Keeping Up With Work

Keeping up with the work in this class was not all that hard. Problem with me was that I would do the blog post on word but then get too lazy to go ahead and upload them to the internet. If one was to do the three blog post every week then the work in this class would be a piece of cake. I enoy doing blogs and a couple of buddies of mine have our own sports blog at www.redandbluegrass.webs.com where we discuss UK and UL sports. You should check it out sometime as the arguments get vicious as we draw closer to the ultimate game verses the dirty birds on December 31st.

Redandbluegrass.com

LOR

After taking this class the way I approach research is completely different. I evaluate the web resources, I use the library to my advantage and alos use the databases. To be quite honest I would have never have known how to use the databases. The way I have used research to do a paper for my World Civ class is credit to what I learned in this class. Some of the things we learned when it came to research seemed like common sense once it was taught to me. Overall I would suggest this class to every student here at Murray State.

The Future of Accessing Information

The future of accessing information will be hard to predict but judging from its history there will be significant strides in technology in five years or less. It is amazing to me that ten years ago we didn;t have wifi and hardly used the internet....now I have it on my phone. I fully expect computers to become obsolete and then soon after laptops. I firmly believe components like the Ipan will be the devices and computers of the future that will be the everyday used computer.

Plaigarism in Universities

I do not believe that plaigarism is a big deal in colleges anymore. MAinly because the students can not get away with it. Because of programs like SafeAssign students will be hardpressed to get away with copying information from websites. The days of a student being able to copy and paste material are long gone. As a student I wouldn't dare even try to put something word for word into any of my papers. There is no way i could get away with it and I am just asking to get kicked out of school.

Why are citations important?

Citations are important because a citation gives credit to the people who wrote the original piece. It also shows the instructor where you got your content and if the instructir wanted to they could go look it up for themselves to see if any content was copied word for word. It also allows the instructor to see how much research you did for the paper or project that was assigned. Overall citations are important for several reasons but mainly for aacademic purposes

Copyright and Ethics

Copyright and Ethis
This discussion we had in class made sense, if someone created copyrighted material that is theirs. It would not be ethical to "steal" their material. IF one was to create something of similar stature then it would be stealing. Now the question is can you copyright an idea? I would like to think so. I have had several ideas for sitcoms and films but of course don't have the means or money to have them come to flourishin so if I gave them the idea I would hope to get credit for doing so.

End of CD Ownership

End of CD Ownership

The Discussion we had in class on copyright and ethics made me think of some things to share in this blogpost. First was the fact that if you buy a cd you can not give it to someone else once you had listened to it. However I feel like if I bought it then it's  mine the material on the cd may not be mine but the CD is. If I am not burning a copy of it and creating another form of it then I do not see why that is so wrong.

Future of Ideas

Lessig describes in his article that because of technology we are not advancing as people. I couldn't disagree more. The fact that technology exsists proves that we are advancing and as the technology advances so do we. If it wasn't for thr information provided I wouldn't know a lot of the things that i do today. With the advancement of technology it has become easier to access information.

Evaluating Internet Resources

When evaluating sources on the internet one must first see if the author who wrote the article is credible. Once this is recognized you need to see what the intended audience is. After that the researcher must see what the publishers is credible then see if the the information given is relevant to what you are searching for. Basically it is all just common sence but if you are not careful you could overlook it and end up with some bad information that could ruin a potential project.

Information Cocoons and Wikis

What drew my attention about this article was the over truthfulness of it.  If a person were to just watch Fox News thier opinion would most certaintly be very different from someone who watched only MSNBC. The article says that the reason we stay in what the writer calls, information cocoons is because we do not like to hear and read about what we do not believe. Sometimes when I mosey over to a UL message board I see things from their perspective but then I just become so upset. The same thing could be said for my political affiliations.

Finding Information On The Web

The amount of information on the web appears endless. When wanting an answer to a question the first thing I  think to do is to "google it". In doing so I could get thousands upon thousands of responses to my search. There are plenty of domains .org .edu. gov .com. This is both good and bad. It's good that the web provides plenty of options when searching but its also bad because now the researcher has to decipher what is a good source and which sources are not so reliable.

World Wide Web of Change

The article brought up plenty of points on how society has changed The internet has drastically changed the way of we research. This article also brought up the points of how computers have evolved along with other techonolgies.
The article discusses techonlogy that was used when I was growing  up for instance cassette tapes which I can barely remember using. Also floppy disk which now can only be used as coasters for a coffee table. It is quite amazing how technology has advanced throughout my lifetime. Makes me wonder where it will be in the next 21 years.

Will Steve Prohm's First Year Be a Success

Murray State is off to a 7 and 0 start with 3 huge wins at the Great Alaskan Shootout and a phenomonal comback on the road at UAB. The Racers are in a stretch of games now that include, a trip to Bowling Green to face WKU, Dayton at home, then a huge road game versus Memphis on December 11th. Murray State wasn't picked to win the OVC, they were projected third but the way Junior Point Guard Isaiah Canaan is playing and the way transfer shooting guard Stacey Wilson is dropping triples, the Racers look real tough and by March could be making some noise in the big dance. I believe the Racers will NOT lose a OVC home game and the only road game that poses a real threat would be at arch-rival Austin Peay  on ESPNU. 

Are Marquis Teagues Turnovers Something to Worry About

Through the first four games Kentucky freshman point guard Marquis Teague has 18 turnovers. He looks sloppy and out of control, however John Wall and Brandon Knight also had 18 turnovers in thier first games. Now one might say the previous UK freshmen guards made up for in scoring but Teague doesn't need to score, he is surrounded by guys who could all post 20 points a game. Teague is a better shooter than John Wall and quicker than Knight. When it is all said and done and the 8th Championship banner is hung in the rafters of Rupp Arena we will all say Marquis is the best of all three.

What Kentucky's Win Over UT Means.

As I was driving to Lexington Saturday afternoon for a Kentucky basketball game vs Portland, I listened to the final minutes of the UK-UT football game, as Tyler Brays final pass was intercepted I found myself screaming at the top of my lungs. Seconds later I calmed myself down just to hear, Tom Leach Uk's play by play announcer, say "Ding Dong the Streak is Dead, Kentucky has Rocky Topped Tennessee." And once again I was screaming. Beating Tennessee was only something my famlly and I talked about and dreamed of. Never in my lifetime had I seen this happpen and neither had anyone born after November of 1984. It ended what was the longest streak in college football (26 straight years/losses to UT) Gone for now are the days of saying, "is this the year?" Gone is the heartache of nearly topping that team in puke Orange only to come up just short and back are the days of the UK-UT football rivalry.

Does Joker Keep His Job?

First of all I am a fan of Joker Phillips, no one wants him to succeed more than me. However, I like winning and Joker hasn't done too much of that in his two seasons as Kentucky's head football coach. This season he faced arguablly the easiest schedule in the past 15 years. He found Florida, Georgia and Tennessee on a down year and played the easiest teams from the west. However, the Cats have struggled offensively and defensively. The Cats went into Vandy with hopes of being Bowl eligible for the 6th straight years and got torn apart in a 38-8 drumming to the Commodores. A 30-point loss to Vandy should alone get a SEC coach fired. Yet probably the most damning thing for Joker is the 2012 schedule which contains some of the hardest teams from the SEC best case scenario the Cats go 5-7 and after two straight losing records you will be hard pressed to find Joker on the sidelines next season.

What the NBA Means to Me

So today is November 15th and as i was scrolling through the channels on my television I noticed ESPN had a re run of the World Series of Poker on then it hit me "oh yeah professional basketball is suppose to be on." Until then it hadn't effected me in the slightest. The games from November to March I find very uninterestiing anyways. Growing up in a state where College sports is all we have its easy to be excited about the start of the basketball season without any pro players taking the court. The NBA won't effect me hardly at all until they change the age limit to 20 in which case, you might as well mail the trophy to Lexington 'cause the Cats will be stacked next season.

Will the Big East Be The Laughing Stock of the BCS Once Again.

So here we are in the last couple weeks of the regular season of college football and once again the annual complaining about the Bowl Championship Series has started. My biggest complaint about the BCS is the Big East keeping it's bid. Last season UCONN went to the FIesta Bowl only to get thrashed by Georgia, the Big Easy has proven time and time again they are not worthy of BCS participation. Again this year this problem occurs. We now have a Louisville team that could find it's way to the Orange Bowl at 7-5! With two of those losses to FIU and Marshall!!! Meanwhile Arkansas currently ranked 3rd in the COuntry will not make a BCS game and will have to settle for the Cotton Bowl. Not one team in contention for the Big East title is ranked in the TOp 25....however regardless of what happpens one of them will leapfrog over 20+ teams into the Orange Bowl...WHAT A JOKE!

“Catching Hell” The Steve Bartman Story

ESPN just released its special 30 for 30  on the infamous Chicago Cub fan, Steve Bartman. As we all know, Steve Bartman was the reason Moises Alou didn’t catch a foul ball, the reason Alex Gonzalez booted a tailor-made double play, Dusty Baker didn’t pull Mark Prior, the Cubs gave up 8 runs in the 8th inning. Blew a 5-3 lead in Game 7 with Kerry Wood on the hill, and ultimately the reason the Cubs didn’t win the World Series. Cubs fans are delusional if they actually believe any part of that. Unfortunately, for Bartman some Cub fans are crazy enough to do so. Steve Bartman’s life has noe been ruined because of the foul ball incident but let’s hope for the sake of die-hard fans everywhere that the documentary released by ESPN last night that Steve Bartman can once again be free to roam the streets of Wrigley Ville.

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The Logic of “Duh Ville” Fans

Are Louisville fans on serious medication ? Logic isn’t something that’s too common in their fan base. Just the other day I was reading Cardinalchronical.com for the same reason Liberals watch Glenn Beck. I couldn’t believe what I saw. The Ville fans were already celebrating a basketball win over Kentucky for the upcoming season. They say that UL’s experience will outlast the youth of Kentucky’s #1 recruiting class. Okay so, short term memory loss may be to blame here. 2010 these same statements were made. The result: Kentucky smothered the Louisville players on defense en route to a win. The same statements were made the folowing season. The result: A 15 point romping of the Cards in their brand new arena. Anyone else see a pattern here? Not only that but who does UL have that’s any good? It’s alright though just keep trimming your line beards and speaking non-sense little brother. We’ll focus on our National Championship run this year….L’s UP!

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UK Needs A Batman to Save them From The Joker

Joker Phillips has been less than stellar, an understatement if there ever was one, in his forst season and change  at UK. The Cats went 6-7 last season losing the BBVA Compass Bowl to a coach less Pittsburgh team. That’s right he got out coached by a team with no coach. The worst part of that game was the absence of 4-star QB (rivals.com) Ryan Mossakowski who departed from UK after the season leaving Kentucky with a subpar quarterback in Morgan Newton. Kentucky struggled against WKU, CMU and was beat by Louisville, a team that was defeated by FIU, and AT HOME. With a 48-10 loss to the Gators last week its clear that Kentucky will not compete in the SEC and will be lucky to collect one more win this season. If UK does finish with less than 5 wins this season, Mitch Barnhardt better be prepared to hear the fans moan and groan and demand a changing of the guard at UK.

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How Do We Value Information?

“The quality of any piece of information is variable and its value largely depends on context and interpretation… “  I picked this quote because the random statements that were mentioned at the beginning of the article were just that, random statements. However, when we give those random statements value they become valuable. According to the article there are four ways to value information, personal, subjective, economic or community value. When we value the information that is presented to us it is embedded into the way we live and ac and “set conditions for the future.”

Information as a Resource (The Farenheight 451 Reference)

The best part of this article in my opinion is the example the writer gives of Shakespear’s “Romeo and Juliet”. The writer claims that even if one could destroy every copy of “Romeo and Juliet” that ever existed that it would still live on in the memories of people. Therefore, it couldn’t be completely destroyed.  I found this to be a very interesting point. Especially when the writer mentions that many types of information interact with natural environments to produce cities and towns. It’s just how the information is stored that makes the difference.

Information Content

We discussed in our class how books, magazines, journals and so forth will contain different information. We used the example of 9/11. On that day the best source would have been the news on tv the next day a newspaper in a few weeks or a month, a magazine, a year or two later a book, journal or film. The content you would find in a newspaper may be brief and to the point. Not of all of the information may have been released yet, whereas the content you would find in a book would have been well researched. When looking up information for one’s own topic, this needs to be considered.

Our Information Landscape

The “information landscape” here at Murray State is quite broad. With two libraries full of resources, books and journals the abundance of information is nearly limitless. There are some things about the two libraries that I didn’t know that were covered in this class. For instance, I had no idea what was in Pogue Library. I just thought it was a neat looking old building. Also, I was unaware of the different types of media that the Waterfield Library offered. During the first part of this semester the use of the online library became more clear to me. With all of the access to information we have here at MSU, we definitely have it made when it comes to research.

Tagging Items

The tagging items exercise that we did in class, demonstrated how one could describe something. How people can use different words to say the same thing. So in reference to searching for something on the web or on a database, it is best to search with different words, because according to the experiment in class different words can equal different results when searching. So I decided to test this theory on google.com. I searched “John Calipari” which gave me different results than “Kentucky’s head basketball coach” as did “Coach Cal” or “Pope John Cal”. All of the searches resulted in different finds which is why it is important to narrow your search and to think of alternative meanings for words or phrase you are trying to describe to the search engine.

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&sugexp=gsih&cp=8&gs_id=q&xhr=t&q=John+Calipari&qe=Sm9obiBDYWw&qesig=lON9MWKTyv75AYSKsZuVyQ&pkc=AFgZ2tkh5F5Xi5-g6y1yjFbZuCIvVYF3TO1uPA7fv6C3u0_UdbvvWqYBfbBenHf-zwwweWB_MuuhJmNFrRbW-_6O7kyMzTK1dQ&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&site=&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=John+Cal&aq=0&aqi=g4&aql=f&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.&fp=28ccbf3f5b01a8c4&biw=1024&bih=628

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&sugexp=gsih&cp=9&gs_id=23&xhr=t&q=Coach+Cal&qe=Q29hY2ggQ2Fs&qesig=1yAd0sEjj20F2KLLjL7BJw&pkc=AFgZ2tkh5F5Xi5-g6y1yjFbZuCIvVYF3TO1uPA7fv6C3u0_UdbvvWqYBfbBenHf-zwwweWB_MuuhJmNFrRbW-_6O7kyMzTK1dQ&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=Coach+Cal&aq=0&aqi=g4&aql=f&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.&fp=28ccbf3f5b01a8c4&biw=1024&bih=628

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&pwst=1&sa=X&ei=1NGFTp3-NK_ksQKmm-WSDw&ved=0CBoQvwUoAQ&q=Kentucky+head+basketball+coach&spell=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.&fp=28ccbf3f5b01a8c4&biw=1024&bih=628

The Dewey Decimal System Vs. The Library Congress Classification System

The Dewey Decimal System was created by Melvil Dewey in the late 1800’s. The problem with the Dewey Decimal System is that the subjects are too broad. The 10 subjects that are in the Dewey Decimal System include subject titles like, Science (including mathematics), Religion, Social Sciences and History, subjects that have volumes upon volumes of information. The Library Congress Classification System contains subjects that narrow in on subjects. It contains 21 subject titles to the Dewey Decimal Systems 10, which is why most college libraries use the Library Congress Classification System.

http://library.thinkquest.org/5002/

Debunking the Louisville Football Myth

Louisville football fans might be the most delusional fans in all of sports. I take that back, they are the most delusional fans in all of sports. Their undeserving sense of accomplishment is what sets them apart from most fan bases. After defeating Kentucky, a football team that will be lucky to win one more game this season, they hoisted the Governors Cup Trophy as their fans boasted about being "back on top." Wait what??? When has Louisville football been on top of anything? When has Louisville as whole been on top of anything? (Insert Karen Sypher reference) These delusional comments came 8 days after their beloved Cardinals were defeated by FIU. It was FIU's first ever win over a D-1A school.

2007 was a long time ago, yet it's all they have to hold onto. An Orange Bowl Championship....a game literally no one cared about. (Tied for lowest TV ratings for a BCS game). And even though Cardinal fans will swear up and down Cincinatti isn't any good, they've been to that same bowl twice since 2007. But don;t let facts stand in your way Card fans...just keep ironing your flatbills and throwin' your L's up.

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=17&f=2759

The Chicago Tribune, Part of the Information Landscape

With the Chicago Cubs season all but over (has been since April) I wanted to know what to look for going into the 2012 season. So how convientent that chicagotribune.com is one of the top 100 best sites for information? It's navigability was key. Right up at the top had sports and then it's own section just for the Cubs. As far as information goes, well I think its a common fact that sportsbloggers and message boards have more insight information than newspapers and news sites. However, the information presented in this particular news site was top notch. There were up to date trade rumors, recaps from games. I was saitisfied with the information that I was given by the website, not neccesarily the answer as it seems the Cubs are only going to get worse next year.

"Is Google making Us Stupid?" Article by Nicholas Carr

Nicholas Carr says in the article that people may well be reading more than they did in the 1970's and 1980's where the main mass medium was television rather than Internet. Yet, he says that the kind of reading that we are doing is a lot different. We can't read thoroughly and instead skim through the information. As I first looked at the article, my plan was to debunk Carr's point. However, I found myself skimming through his article because I didn't have the attention span to try and absorb all of the text he had presented in his article. Instead after skimming through three pages I went to (where else?) google and searched the topic, in doing so I found a plethra of information on the subject. However, I didn't have to read any of it to see that his thesis was correct and that I had incidentally been a part of his experiment.

The Big Question

John Hodgman, a regular on comedy central's "The Daily Show", writes about the big questions. He explains how our "big questions" have evolved since 1900. How many of the big questions we as, a human race, have answered. At the same time, Hodgman says there are so many big questions that have still left us puzzled. My big question, isn't theological or even scientific but it's a question that has been in the back of the minds of college football fans for years, "When will College football have a playoff?" I have researched this topic for at least 4 years now and it appears for the first time in those 4 years that I have finally recieved almost an answer.NCAA President Mark Emmert might finally have his back up against the wall on this subject as US Department of Justice claims that the NCAA might have violated some antitrust laws when establishing the BCS. Now with the forming of the "Super Conferences" playoffs seem to be on its way for College football.
To find this answer, i searched the web and found many sources. Some written by sports nerds, like me with their own blog and some written by sports nerds who work for major broadcasting stations. My opinion on the subject, I hope all of these writers have done their research and are in the right for writing what they do because if so, crowning a champion for college football may never be the same.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6479279

(A Title to Thesis Statement) Should UCONN Be Criticized By the Media For Thier Revoking of Scholarship?

A topic is what the message is based on yet the thesis would be more of the answer, or opinionated answer, to the question brought out from the topic. For instance, the topic of this post would be “Should UCONN be Criticized for Revoking a Scholarship”. I do have a thesis for this topic and it would be, “The University of Connecticut took away a scholarship from a young man who grew up in a foster home, to give a scholarship to 5-star recruit Andre Drummond, they did this 5-days before class starts. The Huskies Athletic Department, should be criticized and I will be not the last but possible the first to expose this injustice,”
Now I would need to build on this thesis and I will by saying:
The defending National Champions took away a scholarship from Michael Bradley to make way for top recruit Andre Drummond. Bradley grew up an orphan and now does not have the money to afford college, the most unfortunate thing for Bradley is that he was revoked of his scholarship FIVE DAYS before classes started. Which is a time period in which most schools already have their limited amount of basketball scholarships. So UCONN has basically shoved this kid back on the street with nowhere to go. Lets not forget that UCONN could have another scholarship available had they not have been caught cheating a couple of years ago, costing them scholarships. What could make this worse? How about over 66% of UCONN fans, according to a poll, agreeing with the UCONN athletic department. What a class act you are Connecticut.

Is Title IX A Burdon to the NCAA?

When Richard Nixon signed Title Nine, it was suppose to civil rights law stopping gender discrimination in education, however it has become most famous for creating more opportunities for women in the NCAA. Recently Title Nine has had many opposing views as it has caused men’s sports to suffer. (Although the graph above from 2005 would disagree) Many schools have had to forfeit their football teams to make way for a women’s sport. AND why is this being allowed to happen???? I am not trying to sound like a male chauvinist. I honestly believe that female athletes CAN do what the men do (except dunk a basketball). However, lets not ignore the facts, not one women’s basketball team made profit in the 2010-2011 season. So who supports the women’s basketball programs....the Men’s team. Which means the women’s programs are costing the athletic department, at each school, hundreds of thousands of dollars, sometimes even millions. At Auburn for example, where the coaches salaries totaled 1.1 million dollars but the total revenue was just $64,000. Even the Tennessee Volunteers, the most legendary of all women’s basketball teams, didn’t make a single penny. I couldn’t find the average attendance foe UT but the Lady Vols weren’t packing Thompson Bowling Arena by any means.
Now, I know what you are thinking, the UCONN Huskies had to generate some profit in recent years with their infamous and unreal winning streak. Well, to blunt about it…no they did not. In 2010-2011 the UCONN Lady Huskies generated negative dollars in direct revenue, however thanks to Athletic fundraising, they did make it profitable. (Close to a million dollars in fact.)
In 2010, men’s volleyball brought in more money that all women’s sports combined (excluding basketball and softball).
Now, I am not trying to say that Universities should do away with women’s sports, because it would just simply not be fair that males could receive full-ride scholarships for athletics and females could not. However, what I am saying is that title nine should be revoked. What it does is not allow the University of having more men’s teams then women’s teams. Which is why here at MSU we do not have a men’s soccer team. As much as I DO enjoy watching the women’s soccer team here, I believe a men’s team would generate a lot of interest. This same problem, is occurring all over the NCAA, which is why Title Nine should go. I believe that the secondary sports programs should support themselves and all revenue made by the Men’s basketball team and football team should stay with those two teams. Because quite frankly, as a UK fan, I would much rather see our football team get better than our Men’s rifle team.