Cheap lapor Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Cheap lapor - Essay Example In addition to the assistantships program, the graduate students also have access to educational funding. This is basically to attract more international students to take advantage of the outstanding graduate programs the university offers. Assistantships are the most regular schemes of financial backing to graduate studies. Since the implementation of the said development plans, close to 65 percent of graduate students admitted yearly at the university are beneficiaries of graduate student assistantships (Purdue.edu). As a graduate student at Purdue University, you may benefit from teaching, research, or administrative/specialized assistantships to assist you cater for educational costs and at the same time benefiting from rich employment experience. However, students need to note that when they secure an assistantship, they are regarded as part time workers with the university and the will enjoy all the benefits of assistantship (Purdue.edu). Among these benefits include: Students also need to know that assistantship program is not limited on department; that is, they can either secure assistantships from their departments of admission or from other department that is not relevant to their faculty, but this is limited to the areas of placements and availability of chances. This plan is made subject to the continued outcry of our graduate students who are benefiting from the graduate assistantship program. The concern by the student is founded on the following main reasons; Therefore, this negotiation plan is developed principally to address these three main concerns by our graduate students under the assistantship program. In addressing this issue, it is imperative that we give background information regarding the graduate program, graduate student government, VP /dean of graduate school, President of the Graduate Student Group (Todd, 34). The history of the university dates back to 1862 the then president of the United States Lincoln

Dressed to Kill Stereotypes Essay Example for Free

Dressed to Kill Stereotypes Essay Dressed to Kill Stereotypes: Eddie Izzard’s Role as Parasocial Contact Icon You never get a second chance to make a first impression; a concept crucial to the importance of the Parasocial Contact Hypothesis. Eddie Izzard as a representative of a male transvestite minority group, plays a critical role in diminishing minority stereotypes in his HBO comedy special Dressed to Kill. Eddie Izzard does this in 3 important ways: by identifying with the majority (his audience) on a familiar and common level, by embracing minority characteristics in order to humanize differences, and by approaching the subject (mostly non-verbally) in a lighthearted and non-threatening manner. The Parasocial Contact Hypothesis is the suggestion that parasocial interactions through media can act in a similar way to Intergroup Contact Theory when correlated to minority prejudice. In studies on intergroup contact, it has been shown that direct exposure to a minority group changes the opinion and lessens the prejudice by that participant. Schiappa, Greg and Hewes wrote, â€Å"a person’s beliefs can be modified by that person coming into contact with a category member and subsequently modifying or elaborating the beliefs about the category as a whole† (93). In their parasocial contact hypothesis studies Schiappa, Greg and Hewes concluded, Cumulatively, the studies reported here provide support for the PCH for two minority groups and across three television genres. The PCH has significant theoretical and social implications. For decades, mass communication researchers have insisted that mass media and television, in particular, can influence viewers’ beliefs about the world. Research on parasocial contact and the relationships that such contact produces is significant because it suggests that one form of learning is about individuals and categories of people (111). This finding is most important because it means that individuals representing minority groups in media now become more than an individual, but an icon for the minority and as such they carry on a new importance and responsibility. In Dressed to Kill, Eddie Izzards approach to his special gains greater value because he now represents a larger group and his communication choices take on new significance. Eddie Izzard first identifies with the majority on a common level, but opening the show on the streets of San Francisco while not in drag. His audience is from or at least in San Francisco and through his opening video and dialogue he connects to the crowd on a level outside of gender issues as a fellow San Franciscan or at least lover there of. His second technique is to embrace minority characteristics all the while humanizing them. He does this by coming out on stage in drag and performing the whole special in ‘costume’. He defines transvestites and even categorizes them by type at points throughout the special to bring the audience back and to demonstrate similarities with which they can identify. His third technique is to approach the subject in a lighthearted and non-threatening manner; this is achieved simply by using a comedic format style. People laugh when they are uncomfortable and laugh when they are comfortable. Those that are uncomfortable are given the freedom to express themselves without standing out because everyone else is laughing. Those unfamiliar with transvestites now presented with a closer view of the minority in a comedic way, walk away with a positive feeling of the minority representative which influences their opinion and reduces prejudice. The studies and conclusions on Parasocial Contact Hypothesis research are significant because it means the media can be used to reinforce positive images of minority groups to reduce prejudice. However the opposite is likely also true, so it is important that media be used for productive and not destructive purposes in this regard. Works Cited Schiappa, Edward Gregg, Peter Hewes, Dean. The Parasocial Contact Hypothesis. Communication Monographs Mar. 2005: 92-115. Jordan, Lawrence dir. Izzard, Eddie wri. Dressed to Kill. 1999. HBO, 1999.

Were German Citizens Aware of the Holocaust?

Were German Citizens Aware of the Holocaust? Jason Jimenez To what extent was the average individual of Germany during WWII aware of the atrocities committed within the Holocaust? Table of Contents A. Plan of Investigation2 B. Summary of Evidence2 C. Evaluation of Sources3 D. Analysis.3-4 E. Conclusion.4 F. Bibliography.5 A.  Plan of Investigation This investigation assesses the extent of how much the average German knew of the Holocaust during WWII. In order to evaluate this, the investigation examines the situation of Germany at this point in time. First, the cause and effect of the force of extreme anti-Semitism on the people by Hitler will be explored. Also, this investigation will delve into the extensive spread of knowledge between the groups of people that were aware of the genocide with the others that did not. Lastly, the seemingly enormous task of the Final Solution will be considered, as well as challenged in a manner that would suggest awareness in the general German population. These three major factors are the primary focus of this investigation; they will be analyzed by evaluating several essay sources, as well as other internet articles, for their origins, purposes, values, and limitations. B. Summary of Evidence Prior to WWII, Hitler already possessed hatred for the Jews. He states in his book that he first became an anti-Semite in Vienna, where he attained extreme German nationalism. He strongly believed in a union with the Germans and a violent expulsion of the â€Å"inferior† races. During his time as the leader of the Nazi Party, as well as Fuhrer, Hitler delivered many speeches to the masses regarding the Jews as the enemy. In one of his speeches, he declared, â€Å"The struggle for world domination will be fought entirely between us, between Germans and Jews. All else is facade and illusion. Behind England stands Israel, and behind France, and behind the United States. Even when we have driven the Jew out of Germany, he remains our world enemy.†[1] This statement suggests that Hitler saw that Jews as the ultimate enemy, and disregards the rest of the world as even mildly relevant. Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Propaganda Minister responsible for the Night of Broken Glass, in which hundreds of Jews were murdered, was also an essential component in the spread of anti-Semitism at that time.[2] The general German population knew of their government’s extreme hatred toward the Jews, and it was only a matter of time until they figured out what was going to happen next. Furthermore, from the huge size of the army, as well as the thousands of camps located in and around Germany, it was inevitable for information not to spread between the populations. For example, German soldiers would, at the very least, have brought home numerous stories of what was going on in Russia (where the atrocities were well known) or the east.[3] The stories that the soldiers would have told their loved ones back home would have spread swiftly, and therefore soon after, knowledge of rumours would be instilled into the general population. The many camps that existed then were located inside Germany itself, but there were many more outside the country. A large number of these camps were located near several highly-populated areas, such as Dachau, outside of Munich.[4] However, the major extermination camps, such as Auschwitz and Treblinka, were not set up inside Germany, so it certainly was possible that the average German in the home front had no knowledge of them. Although, it is logical to assume that most people knew that being sent to a concentration was, without a doubt, a death sentence; even if they did not know the details, they had to have noticed that barely anyone ever returned from the camps. Overall, it all boils down to the issue of whether or not the Germans wanted to know more about what was going on, for perha ps they just wanted to turn a blind eye because it did not affect them in any way. Lastly, the monstrous project of the Final Solution (Nazi Germany’s plan to systematically kill off the entire Jewish population in Nazi-occupied Europe) seemed all too massive of a project to have been undertaken only by the Nazis. Konnilyn Feig, a well-respected Holocaust author, suspects that most people did, in fact, know about much of what was going on. In her book, Hitler’s death camps: the sanity of madness, she states that â€Å"Hitler exterminated the Jews of Europe. But he did not do so alone. The task was so enormous, complex, time-consuming, and mentally and economically demanding that it took the best efforts of millions of Germans†¦ All spheres of life in Germany actively participated†[5] As the case may be, therefore, it is not futile to rule out this very possibility. C. Evaluation of Sources Note: Because there were seemingly no readily available traditional resources regarding this investigation’s rather specific question, two significant internet articles will be evaluated in lieu. One article is written by Will Coleman, and is an extended response to the same question this investigation is attempting to answer. The other source is an essay article written by Theresa Art, named â€Å"What Did Most Germans Know about the Nazi Concentration Camp System?† As a response to a similar question posed in the website, www.quora.com, Will Coleman writes an in-depth â€Å"report† on the truth that he believes, in which he states that â€Å"the large majority of the German public, knew and collaborated willingly with the deportation and extermination of the Jews†¦Ã¢â‚¬ [6] This article was written with the obvious purpose of attempting to answer the question in the website, but to also do so using methodical reasoning. The article’s value lies in the fact that it provides a systematic explanation of Coleman’s perspective on the matter, and this allows the reader to easily interpret and understand the logic behind his bold statement that à ¢â‚¬Å"all of Germany was responsible†. Coleman does this by ordering his points from least to most significant; first he starts off with basic arguments that reinforce the fact that communication within Germany must have defeated any sort of secrecy about the mass murders simply because of how many people there were, and he ends with an intricate â€Å"collective guilt† argument, wherein he explains that the German people felt guilt for the atrocities committed by their fellow countrymen, and could only have done so because they either participated or turned a blind eye to it. There was a minor limitation in this article, in which it would sometimes confuse awareness of the holocaust with direct participation. In Theresa Ast’s article, she aims to focus not on the â€Å"culpability or degree of culpability of different segments of the German population†[7], but on general German knowledge of concentration camps. Much like Coleman, Ast suggests that many Ge rmans were aware of the mass killings; she states that â€Å"most concentration camp inmates were German or Austrian citizens and many of them served limited sentences before being released. It begs believability to think that these individuals did not discuss their experience with family and close friends.† The value in Ast’s article, as opposed to Coleman’s, is that she took into account several WWII veterans’ first-hand opinions and experiences in her findings. This allowed her to develop a well-formulated conclusion stating that â€Å"the typical German response was to deny knowledge of, and disclaim any responsibility for, the concentration camps.† A limitation in this article lies in the fact that it is mostly comprised of evidence, and has a minor lack of detail in its arguments. D. Analysis The importance of this investigation in its historical context is immense, as the question poses the issue of whether or not the Germans should feel guilty for having taken part in the most documented, systematic, industrial slaughter of human beings in all of recorded civilized history. From one perspective, based on the sources, it can be argued that the average German had a rough idea as to what was going on, but did not know the details; this is either because he genuinely did not know, or perhaps because he did not want to know more of his own country’s monstrosities. From another perspective, it can be argued that the average German knew a great deal of what was going on, as Coleman states, â€Å"How can a country on total war footing continue to move, house, manage and exterminate millions of people while at the same time, use those sparing resources on war production? They cant, not without a lot of help. Where was this help? The German nation of course.†[8] Fro m these arguments also arises the question that if the Germans did help undertake the Final Solution, did they do it willingly? Or were they forced to do it by the Nazis? With Adolf Hitler’s entrance into Germany’s politics, so did his theories of racial struggle and the â€Å"intent† of the Jews to survive and expand at the expense of the Germans. From 1933-1938, the Nazis staged book burnings, ordered anti-Jewish boycotts, and enabled anti-Jewish legislation.[9] The Jews were defined by race and was totally separated from the Germans by the Nuremberg Laws in 1935. These measures focused on total segregation of Jews from Germans and Austrians, both legally and socially. These new statutes, added with the extremely anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda imposed on the country must have, at the very least, implied something utterly terrible to come for the Jews. Although hundreds of thousands had already been killed by death squads and in mass pogroms[10] (riots aimed at m assacre of Jews), the large-scale deportation of the Jews must have spelled disaster for them in the eyes of the Germans. The communication that must have travelled back and forth, from the people that knew to the ones that did not, suggests that even though the full details of the holocaust were not leaked, a general idea of it must have formed within the people. The SS would routinely mix labour battalions, which consisted of thousands of starving Jews, with German nationals who were producing war goods. Without a doubt, these nationals must have shared stories of horribly treated Jews back home. The average Nazi soldier who had seen the atrocities committed in both concentration and death camps most likely would have wrote home letters describing what he had seen. Overall, there was very little chance that a German did not know anything as to what was going on around him, as all signs, including the mass deportation of Jews by train and the mass murders in pogroms, point to the u ltimatum that the Jews were being thoroughly purged out of Germany. The amount of work that the Final Solution must have required was much greater than that which the Nazis could hope to accomplish. As Will Coleman mentioned in his article, Germany could not have afforded to be on total war as well as systematically exterminate millions of people simultaneously without extra help, and this, in all likelihood, came from the general population of Germany itself. German police units, namely the Reserve Police Battalion 101, shot 38,000 Jews and deported 45,000 more to the camps.[11] Bankers often volunteered the names of their Jewish employees to Nazi authorities, most of which ended up in death camps.[12] What all of this is suggesting is that such a massive task could not have been done solely by the Nazis, but with the collective help and cooperation of everyone in the country. E. Conclusion Each and every subtopic that this investigation evaluates all point to the same conclusion. First, the extreme anti-Semitic ideas that had been forced on the people, coupled with the initial attacks on the Jews, implied the beginning of the end for them. Nobody knew exactly what the future h eld for the Jews, but they just knew it would be disastrous. Second, the substantial network of communication that had been utilized must have at least given the average German a clue as to what the Jews were going through at the time. Whether the information was passed through a letter, orally, or first-hand, the population must have received a basic idea for what was happening, and also, what was about to happen. Lastly, the Final Solution could not have been finished by the Nazis without further help from outside sources. Like Konnilyn Feig stated, â€Å"The task was so complex that it took the best efforts of millions of Germans†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Most, if not all Germans were aware of the Holocaust, let alone the ones that participated too. There is no doubt that everyone had the idea, and this alone reinforces the fact that yes, almost everyone was aware of what was happening. Total word count: 1,971 F. Bibliography Internet Sources: Coleman, Will, â€Å"To what extent were average German citizens aware of or involved in the Holocaust†. n.d., Quora. 30 March 2014. http://www.quora.com/Nazi-Germany/To-what-extent-were-average-German-citizens-aware-of-or-involved-in-the-Holocaust Ast, Theresa, â€Å"What Did Most Germans Know About The Nazi Concentration Camp System?†. n.d., HubPages. 30 March 2014. http://phdast7.hubpages.com/hub/What-Did-Average-germans-Know-Concentration-Camps Museum, â€Å"ANTISEMITISM IN HISTORY: NAZI ANTISEMITISM†. 10 June 2013. Holocaust Encyclopedia. 30 March 2014. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007167 Connolly, Kate, â€Å"Letter proves Speer knew of Holocaust plan†. n.d. The Guardian. 30 March 2014. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/mar/13/secondworldwar.kateconnolly Douglas, Davis â€Å"British bank implicated in Nazi dealings†. 2 April 1999. Jewish News of Greater Phoenix. 30 March 2014. http://www.webcitation.org/5wQnrMwcy Book Sources: Rauschning, Hermann. Hitler Speaks (Munich, Germany: Kessinger Publishing, 2006) Feig, Konnilyn. Hitler’s Death Camps: The Sanity of Madness (California, United States: Holmes Meier Pub, 1981) Niewyk, Donald. The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust (New York, United States: Harper Collins, 1992) Gilbert, Martin. Kristallnacht (Oxford, England: Harper Perennial, 2007) [1] Hermann Rauschning. Hitler Speaks (Munich, Germany: Kessinger Publishing, 2006) p.234 [2] Gilbert Martin. Kristallnacht (Oxford, England: Harper Perennial, 2007) p.29 [3] Will Coleman, â€Å"To what extent were average German citizens aware of or involved in the Holocaust†. n.d., Quora. 30 March 2014 http://www.quora.com/Nazi-Germany/To-what-extent-were-average-German-citizens-aware-of-or-involved-in-the-Holocaust [4] Will Coleman, â€Å"To what extent were average German citizens aware of or involved in the Holocaust†. n.d., Quora. 30 March 2014 http://www.quora.com/Nazi-Germany/To-what-extent-were-average-German-citizens-aware-of-or-involved-in-the-Holocaust [5] Konnilyn Feig. Hitler’s Death Camps: The Sanity of Madness (California, United States: Holmes Meier Pub, 1981) p.84 [6] Will Coleman, â€Å"To what extent were average German citizens aware of or involved in the Holocaust†. n.d., Quora. 30 March 2014 http://www.quora.com/Nazi-Germany/To-what-extent-were-average-German-citizens-aware-of-or-involved-in-the-Holocaust [7] Theresa Ast, â€Å"What Did Most Germans Know About The Nazi Concentration Camp System?†. n.d., HubPages. 30 March 2014 http://phdast7.hubpages.com/hub/What-Did-Average-germans-Know-Concentration-Camps [8] Will Coleman, â€Å"To what extent were average German citizens aware of or involved in the Holocaust†. n.d., Quora. 30 March 2014 http://www.quora.com/Nazi-Germany/To-what-extent-were-average-German-citizens-aware-of-or-involved-in-the-Holocaust [9] Museum, â€Å"Antisemitism in History: Nazi Antisemitism†. 10 June 2013. Holocaust Encyclopedia. 30 March 2014 http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007167 [10] Kate Connolly, â€Å"Letter proves Speer knew of Holocaust plan†. n.d. The Guardian. 30 March 2014. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/mar/13/secondworldwar.kateconnolly [11] Donald Niewyk. The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust (New York, United States: Harper Collins, 1992) p.83-87 [12] Davis Douglas, â€Å"British bank implicated in Nazi dealings†. 2 April 1999. Jewish News of Greater Phoenix. 30 March 2014 http://www.webcitation.org/5wQnrMwcy

Creation myth :: Fiona and Shrek

Geoffrey meets Ducky Long before there were human beings, there was Queen Fiona and King Shrek. They lived on an island filled with tropical fruits and jungles called Neverland. King Shrek was the ruler of all the land. He made boundaries to separate land from water, marshes from rain forests, and created islands into regions. King Shrek also created trees to grow crops for the animals. Queen Fiona on the other hand created the most beautiful exotic creatures called the bear, bird, duck, giraffe, tiger, lion, fish, dog, lizard, horse, elephant, frog, cow, deer, chicken, pig, leopard, rhino, squirrels, and many other creatures. In those days there was no sun. All light came from the sparkling white moon shined in the sky that stood in the center of the sky. There was the sky and the moon, but the sun never came out and, far below, an endless stretch of water, wild marshes, exotic jungles, rain forests with fresh green trees growing like grass. Animals roamed every region searching for food and shelter, bu t this lead to brutal and violent fights. Soon Queen Fiona and King Shrek were getting fed up with the animals Nguyen 2 because the animals became enemies to one another, so Queen Fiona and King Shrek decided to create human beings into either man or woman, where peace and kindness with last eternally.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One day the Queen Fiona and King Shrek decided to retire due to the chaos of the animals and tried to figure out what animals can represent the man or woman and that animal can become the symbol of life again. It was the hardest decision for the Queen Fiona and King Shrek to choose what animal can stay to lead on the human race to a better and enduring life of happiness. Finally, after days of hard work of searching, they choose the giraffe to represent the males because of the giraffe ability and uniqueness figure can benefit humankind. The giraffe can drink up to 12 gallons of water, sleeps for only 1-12 minutes long, live about 20-25 years long, and travel without stopping. This gives males more dominance because the giraffe is so tall and more alert because they sleep less; they travel without stopping due to the twelve gallon storage in their body. Giraffes are also mellow, but when it comes to being attacked it will have a dangerous side. Creation myth :: Fiona and Shrek Geoffrey meets Ducky Long before there were human beings, there was Queen Fiona and King Shrek. They lived on an island filled with tropical fruits and jungles called Neverland. King Shrek was the ruler of all the land. He made boundaries to separate land from water, marshes from rain forests, and created islands into regions. King Shrek also created trees to grow crops for the animals. Queen Fiona on the other hand created the most beautiful exotic creatures called the bear, bird, duck, giraffe, tiger, lion, fish, dog, lizard, horse, elephant, frog, cow, deer, chicken, pig, leopard, rhino, squirrels, and many other creatures. In those days there was no sun. All light came from the sparkling white moon shined in the sky that stood in the center of the sky. There was the sky and the moon, but the sun never came out and, far below, an endless stretch of water, wild marshes, exotic jungles, rain forests with fresh green trees growing like grass. Animals roamed every region searching for food and shelter, bu t this lead to brutal and violent fights. Soon Queen Fiona and King Shrek were getting fed up with the animals Nguyen 2 because the animals became enemies to one another, so Queen Fiona and King Shrek decided to create human beings into either man or woman, where peace and kindness with last eternally.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One day the Queen Fiona and King Shrek decided to retire due to the chaos of the animals and tried to figure out what animals can represent the man or woman and that animal can become the symbol of life again. It was the hardest decision for the Queen Fiona and King Shrek to choose what animal can stay to lead on the human race to a better and enduring life of happiness. Finally, after days of hard work of searching, they choose the giraffe to represent the males because of the giraffe ability and uniqueness figure can benefit humankind. The giraffe can drink up to 12 gallons of water, sleeps for only 1-12 minutes long, live about 20-25 years long, and travel without stopping. This gives males more dominance because the giraffe is so tall and more alert because they sleep less; they travel without stopping due to the twelve gallon storage in their body. Giraffes are also mellow, but when it comes to being attacked it will have a dangerous side.

Baldwin Cycle Case

Baldwin Cycle Case 1. Relevant Cost: Direct Material$39. 8 Direct Labor$19. 6 Variable Overhead(@40% of $24. 5)$9. 8 Total Relevant Costs$69. 2 2. 2-months Raw material for 25,000 bikes @ $38. 9$165,833 WIP Inventory(1000 @ $69. 2)$69,200 Finished Goods(500 @ $69. 2)$34,600 A/R (30 days) @(25,000/12*92. 29)$192,270 Total Inventory Costs$461,904 Relevant Asset Cost (@5. 5 %) $25,405 Total Relevant Asset Cost$487,309 Interest @ 18%$87,716 Net Relevant Cost$399,593 Price Per Bicycle$15. 98 3. Cannibalization or erosion will arguably lead to reduction in Baldwin’s revenue.The lost sales amount to $1. 3 Million. However, if the challenger bikes are not introduced fearing impacts of cannibalization or erosion, Baldwin’s competitor can step in and claim the benefits. Hi-Valu can turn to Baldwin’s competitor and that can have a larger and long-term effect on an already declining bicycle market share for Baldwin. 4. It is difficult to predict return as implementation of t his deal opens up uncertainty in retaining existing customers. 5. The current inventory turnover rate is 125 days for Baldwin and 46 days for account receivable turnover.However, Hi-Valu will pay Baldwin in 30 days resulting in early cash realization. The deal also positively impacts inventory turnover by limiting it to 120 days. Thus the deal has a favorable impact on Baldwin Cash flows. 6. Baldwin’s financial situation is as follows: a. High debt to equity ratio from high amount of short-term debt b. High debt can lead to problems in raising additional financing c. From the current ratio(1. 28), it seems that Baldwin can pay of its liabilities d. With an 8. 2% ROE, Baldwin has a lower ROE than the industry average 7.Baldwin isn’t well poised at end of 1982 for the following reasons: a. Bicycle boom has flattened out resulting the plant operating capacity to be underutilized at 75% b. Challenger deal provides added capacity for a guaranteed 3 years with additional sco pe on a yearly contact basis c. Baldwin could lose sales of 3000 units and loss of current dealers due to the deal Based on long-term prospect of losing 3000 units of sales and current dealers, Baldwin should reject the deal unless some revisions to the deal are presented.

Prehistoric Life During the Paleogene Period

Prehistoric Life During the Paleogene Period The 43 million years of the Paleogene period represent a crucial interval in the evolution of mammals, birds, and reptiles, which were free to occupy new ecological niches after the demise of the dinosaurs following the K/T Extinction Event. The Paleogene was the first period of the Cenozoic Era (65 million years ago to the present), followed by the Neogene period (23-2.6 million years ago), and is itself divided into three important epochs: the Paleocene (65-56 million years ago), the Eocene (56-34 million years ago) and the Oligocene (34-23 million years ago). Climate and Geography. With some significant hiccups, the Paleogene period witnessed a steady cooling of the earths climate from the hothouse conditions of the preceding Cretaceous period. Ice began to form at both the North and South poles and seasonal changes were more pronounced in the northern and southern hemispheres, which had a significant impact on plant and animal life. The northern supercontinent of Laurasia gradually broke apart into North America in the west and Eurasia in the east, while its southern counterpart Gondwana continued to fracture into South America, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica, all of which began drifting slowly to their present positions. Terrestrial Life Mammals. Mammals didnt suddenly appear on the scene at the start of the Paleogene period; in fact, the first primitive mammals originated in the Triassic period, 230 million years ago. In the absence of dinosaurs, though, mammals were free to radiate into a variety of open ecological niches. During the Paleocene and Eocene epochs, mammals still tended to be fairly small but had already started evolving along definite lines: the Paleogene is when you can find the earliest ancestors of whales, elephants, and odd- and even-toed ungulates (hoofed mammals). By the Oligocene epoch, at least some mammals had begun to grow to respectable sizes, though they werent nearly as impressive as their descendants of the ensuing Neogene period. Birds. During the early part of the Paleogene period, birds, and not mammals, were the dominant land animals on earth (which shouldnt be all that surprising, given that they had evolved from recently extinct dinosaurs). One early evolutionary trend was toward large, flightless, predatory birds like Gastornis, which superficially resembled meat-eating dinosaurs, as well as the meat-eating avians known as terror birds, but subsequent eons saw the appearance of more diverse flying species, which were similar in many respects to modern birds. Reptiles. Although dinosaurs, pterosaurs and marine reptiles had gone completely extinct by the start of the Paleogene period, the same wasnt true for their close cousins, the crocodiles, which not only managed to survive the K/T Extinction but actually flourished in its aftermath (while retaining the same basic body plan). The deepest roots of snake and turtle evolution can be located in the later Paleogene, and small, inoffensive lizards continued to scurry underfoot. Marine Life Not only the dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago; so did their vicious marine cousins, the mosasaurs, along with the last remaining plesiosaurs and pliosaurs. This sudden vacuum at the top of the marine food chain naturally spurred the evolution of sharks (which had already been around for hundreds of millions of years, though in smaller sizes). Mammals had yet to venture fully into the water, but the earliest, land-dwelling ancestors of whales prowled the Paleogene landscape, most notably in central Asia, and may have had semi-amphibious lifestyles. Plant Life Flowering plants, which had already made a cameo appearance toward the end of the Cretaceous period, continued to flourish during the Paleogene. The gradual cooling of the earths climate paved the way for vast deciduous forests, mostly on the northern continents, with jungles and rainforests increasingly restricted to equatorial regions. Toward the end of the Paleogene period, the first grasses appeared, which would have a significant impact on animal life during the ensuing Neogene period, spurring the evolution of both prehistoric horses and the saber-toothed cats that preyed on them.