Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Research Topic

   I will be researching Machiavellian Business and Leadership Practices for my topic. I am interested in majoring in Public Relations in College, so I decided to do research on a topic that has commonalities with the career I want to pursue. Unfortunately, this means I will not be researching Great White Sharks, Armadillos, Capuchin Monkeys, and Bengal Tigers.

Literature Question:
   What does literature reveal about Machiavellian Business and Leadership Practices?

Monday, October 27, 2014

Potential Research Topics

1. The migration habits of the The Great White Shark- What does literature reveal about the migration habits of the Great White Shark?

2. The abnormal defense mechanism of the Bengal Tiger- What does literature reveal about the abnormal defense mechanisms of the armadillo?

3. The sneaky qualities of the Capuchin Monkey- What does literature reveal about the sneaky qualities of the Capuchin Monkey?

4. The destructive ferocity of the Bengal Tiger- What does literature reveal about the ferocity of the Bengal Tiger?

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Bias Response: Mass. Nurses Worry About Ebola Preparedness

An ambulance carrying Amber Joy Vinson, the second health care worker to be diagnosed with Ebola in Texas, arrives at Emory University Hospital on Wednesday.     In the article, Mass. Nurses worry about Ebola preparedness, by Felice J. Freyer reports on the bias of how Mass. nurses in specific hospitals are in no way ready for an Ebola outbreak such as the one going on in this present day. This articles leans towards normalcy bias. Normalcy bias is the refusal to plan for, or react to a disaster that has never happened before. This is readily used in the article with it containing many examples of this particular type of bias.

     Normalcy Bias is used in this articles on several occasions. Ebola is a virus that is spreading like wildfires around the country and around the world. It is a virus that many medical many professionals aren't ready for because it is not a common type of virus that we see often. These professionals are having trouble starting the preparations for Ebola patients because they have no clue where to begin. Normalcy bias is the refusal to prepare for a disaster, so it is not a direct parallel to the article, but it has some commonalities because they struggle to stat preparing and are not sure how to prepare for such a horrific outbreak that is spreading over the globe. They are also struggling because they " are responding as quickly as they can to shifting circumstances and new knowledge".  This shows normalcy bias because they aren't sure how to plan because they are receiving new knowledge and information everyday. Many nurses " say they are equally concerned about being assigned, without adequate training, to care for an Ebola patient once admitted". This is another example of normalcy bias in the article because it shows the nurses being worried about caring for a patient without proper training to deal with the virus.

   This article is filled with examples of normalcy bias. The article explains how many nurses are worried about contracting the disease because they do not have proper training and cannot plan for the virus spreading. In the article, Mass. Nurses worry about Ebola preparedness, by Felice J. Freyer, Freyer shows how nurses aren't prepared for Ebola while using examples of normalcy bias throughout the article.

Work Cited:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/10/15/ebola/LhkBmkuYeG08RDpixPwC9I/story.html
http://quizlet.com/53722881/journalistic-bias-flash-cards/

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Bucket List Item Completed

I was able to do a one arm push up. It was pretty difficult, but I was able to complete it. It was all thanks to Adam Marcon for the training me and and taking the picture. I really hope that I will be able to muster the strength to be able to do more.

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Semi-Structured Interview

Ladies and Gentlemen, I want you to meet Tara Kiley:

       In my interview with Tara I learned a lot about her. I discovered about her hobbies and some of her greatest accomplishments. I learned some strange, irrelevant information about her but it shows a lot about who she is as a person and her aspirations in life.

      When I asked a leading question about her guilty pleasure song, she stated, "Boom Clap because because its a really upbeat and happy song". She enjoys eating at Wendy's because its like gourmet food and its better than some of the other fast food restaurants. Her favorite hobby is to play volleyball. She enjoys volleyball because " you have to show sportsmanship  and be a team". Dance was a major aspect of her life, " My greatest accomplishment", Tara exclaimed, " would have to be when I made it to the top level of dance before I quit last year".

     Tara said that her happy place is on the beach in New Hampshire. She later explained that the beach is Lake Ossipee in New Hampshire. She loves how there is so much to do when she is there. She plays tennis, basketball, volleyball, and mini golf. The calm atmosphere that surrounds the Lake is what she enjoys the most. It is peaceful and a great place to be. We also discussed children in her future. " I would want a boy first", Tara stated, " then a girl, so he could defend his little sister". Tara enjoys her weekends just as another person would. "On Saturdays", Tara says," I normally hang out with friends". " On Sundays, I go to Church, then I do homework. After homework, I sometimes will hang out with friends or I will relax". She had many opinions on her favorite type of car: " Trucks", she stated, " Ford Trucks or Range Rovers". " Those are my two favorites".  This is some of the information that Tara Kiley shared with during our semi-structured interview.
 

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Incentives

     Incentives have control of the population of the world. They govern the people in a variety of ways. Most of the incentives are used to increase productivity or assist in taking less time to create a new product or a design for a new product. The most influential incentive is money. Money can brainwash many people, including myself, to do things that normally, a person would not be able to do or even want to do. Sometimes, money can alter the expected results. If there is not enough money involved then there will not be enough motivation. If there is a large monetary prize that the results will decrease dramatically. The most beneficial incentive is the purpose motive. It gives a person the opportunity to do something that they have a desire in completing. It gives them a way to take pride in what they are doing and showing that the completion is beneficial to a great cause.
   
      There are moments when I feel aesthetic beauty. Those moments occur when I am on the tennis court. It happens a few seconds before I go to deliver a racquet shattering overhead at the feet of the other team. I can hear every word spoken on the court, even the noises from the other end of the court. I can see every stitch in the tennis ball and the fluff on the external surface of the ball. I can feel the grip of the racquet in my hand. The grip against my clenched hand ready to strike down with force that has never been seen before. I can feel the eyes of all my teammates and coaches on me as I bring the racquet down in a beautifully swift fashion. My eyes never leave the ball. I can see the racquet and ball make contact as I send the ball flying over the net and into the feet of my opponent. The ball travels like a bat-out-of-hell. Even though this sensation of a perfect overhead occurs in about 2 seconds I feel a lifetime go by as I size up the ball and go for the kill. It is these moments that I cherish most of all and never let them go to waste. These are the moments in which I feel true aesthetic beauty.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

My Bucket List

Long Term Bucket List:

1. Play tennis against Novak Djokovic: I am a big fan of tennis and Novak Djokovic is my favorite tennis player. I t would be an amazing opportunity to play against him and have him teach me a thing or two about the game.
2. Go to England to watch Wimbledon: I have always wanted to visit England. I think it would be an amazing place to go see. I also would love to watch some of the best tennis players in the world play each other in hopes of winning the tournament.
3. Learn to do the Skeleton at an Olympic level: I love the Olympics, but I m really only a fan of the Summer Olympics. However, when I was watching the Winter Olympics and saw the Skeleton I was blown away. It amazed me how fast those athletes go. I think it would so cool to be able to do that and be good at it.
4. Visit Australia: I like all people want to travel. Australia would be awesome to visit and hopefully see a kangaroo. That would be incredible.
5. Go to the Summer Olympics: The Olympics are so cool to sit down and watch. I get lost in the events and spend hours at a time watching different events. My favorite season for the Olympics is Summer. I love watching the beach volleyball, the running, and the swimming. It would so cool to watch the Olympics.
6. Be in a movie: I have always had a little bit of a passion to be an actor and star in a popular movie. I envy actors like Mark Wahlberg and Liam Neeson( 2 of my favorites actors) because the movies they are in are always great. How cool would it be to be in popular movie watched and loved by millions?
7. Graduate College: in order to move on in life I need an degree and in order to get my degree I need to graduate college, so I believe it is important for everyone, not just myself to graduate college ready for the next stages of life.



Short Term Bucket List:

1. Get accepted into Roger Williams University: That is my favorite school that I have visited. It really is the perfect school for me. I want to go with a burning passion. I want with everything in the world to get accepted into that school.
2. Graduate High School: I want to go to college and in order to to do that I need to graduate High School.
3. Go to a Bruins game: I love watching Hockey. It is a very cool sport. I have never been to a Bruins game and really want to go.
4. Do a one arm push up:  I have always wanted to be able to complete a one arm push up. I have tried and it is really difficult. I really hope to do a one arm push up before I kick the bucket.
5.  Drive my car up Mt. Washington: I have wanted to drive up to the top of a mountain with my family for awhile now. Now that I have my license and my own car I really want to drive up Mt. Washington just to be able to say that I have done it.

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Persuasive Essay: Are High School Sports Ruining Education?

          In the article, "The Case Against High-School Sports" by Amanda Ripley describes High School sports as distractions and they are ruining High School education for the students in the school. The general theme and idea of her argument against High School sports being a distraction is wrong; High School Sports are an outlet for students and give you something to look forward to, they motivate people to work hard on and off the field, and they bring money into your community.

        Being a student-athlete in High School, your sport gives you something to look forward to during the day. Everyone has those days where they are just not themselves. Whether you are tired or your head is just not in it, sports give you something to look forward to. It is a way of knowing that soon enough you will be something you love to do. Sports are also an outlet for students who are having a bad day. The reason that there are not a large amount of fighting in schools is because the students who are angry enough to fight let their angry off on the field. Even students who don't play have something to look forward. At the games students can hangout with their friends while they cheer on their friends that are on the field. High School sports are not only a great thing for students who play, but it i also a social event for students who do not play a sport. The author says that there is nothing good about high school sports. This statement is wrong because sports in high school allow students to let of steam and it gives kids something to look forward to at the end of their long, boring school day.

     High School sports also help students to be motivated on and off the field. There are rules and regulations that require students to not fail a certain number of classes or they can not play on they specific team. This requires students to work hard to keep good grades or else they can't play. It also motivates students to be good teammates and work hard on the field to win. Athletes want to be on a winning team. You have to work hard to win and sports help you motivate in order to work hard to win. "Football" states Roy Henderson, "cannot be defended in the high school unless it is subordinated, controlled, and made to contribute something definite in the cause of education"(78).  Football brings about an unorthodox way of learning. Players have to learn plays in order to win and they need to pass their classes in order to play. They use the way they learn plays and put it into learning the content from their classes. This results in athletes passing their classes and winning games.

     Finally, football games bring in money for the town and school which can be used to help the school systems in that town. Football games are very popular Friday night events. The stands hold hundreds of students and parents. Naturally, it will cost you money to get into the games. With hundreds of people at the game; this results in a lot of money for the school. This is a great thing for the education in the schools because a percentage of the money from the football games goes to the school. "Athletics succeeded in distracting not just students", says author Amanda Ripley," but entire communities. As athletic fields became the cultural centers of towns across America, educators became coaches and parents became boosters"(74). The unity of the communities results in towns getting financial aid towards the education in the school systems.

    The general topic of the article, " The Case Against High-School Sports", by Amanda Ripley is wrong. High School Sports give students something to look forward to and are an outlet for students, motivate students on and off the field, and bring money into the community.


Ripley, Amanda. "The Case Against High-School Sports." Atlantic Oct. 2013: 72-78. Print.

































































































































































































































































































Monday, September 15, 2014

Doping Provides an Unfair Advantage

     In this article there are many examples show rhetorical methods like Ethos, Logos, and Pathos. Some examples include:

Ethos:

  • The author of the article, Patrick Hruby, is a sports writer. This means that his job involves watching sports and writing about the arguments that arise from sports topics. He has integrity and a great reputation.
Pathos:
  • He brings up a topic that is highly debated in the sports realm. Doping in the sports world. This is a topic that interest people many people that are sports fans.
  • He also uses methods to get the reader involved, which also helps get the interest of the readers. It makes the reader feel like the author needs his/her help in writing the article.
Logos:
  • The author comes to logical conclusions in the article where he states what the NBA lacks and why so many people can get away with doping in the NBA. 
                    1.  A lack of blood testing
              2.   A lack of biological passports
                    3. Advance notice to players of drug testing
These are some of the few examples of rhetorical writing methods in the article.


John Munger

Monday, September 8, 2014

My Pet Peeves

1. When people put carriages near the corral, but not in it.
      As an employee at a grocery store and an employee that works in the parking lot collecting carriages, it is the most annoying thing in the world when people put the carriages near/next to a corral and not in the corral. Why would you not take a few extra steps to place the carriage in the corral and make my life a whole lot easier? No, let's just put it next to the corral and be lazy and a get me incredibly annoyed and ruin the shift.

2. When people don't respond to you when you ask them to do something they probably don't want to do.
     My little brother is the biggest offender of this. I will ask him to do something minor like throw me a pair of socks or get me a glass of water and he will just not respond or act like he won't hear me when he is a few steps away from me. You and I both know that you can hear me. Why is it such a big deal to get me socks or a glass of water. It will take a total of 2 minutes out of your day. If you don't want to do this just respond. A simple yes or no would suffice, but instead you decide to not respond. This puts me in the worst mood.

3. "Chill"
    It's a common fact that when people are annoyed it doesn't help them to calm down when people tell them to "chill". I'm going to be honest, I have a very short fuse and can get annoyed very easily. It only gets me more mad when people tell me to chill. I feel like people think that when they tell people to chill it automatically fixes everything. Well, let me share a secret with you everyone, It does not or it at least doesn't work with me. It gets me more angry and it makes me want to throw the person who says it to me through a window.

4. When people stop in the middle of the hallway to talk to their friends.
       We have narrow hallways and a lot of people in our school. We only have 3 minutes to get to our class. Many people in our school including me are in a rush. If you stop in the hallway to talk to your friends with a bunch of people behind you, it is guaranteed to make many people behind you angry. It is a simple fix really. Just push to the side or walk with your friends. Why would you stop in the middle? Do you have any common sense at all? For these people, I guess not.

5. Putting your feet up on the dashboard of my car.
    I like things clean and my car is one of those things that I keep clean and everything has to be orderly. If you put your disgusting feet up on my dashboard it makes me incredibly annoyed and if you have muddy or wet feet and put them on my dashboard I will end up breaking your foot off of your leg.