The Necessity of a Dead Bird: Paul’s Communism

2021 ◽  
pp. 175-185
Author(s):  
Slavoj Žiižek
Keyword(s):  
Author(s):  
Vitaliia Aleksenko ◽  

The paper explores the problem of the relationship between the ideas of aesthetics and the Christian doctrine of active love in the famous tale written by O. Wilde. The research which emphasizes the Christian basis of the author's outlook became the methodological basis of the present study on the background of a detailed analysis of various assessments of the writer's position, interpreted as an immoral aesthete and as a supporter of socialist ideas or a recipient of ideas of ancient philosophy of spiritual beauty. The study proves this in detail, analyzing the plot and figurative solutions of the fairy tale «Happy Prince», taking into account the traditional Christian symbols. Thus, the image of the Prince-Statue, decorated with gold and precious stones, is interpreted as a symbol of Christ, who gives his splendor and power to save the poor. It is also reminiscent of the words of Christ, who tells a young rich man who seeks perfection to sell his wealth and give money to the poor. The very values of the earthly world, gold and precious stones, luxurious things made of them, are transparently interpreted in an ironically reduced tone. The confirmation of the fact that the aestheticization of being yields to the hidden spiritual greatness of Christian love and self-sacrifice is also that that the values of the earthly world, gold and precious stones are transparently interpreted in an ironic tone in the fairy tale. The swallow, being the ancient symbol of the Renaissance, this bird was lured by the perishable beauty of idols and tombs of Egypt, the biblical symbol of captivity. The swallow finds its purpose in the service of the Prince, scattering his precious clothes to the poor. And here the ethical criterion turns out to be higher than the aesthetic one. They are not rewarded on the Earth: the bird dies of the cold, and the remains of an unpresentable statue of the prince are demolished, the decisive word to belong to the professor of aesthetics. However, the angel of God brings the most precious things he has found in this city to the heavenly palaces of the Lord: the tin heart of the Prince, torn by grief, and a dead bird. By analyzing the writer's ideological system with implicit implications, Wilde's position is quite obvious: despite his apparent admiration for the aesthetics of beauty, the writer rejects ultimately the doctrine of aesthetics and exalts Christian values, setting out his concept in the style of a parable.


2013 ◽  
pp. 1170-1182
Author(s):  
Kevin P. McKnight ◽  
Joseph P. Messina ◽  
Ashton M. Shortridge ◽  
Meghan D. Burns ◽  
Bruce W. Pigozzi

West Nile Virus is a vector-borne flavivirus that affects mainly birds, horses, and humans. The disease emerged in the United States in 1999 and by 2001 had reached Michigan. In clinical human cases, the most common symptoms are fever, weakness, nausea, headache, and changes in mental state. The crow is the most common wildlife host in the life cycle of the virus. The state of Michigan, through the Michigan Department of Community Health, collected the spatial locations of over 8,000 dead birds (Corvidae), statewide, during 2002. The large number of samples made spatial and temporal hotspot detection possible. However, the volunteer reporting method produced a dataset with a direct correlation between the numbers and locations of the dead birds and human population density and accurately identifying hotspots remains a challenge. Geographic variation in dead bird intensity was modeled using both global and local spatial clustering algorithms. Statistical models identified overall spatial structure and local clustering. Identification of hotspots was confounded by limited information about the collection procedures, data availability and quality, and the limitations of each method.


2020 ◽  
Vol 222 (4) ◽  
pp. 528-537 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damien A M Philippon ◽  
Peng Wu ◽  
Benjamin J Cowling ◽  
Eric H Y Lau

Abstract Background Avian influenza A viruses (AIVs) are among the most concerning emerging and re-emerging pathogens because of the potential risk for causing an influenza pandemic with catastrophic impact. The recent increase in domestic animals and poultry worldwide was followed by an increase of human AIV outbreaks reported. Methods We reviewed the epidemiology of human infections with AIV from the literature including reports from the World Health Organization, extracting information on virus subtype, time, location, age, sex, outcome, and exposure. Results We described the characteristics of more than 2500 laboratory-confirmed human infections with AIVs. Human infections with H5N1 and H7N9 were more frequently reported than other subtypes. Risk of death was highest among reported cases infected with H5N1, H5N6, H7N9, and H10N8 infections. Older people and males tended to have a lower risk of infection with most AIV subtypes, except for H7N9. Visiting live poultry markets was mostly reported by H7N9, H5N6, and H10N8 cases, while exposure to sick or dead bird was mostly reported by H5N1, H7N2, H7N3, H7N4, H7N7, and H10N7 cases. Conclusions Understanding the profile of human cases of different AIV subtypes would guide control strategies. Continued monitoring of human infections with AIVs is essential for pandemic preparedness.


1971 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 84-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Schur

This article begins with the assumption that one can gather some picture of the history of man's attitude toward death by examining the literature he has written for children. And so, it proceeds to survey death in children's literature from the early, anonymous works such as Mother Goose, to contemporary picture books like The Dead Bird. This literature is basically divided into four periods: Anonymous, Puritan, Intermediate and Contemporary. At least one representative example and further references follow the explanation of the values and principles of each period. The conclusion points out that, aside from the merits of this survey as a literature study and an indication of man's attitudes towards death through history, it can serve the important role of challenging the reader to examine his own death attitudes.


2012 ◽  
Vol 141 (6) ◽  
pp. 1134-1142 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. A. BRUGMAN ◽  
D. L. HORTON ◽  
L. P. PHIPPS ◽  
N. JOHNSON ◽  
A. J. C. COOK ◽  
...  

SUMMARYWest Nile virus (WNV) is a zoonotic arthropod-borne pathogen with continued geographical expansion in Europe. We present and evaluate data on the temporal, spatial and bird species focus of the WNV surveillance programme in dead wild birds in Great Britain (2002–2009). During this period all bird samples tested negative for WNV. Eighty-two per cent of the 2072 submissions occurred during the peak period of vector activity with 53% tested during April–July before human and equine infection would be expected. Samples were received from every county, but there was significant geographical clustering (nearest neighbour index=0·23, P<0·001). Over 240 species were represented, with surveillance more likely to detect WNV in resident bird species (92% of submissions) than migrants (8%). Evidence indicates that widespread avian mortality is not generally a reported feature of WNV in Europe and hence additional activities other than dead bird surveillance may maximize the ability to detect WNV circulation before the onset of human and equine infections.


2004 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 293-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joy Johnson

The children found a dead bird. They wrapped it up. They buried it. They said some words and felt sad. They brought flowers for a few days. Then they forgot. This is the theme of the story in the first modern, in-print, actual hold-in-your-hands children's book about grief in my memory— The Dead Bird, by Margaret Wise Brown. It was dear to me because she wrote the first edition the year I was born, 1938, making me one of the gray-haired grandmothers and leaving Wise Brown dead now for more than 45 years. When my husband, Marv, and I founded Centering Corporation in 1977, The Dead Bird was the only book we could find for children. I'm sure there were others; we just didn't find them. They were hidden. Grief wasn't “in” then, and definitely not for children.


2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-22
Author(s):  
C. Wesley Wood ◽  
Maribeth C. Duqueza ◽  
Brenda H. Wood

Long-term land application of manure, litter, and dead-bird compost generated during poultry (Gallus, gallus) production may oversupply nitrogen (N) and result in nitrate (NO3-N) contamination of groundwater. A barrier to judicious use of poultry waste as a fertilizer is the absence of management tools for prediction of waste-derived N released during the plant growing season. This study was conducted to establish an N extraction method for poultry wastes as a predictor of soil N release owing to land application of poultry waste. We correlated N released from 87 different poultry wastes in a 60-day incubation with seven bioavailability predictors. Bioavailability predictors included autoclave-calcium chloride (CaCl2) extraction, bicarbonate extraction, Walkley-Black (acid dichromate) digestion, acid permanganate digestion, pepsin digestion, protein extraction, and barium hydroxide extractable glucose. Results indicate that acid permanganate digestion (r=0.77) has the highest potential for predicting N mineralized from poultry wastes followed by sodium bicarbonate extraction (r=0.51). However, the relationships are not strong enough to indicate that these methods would be useful in a practical, predictive sense.


2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 631-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Millicent Eidson ◽  
Laura Kramer ◽  
Ward Stone ◽  
Yoichiro Hagiwara ◽  
Kate Schmit ◽  
...  

1970 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 327-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
AKM Ahmed ◽  
MT Islam ◽  
MG Haider ◽  
MM Hossain

The present study was conducted to determine the seroprevalence of Salmonella infections in poultry. This study covered cultural prevalence with isolation and identification of the causal agent and pathological lesions in different organs produced by Salmonella in layer farms of Mymensingh district during July-December 2007. The materials were blood samples, liver and cloacal swabs from live and dead birds. The used methods were whole blood agglutination test by commercially available Salmonella antigen kit, culture in different media, Gram's staining, motility test, basic 5 sugar fermentation test and histopathology. The overall seroprevalence was 45.9% in live bird and the rate of seroprevalence decreased with advancement of age of birds. The cultural prevalence in seropositive group was 71% and in seronegative group was 59%. In dead bird, the cultural prevalence in liver was 64% and from cloaca 57%. A total 160 isolates were characterized, among them 64.2% were Salmonella Pullorum, 22.3% were Salmonella Gallinarum and 13.5% were Paratyphoid group of Salmonellae. Pathologically friable, bronze color liver with focal necrosis, various grades of enteritis, and hemorrhagic and congested egg follicles with stalk formation were found. Microscopically, focal necrosis and degeneration with leukocytic infiltration in liver, inflammatory cells in the mucosa and submucosa of intestine were found. In egg follicles, congestion and hemorrhages with leukocytic infiltration were found. The isolated Salmonella organisms may be used for further research such as serotyping, vaccine production and antibiotic sensitivity test. Keywords: Salmonellosis; Seroprevalence; Agglutination test; Histopathology; Poultry DOI: 10.3329/jbau.v6i2.4830 J. Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 6(2): 327-334, 2008


2021 ◽  
pp. 141-152
Author(s):  
Eric Hart
Keyword(s):  

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document