Data Analysis Research

• Male vs. Female Driving
•  According to the literature, how do driving habits differentiate between gender?
•   Migration patterns of King Salmon
•  Based on the literature, how have the migration patterns of King Salmon changed over the years and why?
•  Lebron vs. Jordan
• Based on the literature, which athlete will have had a better career? 

Analysis of a Biased Editorial: Lebron James is Better than Michael Jordan Ever Was by Luther Campbell

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2014/05/lebron_james_is_better_than_michael_jordan_ever_was.php

In this editorial the author Luther Campbell, exemplified his beliefs on why Lebron James will easily surpass Michael Jordan in basketball history using slightly embellished facts. He utilizes the bandwagon effect which is when someone leads to be more attracted to something because everyone else is trending to like it. This author is on the Lebron James bandwagon simply because he has great statistics so far in his career. Saying that he will pass Jordan is a joke because Lebron still has half of his career to play, and their is full possibility that he could sustain a career ending injury. The author believes "any dunk Jordan has done, Lebron can do better" which is very biased. If Lebron was such an astronomical dunker why doesn't he participate in the Dunk Contest every All-Star break and prove his the best dunker like Jordan did. The bandwagon effect is an unconvincing bias in my opinion because I don't like to follow the mainstream trends.

Another cognitive bias used by the author is the distinction effect. He puts Lebron and Jordan side by side and claims that Lebron is a much better teammate because he always cheers them up. I find this to be false because eventhough Jordan did go to casinos and clubs after the games does not make him a bad teammate. It only meant he wanted to relax after a long game  or try to expand his riches! We all have tried to at least once! The reasons he uses for this argument are biased and unfair because they were two different types of people off the court that should not be compared.

A third cognitive biased used by the author is availability heuristic. Availability heuristic is the tendency to overestimate the likelihood of events with greater "availability" in memory, which can be influenced by how recent the memories are or how unusual or emotionally charged they may be. Campbell exemplifies what Lebron can do later in his career when he really has no idea what the future has coming for Lebron James, players have had great careers only to slip into a career ending slump. Lebron will have trouble playing at this level of play for the rest of his career. Michael Jordan also many issues off the court such as the death of his father, something Lebron has never had to go through. The author utilizes many cognitive biases in his editorial and is biased towards Lebron James.

Crossing Something off the Bucket List

 Eating sushi has always been a fear of mine, but I decided to face my fears and try it. I still was not fond of the tentacle thing so I started off with the most basic sushi, the California roll.

I ordered 6 California Rolls from Fresh Catch in Mansfield.

After eating the sushi I was very satisfied and requested my mom to buy more the next time she is out shopping. Sushi is not my favorite all time food but it wasn't torture either. All in all a good experience .

Short-Term Bucket List

1.   Eating sushi:I have always feared eating sushi because the seafood inside usually isn't cooked and I'm personally not fond of the idea of eating an octopus' suction cup. Although I would be willing to try a California roll or something along the lines of that.

 2.       Visit the Baseball Hall of Fame:

I am a huge baseball fan and I have always dreamed of visiting the hall the displays all the greatest players to ever live. My dream to visit Cooperstown is yet to be fulfilled but I plan on visiting soon.

3.     Record Jason eating the T-Rex at Wendy's: I've never witnessed someone eating a T-Rex burger but I would be honored to record anyone who is daring enough to take it on. Jason wants to take it on and it would be fun to record him attempting to eat it.

 4.   Get a Job: It is a goal of mine to get a job because I am fond of the idea of some weekly cash flow. It would be nice to be able to support myself instead of relying on mom and dad to supply money whenever I need it. What I want to do is still a question I don't have an answer for but I hope to have soon.

 5.       Go to college: Another goal of mine is to go to college because it opens many opportunities that are not available to those who don't go and I also feel it will help me mature because I will be living away from my family whom which I relied on my entire life. I also hope to play college baseball and see what opportunities it opens up for me.

Profile of a Peer: Morgan Nicholson

Morgan Nicholson is a Freshman who attends Norton High School and is a fellow student of mine in F Period Journalism.

Morgan was a millennia baby born on, April 11th, 2000 in Overland Park, Kansas. Her family consists of her mother, father, her younger brother and younger sister. When I asked her who the weirdest person in her family was she answered without hesitation that "her brother was without a doubt her weirdest family member" because he is eight years old and "as an eight year old" he asks questions "that most adults do not know the answer to". Every year Morgan vacations in the summer and spends most of her days on beaches such as Old Orchard Beach, Horseneck Beach, and Mayflower Beach.


Morgan wishes that she was a surfer because :"She envies their gracefulness". When she visits the beaches she enjoys watching the surfers because those whom are good are interesting and even those whom are bad are fun to watch wipeout.
Morgan is a soccer player for our high school's Junior Varsity team. She claims she has been playing soccer every since she was four and "is in love with the game". Her team this year is "playing well" and "is built of mostly her friends". She says they have only lost one game so far this season which I think is very good given the hard division our school is in.

Morgan is very fond of Italian Cuisine, and subsequently her favorite restaurant is Bertucci's because "they have the best margarita pizza." If she was dying she would want her last meal to be her favorite pizza.

Morgan is a very nice and comical person and I am glad I got to learn more about her!

Incentives

a). In the world today incentives  are used as motivation for a large variety of people. An incentive is something as simple as a form of payment that is used to stimulate motivation. Incentives govern human behavior because the world today revolves around the idea of a sense of accomplishment. The world is constantly striving to find the next big thing, and those who find it are frequently promised a reward of some sort. Based on the economy, the best reward someone can receive is a cash prize or something of value. People today are very materialistic and are constantly trying to  earn as much money as possible to add to their name. For example, if there is a middle class man working in the technology business and hears news that there is a large cash incentive for whoever brainstorms the best idea for a new phone that tops them all, he will strive to be the man who has the best idea to give his children a blowout christmas or buy a new ”toy”. Another example of incentives at work is in Major League Baseball. Agents nowadays are doing everything they can to get the most money possible for their client because they make a percentage off of what their player earns. Knowing this, they negotiate incentives for their players saying if they hit a specific amount of home runs, make the all-star team, or accomplish some milestone, then they earn an extra amount of money for the season. Players in a contract year normally have more incentives and are trying to earn a new contract for their next year so they are more motivated to play well. Incentives govern the lives of work people and professional athletes and motivate them to strive for success. 

b). When I was nine years old I had an aesthetic experience that changed my life forever. At this age I attended my first ever Redsox game. I was oblivious to the game itself because at that time I had not attained basic baseball knowledge. My take away from being at the game was the environment that the players get to play in day in and day out. My dream of competing on a field with as much beauty as Fenway park was born. The following year I had my parents sign me up for recreational baseball. Since that day I have played on numerous travel and aau teams constantly hoping that I can soon play in front of the big crowd. My parent's purchase of a ticket to the Redsox game also bought me a dream I  still have to this day.

Long-Term Bucket List

1.       Live in a Mansion: The idea of living in a mansion is  something that has impressed me because it represents wealth. That and I would not mind having an indoor basketball court right next to my indoor swimming pool. I used to consider people who lived in mansions to be snobby until I actually met someone that lived in one. Then I realized that although he is wealthy he uses his mansion to house his parents as well as his wife's parents, not just to display his wealth.

2.       Live to 100: With all the complex diseases and cancers that are constantly surfacing in the world today and the increasing rate of adult obesity, it is said that my generation will not  live as long as our parents. This is hard to believe because even with the advancements in medicine we are predicted not live to our parents age.

3.       Witness Something Truly Majestic: Although this is broad it leaves many things to observe. Something majestic could be the Great Wall of China, the pyramids in Egypt, or even Stonehenge. Basically anything that you see and hear about but never get to witness first hand.

4.       Go to space: I always wondered what it was like to be in zero gravity and I think it would be pretty cool to be one of the few people that actually set foot on the moon. It always also be interesting to see the earth from another perspective for once in my life.

5.       Sky Dive: I know it's a mainstream item to put on your bucket list but it's only used a lot because many people are thrill seekers and want to be able to say they fell from the sky at least once in their life .

New Post

        In the article, “The Case Against High-School Sports”, Amanda Ripley demonstrates her concern that high-school sports are cutting into the academics of students. In the text she uses many examples from a broad spectrum of sources that support her claim.  Being a high-school student at this time I would have to disagree with Ripley and her writings in this article. High-school sports are the most important part of a student athlete’s high-school career. During a sports season, many students are in a more positive mood throughout the course of the school day. In any learning environment it is important to have a positive attitude because students will listen more when they are in a decent mood, where as if a student is having a bad day they zone out and do not absorb any information taught to them in the class. I disagree with Ripley’s points on sports in “Pasco County, Florida” and “Texas” because the educational systems down south are very different from the schools in the New England region and weight their academic and educational systems differently. 

I also disagree with what the author Is saying because students athletes tend to succeed more when they are preparing for, or are in a sports season. In our school they allow you two failing grades. Once you fail two classes then you can no longer play that sport. In other schools the penalty can be as severe as if you have any failing classes then you cannot participate in sports related activity or clubs. In a nut shell students will work very hard to make sure they can play the sport they love because chances are sports are the only reason they came to school that morning. Some students strictly rely on sports to get themselves through the day. That leads me to my next point.

From my school experience I can easily say sports help me get through a long day consisting of essays and long tests. For some it is coffee that keeps them going, others it's an extremely caffeinated  energy drink, and for most athletes it is the knowing that in 7 hours they are going to be touching the field. Students will then tend to succeed more or at least be more willing to learn because they use their game later in the afternoon as motivation to perform well both in the classroom and on the field. My concluding argument for Ms. Ripley is sports bring communities together as one, not math classes. If you have to spend more money on a football player than a math student, so be it. That's a price the school should be willing to pay in order to get their community involved with the school . Last time I checked you don't make any money off concessions in a math class..

Rhetorical Article: High school Sports Effect on school

Ethos:

-"I’m a little skeptical about this, in part because student athletes actually tend to perform better in school. "

-The author describes his position on the topic and does not think highschool sports are affecting the students success in the classroom 

Logos:

-"At this moment in history, now that more than 20 countries are pulling off better high-school-graduation rates than we are"

-"The difference is that 93 percent of South Korean students graduate from high school, compared with just 77 percent of American students"

Pathos:

-"I’m a little skeptical about this, in part because student athletes actually tend to perform better in school. Indeed, students with low grades are usually not allowed to participate in varsity sports."

-"Still, anyone who’s ever attended a varsity football game in rural Texas or urban Maryland knows where high schools are placing their energy."

URL: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/blog/just_get_rid_of_high_school_sp.php

My Pet Peeves

1.Joe Buck: In my opinion there is nothing worse than trying to watch 
your favorite sports team play while it is being announced
 by Joe Buck. His voice alone makes me mute my TV, which
 I have done multiple times. Even worse he constantly regurgitates whatever is said by the other announcer in his press box
with his own unintelligent spin. My advice to you is next
time Joe Buck is announcing a televised sports game that you are watching, mute him.

2.      The excessive use of ‘like’: One time or another we have
stumbled across someone who has had this issue. The person
is trying to explain a situation and it seems as if instead of pausing
where a space would be they decide to say the word like. Or they try
 to create an argument by rambling on with examples constantly using like to start another idea. It’s annoying.

3.      Obnoxious gum chewers: Another bad habit that many people have that annoys me. My ears want to bleed when I hear someone chewing gum with their mouths open. It makes a clicking noise that to me is like nails on a chalk board. Also, it is annoying when people are talking to you and they are chewing gum at the same time  because I find it hard to concentrate on what the person is saying when you can hear them chewing their gum.

4.      Game Cancelations: Being a baseball player I have traveled for many away games. It is irritating when you drive an hour or so to a game only to realize half way there Mother Nature wants to let a few inches of rain loose. Even worse than that…when you show up to a field after a storm a few days prior and the home team has made no effort to make the field playable for a game, and instead of calling ahead and telling the team that the field isn’t playable they wait to tell you in person..

5.      Pugs: Ironically one of my pet peeves is actually about a pet.
 Not to be offensive but I find pugs to just be an ugly dog. Their
small curly tail reminds me of a pig and their squished nose
doesn’t look anything like all the other dogs, which bothers me.
Also, the first time I came face to face with a pug it peed on me.
Not a very good first impression for the breed.

6.      Those who dislike Baseball: I am a very avid baseball player and I love the game. It really annoys me when people who don’t understand the concept of baseball can say, “It’s boring”. It really isn’t boring if you know what you are watching. I respect all other sports so I would appreciate it if everyone showed the same respect towards baseball.

7.      People who are never wrong: I can’t stand when I’m in the middle of an argument with someone who believes they are never wrong and will not relent until you say they are right. I’m not easily swayed to admitting the other person is right when I am 100% sure I am right. With that considered I have nearly ruined many friendships over a stupid argument about a sports statistic or something of the like because the other person felt they knew the right answer… I have no issue with people sharing their open but after a while they need to learn the argument will never end