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Thursday, April 21, 2011

User Guide Project

My course project for "Advanced Technical Writing and Editing" is finally complete. It was an 8-week, course-long effort where four other classmates and me collaborated to produce a 40-page document called, Using MS 2007 to Create a Webpage: A User Guide. The following people helped and have my sincere gratitude:
  • Cynthia Chretien
  • Ricky Conner
  • Lakiesha Cowans
  • Tomeka Horton


Here's the user guide displayed page by page:







Monday, April 18, 2011

Therein lies the rub...

It’s amazing how many people who either fail or ignore the following concept:
  • The rich have higher tax rates because they can more easily withstand the consequence.

I did a little researching, and from what I could gather, economists regard the average wage of the top 1 percent of the wealthiest Americans for 2010 to be nearly $1.5 million dollars. (I don’t believe you or I fall into this category. If you do, introduce me to your financial adviser.)

Now, if the government takes 35 percent out of a $1.5 million-dollar income, those particular wage earners will see their income reduced by some half-million dollars. However, that person will still have some $975,000 dollars with which to live. Yes, that’s a sizable drop, but I’m quite sure I could still live quite lavishly. I know I'm up for the challenge.

Now, consider a wage earner from the lower middle class who lives from paycheck-to-paycheck making about $30,000 dollars a year. Thirty-five percent of 30 thousand equals $11,200 dollars. No, it’s not a half-million dollars. While this amount is considerably less than what the government takes out on the top 1 percent, the loss of it is much more ruinous and devastating to the lower middle class wage earner. A lower middle class wage earner would suddenly find himself or herself not just eking out of living, but crossing the threshold into poverty. Earners would suddenly need to have supplemental entitlements, such as food stamps and Medicaid, to just to live.

I hope this information puts a little perspective on things.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Still Filling a Niche...

I think reports of print's death "are greatly exaggerated". Remember, back in the 1980s, many experts predicted that music videos will will kill the radio star.



While it's not a big as it once was, radio, nevertheless, is still a viable medium. It fills a niche.

E-books are wonderful. However, I believe printed books and documents, like radio, will fill a niche. Electronics, even with batteries and satellites, still has its limitations. The need and desire to read still exceed this technology, and I believe, this is where print has its niche.

By the way, I've yet to across any e-book technology that can turn pages as fast as I can manually with an old-fashioned, printed book.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

THE FIRST ROAR

It was sometime during the summer of 1964; I don't remember the exact date. The hometown St. Louis Cardinals were in the middle of one o...