11 Ways to Celebrate 4th of July with Your College Friends

11 Ways to Celebrate 4th of July with Your College Friends College friends are planning their 4th of July fun, festivities and classic American festivals with spirit this time of year! If you’re here, you’re digging for ideas. Well, in this post you’ll find 11 of the best. And listen, America needs your patriotism. No doubt. We all know that. Hell, the entire modern world knows that. America is going through an incredibly trying period right now after prolonged economic fallout and war fatigue. Please, make it a point to celebrate our nation’s history and rich heritage. You are, or you can be, we can be†¦Independent! Let freedom reign. 1. Hold a Legendary BBQ! Hot dogs, hamburgers, briskets and brats†¦oh my! You can get outside (weather permitting of course), fire up the grill and gather around a few tables with friends. If possible, head out super-early and secure a spot in a park overlooking a fireworks display. Speaking of which†¦ 2. Go and Watch a Mega Fireworks Display Listen, even if you guys have to pool some gas money and road trip it, maybe now is the time to see one of the biggest, boldest and loudest iconic American fireworks displays? Just Google it dude! Theres tons of them. Here’s a few of the more notable: â€Å"America’s Biggest Birthday Party† by the Gateway Arch in St. Lois. The Addison, Texas, fireworks display. The event at Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois The 4th of July Barge Battle display in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Lake Tahoe, California display. The display around Municipal Pier, San Francisco Bay, California. The Space Needle display, Seattle, Washington. 3. It’s Patriotic Movie Time! If there’s going to be a television of some sort around, or in the background, whatever, make sure to have the best patriotic movies rocking. In fact, no one said you can’t just do a dorm movie day, or with someone special†¦like red white blue popcorn. Here’s a taste of the most popular ones we’ve all seen: Forest Gump Independence Day The Patriot Born on the 4th of July Glory Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Saving Private Ryan Captain America: The First Avenger 4. Host an Epic Patriotic Picnic Let’s say all the BBQ pits and public grills within miles and all over campus are already taken. That’s fine. Grab a big blanket, put together a bunch of different treats and fingers foods and do a picnic. The idea is to get outside and get into the thick of it with other Americans. The 4th of July is about us. 5. Patriotic Road Trip Time! Why not head out on a historical road trip to all the most timeless patriotic American destinations. Honestly, it’s something every American should be required to do during their college days. Until Oculus virtual reality headsets become commonplace, you’re going to have to make a road trip out of it. Here’s a sampling: Gettysburg National Military Park, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania The Liberty Bell Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania The Statue of Liberty Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Keystone, South Dakota Mount Vernon, Virginia The Patriotic Path, Boston, Massachusetts 6. Go Join the Nearest Parade Most cities, even the small ones, hold parades for the 4th of July. If your college town doesn’t have one going on, well, then travel to somewhere that does. These places typically have all kinds of stuff going on; big gatherings, BBQs, fireworks displays, live music, etc. 7. Host a Beach Bonfire Bonanza! No, we’re not talking a little pit-fire or campfire here. On both the east and west coast there are places where you can either host your own beach bonfire and set off fireworks or join in on one someone else is hosting. Sometimes it’s private property. Sometimes it’s hosted by local organizations or groups. You’ll have to do a bit of digging online and make sure everything is by the book. 8. Throw a Study Session Oh lord. Yep, get your buddies together, drape yourselves in American flags and study (recite) patriotic writings like The Bill of Rights, The writings of Washington, Lincoln, Franklin, and Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence, The Gettysburg Address, â€Å"Ragged Old Flag† by Johnny Cash or Patrick Henry’s Give me Liberty or Give Me Death speech. 9. Get Ridiculously Crafty There’s literally no end to what kinds of crafts you can make that are covered in red, white and blue. How many different ways can you craft an American flag? You can take something as simple as a regular wooden pallet and paint it to look just like one. 10. Did Someone Say Block Party? Yeah. Envision a historic college block party that doesn’t get out of hand, but stays peaceful, celebrative, and oozing with inspirational solidarity. 11. Go Nuts With Patriotic Food Bake a cake and get creative with the icing. Make some red, white and blue pretzels, cookies, fruit plates, parfaits, cupcakes, muffins, popsicles, kabobs, etc. There you have it all you patriotic souls, a slew of ideas for this year’s 4th of July celebration with your college friends. Again, remember, America REALLY needs your patriotism and that American spirit of yours. Let us know how your 4th goes and be safe!

How to Write Dialogue

How to Write Dialogue How to Write Dialogue How to Write Dialogue By Michael Dialogue refreshes. Seeing quotation marks on a page has been proven to increase readability, which means that readers find the page more interesting. And you want your readers to stay interested. Dialogue breaks up gray text and gives your eyes a break too. Dialogue uses basic rules for punctuating and formatting: When the speaker changes, hit Return and start a new line (which Maeve Maddox demonstrates in Formatting Dialogue.) Put punctuation, such as the closing comma, inside the quotation marks. A colon can be used in a script, but in other forms of writing, you dont routinely punctuate dialogue with a colon. TOM POLHAUS: Heavy. What is it? SAM SPADE: The, uh, stuff that dreams are made of. Here are some suggestions for more effective dialogue: Do something, dont just talk. Conflict creates action out of dialogue. If everything is dialogue, its a play. In real life, people do things while they talk, and they dont talk all the time. Dont be yourself. New writers need to find their voice, but when you write dialogue, its not your voice now, but anothers. If they all sound like you, they all sound the same. Figure out what makes your characters different from you perhaps age, life experiences, or social status and how those differences affect their speech. Whos speaking, please? If its hard to tell the characters apart, your reader will be confused, bored or frustrated. Ali Hale gives several solutions in Dialogue Writing Tips. For example, you can have each character speak at his or her own rate, fast or slow, terse or wordy, big words or little words, long sentences or short, rude or polite. Vocabulary can also distinguish characters. They may express agreement in different ways: Aye, Yup, Ja, Okey dokey, Absolutely, For sure, dude! Indubitably. Limit extreme dialect. In the 1800s, authors would represent a regional or cultural group by phonetically spelling their pronunciations, leaving out dropped endings, and so forth: Och, dat wuz frightnin an no dout!. Unfortunately, deliberately adding misspellings and apostrophes makes your writing harder to read. Maeve Maddox and Kate Evans provide a better way in Showing Dialect in Dialogue and Writing Dialogue In Accents and Dialect. You dont have them with Hello. In fact, start your dialogue after the greeting. Leave out the fluff, pleasantries, and repetition. Real speech can be so repetitious that professional transcriptionists have special keys to avoid typing words such as Okay and Fine. Some people can have an entire conversation using only the word Fine. But dont put it in your novel. Skip past the boring details. Really, its not the details that are boring, but the vague parts. How are you doing? Fine? Glad to hear it. How is your family? Fine? If a dialogue doesnt advance the plot or expand the character, omit it. People all over the world say Looks like rain every day everyone can agree on the weather but you dont need to do it in your story unless the rain would ruin an important action or object. You dont have to use complete or grammatical sentences. Real-life dialogue isnt like that. People interrupt themselves, pause, change their minds, and so on. Show their motivation. Or at least, show they have motivation, even if what it is remains a mystery. They may not be telling the truth or telling everything, but they have reasons for saying what they do. Dont have the maid tell the butler what he already knows. Yes, dialogue is a great way to feed details to your reader, but it needs to reflect what your characters would have actually asked. Is Heathcliffe Manor dark and dismal? Yes, as you remember from working here for the past thirty years, the previous owner had most of the windows painted over. Try it out, out loud. Reading your writing audibly to yourself (or someone else) helps you decide whether your dialogue is natural. It may cause you to shorten parts of it by showing you that you need to breathe. Avoid the info-dump. Sometimes at the beginning and the end of a detective novel, someone says: First, tell me everything you know about the murder. Tell me, how in the world did you figure out that the butler did it? But an info-dump isnt as much fun as revealing information naturally. This gold mirror must be four feet wide! How will we get it downstairs? From this one piece of dialogue, we can surmise that strangers are moving rich people out of a multi-story house. Limit the cast. The more characters there are, the more confusing the conversation can be. If its hard to distinguish character voices spread through the story, its even harder to distinguish them when theyre all talking at once. About dialogue tags A dialogue tag tells you who is speaking. Writers and teachers disagree about what else it should do. Call a taxi, she said. Taxi! he shouted. Where you wanna go? the driver said gruffly. Some teachers want their students to choose from the hundreds of alternatives to said, telling them, Said is dead.: Stop the presses, he bellowed. Everything will be fine, Kate reassured them. Yall need to meet my grandson, she gushed. Only the Shadow knows, he whispered. J.K. Rowling is notorious for her adverbial dialogue tags, which she usually places in the middle of a dialogue. Three examples from a single page of Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone: Oh yes, everyones celebrating all right, she said impatiently. You cant blame them, said Dumbledore gently. I know that, said Professor McGonagall irritably. On the other hand, Stephen King advises writers to avoid adverbs and use nothing but said: â€Å"While to write adverbs is human, to write ‘he said’ or ‘she said’ is divine.† He also says, â€Å"I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs. Journalists are taught to use only two verbs in dialogue tags: said and asked. Adding adverbs or using more colorful verbs compromise their objectivity. I agree with Stephen King. The word said doesnt distract from the dialogue itself. It is unnoticed and unobtrusive. Dialogue is a character talking. A dialogue tag is you talking. The writers rule is show, dont tell, and when you add an adverb to a dialogue tag, you are telling. You are also drawing attention to yourself. When it comes to verbs, I distinguish between active verbs such as croaked or whispered and descriptive verbs such as threatened or urged. Saying he croaked shows your reader the sound of the speakers voice, something which they wouldnt otherwise know. Saying he threatened is a crutch the reader should be able to see the threat in the dialogue itself. I never say ‘She says softly.’ If its not already soft, you know, I have to leave a lot of space around it so that a reader can hear that its soft.† Toni Morrison More suggestions for dialogue tags: Dont use impossible verbs. Several commonly used dialogue tags represent actions that cant really be performed while speaking. Thats not necessary, laughed Bob. If this could happen in real life, this would sound more like: Thats (ha ha) not (ha) necessary (ha ha), said Bob. Laughing and talking simultaneously is not possible. Avoid Tom Swifties. The authors of the Tom Swift adventures of a century ago didnt limit themselves to said because they believed in elegant variation. As a result, dialogue tags with obtrusive verbs and adverbs have been parodied in a class of puns called Tom Swifties. Someone has let the soup boil over! Tom said hotly. Its pouring rain outside, Tom stormed. Ill hold the flashlight for you, Tom beamed. I prefer pancakes, said Tom flatly. Dont be like Tom. Is this dialogue tag necessary? Sometimes you dont need one. In a conversation between two characters, the reader can assume that alternate lines are spoken by the same character. Heres an example from Leo Tolstoys War and Peace with some of the dialogue tags removed: Forgive me! Natasha said in a whisper. Forgive me! I love you, said Prince Andrei. Forgive Forgive what? Forgive me for what I didid. Can you use an action tag instead of a dialogue tag? You dont need a dialogue tag if you have just identified the speaker in a different way. The detective abruptly snuffed out his cigarette. How about you and me working together? In this case, he reader understands that the detective is speaking. Dialogue is not just for fiction. Try including dialogue in everything you write, even scholarly papers and business memos. Seeing quotation marks brightens the eyes of an academician as much as anyone else. Instead of formally summarizing what your employers said to you, why not quote them word-for-word? 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 Fiction Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Words for Facial ExpressionsThe Parts of a WordEbook, eBook, ebook or e-book?

Discovering Professional Resources Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Discovering Professional Resources - Essay Example Amy Vogt maintains that in education there is no status quo, she bases her assessment on the past and present state of educational flux, she says, â€Å"There is no status quo. Education has been in a state of change for decades. We jeopardize our competitiveness not by failing to ‘accelerate’ or to ‘take bold steps’, but 4 by forgetting what we are actually good at: creativity, collaboration, entrepreneurship, innovation and creating global citizens. What we should be doing as we approach the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary School Act is focusing on children in poverty and how best to help them† (Vogt 2007) Association of Supervisors for Curriculum Development, has an IDEAS section in this publication which stresses the importance of everyone being on the same page. If not on the same page, then (figuratively) in the same building, which makes it easier to communicate ideas and gather consensus on matters which are either pressing on a local front, and can ultimately have regional or national implications. Roland S. Barth in his article â€Å"Improving Relationships Within the Schoolhouse†, offers the number one concept on team building, when he speaks to Adult interaction he offers, â€Å"In parallel play, educators work in isolation from one another. Adversarial relationships can involve open combat, the more subtle withholding of information, and competition for scarce resources and recognition... congenial relationships are personal and friendly, and lay the groundwork for the most exclusive and desirable relationships---collegiality.

Modern railway developments Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Modern railway developments - Essay Example It is stated in the Wikipedia (n.d.) that modern railways are the outcome of the development that took place over the past 500 years, a time when railroads were made of wood and stone. England is the pioneer of the first railway system that marked the beginning of the modern railway system in the 1820s. The system was based on steam locomotive which continued to dominate the railway system till the next century. In the sixteenth century tramways or wagon ways were introduced that could transport coal to and from the mines. Bellis (n.d.) states that this technology was widely used in many European countries including England. By the eighteenth century these tramways or wagon ways had impressed the engineers with its great utility. It could carry huge tones of coal without damaging the roads. It was thus felt that the technology must be improved in order to gain maximum benefit out of it. Around 1760 wooden rails were replaced by iron rails to ease the friction between the rail tracks and the wheels. It was thought that the technology could be used for the transport of people from one place to another. This led to the development of the first passenger train in 1803. However greatest achievement in the modern railway development came with the invention of the steam engine. Samuel Homfray funded the development of the steam engine in 1803. This was the greatest achievement since the steam powered engines replaced the horse drawn trams and wagon ways. The first journey on a locomotive train was done in 1804 by 70 men along with 9 extra wagons and 10 tones of coal. The engine covered a distance of 9 miles in two hours. However the first successful railway emerged in 1825 which was called Stockton and Darlington Railway. The railway connected the town of Darlington to the ports of Stockton and was basically invented for the transport of coal to the docks. A little later a more powerful engine was designed by an English man George Stevenson. The

Caring for Cooper City Essay Example for Free

Caring for Cooper City Essay There are many factors affecting the health of this community. I believe lack of health education and access to health care are the primary problems. The problems of pinworms and anemia are most preventable with hygiene education and nutritional education. The high premature births and neonatal death rate can be addressed with pre-natal education and care. The ability for the mothers and care givers to access these services may be impaired because of lack of access to health care related to transportation and economics. A cultural norm in many of Hispanic families is both parents work at minimum pay jobs with no benefits, while a family member takes care of several children. This care giver is often an older person (grand parent or aunt) and often does not understand or speak English or is an adolescent that is not able to drive. Because of the noted issues accessing health care during â€Å"business† hours are impaired. It is difficult for the person that may have access to transportation and one that speaks English to arrange a day off to take the child and/or pregnant woman to their doctor appointments Because a large population of the Hispanics go to the Catholic Church getting the local priest or a trusted community involved may help with accessing the population. Information about the clinic, health education classes, and setting up a clinic in the Catholic Church on the weekend may all be options to improving health care. Health education in the schools is another way to get the message to the public. A school health fair or school projects focused on prevention may be ways to help educate the parents. Education of adolescent about birth control, pre-natal care and support are other methods to improve the health of the community. . The planning group will need to have many members of the community. Having someone from the city council, the local priest and pastor, a representative from the high school, a medical representative such as the local md, or nurse practitioner a cultural community representative and representatives of the local business would be the best task force mix. Having the community leader’s access funds to provide free transportation to the health clinics or having a mobile health clinic to access the outlying population. Another option is to have a clinic at the major employer’s place of business. All of the suggested health options will need the support and commitment of the community. As a community health nurse you can support and encourage that commitment.

A Christian World Viewpoint Essay -- christian, viewpoint, god

Having never considered much about world views until after visiting a Christian world view camp, I wanted to know more about mine. As a Christian, naturally I would have a Christian world view, but I did not really know what that meant. I did not think much about the nature of God, or man, or even the cause of evil and suffering. Although I did not doubt my Christianity, I only doubted my knowledge of it, and ability to defend the Christian faith. I knew the root of all suffering came from sin, and that since Adam and Eve sinned, all man is burdened with sin. However, people are able to have a loving relationship with God if we trust in Jesus. Often time’s people portray God as a distant, but extremely powerful being that only smites the evil and mildly rewards the righteous. People holding that view could not be more incorrect. In James 4:8 it says, â€Å"Draw close to God, and he will draw close to you,† and in Romans 5:8 it says, â€Å"But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.† These verses do not show God as a cold hard sky dwelling creature, but a loving personal God that desires a personal relationship with all people. â€Å"God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning--the sixth day.† (Genesis 1:31) God created the universe good, and good it remains. Since humans sinned, not animals, or planets, or stars, naturally, humans are inherently evil, not the universe. However, man has corrupted this world with evil, so when Jesus returns, He has promised to create a new heaven and earth. â€Å"For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, (Mark 7:21)†. Even though God created man as... ...g that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. (Romans 6:17-18)† Works Cited 2 Corinthians. BibleGateway.com: A Searchable Online Bible in over 100 Versions and 50 Languages. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Nov. 2013. Genesis. BibleGateway.com: A Searchable Online Bible in over 100 Versions and 50 Languages. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. "James 4:8." Holy Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005. N. pag. Print. John. BibleGateway.com: A Searchable Online Bible in over 100 Versions and 50 Languages. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. Mark. BibleGateway.com: A Searchable Online Bible in over 100 Versions and 50 Languages. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. Romans. BibleGateway.com: A Searchable Online Bible in over 100 Versions and 50 Languages. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2013.

Unitized Cargo

Unitized cargo can be defined as the grouped cargo that is carried aboard a ship in pallets, containers, wheeled vehicles, and barges or lighters. In other words, unitization of cargo is the process of grouping products and loading them onto a pallet once the products are properly packed. In other words, the whole process starts with packaging of products into individual packages before being put into an outer pack before they’re shrink wrapped and loaded onto a pallet. The advantage of unitization of cargo is that it allows larger product quantities to be grouped into large units, which means that there will be fewer units to be loaded on to the ship. This saves time and effort which increases efficiency and it lowers the chances of late deliveries. There are different variations of unitized cargo but the most common forms are palletizing and containerization. Palletizing Palletizing is â€Å"the assembly of one or more packages on a pallet base and securing the load to the pallet. † Palletizing consists of placing a cargo over a platform or pallets created from different materials. One of the advantages palletizing cargo has is that the probability of the cargo reaching its destination without damages or loss is a lot higher and the freight costs can be lowered significantly. Palletizing consists of the packaged cargo being stacked on a pallet by the ocean freight carrier without exceeding 1,50 meters. On some occasions, some ocean freight carriers offer the possibility of shrink wrapping the whole thing with a plastic film which lowers the probability of partial loss (either by theft or by other means). Containerization Containerization can be defined as â€Å"a system of intermodal freight transport using standard intermodal containers that are standardized by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). These can be loaded and sealed intact onto container ships, railroad cars, planes, and trucks. † Christine Graham, from Fordham University, defines containerization as â€Å"containerization is the packaging of goods into shipping containers that fit into the cargo holds of boats and can be easily transferred to trucks, railroad cars or even commercial jets. A container is essentially a ectangular, 20- to 40-foot long, 8-foot wide, and 8 to 8 1/2 half-foot high truck trailer. † In other words, it can be said that containerization is an intermodal system of transporting cargo in standardized containers for proficient shipping and handling. Containerization consists of transporting general cargo that is considered too small for the traditional bulk transport system and packaging them in containers in a way so the goods can be easily moved from one location to another; these containers are then loaded onto the container ships, trucks, planes, etc. Thanks to containerization, cargo shipping has completely been revolutionized and transformed. It has become so important that nowadays, â€Å"approximately 90% of non-bulk cargo worldwide moves by containers stacked on transport ships; 26% of all containers originate from China. † Another important benefit containerization has brought is the improvement of cargo security, mainly because the cargo is not visible which means that it is less likely be stolen.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Info Tech Essay

1.more time: I.T has made it possible for businesses to be open 24/7 all over the globe, making purchases from different countries easier and more convenient.it also means that u can have goods delivered right to your doorstep with having to move a single muscle. 2.bridging the cultural gap: I.T has helped bridge the cultural gap by helping people from different cultures to communicate with one another, and allow the exchange of views and ideas.increasing the awareness and reducing prejudice. 3.communication:communication has become cheaper,quicker and more efficient. we can contact anyone in the word simply by sending them and email or using one of the social networks for almost an instantaneous response.the internet has opened up face to face direct communication from different parts of the world by video conferencing. disadvantages 1.unemployment: while I.T may have streamlined the business process it has also created job redundancies, downsizing and outsourcing. this means all the middle class jobs have been gotten rid of causing more people to loose their jobs 2.lack of job security: industry experts believe that the internet has made job security a big issue since technology keeps on changing everyday. this means that one has to be in a constant learning mode if he or she wishes to keep their job secure. 3.privacy: though I.T has made communication cheaper,faster and more convenient, it has also brought along some privacy issues.(eg. email hacking) people are now worried about their once private information  becoming puplic knowledge.

Writing a Personal Journal

Writing a Personal Journal A journal is a written record of incidents, experiences, and ideas. Also known as a  personal journal,  notebook, diary, and log. Writers often keep journals to record observations and explore ideas that may eventually be developed into more formal essays, articles, and stories. The  personal journal is  a very private document, says  Brian Alleyne, a place where the author records and reflects on lifes events. Knowledge of the self in the  personal journal is  retrospective knowledge and therefore potentially narrative self-knowledge (Narrative Networks, 2015). Observations The writers journal is a record of and workbook for your writing life. It is your repository for bits of experience, observation and thought destined for eventual use in one writing project or another. The entries in a personal journal tend to be abstract, but the entries in a writers journal should be concrete. (Alice Orr, No More Rejections. Writers Digest Books, 2004)All of us who keep journals do so for different reasons, I suppose, but we must have in common a fascination with the surprising patterns that emerge over the years- a sort of arabesque in which certain elements appear and reappear, like the designs in a well-wrought novel. (Joyce Carol Oates, interviewed by Robert Phillips. The Paris Review, Fall-Winter 1978)Think nothing too trifling to write down, so it be in the smallest degree characteristic. You will be surprised to find on reperusing your journal what an importance and graphic power these little particulars assume. (Nathaniel Hawthorne, letter to Horatio Bridge , May 3, 1843) Poet Stephen Spender: Write Anything I feel as though I could not write again. Words seem to break in my mind like sticks when I put them down on paper. . . . I must put out my hands and grasp the handfuls of facts. How extraordinary they are! The aluminum balloons seem nailed into the sky like those bolts which hold together the irradiating struts between the wings of a biplane. The streets become more and more deserted, and the West End is full of shops to let. Sandbags are laid above the glass pavements over basements along the sidewalk. . . . The best thing is to write anything, anything that comes into my mind until there is a calm and creative day. It is essential to be patient and to remember that nothing one feels is the last word. (Stephen Spender, Journal, London, September 1939) Orwells Notebook Entry Curious effect, here in the sanatorium, on Easter Sunday, when people in this (the most expensive) block of chalets mostly have visitors, of hearing large numbers of upper-class English voices. . . . And what voices! A sort of over-fedness, a fatuous self-confidence, a constant bah-bahing of laughter abt nothing, above all a sort of heaviness and richness combined with a fundamental ill will. (George Orwell, notebook entry for April 17, 1949, Collected Essays 1945-1950) Functions of a Journal Many professional writers use journals, and the habit is a good one for anybody interested in writing, even if he or she has no literary ambitions. Journals store perceptions, ideas, emotions, actions- all future material for essays or stories. The Journals of Henry Thoreau are a famous example, as are A Writers Diary by Virginia Woolf, the Notebooks of the French novelist Albert Camus, and A War-time Diary by the English writer George Orwell. If a journal is really to help you develop as a writer, youve got to do more than compose trite commonplaces or mechanically list what happens each day. You have to look honestly and freshly at the world around you and at the self within. (Thomas S. Kane, The New Oxford Guide to Writing. Oxford University Press, 1988) Thoreaus Journals As repositories of facts, Thoreaus journals act like a writers warehouse in which he indexes his stored observations. Here is a typical list: It occurs to me that these phenomena occur simultaneously, say June 12, viz:Heat about 85 at 2P.M. True summer. Hylodes cease to peep. Purring frogs ( Rana palustris) cease. Lightning bugs first seen. Bullfrogs trump generally. Mosquitoes begin to be really troublesome. Afternoon thunder-showers almost regular. Sleep with open window (10th), and wear thin coat and ribbon neck. Turtles fairly and generally begun to lay. [15 June 1860] In addition to their function as storage, the journals constitute a complex of processing plants as well, where the notations become descriptions, meditations, ruminations, judgments, and other types of studies: From all points of the compass, from the earth beneath and the heavens above, have come these inspirations and been entered duly in the order of arrival in the journal. Thereafter, when the time arrived, they were winnowed into lectures, and again, in due time, from lectures into essays (1845-1847). In short, in the journals, Thoreau negotiates the transformation of facts into forms of written expressions that have entirely different orders of resonance . . .. (Robert E. Belknap, The List: The Uses and Pleasures of Cataloguing. Yale University  Press, 2004) A Contrarians View People ask whether I use a notebook, and the answer is no. I think a writers notebook is the best way there is to immortalize really bad ideas, whereas the Darwinian process takes place if you dont write anything down. The bad ones float away, and the good ones stay. (Stephen King, quoted in Whats on Stephen Kings Dark Side? by Brian Truitt. USA Weekend, October  29-31, 2010) Are Journal-Keepers Introspective or Self-Absorbed? Some people like to keep a journal. Some people think it’s a bad idea. People who keep a journal often see it as part of the process of self-understanding and personal growth. They don’t want insights and events to slip through their minds. They think with their fingers and have to write to process experiences and become aware of their feelings. People who oppose journal-keeping fear it contributes to self-absorption and narcissism. C.S. Lewis, who kept a journal at times, feared that it just aggravated sadness and reinforced neurosis. Gen. George Marshall did not keep a diary during World War II because he thought it would lead to self-deception or hesitation in reaching decisions. The question is: How do you succeed in being introspective without being self-absorbed? (David Brooks, Introspective or Narcissistic? The New York Times, August 7, 2014)

How to Handle Awkward Situations at Work

How to Handle Awkward Situations at Work It’s always nice to get as friendly as you can with the people you’ll spend so much of your waking adult life working alongside. But building personal relationships at work can create a few sticky situations. Here are a few of them, and what to do when you find yourself in trouble. 1.  When You Get Promoted and Your Coworker Doesn’tYou get one, your friend in the same position doesn’t. Now there’s resentment and a new power dynamic to negotiate. You can’t share your work drama with the same abandon anymore, because you’re in different roles. The kind of belly-aching you’re accustomed to is no longer appropriate. Also be prepared to withstand some initial resentment.Either way, it’s best to talk about it once out in the open. Be proactive. Address the aspects of your relationship that have to change according to your work functions, but emphasize what aspects of your friendship do not have to change. Check in, be humble, and be honest. It’ll help you both navigate the new situation if you’re still on the same page and can express some solidarity.2. When  You Become Friends With Your BossYou and your boss have become close outside of work. You get in a fight. It makes things†¦ awkward at the office. This is normal. All friends fight. The only tricky bit is not compromising either of your jobs. Keep things civil and professional, and try not to be too defensive. If it’s a minor thing, take a bit of distance, cool off, then send an olive branch email to smooth it over. If it’s major, make it clear that it will not impact your daily office routines, but make a plan to chat outside the office after work.3. When You want Skip Out on a Social EventYour coworker wants you to double date! Fun, right!? But you don’t want to. That’s totally fine. You’re under no obligation to do so. Trouble is, turning it down can be a little tricky. You’ll want t o be as firm as possible, without being mean. When in doubt, try to downshift. Say you’re super busy and would prefer to have some one-on-one time, maybe coffee or lunch! Eventually, she’ll get the hint.4. When You’re  Fighting With Your CoworkerThis is the same as fighting with your boss, just that the stakes are slightly lower. Though you also have the potential to damage the other’s reputation in the office. Be careful not let the fight spill over into the work day and make either of you act unprofessionally. Otherwise, the same rules apply.5.When  You Don’t Want to Make Friends With EveryoneYou’re close with a couple of your coworkers, but not another. You’re under no obligation to let this other coworker into your clique. People have the right to chose their friends and you are not required to be friends with people just because you work together. But do be sensitive to the feelings of the person you are not including. Avoid talking about all the fun stuff you and your pals are going to do in front of this other coworker. It’s the kind way to behave.6.  When You Don’t Fit in at WorkIf you’re the one on the outside of the cool kids clique at work, don’t worry. It doesn’t say anything about you necessarily. And you certainly shouldn’t take it personally. Be warm and civil with your coworkers, and then divert your friendship-forging attention elsewhere. Make sure you maintain an active and fulfilling social life outside of the office so you don’t get discouraged by not being part of the crowd. The upside here is that you’ll focus more on your work and not be as easily distracted by office banter.7. When You Overhear Hurtful GossipYou overhear your coworkers talking about you behind your back. Resist the temptation to throttle them. You don’t have to confront them, but you shouldn’t hide and pretend you didn’t hear either. Take t ime to cool off and give them the space to do the adult thing and apologize. If they don’t, they’re probably not worth talking to.8. When Your Coworkers are Mooching Off of YouAre you always paying for the coffee trip? The happy hour round? Rather than quietly resenting this state of affairs, give your coworkers the benefit of the doubt and the opportunity to set things right. Try saying, â€Å"Hey, you mind grabbing this round? I got the last few.† Or something equally casual. It’s awkward the first couple of times, but you’ll be glad you got better at asking. It’s better than slowly going broke!

Economic Value Added Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Economic Value Added - Essay Example Thus it requires managers and employees to focus on how capital is utilized and how it generates cash an important idea for all investor analysis of a corporation. There is usually a common goal for all corporations which are to obtain capital and earn a return rate exceeding that of the capital. In order to achieve this goals EVA measure the amount of money left after deducting the capital thus providing a financial statement reporting. EVA can be used to determine whether an corporation is accountable for economic outlays whether they are on the balance sheet, income statement or in the financial statement. This is because this tool creates a financial statement that consists of all the cost of being in the corporation while giving managers an account of every dollar used. There are two gains from focusing on the growth of EVA in a corporation. On one hand, the attention of the management is more focused towards its main responsibility which is to raise investor’s assets. Io n the other hand, deformation resulting from the utilization of historical cost accounting data is eliminated or decreased to ensure that managers spend their time finding means to raise EVA. Therefore, the raised awareness of the effective use capital eventually creates additional shareholder value. This frees the corporation from spending more time in establishing ways to raise EVA but able to produce additional shareholder value according to Albrecht, Stice, Stice and Swain (2010). EVA creates a common language for decision making particularly long-term decisions which are important in improving the results and success of a corporation. For instance, it can be used in resolving budgeting problems and assessing the performance of organizational elements and directors in order to determine the end result .EVA quantification of results in terms of finance also aids in strengthening other management programs such as customer development, TQM and quick response by demanding and gettin g constant financial improvement as stated by Reynolds and Cuthbertson (2004). Thus in order to make EVA useful in attaining improved financial statement reporting and success, managers and workers need to espouse long-term focus and start to think like owners of the business. This way they will make them feel responsible for and participate in the economic value of the corporation leading to improved results. For improved success, EVA can be connected with an incentive award system. In such a way, EVA can provide a measure to calculate success and a medium for continued performance improvement. Since EVA is computed on an accounting period, it allows employees to plot progress during the year and this can help in improving on the end result thus a success. According to Shelo64 (2012), a transition to EVA measurements entails serious obligation of the board of directors and the senior management to utilize the measures in managing the business for an improved financial statement rep orting, results and success. In addition, every individual should buy into the plan in order to make it successful in such improvements. An extensive training and communication for everyone in the company is also required for using EVA to achieve such improvements. Problems of EVA One of the problems with EVA is that it does not provide an account for authentic options or growth opportunities intrinsic in the investment decisions as stated by Schon (2007). Additionally, it does not reflect the perception of the market on the value of growth

Central bank independence and economic performance Assignment

Central bank independence and economic performance - Assignment Example For instance under the floating exchange rate regime, protecting the value of the domestic currency against US Dollar and other international currencies calls for vigilance and continuous monitoring of the world economy through various economic indices. Regulating money supply and interest rates are governed by several domestic and international factors as well. Therefore, independence of the central bank is necessary to deal with these problems effectively without any interference in the regulatory process. However, the level of independence varies from country to country based on the political and economic system prevailing in the countries. Long ago in 1929 Montagu Norman, Governor of the Bank of England wrote: â€Å"I look upon the Bank as having the unique right to offer advice and to press such advice even to the point of nagging: but always, of course, subject to the supreme authority of the government† (Toniolo, G. 1988 p. 47). This statement underlines the need for in dependence as well as its limitation. The role of central bank Central bank’s monetary policies have different impact on different economic variables of the economy. Increase in money supply with or without decrease in interest rates could trigger inflation in the economy. Therefore, careful analysis of the economic indicators is important in taking appropriate action by the central bank. For instance, inflation in this case could affect consumption thereby demand for the products. At the same time, this could increase capital investment and results in employment generation. Stability in exchange rate is another important factor which could affect inflation in the country and foreign direct investments in the country which will have...This paper offers a comprehensive analysis of the role of central bank in terms of economic performance of the nation. Influence of the political independence of central bank operations in context of achieving its objectives is under review. In order to achieve economic growth in a country, formation of capital is essential for fresh investments in the economy. Increase in aggregate demand in the country is an important factor in this regard for attracting investment of capital in new projects. Liquidity in the system as well as interest rates should be monitored and regulated on a continuous basis by the central bank to provide good environment for capital investment and consumption which in turn will generate demand for the products. However, the central bank should also ensure that it does not result in overheating of the economy. Regulating interests and money supply in the economic system is very complicated in the backdrop of technological developments taking place in the world and globalisation of economies. The independence of the central bank of the county is very important for exercising control over the commercial banks in the country through its monetary policies. The monetary policies need to be complementary to the fiscal policies of the government to achieve its economic objectives. A country with high central bank interference need to introduce reforms to make the institution more independent within the timeframe set for this purpose to improve stability in liquidity and prices.