Tuesday, November 26, 2019

6 Life Tips For Bloggers To Boost Their Personal Productivity

6 Life Tips For Bloggers To Boost Their Personal Productivity According to  s Better Blogger survey, their audiences biggest challenges are: 22% say it’s finding time to create content. 20% say it’s planning content. 16% say it’s creating really good content. 11% say it’s creating consistent content. 6% say it’s meeting blogging goals. 6% say it’s proving blogging success. 4% say it’s using new content formats. 4% say it’s relying on team members to get things done. It is interesting to note here that 7  out of the above  8 primary  challenges are things that can be achieved if consistently high personal productivity is introduced in the mix. Now I know its difficult to be productive all the time. Its not a switch that can wishfully be toggled on or off. As a blogger myself, these are problems that even I face and know how annoying they can get when they regularly stop me from achieving my goals. But I cant afford to give up and neither can you. Fortunately, science and professional experience over the year has done us a solid by coming up with proven productivity tips that can help any person become more efficient and consistent at their work. All it requires is some self control and discipline. With that in mind, here is a countdown to six  of the best life tips that will boost your personal productivity (oh, and Ive included some bonus life tips with each point so check them out, too)! 6 Life Tips That Will Help Every #Blogger Boost Their Personal #Productivity via @SujanDeswal6. Drop That Smartphone, Now It's interesting to know that director Christopher Nolan, who has helmed movies like Inception, Interstellar, and the Dark Knight Trilogy, does not own a smartphone because he feels that it distracts him. And research agrees with him. The smartphone stress emanates from the need to constantly check your phone for any notifications or messages that people might send you. The reason for such behavior is a social phenomena called the fear of missing out (FOMO). We fear that we might lose out on so many important social happenings and events and the company of friends around us. Since a smartphone  is the quickest way to get access to such information, we spend time obsessively checking every â€Å"bleep† or â€Å"tin tin†,  with  social media fueling the angst even more. It takes your mind 64 seconds to return to work after distractions. #bloggingProfessor Larry Rosen, from California State University, talks about a small experiment  he conducted  on this obsessiveness. He asked 100 of his students to install a custom app which would check how many times they unlocked their phones and the usage statistics, during their final exam week. What he found was  quite astonishing. Students unlocked the phone, on an average, 60 times a day for a total of 200 minutes. Which roughly translates to 3.3 minutes usage for three times an hour every day. Just enough time to check their social media (this, when they should be studying for the final exam). In fact, after checking an email, it takes your mind 64 seconds to get back to whatever it is you were doing earlier. Now since we’re all different, I’m not going to share generic pointers to help you not check your phone constantly. Instead I’ll share tactics that have worked for me and it would be swell if you shared some of yours in the comments, too. Here they are: I've uninstalled all social media apps like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. I now only have WhatsApp (with all notification sounds and popups disabled). I've made it a rule to never use my phone while driving. Luckily, in the last four months, I’ve just received two calls that actually deserved my immediate attention. When I’m working, I keep my phone on vibration mode (I guess we all do). I go on ‘no smartphone check’ marathons where I don’t check my phone for an hour, three to four times a day (this has helped me the most). I don’t keep my phone in my hands or at the desk. It’s always where I can't see it, which is mostly my pocket or my backpack. Takeaway: Your smartphones are making you more stressed and hence, more incompetent at your job. Practice rigorous discipline to beat this addiction. Bonus life tip:  Play more video games because they improve reflexes, reasoning, problem solving, memory, multi-tasking, hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and a lot more. 5. Save Time By Automating Routine Tasks Tim Ferris, author of the highly successful blog fourhourworkweek.com  deems automation as one of the pillars of his ground-breaking book The 4-Hour WorkWeek. In it, he describes how his preferred  automation function is fulfilled by outsourcing. He outsources all non-work tasks to his virtual assistants who then get them done while Tim can concentrate on major work-related tasks. Automate or outsource repetitive tasks to improve your #PersonalProductivity.To add to the above- Randall Munroe, mathematician and creator of the webcomic XKCD- drew a cartoon which details how much time would you save if you learned how to automate routine work: So to lend some perspective from a blogger's point of view, find tools and processes that  enable automatic  completion of repetitive tasks so that you can get the time to concentrate on your actual work objectives: Send bulk emails with  GetResponse. Schedule content, blog posts, and social media  with . Automatically share updates and blogs with Buffer  and . Come up with ideas and topics in the beginning of every month with HubSpot Topic Generator  (use this along with 's Headline Analyzer to review and create better  headlines). Use Keyboard shortcuts. Brainscape, a  Web and Mobile  study platform, did an interesting calculation and found that a person  can save almost 8 complete days in an year if they didn't  have to switch one hand between a keyboard and a mouse. Create Google Alerts around topics that you care about  so that you're automatically notified about any new updates related to them. Personally, I  use Google Alerts to keep track of places where I've just been mentioned. I can then immediately head over to that community/comment/post and engage with the audience. Like above, there are hundreds of tools that you can use to automate boring grunt work. Not only will this save time, it will help you stay productive by keeping your mind free of the clutter. In fact, you can even save up to 10+ hours a week if such menial tasks were off your hands. Takeaway: Wherever possible, save time by using applications to automate repetitive tasks. Bonus Life Tip: Listening to music can make boring tasks enjoyable and increase on-task concentration. 4. Visualizing Success Is Actually Counterproductive We’ve all done it because we borrow some of that future "after completion of task satisfaction", for right now. This positive feeling in turn motivates us more to actually get the job done. However, science says otherwise. In their study â€Å"The motivating function of thinking about the future: Expectations versus fantasies†, researchers Oettingen and Mayer ran a group of tests around four scenarios to examine the effects of fantasizing a positive outcome on participants. They write: As positive expectations reflect past successes, they signal that investment in the future will pay off. Positive fantasies, to the contrary, lead people to mentally enjoy the desired future in the here and now, and thus curb investment and future success. This behavior stems psychologically from self-efficacy which refers to your  trust in yourself  capability to reach your  goal. So what's happening? Basically once you’ve visualized that next blog post or that next profitable venture, your mind experiences some of that satisfaction and then tells your body to cool down. Your mental state becomes lethargic (of the goal having been achieved) as opposed to vigilant (of the goal has yet to be achieved). In fact, sharing your goals with your friends makes it even  likelier that you’re going to give up- a  research study involving college students found that the participants’ commitment to complete goals wavered once they publicly shared it with their colleagues.   This happens because sharing goals triggers a â€Å"premature sense of of completeness†. Do you share your personal #blogging goals? Research says it's time to stop.'So now onwards the name of the game is to just â€Å"zip it†: Takeaway: Keep your goals to yourself. Expect a positive outcome but don’t visualize or fantasize about it. Actually make it happen. Bonus life tip: Eye strain? Flex every muscle in your face and then hold. Relax. Repeat for a few more minutes. This muscle relaxation technique is called ‘Tense and Release’. 3.  Don’t Stress Over 'Originality' The one problem that writers face regularly is how to come up with original hard hitting ideas and topics that will excite or astonish their users. Those who effortlessly get original ideas regularly are considered to be lucky or having a gift, but this could not be further than the truth. Bloggers who get new ideas don’t just get them because they’re lucky but because they are experienced. Ideas and news have surrounded us left and right, and these bloggers  just know how to connect different dots to make a completely new idea. Remember- nothing is original. In his critically acclaimed book ‘Steal Like An Artist’, author Austin Kleon opines that: What a good artist understands is that nothing comes from nowhere. All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original. In fact, Josh shared the following illustration to explain simply good theft versus bad theft: So if you’re not supposed to force yourself to be original all the time, then how do you come up with original ideas in the long run that hook readers to your content and provide new valuable insights in your niche? The answer is, you don’t. Originality is not a result of finding ideas  but connecting dots. Finding ideas stems from your knowledge of the field or subject that you write about. It is a result of theoretical learning but not practical application. Nothing is original. But you can  connect the dots with your own perspective. #bloggingConnecting dots, on the other hand, comes from experience in the field and seeing trends and things happen firsthand. The more you read and experience things, the greater you develop your ability to connect different things and build a new idea out of them (e.g. my comprehensive post on why you  need eye-tracking testing for your website). The core idea might not be original per se,* but how you present it is what makes it original. Blogger extraordinaire Maria Popova of BrainPickings.org sums it up best in her quote: The idea that in order for us to truly create and contribute to the world, we have to be able to connect countless dots, to cross-pollinate ideas from a wealth of disciplines, to combine and recombine these pieces and build new castles. Takeaway: Read more and read wide. The more you read, talk to new people or experience new things, the better you’ll become at connecting pieces of information together to spawn an original idea. Bonus Life Tip: You can remember lists of things more easily if you create a story or mental palace around them in your environment. 2. Stop Overanalyzing And Commit To A Decision It’s no secret that in any environment that you reside in, there is an information overload. Starting with unrestricted access to the Internet to  the number of same fruit juices, but  different brand options, at the local grocery mart. So many options and decisions eventually immobilize the brain’s capability to take the effort to stick to a single decision as a result of analysis paralysis. Now as a blogger, I can totally relate to this when you’re stuck between deciding which task to be given more importance. Should I finish that blog post due tomorrow evening? Should I send this week's email newsletter first? Should I set up and A/B test on the new landing page?  The questions are countless, and not to mention that I haven’t yet gotten to the domestic and personal decisions that you have to make which, arguably, might affect your life more seriously. To beat this conundrum, you have to practice to think less and do more. In a recent study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania, researchers found that fast learners don’t overthink. And why does this occur? Lead author of the study Danielle Bassett, replies: Sometimes your brain can actually get in the way when the information is actually already in your motor memory. If you stop thinking so hard, then you actually perform better. This is also the reason why children have a higher and faster learning rate because they don't possess the high level cognitive process that adults have. Which means that a child is incapable to overthink and is instead concentrating on quick information intake and its dissemination. Think less and do more. Analysis paralysis is stopping you from reaching your goals. #productivityIn an interview over at Barking Up The Wrong Tree, James Waters, ex Deputy Director of Scheduling at the White House and former NAVY Seal platoon commander reminisces: Wherever possible avoid paralysis by analysis. I think analysis and data are super important. No matter what organization you’re working in you’ve got to get things right and know the data that backs it up. But too many organizations get paralyzed because they analyze for too long and they haven’t developed the instincts to make decisions. They end up postponing things in favor of more and more analysis. That’s frustrating for everyone in the organization. Being able to make decisions when you know you have imperfect data is so critical. But how do you use this knowledge to commit to decisions? Further into his  post, author Eric Barker contacted Duke professor Dan Ariely, writer of Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions, to ask for his solution on taking critical decisions instantly. Dan advised that in such situations, the best thing is to look at the decision from an â€Å"outsider’s perspective†, in other words, â€Å"What would you do if you made the recommendation for another person?† This works because you give a recommendation dispassionately, minus your current emotional state. The decision in such a case is almost always a better one because we’re taking it from a distance. So the next time you find yourself taking more than a minute to decide which is a better header image for your new post, just take the plunge and move on to the next thing. Takeaway: Do not waste valuable working memory over analyzing decisions or options. Commit to a decision and then later on optimize, if the need arises. Bonus Life Tip: If you don’t overthink about the future, you will get better at everything. 1. Just Smile (To Yourself) Smile to yourself or even to others. I’m not saying you go out of your way to smile at everyone because people, on an average, can easily spot a fake smile. I’m not asking you to smile for or at someone. Think of it on the lines of a holistic approach. Smile generally when you’re listening to a song, or writing, or even while taking a bath. Radio and television writer Andy Rooney  put it eloquently when he said: If you smile when you are alone, then you really mean it. Speaking from personal experience, smiling is the single most effective and powerful tool in my mental inventory to boost my personal  productivity. Smiling  increases  confidence level and helps generate and maintain positive emotions. These positive emotions then have a trickle down effect on your work given that you’ll become more positive about reaching your goals and not stress so much even when things don’t go your way. Research has also shown that smiling can release endorphins (natural pain reliever) and even serotonin (natural antidepressant). Smiling is scientifically proven to increase your #PersonalProductivity. Here's how.It is interesting to note that doctors have proven and recommend that you should strive for a Duchenne smile rather than a fake â€Å"Say Cheese† smile. The former is controlled by the limbic system (emotional center of the brain, hence the smile is triggered by a genuine emotion) and the latter is controlled by the motor cortex (the smile is asymmetrical and fake). But sometimes, if the need arises, even faking a smile can lead to a better mood, lower your heart rate and facilitate faster cardiovascular stress recovery. Even Will Ferrell nailed it as an adorable elf with his viral quote: But I have trouble forcing a real smile! Well luckily, Marcia Purse from About Health, put together an amazing list just to help you smile. It involves: Jump on the bed Make faces at yourself in the mirror Bake cookies Dance Find a playground and swing on the swingset (I find this one wonderful) Look at your baby pictures Hug someone you love Take a walk in the sun- or the rain Watch cartoons you loved as a kid Imitate a celebrity- with exaggeration Visit a pet store Sing a happy song Blow bubbles and watch them (works for me every time) Watch children playing and laughing Eat a bit of your favorite junk food- slowly, savoring it Takeaway: Smiling is the single most powerful exercise you can do anywhere, anytime, and it will positively affect your mental and biophysical functions and increase your personal productivity. Bonus Life Tip: Exercise. It can uplift your mood for up to 12 hours afterwards. Finally, wrapping up with a tl;dr recap Drop  that smartphone. Now. Save time  by automating routine tasks. Visualizing  success is actually counterproductive. Don’t stress over 'originality'. Stop overanalyzing and commit to a  decision. Just smile (to yourself).

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Define and write your professional learning and development identity

Define and write your professional learning and development identity Write your professional identity, Training Journal Its not an accident that one of the West Ends most popular stage shows at the moment is about a character in search of his purpose. The protagonist in Avenue Q is a comedy puppet searching for direction. But his questions of Who am I? and What am I here to do? are not just New Age, mystical musings; they are at the core of what it means to be successful in any business. In fact, if you scratch the surface of most successful companies, youll find whole departments set up to create a brand identity that lets customers know exactly who they are and what they do. Take the brand Innocent Drinks, for example. If you buy an Innocent smoothie, youre not just buying a drink. Youre buying a fun, fresh and completely natural experience that contains two of servings of fruit in a 250ml serving. Its a tasty little shot of good health. And the witty words on the Innocent website, bottles and advertising campaigns tell you so. But its not just companies that need to create this type of brand identity. You need to forge your own voice within your organisation. The employees you work with need to know who you are; what you stand for; what you do and why they need to take notice of you and your work. Communicating this in a powerful, succinct way isnt always easy. Employees often get caught up in the ins and outs of their particular roles and forget about issues outside their immediate remit. They may even feel that taking time out for professional development is an unwelcome diversion from the work at hand. For this reason its essential that you as a learning and development specialist develop a strong professional identity to enable you to have greater influence over the people you work with. Your skills, personality and values are integral to your brand. But its also vital to develop a strong, human, written voice to ensure that you present yourself in a positive light. Innocent have cottoned on to the fact that creating a distinct written voice is an effective way of connecting with their customers. You also need to ensure that your writing style is an integral part of your personal brand. Your written voice is the end result of the words and phrases you use in order to communicate your ideas and recommendations. It needs to be bright, concise and speak directly to your reader. But it should also reflect your personality, vision, achievements and goals. So here is a blueprint for creating a written voice that is distinctly yours. Laying the foundations You need to do some groundwork before working on your writing style. Grab a pen and paper and jot down words, phrases and sentences that describe your skills and personality. You might write, I am someone who sees potential in others, or My core skills are motivating and empowering others. Spend time thinking about your values and all the facets of your personality that make you who you are. And dont forget to note down examples of the value that you create for your organisation. Next, decide which points are most relevant to your work. Organise these into the headings values, personality traits, skills and results. Finally, combine all of this into a powerful statement of purpose. Decide what the overall purpose of your job is. And make sure that this is aligned with the purpose of your organisation. Remember, this foundation work is integral to creating the brand that you will express through your written voice. So dont feel that this has to be a one-off exercise. You can keep coming back to this until you feel youve completely brainstormed everything about you and your work. And keep this work safe its a powerful document that you should keep referring to. Sizzling sound bites In order to create a strong professional identity through your writing, you need to develop ways of succinctly communicating important information about you and your work. Imagine that youre in an airport when you meet a powerful business leader, such as Richard Branson. You strike up a brief conversation and he asks you what you do for a living. You have about 30 seconds to impress before you go your separate ways. Most people would say something such as, Im a learning and development manager for a large pharmaceutical company. But describing yourself in terms of your job title and company doesnt give you a strong identity. Throughout the world there are thousands of learning and development managers in pharmaceutical companies. So set yourself apart by communicating whats special about your brand of learning and development. The way to do this is to explain the context of your role, the issues you deal with and your results. For instance, you could say, I help pharmaceutical research teams to increase their productivity. I do this by transforming the way they approach their work. By finding out what makes them tick, I help each person add more to the business bottom line. Now it probably wouldnt sound natural to deliver this statement in its entirety in one go. But if you have it committed to memory, youll be able work each of its component sentences into most introductory business conversations. By speaking in this way, you explain who you are, what you do and what value you bring to your organisation. Practise developing these compelling two or three sentence summaries of what you do. Write out several of them, referring to different areas of your work. And begin to use them when people both internally and externally ask you about what you do. What does your writing really say about you? Gather together some recent documents that you have written. These could be reports, briefing documents or even emails that you have sent to other employees. Critically look at what messages your writing sends. For example, if one of the things you most value is clear communication, then look at how clear your writing is. If your purpose is to make other peoples jobs more efficient, is your writing clearly structured so that its quick and easy to read? And do you refer to psychometric models or training processes that only a training specialist would really grasp? Does your writing really reflect your values and personality? If you tend to use lots of long sentences, your writing may not reflect a decisive personality. Similarly, a long document that lacks subheads to break it up is not the best way to reflect that youre excited by change. Your writing needs to communicate your brand the elements that make you different. If it doesnt effectively communicate the changes that you have made happen, then it wont be representing you and your work. The principles behind the following techniques can help you to analyse your current documents. Applying them to any new written work can transform the way you (and your documents) are perceived. And crucially, they can help you to effectively communicate the underlying purpose of your work. Seven techniques for honing your written voice One Focus on your reader Before you begin writing a document, ask yourself the following questions: What is the document about? Who will read it? How much do they already know about the subject? What do they absolutely need to know? How important is the subject to them? How interested are they in the subject (which is not necessarily the same question as above)? Focusing on your readers in this way will help to make sure that you present yourself as helping their work lives. Training may be top of your agenda but others may not see it as a business priority. Thinking about the needs of your readers will help you shape your writing so that its relevant to them. Two Clarify your main message If youre unsure of your main message, you can be certain that your readers will be equally bemused. So spend time thinking about what you really want to say. Brainstorm ideas by asking yourself the questions: What? Where? When? How? Why? and Who? Group together the points or ideas that have things in common. Then decide what is important and essential for your readers to know. Your main message is among these points and it can vary depending on which stance you want to take. For example, if youre writing a report on psychometric testing as a training tool, your main message might be to outline the cost savings to your organisation. Alternatively, you may want to stress how employees work better as a team once they become aware of their own personality traits. Next you need to plan which order to put your points in. Your main message is the golden nugget of any document. So make sure it stands out by including it in the first paragraph. Then arrange your other points in order of importance. Three Create snappy titles and subheads Journalists know that a headline is the most powerful tool for winning over a reader. So take a tip from professional writers and make yours arresting. If your report is about the cost savings of psychometric testing, your title could be Psychometric testing: how a fifty-minute quiz has saved 50,000. This is much more powerful than a functional title, such as The results of workplace psychometric testing Similarly, break up the text with subheads that are equally attention-grabbing. For example, if youre writing about an initiative that will be happening shortly, you could include a subhead that reads The final countdown. This creates an image of the initiative as being exciting and worth waiting for. Four Keep it short and sweet Short sentences are effective as they break up ideas into bite-size chunks. Aim for each sentence to be between 15 and 20 words. If your sentences are any longer, its difficult for your ideas to stand out. Similarly, never write a 1000-word document when a 500-word one will do. Always go through your work and cross out any meaningless words or sentences. And aim to make every single word count. Its better to do several drafts of a document than to rush out the original long, rambling version. Five Use active language Use the active voice where possible, as it gives your writing movement. For instance, write This technique has really improved productivity, instead of A real improvement in the productivity of employees has been noticed following the application of this simple technique. Notice that the first example uses the verb improve rather than the noun improvement. Opting to use verbs over nouns helps to make your writing punchier. Six Share your success For any training programme to be a success, it needs to address core business needs or goals. Ask yourself why your organisation exists, why it matters and what difference it makes in peoples lives. Always communicate the success of any learning and development initiatives in terms of specific business objectives. For example, you can write Performance management training reduced staff turnover by 5 per cent in 2009, saving 100,000. By sharing specific business results in this way, you enable others to perceive your initiatives as having true value and being dynamic enough to improve the business bottom line Seven Be accurate To gain credibility, your writing needs to be flawless. So pay particular attention to grammar, punctuation and spelling. When youve worked long and hard on a document, it can be easy to gloss over typos and other mistakes as your eyes begin to see what they expect to see. For this reason, you need to proofread documents very slowly. It helps to take a pencil and stop it at every word. Always double check facts and figures, and if possible, also ask a colleague to proofread it too. A fresh pair of eyes can work wonders. Make your own writing a focus at the outset of any new initiatives and training programmes. And ensure that you apply your new written voice consistently. It is well worth the effort, as a strong written voice is an ambassador for all you do. Remember, in these troubled economic times, excelling in all areas of your personal brand is a must. And using language effectively can propel you to the next tier of success. Whats more, mastering writing skills not only helps to cement your own professional identity, but it can inspire your colleagues to do the same. Leave others in no doubt about who you are and what youre here to do, and theyll be more likely to follow your lead.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Thematic critical analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Thematic critical analysis - Essay Example The novel takes place in a seventeenth century Puritan community, when it is discovered that Hester has been unfaithful to her long gone husband. As punishment she is forced to wear the letter "A" on her forever. Wearing the letter "A", symbolizing for adultery, was the real punishment in the Puritan community; however even in history there is never any mention of the letter being of red color. The main focus of the story is how Hester is forced to wear the scarlet colored letter on her all the time. Hawthorn specifically made sure that the letter was of the color red. He chose the color red purposely, his inspiration with British History had a hand in this as well. "In Northumberland's lament appears a reference to the day of judgment as an occasion when a person's sins are exposed and judged-the record described as a type of list, or bead-rolUXmt 116)^ and as a "black booke" to be "vnclaspt" at that time (118). This reference to a book of judgment and damnation presents nothing less than a source for the imagistic link in The Scarlet Letter between the embroidered letter worn by Hester-as well as the transgression which brought her such punishment-and the book of the "Black Man," in which the letters of the sinner's name would be inscribed in the scarlet hue of their own blood (Canadas 45). It is explained here by Canadas that the color red was chosen due to its association with blood and the severity of the crime. In the "Black Man" the names of the sinners will be written in their own blood. Sinners have committed unforgivable offenses for which it must be shown to the world, through their own blood, that harshness of their offence. In this same manner Hawthorn shows that Hester must wear the letter in the color red. It is a symbol of her offence against her marriage, her husband and most of all the pureness and innocence of the community. Which brings us to the next point, the social standards of this community are very narrow. This shows the influence of the environment in which Hester resided. If adultery had been committed in the twenty-first century, no one could have even though about physically punishing Hester. It still would have been looked down upon, but it would be her private life. Lets take a closer look at time frame and setting of this novel. It is mid-seventeenth century, Boston, Massachusetts. When Hawthorn this novel it was 1840 in Salem, his story takes place only two hundred years prior to the actual time. Let us also keep in mind that Hawthorn himself was from the Puritan descendants and therefore his literary flair was limited. "According to Nathaniel Hawthorne's biographer, Henry James, Jr. Hawthorne's heritage as a descendant of the "clearest Puritan strain" served to restrict his literary talent to the exploration of one theme: the "consciousness of sin""(Taylor 135). The main focus of the Pur itans was the sin and how to erase it. Obviously this kind of breeding led to Hawthorne only being able to write about this subject. The conscious sin refers to the sin that is committed even after obtaining the knowledge that this behavior is forbidden and will be condemned. However even after having this knowledge and understanding the consequences when one still commits a sin, it is referred to as

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Is regionalism the future of emergency management Essay

Is regionalism the future of emergency management - Essay Example Thus, the group of emergency management practitioners worked on eight principles to guide the development of the emergency management and to help on basing its future1. Today, the future of the emergency management is very essential to the public and to the private sector. The demand for emergency managers has been increasing sufficiently due to certain events like the September 11 era. The disaster response systems have increasingly been federalized to deal in the internal and external threats that have been initiated and to be able to provide insight into the issues of what can be done in order to prevent the emergency events from happening in the future. The distribution of these disaster response systems and their resources between the rural and urban communities has become a problem in the near future, as the geographic conditions are to be considered greatly. Regionalism is a political ideology that indicates the need of protection of the interests of a particular region by specifically hired political groups or regionalists. The main aims of these regionalists are to increase their region’s political power and influence either from limited forms of autonomy or by stronger measures of autonomy. The concept of regionalism strengthens the region’s government bodies and their political parties, and also promotes fiscal responsibility, benefit the local population with a more rational allocation of the region’s resources, improve the efficiency in carrying out the local plans and overall increase the efficiency levels. Regionalism is closely related to the future of emergency management. Since the field of emergency management is always evolving, it makes it impossible for the roles and responsibilities of the emergency managers to be consistent. Thus, there are several key needs that are applied to the emergency

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Education Problem in Korea Essay Example for Free

Education Problem in Korea Essay A mother gets a headache whenever she comes back home after attending mothers regular meetings, the purpose of which is to get some information about private instruction. Her children keep her as busy as a professional manager. She surveys popular newly opened institutes called hagwon, makes a group for private lessons, chooses instructors and pushes her children to study. When they are asked about their plans for the declining years of their lives, most are not saving for old age. They feel uneasy because they are not able to save money, so some mothers go to work to earn enough for extra instruction expense. Many husbands and wives argue about their childrens education. However, their children dont care about their parents troubles. The children regard it as the natural role of parents, because they are the kings or queens of the family, served by sacrificing parents from birth. Parents seem to allow their childrens complaining. Children dont appreciate their parents because they are not happy with their support. Sometimes they act like robots controlled by mothers orders. They dont have time to talk with family, to play with their friends or to get sufficient sleep. They always hurry to learn something. As for me, I also have anxiety about my daughters private education. There are moments that I want her to push to study a little bit more because I feel worried when I hear how many kinds of extra instruction her friends are taking. But I can calm down my selfish desire by looking at my exhausted daughter. I try to confirm that the most effective result of studying comes from self-studying with strong motivation. Most parents dont wait until their children ask them to help with their studying. Theyre never satisfied. For example, many Korean goose daddies decide to sacrifice their lives by themselves, not by the childrens demands, in spite of the struggle with loneliness after they send their families to a foreign country. These days, many ordinary families without sufficient finances are planning for their children to study abroad despite the huge cost. They probably need to squeeze their budget or even borrow the money. Are their precious sons and daughters going to thank their parents in the future? Will their parents be satisfied with their children later? I wonder how great their outcomes will be. In addition to problems within families, there are many side effects with private education at school, which are usually from the studying burden. They learn the material they need in advance in hagwon before they learn it at school. Many math teachers in middle school become upset while they are teaching theorems or concepts. Some students dont concentrate on the lesson because they are under a delusion that they already know everything. Actually, they cant solve even the easy and basic problems when slightly changed. What is the investment of the money and time for private lessons for? Math teachers say the incomplete knowledge spoils the students ability to think. In English class, there are several fluent students with native pronunciation gained in English speaking countries. However, sometimes teachers are upset when they are very quiet and never volunteer for the class because they dont want to be victims of cynical teasing from their friends. The students high-leveled from private education tend to be bored during class. Another big problem is about the students who have a kind of mental disease, some of who are extremely offensive and some who have abiosis without any interest in anything. Their attitude is usually caused by the pressure of studying and of too high expectations compared to their ability. Koreans all know that economic growth is based on educating for the future generation. Korea doesnt have enough natural resources, so we need to develop knowledge and skills. The government nowadays wants to increase autonomous high schools for competitive system to build up superior talents. But parents are not likely to reduce the private education. We hope the government listens carefully to what the citizens say. For instance, English teachers need small classes according to students levels in order to achieve the aim for English-speaking class. Parents and teachers dont want epoch-making policy, but just one step in the development of education policy. Korean parents need to remember this truth: their investment in children who dont have self-motivation might waste their money, their time and their energy. Id like to advise parents to give their children a chance to choose what they want, and to wait until they are eager to study what they need. Also, I suggest they should ignore their neighbors private education, not public education.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Internship Essay -- essays research papers

The senior that I chose to interview was Devon Smith also known â€Å"Mouse†. Devon is a graduate of Laurel High School and is currently attending Bowie State University. He is a student athlete and a member of the Pedology program. In this interview I will ask questions in regards to his field placement to better understand how and why things work when entering the field. I feel as though I am prepared for my internship, but hopefully after interviewing Devon I won’t be as nervous about my field placement. I realize that the information he presents is imperative to me starting my internship. Q: What was the hardest part of the field practicum? A: The hardest part of my field practicum was basically learning all the procedures of your field studies and learning all the policies and procedures once you get there. Q: How did you feel entering the agency? A: I felt cool because there wasn’t any stress put on my back because they knew my situation me being an athlete and dealing with academia as well. The school was flexible with my hours as long as I completed whatever they asked me to do. Q: What was the hardest task you had to perform at your site? A: The hardest task was getting accustomed to the children to make sure that I follow the procedures when faced with certain situations, like counseling a student, or restraining a student who is out of hand, learning how to encourage a student about academics and how to deal with a student who has behavioral problems. Q: What weakness did you have that has now become strength since working in the field? A: The weakness that I had was being sort of like closed off, I mean not totally but it takes me awhile to open up to people but I think that I am more efficient at talking to the kids. They are kind of shy when they first meet you so in order for them to open up I had to let myself go and let them know that it was ok for them to open up. With some one my age it is easier to you know break the ice, but with kids if they don’t come to know or trust you than they hold things back and wont tell you certain things. Q: What would you like to see different from a policy standpoint? A: as far as the student suspensions I would rather see them find an alternative to suspending students. If they are suspended then nine times out of ten they miss out on school work and end up falling behind. Q: What was the most important thing... ...ew candidates. Most importantly, it is critical that you get involved in a professional association related to your career interests. Attending events that various organizations offer, maximizes your exposure to the firm that you potentially may intern for, ever-increasing your chances exponentially of receiving an internship.  Ã‚   Lastly, keep in mind that not having an internship program in place does not mean that an organization is unwilling or apathetic in having an intern.   While larger firms are more likely to have recognized internship programs, it is possible and probable that firms smaller in size are more than willing and able to hire an intern or build some type of internship program.   If you are truly interested in working for an organization, do not hesitate to take the initiative.  Ã‚  Ã‚   After the interview, I thanked Devon for his time and felt more confident in the selection of my field. I knew that this is what I wanted to do but I would have sporadic uncertainties about my abilities and how my transition into the workplace would be. The information that he had provided combined with what I had already knew made me feel more comfortable with pursuing an internship.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Example of education because during that time Essay

In the text, Pocho, by Jose Antonio Villarreal, education plays an important role of explaining the characteristics of the immigrants during the 1930’s. Education is one way for readers to have an experience of what they have been through. During the investigation between the protagonist Richard and sheriff, Richard speaks out some words that the sheriff does not understand. Villarreal writes, â€Å" You mean homosexual? No, he wasn’t- this was a new word to the man. He was on the force because his sister had married a man who had something to do with the Chief of Police†¦ Goddamn! Where’d you learn the big word?† (Villarreal, 89). This is an example of education because here the sheriff is investigating Richard by asking him for information about Joe Pete Manoel. Richard responds with a big word â€Å"homosexual† to the sheriff that he did not understand. This is a highlight of the time period when it does not need any education to be a patrol man in Santa Clara. Education is the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, at a school. Jose Antonio Villarreal directly mention in the texts of Richard’s thoughts about his teacher at school. During the conversation between Richard and Mary, Richard gives out his thought when the teacher does not inform the same answer from what he read on a book. Richard said â€Å"Well, the teachers teach us all kinds of things, and sometimes they’re not really honest about it†¦ sometimes I read things in books that show me teachers are wrong sometimes†¦ they cant be all right, and I don’t like them to always tell me that they know everything, that’s all†. (Villarreal, 71). This is an example of education because during that time, teacher feels like their students are not smart enough to learn two sides of the story. Richard feels that sometimes books can teach him more than what he learns at school. It highlight that during that time education is not an important aspect of the immigrant lives. During the time of 1930’s, Education is not important to most of Mexicans families. But what makes Richard so special and unique is with his intelligence and desire to learn for his own good. Education make Richard shine as a main character, instead of a twelve-year-old kid, he talks like he is an adult. Richard said, â€Å" Try to understand me. I want to learn, and that is all. I do not want to be something- I am. I do not care about making a lot of money and about what people think and about the family in the way you speak. I have to learn as much as I can†¦ you would not understand me if I could† (Villarreal, 64). This quote is a portrait of Richard as a young kid with the mentality to learn. Education helps Richard speaks for him and not what his mother wants. It highlight that even in the period of poverty, Richard’s family believe that with education, they will have a better life.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

NASA’s Love Triangle Approach

In the workplace, consensual personal activities of individuals always affect the working relationship in undesirable ways. Often intimate relationships between co-workers emit preferential treatment at its best and discriminatory acts at its worst. Although Title VII does not declare intimate relationships in the workplace as an immoral, unethical and distasteful act, enough room for discrimination often produce a resultant effect when persons are disadvantaged due to a preferential treatment of another. There is a potential for hostility when widespread favoritism exists between male and female employees. In a professional working relationship, the workplace would be ideally free from intimate relationships to prohibit favoritism and thereby banning nepotism. Office romances though are not illegal and discriminatory given the increased amount of time spent together by co-workers giving value to their work. However, work is a serious business and management requires workers to act rationally while doing their job. This phenomenon should be a cause for concern when personal issues interfere with work-related issues. The three-way love triangle situation between Lisa Nowak, Bill Oefelein and Corlean Shipman threaten the traditional ideas of anti-nepotism and non-fraternization in the workplace. NASA capitalizes on its human workforce to proffer its interests. Although it’s governing code of conduct according to NASA’s Shana Dale upon interview (Orlando Sentinel, 2007) do not necessarily insisted regulations that guard and meddle on astronauts and other federal employee’s personal lives. No matter how we try to justify this explanation for NASA’s lapses I continue to insist that American companies have a natural desire to keep personal relationships at bay in the workplace in the face of corporate dilemmas over discrimination and harassments. Often management sees that relationships within the company lead to a conflict of interests and inefficiency resulting from spending time and energy on non-work related activities (Avelenda, 1998: 691). Under the guise of protecting employees from claims of sexual harassment, policies would often widen to informally restrict fraternization and intra-organizational intimate interaction. It was therefore a shock to learn how NASA completely disregarded the personal lives of its employees. Astronauts are usually subjected to stringent rules and equally invasive medical procedures. Nowak no doubt had undergone extensive medical and psychological examinations if protocols were followed prior and after her July 4, 2006 on the STS-121 mission which included a trip to the International Space Station according to NASA (2006). Her NASA bio declared her as a flight engineer with a rank of captain who logged almost 13 days in space and garnered the honor as the first Italian American in space. Her confrontation with a fellow NASA employee who was reportedly a rival for the affections of another space shuttle pilot definitely exhibits her gullibility to submit to effects of an emotional strain that is aggravated by strained relationships. NASA’s lapses in the face of the current situation involving the triangle love affair of their employees indicated the organization’s past disinterest over interpersonal issues involving their own working family. NASA has forgotten that Nowak at the age 43 and likely at the prime of her life after her shuttle trip last summer may have felt a bleak end to her career as an astronaut whose second and third spaceflights would be tough to get after space shuttles are scheduled for retirement in 2010(Orlando Sentinel, Feb.,2007). Bouts of depression are also not uncommon to astronauts who come home and are considered as heroes and overachievers. To recall, Edwin â€Å"Buzz† Aldrin as the second man to step on the moon after Neil Armstrong had alcohol problems after their successful return from their mission. NASA has therefore dismissed the complexities of an unpredictable human emotional response in the face of scientific calculable predictability. In response to Nowak’s arrest NASA should review the procedures involved in their psychological evaluations. The military have been instrumental in submitting their personnel particularly pilots for psychological intervention following extraordinary stress like divorce or deaths in the family (Christian Science Monitor; September, 2004). NASA may not have been helpful on this aspect. They may have forgotten how catastrophic consequences are brought about by a human element of error. It would therefore be beneficial for NASA and its employees to understand the stress of working in the space program and at least delegate focus on the personal relationships among its astronauts. Mccurdy (1999) once said that astronauts, like police officers, treat their profession as a way of life, not just a job. Despite any self-discipline, astronauts are enjoined to focus on their goals and keep on pursuing such goals which was seen in Nowak’s single-minded pursuit against a foe. It would help NASA if it should also establish protocols and policies that treat the grievances of their own personnel. A professional independent body that provides proper psychological help and emotional assistance and counseling for its personnel should be made available for its employees. This body’s aim is for the recognition of possible emotional and psychological trauma experience by its key personnel without being used to leverage employment standing in the organization. Any official involvement into the diagnosis and treatment would alert and divert employee-patients away from the program. Secondly, NASA must also work to regulate workplace fraternizing relationships through a less authoritative disapproval of intra-organizational romance. This would be properly implemented when put into writing for NASA to be able to eliminate its involvement in the future as an employer liability. Further, when inter-organizational romance and sexual relationships are frowned upon naturally, the well-discipline NASA astronauts would be consistent in their efforts to refrain from intimate relationships with their co-workers. Another alternative also is for NASA to require employees to report any consensual relationships within its initiation and aftermath through the proper human relations body. In the face of the current scenario between Lisa Nowak, Bill Oefelein and Corlean Shipman, given the organization’s growing exposure and in conjunction with being held liable for its apparent disregard for the well-being of its employees; I feel that NASA has an ethical and moral responsibility to support Nowak through her misdemeanor and refrain from painting her faults and deviant behavior. After all, Bill Oefelein seemingly exercised his dominion by maintaining two romantic relationships at the same time with two different women in the same organization thereby causing trouble for both. To restrict this trend, it would serve NASA if Oefelein should face a temporary suspension as well. Corlean Shipman is entirely the innocent party and ould not benefit any organizing body to involve her in any internal disciplinary measure that Oefelien shall face. Lisa Nowak is already facing criminal charges and yet, NASA is duty-bound to support her through this ordeal after all it has been remiss in its duties towards its employees and the whole scientific community and the public. Society must therefore scrutinize the various policies involve in National scientific and military organizations and regulate the intimate relationships of employees within their organization. This is to ensure that employees are not placed in an unnecessary position that requires them to choose between duty and relationship to enhance productivity and protect them from any emotional turmoil. Title VII may not be so keen on fraternization within official work and duty but somehow this has provided an avenue for harassment and discrimination in the past (Avelenda, 693). NASA as a healthy organization geared towards training personnel for space excellence must also recognize the full potential of allowing people to deal with their emotional problems with the assistance and help of independent human relations services that provide psychological evaluation, treatment and counseling for personnel particularly the ones who are involved in missions. Works Cited Willoughby, Mariano, Cabbage, M., Lundy, S. and Hunt, A. (2007).The Orlando Sentinel. February 7. Avelenda, Saily M. (1998).Comment: Love and Marriage in the American Workplace: Why No-Spouse Policies Don't Work. PA. J. LAB. ; EMP. 691, 693 . United States. NASA. (2006) Astronaut Biography: Lisa Nowak. Accessed : 04 April, 2007 http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/nowak.html Editorial. (2004). Anyone Ever Prepared To Kill? Christian Science Monitor Magazine, September 29. McCurdy, Howard. (1999). Space and the American Imagination, new ed.   Smithsonian. ;

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Should We Sustain From War with Iraq essays

Should We Sustain From War with Iraq essays Asking the question, Should we sustain from war with Iraq, in my opinion, is kind of like asking, Is it safe to give a monkey a hand-gun. Obviously, the answer is no. Obviously, I believe in comic relief. Being serious though, which this topic definateley is, Saddam Hussein is a dangerous man. Hes a threat to other nations as well as his own. He refuses to left UN Inspectors enter his restricted areas. Doing this, he is directly violating the Gulf War Treaty. Its also proven that he possess chemical and biological weapons. Removing Hussein and his regime would also help the war on terrorism since it is proven that he funds such groups. War is the only option for the United States, and its an option that will be very cheap and relatively painless. Generally, Hussein is a proven threat to international security; he is interested in developing chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons and has shown a willingness to use such weapons on Iraq's neighbors but also against Iraq's Kurdish population. Iraq has to be removed as a threat now before it has the ability to lash out at Israel, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait or US troops stationed in the region. Experts say that in less than three years Saddam will have nuclear weapons. If Iraq were to acquire Weapons of Mass Destruction it could threaten regional stability and deter any potential military action against Iraq. Hussein and his government believe that it was their possession of chemical and biological weapons that deterred the Coalition Forces from invading Iraq during Desert Storm. A WMD capable Iraq would become a regional hegemon. If Hussein develops chemical, biological or nuclear weapons he could give the weapons to terrorist organization that could use those materials against the United States or its allies. Alternatives to invasion wouldn't solve the problem. UN inspectors were unable to certify that Iraq had disarmed its WMD programs due ...

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

E.B. White on Writing

E.B. White on Writing Meet essayist E.B. White- and consider the advice he has to offer on writing and the writing process. Andy, as he was known to friends and family, spent the last 50 years of his life in an old white farmhouse overlooking the sea in North Brooklin, Maine. Thats where he wrote most of his best-known essays, three childrens books, and a best-selling style guide. Introduction to E.B. White A generation has grown up since E.B. White died in that farmhouse in 1985, and yet his sly, self-deprecating voice speaks more forcefully than ever. In recent years, Stuart Little has been turned into a franchise by Sony Pictures, and in 2006 a second film adaptation of Charlottes Web was released. More significantly, Whites novel about some pig and a spider who was a true friend and a good writer has sold more than 50 million copies over the past half-century. Yet unlike the authors of most childrens books, E.B. White is not a writer to be discarded once we slip out of childhood. The best of his casually eloquent essays- which first appeared in Harpers, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s- have been reprinted in Essays of E.B. White (Harper Perennial, 1999). In Death of a Pig, for instance, we can enjoy the adult version of the tale that was eventually shaped into Charlottes Web. In Once More to the Lake, White transformed the hoariest of essay topics- How I Spent My Summer Vacation- into a startling meditation on mortality.   For readers with ambitions to improve their own writing, White provided The Elements of Style (Penguin, 2005)- a lively revision of the modest guide first composed in 1918 by Cornell University professor William Strunk, Jr. It appears in our short list of essential Reference Works for Writers. White was awarded the Gold Medal for Essays and Criticism of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, the National Medal for Literature, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1973 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. E.B. Whites Advice to a Young Writer What do you do when youre 17 years old, baffled by life, and certain only of your dream to become a professional writer? If you had been Miss R 35 years ago, you would have composed a letter to your favorite author, seeking his advice. And 35 years ago, you would have received this reply from E. B. White: Dear Miss R:At seventeen, the future is apt to seem formidable, even depressing. You should see the pages of my journal circa 1916.You asked me about writing- how I did it. There is no trick to it. If you like to write and want to write, you write, no matter where you are or what else you are doing or whether anyone pays any heed. I must have written half a million words (mostly in my journal) before I had anything published, save for a couple of short items in St. Nicholas. If you want to write about feelings, about the end of summer, about growing, write about it. A great deal of writing is not plotted- most of my essays have no plot structure, they are a ramble in the woods, or a ramble in the basement of my mind. You ask, Who cares? Everybody cares. You say, Its been written before. Everything has been written before. I went to college but not direct from high school; there was an interval of six or eight months. Sometimes it works out well to take a short vacation from the academic world- I have a grandson who took a year off and got a job in Aspen, Colorado. After a year of skiing and working, he is now settled into Colby College as a freshman. But I cant advise you, or wont advise you, on any such decision. If you have a counselor at school, Id seek the counselors advice. In college (Cornell), I got on the daily newspaper and ended up as editor of it. It enabled me to do a lot of writing and gave me a good journalistic experience. You are right that a persons real duty in life is to save his dream, but dont worry about it and dont let them scare you. Henry Thoreau, who wrote Walden, said, I learned this at least by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. The sentence, after more than a hundred years, is still alive. So, advance confidently. And when you write something, send it (neatly typed) to a magazine or a publishing house. Not all magazines read unsolicited contributions, but some do. The New Yorker is always looking for new talent. Write a short piece for them, send it to The Editor. Thats what I did forty-some years ago. Good luck.Sincerely,E. B. White Whether youre a young writer like Miss R or an older one, Whites counsel still holds. Advance confidently, and good luck. E.B. White on a Writers Responsibility In an interview for The Paris Review in 1969, White was asked to express his views about the writers commitment to politics, international affairs. His response: A writer should concern himself with whatever absorbs his fancy, stirs his heart, and unlimbers his typewriter. I feel no obligation to deal with politics. I do feel a responsibility to society because of going into print: a writer has the duty to be good, not lousy; true, not false; lively, not dull; accurate, not full of error. He should tend to lift people up, not lower them down. Writers do not merely reflect and interpret life, they inform and shape life. E.B. White on Writing for the Average Reader In an essay titled Calculating Machine, White wrote disparagingly about the Reading-Ease Calculator, a device that presumed to measure the readability of an individuals writing style. There is, of course, no such thing as reading ease of written matter. There is the ease with which matter can be read, but that is a condition of the reader, not of the matter. There is no average reader, and to reach down toward this mythical character is to deny that each of us is on the way up, is ascending. It is my belief that no writer can improve his work until he discards the dulcet notion that the reader is feebleminded, for writing is an act of faith, not of grammar. Ascent is at the heart of the matter. A country whose writers are following the calculating machine downstairs is not ascending- if you will pardon the expression- and a writer who questions the capacity of the person at the other end of the line is not a writer at all, merely a schemer. The movies long ago decided that a wider communication could be achieved by a deliberate descent to a lower level, and they walked proudly down until they reached the cellar. Now they are groping for the light switch, hoping to find the way out. E.B. White on Writing With Style In the final chapter of The Elements of Style (Allyn Bacon, 1999), White presented 21 suggestions and cautionary hints to help writers develop an effective style. He prefaced those hints with this warning: Young writers often suppose that style is a garnish for the meat of prose, a sauce by which a dull dish is made palatable. Style has no such separate entity; is nondetachable, unfilterable. The beginner should approach style warily, realizing that it is himself he is approaching, no other; and he should begin by turning resolutely away from all devices that are popularly believed to indicate style- all mannerisms, tricks, adornments. The approach to style is by way of plainness, simplicity, orderliness, sincerity. Writing is, for most, laborious and slow. The mind travels faster than the pen; consequently, writing becomes a question of learning to make occasional wing shots, bringing down the bird of thought as it flashes by. A writer is a gunner, sometimes waiting in his blind for something to come in, sometimes roaming the countryside hoping to scare something up. Like other gunners, he must cultivate patience; he may have to work many covers to bring down one partridge. Youll notice that while advocating a plain and simple style, White conveyed his thoughts through artful metaphors. E.B. White on Grammar Despite the prescriptive tone of The Elements of Style, Whites own applications of grammar and syntax were primarily intuitive, as he once explained in The New Yorker: Usage seems to us peculiarly a matter of ear. Everyone has his own prejudices, his own set of rules, his own list of horribles. The English language is always sticking a foot out to trip a man. Every week we get thrown, writing merrily along. English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgment, and education- sometimes its sheer luck, like getting across a street. E.B. White on Not Writing In a book review titled Writers at Work, White described his own writing habits- or rather, his habit of putting off writing. The thought of writing hangs over our mind like an ugly cloud, making us apprehensive and depressed, as before a summer storm, so that we begin the day by subsiding after breakfast, or by going away, often to seedy and inconclusive destinations: the nearest zoo, or a branch post office to buy a few stamped envelopes. Our professional life has been a long shameless exercise in avoidance. Our home is designed for the maximum of interruption, our office is the place where we never are. Yet the record is there. Not even lying down and closing the blinds stops us from writing; not even our family, and our preoccupation with same, stops us.

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Theodore Roosevelt Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Theodore Roosevelt - Essay Example It will close with a discussion of the relevance of his decision today, some one hundred years later, and the benefits that have accrued to America. 1.1 The Origins of the Transfer Act of 1905 As an initial matter, it is important to note that Theodore Roosevelt did not create the United States Forest Service; quite the contrary, this federal agency was created and given legal powers by virtue of the United States Land Revision Act of 1891 which provided, in relevant part, that the president would thereafter have the authority to "set aside and reserve...any part of the public lands wholly or partly covered with timber or undergrowth, whether of commercial value or not." At the time, this was a skeletal piece of legislation with little immediate effect. It looked good on paper, it played well at social gatherings, but the reality was that the Act itself was lacking in real substance. This is because this initial legislation, vesting power in the American president, did not provide for any guidelines or mechanisms for using or for developing these set aside lands (Balogh, 2002). Thus, while the lands might be protected from economic exploitation, there was no mention of nat ional parks or development for public use. These lands, in short, were not only placed out of the reach of capitalistic interests but also out of the reach of purely scientific and public interests as well. Nonetheless, it was a piece of legislation, a perogative of presidential power, which Theodre Roosevelt would take advantage of a mere two decades later in order to more firmly entrench public interests, both in terms of research and public benefits more generally, with the Transfer Act... As an initial matter, it is important to note that Theodore Roosevelt did not create the United States Forest Service; quite the contrary, this federal agency was created and given legal powers by virtue of the United States Land Revision Act of 1891 which provided, in relevant part, that the president would thereafter have the authority to "set aside and reserve...any part of the public lands wholly or partly covered with timber or undergrowth, whether of commercial value or not.† At the time, this was a skeletal piece of legislation with little immediate effect. It looked good on paper, it played well at social gatherings, but the reality was that the Act itself was lacking in real substance. This is because this initial legislation, vesting power in the American president, did not provide any guidelines or mechanisms for using or for developing these set-aside lands (Balogh, 2002). Thus, while the lands might be protected from economic exploitation, there was no mention of n ational parks or development for public use. These lands, in short, were not only placed out of the reach of capitalistic interests but also out of the reach of purely scientific and public interests as well. Nonetheless, it was a piece of legislation, a prerogative of presidential power, which Theodore Roosevelt would take advantage of a mere two decades later in order to more firmly entrench public interests, both in terms of research and public benefits more generally, with the Transfer Act of 1905.