Community service stands as a pivotal element in fostering cohesive and thriving communities. It encompasses voluntary actions to benefit others and the community without the participants expecting material gain. The multifaceted benefits it offers are profound and far-reaching.
In the individual, community service can instill a profound sense of empathy and social responsibility. Engaging in this work exposes volunteers to diverse societal challenges, nurturing an understanding of the needs of others. Moreover, community service acts as a catalyst for personal growth and skill development. Volunteers often acquire transferable skills, from communication and teamwork to problem-solving and leadership. These skills enrich personal development and enhance their value as employees in their everyday work. Communities benefit significantly from the selfless efforts of volunteers. Nonprofit organizations and community groups heavily rely on volunteers to support their operations. These unpaid individuals are pivotal in bridging service gaps, from assisting vulnerable populations to organizing community events that foster unity and solidarity. Community service excels at fostering community engagement and cohesion. Bringing together individuals from diverse backgrounds and uniting them toward a common cause makes the social fabric tighter. It builds bridges across societal divides, nurturing a sense of belonging and a shared purpose among community members. Furthermore, volunteering provides a profound sense of fulfillment and satisfaction. Making a positive impact on the lives of others and giving back to society generates an unmatched sense of accomplishment. Community service is not just about giving time - it is about making a tangible difference. It encourages a collective mindset focused on the well-being of the community. Through empathy, skill development, and personal fulfillment, community service improves the lives of both volunteers and those who are being helped.
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One of the essential aspects defining acoustic guitar tones is resonance. This has to do with the vibrational characteristics of the plucked string, known as the excitation source, within a resonating system that, in a guitar, is a hollow wood-enclosed body.
Resonance is critical in defining aspects of tone such as depth, warmth, and richness: for example, a string drawn against a cardboard box has resonance, but it will in no way match that of a guitar. With an acoustic guitar, string oscillations serve as the active excitation source that generates sympathetic vibrations, which cause the passive body (the wood body) to vibrate. A larger vibrating surface area generates higher amplitudes, as more air is moved at the resonant frequencies. Because the vibrating string itself displaces minimal air, the sympathetic vibration of a guitar is mechanically transmitted through sound post and bridge, which directly support the strings and also connect with the larger wood body. As the vibration of the strings passes to the body of the guitar, the entire instrument subtly vibrates, which can be felt by the player in the hands and stomach. Differences in string and wood types, as well as guitar dimensions, create various resonances described in terms such as “bright” and “muddy,” as well as more technical formulations such as “nice open lows.” The ICAgile Certified Product Owner certification is a credential that validates a person’s ability to use agile practices such as planning and adaptive prioritization and their understanding of customer needs to deliver products and services effectively. Students taking the certification course learn topics on how to balance customer, business, and team needs and align backlogs to product and service vision. Understanding these aspects helps maximize value in business-client relations.
The course’s learning outcomes include acquiring knowledge in agile product ownership skills and behaviors, value delivery assessment, product planning and development, and working with customers and stakeholders. The professionals who benefit the most from this certification include business analysts, business subject matter experts, product managers, product owners, and project managers. Others include professionals such as software vendors striving to achieve value-driven product and service delivery. Students must attend live classes to earn the ICAgile Certified Product Owner certification. Upon completing the course and a post-class survey, they get a certificate they can share with their professional network and employers. The certificate is a downloadable portable document format (PDF) file that one can upload to professional networking websites such as LinkedIn. Anthony Freddura has spent more than 8 years with Epsilon in Wakefield, Massachusetts. When he is not managing activities for multiple delivery teams in his role as a product owner and lead business systems analyst at Epsilon, Anthony Freddura enjoys playing the guitar.
Individuals learning to play the guitar will also need to learn about different aspects of guitar maintenance, including how often to change the strings. In most cases, guitarists should change their strings after 100 hours of playing time. Individuals who do not play their instruments frequently should consider changing strings every 3 months, as strings will naturally wear and weaken over time. Failing to replace strings in a timely manner can result in a low-quality tone and aged strings that fail to stay in tune. Old strings are also stiff and can make the instrument more difficult to play, and they will eventually break. Old strings even impact the visual aesthetic of the instrument, as they take on a rusty, splotchy appearance. It should be noted that new guitar strings must be “broken in” after changing. While new strings sound better than old strings, they must be played for a period of time before they take on their natural tone. New strings will also slip out of tune almost as easily as old strings. Any musician preparing for a performance or lesson should change their strings ahead of time so that their instrument has time to break in the strings. Anthony Freddura is an experienced software developer and systems analyst currently working at Takeda Pharmaceuticals. In his spare time, Anthony Freddura enjoys listening to music and playing the guitar.
When someone wants to buy a guitar, one of the first questions they ask is whether to buy a new or a second-hand instrument. Each guitar type and brand comes with distinct benefits and disadvantages, and there is always the chance that a new guitar won’t fit the player’s taste and style, which can end in a loss when selling it to buy something more appropriate. If a used guitar was well-cared for by its previous owner, its cost can still be significantly lower than a new one of comparable quality. This allows players on a budget to acquire an instrument of high quality. Due to the variety of the second-hand market, those looking for a guitar should be able to find just about any model they desire, including some that are no longer in production. Additionally, second-hand guitars preserve most of their value compared to new pieces. If the guitar doesn’t perform well or the player needs to sell it, they can usually get most if not all of their money back. Anthony Freddura has worked as a business systems analyst in Massachusetts for more than a decade. During that time, Antony Freddura has served as a project manager and analyst with Epsilon, Cisco Systems, and Fidelity Investments. Anthony Freddura holds multiple professional certifications including ICAgile Certified Product Owner (ICP-EPO), and Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO I).
The Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO) is a globally recognized program and certification provided by Scrum.org. It is designed for product owners or individuals who want to develop and test their Scrum framework knowledge. Scrum.org offers three PSPO certification levels. The first level is PSPO I, which shows potential clients you have a good understanding of Scrum and how to apply it to create product value. PSPO II confirms you have an advanced mastery of Scrum frameworks such as business strategy, product vision, and backlog management, and can use these to create value in the product sphere. The third certification is PSPO III. At this level, you’re distinguished as a product owner or individual who, while using scrum, can own a product vision, efficiently manage product backlog, and partner with stakeholders to deliver valuable products. To be certified at any level, you must pass a Professional Scrum Product Owner exam, which has an 85 percent passing mark. If you pass the PSPO exam, you’ll receive a PSPO certification, along with a PSPO logo that you can use to show your expertise in using Scrum for efficient product development and delivery. Based in Arlington, Massachusetts, Anthony Freddura serves as the lead business systems analyst at Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Outside of work, Anthony Freddura volunteers with Soul Food, a Boston nonprofit that provides food to people in need and also supports World Vision.
Founded in 1950 by Robert Pierce, World Vision is the world’s largest child-focused nonprofit organization. Since it began its operations the nonprofit, which is based in Uxbridge, United Kingdom, and has offices in nearly 100 countries, has affected the lives of over 200 million children from disadvantaged backgrounds. World Vision runs many community-based programs that provide children and their families with clean water, health services, education, and much more. World Vision is able to finance its activities through grants and donations, and in 2019, it raised over $2.9 billion. Over the past few years, World Vision has spent over 86 percent of its funds to finance programs that directly benefit children, who the organization views as the most vulnerable members of any community. Anthony Freddura is an accomplished and highly skilled business systems analyst/product owner who has successfully led development teams and released key business software applications. Currently, he works for Epsilon as a lead business systems analyst and product owner. He has worked in similar roles across different organizations in the past. When he’s not working, Anthony Freddura is engaged in community service through Soulfood, a ministry run through the Grace Chapel that helps to feed homeless people.
Homelessness is one of the most widely recognized forms of poverty. Regardless of where we are located, we are likely to encounter homeless people who are genuinely in desperate help. The Bible says that Christians should be concerned about the less fortunate members of society, and to that end Christians can help the homeless by buying them food and sharing meals with them. Many Christian churches operate soup kitchens and homeless shelters where members can volunteer and contribute. It is also possible to contribute to non-affiliated shelters, as they are often looking for volunteers as well. Anthony Freddura joined Epsilon in Wakefield, Massachusetts, as product owner and lead business systems analyst in 2013. When he is not managing various delivery teams that support the Agility Harmony software as a service (SaaS) platform, Anthony Freddura enjoys listening to music and playing the guitar.
Rock bands (and particularly guitarists) smashing their instruments following live performances is a popular rock and roll vignette. While it is impossible to determine the very first person to destroy their instrument on stage, popular culture generally attributes the act to Pete Townshend, lead guitarist of British rock band The Who. Townshend’s initial spree of instrument destruction was purely by chance, as an unusually low-ceilinged venue cracked the headstock on his iconic Rickenbacker. Townshend decided to complete the guitar’s demolition, and the crowd’s enthusiastic response led to Townshend taking apart a new axe after almost every show. The guitarist estimated he shattered 35 instruments in 1967 alone, though he was always carefully to refrain from damaging instruments he had a sentimental attachment to. A number of high-profile musicians have since taken up the tradition, including Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, who often included amplifiers as part of his mayhem, and King of Leon’s Caleb Followill, who accidentally smashed a vintage Gibson ES-325 that was both financially and emotionally valuable. Gibson later reached out and helped repair the guitar. Based in Wakefield, Massachusetts, Anthony Freddura serves Epsilon as the firm's product owner and lead business systems analyst. With a lifelong passion for music, Anthony Freddura plays the guitar and enjoys a wide range of sounds and styles.
One of the emergent guitar-driven bands of recent years is Greta Van Fleet, which formed in Michigan in 2012 and has earned comparisons to Led Zeppelin. Interviewed recently in Rolling Stone, lead singer Josh Kiszka described the songs on the debut album “Anthem of the Peaceful Army” as reflecting a commitment to “musical honesty,” which he sees as lacking in today’s music scene. Noting that he and his bandmates are humbled by comparisons to Led Zeppelin, Kiszka describes music fans as having a tendency to frame sounds they don't understand well in terms of music that has come before. For this reason, he ignores the endless debates on whether the band is simply aping rock’s glory days and focuses on forging a new sound that incorporates diverse influences, from the Fleet Foxes and Kings of Leon to Sufi chants. Since the breakthrough guitar blues hit “Highway Tune” topped the charts in 2017, Greta Van Fleet has consistently striven to expand its sound and attract a new generation of hard rock enthusiasts. |
AuthorServing as an Information Systems Quality Analyst, Anthony Freddura held responsibility for testing and supporting a client/server transaction processing system. Archives
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