lines in the sand

When a Motorcycle Helmet Can Get You Arrested

Without a helmet you go free when you've stolen a moped in London.

HT - Coyote

Diversion

No matter what the test, if INTP can be a  result, that's what I come up.  At least I'm consistent.

You Are An INTP

The Thinker You are analytical and logical - and on a quest to learn everything you can. Smart and complex, you always love a new intellectual challenge. Your biggest pet peeve is people who slow you down with trivial chit chat. A quiet maverick, you tend to ignore rules and authority whenever you feel like it. You would make an excellent mathematician, programmer, or professor.

What's Your Personality Type?

HT - Oceanguy

Make the Winner Win

 

Coyote is right: penalty kicks are a stupid way to break ties in soccer.

There is a fairly simple way to avoid them in the first place, though, already used in some sports like racing.  Don't base the length of competition on arbitrary divisions like innings or sets, or worst of all, time.

In racing, whether at Daytona or Churchill Downs, the winner is the first one to cross the finish line.  Why not set a number of points as the finish line, maybe 5 for soccer, 40 for football, 100 for basketball, whatever, and the first side to get there wins.  There could be no ties, not even the photo finishes racing must sometimes live with.

Not only would there be no ties, but sporting bodies could quit looking for  ways to hamstring defenses with rules to make a game more exciting (i.e. produce more scoring.)  You couldn't win just by stopping your opponent - you would have to score.

The only drawback would be for the broadcasters who would find it more difficult to allocate time for games.  But even now, they deal with overtimes, extra innings, and usually have backup games to switch to when one finishes early.

I'd like to see games played until they are over, even if that means the final score is made by the only remaining eligible player not too exhausted to get off the bench.

Gotta have this

Gotta have this, especially seeing the price reduction and reading the reviews.  Alas, I may have to settle for the IWC product, shown as the the third choice.

HT John Weidner

When fines are really tolls

Radley Balko got a ticket in the mail for speeding.  Speeding tickets are to discourage drivers from driving too fast.  Like spankings, they should be issued as soon after the infraction as possible to be effective, effectiveness measured in accidents prevented.  On the other hand, if revenues are the measure, then this is a great system since, as in Radley's case, by the time the citation arrives it's likely a driver has no idea how fast he was going and can't refute the charge.  The jurisdiction (and the equipment provider, which gets a cut) have no real incentive to administer justice, only to be sure a toll is collected.  Indeed, they really have no incentive to discourage speeding at all, as that would depress revenues.

How about a market approach?

Hire a traffic control firm to manage a segment of roadway.  The contractor would determine the management strategy, provide signals, cameras, signs and personnel who the jurisdiction would deputize to direct traffic and cite offenders.  Pay a management fee and include an incentive clause that would provide a bonus and/or penalty based on the ratio of accidents to traffic count. 

Admitedly a bit half-baked, but maybe some readers can build on it.

What's the Opposite of Jumping the Shark

If jumping the shark is that point at which a thing begins its slide from a peak in public consciousness, what word indicates the moment it started its rise in actual popularity?  And is that where soccer is?

About two weeks ago, the wife and I stopped at a favorite Central Florida pub for an early dinner, only to find there was nowhere to park.  They had World Cup games on every screen.

The following Monday, my morning coffee group's discussion ground (sorry) to a halt when one guy said, "Wait a minute!  Do you realize we have spent the last ten minutes talking about soccer instead of golf?"

Then yesterday, the Fourth of July, American Independence Day, we drove through a ...er... low income neghborhood and saw a bunch of kids running up and down their front yard kicking a ball - a basketball - while the netless hoop by the street looked on.