This post has a lot of drills and techniques that can help you be a good basketball coach for 7 year olds

Balanced athletic competition in a team environment promotes sportsmanship, cooperation, leadership skills, and the benefits of exercise and hard work.

Definition of "good coach"

1. You have to define what a good coach is, before you can do a good job of becoming one.
1. A good coach will:
1. be trustworthy
1. show up 10 minutes early
2. cancel as early as possible in the case of emergencies
2. respectful to the kids
3. be fair to the kids
4. find kids that need a hobby and have the interest and help them apply themselves
5. help kids enjoy striving for excellence
6. get different kids to work well together 
7. help kids set achievable, measurable goals
8. help kids have fun
9. not show favoritism
10. a good coach can find lots of reasons to motivate kids to improve their skills
1. Reasons to agree: 
1. A good coach can motivate their kids by showing them that practice can be good social group activity.
2. A good coach can motivate their kids by showing them that practice can be fun. 
3. A good coach can motivate their kids by showing them that they can set and accomplish goals that they first believed were impossible. 
4. A good coach can motivate their kids to apply them selves by telling them about the rewards of being active
1. Reasons to disagree: 
1. You are lying if you tell your kids activity levels will make them healthy. Activity is not as important as diet. 
2. Kids don't care

Basketball drills for 7 year olds

1. The best way to teach a skill is for you to demonstrate the skill in action, and then pick a volunteer to try and demonstrate it. Using their names, you can then kindly correct any mistakes they make and praise efforts to improve. This will let the other kids learn from the volunteer's mistakes. Then you should let them all practice, and you can go around similarly working with other kids. Seeing the volunteer be OK with being corrected, and still have social rewards of attention will let them know it is OK to be critiqued. 
2. You shouldn't let kids dribble when you are talking, but if they are standing in line it is OK.
1. Reasons to agree: +2
1. Kids need all the practice dribbling as possible. Why would you stop them from practicing?
2. Kids shouldn't get bored at basketball practice. It should be one of the few times that their short attention spans are not exhausted. You shouldn't have them standing in line waiting for their turn very often. If you have more than one basketball hoop you should use it. You can divide the group into smaller groups. 
2. Reasons to disagree: +1
1. Towards the beginning of the year, when they are learning drills, they may need to watch the other kids to figure out what to do.
3. Dribbling
1. Red Light, Green Light is a good basketball practice
1. Reasons to agree: +1
1. This drill helps players learn how to stop suddenly with the ball without losing it, such as if they're being trapped by a defender. Line up all players on the baseline with a ball. Stand at the far free throw line facing the players. Yell "green light" and have all the players start running at you while dribbling the ball. Yell "red light," upon which all the players must stop and dribble the ball in place. Repeat the drill by having the players stop and start again until one player reaches where you are on the court. That player is the winner. 
2. You should have kids dribble high and slow and low and fast.
1. Reasons to agree: +2
1. You have to dribble low and fast to keep people from getting the ball. 
2. You have to dribble higher to run faster
3. "Sharks and minnows" teaches kids (minnows) how to: dribble, avoid defense, and (sharks) defense techniques. 
1. Reasons to agree
1. Sharks and Minnows has kids who are minnows try to get from one side of the basketball court to the other. One "shark" tries to make the "minnows" loose control of their ball or pick up their dribble. Those kids that lost control, become "sharks" when the remaining kids try to dribble back to the other side. This usually goes a 3 or 4 rounds. The last "minnow" to loose their dribble is the winner. 
2. Tips. 
1. Some kids loose their dribble, but try to sneak back into the pack. You need to have them go to the sideline. The kids should also police each other, because it gets a little chaotic. 
1. My son likes being a shark, and purposefully looses his dribble. Give them swirlies until behavior improves.
4. You should show kids how to dribble, and let them try to dribble more than 20 times with each hand, standing still.
5. You need to explain to kids the concept of traveling.
1. Reasons to disagree: +1
1. Most 7 year olds don't understand that you can pivot on one foot (like your shoe has been nailed to the floor), but that you can't lift up your second foot. 
2. Reasons to agree: -1
1. When you dribble you keep your body between the defense and the ball. You need to be able to dribble with both hands to go both directions. 
6. You should help your kids take the ball in circles around their ankles and wastes
7. You should help your kids dribble the ball in circles around their back and between their legs.
8. You should let the kids "try and get the ball from the coach".
1. Reasons to agree:
1. It is a good way to demonstrate defensive dribbling, faking one direction, and going another direction.
2. As said above, "A good coach can motivate their kids by showing them that practice can be good social group activity." 
3. Kids enjoy teaming up against authority figures. This is harmless when done in athletic competitions, as long as you let them win, and are careful with them.
2. Tips
1. Don't let your ego get to big. Go easy. Parents are watching, and you don't want to hurt the kids!
2. This probably works best with no more than 3 or 4 kids.
3. If their are other kids that are very good at dribbling  you can use them as good examples to also demonstrate their skills. 
9. You should have kids stand in one place while dribbling and pivot, to practice dribbling. 
1. Reasons to agree
1. When kids are all running it is hard to watch them all
1. This is one of the great advantage of basketball, it teaches good hand-eye coordination
2. Reasons to disagree
1. They will get dizzy
2. This isn't something to do very often
10. You should have kids walk forward, backwards, around cones, around the court to practice dribbling.
1. Reasons to disagree
1. Kids will rarely have to dribble backwards
11. 
    
12. You should have kids see how fast they can make a basketball go around their ankles, waste, and head both clockwise and counterclockwise. 
1. Reasons to agree
1. Whatever team has the most coordinated kids will probably win
2. Reasons to diagree
1. Most 7 year olds can't do this
4. Passing
1. You need to explain to kids that when they pass they need to send the ball to a place that is easy for the person on their team to get it, but hard for the person on the other team to get it. For 7 year olds, the defense is often supposed to stay within a box, which helps. 
2. You should explain and demonstrate bounce passes to kids. 
1. Reasons to agree
1. Once the kids know the advantage of a bounce pass, they will be more likely to use them at the correct time.
2. The bounce pass should be used in specific situations. It is good to use because people can't easily reach to the ground fast enough to stop the ball before it bounces up into the hands of your teammate. 
3. You should explain and demonstrate the chest passes to kids.  
1. Reasons to agree
1. The bounce past should be used when you have a direct line of sight. Kids often have difficulty controlling a pass, or throwing the ball in a straight line.  
4. You should do experiments to see if kids can through longer with a 1-handed long pass or an overhead two hand pass. Explain that if they use the right technique, as they get older, they will be able to through the ball further with a 1-handed long pass, as they take a step, put the ball back further, and have a longer follow through.
1. Reasons to agree
1. If you want to win, the 1-handed long pass is the fastest way to make a fast break. 
5. Shooting
1. You should explain and demonstrate the different basketball shots
1. Reasons to agree
1. Kids don't understand geometry. They think you just have to throw the ball at the hoop. They don't understand that it has to come up above the hoop, and drop down through it. You also should briefly explain the geometry of a backboard shot. 
6. Rebounding
1. You should explain and demonstrate proper boxing out
1. Reasons to agree
1. It is hard to remember not to hold your opponent
7. Hand-Ball Coordination
1. You should try to get kids to get the ball to go around
8. If they are not motivated you can tell you want to see who can do it best. If this becomes a distraction, don't do it. Let competition motivate, but not be the only motivator. 1/4 competition against other, 1/4 against themselves, 1/4 fun, and 1/4 oversize. 
9. You should tell older kids that they might be good this year, but they need to practice hard because they will be the young kids next year. Its more fun when you are good. You don't have to be great, but it is not as fun when you are the worst. 

Links:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball_moves

In an effort to be more realistic than the past, Hollywood now glorifies dysfunction

Reasons to agree: 

1. TV glamorizes dysfunction too much
1. Reasons to agree: +5
1. Homer Simpson chokes Bart. 
2. Many kids grow up only seeing dysfunctional families on TV, and think they want nothing to do with family life. 
3. When I wrote a book report in Jr. High Rosanne was on. I wrote, "In contrast, I recently watched Roseanne. The show started out with three criticisms in a row, between Roseanne and her daughter. Rosseane would say something mean about her daughter's grades. Then the daughter would say something mean about Roseanne's weight. This continued for the whole show. The next day I watched Roseanne again. Roseanne thought that Tom wanted a divorce. She said, "I want the house, he can have the kids, but I want the house." Many kids grow up thinking this is the way marriage will be, and it is not a laughing matter. It seems there is no value placed on children. The number one thing is money. Many Educators believe attitude's about family relationships are formed by "casual contact" with shows like Roseanne."
4. When I wrote a book report in Jr. High I wrote: "Most shows that portray husband and wife relationships, show them constantly bickering. I watched Family Matters recently. I thought this would be an exception to the rule, but the wife and the husband were very mean to each other. In one conversation the wife and husband were sitting on the couch and talking: "Carl can I speak openly?", the wife asks. "Yes,"he says, "You're a Jack---" (Family Matters Feb. 25, 1994). The crowd again erupted with laughter."
5. TV shows often tell kids how to rebel against their parents. The parents are alwasy the stupid ones.
6. In the first Roseanne ever, Roseanne took her sixteen year old daughter, Beckey, to buy birth control pills. At first she did not want to, but a bunch of her friends talked her into it. The show's main theme was; how mean it is for parents to not let their kids have sex. 
2. It is dysfunctional to have casual sex. Hollywood promotes casual sex.
1. Assertion #1: It is dysfunctional to have casual sex. 
1. Reasons to agree: +5
1. Sex addicts have noncommittal sex, in a very dysfunctional way. 
2. It is dysfunctional to make poor choices. It is a poor choice to have casual sex. 
1. Reasons to agree: +5
1. Casual sex is a rejection of commitment,. The ability to make commitments is required, in order to be a functional member of society.
1. Reasons to agree: +5
1. Those unable to maintain long term faithful commitments before marriage, are less likely to stay in committed relationships after marriage. Committed people are looking for different things. They are 2 different types of people. There are people who build relationships slowly, based on common interest, respect, 
2. Commitment is required in order for relationships to last. Those who are not committed to marriage will suffer economically, romantically, and emotionally. 
1. Reasons to agree: +5
1. A study of about 9,000 people found that divorce reduces a person's wealth by about three-quarters (77 percent.
2. Dwindling marriage rates are concentrated among the poor — the very people whose living standards would be most improved by having a second household income.
3. It is dysfunctional to risk having babies with someone with whom you have not made a life long commitment. It is dysfunctional to take unnecessary risks that can alter the wrest of your life, for momentary rewards of having a boyfriend, being "cool", or giving into other people's desires. 
4. The secret that no one wants to talk about is that it is dysfunctional to have casual sex outside of marriage. The upper class of people have less divorce, and get married. The lower class of people are unable to control their genitals, and end up producing unwanted babies, abortions, and have crappy lives that are controlled by their dysfunctional sex lives. Sure, rich people sleep around too. Sure, some poor people are very ethical and committed to their spouses.  But the statistics prove that poverty follows those who are unable to control their sex lives. TV shows that glamorize irresponsible sex, are convincing stupid people (largely the lower class) to live lives of poverty, and slavery to dysfunction. 
2. The study of about 9,000 people found that divorce reduces a person's wealth by about three-quarters (77 percent) compared to that of a single person, while being married almost doubles comparative wealth (93 percent). And people who get divorced see their wealth begin to drop long before the decree becomes final.
3. TV normalizes behavior.
1. Reasons to agree: +3
1. TV is the way we think other people live. 
2. We often don't see inside other people's homes, unless it is on TV. 
3. A section of Superfreakanomics proves this (the section is the unlikely savior of Indian women). Here is a discussion of the research. 
4. Our personal relationships have too much dysfunction
1. Reasons to agree: +1
1. "The divorce rate remains, stubbornly, one out of two. The out-of-wedlock birthrate has tripled since 1970; it is among the highest in the developed world. A nauseating buffet of dysfunctions has attended these trends--an explosion in child abuse, crime, learning disabilities, and welfare dependency, name your pathology."
5. TV glamorizes dysfunction more than it used to
1. Reasons to agree: +1
1. People on Leave it to beaver were pretty functional. They were patient, avoiding extremes of anger, selfishness, and cruelty. It taught the generations how to understand each other, how to laugh at each other, and how to get along with each other.
6. TV characters don't have to be dysfunctional to be interesting. 
1. Dis functional people are boring. 
1. Reasons to agree: +1
1. They always give into selfish motives. 
7. When the TV shows disinfection, they teach people how to be dysfunctional.

Reasons to disagree: 

1. There is no such thing as Hollywood. There are hundreds of writers, producers, etc. 
2. Hollywood just does what sells. It is our fault for watching all these TV shows. 

Books that agree:

1. Hollywood vs. America: The Explosive Bestseller that Shows How-and Why-the Entertainment Industry Has Broken Faith With Its Audience

Webpages that agree:

1. http://www.freakonomics.com/2009/11/02/introducing-the-superfreakonomics-virtual-book-club-meet-emily-oster/

Interest of those who agree

1. Improving society. 
2. Teaching good behaviors 
3. Patting themselves on their back for how good they are.
4. Identifying themselves to their circle of friends as part of the "good guys", the conservatives
5. Not wanting to come off as too accepting

Interest of those who disagree

1. "Keeping it real". 
2. Exposing bad behaviors
3. Pushing boundaries. 
4. Patting themselves on their back for how cool, hip, counterintuitive they are.
5. Discussing difficult topics
6. Making money. 
7. Identifying themselves to their circle of friends as part of the "good guys", the conservatives. 
8. Proving how open minded they are. 
9. Not wanting to come off as too judgmental

Its alright to let your young kids chase geese +5

Reasons to agree: +7

1. Young kids will never catch geese.
2. Geese can bight back. They have sharp teeth. 
3. Geese are overpopulated. For instance here in Chicago they put chemicals on eggs to prevent them from hatching, because their are too many, and they poop everywhere and create environmental problems.
4. The lack of predators have allowed geese to overpopulate. 
5. If you eat meat you are guilty of more violence against animals than chasing geese. 
6. Geese may get chased by wild animals. They are violent against each other. They rape ducks (google it, it is a fact). You can't apply people ethics to animals. Animals chase each other. Cats chase mice and play with them. If you don't want animals tormented you will have to kill all cats. 
7. Its cool to watch birds fly. Letting kids chase birds until they fly gives kids an awe, and an experience, and an appreciation for animals. It is possible to love animals, and hunt them, as native Americans taught us. Chasing them, and smiling at them as they fly away is not bad. The French who force feed geese in a cage are bad. But little kids who chase them, and make them get some exercise are not. See image below for evidence to support this belief.

Reasons to disagree: -2

1. From "Auguries of Innocence by William Blake": A robin redbreast in a cage Puts all heaven in a rage. A dove-house filled with doves and pigeons Shudders hell through all its regions. A dog starved at his master's gate Predicts the ruin of the state. A horse misused upon the road Calls to heaven for human blood. Each outcry of the hunted hare A fibre from the brain does tear. A skylark wounded in the wing, A cherubim does cease to sing. The game-cock clipped and armed for fight Does the rising sun affright. Every wolf's and lion's howl Raises from hell a human soul. The wild deer wandering here and there Keeps the human soul from care. The lamb misused breeds public strife, And yet forgives the butcher's knife. The bat that flits at close of eve Has left the brain that won't believe. The owl that calls upon the night Speaks the unbeliever's fright. He who shall hurt the little wren Shall never be beloved by men. He who the ox to wrath has moved Shall never be by woman loved. The wanton boy that kills the fly Shall feel the spider's enmity. He who torments the chafer's sprite Weaves a bower in endless night. The caterpillar on the leaf Repeats to thee thy mother's grief. Kill not the moth nor butterfly, For the Last Judgment draweth nigh. He who shall train the horse to war Shall never pass the polar bar. The beggar's dog and widow's cat, Feed them, and thou wilt grow fat. The gnat that sings his summer's song Poison gets from Slander's tongue.
2. My wife says we were geese bullies. 
3. Animals are cool. Leave them alone. 

Idea Score: +7 - 2 = +5

Images that agree:

Me in Idaho Falls with my brother. An old man came and yelled at us.

I had a good childhood +6

Where much is given much is expected. I was given a lot. If I turn out to be an OK person, I owe it to my family and the good start they gave to my life. We all stand on the shoulders of giants.

Reasons to agree

1. I don't remember my parents ever yelling at each other.
2. I argued with my Dad when I was in high school, and he just put up with me.
3. I was never spanked. I know people who spank are often also great parents. I'm not saying their are not. I'm just saying, for me that is one area that my parents were really great about.
4. My parents lets us have water fights. My older brothers didn't beat me up for squiring them (see image below, for verification).
5. My parents let me where weird aqua-man masks (see image below, for verification).
6. My parents took us camping, even when I was young, which is not easy (see image below, for verification).

Images that agree:

My squirting my brother Steve. My shorts are almost staying up.

My dad walked me up the narrows in Zion National Park

My Brother Steve, My Dad, my Brother Brian, and I

Big Wheel and Banana Seat Bike. Me sporting my aqua-man mask.

Chicago and Chicago Land are good place to raise a family

Background, definitions, and assumptions

• For a place to be considered good, it must be better than average. 
• Chicago land is, of course, Chicago and the surrounding suburbs.

Reasons to agree: +10

1. Chicago has lots of stuff to do, that don't cost too much money. 
2. Trips to the zoo are good for kids (+1). Chicago has good zoos. 
3. Chicago has good mass transportation (+2). 
4. Chicago has good architecture (+0). Its cool to live near good architecture. 
5. You can leave near Chicago, and still have a back yard. Despite criticism of suburban sprawl kids have fun in their back yards (+0).
6. Bolingbrook, a typical suburb of Chicago, has pretty good parks.
7. Kids like fireworks, and there are often good fire works shows around Chicago. For instance Navy Pier has free fireworks during the summer, their are good firework shows across the suburbs on the 4rth of July, and the Chicago Air Water show has good fireworks.
8. Numbers are what matter, and on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being best and 10 being worst) Bolingbrook, a typical Chicago suburb, is a 4 on property crime, and a 5 on violent crime, which is about average for the USA. 
9. You should make wherever you are home. 
10. Chicago has a lot of stuff to do.

Reasons to disagree: -6

1. Hiking is a good pastime. Hiking is only fun in the mountains. There are no mountains in Illinois. There is no good hiking near Chicago. City walking is not as cool as hiking in the mountains. Sure, Boise is hot during the summer, but its cooler in the mountains. It is hot everywhere in Illinois in the summer. It is too humid in the summer to hike. There are too many bugs, and the forest have too much undergrowth. 
2. State Parks in Illinois are anticlimactic (compared to Idaho).
3. There is a culture of corruption in Chicago, that rewards people based on who they know.
4. In Illinois kids from worse neighborhood go to much worse schools than those who are from better neighborhoods. 
5. A good place to raise a family is close to extended family. It is hard to go from a place you grew up in, and then just live somewhere else. It may always feel unlike home. 
6. Shooting is fun, but you have to pay to go shooting around Chicago. 

Total Score:

• Reasons to agree: +10
• Reasons to disagree: -6
• Net reasons to agree with reasons to agree minus reasons to disagree: +1+2
• Total: 

Images that agree: +3

Chicago has good mass transportation +2

Assumptions:

• Good means low cost, and high quality. Transportation includes parking. Not all transportation facilities are "public". For instance privately owned parking garages are part of the equation.

Reasons to agree:

1. If you are lucky you can find parallel parking for free around Lincoln Park Zoo.
2. Parking is $1.00 an hour, if you can find any, near Northerly Island. I drove there with 2 bikes in  my car, and my 7 year old son, and we rode to Millennium Park and back. 
3. Kids ride the Metra free on the weekends. 
4. The Water Tower Place Mall does parking validation. 
5. It costs $7 per adult to ride to Chicago Union Station (week-end passes, kids ride free). From there you can walk to a number of places:
1. Millennium Park. 
1. In the summer, kids can play in the fountain. Bring towels, and a change of clothes. It is sort of white trash, but they can change in the bathrooms. 
2. Each time you go down the kids will probably want to look at the bean, and get their photo taken.
3. I should probably walk the whole park once. Their are some statues on the south end I have never seen. 
2. Winter
1. Kris Kringle Market Chicago 
3. We walked, with 3 kids, and 2 strollers, all the way to the Hancock Building. It was a pretty long walk. When we got back to Navy Pear we took a water taxi bat to Union Station, to save our legs, and to make a train.

Reasons to disagree:

1. Sales tax is high in Chicago.
2. It costs $20 at a minimum to park in Chicago. 
3. It cost $7 for a weekend pass. So if you want to go in as a couple it costs $14 just to get there. 

Score: 

• Reasons to agree: +5
• Reasons to agree: -3
• Total: +2

You will probably face many setbacks

Images that agree: (stolen from Megan's Website)

People will take and publish unflattering photos of you

You will get sick

Nothing Last forever

Phil went on vacation, and the mosquitoes like him.

We lost power on vacation and came home to this.

Megan is helping our kids be Creative

Images that agree: (stolen from Megan's Website)

You should try to take pictures with loved one's on Holidays

Reasons to agree:

1. People need holidays

Images that agree:(some stolen from Megan's Website)

2011, Easter

1978 or 1979. Bobbie, Earl, Me, Dad, Bro

Basement sump pumps are annoying +1

Reasons to agree:

1. If you have a sump pump, it will fail. When it fails, is probably during a rain storm, when you need it to work. Crawl spaces in Illinois fill with water, if you don't have a sump pump, for some reason. 

Images that agree: (stolen from Megan's Website)

Our sump pump runs quote often, when it rains, leaving a pond which we tell the kids not to play in.

You should get a membership to The Chicago Field Museum +0

Reasons to agree: 4

1. The Chicago Field Museum has Sue, the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus skeleton currently known.
2. A visit to a museum is not as educational as reading a book, but it is educational enough. 
1. Not as educational as reading a book
1. In order for something to be very educational something has to go into depth. Reading plaques in front of stuffed animals is not very in depth. 
2. ... it is educational enough
1. At a museum you get to brows a bunch of topic. I guess the goal is that you find something that is interesting, and then you can go somewhere else and learn more later.
3. With no guided tour you can do whatever you want. You get out of it, like most life, what you put in. Perhaps instead of rushing from thing to thing, find a few things you are interested in and then really experience that thing. Perhaps bring a sketch pad and draw stuff.
4. The Chicago Field Museum is a short walk from Northerly Island, which offers parking for a dollar an hour, so parking doesn't have to cost very much, if you can walk 3/4 to a 1.5 miles.

Reasons to disagree: 4

1. The idea to have self guided tour through a museum was a bad one.
2. The experience of visiting a museum feels so separate from normal life, that it often has no affect on normal life. 
3. Museums need to make a specific call to action, with good arguments. What is the call to action? To become a biologist? To become a fossil hunter? Archaeological? Gemologist? Museums have a very broad charter but they should set very specific goals, shouldn't they? To facilitate research? Is that done better by looking at books, or visiting a museum. Often visiting a museum can become just walking around and looking at "curiosities". Which is fine enough, I guess. Does Khan Acadamy do more education than the field museum? 
4. You may end up going only to have your kids tell you they are afraid to see the "mommies" (ie mummies) and the Animals, because they remind them of death and give them nightmares.

Score:

# of reasons to agree: +4

# of reasons to disagree: -4

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: +0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to disagree: -0

Total Idea Score: +0

Don't like the score? It is easy to change the score. Just post a reason to agree or disagree with the overall idea, or any of the reasons and the score will change.

Websites that agree:

1. Laub Life: "Field Museum of Dreams"
2. http://fieldmuseum.org/

Images that agree: (stolen from Megan's Website)

Baby Phil is sort of like a dog

Reasons to agree:

1. He likes to carry things in his mouth (see images below for verification). 
2. He likes to dig in the dirt. 

Images that agree:

Ali Loves the Trampoline, James Loves His Bike, and Phil Loves Pots of Dirt.

You should get a Shed Aquarium Membership +3

Reasons to agree: +3

1. Animals are cool. The shed aquarium has lots of animals. They have dolphins, a beluga whale.
2. They let kids dress up as penguins. 
3. They have a spot with strong animals, that they let the kids play with.
4. If you want to have the Chicago Experience, the Shedd is in Chicago, and has a nice view. 

Reasons to disagree: -1

1. The Shed Aquarium is cool and stuff, but they have dolphins at the Brookfield Zoo, and they have other types of animals too, but the parking is included with the cost of the Brookfield Zoo. And the Shedd Aquarium cost about $175, while the Brookfield Zoo is $92. The Brookfield Zoo has Manta ray Bay that lets you touch animals similar to the thing at the Shedd. You have to pay to do it, but still it is less money than the Shed. 

Score:

# of reasons to agree: +4

# of reasons to disagree: -1

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: +0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to disagree: -0

Total Idea Score: +3

Webpages that agree:

1. Laub Life, Aquarium Adventure
2. http://www.sheddaquarium.org/

You should go to the Naperville Last Fling +2

Reasons to agree: +4

1. The last fling has petting zoos, pony rides, presentations. 
2. A parade (never watched).
3. Parking is good.
4. Naperville has good free public parking, which is good. 

Reasons to agree:  -2

1. The rides are overpriced. 
2. The food is unhealthy.

Score:

# of reasons to agree: +4

# of reasons to disagree: -2

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: +0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to disagree: -0

Total Idea Score: +2

Websites that agree: +3

1. Laub Life: Last Fling-Ding
2. http://www.lastfling.org/

Images that agree:

Chicago Land has lots of stuff to do, that don't cost too much.

Reasons to agree: +6

1. If you are lucky you can find parallel parking for free around Lincoln Park Zoo.
2. Parking is $1.00 an hour, if you can find any, near Northerly Island. I drove there with 2 bikes in  my car, and my 7 year old son, and we rode to Millennium Park and back. 
3. Kids ride the Metra free on the weekends. 
4. The Water Tower Place Mall does parking validation. 
5. It costs $7 per adult to ride to Chicago Union Station (week-end passes, kids ride free). From there you can walk to a number of places:
1. Millennium Park. 
1. In the summer, kids can play in the fountain. Bring towels, and a change of clothes. It is sort of white trash, but they can change in the bathrooms. 
2. Each time you go down the kids will probably want to look at the bean, and get their photo taken.
3. I should probably walk the whole park once. Their are some statues on the south end I have never seen. 
2. Winter
1. Kris Kringle Market Chicago 
3. We walked, with 3 kids, and 2 strollers, all the way to the Hancock Building. It was a pretty long walk. When we got back to Navy Pear we took a water taxi bat to Union Station, to save our legs, and to make a train.
6. Apparently a portion of the Field Museum is free. Parking is not free, and I don't think a train will get you there. If you walk from Union Station, head straight for the lake, as some of the neighborhood between the two can be a little dicey. I guess you could ride a buss, but figuring out a train schedule is pushing it for me, as I don't make it into the city very often. Adding a bus schedule might be a little much. Also I don't like cabs, but you can figure your own life out, OK?

Reasons to disagree: -5

1. Sales tax is high in Chicago.
2. It costs $20 at a minimum to park in Chicago. 
3. It cost $7 for a weekend pass. So if you want to go in as a couple it costs $14 just to get there. 
4. The Stained Glass Museum, Navy Pier is boring. Who cares?
5. The Frank Gehry-designed Jay Pritzker Pavilion may be "the most sophisticated outdoor concert venue of its kind in the United States" but it is more likely the best example of overly ornate-as-a-substitution-for-sophisticated" outdoor museum in the USA. It is not worth going to, just to look at, unless their is a concert. 
6. Navy Peer is kind of stupid... They have a Ferris-Wheel, but so does the state fair... sure it gives you a great view, but so does walking along the beach. Then there is not much else to see. OK. OK. I've never actually paid to ride the Ferris-Wheel. I hear it is sort of cool. In fact, I wouldn't mind going on it... But I imagine if your drove a long way to See Chicago, and all you did was go to Navy Peer, which I imagine some people do... then you would probably be disappointing .. I only critisize it because I am amazed at how many millions of people visit it each year... I don't hat crowds as much as my wife, and so I wouldn't mind going back.

Score:

# of reasons to agree: +6

# of reasons to disagree: --6

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: +7/2 = 3.5

# of reasons to agree with reasons to disagree: -0

Total Idea Score: +4.5

Webpages that agree:

1. http://www.groupon.com/local/chicago/things-to-do
2. http://www.wolfstad.com/2006/01/top-10-budget-things-to-do-in-chicago/
3. http://thelocaltourist.com/cities/chicago/cheap-things-do-chicago
4. http://gochicago.about.com/od/attractionsandlandmarks/tp/free_chicago.htm

Images that agree:

My son at Millennium Park on our Chicago Bike Ride

You don't have to pay anything to look at this brachiosaurus outside the Chicago Field Museum.

Chicago has better museums, cultural exhibits, and attractions than Denver

Reasons to agree: +8

1. The Illinois Train Museum in Union IL is a good place to take your kids. Denver doesn't have anything like that+3
2. The Chicago Art Institute is a better Art Museum than the Denver Art Museum. +3
3. The Chicago Shed Aquarium is better than any sort of ocean life exhibit in the Denver area.+3
4. The Chicago Field Museum is better than the Denver Field Museum. +0
5. Chicago has a good Science and Industry museum. Denver doesn't have anything like this. They have a natural science museum that compares to Chicago's Field Museum. 
6. Chicago has a pretty cool planetarium. Denver doesn't have anything like that. 
7. Chicago has way more square footage of museums than Denver. Depth and variety are good ways of measuring museums qualities. This is much easier to achieve with more square footage. 
8. Chicago has a rich history with jazz music, with places that you can still go to. Denver doesn't have anything like that. 
9. More important history and important things happened in Chicago than Denver. Its history is not as rich as Europe, or other places over seas, but it has a pretty good history.

Reasons to agree: +2

1. Denver has better Dinosaur exhibits than Chicago, even though Chicago has Sue (the most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton) and other Dinosaurs. Much of Chicago's rocks from ancient times was scrapped away in the Ice Ages. 
2. Chicago got red of their Elephants at their museum. If you really care about elephants, I guess the Denver zoo is better than the Brookfield and Lincoln zoos. 

Websites that agree:

1. Laub Life: Field Museum of Dreams

Score:

# of reasons to agree: +4

# of reasons to disagree: -

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: +(+4+3+3)/2 =  +5

# of reasons to agree with reasons to disagree: -0

Total Idea Score: +9

Don't like the score? It is easy to change the score. Just post a reason to agree or disagree with the overall idea, or any of the reasons and the score will change.

Background Context and Assumptions

The quality of Museums is an important way comparing cities.

Reasons to agree: +7

1. Going to museums is a good ways of learning stuff, and traveling the world without jet lag. 
2. The quality of museums are a way of measuring the education, sophistication, and commitment to the arts. 
3. The people that work at, cultivate, maintain, and visit the museums make each community better educated, and better integrated with the wold's communities. 

Chicagoland has cool sculputres

Images that agree:

1. 
• Ali @ the Mortin Arboratum, Aug 11, 2012
2. 
• James @ the Mortin Arboratum, Aug 11, 2012
3. 
• James and Ali at the Brookfield Zoo. The lion is fighting a snake. Locate at: N 41° 50.100 W 087° 50.075

There is a price to strength, but a greater price to weakness, because weakness tempts aggression

Supporting Evidence

Logical Arguments:

1. Strength deters aggression: Strong entities, be it individuals, organizations, or nations, often deter potential aggressors by showcasing their capacity to retaliate or protect themselves. On a global scale, this is evident in the concept of deterrence theory in international relations.

2. Weakness invites exploitation: Entities perceived as weak can become targets for more aggressive entities that seek to exploit their vulnerabilities. This can manifest in various ways, from cyberattacks on vulnerable systems to geopolitical moves against weaker states.

Supporting Evidence (Data, Studies):

1. Studies in geopolitics and international relations support the idea that strong nations tend to face fewer overt threats than weaker ones. For instance, research by Jervis (1978) on the "Deterrence Theory of War" underlines this.

Supporting Books:

1. "The Logic of Violence in International Relations" by Robert Jervis

Supporting Videos:

1. A range of YouTube videos and lectures on geopolitics and international relations theory, such as those available from the channel 'Caspiancey.'

Supporting Organizations and their Websites:

1. Council on Foreign Relations
2. International Studies Association

Supporting Podcasts:

1. "The World Next Week" by CFR

Unbiased Experts:

1. Scholars in the field of international relations, such as John Mearsheimer and Robert Jervis

Opposing Evidence

Logical Arguments:

1. Strength can provoke escalation: Displaying overt strength can sometimes provoke a response from potential aggressors, leading to an escalation of conflict.

2. Diplomacy over force: Advocates for diplomacy and negotiation argue that it's more effective to resolve conflicts and deter aggression.

Supporting Evidence (Data, Studies):

1. Research has shown that diplomatic measures can successfully resolve conflicts and deter aggression. One example is a study by Fortna (2003) titled "Scraps of Paper? Agreements and the Durability of Peace."

Supporting Books:

1. "Diplomacy" by Henry Kissinger

Supporting Videos:

1. Numerous TED talks and other online videos advocate for diplomacy and soft power, like Joseph Nye's lectures on Soft Power.

Supporting Organizations and their Websites:

1. The Diplomatic Courier
2. American Diplomacy

Supporting Podcasts:

1. "Global Dispatches – World News That Matters" by Mark Leon Goldberg

Unbiased Experts:

1. Experts who advocate for diplomacy and soft power, such as Joseph Nye.

Further Exploration:

For a more comprehensive pro/con analysis and collective intelligence, visit Group Intel and Idea Stock Exchange.