Common Goal

by Cole Pontefract, posted in Fundraising, Soccer

For those of you who follow soccer or the premier league, you would know being a manchester united fan is not easy right now. From losing to teams with not as much class to losing some of our best players consequential to bad ownership.

Through all of the bad that is going on with the club, there are many positive and bright things coming for the club in the near future. From the staff itself to some of the players. Time will only tell what happens to the club on the sports side but when it comes to the players, it is amazing. One of the best examples is by Juan Mata, the 31-year-old from Spain has started a fund-raiser called common goal.

It’s for soccer players to donate 1% of their salary a week. Where if you sign up, you donate 1% of your salary to charities. Now when you think about how much soccer players earn, it is mind-blowing.

Some making up too $500,000 pounds a week. (Nearly 850,000 Canadian dollars a week!) Some big-name players like Serge Gnabry, Mats Hummels, Peter Schmeichel Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool manager)  and Juan Mata himself all doing this. Most of them making at least $200,000 pounds a week each.

The other real positive thing about this is that Mata is very humble about this and not doing this to look cool or sound like a good person. No one told him to do this, and no one made this idea for him. Things like this are very positive for a team like manchester united where the owners could almost look up at Mata and the little things like this. 

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UEFA Champions League

by Cole Pontefract, posted in Soccer

Personally, soccer is the greatest sport on the planet. It’s also currently the most played sport in the world with over 300 million people playing it for a team. And many many more are also playing for fun. Think about this, the record for the most watched super bowl is 144.4 million people watching. That’s a lot. Now, we have the world cup final. Over 3.5 billion people were either watching listening or playing. (Russia 2018 world cup final France vs Croatia)

But the world cup happens every 4 years and that is countries. There is another competition that is called the Champions League. 32 of the best teams across Europe compete in one tournament. This year though, it was something else. Records were set here and there.

One of those records were set by a team named ‘AJAX’ from the Netherlands. No one thought they would have got to the Champions League semi-final but they did! They beat a team where one of the other team’s players was worth of all of AJAX’s team including the bench. The record that AJAX set was the first time ever a team has made it to the semi-finals after making it through 3 qualifying rounds. (Qualifying rounds are for teams outside of England, France, Germany and Spain)

The other really important record set this year is related to resilience. This year, there have been 7 comebacks. In Champions League you play two games and you play one home and away. It’s pretty complicated but to explain it easily, if you get more goals you go through and if it’s a tie then the team with more away goals goes through. (Away goals are goals you scored when you play away from home in the other game)

I think that this year’s Champions League can teach us all about resilience and how to believe. Believe you can do the impossible or believe in yourself and the people around you.

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Global Warming

by Cole Pontefract, posted in Planets

Don’t you love Earth? So green, blue water everywhere, billions and billions of planets when you look up at night, fresh air, trees and garbage everywhere. Garbage everywhere? Was that a typo? Unfortunately not. Over the years, more and more new stuff has came out from companies and sometimes those new inventions or that new product could turn humans a little lazy. Look at Google Home or Amazon Echo. You can literally ask it to do anything and it basically will. “Hey Google, turn my lights off!” Yes, you can do that. Unfortunately, google home can’t throw out that granola bar wrapper that you just ate. So what do humans do? Litter. That’s right, we damage our own planet.

In the 1980s, people were saying, “I bet by 2020, we will have flying cars.” Well, guess what, we almost do have flying cars. But do you know what else we are almost at? The point of no return to save our planet from Global Warming. We are 180 months away from no return to save the planet. That’s right. When have you ever had to think about your future in that way? And by that way, I mean humans possibly facing extinction.

Did you know that with the Notre Dame burning down, the 1 billion dollars donated to it could have been used to clear all the garbage from the ocean! Read that line over again. We are 180 months away from the point of no return and we just donated to something that we could actually not be finished. Now don’t get me wrong, Notre Dame is a huge part of France and Paris and even the world, but that money could have been used to so much better stuff.

Stores in Victoria BC have begun thinking about the future of the planet and how to reduce waste and started something called ‘B.Y.O.B’ (Bring your own bag) After this rule was put into action, stores that had plastic bags were not allowed to buy anymore and started charging 15 cents for a plastic bag. After stores ran out of plastic bags, they started charging 15 cents for recyclable bags. You can also choose to not have a bag and not pay. Now, this is a huge step but also a really small one. If we want to save our planet, we need to do the little things like this.

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Snow Day!!!

by Cole Pontefract, posted in Snow

Over the past few days in Victoria British Columbia, we have been getting so much snow and today, this is our second snow day in a row. This snow has also been our second worst snow-storm in Victoria. For the past few days, my family and I have been staying warm and doing fun stuff in the snow. I hung out with a friend yesterday and it was really fun. We went to the mall first, then went back to his place where we had a massive snowball fight.

I think it’s also safe to say that my family and I were not prepared because when it was morning and I found out there was no school, the snow gear was a little struggle and the uncomfortable clothes soon turned into cold uncomfortable clothes.

On Thursday, we also have a long weekend and if tomorrow is not a snow day that means we will have 1 full day of school this week.

What a week.

 

Technology

by Cole Pontefract, posted in Tech

Technology, one of the most popular things now days and will keep on growing in the future. Technology is getting so big now, Apple have planned to release a car called ‘Titan’ in 2020. That’s right, a technology company that makes phones, ipads, computers and more have decided to release a car in 2020.

Technology is so good, we now have a self driving car. There are many versions of the self driving car but one of the most popular is the brand Tesla. Now you may be thinking this is awesome and don’t get me wrong, I can’t wait to see what comes in the future! But now think of this, say the speed limit is 30, I know my parents will drive 40 some times. (In Kilometers) But let’s say my parents are on the highway, the speed limit is 110 and everyone is going 120-130. This now means the car will go to the planned speed limit. This also means a lot less car crashes.

But there are many other down sides of technology and the tech that will be coming soon. I imagine, peoples life will depend on their phone or computer or ipad, people will no longer need babysitters, there will be robots for that.  And get this, by 2030, there will be over 80 million jobs gone because of automatic jobs. This is a scary reality.

Some other freaky inventions coming soon that are really cool at the same time are robots being able to read minds, robots everywhere, mars and the moon being explored by robots and many many other things too. Now, I’m not saying this is a bad thing, I’m saying we have to be careful with what we are doing tech related.

Some side effects of having robots doing everything for us would be us humans getting a lot more lazy, selfish, and more needy.

Now remember I’m not saying this is bad and I’m actually quite excited for the future, we just need to be carefull.

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50/50

by Cole Pontefract, posted in For Sale, Fundraising

As you might know, I am going to Gothia, Sweden, for a soccer tournament this summer July 2019. You also might know that I need to raise a lot of money. A LOT for a 13-year-old! So lately, as it has been a bit stress full with trying to come up with ways of earning money, I thought of a 50/50.

In case you don’t know what a 50/50 draw is, people, enter with money, and then I draw a ticket and go to my spreadsheet and see who the winner is. Say I raised $100, the winner would get $50, and I would get $50.

If you win, I can send you 50% of the money on it! A little like ‘Go Fund Me’ just different. I have a PayPal account and if you would like to enter, please click on this link here

If you want to learn more about PayPal, click the link here! 

I would appreciate you maybe just checking it out. Also, the draw date will be on February 1st. The minimum requirement to enter is $10.

I will also be posting the winner on a blog post and then sending them the money. If you want to email me any questions my email is pontefractcole@gmail.com

Thank You:)

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Bad Habits

by Cole Pontefract, posted in Blog Post, Goal

Bad habits are something that is pretty hard to stop depending what it is. It is getting rid of a bad routine. Bad habits could include such as not making your bed in the morning or going on your phone before bed. The list is huge and is pretty easy once you put your mind to it. I have a list of bad habits that I hope to get rid of before 2019 ends!

Some are,

  • Not making my bed before school
  • Not turning my lights off before school
  • Not putting my dishes in the dishwasher when I’m done with my food
  • Not going on tech then doing my homework, doing my homework first then go on tech
  • Getting up in the morning on my own (my mom generally has to wake me up because I’m really slow at getting moving especially in mornings
  • Rather then spend money right away, save it
  • Read a lot more than I currently am

Now I’m sure we can all think of some bad habits that we can break. Sometimes, you don’t even think about it. Sometimes the bad habit will be used so much in your daily routine, it will be hard to make the switch. But, if I can do it, so can you!

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Maui 2018-2019

by Cole Pontefract, posted in Blog Post, Family Vacation, USA

During Christmas break, my family and I went to a beautiful place called ‘Maui.’ From the sunsets to the beaches, it seemed as if we had just arrived in heaven. My family and I left on December 14, and got back on December 27. I can say this right now, it felt like 3 days.

It all started out with us landing in Maui at around 11PM Maui time. It was so beautiful and as soon as I walked in, I could smell the fresh smell of Maui air. One of the only places where I have been to where the air has a distinct smell.

By the time we were finally at our hotel, it was around 1AM Maui time. By the way, Maui is two hours behind Victoria time so it felt like 3AM. I can’t stress it enough, but the trip went by SO fast!

It feels like we had more shaved ices than hours spent there. A shaved ice is the first photo but also known as a snow kone. Shaved ice is what is sounds like. Shaved ice with flavouring of your choice. My personal favourites are bubble gum, cotton candy and mango.

Our favourite beach was called DT Fleming. “The best beach in 2006” The waves were so nice they would form right on you and it was pretty shallow. The waves would break and then there would be whitecaps everywhere. By far the best beach I have ever been too and so far in my life, the best beach I have ever been too.

Even though this was our third time visiting Maui, I want too go again. That’s how beautiful it is. That’s how stunning it is. That’s how majestic it is.

I love Maui!

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2018 going into 2019

by Cole Pontefract, posted in Blog Post, Christmas

Although 2018 was a good year, it was also pretty rough for me and other people. I had an emergency appendix, my dad had an emergency gallbladder, my mom got her inguinal hernia removed, my older sister Claire, kept fainting for no reason and my younger sister Cate, well it seemed as if everything was going right for her.

There were many things that went well though in 2018 such as being chosen to go to Sweden for a soccer tournament and many other things.  Some related to school and soccer but another soccer example would be winning a bring it indoors tournament which was also very fun scoring five goals in four games.

Now I am thankful for all the good things that have happened to me this year but if I could go back, I would definitely not have a repeat of this year but at the same time, I would love to have a repeat of this year. So in 2019, I would love to have a better year health-wise, and the same amount of energetic and fun things. Such as going to Australia, Maui, Toronto and many other places.

We also got to enjoy England’s good journey to the semi-final in the World Cup. Not only were things good for me, but an example would also be my younger sister, Cate, getting the main part in her opera and nailing it! So as 2018 ends, all I want for 2019 is a happy, healthy and energetic year. So for now, BYE 2018! AND HELLO 2019!

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Fortnite Battle Royale

by Cole Pontefract, posted in Games

Fortnite Battle Royale, probably the biggest hit at the moment. A game for all ages designed by Epic Games. The question is, what makes this game so popular compared to other games? I don’t know about other households, but mine is not quite the one where they enjoy guns or gun games. And I can say, that Fortnite is a gun game and my parents are A-Ok with that! Now that really proves a point about the game.

It starts out with you in the pregame lobby with 100 other people. You then automatically board the “Battle Bus” when all 100 people have loaded into the game. You then choose where you want to land. There are many places on the map ranging from the city “Tilted Towers” to little factories like “Flush Factory” and many other places. Since Fortnite Release, they have made over one billion dollars! Which is also quite outstanding since it is a FREE game!

There are two modes in Fortnite. There is Save the World which released on July 25, 2017 and there Fortnite Battle Royale which released on September 26, 2017. Like I said earlier, it is a battle royale gun game and there are different modes that you can play. There are the classic modes like Solo (by yourself) Duos (with a friend) and Squads (with 3 other friends) There are also LTM modes (Limited Time Modes) A few would be for example, 50v50 which is just what it sounds like, Solid Gold which is where it only drops gold weapons (Legendary Weapons) and many other LTM’s.

The thing that makes this battle royale game from the rest is the fact you can build and break the environment around you. And it is not a first person shooter game but a third person shooter game. It is also not realistic but quite cartoon like.

Once you get in the game and found some loot, a “storm” will form and you do not want to be in that storm or else you will lose health. The other thing that makes people love the game is the amount of effort Epic Games puts into Fortnite with map changes occurring almost every hour. There are also seasons in Fortnite and you can buy the “Battle Pass” if you desire. There are also many live events that occured in the game as well.

As soon as there are no people left besides you and or your friends, you get what is called a “Victory Royale” but unfortunately wins from LTM’s do not count. There are also 80 Million people playing fortnite as of August 2018.

In the end, Fortnite Battle Royale is a great game and I personally think everyone should at least try it.

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