Body armor Essay Example for Free

Body armor Essay Body armor and other protective equipment are vital components of with-in protection services because it shields the body from severe injury that may be associated with the nature of the job. Body armor and other protective equipment are generally designed to shelter the body from materials that come in with a particular velocity or force, such as bullets and knives. This man-made material is designed to prevent the entry that could result in the destruction of internal organs. The body armor prevents damage to the abdominal area of an individual, while the other protective equipment prevents injury to the extremities such as the arm and legs. When a material such as a bullet or a knife is introduced to a body with sheer force, the body armor prevents its entry yet the force still results in a form of shock to the body and this is technically called blunt trauma. There are two general types of body armor, namely soft and hard. Soft body armor is generally composed of one of two fibers, namely aramid and polyethylene that are configured in a particular weave. There are some brands that contain both types of fibers. Unfortunately, soft body armors can only protect an individual from the regular forces such as knives and bullets but are not sturdy enough to prevent bullets coming from machine guns. In this situation, hard body armors are employed for protection and these equipments are composed of plates made of ceramic material. Hard body armors are made of two plates that are positioned to cover the front and the back of an individual. Since ceramic plates are usually rigid, an individual may find this protective material heavy and movement may be restricted. DQ 2: The use of biological weapons has become an increased threat, and amplified since 911. What can we do to prepare for such an attack and or minimize the catastrophic aftermath? In order to be prepared for a possible terrorist attack that involves biological weapons, it is important that government agencies, especially those responsible for monitoring public health, to design contingency plans that would tackle incidents associated with the deliberate introduction of biological weapons to harm a specific population or even the general public. The contingency plan should also be a regular part of the health response system that also deals with pandemic outbreaks, large-scale accidents, as well as natural disasters. In 2002, the World Health Assembly of the United Nations adopted a technical support program that prepares each of the member states to prepare an action plan that would address any future catastrophes (WHO, 2004). For every city, it is important to create an initial response team that would take action whenever a terrorist attack occurs. This initial response team will determine the nature of the attack, on whether it is biological, industrial or bomb-based. The initial response team carries this exclusive responsibility because they are physically present in the city and it is very easy for them to go to the place that has been attacked in order to generate a first-hand account of the incident to higher authorities. Once the nature of the terrorist attack has been established, the initial response team will inform the state agency of the incident, which will in turn report to the national agency. This office will then report to the United Nations office for subsequent action, such as international assistance, in case that the country is incapable of dealing with the disaster, or if the attack is synchronized among several states, such as that depicted in September 11, 2001 in the United States. Biological attacks can also be minimized by vigilant screening of activities in every city and state around the country, including reporting any peculiar individuals that are spotted in strategic locations around the state. Reference World Health Organization. (2004). Public health response to biological and chemical weapons: WHO guidance, 2nd ed. Geneva: World Health Organization. ISBN 92 4 154615 8. Downloaded from http://www. who. int/csr/delibepidemics/cover. pdf on June 17, 2009.

YouTubes Fair Use Policy

YouTubes Fair Use Policy In this day and age, technology is constantly changing, thus the Internet is a prominent place of self-discovery, and unfortunately a place of digital intellectual property fraud. With YouTube being the top video website of this century, it has recognized intellectual property fraud and accurately taken action in implementing the appropriate laws and regulations to keep up with the changing digital copyright issues. In this essay, I will discuss the ways in which YouTube has created a fair and reasonable method of dealing with digital copyright within their company through fair use, content ID’s, and the affects and rewards given to those who take part in misuse. The United States constructs their copyright laws off the principle of â€Å"fair use†. This meaning, that under certain circumstances, copyright is acceptable within the use of teaching, scholarship, research, criticism, commentary ,and news reporting according to U.S. judges (YouTube, What is Fair Use). Four factors are taken into consideration when determining whether a use is fair, or unfair; YouTube follows this policy as well. These factors include: the purpose and character of the use, the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount and substantiality of the portion, and the effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of the copyrighted work (YouTube, What is Fair Use). The purpose and character of the use discusses whether it is of a profitable nature or for charitable informative purposes. Judges naturally clue in on whether the use is interchangeable, meaning, whether it incorporates fresh content, importance of the original, or if it is absolute duplica tes from the original. The nature of the copyrighted work bases its evaluation of the content from mostly realistic works; they are more expected to be fair than the use of fictitious based works. The amount and substantiality of the portion is used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole. Borrowing small bits of material from an original work is more likely to be considered fair use than borrowing large portions, however, even a small amount borrowed may rule against fair use in some situations if it constitutes the message or â€Å"heart† of the work. The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work considers the uses that are harming to the copyright owner’s ability to profit from his or her original work. These examples are more likely to be unfair uses. Parodies, or remixes have sometimes been an exception within courts (YouTube, What is Fair Use). Copyright users use Content ID’s for the purpose of keeping track of their own personal online content, in the sense of intellectual property issues. When YouTube members input their videos onto the website, they are automatically scanned for content misconduct compared to all other posts. According to the users choice of policy for their video, if content ID detects intellectual property fraud, that specific policy will be put into action towards the work (YouTube, How Content ID works). Monetize, block, and track are the three copyright policies within YouTube that a user may choose from. The monetize policy focuses on advertising that the user did not give permission to, emerge before, or on top of the video, thus the owner may apply a monetary agreement. If the owner of the video has chosen the blocking policy, the video may result in having the audio detached, or the video may not be available for viewing on the site, they will also have control of what countries the frau d video will be allowed to be viewed within. This means that while you cannot hear nor watch your video, people in other locations may be able to (YouTube, How Content ID works). Tracking policy does not affect your video in any physical way, though all information including statistics will appear on the original owners account (YouTube, How Content ID works). YouTube does give users a chance to fight these policies, if they feel as though they were false (YouTube, How Content ID works). YouTube gives out fair penalties when dealing with copyright offenders, for example, if one of your videos was to be taken down because of a copyright infringement, then your account would receive a single strike. According to the guidelines, if your account has three strikes it will be suspended right away. If the account contains tracked videos then your video will not be affected, but the owner of the video has the right to track viewership through statistics which can be accessed through their YouTube Analytics account. Any claims that you believe were made in error, can be argued against straight from that page (YouTube, How copyright claims may affect your video). If your YouTube channel has no Community Guideline strikes, copyright strikes and videos that have been blocked worldwide by Content ID, then your channel would be considered to be in good standing. If it is the case that your account is in good standing with no penalties then you are rewarded with access to certain f eatures and programs that are not offered otherwise. Some of these rewarded features include: In Video Programming, Custom video thumbnails, and YouTube Live (Youtube, Keep your YouTube account in good standing). If ones YouTube account does not have a good record, receiving multiple strikes of any kind can have serious consequences for your channel beyond hurting your account standing. You have several options to regain good account standing, depending on the violation. A user who’s account with has a Community Guideline strike, will have the option of either appealing the strike or waiting for it to expire in the condition that you do no receive another strike for a six month period. In the case that you get a copyright strike, you have the options of: waiting six months until it expires, asking the person who has claimed your video to undo their claim, and finally you may submit a counter-notification (YouTube, How copyright claims may affect your video). With technology evolving and the World Wide Web growing, video based websites are gaining popularity along with substantial growth. As we identified, YouTube recognizes this and follows a very stern, yet fair copyright policy by using fair use, content ID’s, and the penalties and rewards in order to deal with digital intellectual property misconduct. The United States constructs their copyright dues off the principle of â€Å"fair use† and follows four factors to determine whether or not the situation is applicable; content ID’s allow YouTube members to track their original videos to see if there has been any activity on YouTube that involves them, and copyright; lastly YouTube applies penalties and rewards when dealing with copyright crime within their company. Technology will only continue to evolve, and YouTube will need to improve and alter their policies when dealing with this issue in the future, along with many others video based websites.

Diversity Statement - I am Korean :: College Admissions Essays

Diversity Statement - I am Korean My first interaction with the cruelty of the "real" world was in fourth grade, in a small suburban town in South Carolina. "You Chinese freak! Come on, use your karate against me!" boys would shout mockingly, then start spouting phrases of nonsense as if they meant something. Pshaw. I was, am and will always proudly be a Korean. When I interact with new people, they spend their time guessing my heritage. Chinese and Japanese are always the first nationalities they guess. Others who are familiar with people of my ancestry catch on more quickly. And then there are those who automatically assume. A very small number of people can guess correctly on their first try. We live in a country that drills into our heads ideas about freedom and equality. Wars have been fought, violence has been used and many have suffered so that this country can live up to its ideals. Could such a great country make false promises and hopes? Perhaps, because, after all, the U.S. is run by humans, and that means mistakes will be made. But shouldn't the U.S. have learned its lesson by now and not make the same mistakes repeatedly? In 1997, a Civil Rights lawsuit against the City of Atlanta was brought by Korean-American store owners about riots that took place in their business. Police watched the destruction and did nothing. The city's attorney argued that the Federal Civil Rights statues were written exclusively for the protection of African-Americans, not other minorities, including Korean-Americans. Atlanta's position in this matter was rejected by the United States Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, but many are appalled that a city so involved in civil rights could hold such an insulting view against our "certain unalienable rights." Their view was not only discrimination against Korean-Americans, but against descendants of other minority groups residing, visiting or working around Atlanta. Koreans, as well as other minorities in Atlanta, might have to deal with the fear that we will not be protected by the laws of the city because of prejudice. Signs of prejudice are everywhere.

Essays --

Would technology still be as common as it is today even if they function differently? Back in the 1970s, the idea of having a personal computer is far fetch. Computers back then are not as easy to use like those that we have today. Steve Jobs has a great distribution to make computer to be easier to access. During 1977, Steve Jobs changed the way the world thinks about personal computer after him and his friend released a computer called the Apple II, the first computer that was factory built, inexpensive and easy to use (Lam, 2011, Para.19). The Apple Company was originally started with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Jobs and Wozniak bonded over their interests in computers and also their passion for music (Isaacson, 2011, Pg.43). Despite both of them being college dropouts, Jobs and Wozniak started Apple on their own only with the money that they raised from selling things that they owned (Isaacson, Pg.91). Sometime later, Jobs and Wozniak had fallout, Wozniak ended up leaving the company and Jobs got removed from his own company. Even with all of the odds, Jobs never gave up; he created a new computer company called NeXT, which was bought by Apple because the company is about to go bankrupt. Steve Jobs was voted to become the permanent CEO. Jobs completely changed the way Apple works; he shut down all the unimportant projects and focused mainly on computer. He gave Apple the cure for its bankruptcy problem by inventing ingenious devices that changed our culture. He forever altered the language of computer interface. Along the way, he built Apple up into one of the most valuable corporations in the world. Steve Jobs has a great influence over the foundation of the Apple Company and the technology that we have today. Steve J... ... as exciting and lively as ever. All of those in attendance are always awestruck by Jobs enthusiasm and charisma. He also has a great talent to influence the people that he speak to, in his 2005 Stanford Commencement Speech, Jobs used his life experiences to teach the college graduate about life. He taught them that they should pursue their dreams, to see opportunities in life’s setbacks, he asked them to live everyday as if it’s their last day and he also told them to do what they love. Steve Jobs did not just influenced people’s lives by being a good role model; he also changed many people’s lives. He helped millions of people by revolutionizing the whole technology world thus making millions of business easier to manage. He also made Apple into a whole new company that provides jobs for thousands of people around the world.

Internet Essay: Internet Censorship -- Argumentative Persuasive Topics

Internet Censorship When I was in elementary school, I thought girls could give me some dreadful disease. I stayed away from girls because they gave me "cooties". After school, I would go fishing at a nearby stream, ride my skate board, or study only if mandated by my parents. The closest I came to technology was watching the "Little Rascals" on TV. Today, computers and the Internet offers a cyberspace playground for kids. Kids stay up past their bed time playing with their computer or surfing the Internet. The Internet provides entertainment and education for millions of people worldwide. The Internet will have the most dramatic effect on mankind since the industrial revolution. Through the Internet, people can send electronic mail, exchange files, and publish through the world-wide web (WWW), materials that traditionally appeared in journals, magazines, posters, books, television, and film. Information can be searched globally and retrieved in a matter of seconds by the use of Internet "search engines". Every technological advancement of mankind ...

Living a Wholehearted Life

Book Project: Living a Wholehearted Life Jannie Jenkins Dixie State University â€Å"The Gifts of Imperfection†, by Brene Brown, writer and research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. The book is written to open people's minds to the power and impact of living a wholehearted life. Brown confronts the dark emotions that get in the way of leading a fuller life and pursues the behavior of courage. She shares ten guideposts on the power of Wholehearted living, and what we can do to achieve our way of engaging with the world from a place of worthiness.Each guidepost explores the power of love, belonging, and being enough as they each help us lead to recognize and act on our gifts of imperfection: courage, compassion, and connection. The key to living a wholehearted life is to embrace the gifts of imperfection. Guidepost number one: cultivating authenticity. Professor Brown explains that she has this as her first step to achieve wholeheartedness because we cannot be happy when we are constantly worrying about what others think of us. We must forget what other people might be thinking of us and be our real selves.When we on't embrace our true self, we deny ourselves of the many Joys of Just living. We are cultivating courage when we practice authenticity and allow ourselves to be vulnerable. Guidepost number two: cultivating self-compassion. With Brown's research, we learn that fear and shame are two major obstacles to accomplishing high self-worth and practicing self-compassion. When we let fear overcome us, we push away all ideas of aspiring our dreams and moving forward; when we get trapped in our box of shame, we Judge our self and others.Brown urges her readers to realize that veryone experiences those feelings of suffering or inadequacy, but we have the choice of being warm and understanding toward ourselves rather than comparing and putting ourselves down. If we are compassionate with ourselves, we will experience emp athy towards others, leading to our gift of compassion for others as well. Guidepost number three: cultivating a resilient spirit. Brown describes resilience as the ability to overcome adversity. Everyone goes through some sort of trial, but it's how we handle the hardships that define us.Overcoming adversity is the hardest part of living, then how do we become resilient? With her research, Brown made a list of protective factors†the things that help us move forward in adversity†and according to the people she interviewed, the very foundation of the protective factors was their spirituality She defines spirituality as, â€Å"recognizing and celebrating that we are all inextricably connected to each other by a power greater than all of us†(2010, pg. 56). Practicing spirituality brings a sense of perspective, meaning, and purpose into our lives.Guidepost number four: cultivating gratitude and Joy. Brown made the connection that all those who described themselves as Joyful or living a Joyful life, ctively practices gratitude. The best way to cultivate Joy and practice gratitude is by slowing down our constant rushed lives. People get so caught up in the â€Å"must's† and the â€Å"do's† in life to achieve happiness that they unknowingly reject what could be joyful moments. Brown consistently emphasizes the importance of acknowledging that, â€Å"l am enough. † Guidepost number five: cultivating intuition and trusting faith.Brown defines intuition as our ability to hold room for uncertainty and our willingness to trust the many ways we've developed knowledge and insight. She also goes into depth about he importance of having faith. To engage in a wholehearted life means we must believe without seeing. Guidepost number six: cultivating creativity. What keeps people from cultivating their own creativity is comparison. Comparison is all about conformity and competition; we feel the need to fit in or outstand! When we create, we produce meaning. Brown tells us to let go of comparison.Guidepost number seven: cultivating play and rest. Brown gives numerous examples from her life as well as others about how much more meaningful their lives are when they exercise proper rest and adequate time to play. When we play we shape our brains, harbor empathy, and work through complex social groups. â€Å"Play is at the core of creativity and innovation. † She incorporates rest by explaining that we cannot live full lives without respecting our bodies' need for renewal. Play and rest cultivate connection. Guidepost number eight: cultivating calm and stillness.It is impossible to live wholeheartedly when anxiety is pressing us down. Brown emphasizes in this section the meaningfulness that comes from multiple forms of meditation. Guidepost number nine: cultivating meaningful work. Professor Brown describes eaningful work as feeling a tremendous sense of accomplishment and purpose from work. What keeps people from a chieving meaningful work is their self-doubt. Self-doubt blocks our process of finding our talents and sharing them with the world; self-doubt is letting our fear undermine our faith.Brown encourages us to establish who we are by determining our gifts and what we do with them. Guidepost number ten: cultivating laughter, song, and dance. We have to let goof being cool and â€Å"always in control. † By doing so, we allow ourselves to express ourselves in ways that make us feel the most Joy and satisfaction. Brene Brown's book is not a â€Å"how to† book (although there were times where I wished it was), it's a book that pulls out our understanding of how we choose to live. Her guideposts are all choices that we have to make.The only way we can create a life of living with our whole hearts is by practice. Brown's book influences us to make choices of how we live our lives, but we must choose to practice. We won't become self-resilient, authentic, self-compassionate, or mo re grateful if we Just sit and wait tor them to come to us. We nave to constantly practice and better ourselves, then we an live a more fulfilled life. This book covers the confusing emotions we as humans all go through. I have been able to more fully grasp and understand what things get in the way of my own personal wholehearted living.It's funny to me because everything she talks about is so plain and simple; it's common logic but yet we still feel unworthy, abandoned, or unloved. Something that I have struggled with in my life is perfectionism. Brene Brown defines perfectionism as the belief that if we live perfect, look perfect, and act perfect, we will avoid the pain of blame, Judgment, and shame. This definition really it me because I believed that I would only be loved, approved, and accepted if I were â€Å"perfect. † I worry about what other people think of me which denies me, what could be, wonderful opportunities.I am afraid to put anything out in the world that co uld be imperfect because I am afraid of failing, making a mistake, or disappointing someone. Perfectionism is self-destructive and I believe my perfectionism is what keeps me from feeling confident in myself. When I was reading about this, I wondered what can I do to get rid of this toxic belief. The number one thing is to practice self-compassion. Self-compassion consists of three elements: self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness.I often beat myself with self-criticism when I suffer, fail, or feel inadequate rather than being warm and understanding towards myself, self-kind. Something that I persistently try to remember when I'm going through something difficult is that it's common humanity. Suffering and feeling inadequate is Just part of the human experience. Everyone has his or her struggles and is trying their best to get through them; it is not Just â€Å"me† alone. Since reading about this, IVe been practicing self-compassion so I can lower my perfectionistic w ay f thinking. It really is a huge difference how I perceive my life.I'm accepting that it's okay to go for those moments and opportunities that make me vulnerable because I'm not perfect and I don't have to be; I'm embracing my true self while letting go of what others think of me. I do feel as if my soul is more fulfilled. Going along with perfectionism, comparison is another thing that gets in the way of living my wholehearted life. Comparison is all about conformity and competition. When we compare, we want to be like everyone else (â€Å"fit in†), but better. I refused to believe hat I was trapped in that exhausting hole of comparing myself to others because I knew I shouldn't be thinking like that.I realized though that in order for me to embrace my gifts of imperfection, courage, compassion, and connection, I have to acknowledge my weaknesses and shortcomings such as comparison. I continue to practice avoiding comparison because I know when I focus on being better or b eing the odd one out, I am not happy. I tend to forget about working on my authenticity, or gratitude when I'm spending all my time and energy conforming and competing. I lso have become aware that it's okay to be me. I Just need to focus on going through my life at my pace, by my rules while everyone else is going throughout their life at their pace and by their rules.Some may be faster, some slower, but the best thing I can do is smile, pat them on the back, feel happy for what theyre achieving and Just keep going. When I'm not comparing myself to others I feel good about my self and about my life. Recognizing my struggles with perfectionism and comparison, and working to overcome them, nave been major steps tor me living a more tultllled lite However, the biggest thing that stood out to me personally was how important spirituality and gratitude are in achieving wholeheartedness.IVe always had a strong belief in my faith and religion, but it was neat to see from Professor Brown's research that having spirituality is a core component of wholeheartedness. It's not just me who relies and believes on my faith to become resilient, the ability to overcome adversity. Everyone needs to believe and celebrate that we are all inextricably connected to each other by a power greater than all of us, and that our onnection to that power and to one another is grounded in love and compassion (2010, pg. 64). Practicing spirituality brings healing and creates resilience.We all have to define spirituality in a way that inspires us. I know, and have known for a long time, that my life would be drastically different without my spirituality. It truly does give me peace, comfort, and strength leading into a sense of perspective, meaning, and purpose in my life. Finally, the other thing that stood out to me next to spirituality was cultivating gratitude and Joy. I think the reason this hits me hard is ecause everyone is striving to live a fulfilled life, and to me, a fulfilled life is a Joyful life.We all are wanting to be happy, but this world is filled with so much pain, suffering, and sorrow that it's hard to remain happy. Practicing gratitude is the essence of living Joyfully. When we are grateful, we immediately shut out our feelings that make up shame and destroy our happiness. The catch is that gratitude is a constant action and must be consistently practiced. Something that IVe done to practice having an attitude of gratitude is stating out loud things I'm grateful for hen fear or anxiety is creeping up on me.When I verbally express my gratitude, a feeling of warm Joy really does overcome me; I no longer feel worthless or inadequate because I'm recognizing that I have enough, that I am enough! Through recognizing my shortcomings with perfectionism and comparison and also living a life of gratitude and Joy, I have been more able to embrace who I am. I live a life of imperfection, but I am enough. I have the potential to do amazing things when I live who leheartedly, going throughout life with courage, compassion, and connection.

“How the Earth was Formed” video notes Essay

Theory: -sun was surrounded by a cloud of dust and gas -as cloud cooled little grains of minerals started forming -grains of minerals started bumping into each other (Problem was nobody could explain how these microscopic minerals formed a planet) Then in 2003 astronaut Don Pettit performed an experiment onboard the international space station. He put some salt in a plastic bag and found that almost immediately the grains started gathering together into little clumps held together by static charge. -These mineral grains grew into small pieces of rock orbiting the sun -over the next few million years some of these rocks collided and grew bigger -when a rock grew to become around half a mile across, its gravitational pull became strong enough to pull objects towards it. (The bigger the rock was the faster it grew because it had higher gravitational pull) -so that biggest rock eventually grew to become ‘the fledgling earth’ -soon this small planet grew to attract even bigger objects that collided with its surface, every impact only served to increase its size. -The collisions were so intense it only (lol) took about 30 million years for the planet to grow to (approximately) its present size. Presently, the earth is separated into three layers: A thin crust, then a massive dense layer of rock called the mantle, and an iron and nickel core. -So then this big rock became so hot that it melted and the denser materials drifted to the core while the lighter materials floated at the top -the heating up of fledgling earth could have been due to the incorporation of very hot radioactive elements. -The temperature of molten earth was now 2000 degrees, but at the edge of the planet the temperature of space was a constant -450 degrees, almost 2  ½ thousand degrees colder. -So because of this the surface could not stay molten forever -then in about a million years the earth had its thin crust, but volcanoes still erupted and meteorites still showered the surface Physicist Ernest Rutherford discovered that measuring radioactive decay could accurately measure the age of rocks. Soon after this rocks from around the globe were found to be billions of years old. The meteor that hit in the crater in Arizona landed with the force of a two-mega ton atomic bomb. The explosion vaporized most  of the meteorite, but individual fragments survive. Patterson took some samples, dated them, and found that they were around 4.5 billion years old. A recent study estimates the earth to be around 4 billion 567 million years old Theory of how the moon was formed: (1974) in the early solar system there were dozens of small planets chaotically orbiting the sun, one of them was on a collision course with earth. When it collided with the earth it blew some of its crustal/mantle rock off and within a few thousand years that debris formed the moon. (The other small planet was destroyed in the collision.) Rocks at Porpoise Cove in Canada are highly altered deformed volcanic lavas called amphibolite. They are 4.28 billion years old, 200 million years older than any rocks so far discovered and the closest anyone has come to earth’s original crust. These amphibolites give us clues about the thickness of the earth’s early crust. O’Neill has found minerals that are unusual and can only form under high temperatures and pressures which proves that these rocks formed at least 12 miles into the crust of the earth, which tells us that just over 4 billion years ago the earth’s crust was about 12 miles thick. The chemical signature of amphibolite indicates that 4 billion years ago, earth had both a solid crust and oceans. (because amphibolite is similar to the ocean floor or something like that) Banded iron formations: made up of alternating light layers of silica and dark bands full of a mineral called magnetite. These bands full of magnetite only form underwater, further proving that oceans existed 4 billion years ago. How water came to be on earth: Grains of table salt found in meteorites that fell to earth carry tiny droplets of water. Over the billions of years in which the earth was formed, these droplets added up and became the oceans, etc. 3.5 billion years ago there was no oxygen, the air was a mixture of sulfur, methane, carbon dioxide, and sulfuric acid. But primitive life forms did exist, the fossilized remains of coral like structures have been found in rocks that are of that age. They are called stromatolites. They are made up of billions of microbes called cyanobacteria, which produce oxygen. At this time oxygen was poisonous to other life forms, which used sulfur to obtain energy. Over time there was enough cyanobacteria to produce trillion of tons of oxygen, creating the atmosphere we breathe today. Over 100s of millions of years, decaying plant matter built up compressed layers, which eventually formed all the coal, oil, and gas deposits on the planet.  Sedimentary rocks like lime stone and chalk are largely made from the skeletons of marine animals, which accumulated at the bottom of shallow seas.