedat all ladies wedded and single, youthful, moderately aged, and old, moms and little girls, of everyrace and religion, rich, poor, utilized, jobless, ladies on government assistance, and those with differentcultures and sexual directions (DuPlessis and Snitow, 15). The target of the motto was tofoster a typical character for the multifaceted gathering of ladies who were focused on (or mightbe focused on) women’s freedom. Strengthening for ladies was viewed as both possibleand achievabl e just inside the setting of this kind of regular character. In this way, by organizingcollectively these ladies would gain ability to turn into a power with which to be figured. Similarly significant, as a strong gathering, the ladies would be hard to separate and smother. As indicated by the belief system of women’s freedom, the solidarity of those joined in sisterhoodguaranteed the capacity, yet in addition the methods required to acquire their objective of equaleconomic, political, and social rights for ladies. In the United States, where a male centric culture commands, a disengaged lady lackspersonal and political force and conveys close to nothing, assuming any, impact. To be sure, most of females inthe women’s freedom development obviously comprehended from before encounters that the solitaryvoice of a lady would be treated by men as unimportant, and would subsequently have

How to Use PowerPoint to Land That Job

How to Use PowerPoint to Land That JobIf you are on a job search and you want to find out about how to use PowerPoint for your job search then this article was written for you. By the time you are finished reading this article you will know exactly how to use PowerPoint to help you land that job you have been looking for. The first step in using PowerPoint is to learn how to read the slide show.The first thing you should do when learning how to use PowerPoint is to learn how to read the slides. As the slide show goes by, the camera that is facing you will be looking at the slides. Make sure that you pay attention to what the camera is looking at. If you notice anything out of place or wrong with the slides then you need to note it down on a piece of paper and you need to correct the slide as soon as possible.The first thing you should do is to make sure that you always make sure to put the slide on the right side of the screen. If you do not put the slide on the right side of the scr een then you will be going into trouble. Keep in mind that you can always go back and look at the slide later on if you see something that you are not satisfied with.After you are done reading the slide that has come before it, you should look for things that are out of place. As a slide goes by you should look over the slide as if you were watching it on TV. You should take a close look at the text, if you see something out of place or if the colors do not match the rest of the picture then you should take a closer look.If you notice any text that is off when you are looking at the slide then you should take a second to look at the background of the slide. Sometimes you can go back and look at the background to see if it looks like it is proper. Also you should take a second to get a good look at the other people who are in the slide as well.The final thing you need to do when you are looking over a slide is to make sure to check to see if there are any graphics that are not right or that are upside down. A lot of times you will be able to see the graphics when you are looking at the slide that is going before it. But if you do not see any graphics when you are looking at the slide then you need to make sure to look at the graphics again as well.If you are unable to see the graphics or the text on the slide that is before it then you need to take a second to look at the background of the slide. Usually you will be able to see the background better than the graphics. Also as you are looking over the slide, make sure that you pay attention to the people in the slide.Once you have learned how to use PowerPoint then you need to make sure that you use it properly. You should use it properly by reading the slide, checking to see if the images are correct, and paying attention to the graphics and people in the slide. If you take care of these things then you will find that PowerPoint will help you land that job you have been looking for.

The Virgin Suicides and the Suburban Ideal How the American Dream Became Obsolete - Literature Essay Samples

The dramatic comedy The Virgin Suicides, by Jeffrey Eugenides, is a controversial novel that revolves around the suicide of the Lisbon daughters. These five young ladies seek to end their lives as they lived them: together. With traces of cult-like behavior these girls are watched by the community with curiosity; though, it is specifically the boys of their neighborhood that narrate the events preceding and following their deaths. Eugenides’ novel was published in 1993, the beginning of the grunge era; the nineties saw the rise of emotional, angsty musicians like Nirvana, Alanis Morissette, Oasis, and a plethora of others who were singing about the dark places many of these teenagers felt they were in. The nineties also saw a spike in suburban living as parents packed their families up and moved them to a middle class wonderland (Schneider). This is where we find Eugenides’ main characters, struggling through life in suburbia just outside of Detroit. As we follow the bo ys and their tale of the Lisbons, it becomes clear how the Suburban Ideal was quickly transformed into the Suburban Nightmare. A main focus of this essay and The Virgin Suicides is the mundane; how middle class parents believed that the lack of excitement in the suburbs would provide a stable home for their children, when in reality it simply stifled independent growth. This unchanging routine was often combined with an expectation of conformity from the community as people failed to look at each sister as an individual person, rather creating one singular person out of the five. Furthermore, their conformity was pushed on them by not only the society that surrounded them, but their own parents as well, specifically Mrs. Lisbon. The belief that young Catholic ladies were to dress, speak, and behave a certain way resulted in a mold none of the girls truly fit. The explanation of the Lisbon’s suicides and the focus of Jeffrey Eugenides novel is how the combination of a lack of excitement as well as the notion that the girls were supposed to meet a certain standard forced five sisters into a corner in wh ich they believed suicide was the only answer. Cecilia, Mary, Lux, Bonnie, and Therese were victims of the Suburban Ideal and the incorrect idea that happiness could be found behind a white picket fence. Beginning in Europe, the suburban ideal was developed to separate those of differing races and social classes. Segregation was made easier and those who moved were â€Å"largely motivated by a desire to escape the mix of classes and racial and ethnic groups that characterize urban areas† (Miller 394). Though a bold claim, suburbs were built on inherent racist, classist, and misogynistic ideals that came together to form societies of repetitious architecture and homogeneous society members. White families, though almost all motivated originally by religion, moved away from cities and their temptations; they were told sin ran rampant in urban settings, claims that just happened to line up with their personal prejudices. Women were assigned to the kitchen and families were force d into together time, even if the pressure to be together created unhealthy living situations. Furthermore, the necessity to remove themselves from any form of temptation caused a major lack of civilization beyond the basic necessities. Coffee shops, clubs, any semblance of a congregational space besides church was left in the city as was any chance of true socialization. As time went on the majority of suburbs retained their ability to keep out the urban features they so wished to avoid, meaning teenagers, whose independence has grown over decades, were forced into hanging out in unfinished basements and backyard forests. Parents of these children, the kids themselves, and perhaps even the next generation are unknowingly perpetuating a cycle of losing their â€Å"spirit of independence that had previously marked American life† (Dines 960). There was no space for these teenagers to grow or make mistakes and because of this, as we see within The Virgin Suicides, the longing to rebel grows. To understand what truly happened to these girls there is a need to understand how suburbia failed to live up to its promise of an ideal place to grow up. The idea that the suburbs would provide a life away from sin and temptation was proven false by not only the Lisbon girls themselves, but by the actions of their mother and, in a way, their father. The once â€Å"best locale for a family-centered lifestyle† was ironically made to â€Å"expose family life to the view of guests† (Miller 400). How is it possible that this new suburban life could be considered family focused when there was so much stress placed on portraying a perfect unit to the outside world? The Lisbons were private people, avoiding guests throughout the majority of the novel. In fact, the only time we truly hear about the inside of their home is through Peter Sissen in the beginning chapter and the narrators when Cecilia’s party occurs. This is a major comparison to consider, however, as one has seen the true personality of the house and it’s occupants while the othe rs have only the washed-out, perfected view. If the upstairs of the house had â€Å"bedrooms filled with crumpled panties, of stuffed animals hugged to death by the passion of the girls, of a crucifix draped with a brasseire†¦and of the effluvia of so many young girls becoming women together in the same cramped space†, why was the downstairs so bland (Eugenides 7)? This is not to suggest we throw our underwear throughout our family rooms and place our stuffed animals on every open surface, but you would think there would be more personality than a â€Å"tidy, dry-looking place that smelled faintly of stale popcorn† (Eugenides 22). The girls have their individuality halted at the very steps they go down every morning; over half the house they occupy lacks any indication that they even exist within it. This is how â€Å"the home that all Americans strive to have is no longer a safe-haven of comfort and joy, but has turned into a prison where the inhabitants are liv ing the American Nightmare† (Madsen 16). Eugenides uses the setting of the suburbs to build upon the Lisbons already limited freedoms; their clear lack of independence almost forces the girls to rebel in whatever way they can. Though Lux chooses to use her body and sexuality to avoid conforming, eventually the girls are lead to commit the biggest possible act of rebellion: suicide. To find how the story leads to such a drastic ending we must examine the Suburban Ideal and the â€Å"stability, order, and ideal way of living that the suburbs promised† (Madsen 16). There are two key ways one can interpret the idea of stability and order; in the first, the suburbs are a place of escape, set up with stability and order in mind as to directly contradict life in the city. In this interpretation the suburbs â€Å"also captured the general public’s imagination and were often spoken of in almost utopian terms by urban planners, politicians, and private developers† (Baldassare 477). This is the interpretation many of the citizens of the Lisbon’s suburb exist in. Even when removing the fence post Cecilia threw herself onto we see Mr. Bates edging and â€Å"the old German couple appeared in their grape arbor to drink dessert wine. As usual they wore Alpine hates† (Eugenides 53). Eugenides explains this casual interest by writing â€Å"how accustomed they were to trauma, depressions, and wars†, the older generation has lived through so much sadness and death that they know no other reaction than simply getting through it by moving on (52). For younger generations this comes across as detached and cold, these younger generations live in the second interpretation of stability and order. The latter connotation of the suburban combination is one of all-consuming interest in maintaining stability and order; the narrators are excellent examples. While their parents and even Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon are so capable of moving on and restoring order, the children of the nineties cannot get over this disruption. The younger generation is more willing to notice â€Å"the sickness that challenges the perfect image of the carefree suburbia† (Madsen 15). They have live d with the Lisbon girls for years, they are a part of the mundane, even as â€Å"outcasts† they have a role to play in the repetitive existence of these people. â€Å"Various sightings of them merged into a general image of their careful cluster moving down the central highway† (Eugenides 96). The girls were treated like outsiders and celebrities, to lose a Lisbon is to lose a piece of their own lives, losing all five stuck with the boys forever. â€Å"It didn’t matter in the end how old they had been, or that they were girls, but only that we had loved them, and that they hadn’t heard us calling, still do not hear us, up here in the tree house, with our thin hair and soft bellies† (Eugenides 243). In a way, the narrators are correct; the Lisbon sisters could not hear them calling out, but perhaps they did not want to. Perhaps the sisters were so sick of conforming to the standards set for them by others that they stopped listening, especially to b oys who could not tell them apart. â€Å"Then, however, our eyes got used to the light and informed us of something we had never realized: the Lisbon girls were all different people† (Eugenides 23). However, in defense of the narrators, Mrs. Lisbon never gave the girls an opportunity to present themselves as different people, meaning the boys never had a chance to see who they truly were. It is possible to say that quite a bit of the refusal readers see from Mrs. Lisbon comes from her religion; Catholicism is not known for its acceptance. This is not okay with her daughters though, the Lisbon girls develop their own personal methods for defying their mother and her religion, the most notable being Cecilia’s attempt to take her own life, followed by her sisters doing the same. It is Lux though, that seems to contrast the most consistently with her mother. From writing â€Å"the name Kevin in purple magic marker all over her three-ring binder and even on her bras and panties† to â€Å"making love on the roof†, Lux deliberately defied her mother with no personal gain besides knowing she was breaking the rules. (Eugenides 39, 136). Though readers may view the narrators, the neighborhood boys, as simply part of the problem for their roles both as a group and individually, there must be a parallel drawn between the Lisbon girls and these boys. The boys, though assisted by their gender for less severe expectations, are still a part of the same community as the daughters; they face the same scrutiny and the same pressure to conform. â€Å"The trauma in the story emerges from a very personal act – the suicides committed by five adolescent sisters, the Lisbon girls – which eventually reveal a collective malaise repressed beneath evasive allusions to life in the Detroit suburbs in the 1970s† (Kostova 49). Yes, the girls were the ones to commit suicide and there is no way to detract from that, but this sense discomfort, sense of unease that exists in their lives is not only a product of their parents. Throughout the novel the boys are aware of the strange sense that something is not quite right, but unlike their female counterparts they never do name it or do anything about it. Instead they grow into their parents opinions, thinking, when they’re grown up, that â€Å"the essence of the suicides consisted not of sadness or mystery, but simple selfishness. The girls took into their own hands decisions better left to God† (Eugenides 242). Though it doesn’t match up with their own experiences from their younger years, the boys accept this as an answer because nothing else truly makes sense. The Lisbon girls are not spectacular in any way beyond their suicides; they exist in a suburb that stifles their individual growth or any growth beyond the path already set for them. The major difference between these girls and the boys who narrate their lives and deaths in terms of the pieces and exhibits, is that the girls knew there was no true choice for them. Even at thirt een, Cecilia was intelligent and aware enough to see her future in her older sisters; to see the constant crushing weight of her parent’s expectations, to notice that she would always be just another Lisbon. She would always be just another blonde, pretty girl with too many teeth in her mouth. Though it would be easy to say that her suicide was a cry for help, it wouldn’t be accurate. Cecilia and her sisters, Lux, Bonnie, Mary, and Therese, were victims of the Suburban Ideal applied with Catholic logic. Conformity and expectations shaped and raised them and then ultimately led to their death. None of the girls saw a point in living a life that was already so similar to death, and who can blame them? Struck down by a mother who did not appreciate who they were as transitioning young women and ignored by a society who saw them as almost celebrities, the girls did not see an end to the mundane and thus chose to make their own. Works Cited Baldassare, Mark. â€Å"Suburban Communities† Annual Review of Sociology 18 (1992): 475-494. Annual Reviews. Web. 29-11-2018 Dines, Martin. â€Å"Suburban Gothic and the Ethnic Uncanny in Jeffrey Eugenides’s ‘The Virgin Suicides’† Journal of American Studies 46.4 (2012): 959-975. British Association for American Studies. Web. 24-11-2018 Eugenides, Jeffrey. The Virgin Suicides. New York: Picador, 1993. Print. Kostova, Bilyana V. â€Å"Collective Suffering, Uncertainty and Trauma in Jeffrey Eugenides’s The Virgin Suicides: Of Bystanders, Perpetrators and Victims.† Journal of the Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies 35.2 (2013): 47-63. Atlantis. Madsen, Michael. â€Å"’All that we see or seem / Is but a dream within a dream’: Freud’s The Uncanny and the Destruction of the Suburban Ideal in Jeffrey Eugenides’s The Virgin Suicides† American Studies in Scandinavia 40:1-2. (2008): 14-24. Miller, Laur a J. â€Å"Family Togetherness and the Suburban Ideal† Sociological Forum 10.3 (1995): 393-418. Springer. Web. 27-11-2018

About Mercury The Geology of Quicksilver

The heavy metal element mercury (Hg) has fascinated humans since ancient times when it was referred to as quicksilver. It is one of only two elements, the other being bromine, that is liquid at standard room temperature. Once the embodiment of magic, mercury is regarded with much more caution today. The Mercury Cycle Mercury is classified as a volatile element, one that lives mostly in the Earths crust. Its geochemical cycle starts with volcanic activity as magma invades sedimentary rocks. Mercury vapors and compounds rise toward the surface, condensing in porous rocks mostly as the sulfide HgS, known as cinnabar.   Hot springs can also concentrate mercury if they have a source of it down below. It was once thought that the Yellowstone geysers were possibly the largest producers of mercury emissions on the planet. Detailed research, however, found that nearby wildfires were emitting far larger amounts of mercury into the atmosphere.   Deposits of mercury, whether in cinnabar or at hot springs, are usually small and rare. The delicate element doesnt last long in any one place; for the most part, it vaporizes into the air and enters the biosphere.   Only a portion of environmental mercury becomes biologically active; the rest just sits there or becomes bound to mineral particles. Various microorganisms deal with mercuric ions by adding or removing methyl ions for their own reasons.  (The methylated mercury is highly poisonous.) The net result is that mercury tends to end up slightly enriched in organic sediments and clay-based rocks like shale. Heat and fracturing release the mercury and start the cycle again. Of course, humans are consuming large amounts of organic sediments in the form of coal. Mercury levels in coal are not high, but we burn so much that energy production is by far the biggest source of mercury pollution. More mercury comes from burning petroleum and natural gas.   As fossil fuel production increased during the Industrial Revolution, so did mercury emissions and subsequent problems. Today, the USGS spends a large amount of time and resources studying its prevalence in and effects on our environment.   Mercury in History and Today Mercury used to be highly regarded, for reasons both mystical and practical. Among the substances we deal with in our lives, mercury is pretty odd and amazing. The Latin name hydrargyrum, from which its chemical symbol Hg comes, means water-silver. English speakers used to call it quicksilver, or living silver. The medieval alchemists felt that mercury must have a mighty mojo, some excess of spirit that could be tamed for their great work of turning base metal into gold. They used to make little toy mazes with a glob of the liquid metal in it. Perhaps Alexander Calder had one as a child and remembered his fascination when he created his wonderful Mercury Fountain in 1937. It honors the Almadà ©n miners for their suffering during the Spanish Civil War and occupies a place of honor at the Fundacià ³n Joan Mirà ³ in Barcelona today. When the fountain was first created, people appreciated the beauty of the free-flowing metal liquid but did not understand its toxicity. Today, it sits behind a protective pane of glass.   As a practical matter, mercury does some very useful things. It dissolves other metals in it to make instant alloys or amalgams. A gold or silver amalgam made with mercury is an excellent material for filling tooth cavities, hardening rapidly and wearing well. (Dental authorities do not consider this a hazard to patients.) It dissolves precious metals found in ores—and then can be distilled almost as easily as alcohol, boiling at only a few hundred degrees, to leave the gold or silver behind. Being extremely dense, mercury is used for making small lab apparatus like blood-pressure gauges or the standard barometer, which would be 10 meters tall, not 0.8 meters, if it used water instead. If only mercury were safer. Considering how potentially hazardous it can be when used in everyday items, though, it just makes sense to use safer alternatives.