Monday, November 11, 2019

NPM in the Philippines

The sporadic but effective New Public Management practices in the Philippines as presented by the author may be good catalysts for NPM proliferation and actual practice, but as presented by Vina and Aceron in â€Å"Building the Basics†, the small sources of hope often die a natural death due to partisan politics, corruption and in my own opinion, in some areas, violence. The idea of managing the government like a business and treating citizens not as constituents but customers/clients, public administration is therefore mutating from a benefactor which people tend to thank for the service to as a service provider that the clients can claim their rightful service. The appointment of Secretary Robredo to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is an effort of the Aquino Administration to have a successful grassroots-level performer and a paragon of good governance to effect change in the national level. I believe that the idea is for a veteran and proven NPM practitioner who understands the local scene can effect change. This strategy has been marred with recent unsavory criticisms of how he handled the DILG, e. g. the Quirino Grandstand Massacre. On Robredo, I believe a DILG Secretary should have a very strong grasp on a wide array of sectors, still, he has to focus on the sector that he is most effective, local administration. His weakness on the other sectors should be complemented by undersecretaries and assistant secretaries to present a competent multi-sectoral leadership. On the privatization efforts of Weihl, if the Philippines will continue to further privatize services, a very thorough study should be made to assure that these companies which will be placed in monopolizing positions, would not be able to abuse that position and further place the Filipino further down the poverty line, e. . Oil Deregulation and Energy Sector Privatization. Though majority of the bureaucracy and the private sector have lost hope in the moral recovery program of the government, I have not. A moral recovery program should go hand-in-hand with the headhunt for corrupt officials to expedite the change process in Philippine public administration. As the saying goes, if we want something we’ve never had before, we should be willing to do something we’ve never done before. †

Saturday, November 9, 2019

The Reality of the Moon Landing

During the 1960s, the Cold War and the Vietnam War were in full swing, and tensions grew internationally and nationally. People began to lose trust in the moral and ethical behavior of the government. One example of this distrust occurred following a major historical event around the same time period. With millions of people watching, a United States astronaut was televised setting foot on the moon for the first time.Some skeptics thought that the moon landing was fabricated by the U. S.’s desire to beat the Soviet Union in the Space Race; however, the points made by these conspiracy theorists are mere speculation, lack solid evidence and leave more questions than answers. For example, lying about the authenticity of the landing came with too much of a risk of getting caught by other countries. Those who claim the landing never happened also stated that the moon landing was filmed on a movie set, but they do not consider that the special effects needed to create such a realist ic scene were not yet developed thoroughly enough at that time.If the moon landing was a falsehood, the lie would be an immense secret kept with great difficulty, considering the thousands of people who would be involved in the hoax. This paper will prove that the moon landing did occur, and will also disprove the opposing side. There was not enough motivation for the U. S government to stage the landing on the moon because that lie would encompass too much of a risk and likelihood of getting caught by the world. Although President Kennedy was under a lot of pressure to compete and excel in the â€Å"Space Race† with the Soviet Union, that competition only served to motivate success.American pride and support for the U. S. space program was strong and would be even further bolstered if the U. S. would be able to beat the Soviets to the moon. According to the article â€Å"The Decision to Go to the Moon,† by Steve Graber, he states that â€Å"The decision involved much consideration before making it public, as well as enormous human efforts and expenditures to make what became Project Apollo a reality by 1969. † Clearly the decision to formally challenge NASA and the world with this undertaking was not made lightly.Kennedy, at this point, was quite determined to prove that the U.S. did in fact possess the technology and the ability to lead the world into space. President Kennedy, along with NASA, was determined to get a man to the moon, and he brought the American people together and united them under the common goal of beating their enemy by the end of the decade. Enormous efforts were underway as NASA and the government began constructing their plans. The success in putting a man on the moon gave the U. S. tremendous advances in technology, scientific knowledge, and improved economic and political advantages from the use of satellites.Thus, by analyzing the motives to either fake the landing or to actually pull the landing off, the obviou s answer was that there was little incentive to fake the landing and tremendous benefits to actually landing a man on the moon. The U. S. government obtained enough motivation to complete the goal of landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade because they would gain significant benefits and not because they desperately wanted to beat the Soviets; they also had no need to worry about the risk of getting caught since there was no need to to lie, therefore, the U. S. did land on the moon.Some conspiracy theorists believe that the moon landing was faked because motivation to â€Å"beat† the Soviets to the moon was too strong to delay; however the government realized the other motivations besides beating the Soviets, so the moon landing did occur. Both the U. S. and Russia were watching each other extremely closely, waiting for the other to slip. In his article â€Å"Did NASA Fake the Moon Landing,† Ray Villard states that a group of citizens made a claim that †Å"The United States needed to cement its world leadership during the Cold War by pretending to pull off what really was a technologically impossible stunt.†But, the U. S. at this time did possess the correct technology and landing on the moon was not impossible because of the efforts put in by the technicians and scientists to create the necessary machinery. The U. S. also wanted to make their world leadership stronger, but they could not lie to achieve that goal because the Soviets were watching the U. S. and their every move during this time. If the Soviets were to find out the landing was a lie or was staged then they would easily expose the U. S. to the world.But, the Soviets did not deny the landing and accepted the fact the U. S.  landed on the moon first knowing we did actually possess the technology to go to space. This fact alone provides evidence that the government did not stage the moon landing. Even though the U. S. government did desperately want to beat the So viet Union there was no reason to lie because the U. S. knew they possessed the power and the technology to reach their goal. The government also knew that landing on the moon would bring more benefits to them, such as the advancement in science and a broader understanding of space, which would ultimately encourage them to not lie and follow through with their goal to get a man to the moon.With the support and the money from congress and the backing of the citizens, the U. S. acquired a strong determination to get to the moon first. Even though the theorists claim the motivation was wrong to land on the moon and that the government lied to the world, there is too much evidence in support of the moon landing because we did hold the advanced technology and the correct motivation; therefore the moon landing was not faked and did happen.The special effects at this time were not developed enough to stage a realistic moon landing and a film directed on Earth would not be able to fool the world, which means there would not be a reasonable way to fake the landing and the moon landing did occur. During the 1960’s the science fiction genre was just emerging and the available special effects technology was not nearly as sophisticated as today. For example, if the moon landing was created using special effects the moon most likely would not look as real as needed and many people would start questioning the reality of the landing.In the article Villard goes on to state that at that time â€Å"No microcomputers, digital-image processing, or 3-D animation software existed. The decade's landmark space film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, illustrates the pinnacle of special-effects capability in the 1960s. † Even the film, 2001: A Space Odyssey included flaws in regards to special effects because of how underdeveloped they were at the time the movie was made. The claim is that the same director who filmed the movie was also asked to stage the moon landing.If such were th e case, one would expect that the two films should contain similarities in production value, but the two sets of footage were both quite different from one another. Additional proof that the landing was not filmed is provided in video of the astronauts walking on the moon: the moonwalk is far too complex to be faked with the available special effects. In the videos, the men are almost floating at points- a feat that would be impossible to portray with the pull of gravity on Earth.1960’s America did not possess the movie making capabilities needed to create a believable moon landing on a movie set, leaving one other possibility: we actually did set foot on the moon. There are those that believe the moon landing was filmed in a large Hollywood movie set, however, this cannot be true because the movie technology was not capable of such a task and there are clear counter points for each reason the critics say the landing was filmed, such as why there are no stars; so there are st rong facts that the landing did happen.The critics claim with confidence that the scientific technology was not there to send a man to the moon but they fail to acknowledge the fact that we actually did not hold the technology to produce a realistic film of the landing. The fact of the matter was that because of the advances of top end scientists, engineers, test pilots, medical researchers, from across the country and the test flights that orbited the Earth, we were able to get a man to walk on the moon for the first time.But, despite this knowledge, according to an article from International Business Times the author states â€Å"Some theorists allege that NASA officials approached Kubrick sometime in early 1968 and asked him to film ‘footage’ depicting an earth ship landing on the moon and a space traveler walking on the lunar surface. † While the claim is a strong idea, the government would not lie about the landing because they knew the many benefits that wo uld come their way if they were able to land on the moon.The knowledge of what the country would gain pushed them even further to reaching their goal, as they eventually did. Theorists also say that since there was no stars in the photographs brought back, that proves Kubrick filmed the landing because there are billions of stars in space, yet not one star was in the photographs. But the landing took place during the lunar morning with the sun shining too brightly. Similar to the fact that we cannot see the stars from earth during the day, they cannot be seen while in space either: they are too bright to be captured in a picture.So the fact that there were not any stars actually helps prove the moon landing was not filmed because that gives more reality to the pictures if thought about from a scientific perspective. Even though the critics accumulated possible theories as to why they believe the landing was filmed, each can be refuted with scientific explanations, such as why there were no stars or why the flag was moving, and prove that Apollo 11 did land on the moon.If the moon landing never happened and the world was lied to, such a secret would be almost impossible to keep for this long, and therefore gives proof  that the moon landing occurred. Thousands of people would be needed to work on the staging- everyone from makeup artists to the director, and to this day not a single person ever come forward claiming the landing was a hoax or even hinted at the possibility. There were also thousands who were a part of the actual moon landing. In an article from Balance-Today. org the author states, â€Å"Including the astronauts, scientists, engineers and technicians, more than 400,00 skilled workers contributed to the Apollo project. To date, not one of them even hinted that the landings were faked.†Again, there was no hinting or an accidental slip that we never actually succeeded in landing on the moon and all of these people who were a part of the â €Å"staged† event would gain a lot of fame if they came forward with their story. The Soviet Union would also never keep the secret if they found out. The Soviets were looking for ways to hurt the U. S. and they would not think twice before exposing us to the world if they found out the U. S. government lied. Given human nature and the drive for power, fame, money and glory, it is simply unreasonable to believe a secret this immense could be kept for this long.Considering the fact that nobody came forward and confessed that the moon landing was a lie, then one can conclude the U. S. made the first man walk on the moon. Some say that the reason nobody confessed the landing was faked, was because the government threatened and murdered people who would potentially leak the secret; however the theory of the killings cannot be true because there were too many people involved, and since nobody hinted that the landing was a lie the landing did actually occur.The theory of the govern ment’s â€Å"murders† is farfetched because of the fact that there were thousands who would know and would be involved in the process of not only the actual moon landing, but a â€Å"staged† occurrence as well. In the article Villard states that conspiracy theorists believe that â€Å"The government scared and murdered potential tattletales, including its own astronaut heroes in a reprehensible assertion that the tragic 1967 Apollo 1 fire was rigged. † However, despite the existence of treacherous and devious governments, the democracy of the United States would never allow the government to carry out such an atrocity.As was becoming more and more the norm, the citizens would ask questions, and the media, along with other countries would also become involved. Also, even though the theorists say the government caused the Apollo 1 tragedy, that theory was proven wrong. After a thorough investigation the tragedy was determined to be caused by a spark from a short circuit in a bundle of wires, quickly causing the fire to spread through the flammable materials. The impossibility was too big for everyone to believe the government could silence or murder anyone involved.There were too many people and too many benefits for a person who could claim they worked on the greatest hoax ever. Even though the theorists tried to come up with an explanation for why nobody confessed, the idea that the government killed everyone is impossible because the murders would be too obvious, which means there was no secret that needed to be kept and no need to kill people who knew, so the moon landing was real. In conclusion, there is too much concrete evidence and reasoning for the moon landing to be faked. The U. S.retained the correct motivation to get to the moon first before the Soviet Union because of the benefits that would come to them such as what the satellites could offer and the scientific discoveries they found. Pulling off the lie would help the country’s growing status in the world but they would not gain much more than that besides being able to say they finally beat the Soviets in the Space Race. The moon landing being filmed on a movie set is not possible either because of the lack of the special effects technology during this time.Nothing made on Earth would look real enough to be presented to the world, especially the realistic moonwalk since there is no way to float on Earth. Unlike what the theorists claim, we did possess the scientific technology to go to space and land on the moon because NASA and the government brought in the top end scientists and engineers to accomplish the task some say was impossible. The secret, if the moon landing was faked, became to enormous to keep and the government could not murder every person without the killings resembling genocide.Since nobody ever came forward with a confession there is nobody to prove the moon landing was staged. As a result, the theories that accumulated after the moon landing cannot be possible because of the scientific evidence and the fact that there were multiple moon landings closely following the first Apollo mission which means we did possess the technology; therefore the U. S. government did not lie and the country did land the first man on the moon.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

HSTV1 Example

HSTV1 Example HSTV1 – Coursework Example Insert Map: Nov Bisbee 1908 Ariz. 11 Introduction The map covers a large residential area where houses werebuilt in the fashion meant for dwelling purpose. The area is densely populated as can be seen from the number of houses built in the area. The distance of separation between one house and the other is so close indicating the population density. AnalysisAround the community is a road network the serves most parts of the neighborhood. There is evidence that the area has a little business like activities taking place. The area has a flat terrain as analyzed from the contours drawn to illustrate to the steepness of the sloppy area. The separation of the contours or the sparse orientation is an imperative point concerning the gradient. In terms of industry sectors available in the area include lime cement indicate a cement industry. In addition, hotels, room availability, restaurants, and lodges indicate that the area is well developed in terms of hospitality management in that indus try. On the other hand, there is evidence of a lumber processing industry. ConclusionThe area is majorly a residential estate with the good road network and amenities in support of the same. The community is likely a peaceful area considering that it has many hotels, residential buildings, and lodges. The area covered portrays no use of the facilities like hospitals, dispensing medicine centers and schools. The community especially those found in the area has tasks and assignment to move to city centers where normal business working is a career.Source: Map Number 11

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Using Maps with American Literature as Informational Texts

Using Maps with American Literature as Informational Texts Teachers of American literature in middle or high school classrooms have the opportunity to select from a little over  400 years of writing by American authors. Because each author offers a different perspective on the American experience, teachers may also choose to provide the geographic context that influenced each of the authors taught in a curriculum. In American literature, geography is often central to an authors narrative.   Representing the geography of where an author was born, raised, educated, or wrote can be done on a map, and the creation of such a map involves the discipline of cartography. Cartography or Map Making The International Cartographic Association (ICA)  defines cartography: Cartography is the discipline dealing with the conception, production, dissemination and study of maps. Cartography is also about representation – the map. This means that cartography is the whole process of mapping. The  structural models  of cartography  can be used to  describe the process of mapping for an  academic discipline. Supporting the use of maps in the study of literature to better understand how geography has informed or influenced an author is made in an  argument made by  Sà ©bastien Caquard and William Cartwright in their 2014  article  Narrative Cartography: From Mapping Stories to the Narrative of Maps and Mapping  Ã‚  published in  The Cartographic Journal. The article explains how  the potential of maps to both decipher and tell stories is virtually unlimited. Teachers may use maps that help students better comprehend how the geography of America may influence authors and their literature. Their description of narrative cartography is an aim,  to shed light on some of the facets of the rich and complex relationships between maps and narratives. Influence of Geography on American Authors Studying the  geography that influenced the authors of American literature can mean using some of the lenses of social sciences such as  economics,  political science,  human  geography,  demography,   psychology  or  sociology. Teachers may spend time in class and provide the cultural geography background of the authors who penned the most traditional selections of literature in high school  such as Nathanial Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter, Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, John Steinbecks Of Mice and Men.   In each of  these selections, as in most American literature,  the  context of an authors  community,  culture, and relationships is  tied to specific time and location. For example, the geography of colonial settlements is seen in the  first pieces of American literature, beginning with a  1608 memoir by Captain John Smith, English explorer and  leader of Jamestown (Virginia). The explorers accounts are combined in a piece  titled  Ã‚  A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Noate as Hath Happened in Virginia.   In this recounting, consider by many to be wildly exaggerated, Smith describes  the story of  Pocahontas saving his life from the hand of Powhatan.   More recently, the 2016 winner of the Pulitzer Prize  Ã‚  for fiction  was written by  Viet Thanh Nguyen  who  was born in Vietnam and raised in America. His story  The Sympathizer  is described as, A layered immigrant tale told in the wry, confessional voice of a man of two minds- and two countries, Vietnam and the United States. In this award-winning narrative, the contrast of these two cultural geographies is central to the story. The American Writers Museum: Digital Literary Maps There are a number of different digital  map resources available to teachers with Internet access  to use in providing students background information. Should teachers want to give  students an opportunity to research American authors, a good starting place might be the American Writers Museum,  A National Museum Celebrating American Writers. The museum already has a digital presence, with their physical offices scheduled to open in Chicago in 2017. The mission of the  American Writers Museum is to engage the public in celebrating American writers and exploring their influence on our history, our identity, our culture, and our daily lives. One featured page on the museums  website is a Literary America  map  that features  American writers from all over the country.  Visitors can  click on a states icon to see what literary landmarks are located there   such as author homes and museums, book festivals, literary archives,  or even an authors final resting places.   This Literary America  map will help students meet several of the goals of the new American Writers Museum which are to: Educate the public about American writers – past and present;Engage visitors to the Museum in exploring the many exciting worlds created by the spoken and written word;Enrich and deepen appreciation for good writing in all its forms;Inspire visitors  to discover, or rediscover, a love of reading and writing. Teachers should know that the digital Literary America map on the museums website is interactive, and there are links to multiple other websites. For example, by clicking on New York State icon, students could choose to be connected to an obituary on the New York Public Librarys website for  J.D. Salinger,  author of Catcher in the Rye. Another click on the New York State icon could  take students to  a news story about the 343 boxes  containing the  personal papers and documents of the poet  Maya Angelou  that were acquired  by the  Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. This acquisition was featured in an article in the NY Times, Schomburg Center in Harlem Acquires Maya Angelou Archive  and there are links to many of these documents. There are links on the Pennsylvania state icon to museums dedicated to authors born in the state. For example, students can choose between Edgar Allan Poe National Historical SitePearl S. Buck HouseZane Grey Museum Similarly, a click on the Texas state icon offers students an opportunity to digitally visit three museums dedicated to the American short story author, William S. Porter, who wrote under the pen name O.Henry: O. Henry HouseO. Henry MuseumWilliam Sidney Porter, O. Henry Museum The State of  California offers multiple sites for students to explore on American authors who had a presence in the state: Eugene O’Neill National Historic SiteJack London State Historic ParkJohn Muir National Historic SiteNational Steinbeck CenterRobinson Jeffers Tor House FoundationThe Beat MuseumWill Rogers Ranch Additional Literary Author Map Collections 1. At the Clark Library (University of Michigan Library) there are a number of literary maps  for students to view.  One such  literary map was drawn by  Charles Hook Heffelfinger (1956).  This map lists the last names of many American writers along with their principal works within the state in which the book takes place. The description of the map states: As with many literary maps, while many of the works included may have been commercial successes at the time of the map’s publication in 1956, not all of them are still acclaimed today. Some classics are included, however, such as  Gone With the Wind  by Margaret Mitchell and  The Last of the Mohicans  by James Fenimore Cooper. These maps can be shared as a projection in class, or students can follow the link themselves. 2. The Library of Congress  offers an online collection  of maps titled, Language of the Land: Journeys Into Literary America. According to the website:   The inspiration for this exhibition was the Library of Congresss collection of literary mapsmaps that acknowledge the contributions of authors to a specific state or region as well as those that depict the geographical locations in works of fiction or fantasy.   This exhibition includes the  1949  Booklovers Map  published by R.R. Bowker of New York which  features important points of interest across America’s historical, cultural, and literary landscape at the time. There are many different maps in this online  collection, and the promotional description for the exhibition reads: From Robert Frosts New England farms to John Steinbecks California valleys to Eudora Weltys Mississippi Delta, American authors have shaped our view of Americas regional landscapes in all their astonishing variety. They have created unforgettable characters, inseparably identified with the territory they inhabit. Author Maps AreInformational Texts Maps can be used as informational texts in the English Language Arts classroom as part of the key shifts educators can use in order to  integrate the Common Core State Standards.  These key shifts of the  Common Core  state that: Students must be immersed in information about the world around them if they are to develop the strong general knowledge and vocabulary they need to become successful readers and be prepared for college, career, and life. Informational texts play an important part in building students’ content knowledge. English teachers can use  maps as informational texts to build student background knowledge and improve comprehension. The use of maps as informational texts  could be covered under the following standards: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.8.7  Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using different mediums (e.g., print or digital text, video, multimedia) to present a particular topic or idea. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.7  Analyze various accounts of a subject told in different mediums (e.g., a persons life story in both print and multimedia), determining which details are emphasized in each account. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.7  Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address a question or solve a problem. Conclusion Letting students explore American authors in their geographic and historic context through cartography, or mapmaking, can help their comprehension of American literature. The visual representation of the geography that contributed to a work of literature is best represented by a map. The use of maps   in the English classroom  can also help students develop an appreciation of Americas literary geography while increasing their familiarity with the  visual language of maps for other content areas.

Saturday, November 2, 2019

The Last Lecture book discussion Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Last Lecture book discussion - Research Paper Example It is challenging news for the one who is going to die, and for the one who loves him heartily, it is a double tragedy. Three angel-like children cement their love. Under the protective wings of their joint affection they live a smooth life; what next if one wing is cut off by cruel destiny? Out of this impending certain tragedy, emerges the brilliant leader. â€Å"The Last Lecture† is just a tool to reveal the great qualities of head and heart of Randy Pausch, his daunting spirit, to make himself available to the cause that he dearly loved. He pens those two beautiful sentences in the book, (Introduction, p. x) â€Å"I lectured about the joy of life, about how much I appreciated life, even with so little of my own left. I talked about honesty, integrity, gratitude, and other things I hold dear. And I tried very hard not to be boring.† Even in such a grim situation, Pausch emerges like a brave warrior who remains glorious in defeat. He knows the count of his heartbeats; he appreciates the special individual who has right over those beats, but through sheer will power he transcends her magnetic pull, and The Last†¦.2 remains true to the duty which he considers he owes to the society. A leader is the one who makes the right choice at the right time and Pausch has before him a very, very, difficult choice. He is a great family man. Randy Pausch et al. (2008, p.6) writes, â€Å"That’s why I spent many of my walking hours making arrangements for my family’s future without me. Still I couldn’t let go of my urge to give this last lecture.† "We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand,† sums up everything about the challenge of life as perceived by Randy Pausch (p.17). The essential difference between â€Å"The Last Lecture† by other Professors and the one by him was that he was distinctly aware, without an iota of doubt that it was going to be his last. Incredible though, in such a grim situation, Pausch was not willing to talk about death and create an atmosphere of gloom which would ooze out sympathy for him and his family; his lecture was about â€Å"Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.† His final words were a great mixture of humor, inspiration and intelligence. While answering the questions put to him, he detached himself admirably from the deadly disease that was mercilessly leading him to the grave. He delivered his last lecture on September 18, 2007, a month after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. He knew he was heading out of the door for the last time, after delivering the lecture. While reading his observations in the book on the issues like managing time, learning to listen to others, re-thinking priorities etc. one feel as if one is interacting with a management guru, and not with an individual who is fighting the losing battle of his life. The subject of death The Last†¦.3 gets the lowest priority in his lecture, though it was topm ost in the minds of his audience that he was addressing that day. Pausch was thinking about other’s welfare and deeply pondered about the future of his family without him. He writes (p.8) about the possible benefit of his last lecture to his children thus: â€Å"When the kids are older, they’re going to go through this phase where they absolutely, achingly need to know: ‘Who was my dad? What was he like?’ This lecture could help give them an answer to that.†