Thursday, May 31, 2012

Liga lu' Lică, etapa a 32-a, delegările lu' nea Marean

Sâmbătă, 2 iunie, ora 11.00
Progresul Drăgăneşti - Astra III Ploieşti
Bogdan Zahiu - Bogdan Banu, Mihai Vizitiu - Ion Andreoiu
Sâmbătă, 2 iunie, ora 18.00
Carpaţi Sinaia - Petrolistul Boldeşti
Mihai Amorăriţei - Roxana Bănăseanu, Cristian Lefter - Decu Crângaşu
AFC Brebu - Unirea Câmpina
Radu Danielenco - Emil Bozieru (foto), Ionuţ Gheorghe - Vasile Radu
CS Vispeşti Blejoi - Petrolul II Ploieşti
Mihai Safta - Alexandru Mihăilă, Andreea Popa - Constantin Ciocoiu
Duminică, 3 iunie, ora 11.00
Avântul Măneciu - Caraimanul Buşteni
Florin Ionescu - Ionuţ Florescu, Petre Pavel - Mihai Ionescu
CS Păuleşti - Dero Ploieşti
Alin Gheorghe - Vasile Burlacu, Marian Ciubuc - Marian Deaconu
Tinereţea Izvoarele - Unirea Urlaţi
Marcel Marin - Sorin Nistor, Doru Petre - Tudor Negoiţă
CSM Câmpina - CS Ceptura
Andrei Moroiţă - Alexandru Chivu, Alexandru Ilie - Mihai Ion

S-a întâmplat astăzi...

1941, Bucureşti: România – Germania 1-4, amical, marcator - Niculescu, arbitri - Bizic (Slovacia) - Mielu Petrescu, Emil Kroner (România)
1957, Moscova: URSS – România 1-1, amical, marcator - Ene, arbitri - Sten Ahlner - John Erik Andersson, Bengt Lundell (Suedia)
1966, Ludwigshafen: RFG – România 1-0, amical, arbitru - Franz Mayer (Austria)
1975, Bucureşti: România – Scoţia 1-1, preliminarii CE, marcator - D. Georgescu, arbitri - Erugrul Dilek - Cumhur Demir, K. Ozar (Turcia)
1979, Berlin: RDG – România 1-0, amical, arbitru - Karoly Palotay (Ungaria)
1980, Bucureşti: Poli Timişoara – Steaua 2-1, finala Cupa României, marcatori - Vişan, Păltinişan – Stoica; arbitri - Nicolae Rainea - Otto Anderco, Vasile Tătar
1983, Sarajevo: Iugoslavia – România 1-0, amical, arbitru - Siegfried Kirschen (RDG)
1988, Amsterdam: Olanda – România 2-0, amical, arbitru - Jan Damgaard (Danemarca)
1994: România - Slovenia, 0-0, amical, arbitri - Piotr Werner (Polonia) - Ilie Coţ, Valeriu Argăseală - George Ionescu (România)
1996: Iugoslavia - Malta, preliminarii CE tineret, arbitri - Adrian Stoica (foto) - Tudor Constantinescu, Radu Petre (România)
1996, Bucureşti: România – Moldova 3-1, amical, marcatori - D. Petrescu, Gh. Popescu (2), arbitri - Vasili Melniciuk - Anatoli Olinik, Mihail Ovtciar (Ucraina)
2004, Oberhausen, Germania: Belarus - Serbia 1-2, CE tineret, arbitri - Alexandru Tudor - Marcel Savaniu (România), Victoriano Carrasco (Spania) – Markus Schmidt (Germania), observatori – Kenneth Ridden (Anglia), Heinz Fahnler (Austria)

Tartu (Estonia) – “Tamme Stadion”

“Tamme Stadion”
Este stadionul din localitatea estoniană Tartu. Aici au loc partidele echipei FC Tammeka Tartu. Arena are o capacitate de 1.600 locuri și astăzi va găzdui partida amicală dintre Estonia și Finlanda.
Tartu
Este un oraș din sudul Estoniei, aici aflându-se cea mai mare universitate din această țară. Are o populație de peste 101.000 locuitori, fiind al doilea oraș ca mărime din Estonia. Se află la 186 km sud-est de capitala Tallinn.

Hooters Girls are not Hicks Neutral

This post is a continuation of what will eventually be a long series of discussions of innovation in the economy, with a longer-term objective of gaining some clarity on how innovation is understood, directed and regulated in the economy. This post is also part of a argument that asserts that the discipline of economics has failed to provide an account of innovation in the economy that helps to guide 21st century policy making, and more fundamentally, that economics is simply incapable of providing such an account. A big claim, sure to raise the hackles of card carry economists. So fasten your seatbelt.

A first step is to define what I mean by “innovation.” Economics in the Schumpeterian tradition defines innovation as one component of the so-called “linear model of innovation” (see Godin, here in PDF) which lays out technological change as a process of
Invention ---> Innovation ---> Diffusion
Much has been written about this model (PDF), which I will review at another time. However it has been used in the economic literature over the past half-century, Schumpeter himself defined innovation very precisely (and did not follow the so0called linear model):
. . . any “doing things differently” in the realm of economic life - all these are instances of what we shall refer to by the term Innovation. It should be noticed at once that that concept not synonymous with “invention”. . . It is entirely immaterial whether an innovation implies scientific novelty or not. Although most innovations can be traced to some conquest in realm of either theoretical or practical knowledge, there are many which cannot. Innovation is possible without anything we should identify as invention and invention does not necessarily induce innovation, but produces of itself no economically relevant effect at all. . .
In a nutshell:
We will now define innovation more rigorously by means of the production function previously introduced. This function describes the way in which quantity of product [outputs] varies if quantities of factors [inputs] vary. If, instead of quantities of factors, we vary the form of the function, we have an innovation. ... We will simply define innovation as the setting up of a new production function. This covers the case of a new commodity, as well as those of a new form of organization. ... Innovation combines factors in a new way.
I will return to the technical aspects of the so-called “production function” (illustrated below) in a later post. For now, it is only important to understand that an innovation changes the relationship between inputs and outputs in the economy. For instance, a restaurant takes employees (labor), food, appliances (and other capital) and combines them to make meals. A change in the relationship between the various inputs and meals served would be an innovation, which would be measured by a change in the rate of productivity.
What Schumpeter called “innovation” seems to have been characterized as “technology” by many economists in the years since. For instance, Daron Acemoglu in his widely read textbook on economic growth explains:
Economists normally use the shorthand expression “technology” to capture factors other than physical and human capital that affect economic growth and performance. It is therefore important to remember that variations in technology across countries include not only differences in production techniques and in the quality of machines used in production but also disparities in productive efficiency.
Which of course brings us to Hooters girls, the hot young women in skimpy clothes who serve chicken wings and other delicacies at the US restaurant chain called Hooters. The company explains its innovative approach to the restaurant business as follows:
The first Hooters opened October 4, 1983, in Clearwater, Florida. During its history, the Hooters concept has undergone very little change. The current logo, uniform, menu and ambiance are all very similar to what existed in the original store. This lack of change is understandable given the tremendous success the Hooters concept has enjoyed. Hooters has continued to rank high amongst the industry's growth leaders. Hooters has proven successful in small-town America, major metropolitan areas and internationally. . .

The element of female sex appeal is prevalent in the restaurants, and the company believes the Hooters Girl is as socially acceptable as a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader, Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, or a Radio City Rockette. The Hooters system employs over 25,000 people - over 17,000 of which are Hooters Girls. The "nearly world famous" Hooters Girls are the cornerstone of the Hooters concept, and as part of their job, these all-American cheerleaders make promotional and charitable appearances in their respective communities. Hooters hires women who best fit the image of a Hooters Girl to work in this capacity. The chain hires both males and females to work in management and host, staff, service bar, and kitchen positions. The Hooters Girl uniform consists of orange shorts and a white tank top. Pantyhose and bras are required.
The company explains its name and innovative approach:
The chain acknowledges that many consider "Hooters" a slang term for a portion of the female anatomy. Hooters does have an owl inside its logo and uses an owl theme sufficiently to allow debate to occur over the meaning's intent. The chain enjoys and benefits from this debate. In the end, we hope Hooters means a great place to eat. . .

Sex appeal is legal and it sells. Newspapers, magazines, daytime talk shows, and local television affiliates consistently emphasize a variety of sexual topics to boost sales. Hooters marketing, emphasizing the Hooters Girl and her sex appeal, along with its commitment to quality operations continues to build and contributes to the chain's success. Hooters' business motto sums it up, "You can sell the sizzle, but you have to deliver the steak.”
So what Hooters has done, in Schumpeterian innovation terms, is to combine input factors in a new way. In this case the company has carefully selected its labor in a precise manner intended to increase the demand for its product. Presumably, the underlying assumption is that a different labor pool would result in a lower demand. So while all of the other inputs (food, appliances, etc.) could have remained the same as any other restaurant chain, the Hooters innovation led to a restaurant chain that (they claim) “has continued to rank high amongst the industry's growth leaders.”

The discipline of economics does have a terminology for the type of innovation represented by the Hooters girl – “technical change that is Hicks biased.” What "Hicks biased" technical change means is that unlike – say -- a new chicken wing fryer that can produce more wings per employee, but otherwise leaves labor and capital unchanged, some changes in the input-output relationship that result from "technology" are not independent of labor or capital (an example of the latter would be the substitution of low-sulfur Wyoming coal for West Virginia coal to reduce air pollution, but I digress).

It is of course hard to think of the Hooters girls as any sort of "biased technical change to the production function," and the tortured language begins to shed some light on the limits of economics in the context of Schumpeterian innovation.

Economics does well in providing a framework for understanding the effects on productivity of innovations that result from new chick-wing fryers, but runs into troubles in providing a framework for understanding Hooters girls as innovations. This I think, helps to explain why economics has focused on “technology” rather than “innovation” (in the original Schumpeterian sense). Make no mistake, economics is critically important, but to understand innovation -- how it happens, and crucially, how it is directed and regulated -- requires more than what economics can offer.

Vineri, 1 iunie, partide internaționale oficiale

Preliminariile Campionatului European Tineret
Ora 18.00, Jablonec nad Nisou: Cehia – Muntenegru
Vladimir Kazmenko - Oleg Tselovalnikov, Vitali Drozdov - Vitali Meshkov (Rusia)
Szekesfehervar: Ungaria – Turcia
Vlado Gladjovic - Vladimir Jovanovic, Milan Minic - Miodrag Gogic (Serbia)
Ora 19.00, Drammen: Norvegia – Azerbaidjan
Dimitar Meckarovski (foto) - Dusko Miloseski, Igor Sirilov - Goran Spirkoski (Macedonia)
Ora 19.30, Luxembourg: Luxemburg – Olanda
Vladimir Vnuk - Erik Weiss, Miroslav Benko - Jan Valasek (Slovacia)
Ora 20.00, Lendava: Slovenia – Malta
Nikolai Iodanov - Ventsislav Gavrilov, Veselin Dobrianov - Nikola Popov (Bulgaria)
Tiraspol: Moldova – Polonia
Sandor Szabo - Istvan Albert, Vencel Toth - Adam Farkas (Ungaria)
Ora 20.30, Michalovce: Slovacia – România
Antti Munukka - Jan Peter Aravirta, Jukka Honkanen - Dennis Antamo (Finlanda)
Ora 21.00, Sarajevo: Bosnia – Belarus
Ken Henry Johnsen - Sven Erik Midthjell, Jan Erik Engan - Anders Johansen (Norvegia)
Toshavn: Feroe – Macedonia
Nerijus Dunaskas - Arturas Pipiras, Dovidas Suziedelis - Jurij Paskovskij (Lituania)
Ora 21.30, Serravalle: San Marino – Grecia
Aleksander Gauzer (Kazahstan)
Ora 23.00, Barcelos: Portugalia – Rusia
Paolo Silvio Mazzoleni (Italia)

10,000 view Contest Preview Part 3

When we reach 10,000 views there will be excitement all around. We are combining with Bring Back UD in what will be a 3 part giveaway. There will be 3 great prizes. This is what we call the first place prize. This card has a BV of $60 and is numbered 7/15. Each part and prize from the contests will all have a small task for each one other than the usual enter daily.


And you never know if we might just have bonus contests in the meantime!


REMEMBER THIS IS JUST A PREVIEW. THE ACTUAL CONTEST WON'T HAPPEN UNTIL 10,000 VIEWS.

Brigadă prahoveană în Liga I feminin

Duminică, 3 iunie, ora 11.00
Brazi: CS Brazi - FCM Tg. Mureş
Mihai Amorăriţei (foto) - Roxana Bănăseanu (Câmpina), Robert Nuţu (Ploieşti)

Joi, 31 mai, partide internaţionale oficiale, rezultate

Preliminariile Campionatului European Tineret
Tallinn: Estonia – Spania 0-1
Loveci: Bulgaria – Scoţia 2-2
Kiev: Ucraina – Suedia 6-0
Preliminariile Campionatului European Juniori sub 19 ani
Faro-Loule (Portugalia): Ucraina – Portugalia 0-3
Ferreira (Portugalia): Israel – Irlanda 1-1
Preliminariile Campionatului European Feminin
Bielefeld: Germania – România 5-0

Mix

LC 2x20kg: 5
LC 2x24kg: 5
LC 2x28kg: 7x 5reps
Oa swing 28kg: 2x 10/10reps

Biceps curl (two hands+towel+28kg): 4x 7reps

Farm walk to and from training area, not far, but lots of stairs: 2x28kg

Stretching

Went down to the park with two 28s after joint mobility and warm-up with bells at home. Good with some fresh air. Maybe running tomorrow, I think next iron session will be traditional gym at Sunday. Kippis!

The Taxation Distraction

Martin Wolf, the consistently excellent FT economic columnist, has an excellent blog post up which explains why a focus on taxation as a focus of economic policy debates is misguided.  he writes:
The focus of US economic policy discussion at present is almost entirely on fiscal deficits and the level of taxes. My view is that these are second or even third order issues. What matters far more is the capacity of the economy to offer satisfactory lives for the citizenry. This depends on far more fundamental forces than deficits and taxes, such as innovation, jobs and incomes. Evidently, I am arguing that taxes and deficits do not determine these outcomes. I am suggesting this because they do not.

So I want to address two widely held, but mistaken, views. The first is that lower taxes are the principal route to better economic performance. The second is that the financial crisis is a crisis of western welfare states.
He demonstrates this argument using the figure shown at the top of this post. Wolf lays out the full argument in his blog post, which deserves a full read.

In the US the debate over the role of government takes many forms (and it seems that blog posts on any policy subject eventually arrive there no matter what the starting point or initial direction of travel). The form of the debate at present is framed in terms of a Hamiltonian vs. Jeffersonian approach to government. Snore. It is old wine in new bottle s(in this case the bottles too are old) .

From a policy perspective, the important questions are not simply on how high are taxes and how much does government spend, but how it is spent and what that spending means for growth in GDP per capita. Moving discussion from the former to the latter is, to put it mildly, a challenge.

Recommended Reading

       

Students in "Seminar Abroad 2012: London Olympics" have been assigned to read several books to give them some perspective of the magnitude of this once-in-every-four-year spectacle.  Michael Payne's "Olympic Turn Around" tells the story of the IOC's miraculous transformation from virtual insolvency in the early 1980s to the multibillion dollar marketing juggernaut that it has become.  IOC member Dick Pound gives readers an unvarnished behind-the-scenes look at some of the machinations that drive the Olympic Movement and occasionally muck it up in "Inside the Olympics."  John Davis' "The Olympic Games Effect" illustrates the power of the Olympic brand, and describes how a few companies have leveraged their sponsorship of the Olympics to catapult their corporate identity to heights not otherwise attainable through conventional marketing strategies.  Finally, "Understanding the Olympics" by John Horne and Garry Whannel is an excellent primer on the phenomenon of the Olympic Games with a chapter on the bidding process that led to London's hosting of Games of the XXX Olympiad.  Happy reading!      


Floor Pumps: What's Your Favourite?

Lezyne Bicycle Pumps
Occasionally I will hear from readers who are having trouble pumping their own tires, and inevitably the cause ends up being their bicycle pump. Sometimes it is simply a matter of the pump not accommodating their bicycle's valve system and the new cyclist not realising this. Other times, the pump's chuck (the part that fits onto the valve) is difficult to get on and off without causing damage. There are also those who lack sufficient upper body strength to operate their pump effectively. 

As someone who can pump my own tires despite poor upper body strength and poor dexterity, one thing I can say is that the pump matters a great deal. It surprises me how many cyclist initially plan to get by with just the hand-held pump they bought for their tool bag. Floor pumps are much easier to use than hand-held pumps, requiring considerably less effort to operate. 

But not all floor pumps are made equal. At home I use a Pedros Racing Service floor pump and have had no complaints about it over the years. However, this model is no longer in production and I've read mixed reviews about the current Pedro models. I have also tried enough floor pumps to know that some can be difficult and awkward to use. When readers ask for recommendations I am not sure what to suggest.

My general thoughts on what makes a good floor pump are that it ought to: 

. be sufficiently heavy so as to remain stable in use (steel barrel), 
. require a reasonable amount of force to operate, 
. have an accurate pressure gauge, 
. have a dual head to accommodate Presta and Schrader valves, 
. have a chuck that is easy for the average person to fit and remove. 

What is your favourite bicycle floor pump? Recommendations and suggestions are most welcome.

TRUE SHIT--Operation Northwoods


Operation Northwoods is another one of those things that sound like a conspiracy theory, but it is actually a conspiracy fact. In the early sixties, the government made proposals for false flag terrorism to be performed by the CIA to whip up popular support for an invasion of Cuba. This fake terrorism would be hijackings and bombings. The proposals never turned into actions because of President John F. Kennedy who was probably the only person in government at the time who wasn't completely batshit fucking crazy. Kennedy nixed the plans, and they never happened. But the fact that they were even seriously considered should give us all reason to pause and question our government.

True shit.

Panini 2012 Father’s Day Set: Elements Insert

Panini released these images for their upcoming Father's Day extravaganza. I can't wait to get my hands on some of those Father's Day packs. The jersey and autograph cards look great. And look below at the two images of the insert Elements. Wow! The link below has more of these images:

http://paniniamerica.wordpress.com/2012/05/28/panini-america-peeks-the-elements-insert-from-the-upcoming-2012-fathers-day-set/

Panini America Father's Day Elements 1

Panini America Father's Day Elements 8


If you missed our original write up on the Father's Day promo presented by Panini...check out our link below. As they continue to release more info on these we will continue to update.
http://sportcardcollectors.blogspot.com/2012/05/panini-presents-father.html

FAVORITE CARD THURSDAY


I had to choose this card. It's a Panini Black Friday Pro Bowl jersey Card of Drew Brees. I find this card sweet in design, piece of jersey and just looks nice. You could find these in Black Friday packs. I bought it off from eBay. Another reason to post this card if the fact the NFL brought back the Pro Bowl for next season.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS FAVORITE CARD THURSDAY..PLEASE EMAIL US AT sportcardcollectors@hotmail.com AND SEND US A PIC OF YOUR FAVORITE CARD AND WHY!!

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Liga C Prahova, Seria Ploieşti, rezultatele etapei intermediare

CIS Construct Tăriceni – NG Brătăşanca 2-6
Viitorul Crivina – Viitorul Poienarii Burchii 7-2
AS Balta Doamnei – AS Puşcaşi 3-0
Voinţa Hăbud – Viitorul Puchenii Mari 1-1
Progresul Puchenii Moşneni – San Sar Malu Roşu 2-1
Unirea Corlăteşti – Viitorul Predeşti 3-1
Speranţa Olari – CS Şirna II Brăteşti 3-0
Victoria Pisculeşti – AS Potigrafu 1-0
Arizona Zalhanaua – Spicul Poienarii Rali 1-1
Clasament
1. Victoria Pisculeşti 27 19 3 5 72-31 60
2. Viitorul Crivina 28 19 2 7 91-47 59
3. Progresul Puchenii Moşneni 28 17 4 7 68-42 55
4. Speranţa Olari 28 15 3 10 69-63 48
5. Unirea Corlăteşti 28 12 9 7 68-56 45
6. AS Potigrafu 28 14 3 11 67-61 45
7. Viitorul Poienarii Burchii 28 12 9 7 64-63 45
8. San Sar Malu Roşu 28 13 3 12 82-70 42
9. CS Şirna II Brăteşti 28 11 8 9 58-57 41
10. NG Brătăşanca 28 13 2 13 59-68 41
11. AS Balta Doamnei 28 12 4 12 59-51 40
12. CIS Construct Tăriceni 28 9 8 11 53-59 35
13. Voinţa Hăbud 28 9 7 12 41-58 34
14. Viitorul Predeşti 27 8 7 12 69-63 31
15. Viitorul Puchenii Mari 28 7 9 12 51-57 30
16. Spicul Poienarii Rali 28 7 5 16 41-68 26
17. Arizona Zalhanaua 28 5 3 20 29-67 18
18. AS Puşcaşi 28 2 5 21 30-90 11

S-a întâmplat astăzi...

1925, Sofia: Bulgaria – România 2-4, amical, marcatori - Wetzer (2), Semler (2); arbitru - Humberto Marca (Italia)
1959, Belgrad: Iugoslavia – Bulgaria 2-0, preliminarii CE, arbitru - Mihai Popa (România)
1961, Berna: Benfica – Barcelona 3-2, finala Cupa Campionilor Europeni, arbitru - Gottfried Dienst (Elveţia)
1964, Sofia: Bulgaria – România 0-1, preliminarii JO, arbitru - Andries van Leeuwen (Olanda)
1967, Nurenberg: Bayern Munchen – Glasgow Rangers 1-0, după prelungiri, finala Cupa Cupelor, arbitru - Conceto Lo Bello (Italia)
1972, Rotterdam: Ajax – Inter Milano 2-0, finala Cupa Campionilor Europeni, arbitru - Robert Helles (Franţa)
1978, Sofia: Bulgaria – România 1-1, Cupa Balcanică, marcator - Iordănescu, arbitru - Dimitrios Sarakinos (Grecia)
1998, București: Grecia – Spania 0-1, finala CE tineret, arbitri - Lubos Michel (Slovacia) - Patriţiu Abrudan (foto) (România), Robert Penney (Irlanda de Nord)
2000, Bucureşti: România – Grecia 2-1, amical, marcatori - Ciubotariu, Fl. Petre; arbitri - Marian Salomir - Valeriu Argăseală, Tudor Constantinescu (România)
2003, Bucureşti: Dinamo – FC Naţional 1-0, marcator - Tameş, finala Cupa României, arbitri - Alain Sars - Jean Paul Chaudre, Attilio Ugolini - Thierry Auriac (Franţa)
2008, Bucureşti: România – Muntenegru 4-0, amical, marcatori - Mutu, Ghionea, Dică (2); arbitru - Alexandru Tudor (România)

Leipzig (Germania) – “Red Bull Arena”

“Red Bull Arena”
Este stadionul din orașul german Leipzig, aici având loc meciurile echipei Red Bull Leipzig. Arena a fost inaugurată pe 4 august 1956, modernizată în mai multe rânduri și are o capacitate de 44.345 locuri. Arena a găzduit partide de la Cupa Mondială din 2006, iar astăzi aici are loc partida amicală Germania – Israel.
Leipzig
Este un oraș din Germania, situat în regiunea Saxonia, la 200 km sud de Berlin. Are o populație de peste 522.000 locuitori și o istorie fascinantă, a cărei amprentă se vede și astăzi pe numeroase clădiri istorice, cu o arhitectură specifică acestei zone. Printre atracțiile turistice importante ar fi de amintit numeroasele biserici, printre care St. Thomas, unde a contat Bach, foarte multe piețe, unele cu monumente impunătoare, muzee, clădiri administrative, dar și o grădină botanică, cea mai veche din întreaga Germanie.

Why did Vilma not sue the NFL?

Mike's SI piece on the Vilma lawsuit got mentioned on Slate's Hang Up and Listen podcast this week. I disagree with a couple of points that Mike makes (and that the HU&L guys largely repeat): I do not believe there is any chance the claim is frivolous, although the issue of whether the whole thing is preempted by the NLRA and the CBA is an interesting one (the answer to which I have no idea). It seems to me that while the CBA gave Goodell a great deal of investigatory and sanction power over the players, it did not give him license to defame players and that possible defamation did not become the subject of bargaining. As to forum, I wrote previously that there is a nice issue of whether Goodell is subject to personal jurisdiction in Louisiana, although the more I think about it, the more convinced I am that the case can be heard there.

But I now want to pose a different question: Why did Vilma sue only Goodell and not the NFL on a respondeat superior theory? The answer depends on two questions that I hope people can answer.

One possibility is that the NFL is a party to the CBA (Goodell is not), so suing the other contracting party makes the possible labor preemption more obvious. Is that possible?

A second possibility is that Vilma wants to be in federal court and was worried that the NFL might somehow destroy complete diversity and thus federal jurisdiction. That explanation depends on my second question: What is the precise organizational status of the National Football League? Is that an independent entity and, if so, what is its form and make-up? Or is it owned by some other entity and, if so, what is the form and make-up of that entity? While the league has its offices in New York, that only matters if it is a corporation; if it is a partnership or a limited liability company, its citizenship is based on the citizenship of all of its partners or members. And if some of those are from Florida (Vilma's home state), this case cannot be in federal court. So who, exactly, does Goodell work for and what is its nature and structure?

Update: Tom's comment gets us part way there, but only part way. A partnership's citizenship is determined by the citizenship of every partner. So we need to know about all the general and limited partner of Miami Dolphins Ltd. The general partner is "South Florida Football Associates LLC," which is headquartered in New York. Its managing member is Stephen Ross. Is Ross a Florida citizen? According to Wikipedia, he resides in New York. Of course, there also are the famous limited partners that Ross brought on, such as Gloria and Emilio Estefan, Marc Anthony, and the Williams sisters. Gloria for sure is a Florida citizen. Not sure if she and the others are partners in the partnership or members of the LLC. But either way, they make Miami Dolphins Ltd. a Florida citizen which makes the NFL a Florida citizen. So suing the NFL probably would have destroyed diversity and Vilma wanted to be in federal court. Of course, that is surprising, given the "local bias" rationales underlying diversity jurisdiction. I would have expected Vilma to want to be in state court in Louisiana.

Blog Updates

We would like to thank Cards & Case Breaks (http://cardandcasebreaks.com/) for their continuous support by posting our links every so often on their blog and Facebook page and for keeping our blog link on the front of theirs. And if you have not visited their site yet..please do! Weekly giveaways, reviews, previews, and more!

I was comparing some numbers from this blog to theirs from what they posted about a week ago. Congrats to them for some incredible strides and numbers!

Here is a breakdown of what was posted.  They hit 401 hits in a single day. We have had only 210 as our highest and its been awhile since we have touched that number. They have 48 subscribers. We have 5. They have almost 300 followers on Twitter, we have 3. That's mostly because we just got an account. They have over 150 likes on Facebook..we have been on Facebook for way over a year and only have 61.

The point of pointing out these numbers is we would like to be at some of them. Twitter doesn't matter as much since that's a rarity to be on there. We would love to have more views per day. More likes on our page. Hopefully this 10,000 view contest will help with this. We also promise we do have so great prizes coming up.

As always, thanks for the support. We appreciate our fans! And please when you can, post this link to other sport card sites you go to. Or just mention us.

10,000 views Contest Preview Part 2

When we reach 10,000 views there will be excitement all around. We are combining with Bring Back UD in what will be a 3 part giveaway. There will be 3 great prizes. This is what we call the second place prize. This card has a BV of $40. Each part and prize from the contests will all have a small task for each one other than the usual enter daily.


REMEMBER THIS IS JUST A PREVIEW. THE ACTUAL CONTEST WON'T HAPPEN UNTIL 10,000 VIEWS.

Joi, 31 mai, partide internaţionale oficiale

Preliminariile Campionatului European Tineret
Ora 19.00, Tallinn: Estonia – Spania
Dawid Piasecki - Maciej Wierzbowski, Tomasz Listkiewicz - Daniel Stefanski (Polonia)
Ora 19.30, Loveci: Bulgaria – Scoţia
Artur Soares - Rui Tavares, Antonio Godinho - Cosme Machado (Portugalia)
Ora 20.30, Kiev: Ucraina – Suedia
Kristo Tohver - Sten Klaasen, Silver Koiv - Jaan Roos (Estonia)
Preliminariile Campionatului European Juniori sub 19 ani
Ora 20.00, Faro-Loule (Portugalia): Ucraina – Portugalia
Adrien Jaccottet (foto) – Jean Yves Wicht (Elveţia), Jimmy Cremers – Alexandre Boucaut (Belgia)
Ferreira (Portugalia): Israel – Irlanda
Danilo Grujic – Dalibor Durdevic (Serbia), Venancio Tome – Nuno Miguel Serrano Almeida (Portugalia)
Preliminariile Campionatului European Feminin
Ora 19.00, Bielefeld: Germania – România
Alexandra Ihringova - Natalie Aspinall, Lisa Rashid (Anglia) - Marija Kurtes (Germania)

Călătorii. Paris. O poveste lângă o fântână din La Defense


La Defense sau Manhattanul franţuzesc este o poveste în sine... Un cartier de zgârie-nori, din mijlocul cărora Turnul Eiffel se vede undeva departe şi mic... Dar La Defense este spectaculos. Am ajuns în acest cartier al capitalei franceze într-o zi de lucru, pe la 5 fără un sfert după-amiaza... Era aproape pustiu... După ce ne-am sucit gâturile pe la toţi zgârie-norii, după o zi întreagă în care umblasem kilometri buni, ne-am aşezat la o terasă. Şi ne uitam în stânga şi în dreapta, savurând frumuseţea cartierului. Deodată, a început să se audă o muzică. Una plăcută, iar dreptunghiul de apă din faţa noastră a început să mişte, ridicându-şi semeţ şi coborându-şi cu repeziciune jeturile de apă în ritmul muzicii.
Continuarea, aici.

Câmpina găzduieşte o competiţie fotbalistică a unităţilor de învăţământ ale Ministerului de Interne

În aceste zile, la Câmpina are loc o competiţie fotbalistică rezervată echipelor unităţilor de învăţământ din cadrul Ministerului de Interne. Participă şapte echipe, repartizate în două grupe:
Academia de Poliţie "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" Bucureşti, Şcoala de Agenţi de Poliţie "Vasile Lascăr" Câmpina, Şcoala de Subofiţeri de Jandarmi Fălticeni, Şcoala de Subofiţeri de Jandarmi "Grigore Alexandru Ghica" Drăgăşani, Şcoala de Agenţi de Poliţie "Septimiu Mureşan" Cluj-Napoca, Şcoala de Subofiţeri de Grăniceri "Avram Iancu" Oradea, Şcoala de Subofiţeri de Pompieri "Pavel Zăgănescu" Boldeşti.
Astăzi, pe terenul sintetic din incinta Arenelor Fibec au avut loc semifinalele:
Academia de Poliţie - Şcoala Câmpina 2-4
Şcoala Drăgăşani - Şcoala Fălticeni 5-5, 7-5, după prelungiri
Partidele au fost arbitrate de câmpinenii Mihai Amorăriţei şi Dragoş Pantilie, iar finalele vor avea loc mâine, finala mare fiind programată la ora 11.00.

Miercuri, 30 mai, partide internaţionale oficiale, rezultate

Preliminariile Campionatului European Juniori sub 19 ani
Zagreb: Croația – Bosnia 2-0
Velika Gorica (Croația): Austria – Georgia 1-2
Praga: Olanda – Franța 0-6
Slany (Cehia): Norvegia – Cehia 1-0
Novi Sad (Serbia): Germania – Ungaria 3-0
Novi Sad (Serbia): Serbia – România 3-0
Preston (Anglia): Elveția – Anglia 0-1
Rochdale (Anglia): Muntenegru – Slovenia 0-1

WALES V BARBARIANS - WALES TEAM SELECTION

Wales will field three debutants and remain on course to award a 100th cap to veteran flanker Martyn Williams, when they face the Barbarians in the Test match, powered by Under Armour, at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday, 2 June (Kick-off 2.00pm).

Blues wing Harry Robinson and Scarlets pair, full back Liam Williams and prop Rhodri Jones, will all make their first appearance in Wales colours.

Scarlets hooker Matthew Rees will make his ninth appearance as captain in a side which also features a return to the international set-up for Ospreys backs Andrew Bishop (centre) and Dan Biggar for the first time since before the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

“The Ospreys have been in a rich vein of form and their victory over Leinster last weekend to take the RaboDirect PRO12 title was a boost for the whole of Welsh rugby,”said Wales caretaker head coach Rob Howley.

“Dan and Andrew have been playing particularly well and we are looking forward to seeing both players in a Welsh shirt again.

“We have picked a side on form, with an eye on bringing players through for the future, but very much with the intention of getting the summer campaign off to a winning start.”

Elsewhere the Ospreys also provide both locks in Ian Evans and Alun Wyn Jones and most of the back row with Ryan Jones (No 8) and Justin Tipuric packing down alongside Scarlets blindside flanker Josh Turnbull.

Saracens prop Rhys Gill joins Rees and Jones in the front row to complete the pack.

In the backs Bishop is joined in the centre by his former club-mate, Perpignan’s James Hook, while Blues scrum half Lloyd Williams teams up with Biggar and Dragons wing Aled Brew completes the line-up.

Another potential new cap could be awarded from the bench with Scarlets centre Adam Warren joining soon-to-be centurian Williams. Another Dragons wing Will Harries and Ospreys scrum half Rhys Webb provide the remaining cover for the backs.

Ospreys hooker Richard Hibbard and regional colleague Paul James provide support for the front row with Scarlets flanker Aaron Shingler completing the match-day 22.

“We have an opportunity against the Barbarians to get an important summer series off to a winning start,” added Howley.

“We have momentum from the RBS 6 Nations and the Ospreys have added to that with a great win in our domestic competition.

“We are now looking for the next step and a victory on home soil against a formidable Barbarians team before we set off for Australia.”

Ospreys prop Ryan Bevington will remain in Wales as 23rd man for the Barbarians fixture with the remaining 16 players from the 38-man training squad named due to leave for Australia tomorrow (Thursday) to begin preparations for the 1st Test in Brisbane.

The final members of Wales’ tour party, which will total 34 players, will be named at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday immediately after the Baa-Baas fixture, with the team to play the Wallabies in that first match due to be named the following Thursday.

If Williams appears from the bench as expected he will be the first Welsh forward to win 100 caps and join Gareth Thomas (Bridgend/Cardiff/Celtic Warriors/Toulouse) in second place behind Wales' most capped player Stephen Jones (Llanelli/Llanelli Scarlets/ASM Clermont Auvergne), who has appeared 104 times.

WALES: Liam Williams (Scarlets); Harry Robinson (Blues), Andrew Bishop (Ospreys), James Hook (Perpignan), Aled Brew (Dragons); Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Lloyd Williams (Blues); Rhys Gill (Saracens), Matthew Rees (Scarlets, captain), Rhodri Jones (Scarlets), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Ian Evans (Ospreys), Josh Turnbull (Scarlets), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Ryan Jones (Ospreys)
REPLACEMENTS: Richard Hibbard (Ospreys), Paul James (Ospreys), Aaron Shingler (Scarlets), Martyn Williams (Blues), Rhys Webb (Ospreys), Adam Warren (Scarlets), Will Harries (Dragons)

Lucky

Ride Studio Cafe, Sunday Ride
Overheard while doing errands in a local suburb:
Woman Walking Out of a Gym: Oh, what a nice bike! 
Woman on a Roadbike: Thank you.
Gym Woman: How lucky you are to have time to bike. I wish I could, but after work and cooking dinner I'm just exhausted. 
Bike Woman: Oh I'm sorry. But it's nice that you get to go to the gym, isn't it? 
Gym Woman: Sure. But, you know, I have to. It's such hard work! 
Bike Woman: How often do you go? 
Gym Woman: Hmm... Four days a week I guess? 
Bike Woman: Oh wow. And how long is your work-out? 
Gym Woman: Usually an hour. Sometimes the pilates class is an hour and fifteen minutes. 
Bike Woman: That's impressive. And how long does it take you to get there and back? 
Gym Woman: What? Oh, I don't know. Let's see... maybe 20 minutes in the car? 
Bike Woman:  Each way? 
Gym Woman: Yeah, I guess so. 
Bike Woman: Well you know, my bike rides are only 2 hours long - you can ride a bike instead of going to the gym if you want and it would be the same. 
Gym Woman (giggles nervously): Really? No, that can't be right. I'm only at the gym for an hour. Plus I have to work out or else I gain weight like crazy... You're lucky you're so thin...
It's hard not to feel defensive when receiving backhanded compliments about how "lucky" we are to have all this supposed free time to ride a bike. I've gotten plenty of comments like this. But I have never, not once, heard the same reasoning applied to people who go to the gym on a daily basis. After all, the gym is "hard work" and going shows that the person is disciplined and responsible about staying fit. Cycling on the other hand, apparently shows that we have too much leisure time. It is not logical, and it is not "fair," but the perception is nonetheless there, and I think it goes a long way toward explaining why non-cyclists dislike cyclists - roadcyclists in particular. Lucky us indeed.

SENIOR SENDOFF IN SANDUSKY

Ryan Wikel, head football coach at Sandusky St Mary's Central Catholic High School, had his first ever Senior Sendoff event last week.

He had 10 players, 9 coaches and 1 chaplain Father Jason in attendance.

They gathered at the South Shore Inn, played a game of kickball - players against coaches that went 9 innings plus a 2 out sudden death overtime where the coaches prevailed 7-6. They enjoyed some food and then they went inside for a chat.

Coach gave each of the 10 players a mentoring group, just like the coaches ... so this year all the football players will have a coach and a graduated Senior who will be helping them. Coach Wikel said, “I feel like it is important to keep the graduating seniors connected to our program.  Since this is year one of our virtue program, I wanted this group to be a part of it.”

He told them that he'd like each of them to text their mentoring group at least 5 or 6 times throughout the upcoming year to encourage the young men to be virtuous. For example on homecoming and prom nights ... send a text to your group to make good decisions, don't do anything you might regret. “I have a sheet of important dates that revolves around the school calendar.  Midterm dates and end of quarter are important for grades. School functions such as dances and opening night of football are other important dates.”

The great thing about this is that maybe because the new college Freshman is texting the high school players to make good decisions, that will help them stay on the straight and narrow as well because they are telling others to do it ...
He also gave them a sheet with all of the names and contact information of all the coaches and assured them that they are forever a part of the football family.

To close it out he gave each player a book that he signed - "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People".  “It is a good read and a small token for the graduating seniors.  They may not read it right away, but maybe they pick it up 10 years from now and it makes an impact.”

Since the event he has received numerous texts from his assistant coaches letting him know how much fun it was to simply play a game with the guys. Admittedly some of the guys were sore for a few days because some "new muscles were freshly discovered" but that it was worth it.

A new tradition has been started ... a lifelong memory created!

There's still time to get in this event if you have not done so already. You won't regret it. It is called Senior Sendoff and the objective is to gather your graduating Seniors one last time ... Here is a recent example.

Two Summer Book Recommendations

Two of my long-time colleagues have had intriguing new books just come out, just in time for the summer reading season.
Mike Smith has written short analysis of the Joplin tornado from just over one year ago -- When the Sirens Were Silent: How the Warning System Failed a Community. Anyone who enjoyed Mike's first book, Warnings: The True Story of How Science Tamed the Weather, will also enjoy Mike's eye-opening and insight look at what happened at Joplin last year.

This is from the book description:
What if the warning system failed to provide a clear, timely notice of a major storm? Tragically, that scenario played out in Joplin, Missouri, on May 22, 2011. As a wedding, a high school graduation, and shopping trips were in progress, an invisible monster storm was developing west of the city. When it arrived, many were caught unaware. One hundred sixty-one perished and one thousand were injured. "When the Sirens Were Silent" is the gripping story of the Joplin tornado. It recounts that horrible day with a goal of insuring this does not happen again.
Have a look and while you are at it, check out Warnings as well.
John McAneney has written a crime thriller -- Shifting Sands -- set against the backdrop of New Zealand science policy of the late 1990s. The story is a great read but even more fun for a wonk like me because of the backdrop of science politics, big monied commercial interests and petty academic squabbles. I read it on the plane last week and it was a great escape.

This is from the book description:
New Zealand 1997. As a serial killer traumatises the country, Caspian is re-evaluating his career. Science has been his life, but an unorthodox approach to problem solving is out of favour with the new corporate ethos that sees science as a business. There are other pressures too as Caspian’s beautiful French wife, Marie-Claire, is becoming increasingly disenchanted with life at a remote beach on Maori tribal lands, an environment and lifestyle that Caspian is reluctant to give up. But when the body of a colleague is washed up on the sand and another, Robert, is arrested on suspicion of murder, nothing can ever be quite the same again. As he seeks to help his Maori detective friend establish Robert’s innocence, Caspian stumbles across a scam involving illegal genetic engineering experiments with a money trail leading to an international pharmaceutical company. As the suspense grows, the dirty underbelly of science for profit is revealed as a culture of corruption where the truth no longer holds any currency.
 What fun!

Congrats Mike and John;-)

Hedersdoktor at LiU

Here is me last week at the Linköping University commencement ceremony where I received an honorary doctorate. I had a great time and was deeply honored to receive the award. The commencement ceremony was a special occasion.

I look forward to continued collaborations with all of my friends and colleagues at Linköpings universitet. I'd especially like to get started a student exchange program, as there is a lot of complementary work going on between CU and LiU.

Thanks LiU!!

BSCM 1990'S EDITION: My opinion

I must admit, I rather enjoyed reading this month's edition of Beckett Sports Card Monthly. And not just because my name made it in there. This months issue was about the greatest era of sports cards..the 1990's.

I started collecting at the end of 1993. More towards the year 1994. My first purchase was a pack of Topps Football 1994. I loved the look of these. The special effects cards were amazing. Something that really catches a kids eye and brings them right into the hobby. Back then, I didn't really know what sport I was falling for. I bought Topps Hockey and Topps Football.

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As I evolved more into the hobby in 1995, I bought mostly football. Products like Fleer, Flair, Skybox premium, Pro Line and Skybox Impact were some of my favorites. The inserts were unique and the rookie class was a great one. Such as Kordell Stewart, Warren Sapp, Steve McNair, and my favorite at that time a Kerry Collins.

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In 1996, I bought Fleer, Topps, Pinnacle, Collectors Choice,  and some very unique brands as Crown Royale, Spx, Zenith and of course Topps Chrome. I remember my first refractor. A Curtis Martin.  Crown Royale brought some unique die cuts to the market and Spx combined holoview technology with a crisp shiny design. Also on card autos of Dan Marino and Joe Montana. I remember going to a card show where my friends uncle pulled the Montana auto from the same exact box I had just gotten 2 packs out of. Boy, I was angry for not have chosen the bottom pack.

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1997, 1998, and 1999 produced more new products and brands. Some sweet ones like E-X2000, Flair Showcase, Pacific Revolution, Playoff Contenders, Leaf, Aurora, Finest, Collectors Edge, Sp Authentic, and a few more!! Some great products. Some great memories.

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The one thing that some people might not have known about the late 90's cards were, all boxes were packed the same. Meaning...all of the hits were in the same spot in every box. Which is one reason why my friends uncle hit the lucky Montana. He knew where the inserts were after a few boxes of strategy and got all of the hits. Some hobby shop owners would shuffle the box to avoid these problems.

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The main thing I miss about the 1990's cards was the innovations card companies would come up with. Acetate cards, cards on wood, thick cards, cards with felt, leather and anything else you can think of. If only we can go back in time and get these companies to be as creative.

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A ton of these cards from the 90's are still red hot sellers today. Especially anything with the word Michael Jordan + 1990's inserts.

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Overall, I still would buy some 90's brands if I can find them. The 90's didn't do a lot with the Jersey and autographed type cards.

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 And when they did...they were so hard to get...that the value was actually worth something. Even inserts, that could be as hard to pull as 1:72 or higher...had some great value. To me, cards were worth more then. Now with over production of jersey cards, autos,inserts in every pack and rookie cards so easy to come by. The prices have been driven down.

I must though give kudos to Upper Deck and Panini who both came up with Video cards as this era's version of creativity and they definitely looked great. Panini is now creating acetate cards again and they have dipped into some brands from the 90's and have revived them. I think they are onto something. Hopefully all the other companies follow their lead.

What are your thoughts on the 1990's collecting?