Should you really Do What You Love

Should you really Do What You Love There’s an old cliche, â€Å"Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life†, that claims to provide the key to contentment in work and therefore, in life. But will this advice, like â€Å"early to bed and early to rise,† really leave you healthy, wealthy, and wise? Lizzi Hart of the Graduate Recruitment Bureau says a better approach is â€Å"Try and find a job that you enjoy†Ã¢â‚¬â€œwhat it loses in poetry, it makes up in pragmatism. Her reasons are fairly simple. Firstly, making a career out of a hobby you enjoy will leave you spending 8+ hours a day on an enjoyable pastime you used to spend a few hours on whenever you felt like it. Next, you have to determine what you truly want from life–is making money or finding happiness your priority? Hart reflects on the choices many people make when they head off to college–should they study something practical with obvious real-world and professional applications, or something enj oyable, if less directly motivated by post-graduation career opportunities?Once you’re out in the working world, it’s a question of balance–if you’re feeling dissatisfied, remember that even your â€Å"dream job† may not stay so dreamy once it’s become a daily chore, but on the other hand, you may be able to infuse even the most quotidian tasks with an element of what you love to do outside working hours. And if not, Hart points out another frustrating clichà ©, â€Å"the grass is always greener†, and sometimes it’s more important to bloom where you’re planted. Even if you’re doing what you love, you’ll still be working–if you’re lucky!Is â€Å"Do What You Love† Bad Career Advice?Read More at www.social-hire.com

10 Practical Steps to Help You Retire as a Millionaire

10 Practical Steps to Help You Retire as a Millionaire So you want to be a millionaire. Who doesn’t? You’re probably also thinking that there’s no chance in h-e-double-hockey-sticks that you could ever reach that stage by your retirement- at least not in your current job. But there are ways. And plenty of strategies you can employ to set yourself up to retire with that kind of cash. It won’t work for everyone, but at least if you follow these steps, you’ll have saved enough for your retirement.1. Save your money.It’s the simplest advice out there- and the hardest to follow. But if you put aside 20% of your earnings every year (even if you only make $40k) and put that into a 401(k), a combination of factors including investment, compound interest, matching funds, etc. nets you in the seven digits. 401(k)s are also typically protected from creditors in financial catastrophe. $10k a year (which would really only require you to save $5,760) can grow outrageously if invested wisely and you don’ t take anything out of your account until you’re over 70.2. Quit your vices.Millionaires are far less likely to smoke, be overweight and unhealthy, etc. This is because a) smoking is expensive, and b) so is poor health. Start eating quality food and taking care of yourself and you’ll last long enough to enjoy the money you save.3. Get married (and stay married).If this kind of commitment is in the cards for you, there can be significant financial benefits to matrimony. Two incomes. One set of expenses. Tax breaks. You do the math.4. Learn about the tax code.The tax code is the best pal of the rich. Learn about the stepped up basis loophole and learn how to factor deferred liabilities into your tax model. Once you know the rules and how they’re written, you can figure out how to exploit them for your gain.5. Think outside the box.There is no one way to accumulate wealth. And if there were, it probably wouldn’t be salaried or wage employment. The top 1% of households in this country spend only about half their time selling their time for money. Think about business ownership opportunities, personal investment, real estate, mutual funds, stocks, securities, etc.6. Geek out on finance.There are tons of resources out there for how you can make wealth happen for yourself. Learn about all of them: accounts and markets, entrepreneurship, etc. Read blogs and books about money management. Make a program that works for you and stick with it. In 50 years, you’ll be thrilled you did.7. Be prepared for the worst.Crises and emergencies do happen. Prepare yourself for this, rather than getting caught by surprise. Don’t let setbacks negatively impact your saving efforts. Have a rainy day fund to prepare in advance for setbacks.8. Save more as you are able.Once you start earning more, bump the amount you save from month to month. This will help the amount you’re hoarding to spiral into fatter and fatter sums. And don’t aut omatically increase your spending when you start earning more.9. Get/stay out of debt.Debt is not your friend. Make sure you stay as liquid and free from pesky interest rates as possible.10. Be patient.You won’t become a millionaire overnight. But you can start chipping away at a brighter financial future. It just takes making a plan, setting a goal, and sticking to it.

The Lottery for Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Lottery for - Essay Example The target audience is casual information seekers or researchers who want to have an entry level source of information that could lead to further research. The basic content for both sites, which is Shirley Jackson’s brief bio, list of works, and further reading, was easy to identify. Locating the information providers was an important step in understanding who created the pages.The author of â€Å"The Works of Shirley Jackson† is clearly identified (Hubbard, â€Å"Author: Kristen Hubbard†) and is a former student of English Literature at Virginia Commonwealth University. It is hosted on the university’s server and would therefore have their approval for authenticity. The site â€Å"Shirley Jackson’s Bio† does not include information about the authors. Further research concluded that Laurence Hyman, son of Shirley Jackson, is the sponsor of the website. The type and amount of information on each site was looked at next. â€Å"Shirley Jackson ’s Bio† shows the last update in 2009, as revealed in the copyright. The links on this site are active, but they do not point to other sites related to Jackson’s works and only lead to Jackson’s works available at Amazon.com. This static information reduces the sponsor’s need to update the pages frequently. ... Both are well structured in a simple and easy-to-navigate layout. Each site lists a brief biography of Jackson and a list of her works. â€Å"Shirley Jackson’s Bio† provides links to Amazon.com to her stories while â€Å"The Works of Shirley Jackson† offers a more complete list, including her short stories and essays. The language used in both sites is easy to understand, error free, and the content is factual information. The author of this paper had searched for papers and criticism on Jackson’s work using the Chadwyck Healy database prior to conducting this survey of websites. While this helped to verify that the information at these two sites was accurate and consistent with information available elsewhere, it also led to the discovery that these sites provided only a brief background of Jackson’s works. â€Å"The Works of Shirley Jackson† is slightly superior by having a reasonably long list of over forty-five books and articles that off er critiques of Jackson’s work. Unfortunately, no useful links were provided on the page. In contrast, â€Å"Shirley Jackson’s Bio† does not give any such information at all and limits itself to a page of single line quotes from reviews of Jackson’s work. Areas of Improvement Both sites are similar in content with the only difference being the type of links offered in each. â€Å"The Works of Shirley Jackson† is geared for the academic audience while â€Å"Shirley Jackson’s Bio† has a commercial tilt. The first improvement would be to merge these two targeted audiences and have links to further information available for both types of audiences. It must be remembered that these two types of audiences are not mutually exclusive and would benefit by this change. As such, a second improvement would

HISTORY OF ISLAM 7th Century Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

HISTORY OF ISLAM 7th Century - Essay Example Central to these developments was the conflict between Ali ibn Abi Talib and Mu’awiya. This paper will explore this chapter in Islamic history – outline the dynamic of such conflict and identify its effects. Because there is no formal hierarchy in place, issues of succession to the Islamic leadership ensues upon the death of a caliph, Muhammad’s successors. During the onset of the 7th century trouble started when the third caliph, Uthman, was murdered. Ali succeeded him, being the closest to the Prophet since he was a first cousin and a son-in-law to Muhammad. Uthman’s clan, called the Umayyads vowed revenge and would later support its own candidate to the Caliphate, which is Mu’awiya. One of Ali’s first edicts as the Islamic ruler was to replace all of Uthman’s appointees, particularly the governors - most of whom were Uthman’s kin. Mu’awiya was immediately covered by this decree as he was the governor of Syria. This factor along with Ali’s refusal to investigate and produce Uthman’s murderer led Mu’awiya to question the legitimacy of Ali’s rule. As a result, civil war broke between Ali and Mu’awiyaâ₠¬â„¢s forces. A first-hand account of this conflict was recorded by Sebeos, a 7th century bishop of Armenia. To quote: Now God sent a disturbance amongst the armies of the sons of Ismael, and their unity was split. They fell into mutual conflict and divided into four sections. One part [was composed of] those in the direction of India; one part, those who occupied Asorestan and the north; one part, those in Egypt and in the regions of the T’etalk; one part in the territory of the Arabs and the place called Askarawn†¦ The prince who was in the region of Asorestan, their prince called Muawiya†¦ When he saw what had occurred, he brought together his troops†¦ slew that other king whom they had installed, waged war with the army in the region of the Arabs, and inflicted great slaughter on them (Sebeos 154). Sebeos historical commentary

Course Project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Course Project - Assignment Example Such brainstorming combines fun, brainpower, thought process and creativity all in one. The target groups of this game board are industrialist, marketers, and start-up enterprises aimed at stimulating marketing ideas necessary for edging modern business competitive environment. I must emphasize though, the uniqueness of this new game model because playing a game like this promotes and brings on board the whole entrepreneurial idea. There are several board games in the market but as far as the core innovation is based, the Know your Opponent game will revolutionize and alter existing game instructions. Of all tons of board games in the market, none can be compared to this innovation and its entrepreneurial concepts. Our approach has taken the core idea of a stratagem board game and building on that a slightly fresh track will eventually lead to transformational board game improvement. To facilitate the success on this project I work with a team of four personnel: the financial officer, the design office, purchase and supply and marketing panel. The finance officer ensures that all budgetary allocation and inventories are up to date whereas the design office formulates the board game prototype and clear specifications; the purchase and supply office ensures that all specifications to manufacturer are met and ensure timely delivery. Lastly, is the marketing team works tirelessly to ensure our products are visible and sells in the market. In terms of financing board game, together with my savings I intend to approach a bank manager for a loan to aid in the launch. According to estimations, a sum of $25,000 will be enough to see off the project and sustain its entry to the market for some days. The board game market is totally constricted, however depending on how successive the games sales and customer feedback outcomes, we look forward in developing new products. Building trust will put as at high par at meeting the

The Ukiyo-e Wood Block Print during the Edo Period Essay Example for Free

The Ukiyo-e Wood Block Print during the Edo Period Essay Mention Moronobu, and to the mind’s eye appears a procession of vigorous, picturesque figures, all the motley citizenry of old Edo (Tokyo); the magic name of Harunobu evokes slender, ethereal girls, as lovely and fragile as the first frost of winter; Utamaro, Hokusai, Hiroshige – each name stands for a unique and arresting kind of beauty, whether of voluptuous femininity, masculine strength, or scenic grandeur. These men, and several dozen more, represent the ultimate glory of ukiyo-e. The ukiyo-e masters mark a fitting conclusion to the long and glowing tradition of classical Japanese art. Like the era which nurtured it (the Edo Period from 1600 to 1868), ukiyo-e represents a unique development in Japan, the growth of a great renaissance based upon a largely popular foundation, whereas the earlier high points of Japanese civilization had been forged largely by the aristocracy or the priesthood. That such popularization did not result in vulgarization is one of the wonders of the world of art. This was the consequence, in part, of the innate sense of restrained form and color harmony of the Japanese populace as a whole. At the same time the determined efforts of an enlightened group of artists, artisans, publishers, connoisseurs, and patrons ensured that ukiyo-e standards would always remain several degrees above the level the populace considered acceptable. Politically and socially this was a feudal, almost totalitarian age; the masses accepted the voice of authority in most of their social activities. In their arts, too, they were willing to follow the lead of a loosely bound group of style dictators, much as women have sometimes followed Paris fashions in our own day. The result was two centuries of ukiyo-e woodblock prints, a continuous flow of high quality which was both the reflection and the arbiter of popular taste. And while one may give most of the credit for this phenomenon to the masters who directly produced ukiyo-e, one should not underestimate the power of the populace which supported it. What was even more critical than their taste was the inner need they felt for possessing fine art of their own. What makes the phenomenon of ukiyo-e even more curious is the fact that the Japanese populace was primarily obeying aesthetic instincts, rather than consciously anticipating the unique art form is was to support for such a long period. In general, this paper discusses the development of ukiyo-e during the Edo Period. It starts by describing the city – its city layout, population, warrior culture, and court culture – a major subject of ukiyo-e at that time. This is followed by the origins of this art form, themes and motifs, and techniques. The final part of this paper explains why such wood block prints became so popular in the Edo Period. The City of Edo The great majority of ukiyo-e were produced and marketed in the city of Edo. These prints were bought for the purchasers own enjoyment or to be taken back to the provinces as souvenirs for friends and family. Mass production of ukiyo-e first took place in Edo during the Kyoho period (1716-1736). Ukiyo-e emerged from a social milieu that centered on publishers and groups of cultured individuals who lived in the shitamachi area, particularly around Nihonbashi. From the middle of the eighteenth century, a time when Edo was becoming the cultural center of Japan, this area functioned as the hub of cultural activity not just of Edo but of all Japan. When Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616) came to Edo in 1590, he inherited little more than the vestiges of a castle built long before by Ota Dokan (1432-1486). With the implementation of Tokugawa political rule, this sleepy, historic area was destined to become the capital of all Japan. By the start of the eighteenth century, roughly one century after the establishment of the Tokugawa bakufu, the city of Edo already boasted a population of around one million inhabitants. The appearance of a city of such size was an event unprecedented in Japanese history (Matsunosuke, 1997). In the 1660’s the location of daimyo residences in Edo was in fact a miniature version of the position of the various daimyo within the country as a whole. By such means, the bakufu shrewdly stationed the forces of the tozama and fudai daimyo houses in ways that worked to its advantage. The bakufu governed the daimyo with an iron hand. Until the time of the fifth shogun, the bakufu frequently ordered fief transfers or confiscations (Tamotsu, 1961). As a result, daimyo residences were often moved within the city. Incessant changes in city planning also required construction of new wards or forcible relocation of old ones, giving the number of residences the bakufu bequeathed to its vassals, calculated at five-year intervals. Many characteristics of the city of Edo were the result of demographic factors (Matsunosuke, 1997). Building the metropolis had required a tremendous number of individuals with traditional skills and knowledge: house builders, plasterers, tatami makers, carpenters, tailors, armorers, surveyors, draftsmen, scholars, and legislators. Anyone with an outstanding ability sought his fortune in Edo. Competition was fierce, and fighting instincts surged to the fore. The majority of the Edo population was male. Male apprentices and clerks staffed the Edo branches of provincial stores. Most of these men returned to their home area after finishing their stint in Edo. Male laborers were required by daimyo for constructing Edo branches of local shrines and family temples. Samurai stationed in Edo were of course also exclusively male. In addition, Edo boasted a huge population of priests. Masterless samurai (ronin) and the self-styled street knights known as kyokaku contributed greatly to conflicts in the city. With the end of civil wars and with the peasantry under tight administrative control, ronin could no longer ramble freely about the villages. They too began to search for new forms of employment. A few members of this vast population went abroad; but many more slipped into Edo to become merchants, craftsmen, flute-playing monks (komuso), or kyokaku. The warrior population contributed much to the uniqueness of Edo. A large number of bannermen (hatamoto) – direct vassals and guardsmen of the bakufulived in the environs of the castle. A system of alternate attendance (sankin kotai) required daimyo and their retainers to spend alternate years in the capital and at their domains. Daimyo wives and children resided permanently in the capital. Thus at any given time, a large part of the military force of the nation was stationed in Edo. No matter how distant a daimyos domain lay from Edo, he took part in regular grand processions between his home area and the capital. The concentration of warriors in the city stimulated the emergence of a unique Edo economy. The presence of a large stratum of newly enfranchised warrior nobles required the procurement of a tremendous quantity of consumer goods (Matsunosuke, 1997). Supplying such goods was the responsibility of official merchants and artisans who streamed to the capital from all parts of the country. Edo thus became a consumer capital. Forced to live in the city, the daimyo, along with their retainers and families, enthusiastically set about developing their own culture. Both the ancient Kyoto court traditions and the warrior culture of the Kamakura bakufu (1185-1333) developed rapidly among the aristocratic warrior stratum. The habits and lifestyle of the daimyo and the high-ranking officialstheir food, housing, and clothing, their furnishings and utensils, even their styles of seating and deportmentwere in fact all warrior-style variations of the ancient customs, practices, and etiquette of the Kyoto court. Principles of warrior rule governed the rank or status of individuals and families in the feudal hierarchy. Rules were drawn up stipulating the forms a daimyo was required to follow. Social rank determined the shape and size of a daimyos Edo residence, the scale of his processions, and the kind of vehicles, furnishings, and clothing he was allowed to use. Distinctions of feudal rank were displayed to be immediately visible. These included the colors and designs of clothing, styles of architecture and materials used in buildings and gardens, and the methods and ingredients employed in manufacturing various goods consumed by the warrior. Even the borders of straw floor mats (tatami) in Edo castle varied according to the rank of the officials who sat on them. For this reason feudal culture – at its most typical, Edo warrior culture – Is often said to be a predominantly visual culture (Matsunosuke, 1997). Since attempts to strengthen ones military prowess was sure to evoke displeasure from the bakufu, many warriors instead built huge gardens or absorbed themselves in leisure pursuits. Within three or four generations, both the daimyo and the shogun were no longer country bumpkins: they had become a true upper-class nobility in both name and deed. Vestiges of gardens as they existed at Edo daimyo residences can still be found in Tokyo today. Examples include the Korakuen of the Mito house, the Hama Rikyfi of the Kofu Tokugawa, and the Rikugien at the Komagome villa of the daimyo Yanagisawa Yoshi- yasu. These parks, as well as maps of ponds and gardens at residences of the Togoshi Hosokawa, show that construction took place on a grand scale. Residents of such estates could enjoy leisurely strolls within the grounds or ride in pleasure boats on the large ponds. At such villas the Edo warrior nobility sought to revive the cultural life of Heian-period courtiers, who valued natural beauty and lived in natural surroundings. Origins of Ukiyo-e It is rare indeed for a single word to express within itself the changing concepts of an age. â€Å"Ukiyo† is such a word: in medieval Japan it appeared as a Buddhist expression which connoted first â€Å"this world of pain†, with the derived sense of â€Å"this transient, unreliable world† (Lane, 1962). Etymologically it thus meant â€Å"this fleeting, floating world†. However, for the newly liberated townsman of the seventeenth-century Japanese renaissance, â€Å"floating world† tended to lose its connotations of the transitory world of illusion, to take on hedonistic implications and denote the newly evolved, stylish world of pleasure – the world of easy women and gay actors and all the pleasures of the flesh (Lane, 1962). By the time the suffix -e (meaning â€Å"pictures†) had been added to form the new compound ukiyo-e (â€Å"floating-world pictures†) around the year 1680, this hedonistic significance had become predominant in the expression. Thus the subject of our book, ukiyo-e, meant something like the following to the Japanese of the age which engendered it: A new style of pictures, very much in vogue, devoted to depicting everyday life, particularly fair women and handsome men indulging in pleasure, or part of the world of pleasure -pictures, as often as not, of an erotic nature. But what brought about this new development in Japanese art, this revolutionary shift from the overworked themes of classical tradition to those of the workaday world? To understand the origin of the ukiyo-e, it is necessary to look far back into the past. The disruption of the period of the northern and southern courts in the fourteenth century followed by the Chinese renaissance in the fifteenth had meant a real break with ancient traditions. A reaction to the intervening Chinese school could not begin to set in until late in the Muromachi period. In addition, the unsettling wars of the period created a mood in which new ideas could arise, and in which the populace seems to have been less restrained socially than during the rigid Tokugawa regime. Art reflected its environment in the gradual emergence of genre paintings. While the new style did not strictly follow the narrative attitude of the Yamato-e scroll tradition, it was also far removed from the ethical approach of the Kano masters towards figure subjects (Paine and Soper, 1955). The style originated in the old capital of Kyoto, and among the works of the Kano artists who lived there are to be found some which depict and emphasize the contemporary scene in preference to an ennobling idealism. The new spirit was stimulated by Hideyoshis talent for spectacular display. This lowly but heroic figure liked to impress people. The great fete or tea-party at the shrine of Kitano in 1587 introduced a novel kind of popular entertainment. For the occasion Hideyoshi had placards set up in Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, and Sakai inviting all to come irrespective of class or wealth. At the tea-party Hideyoshis treasures were ostentatiously exhibited. The next year he gave a great flower viewing party at the temple of Daigoji (Paine and Soper, 1955). The popular art of the period deals with masses of people, as though these joyful occasions had also impressed the artists. The following section describes ukiyo-e themes and motifs, which explains why the art was popular during the Edo Period. Ukiyo-e Woodblock Technique Ukiyo-e prints were produced as a result of the collaboration of the artist, the publisher, the master carver, and the printer’s shop. However, it was the artist who received credit for the piece in the end. First, publishers would start the procedure by engaging artists to design a print or sequence of prints. The artists may have a background on traditional styles of painting or they may have learned from style of other ukiyo-e masters while having training in the workshop (Fauntleroy, 1989). Many ukiyo-e artists were commissioned to produce novel compositions to embellish interiors of households or design customized surimono (greeting cards) for clients who could afford the lavishness of unique works of art. Once the artists had prepared hanshita-e (drawing), the precise size of the print for publishing, they would trace the outlines of hanshita-e on a piece of thin paper using black ink. The traced version would be relayed to master woodcutters, who would then translate the artist’s brushed composition into a board of wood using scrapers, chisels, and knives. They used fine-textured and very hard wood to make sure that even the most elaborate parts of the design imprinted in relief would last the pressure of hundreds of other printings. Then, master cutters would put the tracing face down on the wooden board. They would then carve away all wood from the surface excluding that indicating the outlines of the drawing of the artists. Since a design imprinted in relief will create a reverse image when put into print, wood cutters reversed tracing to come up with an image similar to the original conception of the artists. A registration mark was carved beyond the perimeter of the composition in the lower right-hand part of the board (Fauntleroy, 1989). The key block would then be sent to printers, who would finish a number of black-and-white impressions, approximately the quantity of colors to be used in the final print. They did not use a mechanical press familiar to European printers because it lacked the pressure needed for wood block impressions; rather the printer applied physical strength to the woodblock, paper, and baren. Then, the proofs would be sent back to the artist, who would inspect the wood block impression and indicate colors to be used. The proofs would be sent back to the woodcutting shop. After the completion of the carving, the key and color blocks would be turned over to the printers. Following the printing of the first color, the paper would be placed on top of a second block inked with a special color; this process would continue throughout the series of color blocks (Fauntleroy, 1989).

Othellos Impact On Todays Society :: essays research papers

Othello's Impact on Today's Society   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the late 1990's playwright, William Shakespeare's, Othello was successfully produced in the United States and around the world. One might wonder why this classical tragedy gained so much popularity with today's society. In my own opinion, this play was successful due to the themes and issues addressed. Societies still deal with these situations today. These themes and issues are a part of our lives and people can relate to them. This story's success was also due to the historical, sociological, and psychological function it plays. As well as it's impact on language and literature.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The basic theme of Othello is man's struggle with his own psychological conflicts. Our antagonist, Iago lets us into his own demented mind using soliloquy. Shakespeare uses this method to let us know what he is thinking, feeling, and plotting. Most of us know an Iago. One of our own mortal enemies, our friend who all the while is stabbing us in the back. He is the portrayal of pure evil. Othello, our protagonist, stuggles with the common man's own fears. He suffers greatly his own hubris, he is so afraid of having his pride hurt. But his jealousy is the main conflict. Jealousy something each of us deal with daily. We have all fallen victim to the 'green-eyed monster' e.g., (1085). After all, what is one of the highest causes of divorce in the United States? Adultry. It doesn't seem to matter how good a person we are doubt always seems to creep through and take over. An example of this parody is when Othello is confronted by Iago concerning Desdemona's possible unf aithfulness. Othello states 'Villian be sure thou prove my love a whore, Be sure of it; give me the ocular proof.' e.g., (1090). His fear wont let him trust her completely. Yet, he won't believe it without proof. These are things we deal with today. Private detectives are thriving today with spouse's wanting proof of their husbands or wives unloyalty. The realism of this script is uncanny.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The fuctions of this play covers a large range. Othello provides us with a lesson in history, sociology, and psychology. The setting gives us a view into the lifestyles and culture of the era. The external stuggles that both Iago and Othello deal with lets us understand the sociology of the times. Iago is jealous of Cassio and wants his position of high social standing.