Crafting Business Writing Goals for Performance Reviews

Crafting Business Writing Goals for Performance Reviews To accurately measure employee business writing, itis critical to link the business goals of the employee's key documents to specific writing attributes. "Better report writing" or "more clear email" is too vague and impossible to measure. Instead, approach it more strategically: Define the goals of the documents your employees need to write. Assess the sub-skills required for these documents. Evaluate if these identified sub-skills actually support the overall document goals. What is the desired outcome for the employee's documents? First, identify the key documents the employee needs to write and then assess the requisite skills for each of these major documents. For example, if an employee needs to write spec documents for vendors, the end goal of these spec documents is likely receiving vendor RFPs that accurately respond with solutions that match your company's specs and needs. Or, if employees need to write reports on the status of critical company equipement, the end goal of these status reports is likely keeping your executive team informed about key equipment or perhaps requesting funding for needed repairs. So, the first task in crafting employee business writing goals is defining the real business purpose of each document. Don't move immediately to syntax and language, which is a very common mistake. Every business document requires five core requisite skills: Audience awareness Appropriate content Content logically categorized Content logically sequenced Syntax and grammar that is clear and correct and interesting Let's apply these requisite skills to the employee who needs to write spec documents: Sub-skill = audience awareness - Do the spec documents accurately address an identified reader (i.e. the employee understands when a vendor is unfamiliar, or familiar, or interested, or disinterested, or experienced, or less experienced). In essence, the employee is able to critically assess both the project and the vendor's current understanding. Sub-skill = appropriate content - Do the spec documents provide complete yet non-redundant information,based on vendor needs.For example, a vendor who has never worked with your company likely needs more background information than a vendor who has successfully completed a similar project before. This is the most important skill in business writing. Be sure you thoroughly assess the substance of your employees' documents. This substance - the information, details, and general content - enables a reader to know or do the task at hand, so it's critical. Any gaps or errors here, and it can echo into very costly problems later. Sub-skill = logical organization - Are the spec documents logically organized? Is the information logically grouped, and tiered? Can the vendor readily identify significant information and delineate what is essential from background information? Sub-skill = logical sequencing - Do the spec documents start at the best place, move logically through the information, and close clearly and logically? Sub-skill = language and syntax and format - Is the grammar correct in the spec documents? Is the language clear? Is the tone professional and well matched to your company and vendor? Is the document easy to skim and absorb for busy readers? This same process can be applied to customer service email, quarterly performance reports, business justification documents, or any key documents you or your employees write.The key is to identify the desired business outcome of key documents, and then break down the requisite skills into measurable components. Goals must be linked to document outcome, with the skills broken down, or there is no real way to measure the progress or identify the skill gaps. Without the skill gaps clearly identified, any training or feedback will be hit or miss. Most performance reviews for business writing focus primary on syntax - the language, grammar, and tone of the document. That is a mistake. It's essential to evaluate both substance and syntax. To do this, we have to first define purpose and then assess the requisite sub-skills. There is another significant benefit of linking the document goals to specific rhetorical measurements. It's very likely that some employees, particularly non-native business writers, are weak in syntax and grammar, yet have fantastic analytical skills. This approach strengthens that desirable analytical thinking and places focus on the areas where real skill gains can happen. WHERE WE CAN ASSIST We can analyze your employees' writing skills and write the performance goals for you. As you can see, this requires a thoughtful document purpose and writing analysis. All of our customized business writing training includes this assessment. Our executive business writing coaching program includes this, and coaches the employee until these identified skills are attained.

Passed vs Past

Passed vs Past Passed vs Past Passed vs Past By Ali Hale Sandi from Inspiration for Writers wrote to ask: â€Å"Can you do a segment on Past vs. Passedif you havent already? Too many get these words mixed up.† Very happy to oblige, Sandi! Past – relates to location The word past locates something in time, and sometimes in space. It can be used as an adjective, noun, or adverb. Past as an adjective The first definition which the OED gives for past as an adjective is â€Å"Gone by in time; elapsed; done with; over.† For example: â€Å"The days for mourning are now past.† When attributed to a group of people, past can also mean â€Å"Having served ones term of office; former.† (OED) All past presidents of the United States were male. And in grammar, we have more examples of past being used as an adjective, such as in â€Å"past tense† and â€Å"past participle†. Past as a noun The main meaning for the noun form of past, given by the OED, is â€Å"The time that has gone by; a time, or all of the time, before the present.† In the past, standards were higher. â€Å"We cannot live in the past.† Past as a preposition As a preposition, past can mean: â€Å"Beyond in time; after; beyond the age for or time of; (in stating the time of day) so many minutes, or a quarter or half of an hour, after a particular hour.† (OED) It is almost half past five. It can also be used for location: â€Å"Beyond in place; further on than; at or on the further side of; to a point beyond.† (OED) My house is the one just past the turning. Past as an adverb The first meaning the OED cites for past being used as an adverb is â€Å"So as to pass or go by; by.† For example: The ball sped past the goalkeeper. Passed – a verb in the past tense Passed is the past participle of the verb â€Å"to pass†. It can be an intransitive verb (one which doesn’t require an object) or a transitive verb (one which requires both a subject and one or more objects). â€Å"To pass† means â€Å"To proceed, move forward, depart; to cause to do this.† (OED) This can refer to movement forwards in time, in space, or in life (such as â€Å"to pass an examination†). For example: The weeks passed quickly. (Intransitive: subject â€Å"the weeks† and no object). I passed all my exams! (Transitive: subject â€Å"I† and object â€Å"my exams†.) He passed the ball well during the match earlier. (Transitive: subject â€Å"He† and object â€Å"the ball†.) When do â€Å"past† and â€Å"passed† get confused? Often, writers muddle the words past and passed in sentences such as: â€Å"The heroes passed a village on their way towards the mountains.† It’s common to see this written as: â€Å"The heroes past a village on their way towards the mountains.† But the word should be passed, as (in this sentence) it’s the past participle of the verb â€Å"to pass†. An easy way to tell is to rewrite the sentence in the present tense, as though you’re describing something which is happening currently: â€Å"The heroes pass a village on their way towards the mountains.† or â€Å"The heroes are passing a village on their way towards the mountains.† However, if you wrote: â€Å"The heroes walked past a village on their way towards the mountains.† It’s correct to use past. The verb in this sentence is â€Å"walked†, and the â€Å"past† is acting as an adverb. Unusual uses of the word â€Å"passed† Most of the time, passed is a verb, as described above. There are a few occasions when it can be used as a noun or an adjective, though. For example: â€Å"Don’t speak ill of the passed.† (noun) This comes from the phrase â€Å"passed-away†. â€Å"A passed pawn† (adjective) Term used in chess. â€Å"A passed ball† (adjective) Term used in baseball. â€Å"A passed midshipman/fireman/surgeon† (adjective) Someone who has passed a period of instruction and qualified through examination – apparently this usage arose in the navy. Have you come across any other unusual uses? Are there still any cases where you’re not sure whether to use passed or past? Share your examples with us in the comments below! Why Do People Confuse â€Å"Past† and â€Å"Passed†, Anyway? The words â€Å"past† and â€Å"passed† are homonyms (or homophones): they sound alike, but they’re two different words. This makes it easy to confuse them when writing – just like people often confuse the words â€Å"there†, â€Å"their† and â€Å"they’re†. It doesn’t help that â€Å"past† and â€Å"passed† have quite similar meanings, each referring to movement relating to a fixed point (in time, space, or even life). This means it’s a lot easier to muddle them up than it is with some other homonyms with very different meanings, like â€Å"blue† and â€Å"blew†. For a whole list of homonyms that commonly get confused, check out 25 Confused Homonym Pairs. Quick Rules of Thumb When Dealing With â€Å"Past† and â€Å"Passed† If you’re still struggling with â€Å"past† and â€Å"passed†, remember, â€Å"past† can’t be used as a verb. If you find it hard to identify a verb, try replacing â€Å"passed† with the words â€Å"went by†, and see if your sentence works: The heroes passed a village on their way towards the mountains. The heroes went by a village on their way towards the mountains. Time passed slowly that afternoon. Time went by slowly that afternoon. (This won’t work in every case – e.g. â€Å"He passed his exams† won’t sound right as â€Å"He went by his exams† – but it’ll help you a lot of the time.) Alternatively, as mentioned above, you can rewrite the sentence in the present tense, as though it’s happening right now. Right/Wrong Examples of the Use of Past and Passed Sometimes, it’s helpful to take a look at some examples so you can double-check if you’re using â€Å"past† and â€Å"passed† the right way: Right: He ran straight past the bus stop. (â€Å"Past† is acting as a preposition here and could be replaced with the word â€Å"by†) Wrong: He ran straight passed the bus stop. (â€Å"Passed† can’t be a preposition.) Right: He passed the bus stop on his run. (â€Å"Passed† is a past-tense verb here and could be replaced with â€Å"went by†.) Wrong: He past the bus stop on his run. (â€Å"Past† can’t be a verb.) Right: She passed the time by reading a novel. (Here, â€Å"passed† is a transitive verb and â€Å"time† is the direct object.) Wrong: She past the time by reading a novel. (â€Å"Past† can’t be a verb.) Right: It is past the time you should be home. (â€Å"Past† is a preposition here. You could replace it with â€Å"after† or â€Å"beyond†.) Wrong: It is passed the time you should be home. (â€Å"Passed† can’t be a preposition.) Hopefully this helps clear up any â€Å"past† vs â€Å"passed† confusion for you. Past vs Passed Quiz For each sentence, select whether past or passed is correct. 1. The time [past/passed] slowly that afternoon. passed past 2. If I had a time machine, Id rather travel to the future than the [past/passed]. passed past 3. The bus will arrive at half [past/passed] six. passed past 4. My friend [past/passed] all her exams. past passed Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:20 Types and Forms of HumorFor Sale vs. On SalePresent Participle as Adjective

The Framework of Marriage and Family Counseling Essay

The Framework of Marriage and Family Counseling - Essay Example These models developed over time to facilitate the management of age-old conflicts and modern concerns in the face of rapidly changing responsibilities of counseling practitioners. From the exposition of the five models and supporting research findings, the framework of marriage and family counseling may, therefore, be viewed as an aggregation of elements having specific applications to various issues for the purpose of keeping the family intact and functional as one, happy, cohesive social unit. â€Å"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way† goes a popularly quoted line from the opening of a classic novel Anna Karenina (Tolstoy, trans. 2003). The quotation serves a significant and fitting introduction to an academic paper that tackles the framework of marriage and family counseling. From prose to reality, most counselors would concur with Tolstoy and with me that, indeed, â€Å"every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,† owing to individual differences and a whole lot of factors. However, families may seek assistance from marriage and family counseling practitioners to guide them either in the context of individual or group sessions to assuage issues. The fact that families are different and unique have given way to the establishment of a host of techniques, strategies, and models to facilitate counseling efforts and either bring back or continue on with happy family living. This paper tackles a review of existing literature on the framework of marriage and family counseling by going over both time-tested and newer models used by counselors in their practice. A combination of academic texts and peer-reviewed journals provided rich sources of materials for this paper. From the existing literature and studies, it became apparent that counselors apply different techniques and intervention models that will fit

Role of Parents Diminishes from Generation to Generation Essay

Role of Parents Diminishes from Generation to Generation - Essay Example Children no more need their parents for guidance and supervision. All they need to do is click on Google to know whether a decision is right or wrong, to know the consequences of bad career choice, and to know if they need to correct their diet. Parents’ role has diminished. No doubt, this is a tragedy. Nothing can substitute the ultimate love and care that parents can give to their child. Internet does not pray for us. Media does not feed us. Movies do not pick us up when we fall down. But getting ahead of this emotional debate, let’s ponder upon why parents’ role has diminished, and what the aftermath is. Helena Norberg-Hodge (632) writes that today, teenagers are ashamed of their traditional ways of living, and to be precise, they are ashamed of their parents. They do not admire their parents anymore; instead, they appreciate all those chic-clothed classy actors and actresses they see on television. Their parents have become old-fashioned for them. They do not like their parents asking them to choose a way of life that involves working in the fields and getting their hands dirty for little or no money, and certainly no glamour† (Norberg-Hodge 632, para.3). ... Apparently, we are connecting to the world through online social networks, like Facebook and Orkut, but what happens in real? We are disconnecting from real life. This disconnection diminishes the role of significant others in children’s lives, especially that of the parents. This has given rise to the big generation gap, accompanied with scary communication barriers. â€Å"We tried to make our conversation seem like more than an interview†, writes Rodriguez (201), telling about his experience when he talked to his mother on Christmas vacation. Why, today, parents and children need to put in effort to bring some life to their conversation? Why does it not come up naturally, with care and concern? This is because children are emotionally distant from their parents. Parents, themselves, are too busy nowadays, and they provide their children with expensive electronic gadgets, multichannel cables, LCD televisions, and computers, which children spend most of their time with. They have ready-made food available to them at McDonalds, Pizza Hut, and KFC. They do not need their mother’s good old recipe driven healthy food anymore. They absorb knowledge from what they see on media channels. They learn everything before parents even get the chance to tell them. Mothers wait for the right menstrual age of their daughters to tell them about it, and daughters already know it. Fathers wait for their boys to get big enough to be told about safe sex, and the boys already know it. It is all around them- the information, the knowledge, the statistics, the facts and figures, the good consequences and the bad ones. Then, why would they need their parents anymore? Today’s age has made them

Conservation of historic buildings and monuments

Conservation of historic buildings and monuments Introduction Throughout the renaissance period, preservation and restoration remained an experimental process in which many of the tools, instruments and methods were selected at random. The process was pursued with very little critical or historical understanding. This led to many architects such as Viollet-le-Duc, Sir George Gilbert Scott, John Ruskin and William Morris voicing their perceptions of how preservation and restoration should restore buildings to how they would have appeared in their prime. Most of our modern principles of conservation arose from the ideas of John Ruskin and William Morris from the mid 19th century. They stated how we are merely custodians of the buildings left form our predecessors for our future generations. They also state how our intervention in historic buildings must be kept to a minimum and how continued repair and maintenance of these historic buildings must be valued. These ideas form the basis of modern perception of preservation and restoration of our valued historic buildings and monuments. What is Conservation? Conservation is a way of planning designed to conserve historic buildings, areas and monuments in an effort to connect a places historical background to its population and primarily its culture. Conservation is means of green building, that is, reusing the existing building as oppose to new construction for a modern purpose and use. The four main styles of conservation of historic buildings are preservation, rehabilitation, reconstruction and restoration. Preservation Preservation is the means of keeping an historic building a close as possible to its original state by means of continued repair and maintenance. This focuses on the stabilization and repair of the existing materials in the building and the retention of a buildings state as it has evolved over time. Restoration Restoration of historic buildings involves reconstructing parts of the building that have fallen into decay as imitations of the highest possible quality of the original building. This form depicts a building at one stage in time and often removes any evidence of any other period in which the building existed. Rehabilitation Rehabilitation sees the need to alter or extent to an historic building to meet modern demands while still keeping the historical character of the building. Reconstruction Reconstruction re-creates vanished buildings or parts of buildings by interpretive means. Criticisms of Conservation Like many developments in urban design and planning, conservation has had its share of negative perceptions. Such aspects if this criticism include; Cost Style Mistakes made Cost implications of Conservation There are many costs associated with the preservation or restoration of an historic building. Often they need specialist workmanship which can be both time and money consuming on a construction project. Delicate elements of the building often require propping or some sort of support which can take up valuable space on site. Many of the systems in an old building need upgrading which can be difficult to install. Requirements such as energy rating and fire certificates can be hard to upgrade as often the original design of the building did not consider such modern ideas. Elements such as cavity walls or wood cladding are expensive and difficult to bring up to modern standards regarding these requirements. Structural elements of an historic building are the most endeavouring aspects of the conservation process to get right. Foundations are a recurring issue with many of the buildings as newer structures with deeper and heavier foundations can often cause uplift of the older building. Th e cost of repairing the foundations of these buildings are astronomical so diligent design of new foundations and monitoring of existing buildings is paramount during construction. All this adds up on a construction project which has undesired implicated cost for both contractor and engineer. Modern style construction Due to property price rises and limitation of space in city centres our society has constructed its buildings higher and higher to meet its purposes. This popular style of higher buildings can often cause the older, smaller historic buildings to become dwarfed and ultimately undesirable for its occupants. As the push towards increased numbers of taller sky-scrapers in urban areas is inevitable, this leaves many of the smaller older buildings redundant. Critics also say that the older historic buildings cannot accommodate as many people or businesses as newer developments can. This increases the rent on these buildings and causes low income retailers and residents to relocate. This has a negative impact on a city centre regarding retailing. Mistakes in conservation Another criticism of conservation is that it is very susceptible to mistakes being made which are ultimately to the determent of the building. Inappropriate renovations can cause damage to buildings and put it worse off than it was before. According to the Tipperary county council website some of the most common mistakes made in small scale conservation in the area are; Removal of old 18th or 19th century windows to be replaced with new PVC, plastic or aluminium windows The removal of original slate and the replacement with imitation slate or tiles The removal of the render. The website says how these changes can affect the ventilation systems in the building and can exacerbate any decaying or rotting that is taking place in the building. Removal of render and replacing it with modern Portland cement which is a lot harder can cause cracking, admit moisture and trap it within the wall. This is just an example of a few of the mistakes that can be made during the renovation process. It is clear that a great responsibility is undertaken in conducting a conservation of a building. It is the utmost importance that the right techniques and products are investigated as to preserve the building and not to amplify or created any problems with the building or monument. Sustainability of conservation Historic buildings are inherently sustainable. The correct preservation can maximise the use of the existing materials and infrastructure and in return reduces waste caused by demolition and energy put into the production of new materials and construction. Many of the old buildings were designed with sustainability in mind. Many features of historic buildings were built with aspects like climate and site situation in mind to give a sustainable build. If correctly conserved, many old buildings can serve future generations for many years to come. Conservation versus New Construction Preserving a building is often referred to as the ultimate recycling project. Although, as I have already outlined it has its many sceptics who say that historic buildings are beyond their use and require significant corrective measure to make them viable as a functioning structure. However, Green and sustainable design has become ever more popular in todays new construction and preservation industries. A major aspect to this is the reduction in carbon that conservation brings when compared with new construction. Concrete products, steel, transportation, heating and electricity are the main factors contributing to a projects overall carbon emissions. Conservation of old buildings drastically cuts down on new concrete products and their inherent transportation costs as well as the use of electricity to operate plant that is associated with new construction. Conservation versus Demolition The conservation of old buildings is a much more sensible option than demolition in relation to sustainability. There are many times when a building is deemed structurally unsound and the need for demolition is unrivalled in the interest of public safety but this should not prevent our society from conserving many of our old buildings for continued use. Conserving greatly reduces the amount of construction material being dumped in landfill. Demolition creates vast amount of crushed concrete and stone that is often unusable for construction again. Ethics and conservation I have decided to divide ethics and conservation into two sub-headings that I will discuss, they are Ethics of conservation Ethics within conservation. Ethics of conservation Preservation of historic buildings and monuments plays a vital role in the growth of our civilization. It is oftentimes easy to disregard the accomplishments of past generations as we strive to change our societies and environments to be more suited to our present needs. John Ruskin (1819-1900) was one the first to develop the conservation movement whose ideals were that a historic building, painting or sculpture is a unique creation by an artisan or artist in a specific historic context. He believed that such genuine works of art resulted from personal sacrifice and it was based on mans perception of beauty on nature, where in itself existed as a reflection of god. (Jukka Jokilehto, A History of Architectural Conservation, 1999, page175) Such ideals led to him becoming a pioneer in help organise preservation of historic buildings and monuments writing many works on the subject. His principles form the basis on conservation in todays world where we see historic buildings and monuments as a link to our past and our culture. With ongoing development of our city centres and transportation networks it would be very easy to demolish the outdated and often useless buildings and monuments that get in our way. Therefore, the question arises why dont we? Conservation is an ethical subject with the decision to neglect our revered buildings and monuments a conscientious one. As John Ruskin said many of our monasteries and churches alike are works of art in the reflection of god. It is often said that age in itself contributes to beauty. Age is a thing that is associated with wisdom and many of our historic buildings add a feeling of intellect and enlightenment to an area. Often, historic conservation of city centre can help them become more competitive with regard to retailing and business as historic, unique buildings give areas more prominence in comparison to the homogeneous skyscrapers that dominate the skylines of many of our large cities. Ethics within conservation There are many ethical values within conservation itself that regulates the nature of the industry. As one would expect it is a delicate subject whether or whether not to intervene with the natural state of a revered building or monument. Therefore, many charters and polices have been developed and implemented over the years. The first time that an international agreement was made on the principles of conservation was the Athens charter of 1931. The charter was later review and update with the Venice Charter in 1964 which relates to historic buildings, the Burra charter which deals with places of historic significance and the Washington Charter which is relates to historic towns and districts. These charters were drafted by The International Committee for Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS). Conservation is regarded as the work done to prevent further decay of a building and to extend its life. Conservation can often be undertaken with the greatest of enthusiasm and best intentions. However, the conservation process should be carried out so that no damage is done to the building and no falsifying or destruction of historical evidence occurs. Lack of information or the use of incorrect in inappropriate techniques can often unintentionally cause both, aesthetic and structural damage. According to (http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/Heritage), the main principles in these charters to help prevent unintentional damage from occurring are; Retention or restoration of historical significance Conservation process based on research Minimum physical intervention Maintenance of visual setting These are the basic principles outlined in the charters which help instil ethical practice of conservation works. Case Studies In this section I will report on two case studies which I researched which will highlight mistakes made in the past, ethics in conservation and the sustainability of conservation. The leaning Tower of Pisa The leaning tower of Pisa is one of Italys most infamous land marks. It attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists every year. Construction of the tower began in 1173 after a period of prosperity in Pisa. The tower began to sway soon after the beginning of construction due to a poorly laid foundation and loose substrate that has allowed the foundation to shift direction. The tower was built in three stages over 177 years. The tower began to sink after construction was completed on the third floor. In 1272 construction was resumed with architect Giovanni di Simone deciding to build one side taller than the other to compensate for the tilt. This caused the tower to lean the other way resulting in the tower having a curved shape. The curve and 3.97o angle to the vertical at which the tower leans caused inherent damage to structural elements of the tower as well as aesthetic damage. This led to the Italian government to seek international aid to prevent the tower from collapsing on February of 1964. They did, however, declare that they desired to retain a certain degree of the towers tilt because of it tourism viability. Many attempts were made to rectify the foundations. Deformations were made in the soil through vertical anchorages and forces were applied using weights. This was one of the most simplistic solutions but also the most ineffective as it only resulted in inducing further compression on the soil. This caused extensive damage to the tower where cracking and splitting of many of the mall columns occurred. In 1993 900 tonnes of lead weights were applied to oppose the tilt of the structure. Additional provisional strengthening of the structure was applied with a series of circumferential steel cables. The final measure in the stabilization of the structure is to be a new technique called under-excavation. This technique consists in pulling out, about 5 m under the upstream border of the foundation, small amounts of soils, through a series of casings drilled into the soil. (www.sciencedirect.com). This it is hoped will gently cause the tower to tilt towards its desired inclination without disturbing the fragile columns in the structure. The leaning tower of Pisa is an example of restoration attempts where experimental methods were used with almost dire consequences for the building. However, an ethical approached was undertaken which was based on research and an effort to minimize distortion of the appearance of the building. The Parthenon Besides the pyramids at Giza, the Parthenon is one of most revered monument in the world. It was built between 447 432 BC by Greek architects Ictinus and Callicrates. The structure underwent extensive damage over an extended period time. In 296 BC gold from the statues in the building was removed by the general Lachares to pay his army. In the 5th century AD the temple was converted into a Christian church. In 1460 it housed a Turkish mosque and in 1687 gun-powder stored by the Turks inside the temple exploded and destroyed the central area. (www.archive.com). A recent major influence in the increased deterioration of the monument has been the expansion and development of nearby Athens. Urbanization has caused increased amount of carbon dioxide in the air which has contributed to more intense acid rain. This has seriously affected the monument more so in the last 30 years than in the previous eighteen centuries. In 1975 the Greek government made a special effort to try and restore the Parthenon to some of its former glory. After some delay, a committee was set up in 1983 which later received funding from the European Union to carry out its works. It was investigated that some of the earlier works were incorrect and therefore carefully dismantled and a restoration process commenced. The preservation firstly involved rectifying mistakes made by conservationists in the past. Steel beams were places within the stone structure to help support it but these were not coated in lead and inevitably rusted. The rusted beams expanded and cause the stone to crack more than it was so previously. It is impossible to restore the building to exactly how it was built first day but the aesthetics of the building were preserved by replacing any missing columns and lintels with precisely cut marble from the original quarry. The overall idea behind the conservation attempt is to replace all missing pieces of marble in the structure where they would have been preserving the structural integrity of the building by supporting these with modern materials. The preservation of the Parthenon shows a standard of ethics that Ruskin and Morris adhered to. Although there were mistakes made in the past, a willingness to restore the monument to its former glory while still keeping the style of the original building intact is the way it should be done. Preserving this monument is paramount as it has a clear link to the nation of Greece and its culture and past. Future Ideas From researching this project it is clear to see that conservation of old buildings could prove extremely beneficial to society with regard to sustainable living. With a recent push towards eco-living, conservation of some of our older building as oppose to demolishing them and erecting a new structure would be a way forward. In my opinion, future policies could incorporate full structural analysis to look for potential conservation processes before any building is demolished. This could be especially beneficial in city centres where construction of new multi-storey buildings is quite challenging. Also, regular maintenance checks of all buildings, historic or recently built, should take place on a regular basis as to provide any preservation techniques that may need be applied. This would greatly help sustain the buildings we have and reduce the need for any new construction which would have a positive impact for the environment. References Websites http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main http://www.wbdg.org/resources/sustainable http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/Heritage/ArchitecturalHeritage/ Conservation of historic buildings by Bernard m feilden, 1982 http://www.culture.gr/h/2/eh251.jsp?obj_id=912 Ioanna Venieri, archaeologist www.preservationnation.org

Foolishness in Shakepeare’s king lear

King Lear is considered to be Shakespeare’s best artistic work. Early on, the readers glean the foolishness of the king as he bequeaths his riches and his kingdom to his deceitful daughters. This is his desperate attempt to know who loves him. Thus, we see his foolishness as he draws out testimonies of his daughters’ love for him. For all his wealth and riches, he is bereft of the love of his daughters. His glaring foolishness is seen as he bequeaths his kingdom to the one who would speak of her undying love for him. Thus, we see that only a foolish man would do such actions for naturally, his daughters, who want the material things will give him the accolades he so desperately wants to hear.King Lear is foolish not to know the depth of Cordelia’s love for him because he measures it only with the words that will come from her mouth. He asks them to match each other’s pronouncements of their love for him, â€Å"Tell me, my daughters,- / Since now we will d ivest us both of rule, / Interest of territory, cares of state,- / Which of you shall we say doth [does] love us [King Lear] most? That we our largest bounty may extend / Where nature doth with merit challenge† (Act I, Sc i, Ln 47-53).King Lear should have observed more the actions of her daughters instead of their spoken adulations. He is taken aback by Cordelia’s response: â€Å"†Nothing, my lord† (Line 89). He then prods her to continue yet, she does not succumb to the pretenses that the situation requires of her and declares no high praises and love, which prods the king to conclude, â€Å"Nothing will come of nothing:† and in a pitiable state urges her to â€Å"speak again† (Line 92). For his Cordelia lacks â€Å"that glib and oily art / To speak and purpose not; since what I well intend, / I'll do't before I speak-† (Line 227).This foolishness is again gleaned as the King thinks that when he gives out his kingdom, he â€Å"shakes all cares and business from our age, conferring them on younger strengths while we unburdened crawl to death†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Act I, Sc i, Ln 38-41). Nothing could be farther from the truth, for this just makes him worry no end that Cordelia does not love him at all.The story of King Lear illustrates clearly what happens when children are consumed by greed and when they lose their love for their parents.   The play focuses on deception, greed, cruelty, and misjudgment. King Lear would have stood bravely had he not been blinded by his own folly. Often the disguise or deception is not physical but emotional.   The few characters that must physically disguise themselves in the play are the few characters that are not motivated by darker emotions.Kent and Edgar disguise themselves: one to help the king, the other to escape punishment. In the end, Shakespeare shows them to have pure and decent motives. The dukes and two eldest daughters however, who at no time in the play hide their f aces nor their actions, do hide their true nature. The daughters trick their father into believing that they love him above all else.   Edmund, too, tricks his father into thinking he is a loving devoted son, and this is to hide their true greediness.  (Novel Analysis).Greed and craving are distortions of desire. In greed and craving, one relinquishes most of the consideration for anybody else in one’s existence. King Lear is part of that existence and falls victim to this greed. He is foolish not to see behind the actions of the very people he is surrounded with. This is an insatiable, self-designed torture trap that his children are engulfed with.King Lear knew the conditions of his life as he experiences it. Only he can choose how to meet them. To the degree that his daughters are into hustling and conning, then they do not really communicate with him. He exists for them only as an object that they hope to use for their own benefit. Lear finds himself surrounded by peo ple who only wish to deceive and abuse him and leave him abandoned.This causes him to loose his sanity. King Lear’s decisions change his life and send him to his own demise. His actions lead him to his own sufferings, â€Å"Howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones. Had I your tongues and eyes, I'd use them so that heaven's vault should crack. She's gone for ever! I know when one is dead, and when one lives.†(Act V, Sc iii, Ln 306-312).King Lear avoided the issue of his daughters’ manipulations. He allowed himself to be sidetracked by his world of distracting events. His ways of resisting or avoiding dealing with areas of his life that he did not feel ready to cope, kept him from being logical. He resisted seeing clearly and that put something else between him and the issue. He blocked it out of his awareness and convinced himself that it does not exists. He looks at the event and sees only the distracter that he puts between him and the issue, or he does not s ee anything there at all. When he got totally caught in his situation, he lost all sense of perspective on what others were plotting against him.In conclusion, the king’s foolishness manifested in his own compulsive control that clamped him down and channeled his energies in narrow ways. This pushed all his power into places where he was blinded to see the entire picture sending him naked and where nature symbolized the chaos he found himself in.WORKS CITEDAct I, Sc i, Ln 38-41, Act I, Sc i, Ln 47-53 Reports & Essays: Literature – Shakespeare,Study world Retrieved Jan. 8, 2007 at:Novel Analysis. King Lear. Retrieved Jan. 8, 2007 at:http://www.novelguide.com/kinglear/themeanalysis.html

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