The bureaucratic thought of the day began just before Thanksgiving 2008. I attended early morning meetings in a San Diego shipyard while my ship was undergoing maintenance and repairs. A fellow officer and I would exchange friendly morning jokes and gestures in preparation to endure the unknown in which anyone stationed onboard a U.S. Navy Warship would understand. Anyone familiar with bureaucracy and irrational decisions that can result from the big wheel of government or any large company for that matter can relate to the perspective of each daily quote. The structure of each daily quote is intended to be the thoughts of a supervisor or subordinate. The quote is designed to assign words to a supervisor or executive’s demeanor. From the subordinate perspective the quote may be what he or she wish could be said for what comes to mind when poor leadership or example is observed. The quote may be designed to put words in the boss’ mouth as well – all in good humor. Anyone on the receiving end of orders and responsible for carrying them out will be able to relate to this type of humor. Although you may find some of the quotes poignant and cynical; the goal is only to capture the humor or redundancy in our American behavior when interacting in the work place or participating in a larger group hierarchy. The bureaucracy onboard a U.S. Navy Warship is probably small in comparison to the larger Navy, Department of Defense or Civilian Corporation. From my fellow officers and me we hope you enjoy our subtle humor and pretentious jokes we communicate through the Bureaucratic Thought of the Day. I hope it makes you smile before you begin your day at the office or worksite......don’t worry there are many serious thoughts of the day embedded as well, to include weekend inspirational thoughts, so don’t forget to read the weekends thought before you leave the office or worksite on Friday.
Visitors to the Arctic enter places that have been traditionally imagined as otherworldly. This strangeness fascinated audiences in nineteenth-century Britain when the idea of the heroic explorer voyaging through unmapped zones reached its zenith. The Spectral Arctic re-thinks our understanding of Arctic exploration by paying attention to the importance of dreams and ghosts in the quest for the Northwest Passage. The narratives of Arctic exploration that we are all familiar with today are just the tip of the iceberg: they disguise a great mass of mysterious and dimly lit stories beneath the surface. In contrast to oft-told tales of heroism and disaster, this book reveals the hidden stories of dreaming and haunted explorers, of frozen mummies, of rescue balloons, visits to Inuit shamans, and of the entranced female clairvoyants who travelled to the Arctic in search of John Franklin’s lost expedition. Through new readings of archival documents, exploration narratives, and fictional texts, these spectral stories reflect the complex ways that men and women actually thought about the far North in the past. This revisionist historical account allows us to make sense of current cultural and political concerns in the Canadian Arctic about the location of Franklin’s ships.
Northern Irish poets have been notably reticent when addressing political issues in their work. In Sympathetic Ink, Shane Alcobia-Murphy traces that tendency through the works of Seamus Heaney, Paul Muldoon, and Medbh McGuckian. Using collections of the poets’ papers made only recently available, Alcobia-Murphy focuses on the oblique, subtle strategies they apply to critique contemporary political issues. He employs the concept of sympathetic ink, or invisible ink, arguing that rather than avoiding politics, these poets have, via complex intertextual references and resonances, woven them deeply into the formal construction of their works. Acute and learned, Sympathetic Ink will serve as a perfect introduction to these crucial figures of Irish poetry.
Recipient of a 2017 Book of the Year Award presented by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Shane K. Bernard's Teche examines this legendary waterway of the American Deep South. Bernard delves into the bayou's geologic formation as a vestige of the Mississippi and Red Rivers, its prehistoric Native American occupation, and its colonial settlement by French, Spanish, and, eventually, Anglo-American pioneers. He surveys the coming of indigo, cotton, and sugar; steam-powered sugar mills and riverboats; and the brutal institution of slavery. He also examines the impact of the Civil War on the Teche, depicting the running battles up and down the bayou and the sporadic gunboat duels, when ironclads clashed in the narrow confines of the dark, sluggish river. Describing the misery of the postbellum era, Bernard reveals how epic floods, yellow fever, racial violence, and widespread poverty disrupted the lives of those who resided under the sprawling, moss-draped live oaks lining the Teche's banks. Further, he chronicles the slow decline of the bayou, as the coming of the railroad, automobiles, and highways reduced its value as a means of travel. Finally, he considers modern efforts to redesign the Teche using dams, locks, levees, and other water-control measures. He examines the recent push to clean and revitalize the bayou after years of desecration by litter, pollutants, and invasive species. Illustrated with historic images and numerous maps, this book will be required reading for anyone seeking the colorful history of Louisiana and the Gulf Coast. As a bonus, the second part of the book describes Bernard's own canoe journey down the Teche's 125-mile course. This modern personal account from the field reveals the current state of the bayou and the remarkable people who still live along its banks.
Jeremiah O Donovan Rossa died on 29th June 1915 at Staten Island, New York. On hearing of his death, Tom Clarke sent an urgent telegram from Dublin to John Devoy in New York, with the simple message: Send his body home at once . His funeral in Glasnevin Cemetery on 1st August that year was one of the largest political funerals in Irish history, and is now accepted as the precursor to the Easter Rising. Patrick Pearse famously declared at Rossa s graveside, The fools, the fools, the fools! They have left us our Fenian dead! And while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall never be at peace! In this first and long-awaited biography of a hugely significant figure in Irish history, Shane Kenna examines the life of Jeremiah O Donovan Rossa. From modest origins in West Cork, he became passionately interested in national politics from an early age, and was later arrested for his republican activities. He then spent time in the toughest of British prisons, and was actually elected to the British House of Commons while still in prison. Exiled to the United States, he continued his involvement in republican organisations such as Clann Na Gael and set up the United Irishman newspaper. From the United States he organised, funded, and masterminded the Fenian dynamite campaign which was the first ever Irish bombing operation on British shores. O Donovan Rossa was a complex character who was both a family and a political man. This book tells his story from the earliest years to his death and funeral - a figure whose life work was dedicated to the establishment of an Irish Republic.
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