The Commodity Exchange Act Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

The Commodity Exchange Act - Essay Example Any commodity contract offered or sold shall, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, be presumed to be offered or sold for speculation or investment purposes. A commodity contract shall not include any contract or agreement which requires, and under which the purchaser receives, within 28 calendar days from the payment in good funds of any portion of the purchase price, physical delivery of the total amount of each commodity to be purchased under the contract or agreement.[1985,c.643(new).]" (Title 32: Professions and Occupations, Ch.111-A: Maine Commodity Code (Heading: PL 1987, c.402, Pt.A.@174 (rpr)) http://janus.state.me.us)2 The 106th Congress, 2nd Session H.R.5660 was held to reauthorize and amend the CEA to promote legal certainty, enhance competition, and to reduce the systemic risks prevailing in the markets for futures and the so-called over-the-counter derivatives, and others. This bill was called "The Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000" The Act was to: 1. Reauthorize the appropriation for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission 2. Streamline and eliminate unnecessary regulation for the commodity futures exchanges and other entities regulated under the Commodity Exchange Act 3. Transform the role of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to oversight of the futures markets 4. Provide a statutory and regulatory frame-work for allowing the trading of futures on securities 5. Clarify the jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over certain retail foreign exchange transactions and bucket shops that may not be otherwise regulated 6. Promote innovation for futures and derivatives and to reduce systemic risk by enhancing legal certainty in the markets for certain futures and derivatives transactions 7. Reduce systemic risk and provide greater stability to markets during times of market disorder by allowing the clearing of transactions in over-the-counter derivatives through appropriately regulated clearing organizations, and 8. Enhance the competitive position of United States financial institutions and financial markets. (106th Session of Congress, H.R. 5660, Dec.14th 2000, www.cftc.gov)3 3.0 Who's who Commodity trading advisor Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph, the term "commodity trading advisor" means any person who: 1. for compensation or profit, engages in the business of advising others, either directly or through publications, writings, or electronic media, as to the value of or the advisability of trading in: (i) Any contract of sale of a commodity for future delivery made or to be made on or

Implementing a Business Continuity Essay Example for Free

Implementing a Business Continuity Essay In this lab, you implemented a portion of your organization’s BCP. On the basis of the BIA, the organization determined that the internal Active Directory database and the corporate Web site must be recoverable in the event of system failure or natural disaster. To accomplish this, you configured local backups of Active Directory on the existing virtual server using Windows Server Backup. You also configured the organization’s Web servers to host content from a single NFS share, and to back up that NFS share daily using Windows. Lab Assessment Questions Answers 1. What is the purpose of the business impact analysis (BIA)? 2. What is the difference between a disaster recovery plan (DRP) and a business continuity plan (BCP)? 3. What are the commands used in Windows 2012 to mount the NFS share on the Linux server. 4. Is creating redundancy for systems such as Active Directory or Web servers a part of the DRP or the BCP? 5. Why use the mklink command? 2 | Lab #6: Implementing a Business Continuity Plan 6. What role/service is Windows 2012 Server Backup part of? a. Windows Group Policy b. Windows Collaboration Server c. Windows Server Essentials Experience 7. Which Linux file makes a local share available to NFS clients? a. transports b. imports c. fstab d. exports

Representation Of Women In Music Cultural Studies Essay

Representation Of Women In Music Cultural Studies Essay In 1969 when asked why there werent any other powerful women in the music industry, Janis Joplin said its not feminine, maybe, to really get into music, instead of float around on the top like most chick singers do. Maybe that is why today, in the 10s there is a lack of challenging female artists who truly break down boundaries. The contemporary music industry offers very few independent, strong female role models who do more than simply sell sex to make people buy records. This investigation will focus on the representation of women in music, specifically in punk and underground music, from their breakthrough in the 70s to their lack of representation today in the 10s. The primary case studies will be various female punk bands from the 70s to the 90s such as Xray Spex and Siouxsie and The Banshees, with Beth Ditto as my contemporary focus. I will analyse music videos and song lyrics, as well as their physical representations. I will examine theorists such as Germaine Greer, Naomi Wolf and Laura Mulvey to assess how their work can be applied. As second-wave feminism took hold in the 60s, music turned into a political manifesto for feminists, as female singer-songwriters began to campaign for womens rights. Their music often dismantled myths held about women, and enabled women to embody their own self-made identity as opposed to that which society and culture allocated for them. Janis Joplin was largely unconcerned with the feminist movement, but proceeded to represent a feminist symbol for women in a male dominated rock culture, influencing generations of female musicians to come. Women were of significant importance to the punk culture of the late 1970s; beginning in New York with performers like Patti Smith and Debbie Harry, punk rock spread around the world and women in punk music became more visible. As punk music gave them an outlet for their edgy, political, anti-establishment lyrics, and non-conformist, unconventional female personas, it became perfect for feminist musicians to have their voices heard. Women in punk music had to be strong to stand against their male contemporaries. By the late 70s, punks peak in London, female-dominated bands like Siouxsie and The Banshees, The Slits and X-Ray Spex were playing on the same bills as all-male bands like The Clash and the Sex Pistols. These bands gained public recognition not only because of their revolutionary music, but also by challenging expectations of femininity. Widely considered the most influential woman in punk rock ever to walk the Earth Siouxsie Sioux said in 1974 I dont carry anything for any females, and I hate being called the best female singer cause I think Im better than any male singer as well. These bands didnt want to be classed as a separate category from male musicians; they just want to be classed as musicians. Siouxsie Sioux said it was a powerful time for women. Girls were finally picking up instruments and not just being a puppet held up by a man with strings in the background. Laura Mulvey is a feminist media critic who is best known for her seminal essay entitled Visual Pleasure and narrative cinema (Sight Sound 1975). In it she sites the media as o tool for male oppression and that women are seen merely as objects for male gratification. The camera, she argues, sees from the Male gaze. Mulveys theory also states that the media satisfies and reinforces the masculine ego and represses the desire of women. The Siouxsie and The Banshees video Happy House, goes against Laura Mulveys theory that images of women are displayed as sexual objects. In the first shot of this video Siouxsie looks fiercely into the camera, her eye make up is dark and she has bright red lips; her signature look. She looks androgynous as she is wearing an oversized jester outfit with short spiky black hair. No skin is visible except for her face and hands. The camera follows Siouxsie around, showing she is controlling the video, contradicting this quote from Laura Mulvey: in their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed. As the camera follows her, it is not in a voyeuristic way, she is simply the main focus of the video, and the camera angle remains level with her face throughout the video, showing she is dominant and confident. Despite being the only female seen, she appears more confident than the male members of the band, overshadowing them by controlling the video. Siouxs ie is also shown playing instruments, displaying her as equal to the male musicians. This opposes Mulveys idea that men always dominate. Also, she continuously looks aggressively at the camera, conveying she feels superior to the audience. Nothing in this video suggests Siouxsie is being portrayed as a sex symbol, in fact quite the opposite. Many of these women did not seem to care about being sexually alluring, this contrasts with Germaine Greers theory of there being a dominant image of femininity which rules our culture and to which all women aspire. It also disagrees with Naomi Wolfs argument that women in Western Culture are damaged by the pressure to conform to an idealized concept of female beauty. On The Slits first album cover they are pictured topless, covered in mud, looking dishevelled, not appearing to have made any effort at all to look good. Despite being topless, this cover is not shot through the male gaze as the women appear dominant and in control as opposed to passive. The women of these bands took their entire personalities onstage, often involving wearing clothing that reflected their thoughts and attitudes. Siouxsie Sioux frequently performed wearing black leather and rubber bondage attire, as well as heavy eye make-up, making overt statements about her sexuality. When asked about her appearance, Siouxsie said image represents in a way, a kind of rejection of a stereotype, a blonde, dumb cuteness that was sought after by most singers, especially female, conveying that she dresses for her own pleasure and not others. Ari Up of The Slits, constructed an image that played on conventions of female sexuality by always sporting long dreadlocks, never using make-up and often wearing underwear over her clothes. In New York, Patti Smith and Debbie Harry of Blondie expressed two very different takes on punk femininity; Smith was a cross-dressing, androgynous woman, comfortable with blurring her gender, and Harry was a bleached-blonde former playboy bunny, still playing on the stereotypical conventions of female singers. Poly Styrene of X-Ray Spex was a geeky teenager, overweight, and with large metal braces, known for wearing bright abrasive clashing colours onstage. Xray Spex dealt with various issues on their album Germfree Adolescents such as the environment and living in a consumer society where you have to live up to the expectations driven by advertising and consumerism. Even lead singer Poly Styrenes name reflected the fake and plasticness of the society they were living in. The song Plastic Bag reinforces her view as she sings my mind is like a plastic bag that corresponds to all those ads it sucks up all the rubbish. Art-I-Ficial contains the lyric I know Im artificial but dont put the blame on me, I was reared with appliances in a consumer society. When I put on my make-up the pretty little mask not me thats the way a girl should be, this conveys Pollys feminist views and her opposition of societys expectations of women. This theme can also been seen in Xray Spexs most widely known song Oh Bondage Up Yours where Polly begins by saying softly in a childlike voice Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard, but I think before exploding with a screech of Oh bondage, up yours, turning the girly voice into something more distasteful. This song is about the aversion at being constantly scrutinized by mainstream society. After a lack of female punk bands in the 80s, Riot grrrl exploded in the early 90s. It originated from the punk movement, initiated by nonconformist female bands who aimed to stomp out sexism and inequality in response and developed into an underground feminist movement in the early 1990s. It is often associated with third-wave feminism and it is sometimes seen as its starting point as a response to the backlash against initiatives and movements created by second-wave feminism. The subculture gave women a place to exist out of the system. Riot grrrl was about 90s women making a stand, screeching against authority and exploring what they wanted a woman to represent. Todays music charts seem only to reflect generated pop-rock, especially where females are concerned. The only mainstream female band with political views and strong female role models, who want more than to just be sex symbols currently are Gossip. Competing with artists marketed through the male gaze, its no wonder Gossips Beth Ditto is deemed controversial in todays music scene. Whether its because shes openly gay, a non-shaving punk, or morbidly obese, mainstream society sees her as an outsider. 30 years ago, it wouldve been typical in the underground music scene to see individuals like this. Beth Ditto is said to be a fan of Riot Grrrl and states Xray Spex as her biggest influence. Gossips lyrics are often about society and feminist issues, disguised with a mainstream catchy electro-beat. Even Gossips most widely recognised song, Standing in the Way of Control is extremely political as it is attacking George W. Bush in response to same-sex marriage being prohibited in some states of the USA, the resistance can be seen in the lyric were standing in the way of control, we will live our lives. Her unwillingness to conform to societys expectations is clearly visible on the NME issue on which she appears unshaven and naked on the front cover. The image shows Beth with her hand on her bottom which has a kiss mark on it and another hand covering her breast. She is looking at the camera, not in the conventional, seductive way female singers are usually photographed, but instead almost snarling as if she doesnt care what anyone thinks of her. The headline reads Kiss my ass, once again reinforcing her reluctance to conform. This image shocked the teenage audience of the magazine and sparked controversy as it is an image that mainstream society is rarely subjected to. It was also nominated to be crowned the best magazine cover of all time. This image doesnt represent the usual ideology of women and this is why Germaine Greer has praised Ditto on appearing like this on the cover of a mainstream magazine, and also NME for allowing her to do so. Greer speaks highly of Beth stating: h er intention is to force acceptance of her body type, 5ft tall and 15 stone, and by this strategy to challenge the conventional imagery of women. Laura Mulveys theory of feminism can be seen here; Beth Ditto is the dominant female who refuses to be passive to the male viewer. Gossips video Listen Up, follows two transvestites, one male and one female and depicts what it means to be masculine and feminine. This is an alternative theme for a music video and so once again Ditto challenges mainstream society. However, in this video, Ditto herself is not shown in her usual rebellious way, but instead appears to be typical of a music video, showing that everyone needs to conform to sell records. My research has established that despite years of feminism and social movement, women are still objectified as sex symbols in the music industry. For my linked production I will be producing a music video in the style of 1970s female punk bands to the song Oh Bondage, Up Yours by X-ray Spex. The target audience for the video will be predominately female teenagers who feel their views and values arent represented in mainstream music. The video will not sexualise women and it will reject the male gaze. Word Count 2002

Why International Assignments Fail Essay -- International Business Emp

Why International Assignments Fail International assignments are the hub of international HR which makes the fact that they often fail a great concern to many corporations who make big investments in overseas assignments. As more U.S. companies expand their business overseas, the need to send employees on international assignments will increase, making the process of discovering the reasons for these failures increasingly important. Expatriate employees, meaning employees that are non-citizens of the country in which they are working, often find that unfamiliar surroundings and a new job can be particularly challenging, while family pressures also increase as everyone makes cultural adjustments. Another reason for these failures include lack of preparation from the employer. In a 2003 study of more than 700 expatriate workers around the world, nearly forty percent felt their employers did not do an adequate job preparing them for their international assignment. One of the major steps an employer can take to reduce the uneasiness of going abroad is in selecting the right candidate for the assignment. Just having technical expertise or management skills does not make an employee right for international assignments. More important to this particular kind of job is an individual’s inherent cultural sensitivity, flexibility, adaptability, and interpersonal communication skills. Regardless of the method, the candidate selection process is the first critical step in an emp...

Othello and Crescent Essay

Introduction Present essay provides a comparative analysis of Shakespeare’s Othello and Abu-Jaber’s Crescent in terms of locating similar and opposite themes. The theme that was chosen is representation of Arabness as social, individual and cultural category. There is no denying the importance of the fact that both works depict the fate of Arab people in Western civilization, including Western attitudes to them, their own perception of Western way of life and traditions and their relations with other people. Moreover, both works serve as the instruments for revealing negative contours of Western societies, including racist prejudices, which is especially evident in Othello. Based on the latter reservations, present essay defends the thesis, which may be formulated as follows: Shakespeare’s Othello and Abu-Jaber’s Crescent have much in common due to the fact that beneath recurrent symbols and themes, such as love, betrayal etc. lies the central theme of Arabness, reflected through the prism of civilizations’ interchange, conflict and contradiction. The comparative analysis of Othello and Crescent Both Othello and Crescent have Arab people, found themselves in certain roles within Western civilization, as their main protagonists. The conflict between them and Western civilization takes place on different thematic levels, explained by the difference in plots and historical surrounding. Sirine, the main protagonist of Cresent, is a chef at Lebanese restaurant in Los Angeles with Middle-Eastern cuisine. Her surrounding consists of the Arab people, many of whom were exiled or emigrated from Iraq due to political repressions. Sirine’s Arabness is constituted by her sentimental intimacy to Iraqi uncle and a great interest in Iraqi history, culture and Muslim traditions in general. Notwithstanding the fact, that Sirine is successful in America, she is rather lonely and still feels herself an immigrant, living in alien and unfriendly culture. The latter feeling of loneliness is well described by the friend of Sirine, called Um-Nadia: â€Å"The loneliness of the Arab is a terrible thing; it is all-consuming†¦. it threatens to swallow him whole when he leaves his own country, even though he marries and travels and talks to friends twenty-four hours a day. † (Abu Jaber,78) Hence, it is important to note that Sirine’s Arabness and conflicting status within Western civilization are not constituted in direct terms and notions, bearing on direct political connotations. As Nouri Gana rightly suggests about Abu Jaber’s novel, ‘perhaps one of the most glowing virtues of the novel is that it awakens the political in the reader by craftily staging how it bears on the individual and communal on a day-to-day basis’ (Gana, 237). The same may be said about Shakespeare’s Othello, where Arabness is also not addressed directly, but essentially mediated through thematic, symbolical and cultural discourses. Unlike Crescent’s where the contradiction between cultures and civilization is depicted as the difficulty of adaptation, assimilation and longing for native country, Arabness in Othello is constituted mainly in racist terms. However, the latter racism should also be understood as the instruments by means of which Shakespeare debunks aggressive, brutal, coward character of such members of Western civilization as Iago. The Arabness of Othello is initially constituted through the mechanism of exoticization, when he is named not by name, but as ‘Moor’ and ‘extravagant stranger’, which immediately creates mental border between civilizations. (Othello 1. 1. 58 and 1. 1. 37). Here, the direct distinction in representing Arabness may be traced at the narrative level of Crescent. Unlike Othello, Hanif Al Eyad, who is an exiled Iraqi professor, does not experience direct racial prejudices, but problems of adapting to American society. What is more important, he has significant problem of integrating in Arab American community, which is already assimilated into the wider American culture. In fact, Hanif finds himself in a difficult position of finding new contours of his Arabness, as he meets with new conditions of its existence in the American society. In the same vein, Sirine reconfigures her identity, when she starts working at Arab restaurant. Her lost Arab roots come to existence, when she delves into her parents, ’old recipes and to begin cooking â€Å"the favorite—but almost forgotten—dishes of her childhood† (Abu Jaber, 22). Finally, when Hanif and Sirine meet, they are engaged in cultural interchange – Sirine educates him about American and Hanif opens the culture of Iraq and the Arab world to Sirine. In this way, the Arabness is constituted in the contradictory multicultural way, when it becomes a mixture of American way of life, its contradictions, immigrants’ culture and post-9/11 ‘anti-Muslim syndrome’, negatively experienced by Arab people, living in the US. Therefore, the Arabness in Crescent and Othello are constituted in distinctively different ways. Othello’s racial and cultural difference is the main source of legitimization for brutal behavior of Roderigo, Iago and others, who oppose the relationships between Othello and Desdemona. In fact, Desdemona is the only protagonist, which opposes particularization of cultural differences and represents universality of human relationships. She sees in Othello neither Arab, nor exotic man, but a man, whom she loves. The narration in Othello is abundant with racial prejudices, which function as the markers of Arabness. At the outset of the play, Iago wakes Brabantio up and tells him that â€Å"an old black ram / Is tupping your white ewe† (1. 1. 89-90), referring to Othello. The relations between Othello and Desdemona are also presented by Iago through racist discourse, â€Å"your daughter covered with a Barbary horse† (1. 1. 112), and reminds Brabantio of genetic consequences for his family, â€Å"you’ll have your nephews neigh to you,† (1. 1. 112-18). Other features of Othello’s Arabness are reproduced mainly through the depiction of his temperament and here we find Shakespeare’s critical edge, which uses then dominant racial prejudices of English aristocracy to depict their defected nature. Othello is depicted by Shakespeare as lacking Western (Iago-type) ‘virtues’ as cunningness, meanness, egoism, rationality, calculation, but endows him with trustful, kind, energetic temperament. The latter positive constitution of Arabness serves as the critique of Western society deficiencies and problems. Eventually, such features of Arabness result in tragic ending of Shakespeare’s play (Bartels, 458). Othello as Abu-Jader’s protagonists also seems lonely in the Western world, where all are against him. Pain of loss, exile and loneliness, however, is presented in Crescent in more sentimental quotidian way. For instance, it is evident when Sirine’s Iraqi uncle asks the Italian waiter in a restaurant: â€Å"Wouldn’t you say that immigrants are sadder than other people? † To which the latter responds, â€Å"When we leave our home we fall in love with our sadness. † (Abu-Jaber, 78). Another important theme, which runs through Abu-Jaber’s novel is difficulty of being Arab. This idea is mainly propagated by Sirine’s uncle and defended through telling mythical stories from Arab history, depicting the suffering of Arab people. The difficulty of being Arab is also presented at the level of racialized and politicized metaphors, which represent Arabness in Western world and in fact distort real culture of Arab people. In this way, Arabness is constituted as the ideological category, which has nothing to do with real life of Arab people (Gana, 241). The latter contradiction may be traced in Othello, when in fact our vision of the main protagonist is constituted by Oriental discourse. One of the major differences pertinent to the analyzed works is general narrative tone in which the latter discussed contradictions are presented. The contradictions of being Arab in the Western world in Cresent are presented through the depiction of Arab community daily life. The experience of Sirine and Hanif is characterized by sentimental feelings, loneliness, psychological trauma etc. The conflict between cultures and civilizations is presented as the quotidian difficulties of communication, adaptation and active life. The romantic ties which united Sirine and Hanif may be described as the part of sentimental representation of Arabness in Abu-Jabar’s novel. However, as it was noted above, even such approach to narration reveals much of the tensions and contradictions, experienced by immigrant Arabs. Unlike Crescent, Othello represents the evidence of contradictions between Western and Eastern civilization, which results in tragic implications for the destiny of individual people. Racial prejudices against Othello function as the legitimization of Iago’s plot against him. The differences between temperament and culture of Othello and his latent rivals, hence, should be understood as the main driving force of Shakespeare’s tragedy. Conclusion To sum it up, Arabness may be described as the central theme in both Shakespeare’s and Abu-Jaber’s works. It is represented on the level of human relations and is not directly interpreted in political manner, however, certain ideological and political interpretations may be found. Racial prejudices in Othello serve as a tool for debunking negative features of Western civilization and human/universal features, reflected in Othello’s temperament. In Crescent, the Arabness is presented through the prism of immigrants’ difficulty of adaptation, permanent feeling of pain, loneliness and lack of identity. In this way, the discussed theme has both similarities and difference in the discussed novels, explained by their distinct genres, historical and cultural surrounding. Works Cited Abu-Jaber, Diana. Crescent. New York: Norton, 2003. Bartels, E. C. ‘Making More of the Moor: Aaron, Othello, and Renaissance Refashioning of Race’. Shakespeare Quarterly vol. 41: 454, 1990. Gana, Nouri. ‘In Search of Andalusia: reconfiguring Arabness in Diana Abu-Jaber’s Crescent’. Comparative Literature Studies. Vol. 45, no. 2, 2008. The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA. Shakespeare, W. Othello. The Complete Works of Shakespeare, ed. David Bevington, 3d edition. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman, 1980.

Purify Alcohol or Denatured Ethanol Using Distillation

Purify Alcohol or Denatured Ethanol Using Distillation Denatured alcohol is toxic to drink and may be unsuitable for some lab experiments or other purposes. If you need pure ethanol (CH3CH2OH), you can purify denatured, contaminated or impure alcohol using distillation.   Alcohol Distillation Materials Balance100-mL volumetric flask or graduated cylinderDistillation apparatus250-mL beaker (or another container to receive the distilled alcohol)Hotplate or another flameless heat source (to avoid igniting the ethanol)Boiling chips200-mL impure ethanol (e.g., 70% denatured alcohol) You can also  make  a distillation apparatus if you dont already have one or arent sure what one looks like. Alcohol Distillation Procedure Put on appropriate safety gear, including goggles, gloves and protective clothing.Weigh the volumetric flask or graduated cylinder and record the value. This will help you determine your yield if you care to calculate it.Add 100.00 mL of alcohol to the volumetric flask. Weigh the flask plus alcohol and record the value. Now, if you subtract the mass of the flask from this value, you will know the mass of your alcohol. The density of your alcohol is the mass per volume, which is the mass of the alcohol (the number you just obtained) divided by the volume (100.00 mL). You now know the density of the alcohol in g/mL.Pour the ethanol into the distillation vessel and add the remaining alcohol.Add a boiling chip or two to the flask.Assemble the distillation apparatus. The 250-mL beaker is your receiving vessel.Turn on the hotplate and heat the ethanol to a gentle boil. If you have a thermometer in the distillation apparatus, youll see the temperature climb and then stabilize when it reache s the temperature of the ethanol-water vapor. Once you reach it, do not allow the temperature to exceed the stable value. If the temperature starts to climb again, it means the ethanol is gone from the distillation vessel. At this point, you could add more of the impure alcohol, if it didnt all fit in the container at the start. Continue distillation until you have collected at least 100 mL in the receiving beaker.Allow the distillate (liquid you collected) to cool to room temperature.Transfer 100.00 mL of this liquid into the volumetric flask, weigh the flask plus alcohol, subtract the weight of the flask (from earlier), and record the mass of the alcohol. Divide the mass of the alcohol by 100 to get the density of your distillate in g/mL. You can compare this value against a table of values to estimate the purity of your alcohol. The density of pure ethanol around room temperature is 0.789 g/mL.If you want, you can run this liquid through another distillation to increase its purity. Keep in mind, some alcohol is lost during every distillation, so youll have a lower yield with the second distillation and even less final product if you do a third distillation. If you double or triple distill your alcohol, you can determine its density and estimate its purity using the same method outlined for the first disti llation. Notes About Alcohol Ethanol is sold in the pharmacy sections of stores as a disinfectant. It may be called ethyl alcohol, ethanol or ethyl rubbing alcohol. Another common type of alcohol used for rubbing alcohol is isopropyl alcohol or isopropanol. These alcohols have different properties (notably, isopropyl alcohol is toxic), so if it matters which one you need, be sure the desired alcohol is listed on the label. Hand sanitizer gels also often use ethanol and/or isopropanol. The label should list which type of alcohol is used under the active ingredients. Notes About Purity Distilling denatured alcohol will remove enough impurities for may lab applications. Further purification steps could include passing the alcohol over activated carbon. This would be especially helpful if the point of the distillation is to obtain drinkable ethanol. Be very careful distilling ethanol to drink using denatured alcohol as a source. If the denaturing agent was simply an additive intended to make the alcohol bitter, this purification might be fine, but if toxic substances were added to the alcohol, a lesser degree of contamination may remain in the distilled product. This is especially likely if the contaminant had a boiling point close to that of the ethanol. You can reduce contamination by discarding the first bit of ethanol that is collected and the last portion. It also helps to tightly control the temperature of the distillation. Just be aware: distilled alcohol is not suddenly pure! Even commercially produced ethanol still contains traces of other chemicals.