Nov 15, 2008 | Uncategorized
A college degree is an advantage in today’s workforce. The number and of jobs available for college graduates is much greater and they often have higher salary and benefits.
Availability of Jobs
The number of jobs that require a college degree or where a college education is an advantage is increasing. In previous generations, there were many levels of jobs available for those without a college education or in some cases, even a high school diploma. However now many of these jobs simply do not exist any longer, or now require college education.
Industrial jobs, trades and skilled labor were more prevalent before the rise of computer technology. Now many industries require a smaller workforce because of technological advances. Even though not as many assembly line workers are needed, there are many jobs available in engineering, management and business administration in which a college education is an advantage.
Types of Jobs
The advantages of a college degree in scientific, manufacturing and engineering fields are very strong. College students can now study highly specialized science related degrees that apply directly to business settings. Safety engineering, environmental science and DNA analytics are examples of highly specialized fields that have become in demand in just the past 10 years or so.
One of the advantages of a college education is that students become aware of many subjects and fields that they never would have considered without going to college. Students are required to take a variety of basic education courses such as math, sciences, literature and basic computing. Electives are also required and students may take a course that just sounds interesting or appealing to them. Often students discover during one of these courses that they have a talent and/or passion for a subject and begin to understand its potential in the job marketplace.
While obtaining a specialized degree is necessary in some fields, sometimes just having a college education is an advantage, regardless of the field of study. Employers want to know that their employees have a well rounded basic education. The advantages of a college degree will be proven when your resume is chosen over those who did not make the commitment to complete their education.
Salary & Benefits
The advantage of a college degree equals to higher wages and salaries. In the Winter 2004-05 Occupational Outlook Quarterly, The US Department of Labor reported that “In 2003, workers who had a bachelor’s degree had median weekly earnings of $900, compared with $554 a week for high school graduates—that’s a difference of $346 per week, or a 62 percent jump in median earnings.” These figures are a bold statement that the advantage of a college degree is its increased earning power.
Job seekers will also find that positions that may not actually require a college education will still pay more to those who have a degree. Jobs seekers with a college education will still earn higher salaries, even when the degree is not directly required for the job.
The jobs that do not require a college education often have fewer benefits. These jobs often provide no retirement or health insurance benefits which are imperative to financial security and the stability of the family.
The Advantage of a College Degree: Conclusion
Attending and graduating from college is the best way to prepare for a career that pays well and provides a means to a secure future. If you are determined and hard working, you can complete your education and begin a career that will provide now and pave the way to a secure retirement.
Michael Carter is a contributor at CollegeFinancialAidGuide.com, an online informational resource for educational funding, scholarships and student loans. Find out about more collegefinancialaidguide.com/student/college-financial-aid-information.htm college financial aid information.
Nov 15, 2008 | Uncategorized
College is all about personal preference. You need to pick the school that’s right for you, and nobody else but you. If you have a particular university that’s high on your list, there are certain measures you can take that will improve the likelihood of you getting accepted.
Here are five tips that’ll help you get into the college of your choice.
1. Have good grades and test scores
To make the first cut, you got to have the numbers. Most universities start sifting through applicants based on minimum GPA and test score requirements. These requirements can be found in publications that rank different programs, and you can also find these minimum figures on the admissions page of your prospective college’s website. If your GPA is less than stellar, then you need to compensate with high tests scores. If your standardized test scores are below the minimum requirements, then you’ll have to pick up the slack with excellent grades.
2. Write an award winning personal essay
The personal essay is the most customizable part of your application. It tells the admissions office who you are as a person, how well you can communicate and what you will bring to the table as a potential student. Tout your successes in your essay, and use the essay as a forum to explain any anomalies in your application. Whatever you choose to write on, make sure you have a tightly organized, well-argued composition that avoids clichés and sounds original.
3. Send in quality letters of recommendation
Don’t underestimate the impact of quality letters of recommendation. If you know a teacher who would gladly take a bullet for you, then have them voice their enthusiasm in a written letter. Follow carefully when including your letters of recommendation. Some colleges require letter writers to fall under specific categories (i.e. your letter must be written by someone who has taught you in the past year). Try to collect praise from multiple enthusiastic sources, so that you appear like a well rounded student. Letters of recommendation can also be written by employers, coaches or religious leaders.
4. Don’t slack off in high school
Your high school performance, both in and out of the classroom, are vital to your application’s success. You need to have plenty of extracurricular activities, but you also need to illustrate dedication, leadership, responsibility and achievement. It’s better to excel at a few things than try and overload your schedule with fleeting tasks. Be sure to explain why you chose a specific activity, and what benefits you derived from it.
5. Apply early, and if you don’t get in at first, appeal the decision or plan to transfer
Applying early can increase your chances of getting in. Don’t wait until a day before your deadline, send your application materials in as soon as possible. There are more spots and fewer applicants at the beginning of the admission process. As the deadline draws closer, there are more applicants and few spots to fill. If you don’t get in to the school of your choice, then consider appealing the decision. If that doesn’t work, you can always go to a junior college, complete your general education requirements and the transfer in two years.
If you plan ahead and dedicate yourself to achieving your goals, then there’s nothing to prevent you from getting into the college of your choice. Whether you succeed or fail is entirely up to you.
Take a look at more industry related articles by Chris Stout at
Nov 15, 2008 | Uncategorized
Those who study chimpanzees are often amazed completely with the abilities of that species. They tend to be able to raise their level of awareness and concentration to a completely higher level than we ever believed. Mankind comes with such feelings of superiority and belief that humans are some divine creation and are superior in every way, yet we are finding we are not as alone as we once thought with regards to intelligence of carbon based bipods. I wish to recommend a book to you, which will help illustrate my points:
“Next of Kin” By Roger Fouts.
This is a great book for anyone who assumes that man is the only species on this Planet, which can reason, think, plan and understand. The sub title of this book is “What Chimpanzees Have Taught Me About Who We Are.” The book is completely fascinating, very well written and will shock you. I enjoyed it and would also recommend it to anyone who is a biologist, geneticist, zoologist or thinking man. It will change the way you see things, and help you understand who we are and what our place is on this planet. Also you should definitely check out the author’s web site;
cwu.edu/~cwuchci/ .
Sometimes mankind can be so blind as our perceptions have shaped our belief systems thru stories, tall tales and religion. This book will open your eyes to what else it out there that we do not know. Read the book, peruse their website and think about it.
“Lance Winslow” - Online WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/ Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance in the Online Think Tank and solve the problems of the World; WorldThinkTank.net www.WorldThinkTank.net/
Nov 15, 2008 | Uncategorized
The transformer is an electrical device, which transforms voltage through magnetic coupling with no moving parts. It consists of a magnetic core, with two or more coupled windings, which either steps up or steps down the incoming voltage. This is done by the transfer of energy from one circuit to the other, through the magnetic core. These windings are generally termed as Primary and Secondary windings. The electromagnetic field thus created under goes a process of expanding and collapsing around the conductor and this changes the induced current, with the formation of an out put from the secondary coil, either stepping up or stepping down the input voltage.
In order to understand the function of a transformer, only two sets of windings are considered. When the main AC voltage is applied to the input of such an electrical device, the alternating current in the Primary winding creates a time varying magnetic flux in the core. This induces an AC voltage in the secondary coil, which is either the step up or step down voltage of the device. The terms, step up and step down are used with respect to the input voltage of the device. Therefore, if your equipment has been specified as input voltage 110 Volts AC, and if you are in one of those countries where the mains power supply is 220 Volts AC, you will need a step down transformer to run your equipment.
In high tension power transmission, where huge towers carry the cables which brings the power to cities, towns and villages, step up transformers are used as the power leaves the power stations and as they approach the destinations, the voltage is stepped down to the required mains supply, before it is distributed amongst the consumers. The reason for stepping up the power as they leave the power station is for the fact that,as it travels down the long power cables, there are power losses in the way, and the supply can reach the destinations in a proper specified power level to be stepped down as required by the consumers. In this application there are good many use of transformers are made.
The transformer is the most simplest of all electrical devices and its basic principle has not changed over the last 100 years, though the material used in such transformers and its design continue to improve. It has a very important application in transforming electrical energy, both for consumer use and power transmission. In a similar way, audio frequency transformers have been used in earlier experiments in development of telephones. These are still found in many electronic devices. The transformers come in various sizes, depending upon the application it is required for. It comes in the size of a thumb nail to huge units for the power transmission applications of national power grids. They all operate with the same basic principles.
The core of the transformer, as we have seen above, may be made with various materials. These include:
Air - This is ideal for high frequency transformer, with application in Radio Frequencies and provides least coupling.
Iron - All so called iron core transformers are steel. Various additives are made to improve the magnetic properties, as for example the magnetic permeability. The degree of magnetisation of a material required for a linear response to an applied magnetic field is termed as Permeability.
Ferrite - This is used to get a very high degree of permeability and excellent high frequency performance.
Etc.
The converter and the transformer are both electric conversion products, that enables you to run electric devices in foreign lands. As discussed earlier, if your electric device requires 110 Volts AC to run, you will need a transformer to step up the 220 volts AC supply voltage to 110 Volts AC before you can switch on that device that you have.
What is the difference between a converter and a transformer? If the device you are going to operate is a high power heating element or mechanical motor such as a hair dryer or iron, you will need a converter to run those appliances. But if your device is a computer, a printer or a VCR, you will need a transformer. Both of these category of appliances and devices can be run by a transformer, but only the electric appliance can be run with a converter. A word of caution in here is that, while transformers are designed for long term continuous operation, converters on the other hand can operate for an hour or two at a time.
In order to understand this better, we must understand the formation of a AC voltage. The alternating current voltage appears as a sine-wave, and depending upon the country you are in, the frequency of this sine-wave is either 50Hz or 60Hz. Now, if you look at a converter output, you would see that the upper half of the sine-wave has been chopped off, where-as, in a transformer the sine-wave remains in-tact. The electrical devices, like, iron, heater, a hair dryer, etc, would run with such a converter, but a computer, a printer or a VCR can be damaged if you attempt to operate those with a converter.
The frequency is the number of times the alternating voltage alternates each second. One such alternating cycle is termed as Hertz, having Hz as the short form. This cycling wave is termed as a Sinusoidal Wave. In the U.S. and the rest of North and Central America, with some parts of South America, the alternating current suppy is 60Hz. In Europe and rest of the world it is 50Hz.
There is a similar electrical device called Inverter. The purpose of this equipment is to convert Direct Current (DC) voltage to Alternating Current voltage. This device has many applications, for example, to provide appropriate limited AC power supply to devices like, electric fans, lights, etc. This inverter takes the DC voltage from a battery, like a heavy duty car battery and converts that into an appropriate AC voltage. Such supplies are limited because of the capacity of the battery capability and depending upon the battery the ampere-hour of the output can be increased, resulting in longer period of operation. The battery will need charging once it discharges.
There are variable transformers, which are known as Variacs. The principle is that the output voltage of this transformer can be manually varied with a fixed voltage as its input. For example, with a 110 Volt AC supply at the input, you can vary the output voltage from 0 to 110 Volts AC. The typical applications of these transformers are in testing devices for its lower and higher input voltage operation levels, quality control in testing equipment in burn-in condition, temperature and lighting control, etc.
Transformers are essential devices to operate any electrical or electronic equipment. As far as main supply voltage is concerned, if you are visiting Europe or any other country in Asia, the devices that you are taking with you will not operate in the mains supply voltage available in those countries. It is therefore necessary that you take with you the right device which can provide you with the right operating voltage for your equipment.
110-220 Volt Electronics - A multisystem TV is a TV capable of receiving and displaying different video systems like PAL, SECAM and NTSC. You’ll be able to operate a multisystem TV in 99% of the world. Their dual voltage design allows them to be plugged into either a 110 voltage source or a 220 voltage source. In some cases, the plug on the television will not fit your country’s outlet, so an inexpensive plug-adapter will be needed. They can generally be picked up at an electronics store such as planetomni.com planetomni.com for $1.95. With a multisystem TV, such as a plasma, CRT tube type, LCD or DLP, you’ll likely need a codefree (sometimes called region free) DVD player. These exist in many forms. When used with a PAL-NTSC TV you’ll be able to see the full 625 lines of resolution available in the PAL system and the full 525 lines used in the USA NTSC system. There exists a converting type of DVD player which is codefree in that it can read all of the world’s 6 regions and both standards, PAL and NTSC. 140,000 other products are available here: planetomni.com planetomni.com Tel. # 800-514-2984
Nov 14, 2008 | Uncategorized
It’s not enough to just pass a test and get a driver’s license; it is imperative to get a proper driver’s education too. A driver’s education program is essential in arming students with the necessary skill and knowledge to produce safe and responsible drivers. Driver’s education gives students the right tools to minimize the risk of accidents to themselves and to others.
Driver’s education is also a great way for parents to make sure that their kids develop the right attitude in order to become safe drivers. These days, teens get their license as early as 14 years old, and they are not mature enough to comprehend the dangers of bad driving. This makes them more susceptible and likely to be involved in deadly and life threatening crashes. Young drivers benefit greatly from the insight and direction that they get through a program that teaches them how to accept and understand driving responsibilities. Besides, learning early will help them develop good driving habits for life. Driver’s education also makes a good refresher course that anyone can benefit from by brushing up on their driving skills every now and then and updating their knowledge about the rules of the road.
What can a good driver education program teach you? For starters you can expect to learn about the newest rules of the road, and how to operate your vehicle safely. Basic points like safe driving methods, keeping a proper distance between vehicles at all times, understanding the implications of drinking and driving or the repercussion of using a cell phone when driving prepare a driver to face challenges on the road.
There are a number of ways that students can get a valid driver’s education. For example, there are plenty of driver’s education classes in all cities. There are also online programs that comprehensive driver education via the Internet. Home studying via a correspondence course is a good option, as you can study anytime and at your own pace.
e-DriversEducation.com Drivers Education provides detailed information about driver education, driver education online, driver education classes, driver education schools and more. Drivers Education is the sister site of DrivingSchool-web.com Truck Driving Schools.
Nov 14, 2008 | Uncategorized
The medical scrubs – what should it be? – Simple: Dynamic, as characteristic as its wearer.
Schooling and on-the-job-training nurses, garb their nursing school uniforms as if they are already practicing the profession – general dress-rehearsal so to speak, only that they wear their costume always. What is the purpose?
The expensive cost of the nursing school uniforms is just a minor factor. The nursing school uniforms are the same with the formal attires used in the practice of the nursing profession whether an RN-Registered Nurse or LN/VN-Licensed (Practical)/Vocational Nurse. Hence, the highest quality nursing school uniforms although also the most expensive ones could still be used until after graduating from the basic nursing course. And almost all nursing school uniforms are the same in the different nursing schools in the US. If the nursing student cross-enrolls then the only thing that he would have to change in his nursing uniform is the name tag/patch. The general uniformity in the pattern of the nursing school uniforms is because the uniforms more or less have the same purposes – providing comfort, protection, and sanitation for the dynamic medical nurse, plus – expert habitualization in the profession. This doesn’t mean though that the nurses are disadvantaged with limited and boring nursing uniform styles that also don’t fit the work-trimmed body perfectly. In fact, there are a range of choices for medical nursing uniforms.
Not only are medical nursing uniforms available in discount prices for wholesale/bulk-buying, but the uniforms are also available in various sizes, customized pattern, and personalized designs. Some nursing school uniforms even have fun-in-work-toony-form themes. The Cherokee uniforms and scrubs are designed for more comfort and looks-confidence in the nursing workplace. CREST scrubs and uniforms on the other have a comfortable fit and feel. Landau brand is also available for new trends of medical scrubs and uniforms, while the Barco uniforms has been an expert in the uniform business continuing their lead in the traditional medical, nursing scrubs, and corporate identity looks. Another designer for nursing school uniforms is the Dickies online scrubs. There are a lot to choose from. The nursing school uniforms are not totally restricted to such categories as top-pant scubs, warm-ups/jackets, white dresses, tunics, Oxford-shirt, maternity, smocks, unisex, 41”coats or 30/32” jacket lab-wear. Medical scrubs-pants alone are available in different designs and patterns like basic pant, cell-phone pant, knit cuff & cargo pant, topstitch wide-leg pant, wide-leg drawstring pant, wide-leg side-vent drawstring pant, jean-style-flare leg-pant, etc. Some uniforms even especially have bar-tacked stitching at the stress points or dyed-to-match ring-snap closures.
Nonetheless, all nursing school uniforms feature impeccable tailoring and attention to detail, and have superior color-retention and stain-resilient against frequent dirt-washes. You can tell that a medical scrub uniform is of the finest quality as they are the brighter whites while also being wrinkle-resistant for frequent arduous movement. Crisp clean uniforms are essential for sanitation reasons as well as professional appearance in the medical nursing field. Nursing school uniform pockets are just as life-saving, and don’t forget, the shoes.
Milos Pesic is a successful webmaster and owner of popular and comprehensive nursing.need-to-know.net/ Nursing Education web site. For more articles and resources on Nursing related topics, Nursing Jobs, Nursing Schools, Nursing Education and much more visit his site at:
=> nursing.need-to-know.net/ nursing.need-to-know.net/
Nov 14, 2008 | Uncategorized
Can a quarter-million of the world’s brightest students be wrong? That’s one estimate of the number of foreign students who forsake the comforts of home and brave the UK’s food and, for many, forbidding weather to get the postgraduate education they consider the key to a bright future in their homelands.
The British Council puts the total number of overseas students currently studying in Britain – at all academic levels – at nearly one million, with two-fifths of post-graduate students hailing from other countries. The British government’s increasing recognition of the value of this phenomenon to the British economy overall is likely to increase its efforts to attract these students away from competing institutions in other countries and to address the complex student-visa laws that most overseas students cite as the greatest – and often the only – disincentive to seeking graduate degrees in the UK.
Studying in the UK, rather than at comparable universities and colleges in other countries, clearly remains the first choice of the largest segment of the overseas student population.
The principle reason can be summed up in the single word the 23-year-old Uzbekistanian Tulkin Sultanov gave the BBC as his reason for pursuing advanced studies in the UK: “reputation.” Worldwide, UK universities are renowned for their high academic standards, cutting-edge educational facilities (particularly in the sciences, engineering and the arts), and broad range of offerings combined with the flexibility to accommodate individual student needs.
Like many other students who eventually go to the UK itself, Sultanov was educated in a British school in his homeland. As a result, he said, he knew both that British teaching was high-quality, that the professors at British universities had international reputations as leaders in their fields – and, crucially, that alumni of British universities enjoyed a level of professional success on return to their homeland that made them the envy of their generation.
UK universities and colleges are continuously evaluated by professional bodies to ensure that their teaching and research standards and their facilities are at the highest standards. The result has been the more important rating by the rest of the world, which at this point assumes that any British post-graduate education is top rank. Because standards are now known to be high at all levels, an unrivaled prestige attaches to a master’s or doctoral degree earned at a British university.
Of the half-million Chinese students studying abroad annually, some 50,000 have chose the UK as their academic destination of choice, together spending an estimated £550m a year on their UK educations. Twenty-two-year-old Lin Disheng, a Chinese student featured in another BBC story, followed his BS degree from Nottingham University (where he earned first-class honors in e-commerce and digital business) with a master’s degree programme at Oxford. Citing China’s rapid industrialisation and economic growth, he told the BBC, “Chinese young people like me want to make a contribution to this rapid process. That’s why I want to study In the UK - to learn better western technologies and experience the western culture and do the best I can.”
It goes without saying that the students who are accepted into British universities are the top students of their home countries’ top universities. Still, for most, what amplifies the education they received at home can be summed up in the three words independence, creativity and self-reliance. These are not only qualities they pick up at the personal level – although the mere process of adapting to, and then succeeding in, a culture often significantly unlike their own gives them a level of self-confidence they might well not even need in their homelands.
More to the point, a UK graduate education teaches foreign students a kind of independent thinking, creativity with ideas (most conspicuous in artistic disciplines but as evident in disciplines such as business and politics – “thinking outside the box” – and even science. Most foreign student have come from academic environments that have emphasized rote learning and, with the best of intentions, the dutiful regurgitation to their professors of the teachers’ own ideas. Only in an environment that both fosters and teachers ways of independent thinking do students learn how to generate their own ideas, propose and test original solutions to problems, and trust their own creative impulses.
British universities also offer well-recognised value for money. Undergraduate degree programmes, for example, are typically spread over three rather than four years, and most master’s degree programmes are designed to be completed in one year. This makes them highly cost-effective when compared to the longer time it takes to complete comparable courses of study in other countries, particularly in the US. Also, scholarships and other forms of financial aid make it possible to for many foreign students to enter institutions they would not be able to attend on their own or their families’ resources. Personal support in gaining access to such assistance, overseen by highly trained university administration staffs, helps many foreign students navigate that thicket of qualifications that sometimes discourage them from pursuing this vital source of financial help.
Furthermore, access to government-funded health care contributes greatly to the financial advantages of studying in the UK. Students in any full-time course in Scotland and in full-time courses lasting at least six months in England, Wales or Northern Ireland are entitled to free medical treatment from the British National Health Service.
Another advantage of study in the UK is that some students can, if they must or wish, work while they are pursuing their degrees. Because they are from outside the EU, students who are registered is a course of study longer than six months can work as much as 20 hours a week during term time and full-time during holidays. Students who need to supplement their finances to live as well as study abroad will be happy to know that part-time work is easy to find. Others may find working part-time a valuable way of learning more about the local culture outside the confines of academe.
The UK also offers a unique variety of graduate academic settings. In addition to the universities and colleges ensconced within Britain’s bustling, dynamic cities – which include far more places than London, though the capital is unrivaled for its academic, cultural, and other offerings – students can choose to study on purpose-built countryside campuses, often in areas of singular natural beauty as well. While some foreign students understandably want the programmes as well as the prestige of Britain’s famous, time-honored seats of higher education, others prefer the more modern, state-of-the-art universities that have sprung up throughout the country, sometimes with specific academic specialisations, sometimes offering a full range of post-graduate programmes.
Indeed, exposure to the larger culture is, though often overlooked during considerations of where to study abroad, one of the strongest reasons for choosing the UK as a place to pursue an advanced degree. Exploring the country beyond the university campus is sure to strengthen English skills and, more to the point, it does not require learning yet another language beyond the international language of English that has become the worldwide academic norm.
In addition to the native, local, and popular cultures, Britain offers some of the richest examples of Western culture to be found anywhere in Europe – and not just in London. Although London plays second fiddle to no other city in Europe in terms of its cultural offerings of all kinds, there are also significant cultural centres and events in other UK cities, such as Birmingham, which has one of the world’s greatest symphony orchestras, and Edinburgh, a city with an extraordinarily rich year-around cultural life and a summer festival of all the arts that is one of the world’s most renowned. British museums also are considered among the world’s finest.
For the more adventuresome, the rest of Europe is literally at the doorstep of people living in the UK. There are affordable ways to travel to the other countries of Europe – particularly for students – with resulting close, easy access to a broad array of other Western cultures, people, and traditions.
But even students who find study so demanding that it keeps them close to home and allows them little time for travel will be grateful to be “confined” to a country as famously beautiful as the UK. The British countryside, villages, and beaches are famous worldwide for their surpassing beauty. Travel within the country is inexpensive and fast, allowing most visiting students ample opportunities to explore the UK’s riches beyond its university walls.
Whatever your motives for choosing to study in the UK – and whatever you do to enhance your academic experience while there – you can be sure of one thing. When you return home, everyone will be impressed that you earned your degree in a country known throughout the world for the high quality of its educational offerings. And, with a British degree in your pocket (and brain), you’ll be in a prime position to compete for your country’s best jobs – and find the most satisfying way to take part in a globalised world you have yourself encountered.
Hugh O’Connell is a business owner and university lecturer. He is a director of
Plan-it Consultants Limited, Thailand and UniRoute Limited, Hong Kong. Plan-it
provides off line resources to students wishing to study overseas:
planit.co.th/Study-Abroad-Thailand.html study abroad
program. UniRoute offers online advice on uniroute.net
study abroad and uniroute.net/study-abroad/index.htm
study UK. Currently Hugh resides in Thailand and is working towards his doctorate.
Nov 14, 2008 | Uncategorized
Tony Holmes, a recent high school graduate and aspiring chef, realized his passion for the creation and preparation of food almost by accident, through an elective culinary class he chose to take his junior year. “I wasn’t necessarily interested in [the culinary arts] at first — I just took the class for fun,” says Tony. But through his classroom experience, he discovered his passion for cooking. “You get to interact with so many different people, and be creative with food,” he says. “That’s what I love about it.”
After realizing his true love for all things culinary, Tony enrolled in the After School Matters
program, a non-profit organization dedicated to supplying Chicago teens with unique after school opportunities, which in his case meant a culinary apprentice program. Through After School Matters, Tony has gotten plenty of hands-on experience preparing and serving meals to others. “It’s like school and work combined — you get to learn while getting real world experience,” he says. Each week, the students have a different theme, and all the meals they serve follow that theme. Next week, for instance, it’s going to be all Irish cuisine for the folks who sample the students’ dishes.
Preparing such a wide variety of foods has inspired Tony to learn everything he can about all aspects of the culinary industry. “Most people end up going into either baking and pastry or savory,” says Tony. “But I want to try to do both.” For those who aren’t familiar with cooking degrees lingo, “savory” refers to the study of entrees, while baking and pastry is more bread and dessert-oriented. And to become an expert in both areas takes an especially devoted and highly motivated student.
OK, so I love cooking — now what?
For aspiring chefs, the typical length of time needed to earn their cooking degrees is between two and four years. “Two years focused on cooking, and two years learning about the business,” says Tony, who plans on completing his bachelor’s degree in Chicago after earning his associate’s degree at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA, Hyde Park, NY). During his senior year of high school, Tony was accepted into CIA, but faced the threat of not being able to attend due to financial difficulties. However, as his high school graduation was approaching, Tony placed first in a culinary competition sponsored by the Careers to Culinary Arts Program (CCAP). The prize? A full scholarship to CIA, where he plans on starting in January 2007.
“It pretty much humbled me because there are people out there who weren’t able to be in the competition who are probably better than me,” he says, regarding his first place finish. “Sometimes I still can’t believe I’m going [to CIA] — my parents didn’t really want me to go out of state — but I’m just ready. I’m not scared at all.” Many students pursue cooking degrees at CIA, but for Tony, this is a dream come true. “I just want to learn everything — whatever they throw at me, I want to learn it.”
A taste of “real world” cooking…
The CCAP competition wasn’t Tony’s first culinary victory. In the summer of 2005, he won another scholarship to study for one week at the Le Cordon Bleu London Culinary Institute, one of the most prestigious global culinary institutions. Aside from loving his experience so much that he wishes he could go back and “do it all over again,” it also helped land him a job at Avec, a well-known Chicago restaurant.
“It’s one of the best restaurants in Chicago, and I do a lot of prep work,” he says. Prep work, in the world of cooking degrees, means getting things ready for the chefs working the “line” in the kitchen. That means doing things like making sure the right ingredients and garnishes, like parsley, are ready, and making dough or taking care of any basic food preparation the cooks may need. “They’re unique and different with their food, and I do a lot of watching and learning about how to make different dishes,” Tony says of his observations at Avec.
Beyond the classroom…
As far as his future goals, Tony hopes to open his own place, design his own menu, and serve his customers some of the best food out there. “I eventually do want to own my own restaurant,” Tony says. “The dream situation would be to start working at a restaurant, and then have the owner approach me about becoming a partner.” Although he’s mainly got cooking degrees on his mind right now, Tony has put some thought into what sort of restaurant he’d like to run. “Most likely, it’s going to be like a fine dining restaurant — not extremely fancy, but still nice,” he says. He also plans on combining American cuisine with Italian and French foods to create interesting and appealing taste combinations for his customers.
His advice to other aspiring chefs? “You have to be passionate about it, and you have to love to cook for other people,” he says. “The stuff you see on The Food Network makes it look easy, but it’s a lot of hard work.” Even with all the perks, such as meeting new people and getting to do what you love, Tony insists that without passion, you won’t make it very far. “There is a downside,” he says. “The long hours — sometimes you’re out ’til one or two in the morning, and it can be very tiring and draining.”
So if you love to sleep more than you love to cook, then working towards cooking degrees may not be for you. But if the opposite is true, and you’re ready to work hard and do what it takes to earn a living doing what you love, then find out more about earning cooking degrees today.
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Nov 13, 2008 | Uncategorized
Do a random survey among grade schoolers with the question “Do you like math?” or “Is math fun?” and the probability of you getting more nos than yeses is high. For a reason or two (most times, more than two), a lot of people (kids and adults alike) dislike mathematics. If we are to conduct another survey on things people wish they can avoid, skipping math courses in school will surely give the matters of dying young and ending up broke tough runs for the top spot. I’m sure most of you can identify as much as I do.
Unrealized by many, mathematical skills are necessary to fully hone the potentials of our minds. On the most basic level of analysis, mathematics sharpen our *critical thinking skills. Concepts like postulates, axioms, and integrals are designed to challenge the functional structures of our minds to solve analytical problems, from the simplest to the most complex ones. Mind draining as it is, mathematical concepts and theories test our mental abilities in terms of logic and sound judgment. Being subjected to excruciating math problems helps us realize the immeasurable horizon of our powerful mind. The rationale of the complexities involved in utilizing the ideal and most appropriate problem solving strategy to arrive at the right answer, or at least, the one closest to it, extend beyond the completion of educational requirements. The end goal of requiring us all to learn math is to make each and one of us a better human being.
On the more practical level of analyzing its importance, having sound mathematical skills makes us a better entity in the many dimensions of our social existence. During pre-school and elementary years, the simple skills of addition and subtraction trained us to gradually gain independence from our parents. It trained our minds to handle the simplest problems we encountered from our day-to-day interaction in the society. It equipped us with the necessary mental kit for a smooth integration and subsequent adaptation to social activities that mostly, if not all, involved computing and quantifying, like buying a candy or a chocolate. At the latter stage of our lives, mathematical skills gain more importance. As we grow old, we face more difficult problems that are both personal and social in context. As such, the need to make sound judgments is more amplified. We cannot all the time be emotion-based in making decisions. Actually, most situations we face in our adulthood years require logical and objective ways of dealing. Where else can we get that competent training for logical thinking and critical analysis but through the math courses we have undergone through the years.
But we have to make something very clear here. We need not be like the great masters, Rene Descartes and Isaac Newton to attain that level of confidence in objectivity and logical soundness in decision making. We can be competently rational enough through comprehension of the basic concepts of mathematics. We need not come up with new paradigms of mathematical systems to ascertain our logical powers, though it certainly will be a great feat if you can. We just have to attain a good level of comfort and aptitude in handling various math problems and constantly practice the skills we are already equipped with.
In www.free-ed.net, a number of math courses are available for interested parties. Each free online course covers a certain area. These may be areas in arithmetic and pre-Algebra (number and operations, whole numbers, fractions, signed numbers, and linear equation), algebra (mostly on appreciation and linear equations), trigonometry, and calculus. The sequence of topics in the trigonometry course gradually progresses in a very student-friendly pace, enabling students to better understand the very tricky dynamics of triangles and angles. Calculus is dreaded by a lot, but the course outline in www.free-ed.net allows students to determine their own pace of studying at their own convenience.
Every free online course comes with a decent number of exercises and training materials to make sure students attain formidable mastery of practical mathematics. These free online courses are best for young professionals who want to stand out in the highly technological work environment and for the fresh college graduates wanting to have an edge over their contemporaries. The math courses in www.free-ed.net aim to develop average to above-average mathematical skills among students who are interested in taking any of the courses.
For more valuable information on coursenotes.com college course online, coursenotes.com computer course, please visit coursenotes.com coursenotes.com
Nov 13, 2008 | Uncategorized
Elliptical galaxies are ellipsoidal agglomerations of stars, which usually do not contain much interstellar matter, and look smoothly like small wads when viewed through a telescope.
Some disk galaxies without much structure can hardly be distinguished from elliptical galaxies and thus are sometimes misclassified.
Elliptical galaxies are unlike spiral galaxies and hence unlike our own Milky Way Galaxy.
Ellipti-what?
The most popularly used classification of galaxies is due to Hubble (1925) and according to this categorization, there are two major groups: the spiral and elliptical galaxies, but there are also lenticulars and irregulars.
Before hitchhiking to and through elliptical galaxies, one must first familiarize themselves with all the other types of galaxies.
Spiral coils in space
Spirals like our own galaxy, fall into several classes depending on their shape and the relative size of their bulge or how they curve.
Spiral galaxies are characterized by the presence of gas in the disk which means star formation remains active at the present time, hence the younger population of stars. Spirals are usually found in the low density galactic field where their delicate shape can avoid disruption by tidal forces from neighboring galaxies.
The egg in space
Ellipticals on the other hand are placed in sub categories depending on their degree of ellipticity. They have a uniform luminosity and are similar to the bulge in a spiral galaxy, but with no disk. The stars are old and there is no gas present. Ellipticals are usually found in the high density field, at the center of clusters.
Irregular Lentils
The last two other types of galaxies are called Lenticular and Irregular. Lenticulars also possess both a bulge and a disk, but they have no spiral arms. There is little or no gas and so all the stars are old. They also appear to be an intermediate. Irregulars on the other hand are small galaxies, with no bulge and an ill-defined shape.
Spots in the universe
Galaxies are like islands in the Universe, made of stars as well as dust and gas clouds. They come in different sizes and shapes.
Galaxies are not only distinct in shape, they also vary in size: some may be as “light” as a stellar globular cluster in our Milky Way (i.e. they contain about the equivalent of a few million Suns) while others may be more massive than a million Suns.
Presently, more than half of the stars in the Universe are located in massive spheroidal galaxies.
One of the main open questions of modern astrophysics and cosmology is how and when galaxies formed and evolved starting from the primordial gas that filled the early Universe.
In the most popular current theory, galaxies in the local Universe are the result of a relatively slow process where small and less massive galaxies merge to gradually build up bigger and more massive galaxies.
In this scenario, dubbed “hierarchical merging”, the young Universe was populated by small galaxies with little mass, whereas the present Universe contains large, old and massive galaxies, the very last to form in the final stage of a slow assembling process.
If this scenario were true, then one should not be able to find massive elliptical galaxies in the young universe. Or, in other words, due to the finite speed of light, there should be no such massive galaxies very far from us. And indeed, until now no old elliptical galaxy was known beyond a radio-galaxy that was discovered almost ten years ago.
And so the mystery of the elliptical galaxy continues. Continue hitchhiking through galaxies to understand things better and whatever happens, remember not to panic.
James Monahan is the owner and Senior Editor of