Potential Blog Topics

Topics:
The three topics I am thinking about pursuing are animal conservation, dragons, and Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback of all time.
For animal conservation I am wondering if we should strengthen our stand on conserving wildlife?
What is the historical significance of Dragons in European history?
Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback.

Biased Article

The article I am calling out for being biased is 8 reasons LeBron James is better than Michael Jordan. This article shows a lot of statistical biases and many other. The author uses 8 explanations as to why he believes LeBron surpassed Michael Jordan. Although I disagree with this article I will attempt to reduce bias of my own. Base rate fallacy is another kind of bias in this article as he goes to in depth on very specific statistics. The focusing effect also comes into play as the author is focused on only some parts of the game.

The statistical bias is a form of outcome bias. The statistics just look at the outcome and not how they were accomplished. For instance, rebounding had "7.2" rebounds per game for James and "6.2" rebounds per game for Jordan. This stat clearly favors James but when you look at how they were accomplished it changes. Jordan was not designed to grab boards as he would be set to go on the break, because the Bulls had Rodman (regarded as one of the best rebounders ever) and others down low to grab the boards. James often times plays center which shows his versatility but he has trouble guarding big-men.

The other biases that were included on this article is base rate fallacy and the focusing effect. The writer of this article uses one of his reasons as "foul rate" this stat is completely absurd and is not very relevant to who his a better player (by the way this was his fourth argument). An important stat is winning and he excludes that. This is very bad on the writer as Jordan is 6-0 in the NBA Finals and is one of the greatest winners in all of sports. James is a mere 2-3 in the NBA finals proving time and time again he struggles at the big stage. The record in the playoffs is even more lopsided in Jordan's favor. The focusing effect comes in place where the writer says a main reason for James being better than Jordan is because of a "1 percent higher three point shooting percentage". This is an absolute absurd reason to be the number five reason in your argument.

BUCKET LIST ITEM CHECKED OFF!!!

For my bucketlist I had to learn to play an instrument and I was able to play Yankee Doodle and Ode to Joy. I could not upload a video, so I had use this picture as evidence. For future goals I hope to really know how to play the guitar.

Classmates Profile

I interviewed two people in order to get to know them better as a person. During journalism I interviewed Kristin and Morgan. I had the opportunity to get to learn about them and what their life is like.
Kristin L. 

Although the interview started off very bland as she used "boring" as the one word to describe herself she told me she had a passion for soccer. As the happiest moment of her life was "winning a championship in soccer" which shows her love for the game. She enjoys playing soccer very much and would much rather be playing on the field "than watching soccer". She is a lot like the typical teen as she likes "pop rock" music and enjoys "warm" and "sunny" places. There was a major moment in her life as her entire life flashed before her eyes as she "almost drowned".

Meghan.

Meghan said she was very unique as the one word she used to describe herself was "random". She enjoyed "warm and sunny" places and "pop rock" just like Kristen. Meghan also told me how close she was to her family and "especially her cousins". Her happiest moment of her life came from her family. As her parents surprised her with a trip to Florida and she was "in shock" of the news. She enjoys "playing sports rather than watching", but enjoys baseball the most.

A) Incentives are seen everywhere and inspire many people to do their work more efficiently and better. However, many problems arise while using the incentive system. The incentive system often times fails and leads to worse performance. Incentives makes the people focus more on the reward than the prize therefore causing worse performance. The most used incentive is monetary reward, but the best incentive is skill. If you give a man a fish he can eat for the night, but if you teach a man to fish he can eat for his entire life. The best incentive is when someone is able to learn a skill to improve their everyday life. For someone to get a skill and to learn how to master that skill is far more motivating than  other monetary prize.

B) I had an aesthetic experience when I was ten years old. My family had a vacation down in  Florida back in 2007. I had seen many beaches in my life before, but never before have I seen a palm tree. During the week in Florida I thought it was the coolest thing to see a palm tree. I even got a real coconut. Being ten years old (and having the littlest things entertain me) that was an amazing experience to me. To this day the beach is one of my favorite places.

Short term BUCKET LIST

Get a Job: I have been on the search for a couple of weeks now for a job. So far I have been unsuccessful in my search, but I feel as if I am close.

Visit another country: I would love to go to Europe preferably Italy. Europe is full of history and has a rich culture. It is quite the experience to visit and experience other countries’ culture.

Learn to play an instrument: I am not a very musical person, but I think it is pretty cool when someone can play the guitar or other instruments.

Buy a car: This goes hand and hand with getting a job. I am not looking for a very nice car just a car that gets me from point A to B.

Go to a Patriots game: I have never been to a Patriots game and I would love to see the greatest player ever to play in the NFL.

Long Term Bucket List

Travel to every continent: When I am very old I would like to say that I have been there to almost every major country in the world.

Become the wealthiest person in the world: How awesome will it be to be able to afford anything you heart desires.

Have a Family: This is a goal for way later in my life. I would love to have a big family with a beautiful wife.

Take over the world: This is a goal I will probably never accomplish, but having all the power in the world would be cool. However, it probably would have more problems than benefits.

Time Travel: when we have the technology that would be crazy to be able to witness major events live. I mean I would be able to see a dinosaur, how insane would that be! 

Article response

Amanda Ripley in the article The Case Against High-School Sports argues that high school sports should not be provided by the high school. However, high school sports are, the majority of times, beneficial and essential to the typical student.

Often times high school sports offer a special bond like no other. High school teammates often times become lifelong companions. High school sports are an easy way to make new friends. Imagine being a freshmen or a new student in a new high school seeing all these faces you don’t know. Making new friends can be a daunting task for some, but high school sports offer a way to create unbreakable bonds with new people. Many of my closest friends are from high school teammates. Sports bring people together and unite the high school together. Sports bring a special opportunity that makes students support others and help one another out. By playing on a sports team one learns many life lessons such as “working in a team environment”, “leadership”, and “discipline”.

Athletics in high school generates a lot of revenue for the school. Sports team are funded by user fees and boosters with only a small percentage of money from the school itself. Although the school spends more on athletics than academics the government spends more on academics providing financial aid and school improvements. The majority of the tax dollars the people play do not go towards a new turf field or new tennis courts, but instead go towards financial aid for students and improvements on the school itself.

To be able to participate in sports one must maintain a passing grade. This motivates many students who would drop out usually but makes them stay in school. As one sample of multiple high schools across the country show the dropout rate for athletes being .7 percent while for non-athletes the dropout rate is 8.98 percent. The desire to stay on the team keeps kids in school. Many people take a high school diploma for granted, but for many people it is all they have. High school athletics gives many students that high school diploma that they would not have received otherwise.

Citation

Ripley, Amanda. "The Case Against High School Sports." The Atlantic Oct. 2013. Print.

Sato, Kai. "The Case For High School Sports." The Atlantic Oct. 2013. Print.

H ttp://www.nchsaa.org/whitley-study