At the start of “Carlos doesn’t remember” by Revisionist History Malcolm Gladwell sits down with a young boy who he calls Carlos. Carlos starts off by answering Gladwell’s questions and informs us about an interest of his. For instance mathematics although it may be his interest carlos exceeded on every other subject granting him a scholarship to a really good private school in California. As the podcast goes Gladwell undoubtedly is convinced of carlos not only attending college of his choosing but, accomplishing great things as well. Gladwell praises the idea because he says “this is what civilized society are suppose do to provide opportunities to people to make the most of their abilities.” Gladwell then adds “if you are born poor, you can move up and if you work hard you can improve your life.”It is not always the case though you see Gladwell does make a fair about that fact that the non rich community is in a disadvantage. Kids like carlos do not have much of options like the higher class kids anything that happens it affects the lower classes more than the upper. For instance carlos had the opportunity to attend a prestigious high school up in connecticut. Carlos then declined the offer still wanting attend due to the fact that the mother had convinced carlos to stay and care for her and for his little sister. As Carlos and his little sister Alina get separated from the mother both get separated from each other as well being put into foster homes with more than 4 children under same roof. It is not just Carlos and Alina more and more lower class children go through the same thing. That’s what Gladwell argues that these many that majority of these kids are set up for failure because off the lack of opportunity that is given luckily for Carlos and Alina both were able to escape the horror.

According to Gladwell in order to get into these types of school you will need a high ranking advocate with an extended amount of connections. Without the help of these Advocates many children do not get the same opportunity as the rich kids do. Erik Eisner A former big shot entertainment lawyer now founder of an organization called YES that helps public school kids. Eisner who has been doing it for twenty years scouts out the promising kids like carlos that have better test scores and grades and assist them in getting into private schools. It is very warming the fact such organization exists because it is not the fault of the child in where they have been placed in life. It is the sad truth the world we live in is built in where the rich is favored and only a small percentage of the lower class makes it to the top.

“The Man Can’t Shoot” by Revisionist History tells the story of once known as one of the greatest basketball player Wilt Chamberlain. Starting his journey in the NBA Chamberlain excelled in everything defense, free throws, even shooting under tremendous amount of pressure. But, that was not always the case you see Malcolm Gladwell explains that “At the start of his career Chamberlain was a horrendous free throw shooter”. At that time Chamberlain was only shooting at Forty percent. In other words Chambers only made the ball into the basket forty percent of the time each game. That all changed when Chambers decided to change his shooting technique. As we are accustomed to shooting a basketball by bringing the ball right above the forehead, then extending our arms forward and pushing the ball with our fingers(overhand). Well, something like that. Gladwell explains that chamber ended up shooting with the underhand technique what’s that? well to put it simple picture Chambers making each basket doing the granny shot. For a while this particular technique was getting results Chamberlain’s stats had risen so instead of shooting at forty percent he was shooting as eighty-seven point five percent. That is a tremendous improvement. Although Chamber’s foul shot percentage had risen, it did not last very long. Chambers went on in changing his shooting technique back to his previous one and that what caused his states to crumble leaving him once again how he had started. Malcolm Gladwell’s producer Jacob smith went to meet up with Columbians women basketball team to test the underhand technique and the results showed that you are more likely to make the shot performing the underhand technique than the overhand. So why go back to shooting the way you did knowing that was the problem to begin with?

As Chamberlain put it ” I felt silly, like a sissy shooting underhand, I know I was wrong, some of the foul shooters shot that way, Even Rick Barry. I just couldn’t do it”. Chambers believed that it made him feel silly but, it seems that the underhand was not enough of a reason he had went back to his previous technique because we all have our own beliefs we all have our own way of thinking. Sociologist Mark Granovetter said in the interview “when people get into crowds their independent judgement went out the window”. Granovetter added “the issue is not about the peoples beliefs about what’s right and then suddenly losing these beliefs because you’re in a mob. The issue is about threshold”. According to Gladwell beliefs are internal like emotions, Threshold are external for instance something like peer pressure. As an example given by Mark Granovetter ” Take your 18 year old son driving at 100 miles an hour with three friends, it’s not because he believed going that fast was a good idea. His Beliefs are irrelevant. His behavior is guided by his threshold”. So, really why Chambers went back to his old technique was not his beliefs but because of his threshold!? Makes perfect sense see Chambers was not the only basketball player to refuse to shoot underhand . You have Shaq and a few other players, even Rick Barry himself once refused to shoot with that technique. It wasn’t until Barry’s farther had given Barry some advice “It doesn’t matter how you shoot, they can’t make fun of you for making the shot”. As the interview goes on Barry mentions about the time that he shot the ball underhanded and had one of the audience criticize while another defended Barry and on that point Barry’s threshold has risen. What Granovetter claims seems to make sense we all have our own beliefs and everything but, what really makes us act out of character is our low threshold. Just look back at Chamberlain and look at Barry one cared about the thoughts of other while the other stopped caring.

In the “Blame Game” By Revisionist History Malcolm Gladwell begins with informing us about the catastrophe with the Toyota company. How, Mark Sailor a 45 year old lad that just had been assigned a Lexus IS as a loaner vehicle after dropping his vehicle off to a Toyota dealership due to the cd player not working properly. After receiving his loaned vehicle Sailor then goes to his home to pick up his family for a night out. As Gladwell shows an audio recording of that that night Sailor’s passenger had called the police about how the loaner vehicle had a broken accelerator right before their incident. Toyota then faces with a tremendous fine after taking the blame for the incident. Malcolm argues that the fault is with the driver and not Toyota. To prove his argument Malcolm Gladwell then rents a 2003 Toyota Camry and meets up with 3 representatives of car and driver at a speed way in Detroit along with his producer Jacob to reenact the catastrophe. Each got into the vehicle with professional drivers and testing that both Gladwell and Jacob had conducted had come out with the same results. The breaks of the vehicle indeed do operate properly which left Gladwell with a curiosity. Further into the podcast he then gets an interview with someone named Schmitt. There was a part where in the podcast where Gladwell said that that the brain delivers a message to what to do but, the body neglects the reactions. Gladwell then gives examples of baseball players with there strikes. Schmitt follows up with ” Driver get into a state where he feels like he’s acting normally but he’s not, somewhere between intention and action a garble.” plays his audio interview and Schmitt states that “Driver puts his foot on the accelerator thinking it is the breaks and accelerates instead.” Schmitt then says to Gladwell that these are all patterns of a new owners. Basically Schmitt argues that it the lack of knowing the vehicle is what caused the incident basically it is the drivers fault. There was a part where in the podcast where Gladwell said that that the brain delivers a message to what to do but, the body neglects the reactions. Gladwell then gives examples of baseball players with there strikes. Schmitt follows up with ” Gets into a state where he feels like he’s acting normally but he’s not, somewhere between intention and action a garble.” Perhaps Schmitt is right. Gladwell then provides us with the information on how NASA even got involved and ran some testing. According to Gladwell Nasa concluded that it was a paddle error. Each vehicle carries a black box that records when the breaks and the accelerator has been used. NASA concluded that the black box showed no signs of the breaks ever being used at the moment of the incident.

Chapter 8 of “They say, I say” Goes into a few methods of methods. For instance, connect your sentence while writing it could be an essay, book, or news paper…Etc. whatever you are writing it is always a good thing to connect the sentence as on page 101 gives the example “spot is a good dog. He’s has fleas.” as the sentence suggest that spot is a good dog but, the issue lies in the second portion that spot has fleas. For many readers it would be quite a confusion considering that the second statement is irrelevant to the first statement, so in order to lessened the confusion for the readers it is critical to connect the sentence “spot is a good dog, even though he has fleas.” sounds better right? Just by doing minor tweaks the whole flow of the statement changes as well.

One thing that many writers tend to get wrong on their work is basically using academic writing all the time. Wait ,hold up ,what!? confused? Well, not like they are going to get a bad grade or anything well , they might…sometimes. As chapter 9 explains to us that part of being a good writer is not about sounding like a scientist using big words all the time you may sounds smart but, the audience will not know what the heck you are blabbering on about. The point is to get the readers to understand what exactly you are trying to say. In order to do so chapter 9 suggest not only using the academic style but mixing it up a bit as well with what chapter 9 defines it as “everyday speak” basically, how you would talk on a day to day basis. See, the thought behind this combination of both styles is to make sure you do not lose your own voice. Yeah you wanna sounds smart and all and that is completely fine but in order to be a great writer according to chapter 9 you should not completely let go of how you would normally explain things to people because that is how you would get the readers to understand what you have written.

Misinterpretation one of the most common things to occur. You may writing something like( If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more)but there is no guarantee that the readers will interpret it in the same sense as you. Chapter ten “they say, I say” introduces metacommentary which basically means to guide readers to interpret phrases how the author intended to be interpreted. In other words to read and understand the phrase the same way as the one who wrote it. Going further into the chapter a good point comes up as well that when utilizing metacommentary it does benefit us in some ways. When it comes up to breaking it down to the readers keep in mind that what you are stating is going to be longer draft and better headlining which is great especially for those writing an essay that possibly, might be three pages or more.

In order for you argument to be convincing what might help is revising. As explained in my previous blog for those familiar with my work the utilizing what other have said about you can make your arguing much stronger. By revising it shows that as a writer you are aware and unbothered by what others have to say about you. Not only that but it does give quite an opportunity to counter attack other arguments making you even more credible.

Being considered a great writer does not become second nature so easily but, considering what chapters eight to eleven covers it does get you a few steps closer. Key points to remember along the way are “connect the sentence” in order to make more sense of what you wrote. As well as revising never fear the opportunity to utilize what others have said about your work because in the end your argument will spark the interests of your readers. To top it off a critical reminder to also mix it up with your style of writing, yeah you might wanna sound sophisticated as hell but agreeable enough in chapter nine given a good point in order for readers to understand make sure to write the way you speak. Overall, just because it is in a piece of paper does not mean that you are not speaking to the audience.

1. Are you lost in this world like me was created by Artist Steve Cutts and Moby and The Void Pacific Choir.
2. The intended Message of this particular piece was to inform the viewers of what modern society has become. Steve Cutts said “For me the video is about our increasing dependence on technology and about human interaction today, or a certain lack of it,” Cutts added. ” It focuses on the way tech is changing us- how we have become desensitizes.”
3. This work of art is not very persuasive it is more of an eye opener Moby said an interview “As a species we are ignoring the world in which we actually live and living in this tiny screen, an seems it’s not the healthiest. “He adds ” Anything powerful whether it’s fire, food, television, sex… or what ever. It’s learning how to have discipline, I feel like(takes out his phone from his pocket) is so new we haven’t learned to have discipline with it.” Moby concluded with ” It can destroy things or can be a wonderful tool”.
4. This particular piece was intended for each and everyone one us. How is it intended for us? Well in this animated piece it references a few tools that we use on a daily basis. For instance, the tender swap, posting on IG, walking while utilizing our electronic devices.
5. On (Oct 18. 2016) piece was uploaded through social media hoping that it would attract viewers not for publicity but to get there message out and hoping to reach the viewers.

1. Symbolic: It has difference settings but in each of those settings the usage of hand held devices is the important concept.
2. written: “Are you lost in this world like me” this title is pretty much indicates that we as society are figuratively lost in this world. Electronics has taking control over sub conscience mind.

Can putting away the phones be a bad thing?

As we have entered the new year things seem to change for instance the way we dress, our eating habits, our perspective on things, even the group of people we call our friends. But, when it comes to the usage of our handy dandy smart phones it seems that it is even a greater issue now. Through out the years the usage of smart phones has gravely impacted each of our lives and not in a good sense either. It is set to believe that our devices would revolutionize this world. It said how it would solve many issues and it has indeed been beneficial but, it has as well created new issues that many people are not aware of it because they have fallen slave to the device. For instance feeling anxious to to reach to your pocket to take out your smart phone each time, Impact in our social skills, or not being fully present at the moment where it counts.

Sandee Lamotee who works for CNN published an article “smartphone addiction can be changing your brain”. In her article she argues about the negative impact on smartphone usage. Lamotee states states that “Millennials are the worst offenders”. that’s because she talks about how millennials are using there phones while operating vehicles. She adds “according to pew. Fifty-nine percent of people between the ages of 18 and 33 have been reported to texting while driving”.

It is not just texting while driving Lamotee states that smart phones is affecting our social skills as well. Ask yourself this how many times have you experienced having a conversation with your friends or family and occasionally in the middle of the conversation your friends or family reach down into their pockets to take out their devices and start scrolling? or maybe even when the conversation has ended without you finishing what you wanted to say and everyone is scrolling down there phones and yes this means even you too. Well, Dr. Twenge states that “Many teens do not go out and hang with their friends as much as before”. In Dr. Twenges book “IGEN” it provides a chart of the percentage drop of face to face interaction between teens and their friends throughout the year. Lets just say that the numbers are horrific.

Viewing the article and looking at the statistics it is save to say that there is an agreement with Jean Lamotee. From experience I have witnessed myself what she is arguing. Can not remember the last time sitting down and having a full fledged conversation with my own family because majority of the time everyone is going around updating their status or giving someone a like; It is quite frustrating actually. There is a simple solution to actually make things a bit better. I do Advice you when spending quality time with the family or friends to set your phones aside so everyone will have each others complete undivided attention. If you are not sold in the idea because you are waiting for a text back from your boo just text them let them know that you will not have your phone with your because you are about to spend time with your family or friends. It is the same concept when it comes to operating a vehicle. So many lives can be spared including your own. Doing this for just an hour can make difference but it all starts with taking the initiative.

Many Readers tend to lose interest in peoples statement. It is due to the credibility or how the statement is served. In they say I say it goes into detail on how as a writer can you catch and keep your audiences. So the question is does these steps make your statement much more effective?

The art of Agreeing and disagreeing with the author or sometimes even utilizing both in your essay is beneficial. In chapter 4 it goes in to detail and provides examples on how to properly utilizes these tools in order to make what you are stating or trying to state more effective. For instance, using the ” twist it” method. Agreeing with someone else’s statement or evidence that can be used to support your own statement. Confused? well, on (page.64) of ” They says, I say” there are a few examples of how the twist it method is being utilized. For instance Although I agree with X up to a point, I cannot accept his overriding assumption that religion is no longer a major force today. Even though there is also just agreeing or just completely disagreeing. Best bet would be to do both because when doing so you are not just showing you are putting yourself in the authors shoes but, showing the readers that you are not just criticizing the authors statement as well.

When writing an argument or any essay it is essential to properly transition from someones else’s argument to your own. Basically taking what they say and transitioning to what you say without confusing the reader. Such method is defined in chapter 5 as voice markers. Taking a piece of evidence of what the author or someone else has utilized and then giving your take on there evidence. Many can agree that not everyone is proficient on using the voice marker method. It is very crucial because when arguing about a certain topic you would want the readers to know where you stand and where you are coming from especially when providing someone else’s perspective. Improper use of such method will cause the indeed cause the reader to be confused and wonder who is saying what and what is the perspective of the person who is writing the article or essay.

Going further into the book there is a section where it encourages its readers to utilize the naysayers in their argument. Graff refers to a Jane Tompkins and her perception on the matter. As Tompkins wakes up one morning to overlooked criticism she then has to deal with a decision to either listen to the critics and throw her whole work away or to continue. For every little critique that we all face our first thought would be to stop what we doing completely to save us the embarrassment and so we do. As Tompkins keeps her critics in the back of her mind she continues with her work and some how incorporates them in her work. It may seem daunting at first but, she does have a point in including them in her work. As chapter 5 puts it “the more you give voice to your critic’s objection, you tend to disarm them much more.” It provides the readers the idea that as a writer it will not bother you, in fact it will definitely enhance your abilities as a writer and will make your statement much more credible.

So the question remains by utilizing these methods does it make you more of an effective writer? Considering the evidence provided it does seem to be the case that it should enhance your ability as a writer and credibility. Using the twist it methods provides the readers facts that as a writer you do understand the concept of both sides yours and author. As for including the naysayers in your paper should provide you with an opportunity for a counterargument for there their input. As well readers marker was made to make your statement much more effective because by utilizing references you will gain more credibility since others have sounds evidence of the topic.

What exactly is evidence? What is valid and what it not? For many years people have defined it as facts or information indicating whether a believe or proposition is valid or correct. Kathryn Schulz in “Evidence”, a chapter of her book called being wrong, that we need to “learn to actively combat our inductive biases: to deliberately seek out evidence that challenge our beliefs, and to tale seriously such evidence when we come across it”(page.377). By attending to counter evidence we can avoid making errors in our conclusion. Whether we are aware of it or not we depend on our past experiences to form our believes and ideas. Prior knowledge from personal experiences also explain why we come to the conclusions that we do in everyday life. Whether we like it or not we are guilty of believing things based off of evidence we have formally come across. There is a short little quiz in “evidence” that proves to both you and Schulz that this is true. One of the simple question included a photo of a shaded rectangle with a white strip running behind. The question was that: “what is behind the shaded rectangle?”(Schulz,pg.365). Our automatic human assumption would be that the strip of white continued behind the rectangle. What we do not think about is that fact that we truly do not know what is actually behind that shaded rectangle, we use our former knowledge that something peaking through the top and the bottom must continue through the middle. The reality is, we have no logical indication about what is really behind that shaded rectangle, But what is probable is what our mechanized answer is.

Given the history of the witch trial is tells me that evidence was based off of believes. For instance, how back then spirits were to be blame for every little cause. If someone did not strike you the right way(you did not approve of that person) it would be easier to accuse them for anything based off of a dream you had. So for example say you had a nightmare about your next door neighbor, it would be contented just to accuse them of witch craft activity. A distinct example take a photo of a furry creature with long ears, small nose, that hops , and eats carrots and display it for the people and ask them to describe what is in the photograph. Sounds pretty obvious right? Our nature would to jump to conclusion and say that it is a rabbit in the photograph. As the text “evidence” you don’t need to be the greatest scientist to combat your inductive biases. Remember to attend to counter evidence is not a challenge, It is an effortless habit of mind. Like all habits though, Conscious cultivation is a requirement. Without it, our primary evidence that we have encountered will remain the final words of the truth.

The term perception is the ability to understand and interpret something visual, hearing, or mentally. Perception is an ideology mindset of how people view and interpret something in there own way. Social media, past experience, or current beliefs have a part in the matter on how perception is defined.

A group of authors gives there theory on selective perception. They define it as influenced by the peoples wants, there needs , also there attitude in general. It’s a very curious theory because what they’re pretty much stating is that upon showing an image or video to group of people. The actual intention of the image or video will be different to how people would interpret it. The cause of it would be do to a past or current experience the interpreter has gone or is going through. In other words people tend to seek out the little things that reflects upon on what their current mood is. If you take someone that’s having a rough day and someone that is in a good mood and show them the same video of a you tuber helping out a homeless person. One person (the one not in a good mood) would perceive the video as someone just trying to get views. While the other would think that its really good to see others having a helping hand and making a difference. Putting it perspective it is very agreeable where they are coming from. We as a human take up the information that all around us whether it is from home, school, work , ..etc. Our influence do tend to influence the way we think or view things. When is a social group its an opportunity to explore peoples thoughts i am not talking about taking them to a lab to experiment on them. No no no! When upon engaging in conversations we tend to ask question on different topics whether its comic book stuff, politics, gaming, marijuana, what ever it is the topic is the outcome remains the same. Everyone views different perspectives and it tends to impale our own judgement at times because majority of the times we tend to want to just fit in with everyone. The way we perceive thing is not just with our social group is also from past experience whether it from your pat relationships or it based off of how you grew up since you were a kid.

There was and I believe till this day that there still is an argument about subliminal perception. For instance a constant viewing of a commercial for the same product. Say that you and a few friends take a trip to Magic mountain right. You’re waiting in line to get on a ride and you see in the screens that they are passing advertisements on Takis. Well the argument is that these advertisements are an attempt to forcing you to buy into there product while you’re subconsciously unaware of it. While others may argue that these advertisements are beneficial to the customers because it would reduce or get rid of annoying commercials.

In conclusion the ideology mindset of perception is an arguable topic with different Theories. From selective perception due to the needs and attitude of the people. To being subconsciously influenced while being unaware. Everyone’s perception on things it completely different from one another.

From stacking decks to passing go and collect 200 to pressing buttons in your living room couch. The evolution of the world of gaming is rapidly advancing through out the century. Along with the advancement of the gaming industry comes a different approach of communication within the gaming community. For instance while working your regular job or being at your doctors appointment what you would describe as normal English. We would say something like how are you sir? or Good evening Ms/Mam? when you’re greeting someone. But, in the gaming community you would have “gamers” using a different form of English where it would sound something similar to regular English but not quite. See in the world of gaming the expanded society uses the the word “potato” to describe some one who is not so great at gaming or when your internet connection is not working at full speed. “what a potato” or “that potato connection”. The term potato isn’t the only word they use. You could also say “Damn, he/she is dragging “, or the classic “you suck!” . These are just a few examples of phrases used.

As slang in the gaming community is rapidly evolving it also affects how we communicate with one another is today society . As i mentioned how we still use proper English,it Seems each day more and more each time a little slang is being used in a conversations. Even the once we have with our own bosses or college professors. While back a few years ago you would refer your boss or professors at sir or mam. It seems that now when you greeting you would hear “how you doing bro? or “hey hey whats up?”. Not only is it affecting the way we are speaking outside our community but it also is affecting our body gestures. Like when your meeting some one around the same age as you or a little older instead a giving a proper handshake we would greet with a simple bump of fists or what with something called a bro hug. How you response to each other when asking question, or even when saying good bye as changed through out time.

As time passes by we are getting to a point where proper English will seize to exist. From existing words having a new meaning to creating new once. From handshaking your boss to bro hugging them. The way in the gaming industry communicates. This event greatly impacts each of our lives where we hardly even notice that is happening.