The Impost and the Abacus in Architecture

An impost is that part of an arch from which the arc swings upward. If a capital is the top part of a column, an impost is the bottom part of an arch. An impost is NOT a capital but is often on top of a capital that has no entablature. An impost needs an arch. An abacus is a projecting block atop a columns capital that does not hold up an arch. The next time youre in Washington, D.C., look up at the columns of the Lincoln Memorial to see an abacus or two. The Impost Block Builders of what is now known as Byzantine architecture created decorative stone blocks to transition between columns and arches. Columns were smaller than the thick arches, so impost blocks were tapered, the small end fitting on the column capital and the larger end fitting onto the arch. Other names for impost blocks include dosseret, pulvino, supercapital, chaptrel, and sometimes abacus. The Look of Imposts The architectural term impost may date back to Medieval times. The interior of the Byzantine-era Basilica of SantApollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, Italy is often cited to illustrate the use of imposts. Built in the early 6th century (c. 500 AD) by the Ostrogoth King Theodoric the Great, this UNESCO Heritage site is a fine example of both mosaics and arches in Early Christian architecture. Note the impost blocks above the capitals of the columns. The arches spring upward from those blocks, which are traditionally highly decorated. Todays American homes reminiscent of Mediterranean or Spanish architecture will exhibit architectural features of the past. As was typical of imposts hundreds of years ago, the imposts often are painted a decorative color that contrasts with the color of the house itself. Taken together, these images show the transition of the column (3) to the arch (1) by way of the impost (2). Origin of the Word Impost has several meanings, many of which may be more familiar than the architectural definition. In horse racing, impost is the weight assigned to a horse in a handicap race. In the world of taxation, an impost is a duty imposed on imported goods   —   the word is even in the U.S. Constitution as a power given to Congress (see Article I, Section 8). In all of these senses, the word comes from a Latin word  impositus meaning to impose a burden onto something. In architecture, the burden is on a part of the arch that holds it up, denying gravitys attempt to bring the weight of the arch to earth. Additional Definitions of Impost The springing point or block of an arch. — G. E. Kidder Smith A masonry unit or course, often distinctively profiled, which receives and distributes the thrust of each end of an arch. — Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, The Impost and Arch in Architectural History Nobody knows where arches began. They arent really needed, because the Primitive Hut post and lintel construction works just fine. But theres something beautiful about an arch. Perhaps its mans imitation of creating a horizon, creating a sun and a moon. Professor Talbot Hamlin, FAIA, writes that brick arches date back to 4th millennium BC (4000 to 3000 BC) in the region known today as the Middle East. The ancient land called Mesopotamia was partially enveloped by the Eastern Roman Empire during the long period we sometimes call the Byzantine civilization of the Middle Ages. It was a time when traditional building techniques and designs already developed in the Middle East combined with the Classical (Greek and Roman) ideas of the West. Byzantine architects experimented with creating higher and higher domes using pendentives, and they also invented impost blocks to build arches grand enough for the great cathedrals of Early Christian architecture. Ravenna, south of Venice on the Adriatic Sea, was the center of Byzantine architecture in 6th century Italy.   Later still, it came gradually to replace the capital, and instead of being square at the bottom was made circular, so that the new capital had a continuously changing surface, from the circular bottom on top of the shaft up to a square of much larger size above, which supported the arches directly. This shape could then be carved with surface ornament of leaves or interlacing of any desired intricacy; and, to give this carving greater brilliance, often the stone beneath the surface was deeply cut away, so that sometimes the entire outside face of the capital was quite separate from the solid block behind, and the result had a sparkle and a vividness which was extraordinary. — Talbot Hamlin In our own homes today we continue the tradition begun thousands of years ago. We often decorate the impost area of an arch if and when it protrudes or is pronounced. The impost and impost block, like many architectural details found on todays homes, are less functional and more ornamental, reminding homeowners of past architectural beauty. Sources G. E. Kidder Smith, Source Book of American Architecture, Princeton Architectural Press, 1996, p. 645Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, Cyril M. Harris, ed., McGraw-Hill, 1975, p. 261Talbot Hamlin, Architecture through the Ages, Putnam, Revised 1953, pp. 13-14, 230-231Photo of Lincoln Memorial by Hisham Ibrahim/Getty Images (cropped); Photo of Spanish-style home by David Kozlowski/Moment Mobile Collection/Getty Images (cropped); Photo of colonnade and arches inside the Basilica of SantApollinare Nuovo by CM Dixon Print Collector/Getty Images (cropped); Illustration of an impost by Pearson Scott Foresman [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Economic Indicators Paper - 1521 Words

Economic Indicators Paper What does it mean when someone refers to the health of an economy? Furthermore, how can one classify an economy? Americans love to quantify data. Because of this inherent need to compare data, economists have developed a way to collect nearly every type of statistics that may reveal the general health of the economy. These statistics actually tell if the economy is productive and efficient or if it is slow and inefficient. Included in these statistics are Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Consumer Price Index (CPI), Unemployment Rate, Retail Sales, Producer Price Index (PPI), and Personal Income. Included in this paper, Team A defines the preceding six indicators, and describes their status. Additionally, a†¦show more content†¦There have been many indicators that have been developed to measure inflation. The CPI measures inflation as experienced by consumers through their everyday expenses. The Producer Price Index (PPI) measures inflation during the early stages of busine ss development, such as production and sales. The best measure of inflation for a given application depends upon how one intends to use this data. CPI allows businesses to adjust prices based upon a comparison of the current cost of a defined set of goods and/or services to the cost of those same goods at a time in the past. It is also, the best measure to use to translate retail sales and hourly earnings into real or inflation-free dollars (2005). The CPI is the most widely used measure of inflation and is sometimes viewed as an indicator of the effectiveness of government economic policy. It provides information about price changes in the Nations economy to government, business, labor, and private citizens and is used by them as a guide to making economic decisions. 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The Insanity Defense Free Essays

Norval Morris and Stephen Morse offer two contrasting views as to the legitimacy of the insanity defense in criminal cases. Morris advocates reducing the weight of the insanity defense from one of special exemption to one of â€Å"diminished responsibility†. Morse offers a defense of the insanity defense as it currently stands. We will write a custom essay sample on The Insanity Defense or any similar topic only for you Order Now The point on which the issue turns is choice. Do the mentally ill have the capacity to understand the law and to intentionally break it? Or does mental illness preclude the possibility of responsibility for one’s actions?Morris argues that freedom of choice exists on a continuum, and that to treat the mentally ill in black and white terms with regard to responsibility is folly. He goes on to argue that other mitigating circumstances, such as socioeconomic status, seem to have a greater causal link to criminal behavior. He concludes that mental illness should be a mitigating circumstance that can be used in reduced sentencing, rather than a special exemption from the law. Morse argues using the basic moral principles called upon to justify the insanity defense, namely a lack of cognitive capacity, which precludes the possibility of responsibility.While Morris raises some good objections to the insanity defense, I am still more inclined to agree with Morse. I agree that in some circumstances, let’s say a patient with a mood disorder, it makes sense to treat the mentally ill as having diminished responsibility. However, to say freedom of choice exists only on some continuum and that no one is ever completely irresponsible for his or her actions seems to me to deny such cases as someone experiencing a fugue state or complete psychotic break. An objection that could be raised (and which Morris does raise) to my viewpoint is one of procedure.Cases in which a criminal act was committed by someone who was not at all responsible for their actions are rare, and opening the door to insanity as a special defense inevitably results in other criminal offenders going unpunished by pretending to mental illness. While this is a legitimate objection that deserves to be addressed, it must be treated as a problem of application rather than one of principle. In any case, I would much prefer to live under a legal system in which some criminals go free than one in which some people who lack the cognitive capacity to commit a crime are punished as if they did. How to cite The Insanity Defense, Papers

Mirror Mirror free essay sample

Tell us about personal, social or family challenges you have faced. How have you dealt with them and how have they shaped your thinking? What if this college essay was not our first impression? I wouldn’t know what you’d think of me if you saw me on the streets of Manhattan, or Brooklyn, or even Calcutta? But I have a pretty good guess what would be the first thing that comes into you mind if you saw me with my sister: twins. To my family it never occurred to them to find out whether my sister and I were identical or fraternal, they were too busy debating the methods of muzzles or duct-tape to make us stop screaming at each other. Yet this this puzzling enquiry that seems deeper than the quantum physics of the universe seems to follow me, no matter where I go or how old I get: Are you girls twins? My sister. We will write a custom essay sample on Mirror Mirror or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page My sarcastic, romantically starved, comic-book loving, Tokyo-dreaming, pain in my gluteus maximus sister is the one person on this Earth who could drive me to the asylum in under six seconds and whom I can’t imagine my life without. She is the voice I count on in the middle of the night, and the sight more familiar than my own shadow. Most people don’t know this. Why should they? I live in New York, a city made of strangers who exit there simply to be know better. First impressions are sometimes the best-selling book you ride with on the subway, or the gorgeous smile that stops someone’s heartbeat. But the detail that has captured other people’s attention for my whole life, was the fact that I had a twin sister. Other people would ask you what your name was. Let me be honest, it hurts. People act like they discovered a rare animal or a parking space in the city, and suddenly I’m not a person who could have a great book or a fabulous smile, Iâ€℠¢m part of a set, like identical sweaters. Would you like feeling like a sweater, instead of a person? For years I didn’t know I felt like this. We played into their games, teasing teachers and friends to guess who we are, to know which one was who. And without ever realizing it, the world was divided into an â€Å"us† and a â€Å"them.† But who’s to blame? Innocent (not so much now) girls born into a world looking like the other, expecting people to always be able to tell us apart. But we never wanted the cliches. Neither of us ever wanted to be the Evil/ Good Twin, the Gemini, the clones, Doppelgangers, or sexual fantasy, which is truly ridiculous on so many levels. We never wanted to be part of this eternal game of compare/ contrast, who’s the smart one? Who’s the pretty one? Who’s nicer? Who’s better? If you ask what’s it being a twin, I’ll ask you what it’s like to breathe? It is my blessing and my cur se, and I love it because that’s how I was born. And it had made me work harder than the rest of the world to create my own identity, because I was not born with it. No one is. But there is hope in my beautiful family who has always been able to guess my name right; and in the fact that my sister recently cut her hair, which makes things a lot easier. There are so many things I know and don’t know. I know I was lucky enough to be born with my soul mate, but also have my own heart and mind. I do not know how I will change and allow myself to live in a role that isn’t always defined by my sister. But I do hope that you will read this, and think, and allow myself to find out more about myself at Hunter college.