Tuesday, February 18, 2020

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

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

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Changes in the US intelligence over 100 years Essay

Changes in the US intelligence over 100 years - Essay Example The United States Congress has been very instrumental in reorganizing this body during the times of crisis. It is these crises that have formed the basis for the reorganization of the intelligence community. The scandals and the critics faced by the organ since it was formed is also highlighted in this context Post War era President Truman in collaboration with the Congress did find out that the United States could not meet their security needs without a defined structure for decision making. They had to find a way to deal with intelligence issues in the country. On this note, the president, in 1947 , did sign the â€Å"National Security Act†, which was a part of legislation on the intelligence community. The present day intelligence structure was formed from this simple structure. The USA had the mechanism to do so. Its public also supported this move and it was further boosted by allies who saw to it that America was helped to achieve its goals. USA in the first place took t heir satellites into the space to help them watch vast areas of the world. The other initiative was the use of spy planes1. They moved into their air space to ensure that their territory was not invaded. Many posts were placed strategically all over the world. The intelligence team then listened to the messages relayed on these stations. The country took the responsibility of training and developing manpower for example: analysts, 2technicians, program managers. Much work was done to train these people on foreign languages. USA invested more in the area and space studies which would come to help them develop the intelligence community in years to come. Post Cold War era It saw the endless efforts to make DCI to be the hub of intelligence community. The media undermined their efforts with series of disclosures on their cases. In the better part of the decade, the community underwent many changes. They came up with new reforms and their oversight also changed. For example, President N ixon (1970) gave the directive to find out how the structure of the body should be changed to ensure efficiency in information collection. Several commissions were formed to help inquire about the best ways to ensure efficiency. Among them were the Rockefeller commission, the church commission, the pike committee and the Murphy commission. These commissions would form the basis of this body. In 1975, implementation of Rockefeller commission was ordered by President Ford. Out of the 30 recommendations, 20 of them had to be implemented. The commission had recommended increased supervision of the CIA activities. Its restrictions on the domestic activities were toughened. They were provided with a prohibition on the mail openings and wire taps were removed. The community had been accused of abusing tax information. They were therefore banned from this act. The most outrageous was using drugs on people without their knowledge. The president made it possible to describe the structure of t he IC in the public and their responsibilities and well defined in the presidential document which was always made public. This order also set up a committee known as the Foreign Intelligence and was to be part of the â€Å"National Security Council†. The DCI chaired the council. He was to report to the president directly, concerning resource allocation on the intelligence activities. Many restrictions were made. An example of such is barring the intelligence from using assassinations that were part of the