The Real Top Movie of All Time

With the upcoming release of Avatar on DVD it has made me reflect on how everyone is saying that it is the top grossing movie of all time, which is a true statement. When you look at the total amount of money that it has made it is. It has grossed over $2.2 billion worldwide which is much more than any other movie ever. However when you adjust ticket prices for inflation and the overall theaters that are available, it is a completely different story. With those adjustments Gone With the Wind is the top movie of all time. The remaining top 5 movies are: Star Wars, The Sound of Music, E.T, and The Ten commandments. Avatar is number 14 on the top movie list. So when you really look at the big picture and the relative values of the movie prices at the time you get the real view of the top movies of all time.

Eyjafjallajoekull Volcano

This volcano eruption is causing some real problems for all of the airlines in Europe. With all of the ash floating in the air, all of the flights in the region have been canceled. All across Europe flights have been grounded and these problems are costing the airlines a reported $200 million per day. That is a huge loss for the travel industry in Europe, and they don't really know how long this problem is going to last either. They do hope that some flights will be able to fly this week, hopefully as soon as Monday. Many officials are meeting to decide if whether they should seek other means for passengers to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Many are deciding if they should send some passengers on boats to get them back in the quickest way possible. I don't know what would be the best way to go about fixing this problem but it is very interesting to me to see how people cope with natural disasters. Some try to do the best they can while others just worry and fret.

College Degree Worries

Recently I have been doing some research on college degrees and different majors and specifically what the benefit of the different majors is. Specifically I have read some articles online about the overall value of a college degree in today's market and that the value of college degrees has been decreasing. There used to be a larger variance between the salaries of high school graduates and salaries of college graduates. Now the difference isn't very big. It is still better to get a college degree and the numbers do still back that up, but they aren't as valuable as they used to be. My opinion is that degrees are still much more valuable than just a high school diploma. But it does make me worry about what I should do for my own future degree because the statistics do show that there is a very large difference between the different degrees themselves. So my decision of which major I am going to study is actually a pretty big decision. I have always known that but now that I know that each major has a pretty large salary decision, it really just adds to my worry.

Top Skills Employers Look For

I will look at some of the top skills that employers look for while seeking a new employer and I will do so in no specific order.

1. Communication Skills
2. Problem Solving Skills
3. Technical Competency
4. Determination
5. Ethics and Loyalty

In my opinion those are what employers feel are most important in a new employee. First is communication skills. Each prospective employee must be able to communicate, both written and oral. This includes the ability to communicate in writing with no errors and clearly, and verbally such as being able to work with a team and communicate clearly within an organization. Next is the ability to solve problems. Employers want to know that as an employee faced with a problem of any type, that we have the ability to fix it and move forward. Next of course the employer is looking for our competency in the desired field. Obviously this is why we are in school and work hard in school, to prove to employers that we can fulfill the desired responsibilities. Next I think employers look for determination in an employee because they want to know that we will work hard for them and get the job done. They want to know that we care about our work and will produce good results. Finally employers want an employee that wont be a liability and is honest in his or her work. They want an employee that shows ethics and values and shows that they wont cause further legal or ethical problems. Overall those are the top priorities that employers have in mind while looking for an employee and I hope that I can continue to develop them.

Is listening important?

The answer to the question above is invariably yes. Listening is, in my opinion, the most important aspect of the communication cycle. I say that because my own personal experience has shown that to me. I have discovered that in situations where I am required to speak to someone that my biggest concern has always been, what should I say. Often times I find myself thinking of that same question while someone is speaking to me, instead of listening I preoccupy my mind with what I am going to say next. Experience has taught me that I have been going about it in the wrong way. I have learned that while I am in any situation where I am communicating verbally with anyone that by focusing on what the other person is saying, and why they are saying it, that I am capable of responding to their needs. I am able to process what it is that the person is saying and why they are saying it, and I am able to respond with questions or with action.

By putting more effort into the listening aspect of the communication cycle, we get a better understanding of the motives of the person speaking to us, which helps us understand better exactly what is going on. We are able to perform tasks and requests with more accuracy, respond to questions with intelligent well understood responses, and express ourselves more clearly to the understanding of the listener. Often times the listening is overlooked so there is misunderstanding for both parties and a lot of confusion.

Economy is Self Fulfilling Prophesy

Economics is not my most favorite subject. As it turns out I don't like it at all. Some of the aspects and the principles of macro-economics can be intriguing to me but overall I don't much care about the rest of it. To me one of the most annoying aspects of economics is that it governs itself. What I mean by that is that when economists predict that something in the economy is going to happen it happens. Not necessarily that they foresaw that it was going to happen but that it happens because it was predicted and prophesied that it would.

Let me give an example and see if i can make this any clearer. Let's say that a famous economist predicts that there is going to be a large recession, that stocks may plummet ant that consumer trust in the market is going to fall. He says these things because of some small predictors that show a specific trend that may or may not lead to any specific destination. Because of this genius prediction people start to be a little more careful with their money, they spend less, invest less, sell the stock that they do currently have. So what happens? This recession that was predicted would happen actually ends up happening. People change their behaviors because of the economist and the prophesy of the recession is fulfilled. The sad thing is that people collectively aren't clever enough to figure this out so they listen to and follow every word of these famous economists.

NBC's Bad Decisions Have Cost Them

If you have watched T.V. at all within the last two months I am sure that you have heard about the whole late-night scheduling problems. These problems are the result of bad decisions that were made a few years ago to force Jay Leno out of his time slot and put Conan O'Brien in as his replacement on the Tonight Show. But this bad decision has led to even more bad decisions with their scheduling. NBC put Jay Leno on at nine o clock with his own show that has suffered very low ratings during the life of the show. In fact the rating were so bad that the local affiliates that show the news directly after the Jay Leno Show demanded that NBC replaces the show because their ratings were so low going into the news. So NBC decided to put Jay Leno back onto his old time slot and kick Conan O'Brien out of the network completely which has led to a backlash of criticism against NBC and Leno. All of these problems in accordance with other weak scheduling problems on the network has resulted in a 30% decrease in profits over the same quarter last year. Even with the Olympics on now they are losing in ratings to other networks such as Fox and ABC. I hope that NBC can clean up their act so that they can continue to provide quality programming for all to enjoy.