Why Are Teams Willing To Trade More Money Than A Player Is Worth?

                                                                  animal-dream.com

Despite inflation, the NBA is actually getting richer than ever! Forbes magazine author Alex Reimer explains the free agency signings that occurred this past summer and why they occurred. His main argument is that NBA teams aren’t going to hold back on trading millions of dollars to NBA players in exchange for their talents and winning mentalities due to a salary cap increase, and since the players would like more money, they are willing to play for a team that willingly gives them more money than others.

Reimer first explains that between the years of 2001 and 2013, the NBA salary cap has risen $14.5 million. He writes that this is the reason that NBA teams are willing to pay so much money for their players. Around 20 of the 30 teams were able to sign a maximum money contract to a player this summer, so they took advantage by signing players. NBA teams want to pay as much money as possible to get the players that they like on their teams, so even average players are getting big paychecks from NBA teams.

Most of the NBA players signed to big contracts weren’t even star players. Reimer notes that “[o]utside of Kevin Durant...there arguably isn’t another player on the open market who’s worthy of receiving a maximum-contract.” NBA teams are simply paying average players a lot of money because they can. They also want to make sure that the player picks their team over another team by paying the player the most money.

Running Injury

http://ridgwaychiropractic.com/

Injury, it's the one word runners fear most and a word that  keeps non-runners as non-runners. Active Magazine offers a guide to the different ailments and injuries associated with running, Active is one of the leading providers of running information and training guides on the internet is and is trusted by many runners.  From scientific research and examples presented in my source I can conclude that Running can cause negative health effects and injuries for some but not all runners, long distance running can be very beneficial but is not for everyone.

This article is very much informative and doesn't really contain an argument, however the reader can draw conclusions form the information presented.  The conclusion i draw from this article is that running is high risk sport… for some.  This article really speaks to how running injuries only affect some runners, including  a section in each injury saying “who's at risk”.  This really speaks to the pout that many runners, if they train properly, and take care of their bodies may never experience injury, these are people suited to be runners.  Some people however are prone to certain types of injury or ailment, as the article suggest people who “over-pronate their feet, have history of joint problems or have weak hips or quads.”  In conclusion, running as  sport is not for everyone and people who chooses running need to know their body well.

In my following blog posts I will begin to mean the mental and social aspects of why people choose running now that i have examined some of the physical things.

How much does the degree you gret affect how much money you make in the future?

source: qph.ec.quoracdn.net

Does the degree you choose affect how much money you will make in the future? According to the american council on education “On average, college graduates make 84 percent more over a lifetime“ However, a question that many people have is if their college major matters.  

According to the American council for education, not all degrees are created equal. They gave the example that “Counseling Psychology majors make an average of $29,000 per year, compared to $120,000 for Petroleum Engineering majors. That’s a difference of 314 percent—or $4.1 million over a 45-year lifetime of work.” This shows that employers will typically choose majors with a more rigorous course load. This is reiterated by the fact that if you have a masters in Counseling Psychology, you make an average of $79,000 a year a 272% increase.

A reason why employers do this is because the supply of people that have a degree in Petroleum engineering is very small, and the supply of people graduating with a counseling psychology degree is a lot. Also, there is a very high demand for Petroleum Engineers since their major is very specialized, causing employers to pay large amounts of money to attract graduates.  

Pros and Cons on Signing Nfl Players

https://upload.wikimedia.org

      Many NFL teams have signed players throughout the years weather through the NFL draft or free agency. An example, the Chicago Bears, the Bears have made some significant off-season moves for better players despite Cutler's massive contract. The Bears have signed former Texans quarterback Brian Hoyer, also Danny Treviation, Jerrell Freeman, and Akiem Hicks. Also signed Leonard Floyd, and Jordan Howard through the NFL draft who are both starters. Through the first eight weeks of the 2016 NFL season all of these players have made a significant impact to their team.

     

     However, not all signing have been extremely good. For example, in 2014 Demarco Murray leaving Dallas and signing with the Philadelphia Eagles. After the eagles paid for a 5 year deal that costed as much as $40 million dollars. His production on the field was horrendous and Murray only lasted a year before being traded to the Tennessee Titans. Murray went from being the NFL rushing leader in 2014 with over 1800 rushing yards to barley surpassing 700 rushing yards in 2015 with the Eagles. So just because a player had an extremely good season doesn't mean that they will repeat the next year. 

     Future Research Question: How do general managers know if a player can fit there scheme and is worth signing?

Modern Education and 1800s Assembly line, whats the difference?

A lot of things have changed over the past century or two, cars can go past 10 mph, a single computer doesn't take up a whole room and we no longer have black and white segregation. This all makes sense because how can a society prosper without abandoning the old and less effective ways of doing things and find better ones. So much new technology and health breakthroughs are coming out seemingly everyday and it seems that everything is keeping up with the times, sadly that's wrong because there is something that stands out like an Amish guy at a Apple store. The education system hasn't changed or evolved since it was decided on during the industrial era by a group of corrupt officials and big factory owners, in fact it’s been needing a change for about 120 years. It amazes me how nobody asks themselves, why do I have to ask the teacher to go the bathroom or get a drink? why can a group of complete strangers control my every day? why can they send home hours of work every night and weekend even though i'm already their for 8 hours a day? and why do they tell you it's not mandatory when you’re not allowed to leave and get punished if you do so? This all because every kid in the U.S. is currently being prepared to work a 1800s factory assembly line job. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan says, "Our K–12 system largely still adheres to the century-old, industrial-age factory model of education. A century ago, maybe it made sense to adopt seat-time requirements for graduation and pay teachers based on their educational credentials and seniority. Educators were right to fear the large class sizes that prevailed in many schools. But the factory model of education is the wrong model for the 21st century.”  . It isn't a coincidence that we are all put in rows and are given a strict set of rules. They wanted kids to leave the education system ready to follow orders and not question the work they do or expect to be treated like individuals but instead a "class" of workers. Now i'm sure this approach worked fine back in the day but I can't believe we still haven't changed a single thing, we know that no two brains are the same so why teach everyone the same material at the same pace. Why should every kid in the country learn about thermonuclear dynamic equations when less than .01% of students will become a thermonuclear physicist, the reason is is so you would graduate school with no ability to do a real job and without any work experience so that a minimum wage assembly line job would be your only option and job you’ve prepared for. Times are changing but education is not, we need to make changes if we want to start making kids's lived better and end the corruption.

http://hackeducation.com/2015/04/25/factory-model

Google's Shady History

Google, the corporate giant, not only has information about you, but also has a history of getting in trouble with the government for doing illegal things. Robert Epstein, a Senior Research Psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology and the founder and Director Emeritus of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies in Massachusetts, explains what illegal things Google has gotten caught doing (articles from The Guardian & USA Today). Google, overall, is a company that does extremely illegal things, and are solely fined for the crimes they commit. They are lightly regulated for such a massive company.

Source: http://rabbitbuzz.com/

Let’s start with the regular things Google does that they do not get fined for. An article from The Guardian goes into depth about Google’s search algorithm. Google “lists its own products, from e-commerce to pages from its own Google+ network, higher than those of its competitors, even if these are sometimes of less value for consumers and should not be displayed in accordance with the Google algorithm” (Dopfner). Any of Google’s services are displayed above its competitor in a search result. This puts Google at an advantage, and weakens any competition against the company.
           

 Aside from Google’s shady search algorithm, they also have a history of doing illegal acts. From 2010 to 2012, Robert Epstein recorded a list of major offenses that Google was fined for. To begin, in 2010, “Google’s Street View teams — the mobile crews that are systematically filming every street and building in the world, including your home — were accused of deliberately capturing people’s names, telephone numbers, emails, text messages, passwords, search histories, and even online dating information as they drove from neighborhood to neighborhood in the U.S. and more than 30 other countries” (Epstein). Google was fined $25,000 for this massive invasion of privacy, and after that, nothing else was done. Later in 2011, Google got in trouble with the Federal Trade Commission about how the handles user search information, leading to regular privacy audits for the next 20 years. Also in 2011, “Google agreed to pay a whopping $500 million fine to the federal government for illegally marketing Canadian prescription medication to U.S. citizens” (Epstein). This situation could have introduced a dangerous prescription medication into the United States, if it was not for our federal government stopping it.
            

 It is not hard to see that many of the acts Google does are illegal. The things listed above are only a handful of the crimes committed between 2010 and 2012, and there might be many other crimes that they have not gotten caught for. More action needs to be taken to halt Google’s way of doing things, rather than simply fine the multi-billion dollar company that they are.

Future Question: What is Google's history and how big is the company?

The Free Agency

The Free Agency

When NFL teams are deciding how much money they will spend in the NFL Draft, they have to consider other options for spending.  One of these options is the free agency.  This is where players are allowed to be picked up by any team.  However the free agency can get expensive.

There is a lot more too look at when spending money on the nfl draft.  People set aside the free agency, even though many great players including Peyton Manning were taken as free agents.   Often times people can get great deals on players in the agency.  So why would they waste all of their money on contracts from the Draft.  Peyton manning was picked up in the free agency by the Denver Broncos from the Indianapolis Colts.   “Peyton Manning signed a five-year, $96 million contract in March 2012 with the Denver Broncos with $58 million guaranteed. The first year of the deal, worth $18 million, was fully guaranteed, and the final $40 million in guaranteed money came from passing a physical on his surgically repaired neck.”  Peyton manning is arguably one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game.  Teams can not sleep on players they can acquire in the free agency.

Opposing this, the case of getting a great player from the free agency is quite rare.  Teams have earned success mostly from the players who they have drafted over time.  The 85 bears were not taking may free agents.  They draft their players and build up from there.  If a team spends too much money in the free agency they will not be able to afford other players to help build their team.  

The Most Environmentally Damaging Fishing Methods

source: saltydogboatingnews.com

There are a variety of fishing methods that commercial fishermen use in rivers, streams, reefs, and the open ocean such as bottom trawl, gillnetting, dredges, open nets pens, and ranching. Some are sustainable, but more often than not, fisherman are using unsustainable methods to maximize catch. Monterey Bay Aquarium is one of the most heavily visited aquariums in the United States, with an annual average of 1.8 million visitors and the mission "to inspire the conservation of oceans". In Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch fishing method guide, many different methods of fishing are described.

A few of the most damaging methods of catch are:

• Bottom Trawl--a type fishing net that’s pulled along the seafloor

-fish that are caught by accident (bycatch) are usually dying or already dead by the time
they’re thrown back

-the heavy weights and equipment being dragged along the ocean floor cause serious damage
to the sensitive organisms living there

• Gillnetting--curtains of netting that are suspended by floats and weights

-the netting is almost invisible to sea creatures so it is easy for animals like turtles and sharks swim right into it and die there along with the other fish

• Dredges--large, metal-framed baskets that are dragged across the seafloor to collect shellfish

-bycatch levels are extremely high

-metal teeth on the edges of the basket rip up the seafloor and destroy the fragile ecosystem

living there

But that isn’t all. A common misconception is that farm-raised fish is much more environmentally responsible, however, this isn’t always true. Depending on the method used, producing farm-raised fish can actually cause more harm to a natural ecosystem than catching them in the wild.  

A few methods of these damaging farm-raising methods are:

• Open Net Pens/Cages--a cage or pen submerged in the open water of a river, stream, freshwater lake, or offshore coastal area; fish can move freely within the pen and the water flows through the openings in the cage

-waste from the caged fish can pass through the openings in the cage and pollute the natural
habitat of the wild fish

-diseases and parasites that may have infected the entire population of caged fish due to a  
mistake on the part of the farmer can spread rapidly to the wild fish

-farmed fish can escape from a break in the cage and breed/compete with the wild population

causing damage to the species

• (Tuna) Ranching--top predator fish (usually tuna) are caught as juveniles and put into an open water pen on a farm and fed and “fattened” until they reach maturity and a good size for harvest

-waste, chemicals, and feed can flow out of the cages into the open water and disturb the

environment

-taking the top predator out of its natural environment can threaten the health of the ecosystem
by allowing its common prey to overpopulate and potentially push other species toward a 
threatened or endangered status through competition

In my next blogpost, I plan to describe some more environmentally responsible fishing methods that fisherman could potentially use to replace the methods listed in this post.

How do Military benefits compare to civilian benefits

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com

Benefits given by the military differ highly compared to benefits civilians receive from their job. Military.com is a reliable source because they give you real information one should know about joining the military. A large portion of the site is also run by veterans so they as well have great first hand knowledge about topics regarding the military. The government provides a great number of incentives to greatly influence on'es decision to join the military.

One of the major differences between the military life and civilian life is that there is always pressure being put on you. “On the other hand, the military lifestyle carries much more responsibility. There is always threat of heading to a combat zone, risking your life. You must be on time to work - there are no "getting stuck in traffic" excuses - or face punishment. You must consistently be well-groomed, live up to working and presentation standards, and talk to others according to specific rules. You usually do not have the option of saying "no" and just quitting when you feel like it.” While in the military your life is run on a specific routine and it is a lot more strict in terms of everyday life than as a civilian. It is important to remember that you signed a commitment and there is no walking away from it once you sign up. You are no longer a civilian, the government owns you and you do as they say.

Generally speaking, you receive a lot more benefits from the military than a civilian job. Pay is generally higher in civilian life, however in the military there is basic pay as well as special pay, also the military has tax advantages. Health care is a major benefit in the military. The Military offers several options including fully paid for health care. For a civilian it depends on the employer, often you pay your own or partial amounts. Housing is another big benefit in the service. Housing is provided by the military. If you live off base the military provides a basic allowance for housing with no fee. Another major one is travel. While in the military you have the opportunity to travel all around the world on deployments for free.

The military has its pros and cons, and this is just a small portion of comparing military life to civilian life. The determining factor in someone’s decision to join the military isn’t always a driving force inside of them to go and fight for their country. Some do it for the experience, or the ability to see the world. There are many reasons why one would join the military and it’s important to inform people on not only the pros, but the cons as well before signing up.

Future research question: What should people know before joining the Military?

Why don't people want to preserve the environment?

      How often do you not take the extra few steps towards the recycling bin? The answer for most people is fairly often. Are most people just lazy? Do they not care at all? Are they not able to? You probably have some kind of seemingly valid excuse, but in reality it's not valid at all. People can recycle but often don't because they either don't see it as important or are just lazy.

SOURCE: http://answerangels.com.au

     In the article from Huffington Post, "The Psychology Behind Why People Don’t Recycle," Erin Schumaker, the Senior Healthy Living Editor who has a Masters from the school of Journalism at Northwestern University, delves into the reasoning behind people not recycling. She found that the excuse people mostly use is that it is not accessible to them. It is stated that about 25% of people in the U.S. don't have curbside recycling, but that just means that people must take it to a local recycling drop off center. These people obviously don't care enough to drop it off at the recycling center or don't know that they have a local recycling center and hadn't cared to look up to that point.

     About 26% of people in this article's poll said that it either takes up too much time, they always forget to recycle, or that they are uneducated about recycling. All of these excuses boil down to one factor: people are lazy. People who say it takes too much time obviously believe it is not worth it and don't understand the importance of recycling. People who say they always forget needs to learn the importance of recycling so that they take more of an effort to remember to recycle. People who say they are uneducated about recycling would take an effort to learn if they really cared. The tricky part is getting these people to really care.

Up next: I will research the incentives that have been implemented to preserve the environment in the past and why they haven't worked. 

Dark sides of a Circus

http://www.peta.org

Who doesn’t love to go see exotic/dangerous animals perform goofy tricks while being whipped around by their masters? Well the people may enjoy it, but they animals despise it. These facts come from PETA they are credible because of their role in the ethical treatment of animals. When a circus has to travel from show to show the animals are locked up for upto 100 hours straight with little to no exercise. Forcing animals to perform in circuses by using whips and electric prods is unfair to the animals. It also puts the people who attend these events in danger because who knows when an animal is going to decide enough is enough.

Everyone loves to see animals do silly stunts, but when it comes to training the animals everyone turns their head to the abusive training that they receive. Trainers use,“whips, ropes, bullhooks, electric prods, and other weapons as well as food deprivation,”(PETA). They abuse and starve animals for weeks just to perform one stunt at a show in front of a small crowd. The trainers use these methods to assert dominance over the animal. Circus animals are,“born into captivity and forced to grow up around humans in an unnatural, stressful environment,” (PETA), and they grow up not knowing what it feels like to be free these trainers enslave the animals for their own good, where as a human we wouldn’t want to be enslaved by others and be teased by seeing that other people are still free.

Having a group of people watch a particularly dangerous animal perform tricks doesn’t seem like the best idea. An elephant named Tyke finally had enough of his abusive training and went rogue in the streets of Hawaii. It ended up injuring multiple people before it was brutally shot down in the middle of the street. If keepers aren’t able to keep their animals’ behavior, then attending these performances is putting the audience in danger of these rogue animals.