Listening Essays

Listening Essays Listening Essay Listening Essay LISTEN UP! According to Raymond McNulty, â€Å"Everyone who expects to succeed in life should realize that success will come only if you give careful consideration to other people. † To accomplish this, you must be an excellent listener. One of the most critical skills that an individual acquires is the ability to listen. Studies indicate that a person spends 70 percent to 80 percent of his or her time communicating, of which 45 percent is spent listening. Nixon and West give the following breakdown for the average time an individual spends communicating. Writing 9 % Reading 16 % Speaking 30 % Listening 45 % Since almost half of the time spent communicating is spent listening, it is important to overcome any obstacles that obstruct our ability to listen and to learn new ways to improve our listening ability. Barriers to Listening Anything that interferes with our ability to listen is classified as a barrier to listening. These barriers can be divided into two basic categories- external and internal barriers. Internal Barriers. Internal barriers are those that deal with the mental or psychological aspects of listening. The perception of the importance of the message, the emotional state, and the tuning in and out of the speaker by the listener are examples of internal barriers. External Barriers. External barriers are the barriers other than those that deal with the mental and psychological make up of the listener that tend to keep the listener from devoting full attention to what is being said. Telephone interruptions, uninvited visitors, noise, and the physical environment are examples of external barriers. Ways to Improve Listening Barriers to listening can be overcome. However, it does take a sincere effort on the part of the listener. Neher and Waite suggest the following ways to improve listening skills. Be aware of the barriers that are especially troublesome for you. Listening difficulties are individualistic. Developing awareness is an important step in overcoming such barriers. Listen as though you will have to paraphrase what is being said. Listen for ideas rather than for facts. Expect to work to at listening. Work at overcoming distractions, such as the speaker’s delivery or nonverbal mannerisms. Concentrate on summarizing the presentation as you listen. If possible, think of additional supporting material that would fit with the point that the speaker is making. Avoid trying to refute the speaker. Try not to be turned off by remarks you disagree with. H. Dan O’ Hair, James S. O’ Rourke IV, and Mary John O’ Hair, Business Communication: A Framework for Success (Cincinnati: South-Western Publishing, 2001), p. 211. Judy C. Nixon and Judy F. West, â€Å"Listening- The New Competency,† The Balance Sheet (January/February 1989), pp. 27-29. William W. Neher and David H. Waite, The Business and Professional Communicator (Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1993), p. 28.

Immigrant Voting Eligibility and Requirements

Immigrant Voting Eligibility and Requirements Naturalization typically increases as national elections draw closer, as more immigrants want to participate in the democratic process. This is especially true if immigration issues become important to the campaigns, as in 2016 when Donald Trump proposed building a wall across the U.S. border with Mexico and putting sanctions on Muslim immigrants. Naturalization applications increased by 11% in the 2015 fiscal year over the year before, and jumped 14% leading into 2016, according to U.S. immigration officials. A surge in naturalization applications among Latinos and Hispanics appears linked to Trumps positions on immigration. Officials say by the November election, close to 1 million new citizens could be eligible to vote an increase of about 20% over typical levels. More Hispanic voters is likely good news for Democrats who have relied on immigrant support in recent national elections. Worse for Republicans, polls showed that eight out of 10 Hispanic voters had a negative opinion about Trump. Who Can Vote in the United States? Simply put, only U.S. citizens can vote in the United States. Immigrants who are naturalized U.S. citizens can vote, and they have exactly the same voting privileges as natural-born U.S. citizens. There is no difference. Here are the basic qualifications for voting eligibility: You must be a U.S. citizen.Green card holders, or permanent residents, are not allowed to vote in national elections. A few localities - only a few - allow green card-holders to vote in municipal elections. But otherwise, as an immigrant, to participate in state and national elections, you must have completed the naturalization process and earned U.S. citizenship.You must have lived in the state where you’re intending to vote for a minimum period of time. It’s usually 30 days but does vary from some states to others. Check with your local elections officials.You must be at least 18 years old on or before election day. A few states permit 17-year-olds to vote in primaries if they will turn 18 by the general election. Check with your local elections officials.You must not have a felony conviction that disqualifies you from voting. If you have been convicted of a serious crime, you must get your civil rights restored to vote, and that’s not an easy process.You must not have been declared â€Å"mentally incompetent† by a court of law. Immigrants who are not naturalized U.S. citizens face serious criminal penalties if they try to vote in an election illegally. They risk a fine, imprisonment or deportation. Also, it is important that your naturalization process is completed before you try to vote. You must have taken the oath and formally become a U.S. citizen before you can legally vote and participate fully in American democracy. Voting Registration Rules Vary by the State The Constitution allows the states wide discretion to set voting registration and election rules. This means that registering to vote in New Hampshire can have different requirements than registering to vote in Wyoming or Florida or Missouri. And the dates of local and state elections also vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. For example, the forms of identification that are acceptable in one state may not be in others. It’s very important to find out what the rules are in your state of residence. One way to do this is to visit your local state elections office. Another way is to go online. Nearly all states have websites where up-to-the-minute voting information is readily accessible. Where To Find Information on Voting A good place to find out your state’s rules for voting is the Election Assistance Commission. The EAC website has a state-by-state breakdown of voting dates, registration procedures and election rules. The EAC maintains a National Mail Voter Registration Form that includes voter registration rules and regulations for all the states and territories. It can be a valuable tool for immigrant citizens who are trying to learn how to participate in U.S. democracy. It is possible to use the form to register to vote or to change your voting information. In most states, it’s possible to complete the National Mail Voter Registration Form and simply print it, sign it and mail it to the address listed under your state in the State Instructions. You can also use this form to update your name or address, or to register with a political party. However, once again, states have different rules and not all states accept the National Mail Voter Registration Form. North Dakota, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands do not accept it. New Hampshire accepts it only as a request for an absentee voter mail-in registration form. For an excellent overview of voting and elections across the country, go to the USA.gov website where the government offers a wealth of information about the democratic process. Where Do You Register To Vote? You may be able to sign up to vote in person at the public places listed below. But again, remember that what applies in one state may not apply in another: The state or local voter registration or elections office, sometimes known as the elections supervisor’s office.The department of motor vehicles. Yes, where you get a driver’s license is often also the place where you can register to vote.Certain public assistance agencies. Some states use the social services network to promote voter registration.Armed services recruitment centers. A military recruiter may be able to help you sign up to vote.State-run programs that help people with disabilities.Any public entity that a state has designated as a voter registration center. Do some research to find out if there’s a government facility near you that might be able to help. Taking Advantage of Absentee or Early Voting In recent years, many states have done more to make it easier for voters to participate through early voting days and absentee ballots. Some voters may find it impossible to make to the polls on the Election Day. Perhaps they’re out of the country or hospitalized, for example. Registered voters from every state can request an absentee ballot that can be returned by mail. Some states require that you give them a specific reason - an excuse - why you are unable to go to the polls. Other states have no such requirement. Check with your local officials. All states will mail an absentee ballot to eligible voters who request one.  The voter may then return the completed ballot by mail or in person.  In 20  states, an excuse is required, while  27  states and the District of Columbia permit any qualified voter to vote absentee without giving an excuse.  Some states offer a permanent absentee ballot list: once a voter asks to be added to the list, the voter will automatically receive an absentee ballot for all future elections. As of 2016, Colorado, Oregon and Washington used all-mail voting. Every eligible voter automatically receives a ballot in the mail. Those ballots can be returned in person or by mail when a voter completes them. More than two-thirds of the states - 37 and also the District of Columbia - offer some sort of early voting opportunity. You can cast your ballot days before Election Day at various locations. Check with your local election office to find out what early voting opportunities are available where you live. Be Sure To Check for ID Law in Your State By 2016, a total of 36  states had passed laws requiring voters to show some form of identification at the polls, usually a photo ID.  Roughly 33  of these voter identification laws were expected to be in force by the 2016 presidential election. The others are tied up in the courts. Laws in Arkansas, Missouri  and Pennsylvania laws have been struck down going into the 2016 presidential race. The remaining 17  states use other methods to verify the identity of voters. Again, it varies from state to state. Most frequently, other identifying information a voter provides at the polling place, such as a signature, is checked against information on file. In general, states with Republican governors and legislatures have pushed for photo IDs, claiming a higher standard of identity verification is needed to prevent fraud. Democrats have opposed photo ID laws, arguing the voting fraud is virtually non-existent in the United States and the ID requirements are a hardship for the elderly and poor. President Obama’s administrations have opposed the requirements. A study by researchers at Arizona State University found 28 cases of voter fraud convictions since 2000. Of those, 14% involved absentee ballot fraud. â€Å"Voter impersonation, the form of fraud that voter ID laws are designed to prevent, made up only 3.6% of those cases,† according to the study’s authors. Democrats argue that if Republicans were really serious about cracking down on the rare cases of fraud that have occurred, Republicans would do something about absentee voting where the likelihood of misconduct is far greater. In 1950, South Carolina became the first state to require identification from voters at the polls. Hawaii started requiring IDs in 1970 and Texas followed a year later. Florida joined the movement in 1977, and gradually dozens of states fell in line. In 2002, President George W. Bush signed the Help America Vote Act into law. It required all first-time voters in federal elections to show a photo or non-photo ID upon either registration or arrival at the polling place A Brief History of Immigrant Voting in the U.S. Most Americans don’t realize that immigrants - foreigners or non-citizens - were commonly allowed to vote in elections during the Colonial era. More than 40 states or territories, including the original 13 colonies leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence, have allowed foreigners voting rights for at least some elections. Non-citizen voting was widespread in the United States for the first 150 years of its history. During the Civil War, Southern states turned against allowing voting rights to immigrants because of their opposition to slavery and support for the North. In 1874 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that residents in Missouri, who were foreign-born but had committed to becoming U.S. citizens, should be allowed to vote. But a generation later, public sentiment had swung against immigrants. The growing waves of new arrivals from Europe - Ireland, Italy and Germany in particular - brought a backlash against giving rights to non-citizens and accelerating their assimilation into U.S. society. In 1901, Alabama stopped allowing foreign-born residents to vote. Colorado followed a year later, and then Wisconsin in 1902 and Oregon in 1914. By World War I, more and more native-born residents opposed allowing newly arrived immigrants to participate in U.S. democracy. In 1918, Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota all changed their constitutions to deny non-citizens voting rights, and Indiana, Mississippi and Texas followed. Arkansas became the last state to ban voting rights for foreigners in 1926. Since then, the way into the voting booth for immigrants is through naturalization.

Business research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Business research - Essay Example The company’s recent expansion was in 2011 when Topshop launched its operations in Australia. Topshop is a significant component of the Arcadia Group that owns several retail outlets. There are close to 440 shops under this business name of Topshop in 33 counties. The management of this organization also allows it to conduct some of its business operations using the online criteria (Davis & Baldwin 2005, p. 112). Mark & Spencer is also based in Britain and retails in clothing and luxury foods. Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer founded it in 1884 (Your M and S 2012). Its Headquarters are in Westminster London; however, it has more than 1000 stores are spread across Europe. The company is denoted as M&S or Marks and Sparks. It has close to 81, 000 employees who facilitate its realization of exemplary profits (Davis & Baldwin, 2005, p. 112). These companies have various stakeholders who facilitate the growth of the respective enterprises. For example, Topshop’s website reveals that its chief stakeholders are its employees, customers and suppliers. The website also acknowledges that other stakeholders include business enterprises, which collaborate with them. Mark & Spencer describe its chief stakeholders as the two proprietors mentioned above. Other partners also own the company apart from Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer. These are stakeholders in this retail outlet. Their final stakeholders are their employees (Davis & Baldwin 2005, p. 112). Stakeholders play significant roles in the entire operations of these two companies. These stakeholders have diverse expectations on organization’s purpose and choice of specific strategies. The management of the companies expects to register high profit levels in their respective operations (Preble 2005 p.112). They choose strategies that will facilitate the growth of these businesses. For example, both companies have employed e marketing that is a strategic

Alternative strategies for Ducati Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Alternative strategies for Ducati - Essay Example Though Ducati products were well accomplished with technical excellence, as Professor Gavetti (2001) points out, the decision of the major shareholders to refocus on products other than motorcycles led way to the turn down of the company. The acquisition of Ducati by Cagiva improved the Ducati’s status in the market but eventually resulted in liquidity crisis which deprived the working capital funding of Ducati. As a result there was much delay in the payment as well as production. Ducati instead of widening its market to the production of variety of other products, it must utilize the technical excellence of its product lines for the manufacture of motor cycles. It must think of bringing up innovativeness in the design of motorcycles to attract and fascinate the customers. Women were found to contribute a major part of the customers for other motorcycle manufacturers like Harley. Hence, Ducati must pay attention to the choices of women and try to retain them as main customers . One of the key reasons for the under utilization of the Ducati’s potential and excellence was the lack of effective management strategies. Effective and well organized managerial strategies are recommendable for the development of any company and its trade. Thus Ducati must be directed by a dynamic and committed management in order to implement effective managerial strategies. The presence of a vibrant manger would eradicate the chaos and internal problems which were found to be significant barriers for the creative decision making. Identifying the real passion of people and implementing those in the production can be highly advantageous for Ducati in drawing the attention of customers and persuading them to buy the products. It is inevitable to focus on creating a good stature in the international market in order to grab the attention of customers because customer satisfaction is the ultimate objective of the modern market. As the competition is rising, Ducati must concent rate on building broader spectrum of customers by conducting effective market researches and thereby upgrading innovativeness in the production processes. According to Gavetti (11), Ducati adopted firm selection procedures and other control measures which resulted in the reduction of the number of suppliers; they hardly had any long term suppliers. Though this enhanced the quality and reliability of their products, it resulted in the increased maintenance costs. It is required to focus on the quality of products and at the same it’s important to maintain adequate number of suppliers. The choices of the sources of suppliers can be increased only by maintaining adequate number of suppliers. It is possible to choose the potential supply at affordable prices through the option of selection from a wide range of suppliers which would assist the company to increase the effectiveness of its operations. To conclude, Ducati should be up-to-date with the varying tastes and preferences o f the consumers and try to bring the identified needs to the product line. The major suggestions are listed below 1. In the given case, exhibit 5 represents that Ducati does not produce cruiser, touring or off-road bikes; instead, they mainly concentrate on bikes over 400 cc. It would only satisfy the interests of youngsters, and the majority public has been ignored. So, it is advisable that Ducati should enter the market of general types of motor cycles also. 2. Similarly, exhibit 8 indicates that sales of super-sport bikes do not show a noticeable upward trend. Hence, it is suggestible to make adequate modifications in this model after surveying consumers’

Meaning of life - Question Essay Example for Free

Meaning of life Question Essay Freud, like Newton and Darwin, did not consider himself to be a philosopher but had an enormous influence over philosophy, he believed that to consider the question: â€Å"what is the meaning of life? † is a waste of time. The question, he thought, is rather meaningless and has no ultimate answer, asking it is being somewhat like asking what the color of time is (Mason). There are serious arguments that can be advanced in support of this point of view, especially if we agree that meaning is not something inherent to events, things, and other processes and so on, but something we ascribe to them (Mason). To think otherwise would involve ascribing them something that is a product of our intellect and consciousness. The meaning of X, whether X is an event, a thing, or a process, is actually the connection or a set of those connections X has with other events, things, and processes and so on, which we choose to consider to be of particularly importance to us (Mason). This is why the same events have different meaning for different people. For a Chinese, be he a Communist or an anti-Communist, the meaning of the war in Korea is that it marks the end of a century of national humiliation and a permanent threat of devastation through a long series of military defeats by foreign powers; for an American, the meaning of that very same war is that it put an end to the attempts to expand by direct military invasion the influence of Chinese Communism (Adams). There are undoubtedly countless amounts of explanations to this riddle, and there are many circumstances that can change one’s perspective towards this problem, but ultimately, there is no right or wrong answer. Paragraph 2: Everything changes radically, of course, if we belong to a Church. Everything is noted under God’s eye For believers, their life long goal is to sustain God’s knowledge and go his way. Go to the right passage and obey his â€Å"laws† Their passage of life consists of saving one’s immortal soul. Duty of life makes up the meaning of life. Paragraph 3: The practical Romans grasped something that over the head of two millennia of Christianity resonates with contemporary pragmatism, and with the life philosophy resumed in the dictum â€Å"the meaning of life is life itself† Meaning of life is life itself Living the life in happiness is the meaning of life. Anything that fits you the best will become your meaning of life. Find out your goals, what you want to achieve life, and that will become your meaning of life ultimately. Limitations will apply. Paragraph 4: Living your life according to this life philosophy, which is the most commonly chosen among the life philosophies derived from the answer â€Å"the meaning of life consists in living life†, is usually not too difficult for a â€Å"normal† person living under â€Å"normal† circumstances. Meaning of life depended on the status of the person. Meaning of life is to live a good life. Do not know what exactly is a good life but a good life will be noted. Everyone has different meanings to life. Paragraph 5 (Conclusion): But be it Confucius, Aristotle or even Kant with his theory of being impossible to achieve moral perfection or any other of the great minds each of whom spent years of their lives trying to provide humanity with an answer to the fatal question, essentially, they trying to tell us what to live for and how to live. Namely, almost all the answers they offered have the same basic flaw: when they are workable at all, they work only for very few exceptional individuals and are way beyond the reach for the rest of us (Shields); us, those weak, silly and prone to sin creatures that make up the vast majority of humankind. Luckily, this vast majority do not worry too much about what great minds have in mind, but just live their lives as they best can according to their own, petty, senseless wishes and notions (Metz): work their gardens, even if they never heard of Voltaire, and whether they know that Freud existed or not, do not waste their humble intellectual potential trying to answer a question that has no answer (Metz). The rest is a senseless waste of time, â€Å"Primum vivere, deindre filosofare†, and if you spend too much time and effort philophizing, you will have no time nor energy to live, which involves earning money to pay the bills. As to the great eternal and fundamental questions, let’s leave them to professional philosophers whom society pays to do this specific job, as it pays plumbers to do the plumbing, scientists to explore nature, nurses to help the sick, the clowns to entertain us.

Comparing the Social Criticism of Voltaires Candide and Samuel Johnso

Comparing the Social Criticism of Voltaire's Candide and Samuel Johnson's Rasselas      Ã‚  Ã‚   Samuel Johnson and Voltaire were both writers of enormous social conscience in the eighteenth century. It is not surprising then to discover that both men wrote short tales dealing primarily with criticism of the human condition. Ironically, these books were written and published within weeks of each other in 1759 (Enright 16). Johnson's Rasselas and Voltaire's Candide are strikingly similar in their use of the episodic and romantic picaresque motifs. The underlying purpose within each author's criticism, however, allows many differences in the two tales to surface. The author's intentions diverge beyond superficial similarities and each work develops a unique vantage point from which to observe humanity.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Neither work can be accused of being a realistic tale. These moral fables are set in a fantastic, utopian, and ludicrous world. The distance from the reader in each tale is quite different, however. Johnson places realistic characters in an unrealistic world. He remains on the same level with his characters, describing the situations and environment in which they find themselves. In this manner the reader can identify with and feel empathy for the characters in Rasselas. They are thinking, caring, fallible human beings equal to the reader and the author.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Voltaire creates a chasm between humanity and the world of Candide. The reader laughs not only at the situation or environment, for the characters are just as ludicrous as the world in which they live. It is possible that Voltaire wants his audience to assume a position of moral superiority when reading the tale. The reader cannot take characte... ...liography Enright, D.J.   Introduction.   The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia. By Samuel Johnson. London: Penguin Group, 1976.   p.12,16.  Ã‚   Hill, G.B.   Introduction. The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia. By Samuel Johnson.   Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1887.   p.17.  Ã‚   Johnson, Samuel. The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia. Ed. Enright, D.J.   London: Penguin Group,1988.   p.43,45,65,103   Johnson, Samuel.   "The Rambler No.184."   Rpt. in Enright, D.J.   Introduction. The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia. By Samuel Johnson. London: Penguin Group, 1976. p.32.  Ã‚   Maurois, Andre.   "The Sage of Ferney."   Voltaire.   New York: D. Appleton & Co, 1932.   Rpt. in Candide.   Trans. Bair, Lowell.   New York: Bantam Books, 1988.   P.6-7.  Ã‚   Voltaire.   Candide.   Trans. Bair, Lowell.   New York: Bantam Books, 1988.   p.73,120.   

I am Legend Essay

Traditionally, bookstores categorize various books based on their respective contents – horror, fiction, literature, or science fiction. Horror texts invoke feelings of fear in readers due to their bizarre or macabre content. Science fiction or fiction books describe imaginary concepts of either scientific or general nature respectively. Conversely, literature books comprise of texts that are neither fictional nor horror-based. Matheson’s I am Legend novel thus belongs to the category of horror owing to the ghoulish events described therein. For example, the vampirism that is evident in the novel instills fear among readers, thus rendering the work a horror literature. Although ‘good’ or ‘bad’ are purely subjective terms, people sometime use these terms to describe different texts. Such categorization relies heavily on persons’ subjective judgment, for example, regarding the emotions that such texts invoke in readers. To illustrate, horror, mystery, or romance books may be termed as ‘bad’. Conversely, science fiction books are labeled as ‘good’. Since such classification is very subjective and unstable owing to persons’ varied preferences and views, there is essentially no entire class of books that can be categorically termed as either ‘bad’ or ‘good’. After studying Matheson’s I am Legend novel, I cannot help but view it as a subjectively ‘bad’ book based on the ghastly scenes that the author describes. For example, Robert Neville – the novel’s main character – is consistently described as being engaged in a futile rush to beat some seemingly insurmountable bigger forces. The character is thus clearly destined for death as is evident through his obviously futile attempts to fight against a vampire curse on earth. Eventually, Neville dies a sad and regretful death after spending a great deal of his time trying to outdo the evil that lurks on the earth. Through the somewhat unnecessary and martyr-like death of Neville, the author makes the book appear as a ‘bad’ one because a character is unjustly punished by death.