March Madness (Sweet 16 Picks)

Game of the Week


(12) Cornell vs (1)Kentucky

Cornell is probally the best of the "Cinderella" teams and this looks to be a really good game. But Kentucky has far too much talent and in the end the Wildcats will get the win. Still though, can't wait for this one. It looks like a good one.

Kentucky 86 Cornell 82

(5) Butler vs (1) Syracuse

Butler is a solid team that plays solid Basketball and thier getting a Syracuse team thats dealing with a few injuries. But still, no upset here. The Orangemen play excellent defense and have one of the best outside games left in the tourny. Talent wins out again

Syracuse 76 Butler 64

(11) Washington vs (2) West Virginia

Vest Virgina just lost its starting point guard, while the Huskies have looked impressive. While the rest of the country is mooning over Northern Iowa and Cornell, washington has quietly knocked off some quality oppennnts and I think they contiune tommorow night.

Washington 69 West Virginia 67



(6) Xavier vs (2) Kansas State

Kansas St ended the Regular season as one of the hottest teams in the country which seems to have carried over in the postseason. I think Xavier, while a great team might be a little overmached here (and K st has already beat Xavier by 15)

Kansas St 89 Xavier 67


(4) Purdue vs. (1) Duke

Before the injury to Robbie Hummell Purdue looked like a good matchup to upset some number 1s and go deep. Now facing a depleted roster and a balaenced Duke team Purdue run could be over.

Purdue 57 Duke 67
(6) Tennessee vs. (2) Ohio State

I like Ohio State's offensive balance on offensive. They can kills you with the 3 or they can bang it inside. But I gotta feeling Bruce Pearl who's been pretty good againt big time opponetts and I think the Vols find a way to pull it off.

Tenessess 73 Ohio St 72


(9) Northern Iowa vs. (5) Michigan State


Northern Iowa threw a whole wrench in the system beating number one overall seed Kansas last week, destroying millions of brackets in the proccess. Meanwhile Michigan St, played a down to the wire thriller with Maryland winning on a last seond jumper. Should be an intresting matchup but I don't see Northern Iowa pulling off a huge upset yet again.

Northern Iowa 57 Michigan St. 69


(10) Saint Mary's vs. (3) Baylor

While Saint Mary's should be congratulated on making to the sweet 16 they did so against relativly weak competition, beating Richmond and cold Villanova. Baylor is easily the toughest opponent the Gaels will have faced. If St. Marys can't come out with a slew a threes, expect Baylor's defense to wear them down.

Baylor 77 Saint Mary's 65

Capitalism vs Socialism

Capitalism is the economic system in which production and distribution are owned and operated by individuals. (As oppossed to Socialism that advocates ownership by the community.)
In keeping with the idea of political thought, here are some of the motivations for each.

Motivation
Capitlism: A person acts in thier own self intrest of making profits, catering to the needs of the consumer, often building a cheaper and higher quality product.

Socialism: A person works for the benifit of all, where wealth is shared throughout the community

Profit
In captialism some people are paid huge sums, because other people believe they have unique talents which are worth paying for. If they fail to perform, then they will stop being rewarded so highly. This is all part of a dynamic capitalist system which values individuality and rewards ability and risk-taking.

Scocialists claim that captialism rewards people in preverse ways. (Is it fair that the firefighter or the soldier who risks his life makes far less than the movie star, baseball player).

Goverment Involvment
Capitalists believe the guiding hand of government is too strong in a socialist system; it means that change is slow – which means that innovation is missed. This isn’t just pro-business, it has real effects on the lives of citizens - people are poorer because of it. In a capitalist system, economies are diverse enough that when problems happen in one sector, others are often insulated by their differences.

In the socialist view the economic priciples of the capitalist systems are essentially unplanned, so they often crash, producing depressions that damage the lives of millions. Socialist economies are planned, which means that problems can be foreseen and prevented. Ultimately, socialism guides with the aim of human happiness in mind, rather than the glorification or gratification of a particular individual or class.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76frHHpoNFs

The Twenty-Sixth Amendment

The XXVI Amendment standerized the national minimum voting age to 18.

Passed by Congress March 23, 1971. Ratified July 1, 1971.

Note: Amendment 14, section 2, of the Constitution was modified by section 1 of the 26th amendment.

Section 1.
The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.

Section 2.
The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

The admendmant was passed in 1971 during protests against the war in Vietnam. The argument was "if they were old enough to die they were old enough to vote".

It is important to note that while this lowerd the voting age to 18 throughout the country states have the option of lowering the minimum age even further (17 or rarely 16) if they wished.

While XXVI Admendmant is a generally popular one, many still argue that 18 year olds aren't yet mature enough to vote. While others belive that Under 21 years olds should only be allowed to vote if they have served in the military.

United States leading in Medal Count

For more than a week now Vancouver Canada has been hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics. And as of today the United States holds a slim medal lead over Germany.

G S B Total
1, United States 7 8 10 25
2. Germany 7 9 5 21
3. Norway 6 3 5 14

Some of the highlights for the U.S so far

> Bodie Miller (DownHill Sking)finally takes the Gold after a dissapointing 2006 Torrino Olympic showing
> U.S Men's Hockey upsets heavily favored Canada 5-3 to take the number one seed into elmination tournament.
> Apollo Ohno wins winter Olympics record six medalsin Speed Skating.
> Snow Boarder Shaun White wins Gold again

U.S Hockey plays its next game Wednesday against an opponent yet to be determined. Among other events still ahead for team U.S.A lies men's arieals(free style skiing), couples and individual figure skating, bobsled, women's speed skating, and ski jump.

Macroeconomics and Microeconomics

Economics is a broad subject that can be divided into two areas: Macroeconomics and Microeconomics

Macroeconomics is the big picture. Its the study of the aggregate performance of the economy.

- Macroeconomists througly study the GDP (Gross Domestic Product)
- Inflation Rate
- Unemployment rate

Microeconomics is the study of decisions that people and businesses make regarding the allocation of resources and prices of goods and services.
- Supply and Demand
- Oppurtunity Cost

Microeconomists are concerned with the interaction between individual buyers and sellers and the factors that influence the choices made by buyers and sellers.

It is important to know that while these two studies of economics appear to be different, they are actually interdependent and complement one another since there are many overlapping issues between the two fields. For example, increased inflation would cause the price of raw materials to increase for companies and in turn affect the end product's price charged to the public.

Video

Erik H. Erikson's Eight Stages of Devlopment.

Erik H. Erikson believed that personality isn't just shaped during Childhood but throughout a person's life.

Stage 1 Infancy -The Challenge of Trust
Between birth and a year and a half infants face thier first challenges and begin to gain a sense that thier world is a safe place. Family plays a key part in this role.


Stage 2 Toddlerhood - The Challenge of Autonomy
From 2 to 3 Todlers learn skills to cope with the world in a confident way. The child will begin learning the difference between right an wrong. The child could also begin to try to asert it will. (such as telling the Parents NO!)

Stage 3 Preschool - The Challenge of Initiative
Between ages 4 and 5 learn to engage thier surrondings. They will begin to copy the adults around them. It also when they start asking WHY?

Stage 4 Preadolescence - The Challenge of Industriousness.
Between ages six and thirteen. Children enter school, make freinds, and strike out on thier own more. Parents no longer seem the complete authorities they once were.

Stage 5 Adolescence - The Challlenge of Gaining Identity
Teen Years, Almost all teens experience some confusion as they struggle to establish thier identity. Teen starts to identify with others but also begin to devlop thier own identities.

Stage 6 Young Adulthood- The Challenge of Intimacy
From 18 to 35 the challenge for young adults is to for and keep intimate relationships with others as well as balancing the need to bond with the need to have a seperate identity.

Stage 7 Middle Adulthood- The Challenge of Making a Difference
Middle Age, The challenge of middle age is to contribute to the lives of others in the family, at work or in the world at large. Failure could result in becoming self centered.

Stage 8 Old Age - The Challenge of Integrity.
At around 65 people will begin to reflect more on death, and look back on past acomplishments with a sense of integrity and satisfaction. Self asobrbed personalities could suffer from dispair over missed oppurtunities.

Georgia set to reform property tax system

Georgia state senators says thier striking back against the downturn in the housing market by a bill that they say would grant homeoenwers more power.

The author of the bill Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock) says this bill will "bring fairness to an unfair system". Among the points purposed in the bill, is that homeowners will only be taxed only for the price of their home, Statewide uniformity of assessment notices and appeal forms and Year-round property appeals.

Copy of the bill