London Congestion Pricing Program Statistics Project

London Congestion Pricing Program - Statistics Project Example Since 1977 there was a noticeable and constant decline in the average speed (exhibited in figure 1). In central London drivers were spending 50% of journey duration which was around five miles per hour. An authority of Greater London was created by the "Greater London Authority Act-1999" comprised of the London Assembly and the Mayor of London, where under authority was given to mayor for implementing workplace parking and road pricing individually or combined. LCC or London congestion charging had a main goal of dropping traffic congestion within and in the surrounding of CZ or charging zone. The congestion charge was just like a region permit from the start. From Monday to Friday during 7 a. m. - 6: 30 p. m., any automobile coming or going through, parking or driving in CZ, will have to pay 5 or $ 10 in the beginning. Road signs are put up to indicate confines of CZ. The original capital costs of this project were estimated to be 200 million according to the prices of 2002, approximately 220 million according to prices and values in 2005. The central government provided e major part of it. The extension was made with an estimation of 118 according to prices and values in 2005 and it was funded by the general fund of TfL. A detailed picture of cost and revenues is given in Table 1. The disposable returns from road pricing plans were require... There will be a 10-15% decrease in traffic within CZ, about 30 % lessen queues with an 10-15 % elevated average speed; Around 5-10 % decline in traffic on radial routes and 5% increase of traffic over orbital routes and, resulting an overall effect of 1-2 % decrease in traffic outside the zone. LCC Plan: Conditions and Fundamental Specifications The congestion charge was just like a region permit from the start. From Monday to Friday during 7 a. m. - 6: 30 p. m., any automobile coming or going through, parking or driving in CZ, will have to pay 5 or $ 10 in the beginning. Road signs are put up to indicate confines of CZ. Extension in the Original LCC Project Some extensions were made into the original CZ in the year 2007 and some free corridors were also provided and some other changes were also made. Reimbursement in terms of Costs and Revenues The original capital costs of this project were estimated to be 200 million according to the prices of 2002, approximately 220 million according to prices and values in 2005. The central government provided e major part of it. The extension was made with an estimation of 118 according to prices and values in 2005 and it was funded by the general fund of TfL. A detailed picture of cost and revenues is given in Table 1. Revenues Exploit The disposable returns from road pricing plans were required to be introduced by the Great London Authority Act 1999 through the initial decade of the law 1999-2009. The transport strategy of the mayor was also to be included in this ten yeas allocation. Actually the disposal of potential revenue had to be a mandatory part of any road pricing plan for London. Such net revenue distribution is presented in Table 2. Analysis of the Effectiveness

Pakistan Today Essay Example for Free

Pakistan Today Essay Pakistan has faced many problems ever since it came into existence. 63 years have been passed and the situation is getting worse day by day. Today Pakistan is facing all kinds of problems e.g. Inflation, Illiteracy, Unemployment, Corruption, Feudalism, Terrorism, Natural Disasters. Before the water goes over the head, it’s the time that the youth of Pakistan stands and plays their role in development of the country which we got after many sacrifices. The bud of nation’s future finds a fragrant blooming in the hands of its youth. It’s the time of culmination when the youth must realize and individually shoulder the responsibility of resuscitation of Pakistan in every aspect viz. social, economical, political, administrative etc. Development of a strong nation demands youth possessing steely will power, mighty determination and tremendous grit. For this the youth itself must be fully sound and armor itself with all essential qualities so that modern Pakistan sees its unprecedented growth and development by skilled finishers. Youth are the real sculptors of the nation. What is actually required in the present scenario is to unleash the immense latent patriotism and chauvinism among youth, which will lit the fire of responsibility and will dedicatedly involve them in the upliftment of the nation. Albert Einstein once said,†Problem cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them†. So in order to eradicate these crux youth with double toughness are required. The main motto of the youth should be† to nip the evil in the bud†. Our political system is governed by desperados, hooligans and such miscreants of society who have attired themselves in the robes that present them as the saviors of the nation. Infact they are eating away the nation like worms slowly and gradually. Criminalization of the politics has infact obfuscated the image of fair play in government. So this is now a â€Å"Wake up Call†, for the youth of the Pakistan to wake, rise and move ahead and prove their hegemony over such corrupt leaders and take the command into their hands to run the government. Only few selected families are always elected in the government. Read more:  Pakistan Political System Pakistan has never seen any ‘common man’ to rule the country e.g. Prime Minister of President. It has always been the feudal lords or big industrialists running the show. According to me the blame goes on the public. In the previous elections, out of the population of 17 crores, less than 2 crore people voted. It’s unfortunate but the youth of Pakistan doesn’t take part in voting. This is one of the prime reasons that feudal lords are ruling our country, emptying the national treasure and increasing their bank balances. I am sure if we all go to vote in the elections then we would be able to elect the most deserving candidate. This could assure that are country is in the right hands. The most important problem of Pakistan is education. People are not aware what is good for them and what is not. There aren’t any schools in rural areas which are providing good quality education. Unfortunately in Pakistan, only those are getting education who can afford it. It’s the responsibility of the youth to create awareness about the importance of education. In rural areas people are not willing to send their sons/daughters to acquire knowledge. This is one of the prime reason that Pakistan is lagging behind other countries. We, the youth of Pakistan should take this responsibility in spreading the awareness. We could help directly by constructing schools providing free education or by teaching voluntarily. People are not willing to invest in our country. It is just because of the negative image created about our country. This is affecting our economy. Our exports have decreased, no new jobs are been created, no roads are being built. the tourism industry of Pakistan has just nearly finished. I think it’s the responsibility of the Pakistani youth to correct the image of Pakistan in the international arena and attract investment. We can do so by showing the positive side of the Pakistan and achievements of Pakistanis. I believe that if we could all be responsible enough and bring a change in ourselves then it could do wonders for our country. We always wait for the government to take some action. If we all fulfill our responsibilities and duties honestly than I believe no one could stop Pakistan from being a developed country. If all the people just clean the area outside their homes and plant trees than whole Pakistan could become clean and green. â€Å"Little drops make great oceans†. We should obey all the rules and laws of our country. Lets pledge that we won’t throw any rubbish on the streets, never break a traffic signal, never give bribe, achieve things on merit rather taking shortcuts. Above all we should realize that we all are Pakistanis. We should stop all the grouping and discrimination on basis of language, place, color, and culture. Events and activities should be organized to promote brotherhood. People should realize that in the eyes of Allah all people are same. The communities should help each other whenever required. We should send a message to the entire world how united we are. It’s time that we should stop fantasicing about other countries and cultures and instead be proud to be a Pakistani. Learn to respect Pakistani leaders, cultures, languages, talents etc. It’s the time that we should value our talents and resources. We, the youth of Pakistan are the future of tomorrow. It’s our responsibility to take Pakistan out of this crisis. It’s high time that we should stand up for our country before it’s too late. For us the founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam said â€Å"Pakistan is proud of her youth who are the nation builders of tomorrow†. Pakistan is the best country in the world; we know it, now let the world also know it.

Product Life Cycle Management In Marketing

Product Life Cycle Management In Marketing INTRODUCTION Like humans, products undergo life-cycle. Similarly Product life cycle goes through different phases, which involves many procedures, and needs more skills, tools and processes. Product life cycle involves launch of product in the market with consideration of cost and sales. Product Life Cycle undergoes Four stages. A products will have a limited life in the market, A product will come across different stages. In each and every stage it will across various different challenges, problems, and opportunities to the Seller, Their will be fluctuation of profit and loss of a product, Any products needs manufacturing , financial, marketing, purchasing and human resource in every stage. Every product will have its own life cycle. This life cycle starts from the launch of the product in to the market to its final withdrawal. At this period various changes will occur in the behavior of the product in the market. Major goal of any company is to increase the profits of the product in the market, now managing of product life cycle is very important. Different companies follow different plans like basic, strategic etc. It is very important to any company to understand the product life cycle to realize when to launch and when to withdraw and when to increase the sales. Product Life Cycle Management(Marketing) Product life cycle management deals with strategies used y the business management of a product which goes through its life cycle. It deals with the how product is sold and how it is advertising and how the product is reaching to saturation point. PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE MODEL : The PLC model consists of 5 Phases. This phases is applicable to all the products. Each phase has sub stages based on the market demands. They are: 1. PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PHASE This stage begins with development of new product idea. This stage involves combining of new ideas and finally bringing a new idea. In this stage, every product will go different stages of tests before going in front of final costumer via test marketing. The product which survives in the test market will be introduces in real market. In this stage company cannot expect any sale. 2. INTRODUCTION PHASE This phase includes the launch of product with its extra requirements; this will create grater impact at he time of sale. In this stage, most of the companys expenditure are done on promotions and advertising. Companies must be strong enough to spent more money to receive less profits. It is very important to maintain the product in market irrespective of the challenges. Company should follow different strategies to maintain the product in the market and to compete. Customer will give his views on the product, he will describe how product will sustain the market or not. In this way companies will know about the products before introducing in the market. 3. GROWTH PHASE In this phase company will se the growth and leading their product in the market. This is the exact time to increase the share of the company. Company must show the maximum variety of product it have and it should discriminate itself from the competitors. By Frequent modification of product will discourage the competitors. Promotions and advertisements should continue but not as introduction stage. 4. MATURITY PHASE In this period market becomes saturated with discriminations of basic products. At this stage company enjoys more profits. At this stage pricing and offers are provided to maintain the product value, competition and to improve product life. 5. DECLINE PHASE This stage is arrived when company is planning to withdraw the product from the market. This stage includes lots of issues. Some companies will rise the product cost such that it may give chance to either increase the product value or it may help to stop the production. INTRODUCTION TO ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP 2007. Mega-events such as ICC Cricket World Cup are a unique form of tourist attraction defined as large and internationally known event.. Events are usually viewed as a major economic tourist asset for the host area that also brings new infrastructure and facilities. All the Countries around the world have always saw the impacts and legacies of Mega events like World Cup Cricket as a major events for economic development and international recognition.ICC is organizing Cricket World Cup founded in 1975 and it is conducted for every four years. After a lot of procedures and site selection process, it was decided that the ninth venue of the tournament will be played in the West Indies in 2007.West Indies had won first two world cups in 1975 and 1979. The ICC(International Cricket Council) has conducted a Cricket World Cup tournament for mens cricket every 4 years since 1975. The competition has been changed gradually since, and the ICC agreed to make the event quadrennial in 1979. The first three tournaments was conducted in England, and sponsorship help was done by a insurance company, and was known as the Prudential Cup. Some other sponsors are Reliance, Benson and Hedges, and Wills. This Companys had their names attached to the event till 1999, when it became the ICC World Cup. The involvement of number of teams is periodically increased from 8 to 9 then 12 to 14 in 2003, and at last, totally 16 teams where involved in the ninth competition in 2007. The first tournament was for 2 weeks and 15 matches where conducted. In 2003 tournament, matches was co-hosted by South Africa, Kenya, and Zimbabwe, and their where 54 matches played in 44 days. It included 2 hours opening ceremony. In 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup the contribution of local organizers and corporate subsidiary of the West Indies Cricket Board named the Windies [West Indies] World Cup 2007, it also produced beautiful and mind blowing opening and closing ceremonies. Out of the 16 teams at the ICC CWC 2007 tournament the 10 first class teamsand remaining 6 teams are One Day International Cricket Qualified. The ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 tournament is the ninth time of the tournament and took place in the West Indies. This tournament was from 13 March to 28 April 2007.This tournament used Cricket One Day International format. These competitions involved 51 matches in 47 days and these games were played in St. Kitts, Jamaica, Trinidad Tobago, Barbados, Guyana, Grenada, and St. Lucia, Antigua. Sixteen nations will participate in this event. To host this event the Caribbean countries had built tourist facilities, seaports, airports, accommodation and other infrastructure. All around of 12 stadium facilities have been developed in the nine countries for successful conduction of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007tournament. This tournament had 16 qualified cricket teams. This is the biggest number of teams involved in the history of the World Cup. Teams involved in this tournament are India, West Indies, New Zealand, South Africa, England, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and Australia, these nations had determined as ICC Test Championships. The total number of visitors attended for tournament is expected to be 672,000 and 13,176 per match in over all 51 matches. This 16 teams had divided into four groups and tour teams in each group. The top two teams of each group was advanced to the quarter finals on knock out based results . Four teams from this group of eight had then moved on to the semi finals.. The opening ceremony was in Jamaica. The final match was played in Barbados. Phases of product lifecycle and corresponding technologies Phase 1: Conceive Imagine, specify, plan, innovate I would like to discuss on ICC Cricket World Cup 2007. It is a Mega event which had got an world reorganization. This is a event which included Cricket Matches, Opening ceremony includes the vibrant lifestyle and heritage of the different regions of people had unfolded the stage celebrations to welcome the world to the Mega Event starting with a medley of calypso, mento, reggae, ska, soca, dancehall, and other musical genres. The three-hour performances at Trelawney Stadium in Jamaica had included stilt walkers, the different dance sequences, a mass choir and fire crackers show. There was a drum score by a performance troop from South Africa, which connected the link between the previous ICC Cricket World Cup and this year Mega-Event. Festival, which was celebrated every year in several regional nations, was a main theme of the evenings performances and wide range of scenes have saw characters such as revellers, a shaggy bear and plantation girls playing maze had encouraged every one and created a lot of entertainment. Planning includes lot of stages to organize an world recognized events like Cricket world cup. Primarily we need to appoint the people who have very good experience in the respective fields like Executive officer, Security officer, Competitions officer, Marketing officer, Commercial officer, Communications officer, Operations officer, Transport and Logistics officer, IT officer, Financial officers. After recruiting these designated peoples we have to set the targets to be finished with in dead lines. We have to prepare a perfect plan how to implement the Event keeping in mind of long time impacts and legacies. Now we need to rise the finance by government or from the sponsors. It is important to develop the local infrastructure and local community by giving various opportunities, medication, Education, Employment and need to involve local people in planning also. Now it is very important to track each and every field, whether each and every work is going properly in a synchronized form. Primarily it is very important to develop Infrastructure like building new stadiums or repairing the existing Stadiums. It is very important to concern about each and every aspects like Capacity of the stadium, Quality of the stadium, Security for the spectators, building roads and hotels for accommodation. It is very important to care about the local people while building the roads and hotels, such that local people should not be disturbed because of any of our activity. Need to take care of accommodation for both VIPs and general peoples. Opening ceremony should be planed such that no accidents should be happened. Safety measures should be taken if any emergency. We can make event innovative by implementing the concept of Environment sustainability. Recycling the products, reducing the waste by the slogan lets carry our own garage. We can produce the car-boards by recycling the waste papers. Polluting vehicle should not be allowed till certain range of event. Waste water can be recycled and it can be used for plantation. For emergency mobility we can use electric vehicles. Phase 2: Design Describe, define, develop, test, analyze and validate In a Event like Cricket World Cup, we have to mainly concentrate on assigning targets and need to establish the co-ordination between superiors and working staff. Here we are not going to use any Softwares to design the event. It is entirely ideology. Her design is concerned about establishment of links for successful hosting of events. Mostly head of any event is the respective Government. It will hire the Event managers to develop their Ideas. Government will give the targets to event managers, and fund will be released accordingly. A event manager have to make sure the works are going well by his personal staff or ant temporary outsourcing staff. Governing body will have Chief Executive officer, Chief Security officer, Chief Competitions officer, Chief Marketing officer, Chief Commercial officer, Chief Communications officer, Chief Operations officer, Chief Transport and Logistics officer, Chief IT officer, Chief Financial officers. Let us consider a particular field like Chief Transport and Logistics officer. Officer is the head of this section. He is responsible of all transportation of raw materials and he is concerned out making transportation arrangements for visitors and for players etc. He have to contact different countries representatives to arrange the accommodation, food, security and etc for the players and officials of that nation. First event manager have to have to take the count of the people coming from individual nations. He have to take the preferences of the type accommodation and the food they needed and the places they want to visit and etc. By taking consideration of al the preferences event manager have to arrange the accommodation and he have to engage the vehicles for them, he have to arrange the a well skilled person who know a out the local environment. Event manager have to arrange the security for the visitors and make sure there are no negative issues. Event manager have to make th e arrangement for the food they needed and book the places where the players and officials want to visit. Chief Financial officer have to release the fund required. Officer has to analyze the requirements needed. He have to collect the needs required to each and every individual field. Officer has to arrange the requirements needed. Chief IT officer have to take care of the website design and have to prepare an interface to communicate with in the staff and for queries from visitors. He is responsible for maintaining the electronic media. He have to take care of publicity of an event through websites, social networking sites and etc. He have to create an LAN(Local Area Network ) and have to establish the connection between the computers which are used for event purpose. He have to take care of security of the data such that unauthorized persons should not access. Separate User name and Password should be give to each and every staff working for the event and data access control should e provided based on the designation of an employee. Therefore each and every individual department works on their respective targets assigned by the Government for success of the event. Phase 3: Realize Manufacture, make, build, procure, produce, sell and deliver The main aim of organizing event is all about generating revenue. In Events industry is not much related to Realize Phase. This phase is all about the physical out put of the event. In this phase we can see the results of the efforts kept in planning stage. Lets discuss about the results of the event. Starting from the first day we had the grand 3 hrs opening ceremony. It included medley of calypso, mento, reggae, ska, soca, dancehall, and other musical genres. The three-hour performances at Trelawney Stadium in Jamaica had included stilt walkers, the different dance sequences, a mass choir and fire crackers show. Most important aspect of opening ceremony was Fire cracker show. That was very colorful and it gave a greater entertainment and joy for the people. It gave a warm welcome to the spectators. Next comes about the tournament, here we can see a wide range of out comes of the planning. We can see the luxurious accommodation for the players and the officials of the different coun tries. We can see the new built roads, buildings, stadiums, hotels and lots more. We can see a new environment which is new to most of them. This all credit goes to government and the innovative event managers. We can see people enjoying while matches, and visitors and different places. We can see the media coverage about the event, we can see every media channel talking about the event. This phase is not related to selling the product. We can generate revenue in events by selling Tickets, Media rights, Generating sponsorships from the corporate companies those who wants to use event as a place to publicize their products and accessories can sold which have events logo on it. Money can be generated by selling general products which are used at the time of match. Revenue from Tusk shop like T-shirt sale, selling refreshments, selling tickets and etc. Improved media advertising offers can generate more revenue from media channels. We should give rights to only one media channel to telecast the matches. This idea will generate more revenue because of single channel in a country. Offers on the ticket will increase the profits than individual. We can also plan a travel package which includes the match tickets, lodging and some of the tourist spots. Internal and external advertisement will also generate money and we can use online booking system where we can commission on the sale of the tickets. In events industry we can not expect any Test. This industry is all about the real time out put. It is all about implement the plan which would help for the success of the event. All we can do is, to organize the event as perfect as possible. We can take feed back from the visitors which would help to improve for next events. Phase 4: Service Use, operate, maintain, support, sustain, phase-out, retire, recycle and disposal Services in Events management includes operate, maintain, support, and recycle. It is very important to operate an event with the help of government, event managers and working staff. Event mangers responsibility is to balance the relations. Co-ordination between government, event mangers and working staff is important. In case of any miss understanding will leads to incardination. Maintaining of coordination leads to success of event. Maintaining the quality of the event is also very important. It is the responsibility of the event managers to control the supply of the requirements and he should have entire details of the event. Event manager should be super active at the venue and he should keep much more efforts than ever to maintain the quality of the event. Event manager should take care that non of his staff members should not be distracted by any issues at the time of event. Maintaining of security is also very important. Recycling the garbage is very important. We can encourage this recycling by providing a plastic cover in which every one have to carry their own paper waste, this will help to reduce the efforts of the labor and it would become an encouragement program to bring awareness to recycle the waste CONCLUSSION. Product life cycle is also very important to any event. In events management steps involved to relate product life cycle concepts are planning an event, raising the funds, advertising, implementation, maintaining, and withdrawing. To my knowledge, every step of product life cycle concepts may not applicable to events but some concepts of product life cycle are base to organize any event. A successful event can be organized only when we come across some stages of product life cycle concept.

Simultaneous Bilingual Language Acquisition Essay -- Literacy Investig

Rationale and Strategy I originally grew up in a small town and wasn't exposed to different cultures like I am now in the city. I became fascinated with different languages and how amazing it is that children are capable of learning multiple languages at one time. To fulfill the requirements of a class here at State University, I spent two weeks assistant teaching at a bilingual elementary school. I greatly enjoyed this experience and returned home to become a nanny for a family near by my home that are raising their children to be bilingual with the help of the mother who is fluent in Spanish as well as English. While taking care of these children, I experienced language barriers and was faced with an amazing opportunity to witness children learning two languages first hand. I plan to discover the advantages or disadvantages of children being bilingual at a young age. I would like to investigate which language they are more fluent in and their strategies for increasing vocabulary in both languages. I wou ld like to discover the techniques that they are using for increasing their Spanish vocabulary in addition to their English vocabulary. My strategy for this investigation is to spend time with the family and observe them. I plan to note the toys or other strategies that the family uses to increase the fluency of both languages for their children. I will interview the parents as well as two of the three children since the other child is still an infant. I will observe the children playing and see which language they typically communicate with each other to and how they speak to their parents. I will do research on bilingual children and their language development in order to learn more information and provide the parents with s... ...abulary Development." International Journal of Bilingualism 6.4 (2012): 541-565. Print. MacLeod, Andrea, Leah Fabiano-Smith, Sarah Boegner-Page, and Salome Fontolliet. "Simultaneous bilingual language acquisition: The role of parental input on receptive vocabulary development." Child Language Teaching and Therapy 29.1 (2012): 131-142. Print. Patterson, Janet. "What Bilingual Toddlers Hear and Say: Language Input and Word Combinations." Communication Disorders Quarterly 21.1 (1999): 32-38. Print. Restrepo, M. A., A. P. Castilla, P. J. Schwanenflugel, S. Neuharth-Pritchett, C. E. Hamilton, and A. Arboleda. "Effects Of A Supplemental Spanish Oral Language Program On Sentence Length, Complexity, And Grammaticality In Spanish-Speaking Children Attending English-Only Preschools." Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools 41.1 (2010): 3-13. Print.

Experience At Work Speech Essay

At McDonalds lines of communication are pretty open especially for the ones still in high school or college. They give whatever hours you request and how many days you want to work. If you need off one of the days just be sure to ask off two weeks in advanced and they will make sure you get the day off. The overall experience at McDonalds after being there for over a year now is outstanding. I know most people think hey its McDonalds, but the benefits they aren’t bad at all. For one they are lenient with their hours and give however many hours you want. Secondly, they allow you to have $6 of free food each time you work, but that is only good of course if you like McDonald’s food. Third, on thanksgiving and Christmas they give bonuses depending on the amount of time you have worked there. For example around Christmas last year Ms. Geneva, the manager, gave me a $100 bill. The pay starts at minimum wage but steadily increases, I am at $7.80 per hour at the moment. Once y ou get to know the managers and workers everyone becomes intriguing to talk too as they all have unique stories. The customers are the only thing bad about working at McDonalds. Some can be nice and understanding, but then there are always those customers that are rude and impatient. Consequently, they do not understand that sometimes it is difficult to get their order right when they change it 5 different times. And it takes time for the food to be made if we run out for the moment. Other than that the only thing McDonalds has control over that gets me trouble is not being allowed to have any sort of beard. I like having a chin strap so I keep it trimmed, but every now and then they still get onto me†¦ and I don’t even work with food. The thing about McDonalds is you are never bored because there is a constant flow of customers at every hour of the day. At other jobs if you are not busy they send people home, but at McDonalds you are always busy especially in the mornings. That is another perk of McDonalds, if you are not scheduled to work that day and you are available to work you can always go ask if they need anybody and more days than not, they will say yes and you can go get extra hours in. McDonalds will more than likely be my job until I leave for college where I will hope to find a new job based on my engineering skills. I would have probably left McDonalds by now if it were not for the great experience and overall  benefits I get at McDonalds.

Readers Response to Writing Badly Essay

In his essay, â€Å"The Importance of Writing Badly,† Bruce Ballenger encourages students to write freely and to not worry about finding the â€Å"perfect way of saying it.† I feel by saying this he means to not worry about what you’re writing and it may not necessarily be perfect, but that you write what you are thinking and continue writing even if it’s bad or may not make sense. He means to put all your thoughts down on paper and start from there. Ballenger gives his students permission to write badly. He expresses that â€Å"when the writing stops, so does the thinking.† He also states that he is far more interested in encouraging thinking than error-free sentences and concise, clear writing. Do I agree with Bruce Ballenger? I feel that I absolutely agree with him. If you would have asked me in High School if I agreed, I would have said no. My English teacher in High School was much like the teacher Ballenger describes in this essay as Mrs. Oâ⠂¬â„¢Neill. Every paper we had to write had nothing but red pen marks correcting bad sentences. Or as Ballenger put it â€Å"some high priest of good grammar whose angry scribbling occupied the margins of our papers.† She was much more critical of our grammar and punctuation then what we were writing. This was very discouraging to me and a lot of my fellow classmates. I then became more critical of myself as a writer and how I was writing and not what I was writing. I was paying more attention to other details instead of what I was thinking about writing, which ended up making it very stressful to write. So by the end of my English class, I was fairly decent with grammar. In fact friends and family of mine occasionally have asked me to proof read papers of theirs, and I find myself doing nothing but fixing grammar issues instead of actually reading the paper for the story it is. I agree with Ballenger when he says that clear writing matters and should be demanded, but that it should not be the first thing important when you start writing a paper. You can always go back a nd fix grammar and punctuation issues, but you sometimes may not get your thoughts or ideas back that you were thinking of to be able to express what you wanted to write after lifting the pen from the paper. Before reading the text, just looking at the title I thought this was just going to be about writing bad and not worrying about what you are writing. And really it is, but the text was more than that and made me realize that writing isn’t about how you write; it is more about what you write about. It’s about getting to what you are writing about and the process it takes to get there. More than just writing words down and making sure you use the words correctly. It’s about expressing what you are really thinking about and writing down your thoughts to begin with. I will take Ballenger’s advice because I feel I will have more to say after free writing and brainstorming my topics and by doing that I will have more effective essays. Ballenger ends this es say with â€Å"And what matters in this journey-at least initially-is not what kind of car you’re driving, but where you end up.† I think what Ballenger means by this is that it doesn’t matter how perfect you write. What matters is that you get the ideas you have and the point you are trying to make across in your writing. And in the end having your thoughts down, you will write the paper you are trying to write even if that means that the writing you initially write is not perfect.

The Florida Expeditions of Ponce de Leon

The Florida Expeditions of Ponce de Leon Juan Ponce de Leà ³n was a Spanish conquistador and explorer, best remembered for settling the island of Puerto Rico and for directing the first major explorations of Florida. He made two trips to Florida: one in 1513 and the second in 1521. It was on this latter expedition that he was wounded by natives and died shortly thereafter. He is associated with the legend of the Fountain of Youth, although it is likely that he was not actively looking for it. Juan Ponce de Leà ³n Ponce was born in Spain around 1474 and arrived in the New World no later than 1502. He proved to be industrious and tough and soon earned the favor of King Ferdinand himself. He was originally a conquistador and assisted in the wars against the natives of Hispaniola in 1504. Later, he was given good land and proved to be an able farmer and rancher. Puerto Rico Ponce de Leon was given permission to explore and settle the island of San Juan Bautista, today known as Puerto Rico. He established a settlement and soon earned the respect of the settlers. He even had decent relations with the islands native population. Around 1512, however, he lost the island to Diego Columbus (son of Christopher) due to a legal ruling back in Spain. Ponce heard rumors of a rich land to the northwest: the natives said the land, Bimini, had much gold and wealth. Ponce, who still had many influential friends, secured permission to colonize any lands he found to the northwest of Puerto Rico. First Florida Voyage On March 13, 1513, Ponce set sail from Puerto Rico in search of Bimini. He had three ships and about 65 men. Sailing northwest, on April 2nd they spotted what they took for a large island: Ponce named it Florida because it was Easter season, referred to as Pascua Florida in Spanish. The sailors landed on Florida on April 3rd: the exact place is unknown but was likely to the north of present-day Daytona Beach. They sailed up the eastern coast of Florida before doubling back and exploring some of the western side. They saw a good deal of Floridas coast, including the Saint Lucie Inlet, Key Biscayne, Charlotte Harbor, Pine Island, and Miami Beach. They also discovered the Gulf Stream. Ponce de Leon in Spain After the first voyage, Ponce went to Spain to be sure, this time, that he and he alone had royal permission to explore and colonize Florida. He met with King Ferdinand himself, who not only confirmed Ponce’s rights in regards to Florida but also knighted him and gave him a coat of arms: Ponce was the first conquistador so honored. Ponce returned to the New World in 1516, but no sooner had he arrived than word of Ferdinand’s death reached him. Ponce returned to Spain once again to make sure his rights were in order: regent Cardinal Cisneros assured him that they were. Meanwhile, several men made unauthorized visits to Florida, mostly to take slaves or look for gold. Second Florida Voyage In early 1521, he rounded up men, supplies, and ships and prepared for a journey of exploration and colonization. He finally set sail on February 20, 1521. This journey was a complete disaster. Ponce and his men selected a site to settle somewhere in western Florida: the exact place is unknown and subject to much debate. They were not there long before they were attacked by furious natives (likely victims of slaving raids). The Spanish were driven back into the sea. Ponce himself was wounded by a poisoned arrow. The colonization effort was abandoned and Ponce was taken to Cuba where he died sometime in July of 1521. Many of Ponces men sailed down to the Gulf of Mexico, where they joined Hernan Cortes expedition of conquest against the Aztec Empire. His Legacy Ponce de Leà ³n was a trailblazer who opened the southeastern US to exploration by the Spanish. His well-publicized Florida voyages would eventually lead to a number of expeditions there, including the disastrous 1528 trip led by the unlucky Pnfilo de Narvaez. He is still remembered in Florida, where some things (including a small town) are named for him. Schoolchildren are taught of his early visits to Florida. Ponce de Leà ³ns Florida trips are probably better remembered because of the legend that he was seeking the Fountain of Youth. He probably wasnt: the very practical Ponce de Leon was looking more for a place to settle than any mythological fountains. Nevertheless, the legend has stuck, and Ponce and Florida will forever be associated with the Fountain of Youth. Source Fuson, Robert H. Juan Ponce de Leon and the Spanish Discovery of Puerto Rico and Florida. Blacksburg: McDonald and Woodward, 2000.