How To Increase Blog Traffic With Contagious Content

How To Increase Blog Traffic With Contagious Content Everyone wants to increase their blog  traffic, right? It would be too discouraging to write articles, knowing that no one will ever read them. So whenever we write a new post, were secretly hoping that it will bring tons of new visitors to our blog. But do you really think that hope is enough? Certainly not! Its not the circumstances that determine if your articles will get traction- its the tactics and strategies  you  execute that make it happen. How To Increase Blog Traffic: 5 Ways To Make Contagious Content #blogging via @timsouloAnd right now Im going to show you what you can do to increase the odds that your articles will get the attention they  deserve. 3  Natural Ways To Increase Blog Traffic If I ask you where your blog traffic comes from, you're going to name a lot of different things: SEO, social networks, forums, banner ads, etc. But in general, all natural traffic sources fall into 3 different categories: Search traffic Your audience Word of mouth Let me visualize this concept for you: Please Note: I’m using the term "natural traffic" because you can also use all sorts of advertising to generate "paid traffic" to your blog and website. 1. Search traffic. This one is self explanatory. People search Google for hundreds of things every day and it sends them to hundreds of different websites. You can also search for videos on YouTube, for presentations on SlideShare, for photos on Flickr, for tweets on Twitter, etc. Share your content on highly searched sites to reach more people. #bloggingIf you want to get search traffic from all these platforms, you just need to put your content there and make sure it's optimized for the keywords that people might use to find it. Well, actually it's a little bit more complicated than that, but just by publishing your content on all these sites, you really win  half of the battle. 2. Your audience. These are the people who already know about you. Some of them are on your email list, some subscribe to your RSS, some might follow you on Twitter, some have your blog  in their bookmarks. Share the way your audience wants it- even if that means  using many channels. #bloggingIn other words- these people regularly check back with you to see if there was an update. And all you have to do to make them come back to your site is publish a new article and let them know about it via your distribution channels (email newsletter, Twitter, RSS). 3. Word of mouth. That's the kind of traffic you get when your audience- and people coming from "search"- share your content  with their friends. They might tweet your article, share it on Facebook, link to it from their own blog, or send the URL to someone via Skype. So how can you help  people share your content  with others? Well, if you need the short answer- you have to make your article "contagious". Contagious content is the kind people find so good they have to  share it. #bloggingAnd in case you want to go really deep, read along... 5 Hacks To Make Your Content Contagious Did you notice from my visualization that "word of mouth" is actually a loop? This loop amplifies any incoming traffic that lands on your article. But the coolest thing is that it actually amplifies itself and goes in rounds for a while before it finally fades. And the extent to which this "word of mouth" loop will amplify your blog traffic mostly relies on how well you’re going to execute the following strategies: 1. Find A Contagious Idea And Build On Top Of It I know that many people will go hard on me for advising to "steal" ideas from someone else. But I can easily convince you that there’s nothing wrong about it. Take the Tesla car for example. The guys just took a car and put an electric motor into it. How unique is that?   The electric motor was first invented in the 1740s. The first car was built sometime in the  1880s. And the first electric vehicle was presented by nyos Jedlik in 1828. So how come no one is accusing Tesla of stealing someone else's ideas? Because it's not about the original idea, is about how well you execute  that idea. So why don't you "steal" some great ideas and build a "Tesla car" of your own? Here's a great tool that will help you find the most contagious ideas- Content Explorer by Ahrefs: Just put any keywords into the search bar, and the tool will give you a list of most popular content based on your keywords. Play with this tool for 10 minutes and I guarantee that you'll find tons of golden nuggets that will inspire you to write your own contagious article. Here’s a fun fact: Content Explorer is not the only tool of its kind. I know many other tools that were launched long before it. But these guys are known to crawl the Web at Google scale, which means their index of articles is a lot bigger than any other tools can offer. That's exactly how you take someone else's idea and nail it with your execution. 2. Add Some "Practical Utility" To Your Content Do you know what makes people want to share a certain piece of content? In a recent study, researchers examined the sharing patterns of the New York Times readers. Guess what happened to be the biggest driver of shares? Practical utility! And here's how you make your article more practical: Give your readers detailed action steps that they need to take. Provide them with lots of examples and case studies to prove your points. Show them the exact numbers that they can achieve. You won't believe how much people love case studies and exact numbers! Peep Laja from ConversionXL attributes the entire success of his blog to the fact that he never gave a piece of advice if he could not support it with a research paper or a case study. Alex Turnbull from Groove published a great article  about  the importance of writing persuasive research backed content which you also can’t miss. Readers share actionable content more than anything else. #bloggingAnd here's a bonus hack that you can use to easily make your articles more practical- try to add the phrase "for example" next to every piece of advice that you give. Recommended Reading:  Why People Share: The Psychology of Social Sharing 3. Make Your Content Visually Appealing I just told you that people love exact numbers and case studies. So how about this one: According to Jakob Nielsen, 79% of people always scan through any new page that they came across and only 16% read it word for word. And here's another one: According to Josh Schwartz of Chartbeat, there’s no correlation between social shares and people actually reading your article. If you combine these two studies together it's easy to digest that†¦ People can make a snap judgement whether your article is worthy of a share just by skimming through it. Which means that... Your article doesn’t necessarily have to be worthy of a tweet, as long as it looks like  being worthy of a tweet. I know it sounds quite controversial, but it's actually backed with research studies. And in fact, when I think of my own tweeting patterns, I realize that I've tweeted quite a lot of articles just because they seemed worthy to me. So here's how you make your article look more appealing to people who are just skimming through: Write an introductory paragraph that will briefly tell people what's in there. Use meaningful sub-headings (not "clever" ones). Use bulleted lists. Use one idea per paragraph.  Users will skip over any additional ideas if they are not caught by the first few words in the paragraph. Use a lot of high-quality graphics. This will instantly boost your credibility. Use a lot of outbound links.  This will show that you did a thorough research and know what you're talking about. Speaking of "high-quality graphics"- a study conducted by Moz showed that articles with visual content actually tend to attract more links: 4. Help Your Visitors Share Your Content So let's assume that your article is based on a highly contagious idea, it's highly practical, and it looks like something worthy of a share. That alone will guarantee you a fair amount of shares, I promise! But you can easily squeeze a lot more shares from that same article if you go just a few steps further. And here are these steps: Step #1: Make sure your social sharing buttons are easily accessible. This seems so obvious that it's almost not worth mentioning. But I'm sure I'll be able to surprise you with a few tips on something you've considered to be a no-brainer. According to a study from BrightEdge, content with sharing buttons is 7 times more likely to spread than content without. Content with sharing buttons is 7 times more likely to spread than content without. #bloggingAnd if you look at my own blog, my social sharing buttons are floating at the left side of my article, which makes them always accessible no matter how deep you scroll. I also have two big bold buttons at the very end of my article, so that people could share it immediately after they've finished reading it. But the fun doesn't end there. You can push even further and optimize the design of your sharing buttons to get even more shares! Optimize the text on your social sharing buttons. Guys from Pixable carried out quite a few A/B tests to identify what makes people click on their sharing buttons more often. In their first test, they've tested the call to action and discovered that the "Share with Friends" phrase outperformed the phrase "Share" by 107%! The other test was even more amusing. In addition to the Facebook share button, they've added a Tweet button to see how that would impact their shares: That Twitter button increased the total number of shares, which was quite expected.  But the amount of Facebook shares increased as well! It seems that by providing the visitor with a choice, the second option gets them deciding on which platform to share, instead of whether or not to share. Recommended Reading:  The Best Place To Put Social Media Buttons On Your Blog Step #2: Ask for shares. As I've already mentioned above, only 16% of your visitors will actually read your article from start to finish. But these 16% are your most loyal visitors! 16% of visitors read your content from start to finish. They are your loyalists. #bloggingYou should not miss your chance to ask them for a share. You've just given them tons of great information for absolutely free, and all you're asking in return is a simple tweet. It should make them feel bad if they won't reciprocate. Pro Tip: Explain your readers why  they should share your piece of content. Give them a reason  to do it. According to research by Ellen Langer reasoning may pump your acceptance rate to as high as 94%. Here's what  the last sentence of my 7,000-word Guide To Strategic Writing looks like: "And please do me a little favour and share this guide with others, for there's a good chance that it will help them with their blogs." Can you see how I give my readers a reason to share my article? Step #3: Add sharable "sound bites". People share tons of different stuff on social networks: thoughts, quotes, takeaways, images. So why are you leaving your visitors with a single option- "whether or not to share your article"? Remember that fun experiment when the guys added a tweet button, which reframed the situation from "whether or not to share" to "which platform to pick for sharing"? Reframe your #blog readers' perspective from 'whether or not to share' to 'where to  share'.Well, you can move that frame in a different direction- from "whether or not to share the article" to "whether to share an article or a quote from it". Yes, I’m talking about these "tweetable quotes" that you see all over the blog. This strategy was adopted by lots of popular bloggers. I see the "tweet this" quotes on almost all of my favorite blogs. Wonder if this actually works? I once noticed Michael Hyatt using a "tweetable quote" by Jeff Goins in one of his articles: It's not fun to fail, but it just might be the only way to succeed. - Jeff Goins I immediately jumped on Twitter to see if his readers were actually tweeting it. And here's what I saw there: Here's a real life example of how tweetable quotes can help increase  blog traffic through contagious content. Lucky for you, the guys from were kind enough to develop a free WordPress plugin that you can use to create tweetable quotes in your articles. And if you have a little bit of money to invest, I invite you to check my own plugin, which is a little bit more advanced than the free one by .  It's called TweetDis. And if you want to know why this plugin is worth every single penny- just let me know. 5. Optimize Your "Share Snippets" So you've just learned what makes people share your articles. That opens up your viral loop. To effectively close the loop, you need to optimize your "share snippets" to get the maximum "clicks per share". People should eagerly click on your article when they see some of their friends sharing it. This will guarantee that your article will go through a series of viral cycles and your blog  traffic will fade very slowly. Here's how you squeeze more clicks out of your share snippets: Step #1: Write an irresistible headline. There is  actually tons of advice on writing irresistible headlines. All you need to do is simply apply all these tips until you come up with at least 5–7 headlines to choose from. You can then go play with headline analyzer tool to pick the winning one. I'm afraid there's no magic bullet. The more headline variations you will write,  the better you'll get at it. The guys from Upworthy are known to write 25 headlines per article before they settle with one (and so does ): Read This:  25 Scientifically Proven Ways To Write Better Headlines For Your Blog Step #2: Attach images to your "share snippets". What usually catches your attention as you skim through your Facebook newsfeed? Wait-wait!.. I know the answer! It's images! Most social networks allow you to attach images to the things that you share, and that's an opportunity you can't afford to ignore. Let's look at some data: Photos are the most engaging type of content on Facebook, with a whopping 87% interaction rate! No other post type received more than a 4% interaction rate. And attaching an image to your tweet can boost retweets by an impressive 35%. So in case an image is not being attached every time someone tweets your article- you're seriously missing out. Here's how to set this up from a technical standpoint:  Just install WordPress SEO plugin by Yoast and enable â€Å"Facebook Open Graph† and â€Å"Twitter card meta data† within its settings. Once you do this, the plugin will attach the featured image of your article to every single share. Yes, it really is as simple as that. BONUS: How To Turn Your Visitors Into Email Subscribers In the headline of this post, I promised you 5  tactics that will make your content contagious.   I've just listed them, and I really hope you've enjoyed the read. But there's one more content marketing tactic that I just can't help sharing with you. It has nothing to do with blog traffic (at least not initially), but it will grow your email list at a pace you've never seen before. Bonus: How To Turn Your Visitors Into Email Subscribers #bloggingThis tactic is called "content upgrades", and here's how it works. Most bloggers create a single "opt-in bribe" and pitch it everywhere on their blog: on their homepage, in the sidebar, on different popups, and slide-in forms. And it works pretty well.   But a single "opt-in bribe" can’t be relevant to every article that you have on your blog. People coming to read an article about "content marketing" are not interested in your e-book on "conversion rate optimization". A few smart bloggers realized that and started offering "content-specific opt-in bribes" and embed them right into the content of their articles. I bet you've seen these yellow boxes offering you some bonus content. Here's an example from a blog of Brian Dean: This is an example of how Brian Dean uses content upgrades at Backlinko. The downloads complement the context of his articles perfectly. This tactic is called "content upgrades" and it converts readers into email subscribers at a crazy rate, because the "opt-in bribe" that you're offering is highly relevant to the content of the article and actually complements it. Recommended Reading:  Why You Should Give Free Content To Your Readers Here's a case study of how I implemented this strategy on my own blog: [CASE STUDY] How I Increased My Email Conversion Rate By 300% Using Content Upgrades OK, now I feel that I'm leaving you with enough information to make you completely rethink how you approach content marketing. Hope you loved my content marketing hacks and won't mind sharing this article with others. Or would you? :)

A Selection of Quotes by Jomo Kenyatta

A Selection of Quotes by Jomo Kenyatta Jomo Kenyatta was an activist and politician in Kenya who led the country as Prime Minister in 1963 and then as President in 1964. He is credited for his part in turning Kenya into an independent republic. He died in office at the age of 81. Quotes If Africans were left in peace on their own lands, Europeans would have to offer them the benefits of white civilization in real earnest before they could obtain the African labor which they want so much. They would have to offer the African a way of life which was really superior to the one his fathers lived before, and a share in the prosperity given them by their command of science. They would have to let the African choose what parts of European culture could be beneficially transplanted, and how they could be adapted ... The African is conditioned, by cultural and social institutions of centuries, to freedom of which Europe has a little conception, and it is not in his nature to accept serfdom forever. Europeans assume that, given the right knowledge and ideas, personal relations can be left largely to take care of themselves, and this is perhaps the most fundamental difference in outlook between Africans and Europeans. You and I must work together to develop our country, to get education for our children, to have doctors, to build roads, to improve or provide all day-to-day essentials. To .. all the dispossessed youth of Africa: for the perpetuation of communion with ancestral spirits through the fight for African freedom, and in the firm faith that the dead, the living, and the unborn will unite to rebuild the destroyed shrines. Our children may learn about the heroes of the past. Our task is to make ourselves the architects of the future. Where there has been racial hatred, it must be ended. Where there has been tribal animosity, it will be finished. Let us not dwell upon the bitterness of the past. I would rather look to the future, to the good new Kenya, not to the bad old days. If we can create this sense of national direction and identity, we shall have gone a long way to solving our economic problems. Many people may think that now there is Uhuru, now I can see the sun of Freedom shining, richness will pour down like manna from Heaven. I tell you there will be nothing from Heaven. We must all work hard, with our hands, to save ourselves from poverty, ignorance, and disease. If we respect ourselves and our Uhuru, foreign investment will pour in and we will prosper. We do not want to oust the Europeans from this country. But what we demand is to be treated like the white races. If we are to live here in peace and happiness, racial discrimination must be abolished. God said this is our land, land in which we flourish as people... we want our cattle to get fat on our land so that our children grow up in prosperity; and we do not want the fat removed to feed others.

Kristen Cookie Company Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Kristen Cookie Company - Term Paper Example Computation of the company’s optimum capacity compared to its break-even point also revealed that the present production system cannot make the company viable because optimum capacity is almost equal to break-even point. Having identified the weaknesses in Kirsten Cookie Company, recommendations were made on how to eliminate the bottleneck in production and how to make the company more viable and competetive in general. I. Introduction Background information   Kristen’s Cookie Company is a company that I co-own with my roommate. We operate in an on-campus apartment with the university students and personnel as our primary market. The initial idea of the company is to bake fresh cookies to order, using any combination of ingredients that the customer wants. The cookies that were ordered will be available for pick up within an hour. Thesis of the case study   This study will investigate whether the chosen production process which is the made to order is the most profi table mode of production considering the kind of market that we have and the facility and opportunity available to us. During the course of its investigation, it is important to note that the organization is a start-up company and is operated and manned by its owners (me and my roommate) and as such, this limitation should be considered in the assessment of the organization to arrive at an accurate findings where realistic recommendations can be made where it is appropriate. II. Methodology SWOT Analysis SWOT provides an organization the environmental assessment of which it operates and thus provides the framework to determine the appropriateness of Kristen Cookie Company’s production process. It includes both the internal and external factors of an organization’s environment. The internal factors involve the internal capability of an organization as expressed by the strength and weakness of SWOT. The external environment of an organization is expressed in the opportun ities and threats of the SWOT (Beagrie, 2004). SWOT provides a reality check in determining the appropriateness of the elected production process in the initial phase of Kirsten Cookie Company. Strength Making cookies through made to order has a marketing appeal of having a product that is freshly baked right from the oven cookies. Compared to the make to stocked cookies, they are fresher and relatively tastes better. Producing cookies through made to order minimizes risk because the company keeps no inventory of its finished products that has the potential of incurring loss due to spoilage and waste when it is not sold before its expiration date. Weakness The make to order production of cookies limits the production capacity of the business according to the number of orders which are done in almost real time (one hour before the customer can pick up their cookies). It also does not optimize production capacity and makes the facility vulnerable to idleness during off season. It is a lso vulnerable to opportunity cost because the company’s commitment to sell freshly baked cookies which the customers can pick up after an hour of ordering implies opportunity lost with demands foregone during the day (the business only operates at night and has a commitment that customers can pick up their cookies after an hour of ordering). Given the capacity of its facility, the make to order production system also has a bottleneck in the baking stage where it will compile buffers as it takes longer to bake (10 mins) before the next batch will arrive (6 mins for the 3 trays to complete).

Business Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Business Economics - Essay Example (Hay, 2009, p. 461) The bubble formed by the housing price was the initiator of the general global economic crisis brought over to the whole world. What initiated the crisis was the bursting of the house price bubble in the United States and the problem was magnified by the aggressive mortgage lending prices. The housing market or the real estate market comprises of several differentiated markets as the owner occupied market, rental housing market, urban business properties market that is the factories, shops and the offices, the agricultural land markets and the recreational properties. There are five main reasons that are held responsible for the house price bubbles; they are low interest rates, development of new and innovative financial products which facilitated the availability of the credit, the tax treatment was also in favor of the debt-financed and owner-occupied housing; shortage in the supply of land in the attractive urban areas, increase in the purchase of houses as a r ental property or for speculative purposes. (Muller, Almy, Engelschalk, 2009, pp. 17-20; UK Economy in ‘Worst Crisis’ in 60 years, 2008) The Housing market Crash The UK housing market The real house prices have grown stronger over the past years, which have been volatile accompanied by macroeconomic fluctuations. The UK Housing market has gone through significant turbulence since the early 1980. In the period between 1982-1989, the market experienced a rapid rise in the housing prices, but meanwhile the housing prices showed a downward trend during the period 1990-1992 resulting in house price inflation. Accruing to the high economic growth in the years 1992 and 1993, the housing market in UK witnessed an increase in the average house price inflation, which originated in London and the South East region, which had a rippling down effect towards the north. The UK housing markets are the result of the personal sector wealth proportion, which was invested in the owner occu pied dwellings. The UK owner occupied dwellings accounted for 20 percent in 1960, which increased to 40 percent in 1990s. Highest owner- occupation rates and the lowest private renting characterize UK. The main reason which drove the financial turbulence in the housing market in 1980s are the liberalization of the financial markets and the policy of ‘Right to Buy’ which ensured the transformation of the population from the rented house to the private own occupied house. The increase in the competition among the lenders resulted in the fact that the borrowers get loans. This resulted in an increase in the household sector mortgage indebtedness from 25 percent in 1980 to 75 percent in 1992. The average mortgage advance reached its highest 60.1 percent in the year 1986, and thereby remained at a steady 58 percent for the rest of the 1980s. The house price inflation was fueled by the amalgamation of factors like increased in demand for housing, rising incomes, and an increa ses in the competition to supply mortgage lending. (Figueira, Glen, Nellis, 2005, p. 1756; UK house prices drop like a rock, 2008) The reason behind the crash The main reason behind the UK housing crash was it’s serendipitously stumbling upon the economic growth trajectories, which were mainly consumer-led and private debt financed in the early 1990s. Both

American rangelands and forests Essay Example for Free

American rangelands and forests Essay Part 1 Choose either a rangeland or a forest of the United States and describe current federal management strategies. Explain federal efforts to manage these lands sustainably by completing the chart below. Rangeland or Forest Location Brief History of Rangeland or Forest What are current land management problems? What are the current federal land management strategies that address these problems? What is one sustainable effort that should be implemented? American Rangeland or Forest: San Bernardino National Forest San Bernardino Forest The San Bernardino Forest was born in 1907 after the forest reserve act was passed in 1891. The forest has a history of mining and prospecting in the past. The roads during the winter. Trees are dying off at a fast rate causing a high chance for forest fires. Insects are damaging the trees at a fast rate. The Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) program is trying to stop the damage that burnt areas causing. The run off hurts fish, wildlife, and many other things that are important. Ecological Restoration plan. It will take over stewardship of the land for the next 15 to 20 years. They need to sell some of the land for mining as it has a history of mining and prospecting in the past. Part 2 Take your information from Part 1 and use it to create a Sustainability Plan. Your sustainability plan should present what, when, and how something is to be sustained and maintained now and into the indefinite future. Your plan can be submitted in a narrative or table format. The Corporation for  National and Community Service (n.d.) provides the following list of components that make up a sustainability plan that should be included in your paper or table: 1. Action items: Provide the items or activities that need to be addressed or that need to occur. Refer to the following example: My plan for sustaining clean air in my community is to develop an education program about air pollution-generating activities and their effects, schedule a presentation day and time, invite community participants, and research the effects of air pollution. 2. Order of action items: Discuss how the action items in Step 1 will align or occur. One event or activity should occur before another; thus, order the items into steps similar to the following: 1) Research the effects of air pollution. 2) Develop an education program. 3) Schedule a presentation day and time. 4) Invite the community. 3. Action steps: Explain how you are going to conduct the action items. How are you going to make each item or activity happen? Include individuals or groups who will help you conduct these activities. Use the following as a guide: In order to schedule a presentation day and time, I will attend next month’s community homeowner’s association (HOA) meeting and request permission from the board to add it to the following month’s agenda. 4. Timeline: Estimate when you are going to conduct the action items, such as â€Å"In months 1–3, I will complete the research.† If an item or activity does not have a specific conclusion time, indicate that it is ongoing. The following is a sample of how you might incorporate your sustainability plan into a table format—keep in mind this is an incomplete plan: Action Items (in the correct order) Action Steps Action Steps Research and identify the effects of air pollution. Review environmental websites and journals. Document the sources of air pollution and both environmental and health effects of air pollution. Document video interviews of environmental researchers and facilitators. Month 1–3 Develop an education program about air pollution effects. Develop a presentation about why this program is needed and include air pollution’s ill effects, the lifestyle changes that will be required, and the benefits and challenges of change. Month 1–3 Schedule a presentation day and time. Attend a monthly HOA meeting to present the benefits of the program. Request that the HOA board add the presentation to the following month’s agenda. Document the audio and visual equipment needed for presentation and layout of the room. Month 4 Identify and invite community participants. Tally the number of homes in the community. Create and distribute flyers to homes announcing the next HOA meeting and the educational program that will be introduced. Month 4–5 Blank Sample Action Plan Action Items (in order) Action Steps Timeline Anybody who wants to join groups that wants to save the San Bernardino Forest. We will talk about information on saving the forest; newsletters, and other ways of keeping people informed. We need to set regulations and rules to help preserve the forest. We have many laws and Government groups (Baer) that need our help and support. I feel that education will be the most important tool. People always want to get involved we just have to give them a chance. If they know what to do if something is wrong it could save the forest. 1 – 5 months Education will be the most important for everybody that works or visits the forest. If we want to keep the forest in good condition we have to educate all people that work and visit the park what causes damage and how to keep the forest safe. If people know how to save the forest they will. We need to make sure all laws are posted up all over. We need to make sure that people know the benefits of keeping the forest in good condition. 6 – 9 months How to preserve the forest. We need to inform all entering the San Bernardino forest why it is important to protect the forest. The forest is very important to way of life and the future of our kids. It will help with air quality and the clean water. We need to cover fire safety. 1 year How to take action We need to take action and make sure we implement Government plans and the plans as a group that we came up with. We need to take care of the insect problem with safe pesticides that don’t hurt the wildlife and fish. The future Be a good steward Follow up on all the plans and make sure we take the lead as a group. We need to see if the plans we made are making a difference and cleaning up the burnt trees and the insect problem. Follow up References www.fs.usda.gov/sbnf/ Corporation for National Community Service. (n.d.). Sample sustainability plan. In Toolkit for program sustainability, capacity building, and volunteer recruitment/management (Section 4). Retrieved from http://www.nationalserviceresources.org/filemanager/download/online/sustainability_plan.pdf.

Ben Mikaelsen’s Countdown :: Mikaelsen Countdown Essays

An Essay on Ben Mikaelsen’s Countdown      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Countdown is a book written by Ben Mikaelsen and was first published in 1996.   It has a total of 248 pages and published by the Hyperion Books for Children company.   This book is mainly about sending the first teenager in space.   And it is also about finding how a young coward becomes a village warrior.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This story takes place in Big Timber, Montana and in Kenya, Africa.   The setting starts off in winter and fourteen-year-old Elliott Schroeder is busy working around his family farm.   On the news, NASA announces the first Junior Astronaut program and youth all around the country will get a chance to become the first teen in space.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Meanwhile, in Kenya, Africa, a young fourteen year old Masai, Vincent Ole Tome returns from tending to his family farm also.   Vincent was no ordinary boy either, his father had sent him to the â€Å"wood school† which is similar to regular school in America.   With the education he had received, many boys disliked him and named him a coward for not working as hard in the family farms.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Getting back to Elliott, many things occurred since the announcement of the Junior Astronaut program.   Elliott is chosen to become to first teenager in space and begins his nine month training along with his alternate, Mandy Jane Harris.   This was it, the only chance that Elliott Andrew Schroeder was going to become a national hero and the only thing in his way was Mandy.   Because of that he developed a disliking towards her which almost costed them their privilege to go to space.   Then Elliott realized that his disliking had to reasonable justification and they became the best of friends for the last four months of training.   Then the day came, when Elliott was really going to become the first teen in space and his only duty was to speak to anyone on earth throughout NASA’s space mission.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   While all of this was happening in America, in Kenya, Africa, Vincent is now being tested by the elders of his village along with all other young Masai boys to find who is the bravest of them to become a warrior.   Leboo, a not so close friend of Vincent, tries to tear Vincent’s spirits down by naming him a coward.

Clare and Irene Essay

With an African American man running for president, the United States has been more focused on race in the last year than any time in the last several decades, but much of the focus has been on the concept that race doesn’t matter. For the characters in Nella Larsen’s â€Å"Passing†, race was everything and although race relations have improve since 1929 when the book was published, it is impossible to believe that race is not still a major factor in the development of personal identity and in social interactions. In the novel, Clare and Irene choose different paths because of their race and in spite of it. Clare hides her past, and her heritage, â€Å"passing for white† while Irene remains a part of the black community of Harlem. Perhaps because of her own mixed ethnicity, Larsen is able to tell the story from the viewpoint of both women, both ashamed and confused by the impact that their race has on their lives. Clare spends much of the book trying to hide her heritage and Irene revels in hers. Had Larsen written at a different time, she might have had Clare suffer some grand cosmic punishment for her deception, but in â€Å"Passing’ it is more Irene who suffers for her choice. Because she remains a part of the black community, she suffers discrimination and humiliation that would have been spared a white woman. The most interesting facet of this novel is that it still enlightens us today about the impact of race on personal identity. Michael Jackson has long been the brunt of many jokes with tabloid speculation that he was lightening his skin, trying to become more white. On the other side of the argument, many African Americans, especially in the rap recording industry, try to make themselves more racially separated than they truly are. This is even true in the race for the White House as every time Barack Obama’s race is mentioned, someone takes great care to point out that his father was an African, not a black American. The underlying tone of the racism in American society today is well-reflect in Larson’s novel. Much like Clare and Irene, America today is not acknowledging its racial history and how that impacts the way people think and act. The hardest part for Clare and Irene comes in the discovery that Clare has been â€Å"passing† as white. Once she is discovered, she is brutalized by fellow African Americans who think they are giving her what she deserves because she has tried to put on airs and act white. She is assumed guilty of any number of other crimes because she lied about her ethnicity and Irene, who often was jealous of the decision that Clare made, feels that she should do nothing to stop the prejudice on both sides because Clare made the decision to try passing. Historically speaking, the idea of â€Å"passing† is made much more poignant when we recall Plessey v. Ferguson in which a quadroon man, one quarter black but capable of passing for white, challenged the laws about a white only railroad car. He was convicted and the court went all the way to the Supreme Court which ruled, at that time (1896) , that any African blood made you black, whether you could pass for Caucasian or not. Obviously, Larsen understood this ruling and its impact on her own life and the life of her fellow citizens of Harlem.

Baseball: Then and Now Essay

â€Å"The game of baseball has now become beyond question the leading feature of the outdoor sports of the United States†¦It is a game which is peculiarly suited to the American temperament and disposition:†¦ in short, the pastime suits the people, and the people suit the pastime†(Charles Peverelly, 1866). Although baseball is still America’s favorite pastime, the way it is played has changed greatly since it’s founding in the 1800’s. Baseball was originally created so there would be something the boys could do to keep busy during the summer months. Now, baseball has changed greatly because of technological and technique advancements, rule alterations, and the commercialization of the game. Since its origination in the mid 1800’s, baseball has undergone many changes and advancements in technology and technique. When it was first played, there was no such thing as a glove used to help catch the ball. The fielders would play bare-handed, making line drives automatic hits and ground balls even harder to handle. The bat has undergone many changes as well. Batters used to hit the ball with a bat that had a flat side. This was comparable to a cricket paddle except slightly longer and slimmer. Now, players of any age or level use bats that are cylinder shaped with a slightly wider section on the end. In the 1800’s, the general public was not as safety oriented as is today’s society. This is shown by the complete lack of helmets worn by players in the mid 1800’s. Now, helmets are required by rule to be worn by the batter when he is hitting. Helmets are made of a highly durable, shock absorbent outer shell with soft interior padding for comfort. Other advances were demonstrated by the change in pitching style and technique. The first pitchers threw two kinds of pitches: a high pitch and a low pitch. Then, they added outside and inside pitches. After that, change ups and fastballs were developed. Now, sliders, sinkers, curveballs, forkballs, screwballs, and knuckleballs are routine pitches. As a result of today’s pitchers like Pedro Martinez and Greg Maddux – who throw less hittable pitches – hitting techniques have been worked on, and players have become better hitters. For  example, the first great hitters such as Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle would not be able to compete with Alex Rodriguez and Barry Bonds – the best batters of today. The advancements in technology and style have completely changed the way baseball is played, as have the many changes that were made to the rulebook. Since its early beginning in the mid 1800’s through 1975, baseball has developed and modified many old rules into new rules that keep the game flowing. In 1889, a rule was introduced that if four balls were thrown during the span of one player’s at-bat, the player was allowed to â€Å"walk† to first base. This was an immense change from the old rule, which stated that if nine pitches total were thrown during the at-bat, the hitter would â€Å"walk† to first base. Also that year, the batter could be thrown only three strikes before he was called out. In 1969, a standard strike zone was added that included the area from the batter’s armpits to the top of his knees. These three rules eliminated the lengthy at bats that slowed down the game, standardized play, and made less room for controversial called strikes or balls. Not only were changes made in the playing rules, there were also many changes in the equipment rules. In 1889, the catcher was allowed to wear a padded leather mitt and a chest protector. This rule made being the catcher more bearable. By 1893, bat size and shape was enforced, and in 1975, the last change was made; the baseball could be covered with cowhide because of the shortage of horses. Because of the plethora of changes that were made to the rulebook, baseball today contrasts baseball in the 1800’s. The most explicit cause of the changes in baseball is the amount of commercialization that occurs today. The professional baseball players of today are shown on TV and in newspapers; their replica jerseys are sold at around $70 per item; and the players make an average of $600,000 per year. Compared to the absence of salary until the 1920’s, this is a major difference. In 1922, Babe Ruth made $50,000 in 1989, Kirby Puckett made $3,000,000 and in 2000, Alex Rodriguez made $27,000,000. Many players of today play for money, not for their love of the game like they used to. This shows that baseball is no longer a game, but a job. Another change is the publicity baseball receives. Stadiums today can hold as many as 62,409 people (Veterans Stadium, Philadelphia). The first ball parks did not even have a place for spectators to watch. Not only do professional stadiums attract viewers, but they attract salesmen and the media. For example, Hormel ® does not provide 7th inning stretch entertainment to show their support for baseball; they do it simply to advertise to a very large crowd for a very small price. Baseball today has grown rapidly into a target for cheap advertising and money-making. With the emphasis and importance of baseball on Americans’ lives today, it has rapidly grown into America’s favorite pastime. Through technological and technique advancements, rule alterations, and the commercialization of the game, baseball has changed greatly from the unorganized backyard game into America’s favorite pastime. â€Å"I think Little League Baseball is wonderful. It keeps the kids out of the house.† (Yogi Berra, 1954)

Should I Study One of These Highest Paying College Majors

Should I Study One of These Highest Paying College Majors SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips One of the primary reasons people go to college is to be able to eventually land a stable job that offers a quality income. However, not all college degrees are created equally. Some majors usually lead to jobs that pay extremely well, and some majors often lead to jobs that don't. In this article, I'll go overthe toppaying majors. Additionally, I'll explain how much the pursuit of money should influence your choice of major and how to make a decent living regardless of what you study in college. Why Do Certain Majors Make More Money? Basically, certain majors qualify you for jobs in more lucrative fields. Engineers and pharmacists earn high incomes; therefore, those who major in engineering and pharmacy tend to end up with well-paying jobs. Conversely, teachers and social workers make lower incomes, so those who major in education or social work usually make less money. Certain occupations offer higher incomes for a variety of reasons. There are market influences, where some jobs have a high demand and a low supply of qualified workers. If a job requires highly specialized skills that few people possess, it will also usually pay relatively well. Additionally, if a job is dangerous or demands long hours, it will often offer a higherincome to provide an incentive for people to be willing to do the work. The Highest Paying College Majors In 2015, the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce published an extensive report on the economic value of college majors. My statistics come from that report. The report’s numbers were derived from US Census Data information from 2013. Starting salaries are the median annual wages of college graduates ages 21-24. Mid-career salaries are annual wages for college graduates ages 25-59. Top 13 TopPaying Majors Most of the top 13 highest paying majors are in engineering. The majors are ranked by the median annual wages of college-educated workers (ages 25-59). This petroleum engineer is probably making bank. (Eni/Flickr) Major Mid-Career Salary 1. Petroleum Engineering $136,000 2. Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Administration $113,000 3. Metallurgical Engineering $98,000 4. Mining and Mineral Engineering $97,000 5. Chemical Engineering $96,000 6. Electrical Engineering $93,000 7. Aerospace Engineering $90,000 8. Mechanical Engineering $87,000 8. Computer Engineering $87,000 8. Geological and Geophysical Engineering $87,000 11. Computer Science $83,000 11. Civil Engineering $83,000 11. Applied Mathematics $83,000 Highest Paying Majors by Major Group Here are the top 11 highest-paying major groups ranked by mid-career earnings. Major groups are more general subjects, and multiple majors are within each group. For example, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering all fall under the architecture and engineering major category. Economics, linguistics, sociology, and psychology are considered social sciences. English, art history, and philosophy are examples of humanities and liberal arts majors. Major Group Starting Salary Mid-Career Salary 1. Architecture and Engineering $50,000 $83,000 2. Computers, Statistics, and Mathematics $43,000 $76,000 3. Health $41,000 $65,000 3. Business $37,000 $65,000 3. Physical Sciences $32,000 $65,000 6. Social Sciences $33,000 $60,000 7. Agriculture and Natural Resources $30,000 $56,000 7. Biology and Life Sciences $29,000 $56,000 9. Communications and Journalism $31,000 $54,000 9. Law and Public Policy $31,000 $54,000 11. Humanities and Liberal Arts $30,000 $52,000 If these kids study computer science, they'll be able to support me in my old age. What If You’re Not Interested in Engineering? Are You Destined for Destitution? The short answer is no. You can make a good living regardless of your major. First, no matter your major, you’re likely to earn more than somebody with just a high school diploma. The average education major earns $45,000 annually while the average high school graduate makes $36,000. Also, there is a great deal of variation in the incomes within major groups. Humanities and liberal arts majors have a 25% chance of earning at least $75,000. In fact, the top quarter of humanities and liberal arts graduates earn more than the bottom quarter of architecture and engineering graduates. Additionally, regardless of your major, getting a graduate degree will increase your earning potential. The median wage for a journalism major with a graduate degree is $71,000. That’s only $5,000 less than the median wage of all STEM degree holders. Graduate degree holders who majored in history earn $80,000 annually, $4,000 more than the median wage of all STEM majors. If you want to earn more money, irrespective of your major, you should focus on acquiring work experience in your field, getting good grades, and forming relationships with your bosses and mentors who will be able to provide you with outstanding references. If you make yourself an exceptionally qualified candidate for a job, you'll be able to make a higher salary. How Much Should Potential Future Earnings Impact Your Choice of Major? Personally, I believe it’s fine to consider earning potential when deciding your major, but your passions and interests should primarily determine what you study in college. If you’re deciding between more than one major that interests you, you can use wage statistics to help influence your decision. It's naive to think that money doesn’t matter at all. If, in the future, you want to buy a house, raise a family, go on vacations, and send your kids to college, you’re going to need to make a good living to do those things. In Los Angeles, where I live, the current median home sale price is $593,750. If you want to get a home in LA, you’re going to need to make significantly more than the average humanities and liberal arts major. However, generally, you’re going to be happiest and most successful if you study something you’re good at and enjoy. If you decide to major in petroleum engineering just because you want to make a lot of money, your decision could backfire. If you have no interest in the subject, you may struggle to graduate or advance in your future career. Or you may find the subject boring and end up wanting to switch careers when you're older. Furthermore, if you study something you truly enjoy, you'll be more likely to want to pursue a graduate degree and commit yourself to reaching the highest level in your field. Remember that there's a great deal of income variation within major groups. If you're at the top of your profession, you'll probably make good money, and, undoubtedly, you're going to have a much a better chance to excel in a field you're passionate about. Finally, there are factors other than money that are good reasons to choose a major or career. Many people are willing to sacrifice some money for a sense of fulfillment or to do something they really enjoy. Most education majors are aware they'll probably never be among the wealthiest people, but they feel compelled to teach or influence education policy. They see value in what they're doing and are motivated by more than just money. You have to decide what's most important to you. What's Next? Learn if where you go to college impacts how much money you'll make. Going to college will enable you to make more money, but college can be extremely expensive. If you want to decrease the cost of attending college, check out our articles on how to find scholarships and understand the financial aid process. Do you want to go to college for free? Find out how to get a full ride scholarship. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Nietzsches Concept of the Will to Power

Nietzsche's Concept of the Will to Power The â€Å"will to power† is a central concept in the philosophy of 19th-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. It is best understood as an irrational force, found in all individuals, that can be channeled toward different ends. Nietzsche explored the idea of the will to power throughout his career, categorizing it at various points as a psychological, biological, or metaphysical principle. For this reason, the will to power is also one of Nietzsches most misunderstood ideas. Origins of the Idea In his early twenties, Nietzsche read The World as Will and Representation by Arthur Schopenhauer and fell under its spell. Schopenhauer offered a deeply pessimistic vision of life, and at the heart of it was his idea that a blind, ceaselessly striving, irrational force he called â€Å"Will† constituted the dynamic essence of the world. This cosmic Will manifests or expresses itself through each individual in the form of the sexual drive and the â€Å"will to life† that can be seen throughout nature. It is the source of much misery since it is essentially insatiable. The best thing one can do to reduce one’s suffering is to find ways to calm it. This is one of the functions of art. In his first book, The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche posits what he calls a â€Å"Dionysian† impulse as the source of Greek tragedy. Like Schopenhauer’s Will, it is an irrational force that surges up from dark origins, and it expresses itself in wild drunken frenzies, sexual abandon, and festivals of cruelty. His later notion of the will to power is significantly different, but it retains something of this idea of a deep, pre-rational, unconscious force that can be harnessed and transformed in order to create something beautiful. The Will to Power as a Psychological Principle In early works like Human, All Too Human and Daybreak, Nietzsche devotes much of his attention to psychology. He doesn’t talk explicitly about a â€Å"will to power,† but time and again he explains aspects of human behavior in terms of a desire for domination or mastery over others, oneself, or the environment. In The Gay Science he begins to be more explicit, and in Thus Spoke Zarathustra he begins to use the expression â€Å"will to power.† People unacquainted with Nietzsche’s writings may be inclined to interpret the idea of the will to power rather crudely. But Nietzsche is not thinking only or even primarily of the motivations behind people like Napoleon or Hitler who expressly seek military and political power. In fact, he typically applies the theory quite subtly. For instance, Aphorism 13 of The Gay Science is entitled â€Å"The Theory of the Sense of Power.† Here Nietzsche argues that we exercise power over other people both by benefiting them and by hurting them. When we hurt them we make them feel our power in a crude way- and also a dangerous way, since they may seek to revenge themselves. Making someone indebted to us is usually a preferable way to feel a sense of our power; we also thereby extend our power, since those we benefit see the advantage of being on our side. Nietzsche, in fact, argues that causing pain is generally less pleasant than showing kindness and even suggests that cruelty, because it is the inferior option, is a sign that one lacks power. Nietzsche’s Value Judgments The will to power as Nietzsche conceives of it is neither good nor bad. It is a basic drive found in everyone, but one that expresses itself in many different ways. The philosopher and the scientist direct their will to power into a will to truth. Artists channel it into a will to create. Businessmen satisfy it through becoming rich. In On the Genealogy of Morals, Nietzsche contrasts â€Å"master morality† and â€Å"slave morality,† but traces both back to the will to power. Creating tables of values, imposing them on people, and judging the world according to them, is one noteworthy expression of the will to power. And this idea underlies Nietzsche attempt to understand and evaluate moral systems. The strong, healthy, masterly types confidently impose their values on the world directly. The weak, by contrast, seek to impose their values in a more cunning, roundabout way, by making the strong feel guilty about their health, strength, egotism, and pride. So while the will to power in itself is neither good nor bad, Nietzsche very clearly prefers some ways in which it expresses itself to others. He doesn’t advocate the pursuit of power. Rather, he praises the sublimation of the will to power into creative activity. Roughly speaking, he praises those expressions of it he views as creative, beautiful, and life-affirming, and he criticizes expressions of the will to power that he sees as ugly or born of weakness. One particular form of the will to power that Nietzsche devotes much attention to is what he calls â€Å"self-overcoming.† Here the will to power is harnessed and directed toward self-mastery and self-transformation, guided by the principle that â€Å"your real self lies not deep within you but high above you.† Charles Darwin.   Historical Picture Archive/Getty Images Nietzsche and Darwin In the 1880s Nietzsche read and seems to have been influenced by several German theorists who criticized Darwin’s account of how evolution occurs. In several places he contrasts the will to power with the â€Å"will to survive,† which he seems to think is the basis of Darwinism. In fact, though, Darwin does not posit a will to survive. Rather, he explains how species evolve due to natural selection in the struggle to survive. The Will to Power as a Biological Principle At times Nietzsche seems to posit the will to power as more than just a principle that yields insight into the deep psychological motivations of human beings. For instance, in Thus Spoke Zarathustra he has Zarathustra say: â€Å"Wherever I found a living thing, I found there the will to power.† Here the will to power is applied to the biological realm. And in a fairly straightforward sense, one might understand a simple event such as a big fish eating a little fish as a form of the will to power; the big fish demonstrates mastery of its environment by assimilating part of the environment into itself. The Will to Power as a Metaphysical Principle Nietzsche contemplated writing a book entitled â€Å"The Will to Power† but never published a book under this name. After his death, however, his sister Elizabeth published a collection of his unpublished notes, organized and edited by herself, entitled The Will to Power. Some sections of this book make it clear that Nietzsche took seriously the idea that the will to power might be a fundamental principle operating throughout the cosmos. Section 1067, the last section of the book, sums up Nietzsche’s way of thinking about the world as â€Å"a monster of energy, without beginning, without end...my Dionysian world of the eternally self-creating, the eternally self-destroying†¦Ã¢â‚¬  It concludes: â€Å"Do you want a name for this world? A solution for all its riddles?  A light for you, too, you best-concealed, strongest, most intrepid, most midnightly men?––This world is the will to power––and nothing besides!  And you yourselves are also this will to power––and nothing besides!†

Fiscal condition of the federal government today Essay

Fiscal condition of the federal government today - Essay Example The US financial crisis threatens not only its constituent states but also the world at large. The crisis has been around for some time. It started slowly with fears of the worst since 2003. As the years progressed, the fears came to pass with the present financial status leaving more to be desired in the financial markets.The last six months have demonstrated financial volatility (not only in US but world over) that has never been witnessed may be since the great depression (O'Connor, 2001. pp.10-15). This paper seeks to evaluate the present fiscal condition of the US federal government with emphasis on the causes of the crisis and an exploration of the effects of the crisis on both the public and private domain. The federal government fiscal crisis is echoed by the serious struggle by the states and local governments through unfathomable and prolonged fiscal crisis which has since spread from the federal government to haunt them. The states', not mentioning the federal government's , revenues are declining sharply or if they are growing, then this growth is indeed very slow to be noticed. This is made worse by the federal government out spending its revenues. The crisis is likely to continue unless some quick and informed remedial measures are not taken.According to the 2002 financial year report, as at September 2003 the federal government had more than $1 trillion reported assets with slightly more than $8 trillion in liabilities leaving $7 trillion accumulated deficit with a reported $365 billion operating deficit and a $158 billion unified budget deficit. The projection by the general comptroller and CBO was that the situation was headed for worse with the unified budget deficits likely to hit $401 billion and $480 billion in 2003 and 2004 respectively. This means that there was no hope in 2002 and the situation was expected to worsen with time. 2008 was recorded the climax of the financial market redundancy and thus you can imagine the situation in 2008 i f it is worse than the figures projected for 2003 and 2004. The 2008 was marked with acute financial crisis with the financial market feared to be headed for a clash. The cause of the situation was immediately credited to the borrowers who were at the verge of insolvency and thus pulling down the lenders. These borrowers include the auto industry which has since received $15 billion bailout. Based on this insolvency, most lenders declined to lend thus affecting the mortgage industry and the stock market. Apart from the cause mentioned above, the other causes of this sticky financial crisis may be traced down to the weakening economy, the 1990's tax cut policies taken by the federal and state governments, sharp decline in stock markets, and the structural anomalies in the state and federal government tax systems among other seen and unseen causes. Focusing on policy, it is common knowledge how federal policy can impact state finances. Since the 1990's, the federal government set policies to provide subsidies to the state and local governments. The subsidies were to be provided because the federal government asked the states to reduce the cost of taxes on the taxpayers. This tax cut was later to haunt the federal government. The federal government also exempted interests on bonds from the federal taxation. Another tax policy is the fact that the federal government managed the entire estate tax and shared the tax revenues amongst the states. The 2003 Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconcili ation Act (JGTRRA) came with a counter- cyclical fiscal relief or subsidies for the states. The fiscal relief amounted to $20 billion over 2003 and 2004. The fiscal reliefs to cover the tax cuts instituted by the federal government ate significantly into the federal governments financial reserves. This together with the ever increasing demand for better Medicaid and Medicare funding thoroughly utilized the federal finances. The percentage allocation for Medicaid, Medicare and other social welfare programs increased to more than 60% raising concern