The Legend of Howard Hughes essays

The Legend of Howard Hughes essays The Life and Legend of Howard Hughes Throughout the 20th century, it has been the medias job to pinpoint what events and people would prove to be an effective story. This was certainly the case for Howard R. Hughes. Son to the wealthy Howard Hughes Sr., Howard became the interest of the American people and newspapers for most of his life. Being deemed one of the most famous men of the mid-20th century was greatly attributed to Hughess skills as an industrialist, aviator, and motion-picture producer combined with his enormous wealth, intellect, and achievement. The media thrived on Howards unusual and sometimes scandalous life, especially in his later years when newspapers would frequently front large amounts of money to get stories on Hughes. Howard was also associated with what has been called one of the greatest publishing hoaxes in history. Howard Hughes Sr., commonly known as Big Howard, was a graduate of the Harvard School of Law, yet never once appeared before a court of law. Big Howard spent the first 36 years of his life chasing money across the Texas plains, as a wildcatter and a speculator in oil leases, working hard enough and earning just enough to move on to another, hopefully more fortunate gamble. In the year of his marriage, Big Howard sold leases on land that proved to have $50,000 in oil beneath it. He promptly took his new wife to Europe for a honeymoon, and returned exactly $50,000 poorer. In 1908, Big Howard turned his ingenuity and his hobby to tinker into good fortune. Current drilling technology was unable to penetrate the thick rock of southwest Texas and oilmen could only extract the surface layers of oil, unable to tap the vast resources that lay far below. Big Howard came up with the idea for a rolling bit, with 166 cutting edges and invented a method to keep the bit lubricated as it to re away at the rock. Later that year, Big Howard produced a model and went into busi...

What to Do When Youre Bored at Work

What to Do When Youre Bored at Work There can be any number of reasons you’re feeling bored  at work. If it’s just a lull in your to-do list, maybe it’s temporary. If it’s more of a chronic case of â€Å"I-hate-this-job-itis,† well, you should certainly start thinking about looking for a new job. But in either case, it can be a dangerous habit to fall into. Here are some tips to save yourself before you fall into a full-on goof-off cycle. 1. Find something new to do.This doesn’t mean you should take online Spanish lessons while your company expects you to be working diligently at your desk. Rather, find something of value that you can learn from your workplace. Whether that’s picking up a new skill from another department or talking with colleagues to pick their brains on their own expertises, take this as an opportunity to boost your professional development. Just make sure that your off-the-record professional development doesn’t start displacing your regular work duties (you know, the ones you’re being paid to do).2. Reward yourself.Completing that report on time may not earn you the applause of your manager, but you can come up with your own reward system. Say, â€Å"when I complete this task, then I can get coffee,† or allow yourself 10  minutes of down time for checking something major off your to-do list. It’s a way of staying in the game enough to get things done, even when your head or heart might not be. If things get really desperate, there’s always the good, old-fashioned candy reward that’s popular with kids and bored professionals alike.3. Come up with an escape plan.If your case of â€Å"I-hate-this-job-itis† is a serious one, then even the act of figuring out your next steps can have a rejuvenating effect. Even the most tedious or soul-crushing work activities aren’t so bad if you know you won’t be doing them forever.4. Shoot for â€Å"good enough.†Sometimes a C+ is good enough, especially if you’re in danger of flunking. It’s not great to make a habit of doing the bare minimum, but if you feel yourself checking out, create a list of the parts of your job that are absolutely â€Å"must do† so that you’re maintaining until things get better.5. Do some networking in your field.Meeting and talking to new people in your field can introduce new opportunities. It can also help you remember what you liked about this field in the first place, and why you chose this job. Either way, it brings something (or someone) fresh into the staleness of your routine.Even if you’re halfway out the door and already looking for other opportunities, it’s important not to let your reputation lapse into slackerdom. If you feel yourself starting to check out, there are ways to slow it down before the blahs affect your job performance or work relationships.