Poor Boys Blimp Essays - Airships, Blimp, Trout Mask Replica

Poor Boys Blimp There once was a little boy that grew up in the Brooklyn projects. He was extremely poor. Some how he managed to have some of the better things of life like a treadmill and an obsolete computer from the 80's. His life long dream was to own a $650 Lead Zeppelin remote controlled blimp. He asked his parents every year for six years if he could have it and every time they would say no they couldn't afford it. So on the boys fourteenth birthday he went and applied for a job at the local Nathaniel's. After talking to the manager Steve and getting the job he ran home and told his parents that he started the job tomorrow. The next day the when he got to work he looked around and noticed Steve was gone. He asked another worker where Steve was. The worker responded he was fired for being too stupid. The boy laughed and returned back to work. After weeks of hard work he finally made $600 of the $650 he needed for the blimp. On his way home one day he noticed a new store. He read the stores name "Iraqi Pete Discount plutonium and models". So only being human he walked in to look around. The moment he walked in he was surrounded be a green glow that was so bright it would put a helicopter's searchlights to shame. After his eyes adjusted to the glow he saw the storeowner eating pineapples and watching TV in black and white. The owner of the store heard the door shut and went to the boy and said hello. The boy being polite said hello as well. The owner asked if there was a certain item he was looking for. The boy asked if he had a Led Zeppelin remote control blimp. The man said yes we do right there in the corner. So the boy thanked him and walked to the corner and his eyes lit up brighter than the radiation from the plutonium. It was the blimp for $600 tax-free. The boy asked if the blimp was really $600 the owner said yes why wouldn't it be. The boy grabbed it, bought it, and left the store. Quickly he ran home and saw his father. Daddy, daddy he said look what I bought. The father yelled shut up. I just worked double time triple time at the hospital I need coffee and sleep. Not affected by his father's routine yelling the boy went to his 5th story window and read the directions and then started the blimp. The sound of the engine thrilled the boy. Now the time had come for the first flight the boy flew it out the window and outside where everyone could see it. He was having the time of his life until it happened. The blimp for no apparent reason went putt, putt and started on its first and last decent. Crashing into the courtyard in a loud flaming mess the boy almost passed out. He ran down the stairs fast to see how bad the damage was. It was totaled the blimp would never fly again. He started to cry when he noticed something he didn't smell gas. He dipped his finger in the gas tank and tasted it. It was watered down desil he was swindled by Pete. Angry, sad and confused he ran back to the store he walked in screaming and crying. Then all of a sudden he noticed something there where ten INS agents in Pete's store. He also saw Pete in handcuffs. One of the agents saw him and quickly took him out of the store and drove him home. When he got home the boy walked slowly up the stairs like a lifeless zombie. When he finally got back to his apartment he sat in front of the window and watched the birds thinking to himself why couldn't I have just waited. The moral of the story is if it seems to good to be true it probably is.

Bag of Bones essays

Bag of Bones essays Bag of Bones is the best book Stephen King has written in years. As shocking as Carrie, as mysterious and menacing as The Shining, as funny and honest about writers as Misery, as evocative of place as his record-setting bestseller The Green Mile, this is a horror novel steeped in all the finest qualities of our favorite Stephen King stories. And yet it is also a bold step beyond, toward a more mature vision of marriage, sex, loss, family-and, especially, evil. Narrator Mike Noonan is a best-selling writer of romantic thrillers-"V.C. Andrews with a prick," as he ruefully puts it. Plagued by nightmares and writer's block following the sudden death of his wife, Mike escapes to their lakeside summer house, known as Sara Laughs. But this is King territory, and Mike's beloved Yankee town has its dark side. A century ago, a group of local men murdered a black blues singer and her family. The killers' heirs have paid the price ever since. But this is only one of the buried secrets Mike unearths. The community is held in the grip of Max Devore, a powerful millionaire with a wicked past. Devore is obsessed with taking away his granddaughter, Kyra, from her young widowed mother, Mattie. As Mike falls in love with Mattie and comes to adore Kyra, he has to decode the warnings that only he and the child are receiving-from ghosts. He must do all these things, or the killing won't stop. It would be unfair to reveal any more of King's story, a complex web of relationships, rivalries, and revenge. Refrigerator magnets that spell out warnings and a spooky trip back in time to a country fair are just the beginning of a long and scary ride. By the end, King has given you a larger sense of the interrelatedness of past and present-and of the wages of sin. Bag of Bones, then, is the author at his best, and something more. ...

Diversified workforce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Diversified workforce - Essay Example anization because such a workforce helps in making better decisions, helps in satisfying customer needs and creates a positive image of the organization. A very important element in the success of an organization is the way decisions are made in the organization. A successful organization is one which is able to take creative decisions in order to compete in a highly competitive environment. Decision making is one area which helps in enhancing the creativity of the organization. In the process of decision making, it is essential for the organization to define an issue from different perspective and develop different solutions for a particular issue. Having a diversified workforce can enable the organization in broadly defining the issues it is facing and developing different solutions to a problem. For example: a workforce comprising of people having who have ample amount of experience and who have recently graduated can come up with solutions that have already been tested and solutions that are new. Another key element of organization is its customer and customers of the organization are considered as the heart of the customer. Customer satisfaction is considered very important in order to attract and retain old and new customers. To satisfy the needs of a diverse range of customers organizations require a diversified workforce. A diversified workforce can interact with customers and develop customer intimacy and identify the needs that they want to be fulfilled. This enables the organization in developing goods and services which caters to the needs of different customers which enables the organization in attracting and retaining customers. A third key element of the success of the organization is the image that it creates in the mind of its stakeholders. Organizations that do not have a diversified workforce are considered as organizations that practice discrimination by employing only individuals that belong to one particular group. Due to this they face

Conscientiousness Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Conscientiousness - Research Paper Example Leadership is the power to motivate people by words, actions and deeds using vision, belief and truthfulness (Northouse, 2009). Conscientious leadership, which becomes ethical leadership, means â€Å"ethically motivating others in ethical directions† consisting of both â€Å"procedural† and â€Å"substantive† (character-based) aspects (Chumir, 1992, para.1). The procedural dimension of conscientious leadership includes problem-solving and decision-making techniques within the circle of moral principles. For example, conscientious leadership demands that the leaders, before putting their decisions into action, inform and discuss them with the parties which are going to be affected by their decisions. This means that the concerned parties are being given due respect and importance. The substantive aspect of conscientious leadership includes knowledge, strong standards and courage to follow ethical directions despite strong opposition. Also, the values that a person inherits or learns later in his life play a very important role in constructing his inner self, and in developing conscientiousness. By understanding and polishing basic values, a leader develops a sense of moral obligation of enhancing the betterment of the company. A conscientious leader actually expresses transformational leadership (Brown & Travino, 2006), in which the leaders produce such an effect on their subordinates that they inflict a â€Å"transforming effect† on them, thus, producing â€Å"sweeping changes in organizations and societies† (Priyabhasini & Krishnan, 2005, p.1). A conscientious leader knows in what direction must the action go, and what the consequences of that action will be. He has a strong vision, and so, he is able to go in the depth of the problem to relate its solution with ethical values. It is the conscience of the inner self of the leader that leads him to do good decisions. The

Discuss Internet as a tool to International marketing Essay

Discuss Internet as a tool to International marketing research(implications, advantages & disadvantages) - Essay Example   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Market   research   is   a   systematic,   objective   collection   and   analysis   of   data   about   a   particular   target   market,   competition,   and/or   environment.   This   type   of   research   must   always   have   some   form   of   data   collection,   whether   it   be   secondary   research   or   primary   research,   which   is   collected   direct   from   a   respondent.   There   are   two   types   of   research:   quantitative   and   qualitative.   Quantitative   research   involves   numbers.   An   example,   a   fast   food   chain   might   ask   customers   to   rate   the   service   as   excellent,   good,   poor   or   very   poor.   Qualitative   research   tries   to   understand   how   or   why   things   are   the   way   they    are.   The   research   involves   more   Ã‚  face-to-face   contact.   An   example,   a   research   might   ask   a   consumers   why   they   have   decided   to   buy   a   certain   type   of   soft   drink.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The   Internet   has   changed   how   marketing   research   has   changed   internationally.   Why,   percentage   wise,   half   the   homes   in   the   United   States   have   computers.   This   movement   came   about   for   four   reasons:   the   prices   of   personal   computers   are   decreasing,   current   home   connections,   slow,   but   are   now   becoming   more   rapid,   companies   are   spending   large   amounts   of   money   on   small   internet- only   computers,   and   the   introduction   of   web   television.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   All   these   factors   have,   and   will   continue   to   increase   the   number   of   people   with   access   to   the   internet.   What   will   also   increase   is   the   potential   to   gather   information   from   consumers,   access   secondary   data   sources,   advertise   and   sell   products.   This   is  

Impact of Lyndon B. Johnson

Impact of Lyndon B. Johnson Discuss the historical significance of Lyndon B. Johnson LBJ, LBJ, how many kids have you killed today? Was one of the principal protest chants of the 1960s in the United States. It was directed at President Lyndon B. Johnson. It was about the war in Vietnam that the American government under the Johnson administration had been steadily become more involved in each passing year after he came to office following Kennedys assassination in November 1963. One can only imagine how this must have hurt for a man of Johnsons pride and character. Being accused of killing children is not something that anyone takes lightly. His reputation as a connoisseur of Washington hid visionary leadership qualities. He knew how to get what he wanted and when. He realized that American society had to change as the first post-World War Two generation was clamouring for a greater voice in society. His election in 1964 was one of the biggest majorities ever. It is hard to find a historical figure that does not have more than one facet or side to their political legacy and life, and Lyndon Johnson was no exception, but in his case, it was so much more pronounced. Yes, he was historically significant. Itis impossible to argue that he was not. This significance is firstly in his ‘Great Society legislation and philosophy, and secondly in his prosecution of the war in Vietnam. Each of these will be discussed in turn. Part A) Visionary: Kennedys footsteps and Great Society. Any president who comes to office following the death, accidental or not, of another president finds himself or herself in that shadow of that person. The position of vice-president is not an easy one in American government and politics. It carries no power and limited stature. One constantly feels second to holder of the office of president. Naturally, the vice-president is part of the cabinet and provides advice, but the political ideals and program belong to the current president. Looking at Kennedy and Johnson, one can only see differences, but the political need of Kennedy for Southern votes in 1960 made him choose Johnson. His victory created the myth of Camelot, which still stands to this date. He believed in civil rights for all Americans and wanted a more peaceful relationship with the Soviet Union. He was young and handsome, which generated a huge amount of charisma. His death robbed the United States of a leader of great potential. On November 22, 1963, Lyndon Johnson step ped into his shoes following his assassination. He lacked Kennedys charisma, but soon showed confidence. His reputation as a master of the Senate was proof of competence and knowledge. These skills would be soon into great demand as he was immediately confronted with the need to resolve multiple societal problems, such as race relations in the South and health care; issues that Kennedy had started looking at in his brief tenure as president. Johnson felt he had to bring the solutions to fruition, both for the country and Kennedy, and lastly for himself, which meant putting his imprint on them. The United States of the 1960s was in the throes of racial tensions and economic retardation. Southern states were resisting and ignoring federal attempts to impose civil rights for blacks. The result of which was the low voting levels and harassment of blacks in the American Deep South. There were periodical racial riots requiring at times the intervention of federal National Guard to quell them. Unemployment was rising and many Americans had no kind of medical coverage. The American constitutional order placed checks and balances on every level of power, but as the source of the racial inequalities was being ignored for very many reasons that are beyond the scope of this discussion, although one of them was that many presidents were reluctant to rock the boat fearing electoral and legislative setbacks. Such fears did not scare Johnson, as he had earned and cherished a Senate reputation of bending and cajoling other lawmakers to his way of thinking. He could be many things to many p eople. His birth in the Southern state of Texas gave him the image of a good olboy, which could be utilized to great effect. This appeal and experience would be highly beneficial as he was able to push through many legislative reforms by the end of 1965. Every January, the current American president gives a State of the Union address during which he or she proposes various ideas and programs for that year. At this point, Johnson declared a War on Poverty  and called for the passing of Kennedys tax cut and civil rights bill; the first easily passed its hurdles, while the second quickly got delayed. Part of his war on poverty involved creating jobs through massive government aid and intervention, very much on the scale of Roosevelts Great Deal in the 1930s, which served as his inspiration as he understood that the state could not stand by while the people suffered. This realization was in stark contrast to his view of the United States as the true representative of freedom in the world, which meant bringing violence and suffering to people around the world as everyone had their own There were two other major legislative elements of the Great Society, namely Medicare and Medicaid, and the Higher and Elementary and Secondary Education Acts in 1965;the former two set up health care funding for the elderly and the needy, while the latter two provided federal aid to schools. Some of his opponents argued that these reforms were federal involvement in state affairs and fought court cases to resist or delay them. A country of the stature of the United States could not claim to be torch bearer of democracy and freedom,  when a quarter of citizens were denied their rights and many governmental institutions either colluded in their denial or stood by while it occurred. Kennedy recognized this horror, although his predecessor Eisenhower had started redressing the ill when he ordered the National Guard to intervene during the Little Rock crisis in 1957. The Civil Rights Act was passed in July 1964, while the Voting Rights Act in 1965. The riots and violence soon became things of the past except when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in April 1968resulting in riots across 100 cities. A new Civil Rights Act was passed later that year. On a more personal level, he was the first American president to nominate a black person to the Supreme Court and the Cabinet, who were Thurgood Marshall previously having served as the solicitor-general of the United States in 1967 and Robert Weaver as secretary of housing and urban development in 1966. Both decisions opened some of the last bureaucratic rooms to racial integration despite the racist cringing of many Southern senators and governors. Part B) Ideologue: Cold War and the quicksand of Vietnam. The war in Vietnam would become Johnsons undoing. Like almost any other project or idea that he had, he wanted to fight and win it. His major pieces of legislation had been passed by early 1965 or were on their way. This freedom permitted him to increase the American presence in Vietnam. He ordered the first combat troops into Vietnam reversing a Kennedy policy of pulling out of Vietnam as he believed in the ‘Domino Theory whereby if one country fell to Communism, others would follow, so a stand had to be made and Vietnam fulfilled that role. This geo-political theory developed in the 1950s and soon became a guiding principle of many elements of American foreign policy, but sadly it was very blinkered way of thinking, because the theory soon became the reality as facts were manipulated, or even created, to fit into it. The inability to grow beyond it would hamper much of Johnsons thinking on Vietnam. The initial American involvement in Vietnam dated from 1955 after the French h ad been defeated atDien Bien Phu when the United States under Eisenhower felt it had to buttress non-Communist forces in South East Asia. The world of the 1960s was in the throes of a cooling-off period in the Cold War after having closely brushed with nuclear Armageddon in Cuba in October 1962, and the growing American involvement was perceived as a renewed hot period. Not everyone believed in this war, as they realized that it was a battle between two opposing ideologies, Capitalism and Communism; both of which had their supporters and critics, and the question was why did someone have to choose between them. Many counties did ignore the two superpowers and formed the Non-Aligned Movement. ‘Unsurprisingly, this act angered both superpowers. The nature of this war was that the United States and Soviet Union never actually fought each other, but used proxies to fulfil their ideological agendas. Ironically, the political nature of many of these proxies was that they were corrupt, repressive and dictatorial; for instance, in the case of Vietnam, the Diem government in the South supported by the Johnson administrati on was suppressing opposition to its rule, while Ho Chi Minh in the North was widely praised and respected. In atwist of irony, the repressive policies of the Diem government led the American government to overthrow him, but this only further destabilized the country and accelerated its slide into chaos. The basic Cold War philosophy meant that the legitimate democratic needs and hopes of millions were ignored, and it can be argued that this fact damaged the United States more than it did the Soviet Union as the United States claimed to be leader in world democracy and freedom. Johnson’s belief in the American mission to bring democracy to the world was one of his justifications to get involved in Vietnam. This argument begs belief. In the end, this contradiction could not be resolved, and it became the source of the American military and political loss. When Lyndon Johnson came to office, there were only about 16000 advisers in Vietnam, but he would raise the number of combat soldiers to almost 50000 by the late 1960s. He increased the number of bomber missions in the hope of crushing the spirit of the Vietnamese. Not only was the cost in lives was enormous, but also in infrastructure, as bridges, dams and building were destroyed. Such destruction put a stop to any development projects by the Vietnamese. One of the consequences of such a massive bombing was the scarring of the landscape whereby huge holes were made across the country creating impediments to agricultural development. One of the more tragic episodes of the Vietnam War was the authorization to use a weed killer to defoliate trees and shrubs in the hope of uncovering supply routes used by the Vietnamese. It was code-named Agent Orange and was sprayed from planes flying over jungles. It was a pesticide and was never thought of as being dangerous to the health of humans. Protests quickly grew as claims were raised that it was causing various forms of cancer in both Vietnamese civilians and American soldiers, and recently studies have slowly tended to support such views. The psychological success but military failure of the North Vietnameses Tet offensive in 1968started the American military withdrawal process. In a major reversal, Johnson stopped increasing troops and thought of ways to extricate himself and his country from Vietnam. The failure of Johnson to realize that the war was based on the desire of independence of a people at all costs meant that regardless of how many military victories were achieved, the war never ended. It has been a standing law in American politics to not bring back soldiers in body bags as it is politically damaging. Every death was a nail in Johnson’s political coffin. The chant How, Ho Chi Minh shouted by American protesters must have been devastating to Johnson as they cheered his opponent in a war that he su pported. In other areas of the gloomy world of the Cold War, Johnson was quite forward thinking and deserved credit. The close call of nuclear destruction during the Cuba Missile Crisis meant that a special red phone line was installed so that the leaders of the United States and Soviet Union could talk to each other quickly. To accelerate communication and travel, a new air route was installed between Moscow and New York City. His meeting with Premier Kosygin in June 1967 was another in a recent line of summits between American and Soviet leaders, and their discussions led to proposals to reduce the development of nuclear weapons, which later grew into the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons ratified internationally in March 1970, but unfortunately as this was passed by the American Senate in 1969 after Johnson had left office, much of the credit went to his successor, Richard Nixon. This agreement was one of the first major limitations of nuclear use and was the father of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, otherwise known as SALT. Conclusion According to ancient Egyptian mythology, the soul of every person was weighed measuring his or her good and bad deeds to decide their place in the Afterword. This view has both negative and positive aspects as every action has a value, but one huge good or bad act can outweigh a lot of small bad or good ones. Depending on whom you ask, both the Vietnam War and the Great Society can be either, but prosecuting an unnecessary war is hard to defend, while programs designed to help the needy is so much easier to do so. The war in Vietnam failed to achieve any of its objectives of liberating people and extending American power in the region, while the Great Society opened American society to new levels and made more people feel part of it. In this regard, a very simple description of Lyndon Johnsons place in history is that he was a divisive figure. He was the author of two great things in American society; firstly the Great Society and secondly the Vietnam War, although the present use of the term great is in its sense of social grandeur and socially revolutionary. He is remembered affectionately and hated deeply for each of them, but not always in the way that some of us might think. It is a mark of this divisiveness, which he himself recognized, that he stepped aside from running again as president in March 1968. His successor as president was Richard Nixon. Bibliography Morris, Errol. The Fog of War. DVD. Columbia Tri Star, 2004. Johnson, Lyndon. The Vantage Point: Perspectives of the Presidency, 1963-1969. Holt, Rinehartand Winston, 1971. Caro, Robert A. Master of the Senate: the years of Lyndon Johnson. Cape, 2002. Bernstein, Irving. Gunsor Butter: the presidency of Lyndon Johnson. Oxford University Press, 1995. Dallek, Robert. Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and his times, 1961-1973. Oxford University Press,1998.

Improving The Teaching of Physics :: Learning Education Papers

What this paper is all about I will attempt to provide answers to the question of how one can facilitate the acquisition of deep conceptual understanding of physical concepts and make learning more meaningful to students. I will do this by using the results of several physics education researches as anchored on some important difficulties physics educators have in teaching physics. The problems in physics teaching Over the years, physics education has been beset with a multitude of problems. The most compelling is how to teach physics to the students so that they will understand it, and appreciate it. An offshoot of this difficulty is the problem of retaining in the program those students who have initially decided to major in physics. Seymour and Hewitt’s (1997) study on why undergraduates leave the sciences revealed that students switch not because they lack the mental ability. The three main concerns for shifting are the lack or loss of interest, belief that a non-SME offers a better education, and poor teaching of SME faculty. Looking at these reasons, we realize that the situation is not at all hopeless. I believe that we could do something to address these issues. The scenario would have been pathetic if the primary reason for the switch is the students’ lack of mental ability. As I see it, the issue of lack/loss of interest and the belief that SME offers a better education is brought about or aggravated by the issue of poor teaching of SME faculty. If we can address the issue of poor teaching we will essentially be addressing the two other issues. If we can better teach physics then this can be a source of motivation for students to stay in physics. Another major problem in physics education is that students do not appear to gain as much knowledge out of their physics courses as desired. The most probable reason for this is the over-dependence of physics instructors on using the â€Å"traditional lecture†. Lectures in physics can be an incredibly passive experience for students, particularly dangerous for those who believe that if they can follow the professor, they’ve mastered the material (Tobias, 1990). In this paper I will be presenting ways in which we can improve large lecture classes in order to make learning more meaningful for students. The motivation for this is my belief that lecture halls will still continue to pervade physics departments. Reducing the number of student- teacher ratio is a far-fetched reality.

Communication Problems in Hugh Garner’s “The Father” Essay

Who is perfect; certainly not John Purcel in Hugh Garner’s short story â€Å"The Father† about a desperate alcoholic father (John Purcel) trying to get closer to his son (Johnny) who seems to be slowly drifting away from him. This will be demonstrated through out a series of examples which will prove the father’s drinking problem, his neglective attitude towards his son and his low self esteem. Alcohol can control a person’s life and make them irresponsible which affects their relationships. John Purcell showed a lack of judgment by stopping to have a drink before he even got home from work making him late for the scout meeting with his son. His irresponsibility continued when he met another irresponsible drunken father at the meeting. When the stranger offered John a drink, he gladly accepted the offer stating â€Å"you’re a lifesaver†. Due to his drunkenness, John Purcell embarrassed his son even further. â€Å"In a paroxysm of pride and happiness he grasped the boy’s hand, and facing the audience, held it aloft like a referee signaling the winner of a boxing bout. There was a short burst of embarrassed laughter from the tables†. His drinking affected his actions and caused his son to be humiliated in front of his friends. It is very difficult to have a healthy relationship with someone when you are controlled by alcohol. Building good relationships involves time and effort. John Purcell never put any effort into trying to know his son because â€Å"most of the time he was too preoccupied with other things to pay much heed to the boy’s activities†. He never encouraged or supported Johnny and never participated or went to any of his son’s events. He did not even know what baseball or swimming team Johnny was on. When the curate, Mr. Redpath, complimented Johnny on his exceptional swimming ability, the father realized that â€Å"he seemed to know less about the boy than anyone†. However, he made the excuse that his son â€Å"was only a twelve-year-old who wanted to be left alone†. Because the father was so involved in himself, he did not make the time or put forth the effort to develop a proper relationship with his son. A person who has low self-esteem finds it difficult to care for others and himself. John Purcell did not know the scout leaders and the other fathers; he stereotyped them as being â€Å"sissies and goons†. When he discovered that Johnny did not have the full scout uniform because of lack of money, his first response was â€Å"What’s the matter with this family anyway? God knows what the neighbours must think of me.† What others thought was more important to him than his own family. Even though he was cheap with his family, he didn’t want others to know about it. He was very insecure which caused him to feel out of place and unsure of himself. Even when he had made an effort to show an interest in his son, he had been â€Å"pointedly ignored† contributing more to his feelings of inadequacy as a father. When one feels like a total failure, it is difficult to have any positive relationships because you are always worried about what others think. In conclusion Johnny’s father finally realized he had to change in order to be closer to his son. It would be hard for John Purcell to have a close relationship with his son due to his lack of interest in him, his alcoholism, and his lack of self-esteem. John’s negative personality dominated his relationships with his son and others.

Aphorisms, Mottos and Sayings

Aphorisms, Mottos and Sayings Aphorisms, Mottos and Sayings Aphorisms, Mottos and Sayings By Maeve Maddox Many depictions of old people on American television–for example, Grandpa Simpson–reflect contempt for the elderly, but the language presents a different picture. The variety of words for â€Å"wisdom passed down the generations† suggests a tradition of respect for the experience of one’s elders. I’ve already written about the words proverb and adage. Here are a few more English words that mean â€Å"an often-repeated wise saying.† The dates in parentheses correspond to the earliest citations in the OED. Because so many of the definitions for these words contain the adjective pithy, I’ll define this word up front: pithy (adjective): of language or style; full of concentrated meaning; conveying meaning forcibly through brevity of expression; concise, succinct; condensed in style; pointed, terse, aphoristic. aphorism (1570) In a scientific context, an aphorism is the statement of a principle, but in general usage, an aphorism is a short pithy sentence containing a truth of general import. For example, â€Å"A living dog is better than a dead lion.† apothegm (1570) Also spelled apophthegm, an apothegm is a terse, pointed saying that embodies an important truth in few words. It will be pithy and may also be sententious, like one of Dr. Johnson’s oft-quoted sayings: â€Å"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.† axiom (1578) This term is from Latin axioma, which in turn comes from a Greek word meaning â€Å"that which is thought worthy or fit, that which commends itself as self-evident.† In a scientific context, an axiom is a self-evident proposition requiring no formal demonstration. For example, it’s an axiom that the Earth revolves around the Sun. dictum (1586) A dictum is an authoritative pronouncement attributed to a particular person or source. For example, Harry Selfridge (1858-1947) is credited with the dictum, â€Å"the customer is always right.† maxim (1450) A maxim states a rule of conduct or action in the form of a proverb: â€Å"Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.† motto (1589) Nowadays we use the word motto to mean any maxim that a person tries to follow as a rule of conduct. For example, I once had a kitchen with very little counter- or drawer-space; my motto was, â€Å"If it will hang, hang it.† Motto originally referred to a word or sentence attached to a design, as in heraldry. For example, the emblem of the Prince of Wales is three white ostrich feathers with the German motto Ich dien, â€Å"I serve.† precept 1375 Similar to a maxim, a precept is a general command or injunction; a rule for action or conduct, especially a rule for moral conduct. A precept that has implications for personal privacy and security is, â€Å"A man’s home is his castle.† saw (c. 1000) The sayings of King Alfred (849-899) were known as saws, a word that comes from the verb â€Å"to say.† One of Alfred’s saws that I can recall without looking it up is, â€Å"Tell it to your saddlebow.† That means â€Å"Don’t go sharing your plans or worries with others; keep your own counsel.† saying (1303) Like saw, saying comes from the verb â€Å"to say.† The word can apply to any current or habitual expression of wisdom or truth. For example, â€Å"The experience of many lottery winners tends to prove the truth of the saying that a fool and his money are soon parted.† I’ll let you decide for yourselves which of these nine terms best describes each of the following expressions: A penny saved is a penny earned. A job worth doing is worth doing well. A lie often told becomes the truth. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Actions speak louder than words. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Birds of a feather flock together. Charity begins at home. Curiosity killed the cat. Little drops the mighty ocean make. Love conquers all. No use crying over spilt milk. Opposites attract. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Strike while the iron is hot. Time is money. Two heads are better than one. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Idioms About Legs, Feet, and ToesGrammar Quiz #21: Restrictive and Nonrestrictive ClausesA Yes-and-No Answer About Hyphenating Phrases

My personal Management Experience Essay Example

My personal Management Experience Essay Example My personal Management Experience Essay My personal Management Experience Essay My Personal Management Experience Name; Course: Date: My Personal Management Experience I was employed as a store manager for a jewelry store that was only just opening. My boss called me one morning and said, â€Å"I want you to be in Eastridge Mall tomorrow,† and he gave me the address. I showed up the following day at the Mall as directed and found a store under construction. The whole place consisted of construction material and debris. There were Sheetrock walls, hanging wires from the ceiling and brand new showcases ready to be installed. He called me the same evening and surprised me by saying, â€Å"Congratulation, this is the store you will be running.† I accepted this new and greater responsibility with newfound confidence. I had worked as a jewelry sales person and I understood quite well the difficult task that lay ahead. This was bound to be a wonderful experience. I had always wanted to mange big assignments and this was one of them. My first management challenge consisted in establishing a clientele, forming a strong workforce and making a reasonable profit for the company. My boss believed in my vast experience as a sales person and he expected me to deliver the required results. . I had to strategize on how to kick-start the operations of the store and how to capture loyal customers. This was no mean feat for someone who has never had any management experience in the past. Running a new store is a challenging task. In the retail world, all businesses are driven by the desire to make profits. This was a difficult task considering the fact that I was given a brand new store with no clientele and located in a very unfamiliar market. I had to apply what I had learnt from my experience as a sales person and what I had learnt from my management classes to this challenge. I was required to takeover the planning from now onwards. As the manager, I was tasked with the responsibility of organizing the required resources whether financial or material to be delivered to the store. I was also responsible for the staffing. The store needed an adequate and competent workforce to be able to make it through this stage. For the operations to run smoothly, I had to be able to guide and motivate my workforce and ensure that everything was going according to the plans set down. This is just but a brief insight of the task that lay ahead of me. As a manager, I was supposed to do my work diligently. The construction was already underway, I had to incorporate my company’s designs into the already laid out designs. This was to make sure that the store is constructed according to the company’s standards. I therefore had to be present at the construction site to supervise the ongoing construction. This was my first assignment. I had to co-ordinate the construction process and I was leaving nothing to chance. Signs for example, were to be placed in the right places and given perfect angling; the lighting system had to meet the company’s standards. Since this business involves expensive jewelry, security was very important. I had to ensure that the security system was standard. All the display cases had to be secured to ensure no one tampers with the jewelry. These measures had to be taken to ensure that everything was in place. In this stage of the project, I applied management control. This assisted me in verifying whether the construction work was going accordi ng to my plan After overseeing the completion of the construction work, I had to focus on the opening of the store. This was one of the most important stages of this assignment. My mission was to put up a credible work force that will assist me in developing the store into a competitive and profit making outlet. I recruited a formidable sales team bout one month before the store commenced its operations. This was essential because without the right sales people I (Store manager) would not succeed. Coming up with the right team was quite difficult. I had set my own objectives on the kind of people I wanted for this job. I had to build a competent group of workers and so I chose those that really suited my descriptions for the best. As a manager I was guided by one principle, I gave my work the best I can and treated my customers with the respect they deserved. As quoted in Arnold et al’s article in the Journal of Retailing issue number 85 of 2009, â€Å"transformational managers attempt to act in the best interests of both the customer and the company to provide effective solutions to the needs of both groups (Bass, 1977)†. This principle motivates me to do my best and guides all my practices as a manager. A manager however does not work alone; he is assisted in his work by his sales team. I strived to instill these values in the team that I managed to create. I set goals for the sales team we had to get the business running and rake up sales within the first two months. These objectives guided my choice of candidates for the sales job. I laid out the minimum qualifications and the attributes of the sales personnel. My ideal candidate had to possess the following characteristics. First, they must be lovers of jewelry, a person who does not love what he/she is selling will find it difficult to passionately market a piece to a customer and convince them to purchase it regardless of its price. Second, the person must be enthusiastic; customers prefer sales people who are lively and appealing. Positive attitude will always result in customer satisfaction and eventually a sale. Third, the person must be ambitious; employees who want to advance in their careers in future always give their best. Keeping in mind all these expectations, I formed a sales team that consisted of seven dedicated people. They were lovers of jewelry, enthusiastic, and all desired to grow in their respective careers. They also had to fulfill my manager’s expectations. These p eople had to be proficient in whatever they were going to do so training was necessary. After hiring them, I trained them on the various roles they would take in the store. Several years ago, I was working as a sales person at my first job (Zale’s the Diamond Store). The manager at this store had a great relationship with his workers. I loved the way he related with those under him and he inspired me to be like him. He was also unbelievably talented in the art of marketing. He knew how lure the customer into buying something; he always knew the right words to use. .He taught me how to approach the customer, make a conversation, find out about their needs, and listen to them. He believed that through listening, we learn more about someone than when we talk. Roman et al in their article in the journal of marketing management say that listening skills can lead to higher sales performance â€Å"From the salesperson’s perspective, empirical research has shown that effective listening leads to higher sales performance† ( Roman et al, 2005 ). He inspired me and I strived to pass down his values to my sales team The staffing function required much more time than I had anticipated; I had to set up instruction/training sessions for my team on a daily basis. The training comprised education on customer service, product knowledge and listening and communication skills. The daily sessions are essential because they are also used to review the progress of our daily objectives and assist us in making corrections as appropriate. Through these meetings, we interact, highlight the problem areas, and propose solutions or improvements as appropriate. We have set up half hour opening and closing meetings where we talk about the store’s goals break it down to our individual goals, and then we discuss whether we have achieved those goals and what we ought to do in order to achieve them. In the closing meetings, we review the days work and evaluate individual as well as team performance. These meetings represent a minor form of performance appraisal. Another strategy that I employ when dealing with m y team involves role-play and building scenarios. This has an enormous impact on their learning. It is a great confidence builder and aids the team in their learning. The bottom line is I always recognize the efforts of my sales team and closely monitor their behavior and correct them in areas where they have gone wrong. My short-term goals were to be able to gain a consistent flow of sales and to attract a meaningful number of customers. With these goals in mind, we set out on the methods to achieve them. I identified several ways through which we could be able to gain and retain customers. One important was to have a motivated sales team, second was to carry out intensive marketing of the new store. These were key strategies for the achievement of our goals. I had to motivate my sales people and ensure that we marketed ourselves well. Together with the head office, we embarked on massive promotional campaigns on print and communication media and in the internet. We also put up a series of promotional billboards in the neighborhood. Our marketing campaign paid off very well and within a few days, customers started streaming into our store. The second step involved the motivation of workers, we offered incentives for those who achieved a certain amount of sales and the daily meetings enabled them to be participatory and hardworking. Overall, the performance of the sales team and the store in general exceeded my expectations. I agreed to become a manager because I believed in my ability to recognize the areas for potential improvement in my sales associates and correct it before became too late. I understood that every single flaw within my sales team would reflect ten times greater on my own portfolio. I achieve that by creating a great relationship with my team. Achieving our short-term goals was not as difficult as I had previously thought. With the motivated workforce and the regular clientele, we were way beyond our goals. My focus now shifted to the medium term goals. One of my medium term objectives involved the retaining of present customers and improvement of sales. We had to create an impression on the clientele to ensure that they will come back again. This was not an easy feat to achieve. Great and efficient customer service is a combination of patience, intelligence and understanding. The sales team had to be made aware of these three pillars of effective customer service delivery. I ensured that I reminded them about this in our daily meetings and instructed them on how customers should be handled. Another important step that I took was to enforce disciplinary actions, these were necessary in order to maintain a reliable and strong sales team. At the end of the day, the manager is responsible for the mistakes of his team. It is t herefore prudent to have disciplinary action taken against team members who violate the rules set to govern misconduct at the workplace. This is one way through which the work force can stay focused on the company’s objectives. When a manager metes out punishment on an employee it is always for the good of the employee and the company. When the employee is repeatedly involved in misconduct, he/she should be replaced. Some of these rules were agreed on as we embarked on the journey to achieve greater sales and to retain and gain more customers. As a manager, I prided myself in being a successful organizer. I had the roles of all my seven sales personnel well defined, each of them had a role clearly carved out for them. Teamwork was an important element of the sales process. If one member of the sales team found it difficult to convince a customer, it was normal practice to refer them to another member. If both failed to make a deal with the customer, I always intervene to save the situation and make the sale. I have never been a manager who works only to collect paychecks, but to gain my paycheck and deserve it. My participation motivates the team; they are aware of the need to be effective and to do their best. Having a rapport with your customer gives them the motivation to come again. They also recommend the store to their friends. Excellent customer service helps the company establish this rapport with the customers and in turn enables the organization to increase sales. I endeavored to ensure that the sales team mainta ined an excellent rapport with customers in order to achieve the goal of maximum sales and to gain more clients. Through these simple steps, we were able to establish ourselves as a formidable force within the jewelry market. Our sales soared at unbelievable rates and clients continued streaming into our store. My manager acknowledged my performance and even upgraded my store’s capacity due to the increasing sales that we were registering. We had made a lot of progress as far as the achievement of our goals was concerned. We attained parity in sales and the number of customers who called at our store had increased. However, one problem still troubled me; we had inconsistencies in the sale of a particular stock of diamond rings. This ring had registered the least sales despite being tone of the most valuable and most sought after rings in the country. I figured out that there might be a problem in its display station and made the decision to have it displayed at a different position. We deliberated on this as a team and I decided that this particular ring be displayed on the finest showcase for the customers to see. Each member was supposed to take keen interest on customers who showed their interest in the ring and attend to them with the tact and experience they had gained over the few months that the store has been in operation. Another problem that we had to contend with was the height of the showcases it was observ ed that the showcases were taller than the standard height. This made it difficult for the customers to have a comprehensive view of the jewelry showcased. This was identified as an impediment to the sales process. Some jewelry had intrinsic features that could only be noticed by an observant customer. Others like rings had minute details that can only be seen if the customer has the best view. This therefore posed a major problem. The showcases had to be replaced with others that were waist-length in order to allow the customers to have a comprehensive view of the jewelry. These two were some of the major challenges that we faced in the jewelry store. We were able to replace the showcases after receiving financial help from the head office. Our sales increased considerably with this new adjustment and we realized that customers could now see all the jewelry displayed in the store. Our sales staff also became busier than before since customers were now more interested in the detail. We have not yet achieved our goals as a company yet but according to my observation, we are right on track and given more time, we will be a force to reckon with in the jewelry market. As a manager, I believe I have employed the functions of management as taught in management class and that is the reason why I have a wonderful record of accomplishment. I planned my processes and objectives quite well and organized all the resources required to achieve them. I also ensured that I had a well, developed and qualified workforce for the job. I ensured that the workforce was well motivated and that communication in the store was open. Constant evaluation and reviews of the progress of operations also assisted me in troubleshooting potential threat areas and finding credible solutions to these threats. Recognizing the passion for what we do is the key to our success. The only reason why I have been featured on the company’s â€Å"newspaper† for several years now is because my store registered the highest profit margin. I am proud of myself simply because I always give the best of my efforts, set higher than normal expectations for myself and never lose hope in difficult times.

HR Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

HR - Research Paper Example Daily functions include such things as providing advice to various levels of management and employees regarding company policies and procedures. Also included is acting as a liaison between employees and management (Human Resources Generalist Duties and Responsibilities 1). This is an area large in scope, and relies on the Generalist to be able to retain and recall information quickly and accurately. Since problems and questions are not often exactly duplicated, it requires ability to handle new situations based on similar issues that occurred in the past. A Human Resources Generalist performs other functions on a weekly basis. Examples of these items could be assisting with payroll processing and answering payroll related inquiries from employees or managers. Also, gathering unemployment paperwork for use in unemployment benefits hearings is another function often performed weekly depending on the size of the company (1). Other functions are performed on a monthly basis by the HR Generalist. Examples include assisting in providing counsel to employees with regards worker’s compensation, short-term disability, FMLA, and other employee leave issues. Maintaining company bulletin board postings for internal job openings, along with required legal and compliance issue postings is also critical. Recruitment strategies often need slightly revised on a monthly or semi-monthly basis. Too, monthly audits of HR files including I-9 forms are needed (1). Finally, some issues are performed yearly. Such items as these could be participation in job fairs; revisions and improvements in job descriptions; advising managers and employees on yearly employee benefit options; and holding benefits meetings and training (2). There are several areas that I would have strong interest in performing as an HR Generalist. A first such issue would be working as a liaison

By joining the European Union, the UK's doctrine of Parliamentary Essay

By joining the European Union, the UK's doctrine of Parliamentary Sovereignty has been considerably limited and changed, Discu - Essay Example The establishment of the European Union has weakened the traditional supremacy of the Parliament and affecting greatly the power sharing within the country. The current view of the powers of the Parliament is very different from the one that Dicey was talking about. Apart from the European Union, factors relating to the Human Rights Act of 1998 as well as the developments in the common law have greatly hampered the authority of the United Kingdom’s Parliamentary supremacy. The battle of supremacy has seen the parliament lose in some cases that were initially under its jurisdiction. In a case involving the oil giant, Trafigura and The Guardian newspaper in 2009, there was absolute non-adherence to the Bill of Rights as stipulated in the 1689 provision. The company was able to have the freedom of expression on parliamentary debates restricted to for several media platforms, The Guardian being one of them. This issue presented a test for parliamentary supremacy and its shakiness in the current forms. The fact that they were bent by a private organization brings situations where it is likely that they can bend several rules for specific interests courtesy of the provisions of the European Union Law. ... Another case that demonstrates the authority of the European Union over the United Kingdom Parliament was the one involving Van Gend En Loos3. The court ruled that â€Å"the member States have limited their sovereign rights, and albeit within limited fields, have created a body of law which binds both nationals and themselves†. This means that the country’s systems are inferior to those of the ones by the European Union. In its actual terms, the ruling provides that there is no law among the member sates that is capable of surpassing that of the European Union, the same applies to the institutions of the Union as opposed to those of the regional block. The law is becoming superior in diverse ways with several in-country as well as regional cases being given the European Union interpretation of the law. The European Community Act is a very important legal tool as far as the supremacy of the European Union is concerned. Passed in 1972, the law in section 2 has a provision requiring that all the preexisting statutes and the ones to be enacted must and should abide by the European Union Law, a situation that binds the United Kingdom Parliament to adherence with the directives of the law. This means that the Diceyian view of the supremacy of the Parliament is completely eroded, apart from being challenged by the successive parliaments; an Act of Parliament can be challenged by the European Law effectively. Section 3 of the 1972 Act provides that the decisions of the European Union Court of Justice binds all the tribunals and courts, this includes the United Kingdom’s parliament. Other treaties have been enacted crippling further the role of the United States Parliament, the most recent is the Treaty