buffaloexploration.com

The Civil Rights Movement was a period of time that occurred between 1960-1980 in which there was much racial injustice, civil unrest, and popular rebellion. The process of moving towards equality and peace was hard, protracted, and risky due to stringent and unjust laws such as the Jim Crow laws and literacy tests set in place to hinder the efforts of African Americans gaining equality or even respect. However, one man, named Martin Luther King Jr., dared to take a stand towards accelerating this equality and peace by presenting a powerful speech that served to inspire and uplift his audience during such rough times.

This historical speech entitled I Have a Dream was delivered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963. King frequently employs metaphors that play upon patriotism, American history, and American culture. By coupling these nationalistic metaphors with sermonic anaphora, he attempts to draw his audience toward a peaceful movement of unification instead of separation (which is often misconstrued to be the purpose of the first half of his speech). His words proved to be a hallmark for understanding the social and political upheaval of the time. Consequently, King’s speech served as a stepping stone to racial justice in America.

Rhetoric is an aptitude of persuasion relying on reason, authority, or emotion. Many people such as politicians, debaters, and spokespeople use rhetoric to sway a group of individuals to a concept they believe to be true. However, not every politician, debater, or spokesperson excels in this refined mechanism of speech. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson uses an eloquent but simple writing structure to convey his vital premise: King George has exercised tyranny and oppression over the colonies and the colonies have a duty to rebel.

Throughout the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson uses logical, ethical, and pathos appeals. This powerful combination serves to set up a strong foundation which can draw and engage his audience to his premise. One specific logical appeal that Jefferson brings to the surface is the purpose of government. He states that

Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its power to such form, as to them shall seem mostly likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

By using a logical appeal, Jefferson helps his audience to think, reflect, and become cognizant of a concept the he wishes them to believe. Thus, the audience can use their common sense to rationalize and conclude that what Jefferson is saying is analytical.

Cloning can be an expensive process. This expense can be in the loss of not only money but in an entity that is weighted as being more valuable than money: one’s life. Before the production of Dolly, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell, Ian Wilmut and his associates required 277 tries! This meant that 276 other cells were exterminated. In addition to the loss of potential living entities, approximately $750,000 was used for the project and this amount does not include the sum spent on all the years of research that preceded the Dolly project (Sethi)! Unfortunately for such an investment, Dolly did not live long enough to maximize the full potentials and expectations that were set out for her. The question now is why continue to waste U.S. taxes dollars to support projects that have barely rendered worthwhile effects to benefit mankind as a whole? A more important question from a moral stand point is why continue to take several hundred eggs from a female before one attempt at cloning can be successful?

The less of the arguments but substantial enough to mention due to the fact that it affects so many people, especially in the religious realm is that cloning seems like “playing God.” If cloning is not prohibited, riots can breakout around the nation thus causing civil disorder. Civil disorder threatens the safety and welfare of large populations and can damage million of dollars in property. An example of an issue which has caused an outbreak of civil disobedience was in the event of the Boston Tea Party. Citizens of the colony of Massachusetts trespassed on a British ship and threw its cargo (tea from England) overboard, rather than be forced to pay taxes without representation to Britain. A more recent example of civil disorder is the riot that occurred in the Rodney King incident in which footage showed King getting beaten by four police officers. Thousands of people in Los Angeles rioted over six days. According to Time, the riots yielded the following results: more than 50 dead, over 4,000 injured, and $1 billion in property damage (Gray).

There are many different myths and religious beliefs associated with the creation of the universe. Some view it as one huge cosmic event. Others depict creation as a series of events that happened in stages. No matter what the myth, the original woman and man are always seen as central symbols of primordial humanity. Australian Aboriginal stories, which are more than 150,000 years old, attribute creation to their ancestors living in the mythical space and time known as “The Dreaming.” These dreaming beings lived a lot like their human counterparts - traveling, hunting, loving and fighting. In sleep the ancestors dreamed the events of the next day. They believed that every being shared a fundamental connection with the source of creation.

The Maori and other Polynesians believed the universe originally consisted of an eternal night. Eventually, Rangi, the sky father, and Papa, the earth mother became a couple. Their coupling created the land and many divine offspring. They lived in the darkness until the parents decided to split apart. In the Sumerian mythology Enki, the fun-loving god of wisdom, molded the first humans out of clay from a river bed. The book of Genesis describes God as single-handedly creating the universe in seven days. He completed his work on the sixth day with his creation of humans and rested on the seventh. In the Biblical account, Adam is created from the dust of the earth by Yaweh, the creator God. Yahweh then gives him a companion female, the mother of all humanity.

Some people fear public speaking more than death, taxes, marriage, changing jobs and having babies. Many people overcome their fears by joining Toastmaster’s International. A Toastmasters meeting is a learn-by-doing workshop where members hone speaking and leadership skills in a friendly atmosphere. There are timed, sequential, structured speech exercises, and members can spend years reaching higher levels of skill. A typical Toastmasters group has 20 to 40 members who meet weekly or biweekly to practice public speaking techniques. The average meeting lasts one hour and is characterized by support, friendship and encouragement.

Members of Toastmasters often stress at least two main benefits to membership - confidence and leadership. Yet, confidence alone does not make someone a good speaker. That means members have to polish speaking skills, dive into subject matter, prepare and organize the material and practice delivery. Members learn strategies and tricks to improve their speaking. They are encouraged to speak about topics they know about and have a passion for. They are told to concentrate on the message, not the medium. A speech is usually successful when you focus attention away from your own anxieties and aim your message towards the audience. They learn how to transform nervous energy into enthusiasm.

In the early 1990s my mother started showing the signs of COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. She knew that if she couldn’t quit the disease would progress very fast, but she still was unable to stop. One day, after a very scary incident of not being able move her body or breathe she started to pray. She began to surrender to a Supreme Being, asking for help. “It’s obvious I can’t do this alone,” mom said.

By the next morning things changed. Mom said her bedroom was “filled with the presence of an angel.” Her experience was so profound that she was convinced that an actual angel helped her, although it couldn’t be proven. She insisted that the angel filled her with a healing presence. From that moment on my mother never had a desire for a cigarette. Her addiction was completely lifted.

Inspired by my mother’s story - and unable to kick the smoking habit myself - I decided to pray and ask the angels for help to quit my problem. Although I never was “visited” in person by an angel in quite the same way as my mother, my prayer was answered. One morning, not long after surrendering my own addiction to a Supreme Being and the angels, I woke up with absolutely no desire to smoke. I haven’t had a craving for a cigarette in several years.

If you own a small business with 10 or more employees, chances are you have at least one worker who’s hired to manage others. Many small business owners make a big mistake when hiring a manager, perhaps failing to understand that management is as much an art as it is an ability to “control.” You’ll probably be making a big mistake if you hire someone who’s too much of a control freak. In fact, the most effective managers aren’t controlling at all. They are empowering, encouraging, structured and goal-oriented. They are able to inspire excellence and lead by example.

I recently worked with a entrepreneur who had no sense about how to hire good managers. His brilliance was confined to the left-brain, financial aspects of his grocery-related business. His warehouse manager talked down to people and showed signs of arrogance and entitlement. Employees resented him and talked behind his back. This manager was good at harsh order giving and unrealistic expectations, but clueless about how to build a positive, productive team. I convinced the owner to have a talk with this uppity manager. He talked directly to him about the problems in his management style, offered him further training and suggested several good books. Most importantly, the manager and owner came up with a mutually agreed upon performance contract that included new goals and a time table for the controlling manager.

Some employers give potential workers traditional IQ tests as a job screening tool. I might seem like a good way to create a pool of potential employers. However, I’m quite opposed it. Although research has shown that high intelligence can mean high job performance, it’s also been shown that traditional IQ tests fail to measure very important qualities and talents such as leadership, ethical capacity and social and emotional intelligence. A person who scores a little lower on a traditional IQ test could easily be gifted in areas that aren’t being tested.

If you want to test an employee, I recommend checking into tests that measure for aptitudes that are job related. Find tests, and they do exist, that pinpoint executive intelligence. They will help you find out how the potential employee is at task completion and the ability to judge oneself and others. The best tests show how an employee thinks on his or her feet. It’s important to find out how they make decisions and process information.

There are organizational psychologists and consultants that can help you identify and administer tests that will help. Those kinds of services can be expensive, but there are affordable tools available - books written on the subject and resources on the Internet. For example, Persuasion IQ.com gives free online tests that determine a worker’s ability to persuade others. Think about it. What IQ test could ever measure such ability?

I wasn’t able to lose weight until I learned about two things - patience and nutrition. I had to give up my idea that weight loss needed to be fast and painful. It hasn’t been easy because I’ve been yo-yo dieting my whole life. I’d either go on a meager diet and starve myself to the point of insanity or allow myself just about anything. It all caught up with me when I got an ultra-stressful job. The stress eating associated with this unhealthy job caused a 70 pound weight gain. I was in trouble, and no amount of yo-yo dieting was going to help me now.

After reading material from nutritionists, psychologists and health experts, I decided to change my habits over the period of a year. I designed my own plan with the help of an online support group. I’m two months into the plan and have lost about 10 pounds. I have to fight the urge to starve myself because I’d like to get all this weight off immediately. But deep down I know that’s not going to work. My diet consists mostly of foods high in phytonutrients. Instead of filling up on comfort food, I eat plenty of fresh berries and vegetables. I’ve eliminated sugar and white flour completely and feel that finally, I am on my way.

It is the phenomenon sweeping the nation right now, and the strange-sounding service has everyone scrambling to understand what it is, and how it is being used. We decided to talk to an expert, Carter Harkins, owner of Harkins Creative, who does motion graphics design in Nashville, TN, and is a fervent advocate of Twitter and the social web in general.

“If Facebook is about WHO you know, then Twitter is all about WHAT you know,” Carter said. “Twitter connects people not on the basis of proximity or mutual acquaintance, but on the basis of ideas and knowledge. The Twitter economy, in its best form, trades on information, pure and simple.”

BE: But what is it?

CH: “Oh! Well, mechanically speaking it’s a web-based alert system that can be used to broadcast what you are doing, in 140 characters or less, to those in the world who would care.”

BE: Right, so remind us who cares?

CH: “Exactly.”

BE: “What?”

CH: Well, if all you are going to “Tweet” is the mundane oddities of your life, then I probably would not be at all interested, because I don’t know you, so why should I care how many times you had to pee during X-Men: Wolverine?

BE: Exactly!

CH: Ah, but if you were talking about the motion graphics design in the movie and in other Hollywood productions, then I would be VERY interested. In that case, I would follow you, because you are talking about something that interests me greatly.

BE: So, the connections happening on Twitter are based on mutual points of interest, and when I talk about what interests me, I am likely to be followed by others with similar interests, and vice-versa?

CH: Absoutely. That’s the magic of Twitter. It’s a worldwide forum for- pardon the pun here- birds of a feather to Tweet together. Hang out in Facebook if you want to reunite with those old people from college you don’t really know anymore, or spend time on Twitter to connect with total strangers, who later become good friends because you have the same interests in life.

BE: You sound biased.

CH: (sigh…) Facebook creeps me out a little.

BE: Me too. My mother-in-law wants to be friends with me on Facebook.

CH: Run away, man, run away.