Monday, May 14, 2012

5/15/12

Part 1
Today the article was about why colleges should ban football as one of their atheletic programs.  Now, before I go any deeper into this subject, let me just say that whoever wrote this piece, is a complete and utter jerk.  How could you think such a thing?  Anyway, as I said before, the article is about why college should ban football due to the fact that they don't provide anything academically.  Also, because 43% of the 120 schools in the FBS lost money last year. Sounds like a personal problem to me.

According to the article, there aren't many pros.  But one that you can get from this article is that the students who are good at football, do get to move on and play professionally.  However, the article doesn't focus on the pros, purely the cons.  While reading, you find con after con after con.  Things such as students don't graduate, players don't make a dime off the profit, coaches make obscene amounts of money, it has nothing to do with academics.  But let me pose a question here, what sport does involve academics?

The alternative that the article suggests is actually quite stupid.  The author suggests that collegs should cut and ban football from their athletics and put that money towards sports where students actually have a higher graduation rate like swimming or track and field.  Let me tell you, I love to watch some college swimming and love it even more to watch track and feild.  Give me a break. 

In my opinion this guy needs to watch his mouth.  The only people who are going to agree with this guy are nerds who were never good at anything in life and over-protective "mommy's." Too many of the American people love football for someone to have the nerve to say such a thing.  To be honest, if I were this guy, I would take this article down and hide for a good amount of time. 

Part 2
In the last year, the top 2 college football teams were the two who played in the national championship.  They are Alabama and LSU.  These two schools are constantly at the top of the college football rankings, making them a dangerous team year in and year out. However, these schools are extremely hard to get into.  Wheather you play athletics or you just apply during your senior year of high school  You have to be the cream of the crop to get in, and even better if you want to play football at one of these schools.  Last year, Alabama made $45,221,741 and LSU made about the same.  The tution to get into Alabama is $17,825/year and the tution for LSU is 9,684.  A large difference between the two schools, but not on the football field. 



Wednesday, May 2, 2012

5/2/12

Article 1

Recently, Facebook created a 3 BILLION, not million, BILLION dollar advertising business.  Facebook plans to introduce this business on May 18th during an IPO roadshow convention.  Although this may seem like a great idea, many investors are uneasy about it.  They don't know wheather or not putting all the money into it, will really give them what they want.  They don't know what they are getting for their dollar.  One of the advertisers that are skeptical about the advertising is a company that had been advertising on Facebook since 2009, Kia Motors.  Although they are unsure about the new advertising, they will continue to put millions and millions of dollars into advertising on Facebook.  But this is not the first time that Facebook has done something like this.  Last year, they launched a feature of their website entitiled "Sponsored Stories." Here, advertisers could repost peoples positive posts on the Facebooks news feed, therefore highlighting them for others to see.  For this sort of service, advertisers pay a rate based on the views that the post gets.  It will be interesting to see how this new advertising business works out.  Facebook has not exactly been on the uprise with the outbreakings of other social networking sites such as Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram taking the lead, leaving Facebook behind along with past social networking giants in Myspace and Formspring. 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304868004577378122958515302.html?mod=WSJ_business_whatsNews

Article 2

How about some exciting news for all you electirc car drivers?  Soon, Orlando area WALGREENS will be recieving new car charging stations.  Yes, you head it here, brand new car charging stations.  How many you ask? A wopping total of 8 or 9 throughout the Orlando area.  But there is some bad news that must come with all this exciting news.  The locations of the Walgreens who will recieve these electric car charges were not released.  These charging stations are compatible with all North American made electic vehicles.  Once again, however, we have some bad news once again.  It does cost more to charge at a public station like the ones at the Walgreens than it would at home.  At these public places, it costs a total of 4 cents per minute and at home it costs less.   At the public charging stations, you must charge for a minimum of 15 minutes.  Although this may seem outragous, it is not.  It is actually quite convient.  If someone knows that their car is about to die and they need a charge in the worst of ways, why not stop off at a public charging station at a Walgreens, grab a soda and a pack of animal crackers, and bite the bullet and pay the 4 cents per minute so that you can get to your next destination.  It makes more sense. 

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-04-16/business/os-walgreens-charging-stations-20120416_1_electric-car-drivers-gas-stations-electric-car

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

4/24/12

PART 1
Current and former college students are falling behind big time.  Not in life, but financially.  This is not because they cannot get a job or are spending too much.  It is because they have too much to pay back in studetns loans.  Two words that haunt college students throughout life.  Ms. Ramine has loans that add up to $79,000 but by the time she pays them back over the course of 25 years, she will have actually have paid $211,000 due to intrest rates although she is still making her payments on time.  Students all over the country are going through such things and this is causing most of them to hold off future plans such as weddings, children, and even vist family that live far away. 

Students are taking college loans beacuse they are confused and have no idea what they are doing.  At the time they apply for loans, it all sounds like a great deal and something that should be able to pay back in no time.  But actually, they are wrong.  By applying for loans you are securing yourself in debt for years and years to come. 

The difference between a government student loan and a private student loan is that a government student loan is money that ithe government gives you that you don't have to pay back.  Some examples are scholarships and grants.  However, a private loan is where you go to a private company, and they give you a loan so that you can pay for college but you MUST pay it back.  Also, this money has an interest rate on it.  So the longer that is takes you pay the money back, the more you are going to actually have to pay back.  $79,000 may turn into $211,000 that you must pay back. 

Deferring payments are so risky because the intrest rates go up and you have no idea what the payments are gong to be like. It is all because of the interest rates.  They cause you to have to pay back a lot more than you oringinally signed up for. 

PART 2
I know that one of the most popular government student loan programs is FastWeb.  That is a company that gives out scholarships that you apply for so that it takes money off the cost for college.  Some scholarships ranges from $50 to $10,000!  A private students loan company are banks or credit card companies.  Some examples are Discover, Wells-Fargo, and Citi-Financial. 

Last year, all three companies that I had previously stated had all profitted.  Although they all did give out large sums of money, the money that was paid back to them was more than they had given out, due to intrest rates, therefore, causing them to see a profit. 

Some alternatives to taking out student loans are taking governement loans.  The money that they give you, you don't have to pay back.  Such things as going onto FastWeb.com and filling out applications for any scholarship that you think you qualify for.  Also, if you go and fill out a FASFA, that is also a government funded program that gives out money depending on your parents income, taxes, and things of that nature.  Finally, there is Bright Futures.  If you take an elective class for 3 or more years and maintain a B average in those three years, Bright Futures will pay 75% of your college tution on top of the money you get from scholarships and FASFA. 

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

4/18/12

PART 1
Today, many students are graduating high school earlier than in four years. Most in three years and some in even less time than that. How do they do it? They simply take senior required classes their junior year, and take all the other classes online. A great way to get an early start on college and life in the real world. But there are those who are skeptical of gradutating early. Some say that students are just not ready for college at the age of 17 or less. They need that extra year to really prepare them for thwat college is going to be like. Others think that it is a fantastic idea and it is a great way to think about retiring a year early and to get into your profession a year earlier.

As I previously said, some pros of graduating early are the fact that you can get a head start on your future profession. There instead of graduating college at 22, you graduate at 21, therefore giving you the chance to make more money. However, a con is that you may not be ready for college and colleges may not be ready to accept you due to your lack of high school exeperience.

Honestly, I have never considered early graduation. I want to enjoy my senior year with all my friends and do all the things there are to do in your senior year. I don't want to skip out on prom and class trips just to graduate a year ealier. However, if I were to graduate 2 years early, that is a totally different story. In that case, I would be all for it.

PART 2
The numher of students around the US who choose to graduate early is at around 5%. Most students want to graduate with their class or don't want to take all the extra classes on their free time when they could be doing other fun activities. And I don't blame them. I go to school for 10 months out of the year, the two months that I have off, I don't want to even think about school.

There are always the stories of kids who have attended college and within in the first two years or so, they realized that it wasn't for them and then dropped out. Then there are the stories where they go for the full four or however many years, graduate and then run a fortune 500 company, and finally, there are the stories where you have to students who don't go to college and then have a fortune 500 comapany. Which one will you be?

Monday, April 2, 2012

4/2/12

PART 1
Students in high schools all over the country are starting to crack down on dress code for their high school's prom. Mostly girls. The simple fact that most girls dresses are too revealing for a school event is causing high schools to take drastic measures. Facilty and staff at the high schools ranging from Conneticut to Arizona, are giving presentations on what is and what is not acceptable. The reason why the presentations are given is to (1) give the students a clear understanding of what is allowed and (2) to avoid turning girls away at the door for one of the biggest nights of their high school career. Although girls are mostly the problem, men (not boys) are not exempt. They are not allowed to have pants that sag below the waist, have canes, hats, jeans, ect. Also, they must keep their shirt on all night. It is said that the staff "doesn't care if you work out. " But I say,"hey, if you have it, show it off."

This is fair. The fact that they give the students presentations and packets on what to wear and what not to makes it even more fair. Some schools have high expectations than others and don't allow somethings that others do. It is all about where you go. If they don't think something is acceptable, then it is not. They give the students plenty of time to advance to understand the dress code and get what is appropriate.

I would have a dress code in place but not as strict as we are reading about in the article. Probably somewhat of what we have here at Pine Ridge. Not too over the top. It is your high school prom. You should be able to enjoy it. Not have to dress like you are going skiing.

In my opinion this policy will work. I mean it works here at Pine Ridge so I'm pretty sure it will work in another place.

PART 2
There are some stores online that around this time of year have specially a section for prom. For men, we have Men's Warehouse and for women they have stoes like Dillards and Macys. Around this time of year you will see stores such as these and many others adveritse specials for prom. Also company's for limos. Around this time of year they park outside the school to advertise specials that they have for a group to go to prom. There are also other factors such as dinner, hotels, tickets, ect.

My experience with prom last year was mediocre. To be totally honest, I didn't really enjoy it. The group I went with was not the group that I wanted to be with. The theme was not that great. The dancefloor was way too crowded and it just was not what I expected. Then I didn't get to go to the hotel afterwards because I was conned into staying somewhere I didn't even want to stay. But after all of that, I told myself that despite that fact I did not really have a good time, I am going again my senior year. But this time I will do it the way I want to. Go with the group that I want to, stay in the hotel afterwards, ect.

Was it worth the money. Last year,,,no. But this year I feel like it is going to be a different story. I am going with the same group of people that I went to homecoming with and if that was any indication of how prom is going to be, I am looking forward to it!

Monday, March 26, 2012

3/26/12

The article is about a case where a teenage boy was shot and killed by a 28 year old man who claims it was out of self-defense. The teenage boy's name was Trayvon Martin and the man who shot him was named George Zimmerman. It is believed that Martin was walking to his father's girlfriend's house from a nearby 7-Eleven. Zimmerman was the commutiy watch man who carries a 9mm with a permit. He called 9-1-1 and reported a suspicious behavior. He started following the boy. What happened next seemed unclear. All we know is that the Martin was shot and killed and that Zimmerman has yet to be arrested.

The main issue in the case is race. Martin was a black teenage boy and Zimmerman is a hispanic. Many think that Mr. Zimmerman did this because of the fact that Martin was black, but he claims it was out of self defense. Another issue is that fact that Zimmerman has yet to be arrested. Many people, inluding myself, find it astonishing that a man could shoot and kill someone, and still not be arrested for it.

This is drawing so much national attention because of the fact that many believe that this was a race crime. They think that Zimmerman did this just because the boy was black and because he was black, he was automatically "acting suspicious." Also, the fact that Zimmerman has yet to be arrested is angering some people. How can someone kill someone and not be arrested. At the time, we didn't know that Casey Anthony killed her daughter, yet she was arrested but here we KNOW that Zimmerman shot and kill Martin and he is still a free man.

In my opinion, I think that Zimmerman should be arrested and put on trial. There is no reason that a 28 year old man should shoot at a teenage boy. Can he really not defend himself against a teenager that much that he must go right to shooting the boy? I'm sure that a 28 year old man could defend himself without the use of a deadly weapon like that because fromt he look of Zimmermans pictures, he doesn't look like a weak little guy.

Part 2

The Florida "Stand Your Ground Law" is when a person is presumed to have a fear of death or great bodily harm to him or herself or another when using a defensive force that is intended or likely to cause death or great bodily harm to another IF: (1) the person who the defensive force was used against is in the process of unlawfully entering a dwelling, residence, occupied vehicle, or if they were trying to forcfully remove a person from a dwelling, residence, occupied vehile or (2) the person using the defensive force knew or had reason to believe that an unlawful and forcible entry was occuring or had occured. In other words it has to do if someone was to forcefully invade your car or residence. In this case, Martin was not going to Zimmerman's car or residence, he was going to his father's girlfriend's house where he was to stay. There, Zimmerman is at fault.

In my opinion, I find that this law is right. If people want to invade your personl space such as your home or vehicle and you fear that you could be hurt or even die, you should be able toact upon that is a way that you choose. You have fear and they are breaking the law as well as into your own area.

However, this does not apply to this case. Martin was not goint to invade anything of Zimmerman's. Therefore Zimmerman is at fault, should be arrested, put on trial, and in my opinion, recieve the death penalty for killing another person. We already let Casey Anthony get away with murder, we cannot let this man get away with it also.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

2/21/12

Students at Noble Street College Prep are having to pay for even the samllest infractions. For example, it is $5 for a detention. It is reported that last year, the school earned over $190,000 just in fees paid by students who had infractions. They say that this teaches students to follow the rules. Which makes sense because I know that I don't want to give someone my money for being late to a class, therefore, I would always follow the rules in order to keep my money.

I like this policy. If you do such a thing, then you can really crack down on all the small things that bother all of administration at a school. Administration hates when students are late to class, skip, back talk, ect. and by making students pay for such insidents, then you can reduce all of them because students don't want to pay their own money. I am all for it and think it is a great idea for all schools to implement such a policy.

Like I said in the previous paragraph, I think that our school should put in such a plicy. By doing this, students will start to follow the rules. Not only that, but then the school will make money that they can put toward such things as sports, or after school activities.

Yes, there is a huge problem here. Everyday, students are are late to class, walk out of class, and do such things really make this place look bad. But if they were to put such a system in place, all of those problems would really be decreased.