Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Lunch Break

Just to reassure parents that we're not eating junk food day in and out, we have included a few proper meals at sit-down group gatherings.  On their own, the students have sampled classic English pub fare such as bangers and mash, and of course, fish and chips!  This shot was taken at The Living Room Restaurant in Oxford.

The Greatest of all Time














Michael Phelps the greatest of all time.

Glasgow (Scoția) – ”Hampden Park Stadium”

”Hampden Park Stadium”
Este stadionul din Glasgow care găzduiește meciurile echipei naționale a Scoției, având o capacitate de 52.063 locuri. La această ediție a Jocurilor Olimpice aici au loc mai multe partide de fotbal, una dintre ele chiar astăzi, Egipt – Belarus. Arena a fost inaugurată pe 31 octombrie 1903 și modernizată în mai multe rânduri, fiind o arenă categorisită de UEFA la 4 stele. De altfel, aici au avut loc de-a lungul anilor o finală a Champions League, două finale ale Cupei Cupelor, una a Cupei UEFA, dar astăzi, tot aici, mai joacă și o formație de liga secundă din Scoția, Queen’s Park. Receordul de asistență pe acest stadion este de – atenție! – 149.415  spectatori la un meci Scoția – Anglia, în anul 1937.
Glasgow
Este cel mai mare oraș din Scoția, având o populație de 1,7 mlioane locuitori și 2,1 milioane locuitori, întreaga zonă metropolitană. Orașul este traversat de râul Clyde, iar printre obiectivele cu care se mândrește se numără Universitatea, care datează din secolul al XV-lea, clădirile în stil victorian, podurile peste rul Clyde, dar și noul cartier de afaceri sau Turnul Glasgow. Lor li se alătură numeroase piețe și parcuri, una dintre constantele oricărui oraș britanic.

Got Your Back

Golden Bear is enjoying the view from its perch atop Dennis Rinaldi's backpack on a walking tour of the city of Oxford.

London Eye

A popular tourist stop in London is a gigantic Ferris Wheel with 32 pods that can hold up to 24 people each . . . sort of like a giant ski gondola.  This shot of the students + Golden Bear is taken with the Houses of Parliament, Clock Tower (Big Ben), and The River Thames in the background. 

Scenes from Harry Potter

Today, we went on a field trip to Oxford, about 90 minutes outside of London, and home to the oldest university in the English-speaking world.  Oxford is also known for its spires and building designs that span the English architectural period dating to the Saxons.  A special treat was visiting Christ Church College (one of 39 colleges that comprise Oxford University) and its dining hall, which is prominently featured in the Harry Potter film series.  Our guide, Eric Thompson, was entertaining as well as enlightening, and christened Harry Potter devotee Lydia Lefevre, "Weasley."

Happy Birthday, Dan!

Today is Dan Colton's birthday, so we celebrated by singing "Happy Birthday" to him at least three times . . . at morning seminar, during lunch in Oxford, and atop the London Eye this evening.  I say "at least," because I understand the students went a few more rounds at dinner and après-dîner!

Panini's Unique Employee Twist To Their National Wrapper Redemption Set

Panini's always coming up with creative card sets. They came up with Black Friday, Father's Day, and now for their cards at The National ...they have added employee cards! So if you ever had wanted to own a piece of Panini history here is your chance!

In addition to these being limited  to just 20, the cards include over-sized pieces of work-worn  Rated Rookie T-shirt and a place for them to sign. And the only way to get these cards and get them signed is by redeeming an instant-win card in person at the Panini America booth during the National.

I think its a fun twist on cards. We are always seeing these guys on Twitter, The Knights Lance, in Becketts and everywhere else Panini is spoken of. I think it would be awesome to have cards made up of this blogger. The question is...would someone want a Sport Card Collector blogger Card??

Panini America National Employee 6

Employee Cards Main

To see more images and more info visit: http://paniniamerica.wordpress.com/2012/07/31/panini-america-employee-cards-add-rarity-fun-to-national-wrapper-redemption-set/

Miercuri, două amicale interesante

La mijlicul acestei săptămâni, în Câmpina și împrejurimi au loc două partide amicale interesante.
ora 18.00, Câmpina, stadionul ”Rafinăriei”:
Unirea Câmpina - CS Bănești
ora 19.00, Cornu:
CS Cornu - Vulturii Provița de Sus
Mâine seară voi reveni cu rezultatele, detalii și imagini de la aceste partide.

Colțescu, meciul 150 în Liga I la Astra - Steaua

Conform statisticii oficiale a FRF, în etapa din week-end-ul trecut din Liga I, arbitrul craiovean Sebastian Colțescu a arbitrat meciul cu numărul 150 în Liga I. A fost vorba de partida Astra - Steaua, scor 3-4, la care a fost ajutat de asistenții FIFA Mikloș Nagy și Sebastian Gheorghe.

Miercuri, 1 august, partide internaționale oficiale

Jocurile Olimpice
Ora 16.30, Newcastle: Brazilia – Noua Zeelandă
Bakary Gassama (Gambia) – Jason Damoo (Seychelles), Angesom Ogbamariam (Eritrea) – Mark Geiger (SUA)
Ora 16.30, Glasgow: Egipt – Belarus
Roberto Garcia – Jose Camargo, Alberto Morin (foto) (Mexic) – Raul Orosco (Bolivia)
Ora 19.00, Cardiff: Mexic – Elveția
Ravshan Irmatov – Abdukhamidullo Rasulov (Uzbekistan), Bakhadyr Kochkarov (Kârgâstan) – Gianluca Rocchi (Italia)
Ora 19.00, Londra: Coreea de Sud – Gabon
Pavel Kralovec – Martin Wilczek, Antonin Kordula (Cehia) – Mark Clattenburg (Anglia)
Ora 19.00, Coventry: Japonia – Honduras
Slim Jedidi – Bechir Hassani (Tunisia), Sherif Hassan (Egipt) – Felix Brych (Germania)
Ora 19.00, Manchester: Spania – Maroc
Benjamin Williams – Matthew Cream, Hakan Anaz (Australia) – Wilmar Roldan (Columbia)
Ora 21.45, Covenrty: Senegal – Emiratele Arabe Unite
Svein Oddvar Moen – Kim Haglund, Frank Andas (Norvegia) – Juan Soto (Venezuela)
Ora 21.45, Cardiff: Marea Britanie – Uruguay
Yuichi Nishimura – Toru Sagara, Toshiyuki Nagi (Japonia) – Peter O’Leary (Noua Zeelandă)
Champions League, turul al III-lea preliminar, manșa I
Ora 19.00, Borisov: BATE Borisov – Debrecen
Sascha Kever – Raffael Zeder, Stefan Buhlmann – Daniel Wermelinger (Elveția)
Ora 19.30, Haifa: Hapoel Kiryat Shmona – Neftci Baku
Alan Kelly – Damien McGraith, Marc Douglas – Graham Kelly (Irlanda)
Ora 20.00, Tiraspol: Șerif Tiraspol – Dinamo Zagreb
Lee Probert – Stuart Burt, Charles Breakspear – John Moss (Anglia)
Ora 20.00, Molde: FK Molde – FC Basel
Fredy Fautrel – Cyril Gringore, Stephan Luzi – Nicolas Rainville (Franța)
Ora 20.45, Larnaca: AEL Limassol – Partizan Belgrad
Stanislav Todorov – Veselin Dobrianov, Ivo Kolev – Alexander Kostadinov (Bulgaria)
Ora 21.00, Copenhaga: FC Copenhaga – FC Bruges
Ovidiu Hațegan – Zoltan Szekely, Octavian Șovre – Sebastian Colțescu (România)
Ora 21.00, Maribor: Maribor Branik – Dudelange
Aleksei Nikolaev – Oleg Tselovalnikov, Vitali Drozdov – Vladimir Kazmenko (Rusia)
Ora 21.00, Bruxelles: Anderlecht – Ekranas
Kristinn Jakobsson – Johann Gudmundsson, Gunnar Gunnarsson – Thoroddur Hjaltalin (Islanda)
Ora 21.45, Wroclaw: Slask Wroclaw – Helsingborg
Ivan Bebek – Tomislav Petrovic, Miro Grgic – Goran Gabrilo (Croația)
Ora 21.45, Cluj: CFR Cluj – Slovan Liberec
Bulent Yildirim – Cem Satman, Erdinc Sezertam – Baris Simsek (Turcia)
Ora 21.45, Glasgow: Celtic Glasgow – HJK Helsinki
Miroslav Zelinka – Ondrej Pelikan, Emanuel Marek – Radek Matejek (Cehia)
Ora 21.45, Istanbul: Fenerbahce – Sporting Vaslui
Antonio Mateu Lahoz – Pau cebrian Devis, Jon Nunez Fernandez – Jose Gonzalez Gonzalez (Spania)

Marți, 31 iulie, partide internaționale oficiale, rezultate

Jocurile Olimpice, feminin
Cardiff: Japonia – Africa de Sud 0-0
Newcastle: Canada – Suedia 2-2
Manchester: SUA – Coreea de Nord 1-0
Newcastle: Franța – Columbia 1-0
Coventry: Noua Zeelandă – Camerun 3-1
Londra: Marea Britanie – Brazilia 1-0
Champions League, turul al III-lea preliminar, manșa I
Kiev: Dinamo Kiev – Feyenoord 2-1
Motherwell (Scoția): Motherwell – Panathinaikos Atena 0-2

UPDATE to include discussion of Bryce Brentz injury; Ryan Sweeney and injuring hand by punching door: is it grounds for Disqualified List?

Bryce Brentz
UPDATE Feb. 9 2013: we're learning today from WEEI.com's Alex Speier that the Red Sox now have another player who has been injured outside of playing the game and in questionable circumstances: about a month ago, prospect Bryce Brentz accidentally injured himself while cleaning a hand gun.  A bullet went into his leg.  

Brentz is lucky.  It doesn't appear the injury will hurt his baseball career.  But if it does for a period of time, it would be interesting to see if Red Sox disqualify him instead of disable him.  My guess is they disable him rather than disqualify him, since this was an accident and not a result of him losing his temper.  For more analysis of these two lists, please read the post below on Ryan Sweeney.

And, yes, Brentz is making his second appearance on Sports Law Blog.  He was  the player we talked about in our post "Bryce Brentz and Teams Requesting that Players Use Medical Devices for Abnormally Good Health"

* * *
ORIGINAL POST ON RYAN SWEENEY


In the eight inning of last night's Red Sox -Tigers game, Red Sox outfielder Ryan Sweeney became upset after grounding out. So angry that after returning to the dugout he let a door feel the brunt of his frustration, which caused a hand injury:

* * *
Ryan Sweeney will need X-rays after he punched a door in the dugout following a groundout in the eighth inning of the Sox' 7-3 win over the Tigers. Sweeney injured the knuckle on his left pinkie and had to come out of the game when he couldn't make his warm-up throws in the top of the ninth inning.
According to a team source, the outfielder -- who is hitting .260 with a .303 OBP and .373 slugging mark in 63 games -- is likely to require a DL stint for the injury.
From: Mike Petragalia, WEEI.com
* * *
Should Sweeney be placed on the disabled list -- or the disqualified list?

The seldom-used disqualified list is for players who, according to the CBA, "fail to render services to his club." While disqualified, a player is not paid his salary and is removed from the roster, though the player can workout with his team and receive healthcare benefits. On behalf of a disqualified player, the Major League Baseball Players' Association can file a grievance to fight the disqualification. The grievance procedure may eventually lead to a hearing before three-arbitrators.

The disqualified list is purposelessly defined in vague terms, since its definition gives teams flexibility in interpreting it. Teams are hesitant to use it, however, because it likely damages the team's relationship with a player. It may also damage the team's relationship with the player's agent, which in some instances may be a big deal.

Because of these downside for teams, few players have been placed on the disqualified list in recent years. Two years ago the Mets placed Francisco Rodriguez on the disqualified list after he injured his hand in a fight with his girlfriend's dad. Last year for SI.com, I wrote about the Cubs placing Carlos Zambrano on the disqualified list for 30 days after he bizarrely walked out on his team and claimed to be retiring. Earlier this month the Cleveland Indians placed minor league pitcher Nick Hagadone on minor league baseball's disqualified list for a self-inflicted injury to his pitching hand after he pitched poorly in a game. Teams sometimes use the disqualified list as a threat - in 2006 the Nationals threatened to disqualify Alfonso Soriano after he refused to play the outfield. The threat worked.

Should the Red Sox use it for Sweeney?

Reasons for Yes

Punching a door or any wall shows terrible judgment, if for no other reason than the fact that it is completely predictable that you can, and probably will, injure your hand by doing so. It isn't like Sweeney threw his bat in frustration and it somehow hit a wall and bounced back at him, or that he suffered some other freak injury. He punched a door.

Sweeney didn't act in the heat of the moment - there was at least 30 seconds between his ground out and his punching for him to cool down. The fact that he had time to think about what he was doing, and still did it, makes it worse.

Sweeney, who Baseball America called the White Sox's No. 1 prospect in 2006, is not new to the game. He's in his 7th MLB season and is 27-years-old. Punching a wall might be more excusable for a rookie, but not for a seasoned vet.

Sweeney's injury makes it much harder for the Red Sox to trade him before today's deadline. He's been rumored to be on the trading block (see NESN.com). If he's placed on the disabled list or disqualified list, he can't be traded absent the commissioner's approval. Even if he's not put on any list, his already low trade value (he's a corner outfielder who has 0 home runs in 204 at bats) has likely plummeted even lower. On today's Dennis and Callahan show on WEEI, it was even discussed that Sweeney may have intentionally injured his hand to not be traded - if so (and that seems unlikely and would also be hard to prove), the disqualified list would be even more appropriate.

Reasons for No

Unlike Carlos Zambrano, who had a long history of strange behavior, Sweeney has never attracted controversy and seems to be a good teammate. His temper just got to him and he did a foolish thing. To his credit, Sweeney has acknowledged responsibility and fault. He admits he let his team down (see Boston.com). It isn't like Sweeney is refusing to acknowledge he did something wrong.
If the Red Sox disqualify Sweeney, they will almost certainly have to deal with a grievance filed by the MLBPA, which will argue that the penalty is excessive, especially for a player without a track record for misbehavior. Keep in mind, the MLBPA does not want a precedent of teams disqualifying players, since other teams could do the same in the future. They would fight for Sweeney, if not so much for him than for their collective membership.

Moreover, as sports attorney/professor and MLBPA certified agent Jim Masteralexis tells me on Twitter, Kevin Brown and Doyle Alexander were not disqualified after they punched walls and were injured. While the Red Sox could argue those instances do not preclude them from punishing Sweeney, they are still persuasive precedent.

Although Sweeney is a free agent at the end of the season, the Red Sox would damage its relationship with him going forward by disqualifying him. The same is probably true of the team's relationship with Sweeney's agent, Larry Reynolds, who has a pretty impressive list of clients. Along those lines, would free agents be less likely to sign with the Sox because of how it treats Sweeney?

Verdict: I doubt the Red Sox will disqualify Sweeney, but if they did, I believe they would have sufficient grounds.

[SOC]

I have been experiencing a change in my thinking lately that I have taken to calling the "Moral Revolution." I am always changing my thoughts in the light of new ideas, but these changes are often marginal. They never strike to the root or core of my beliefs. This would be growth. Instead, I am experiencing what the Greeks call "metanoia" or the changed mind. This is not growth but conversion.

I am not an atheist anymore. I have been one for over a decade, but the nihilistic acid burning in my soul is turning me into a monster. Atheism is nihilism. Atheists will endeavor to dispute this, but it is simple logic. Nietzsche saw it. Sartre saw it. Camus saw it. The New Atheists refuse to see it. But in a world without God, all things are permissible. This is an awesome world for a libertine until the other libertines sodomize the living shit out of you. Then, it isn't so awesome.

I think moral law or natural law is normative. It exists, and this moral law is not the product of blind evolution but a guiding hand of divinity. Others can debate the fossil record and Anselm and Pascal and Hume. I think those are a pointless waste of time. The issue is much simpler and basic. It is about good and evil. They exist, and people prefer the good to the evil. Unfortunately, they have a high propensity to do the evil which is mindboggling. This is the Catholic idea of concupiscence.

This moral sense is my proof for God. It is the only one that matters to me. Believing in it is less about evidence than necessity. You have to believe in the good because the alternative is madness, chaos, evil, and Hell. Even atheists sneak God in the backdoor in order to live and function. No moral judgment can ever be made without an appeal to this divinity and normative standard. The best an atheist can do is describe a cause and an effect of a choice, but that atheist can never say that anything is good or evil. Those judgments are rendered as nothing more than personal opinions. Since atheists are fond of making moral distinctions, the result of atheism is an intellectual schizophrenia.

Christians are not the first people to make this point. Pagans and philosophers also smack into it repeatedly. The Deists of the Enlightenment were on stronger ground than today's atheists in this regard. Human life and civilization is not possible without the moral law. What makes humans human and better than mere chimpanzees is this moral law. What makes life worth living is this law.

My new guides in this world are writers like C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, and J.R.R. Tolkien. Chesterton writes, "Men do not differ much about what things they will call evils; they differ enormously about what evils they will call excusable." This describes the atheists completely. They deny God in order to have their slice of evil. But they want God back the moment someone else wants their slice of evil. The atheist will retort that morality is merely the product of game theory and evolution. All this does is make morality selective with a take it or leave it proposition. Selective morality is no morality at all. Altruism is no different than survival of the fittest.

People have always made the comment over the years that for an atheist I seemed awfully decent and moral. I confess that whatever morality I have retained is the product of my Calvinist twenties and my Baptist teen years. All my atheism ever did for me was give me a license to fornicate without guilt and a fierce anger over the idea that the pieces of shit I encounter in the world would in most likelihood get away with it. Anger is merely the unfulfilled desire for justice.

I have already heard the criticism that my turn from atheism is the product of marrying a Catholic. This is partly true. My wife is a saint, but my change of mind is not to appease her. She has simply been a match to my box of tinder. Protestants have tried for years to reach me, but they are simply not equipped for the job. They can't agree among themselves much less get me to agree with them. But I have already learned of three atheists now turned Catholic in just the last few years. Catholicism kills atheism.

The moral revolution extends to my politics which is why I am dealing with Edmund Burke. Burke has been burning in my brain for two decades. But I see the problems in our society less as political problems than moral problems. It is fashionable among libertarians to blame all social ills on the evils of big government, but this isn't true. Big government is the product of social ills and moral relativism. This is why France got Napoleon after the French Revolution. Moral people get freedom. Mobs get tyranny.

It is hip being a libertarian, but I find myself becoming more like my old man who watches Fox News all day. I think today's conservatives are a shame in contrast to Burke. But I retain my fondness for Thatcher and Reagan. I think libertarians are actually libertines, and libertines don't have the morality or virtue to actually be free. This is because liberty requires altruism to advance. But the libertarian message is fundamentally not altruistic. For instance, why should I expend time, money, and energy to legalize pot when I don't smoke it? Why should I fight for the freedom of other people when it may cost me my own? What would Ayn Rand do?

I have always believed in the free market, and I think I always will. But the variable for me has been the extent of social freedom. The free market rewards moral behavior, so it is a good thing. People don't want to buy from crooks. But the social freedom side is troubling. Libertarians argue that people should be free to live as they please. But what happens if those people are Marxist Occupy Wall Street types? This is essentially what happened in France during the French Revolution. I think it would be great if everyone in society lived by the non-aggression principle. Unfortunately, aggressors use their freedom to aggress. This is why we take away their freedom. Underlying all libertarian hopes is a belief that everyone in a society will be libertarian and agree not to do bad shit. But this isn't reality. The reason we got the US Constitution was because something worse would have taken its place. This is the usual timeline of a revolution as the previous tyranny is replaced with a fresh tyranny. The Constitution merely installed a republic to forestall a dictatorship or reconquest from Britain. It was also a compromise.

I think the fundamental difference between a libertarian and a conservative is the fundamental difference between hope and reality. As the Federalist Papers put it, "If men were angels, no government would be necessary." If all freedom needs to flourish is freedom, then why was the French Revolution such a calamity? The reason is because the entire nation of France at that time was a cesspool of shit.

The problem comes back to morality. Immoral people can't be free. Government is necessary to keep those immoral impulses in check. Unfortunately, socialism and the welfare state merely serve to feed those immoral impulses. Corporatism does the same with crony capitalists. And as other writers and thinkers have pointed out, a good monarchy beats a bad democracy. Everything hinges on personal moral conduct.

My wife points out to me repeatedly the failures of businesses and free market economics. It isn't that making money is a bad thing, but how that money is made. What gives capitalism a bad name are actually capitalists. I have pointed out the same thing with my essays discussing that a parasite class exists in corporations just as much as it exists in Washington, DC. The fact that Walmart told its workers to get on government welfare is a case in point. Today's Walmart is not the same as Sam Walton's Walmart. Never has a company been so successful while at the same time been so hated even by its own customers.

It is fun to abstract these things and discuss policy as if people were merely pieces on a chessboard. But people are moral actors, and their decisions are what ultimately effect how things are done. We now have companies that actively mistreat customers, and this is considered good business. This isn't the product of government regulation but the corporate culture created by business school grads. This is why you get frustrated navigating a phone tree trying to get a human being on the line that speaks the English language, and this madness is called "customer service." This is why Walmart will make sure you get organic Asian pita bread, but they only have two registers open to check out a hundred customers. Modern capitalism is less about customer satisfaction than a game to see just how much bullshit you will tolerate before you flip the fuck out.

All of these things are fundamentally about a decline in morality, decency, and values. Public service is now public predation. Management is now about fucking over your loyal and gullible workforce. Taxes are about how much wealth can be extracted from hard working people. Meanwhile, the rich are oblivious because they bought their tax breaks and loopholes. Nevermind that the working man has even less cash to buy goods and services. Money is now made from cheap Fed money lent to those without cash. This state of affairs can't last, and it isn't a public policy problem. It is a moral problem. It is theft. We are a nation of con artists and thieves.

I will stop here. Big day ahead for me. The moral revolution continues.

Yard Sale Pickups....for only $4!!

Here are some key cards I found in a box of cards I bought at a local yard sale. I paid only $4 for the box of random cards. There was mostly baseball, but golf, a few basketball and football and even Bench Warmer cards were there to be found. Overall there were probably about 300 cards. I think I made out well.


I always enjoy adding a Pete Rose

4 Tiger Woods cards and a Justin Leonard Sp Authentic Rookie

The Simpsons rock!
Item image
I didn't HURT at all with finding this.

Item image
Bo Knows I wanted this card.

Item image

What are your thoughts on my pickups and have you ever come across a good bargain deal at a yard sale?


Monday, July 30, 2012

Motherwell (Scoția) – ”Fir Park Stadium”

”Fir Park Stadium”
Este stadionul din localitatea scoțiană Motherwell, care găzduiește partidele formației cu același nume. Arena a fost construită în anul 1895, renovată complet după 100 de ani, în 1995, și are o capacitate de 13.742 locuri.
Motherwell
Este o localitate din Scoția, situată la sud-est de Glasgow. Aici se află una dintre cele mai mari oțelării din Europa, iar localitatea numără peste 30.000 locuitori.

Rare Old Beast: a Very Early Brompton

Early Brompton
Brompton folding bikes have remained virtually unchanged since they entered into production in the late 1980s. But before that happened, there was a small pilot run and the machines from this early batch were just a tad different. Only several hundred of these were made. Two of those recently ended up passing through Harris Cyclery on their way to the Brompton museum. And one of those I had the opportunity to photograph and ride. Pictured here is the 358th Brompton ever produced. Red and black 3-speed with upright handlebars, dynamo lighting, rear rack and fenders. 

Early Brompton
The most striking difference between the Brompton we know today and this early model is the "humpback" frame construction. As the Brompton history page explains it, "this feature had come about for the simple reason that standard pipe-bending tools could not produce the gentle radius desired. Change would only come with expensive retooling." By the time the bikes went into full production, the capital investment required for this had been secured and the bend of the main tube became more elegant.

Early Brompton
Other differences are more subtle. For instance, the handlebars are welded(?) to the stem.

Early Brompton
Here is a close-up. I take it this means the early handlebars were steel. 

Early Brompton
Likewise, the rear carrier is welded to the rear triangle.

Early Brompton
Like so.

Early Brompton
The bike comes with a wide, sprung plastic Brooks saddle.

Early Brompton
Fitted onto a set-forward seatpost.

Early Brompton
The dynamo lighting functions via a bottle generator on the rear wheel. The rear fender has a special cut-out to accommodate it.

Early Brompton
The cable routing is interesting.

Early Brompton
If I understand this correctly, it appears that several cables are gathered into the same housing and secured to the frame and stem at various points to facilitate the fold?

Early Brompton
Here it is passing over the bottom bracket. 

Early Brompton
The fold itself is mostly identical. Same process, with similar bolts on the frame and stem as on the current production model.

Early Brompton
Only the pedal fold is different. 

Early Brompton
Levers are involved; it is more complicated and bulky than the current snap-fold.

Early Brompton
Finally, it looks to me as if the frame construction itself is different in places - the way the tubes are joined. The other differences are mainly in the components. The retro lights. The fender stay attachment. There is no front block system, and instead some of the early models were fitted with front racks. Brompton experts will no doubt notice a myriad of other differences that I haven't picked up on. As far as weight, the bicycle felt a bit heavier to pick up than current production models built up with equivalent specs, but not by much. 

Early Brompton
I rode the older bicycle carefully and briefly - not wanting to ruin its pristine condition (it had barely been ridden by the previous owner). The first thing I noticed was that there was much less room in the "cockpit" compared to my own Brompton; it felt a bit cramped. The difference seemed too great to be explained by the older bike's saddle being more forward; it seemed that the frame itself was shorter. Later I asked about this at Harris and was told it was indeed the case. Unfortunately I had no time to measure the two bikes, but it appears that when they got rid of the bend in the main tube, they also lengthened it.

Early Brompton
However, the front-end handling of the older bike felt very similar, if not identical to modern Bromptons. Overall, riding it felt like riding an older and more upright version of the same bike. Reading Brompton's history and hearing about it firsthand from those in the know, it is striking how little the bicycle has been tweaked since its initial development. Aside from straightening out the bend after the pilot production run, they've mostly just worked on getting the weight down a bit and improving the components. The fold and the handling have remained the same.

Early Brompton
For locals who'd like to see the pair of early Bromptons, they will remain on temporary display at Harris Cyclery until September. Many thanks for the opportunity to photograph and ride the #358! You can view more close-ups of it here, and Elton Pope-Lance has photographed both bicycles here.

Changing of the Guard

Since we have yet to witness a changing of the guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace, Dennis Rinaldi tried to explain how it was done by staging a re-enactment using Golden Bear and a couple of Beefeater Bears!

A Good-Looking Bloke

Let me explain something about how we roll at this Seminar Abroad program.  Wherever we go at these Olympics, three things that have always been with us are (1) the WNE flag or CISB banner, (2) Golden Bear, and (3) our fearless leader, Dr. Anthony Caprio.  Thanks to Nick Varney, Maria Francese, and Dennis Rinaldi, the symbols of Western New England University have been present throughout London.  In Dr. Caprio's case, he has been to every Olympic event right alongside the students, and has even been on TV during the USA-Korea women's volleyball match!  His most impressive feat, however, was on Sunday night after the UK-UAE football match at Wembley Stadium when he safely led us through a scrum of 100,000 people packed like sardines across the plaza to the train station!  There was quite the buzz with everyone wondering -- and a few people asking -- "Who is that chap?"  We heard people saying things like "He looks so familiar" and "Isn't that the Prime Minister."  When Dr. Walker explained to a man next to her that we were students and faculty from a university in the States, and that he was our President, the man responded, "Well, he's a good-looking bloke." 

Olympic Fencing controversy

South Korean fencer Shin A Lam waits out the Korean protest of her loss


A controversial fencing semifinal bout of the women's individual epee competition was won on a final touch with 1 second remaining and the losing fencer launched an appeal of the decision which eventually cost her the finals.

With time running out in one of the two semifinal matches for the women's individual epee competition, South Korea's Shin A Lam led Germany's Germany's Britta Heidermann by a single point. Officially, Heidermann had just one second to launch an attack and score a touch, which would advance her on to the gold medal match to face the Ukraine's Yana Shemyakina, a lack of time which all but ensured that Shin would advance.

Instead, the timing mechanism on the piste became stuck, giving Heidermann extra time to complete her attack and win the bout, which earned her the spot in the gold medal bout. Officials, unsure what to do without a true, official protocol to follow, eventually decided to award the victory to Heidermann.

As one might expect, Shin and her coaches were enraged with the decision, and launched an immediate appeal. Yet the appeal itself has proved to be incredibly lengthy. After more than 30 minutes of a delay that included the Korean federation having to expedite a payment for the use in the official appeal, Shin's attempt to overturn the result failed, bringing a crushing end to a ridiculously long period marked by piquant discussion between Olympic and Korean officials and occasional announcements trying to explain what was going on to the spectators in the crowd.

Clearly, Shin should have had a chance for the gold medal; if the timing mechanism didn't get stuck, the clock would have run out and she would have advanced. Yet denying Heidermann a shot without some kind of a playoff-style bout might have been equally cruel.

Either way, the fencing tournament somehow ended up with an unfortunate and completely unforeseen loser which will lead to plenty of gripes and arguments going forward from multiple national federations, to be sure.


Penn State Death Penalty: Was It Ever Really An Option? (The Antitrust Problem)

Several recent posts on this blog have analyzed the NCAA's punishment of Penn State University in light of rumors that the NCAA would have given Penn State a four year death penalty if it had not agreed to the NCAA's alternative sanctions. (See here, here, and here). What almost nobody is talking about, however, is that the NCAA's 'death penalty' sanction may very well have been illegal under Section 1 of the Sherman Act. Thus, if the NCAA had attempted to shut down Penn State's football program, an interesting antitrust challenge could have potentially followed.

For those less familiar with antitrust law, Section 1 of the Sherman Act states that "[e]very contract, combination ... or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, is declared to be illegal." In practice, this section of antitrust law is not interpreted to literally prohibit all contracts signed among competing businesses. However, the courts have consistently interpreted Section 1 of the Sherman Act to strike down contracts that are deemed unreasonable in terms of their economic effects.

As a private association composed of member schools that compete against each other for fans and players, all decisions reached by the NCAA or its employees are, in essence, horizontal agreements subject to Section 1 review. In addition, any agreement by the NCAA to ban a competitor from the marketplace would be defined as a "group boycott," which falls among the most troublesome types of agreements subject to Section 1 scrutiny.

The U.S. Supreme Court has already once prevented the enforcement of an NCAA bylaw under Section 1 of the Sherman Act that sought to exclude certain competitors from the college football marketplace. In that case, National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Board of Regents, the high court held that an NCAA bylaw intended to ban colleges that appeared in more than a certain number of televised football games was illegal because it "curtail[ed] output and blunt[ed] the ability of [NCAA] member institutions to respond to consumer preference."

Logically, the same argument could be made for disallowing the NCAA 'death penalty.' Although on a moral level the egregious wrongdoing that occurred at Penn State University cannot be compared to a school merely seeking to play additional televised football games, under antitrust law the reasons behind the boycott are entirely irrelevant. All that matters is the economic effect. In other words, as the Supreme Court explained in its 1978 decision National Society of Professional Engineers v. United States, "the purpose of [antitrust] analysis is to form a judgment about the competitive significance of the restraint; it is not to decide whether a policy favoring competition is in the public interest."

While it is true that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit had rejected an earlier antitrust challenge arising out of the NCAA's first attempt to enforce its 'death penalty' (that time against Southern Methodist University), the posture of that case was a bit different. In that challenge, McCormack v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, the claim was brought by the schools' alumni, football players and cheerleaders, rather than by the boycotted school itself. Thus, the court determined that the plaintiffs lacked antitrust standing to bring suit, as well as that their challenge was merely at attack of reasonable athlete-eligibility rules. These conclusions would have been far harder to sustain if the suit had been brought by a school, challenging the financial implications of a boycott on their football revenues and merchandise sales.

Of course, antitrust law leaves open the possibility of other less restrictive forms of punishment against Penn State University that might indirectly lead to the same result. For example, any individual school can legally make the independent decision not to play Penn State University without running the risk of a legal issue. If all schools independently reach the same conclusion, there would be no antitrust violation. In addition, perhaps an entire conference such as the Big Ten could even decide to ban Penn State without significant antitrust risk if that conference is found to lack "market power."

Yet, for the very reason that the NCAA death penalty is often described by advocates as the 'ultimate sanction,' a court would likely not allow that result. Thus, no matter how abhorrent the leadership may have acted at Happy Valley, a court would not be likely to allow that to justify the entire college football industry collectively driving Penn State University football out of business.

Wicked Awesome!

Since arriving in London, Lydia Lefevre has been dying to get a photo with the Queen's Royal Guard and so she was sorely disappointed when the public was not permitted any closer than the perimeter gate at Buckingham Palace during our visit on Friday.  At Windsor Palace, however, there was no such gate, and she and Ryan Coseo were able to get up close and personal with the palace guard.

By the way, how do these guys see from under their hats?

Life is Grand!

Due to Sunday's inclement weather at Wimbledon, most of the group headed out after the second (or was it the third?) rain delay for the badminton competition at Wembley Arena.  Jason Titelbaum, Anthony Camardi, and Teddi-Jann Covell, however, decided to stick it out in hopes of seeing the resumption of play at the Djokovic-Fognini match, which was supposed to have been followed by Venus Williams' match against the Italian Sara Errani.

After Djokovic defeated Fognini, however, the women's singles competition was postponed to Monday due to darkness (since there are no lights on Court 1).

Instead of folding up their tent and skulking home, our intrepid trio schlepped over to Center Court to see if they could watch the action there under the roof. After inquiring at the Ticket Services Desk, our heroes emerged with tix to seats . . . at Center Court!

Talk about living a dream!  This photo of Jason was taken by the pairings board in front of Center Court before the first rain delay . . . but it must have been prophetic given the turn of events!   

Hey . . . did he just growl at me?

The historical, architectural, and cultural aspects of Windsor Castle were all fascinating, but the students' singular highlight was getting the classic picture taken with one of the Queen's Royal Guards.  Her Majesty the Queen, by the way, was in residence at the time of our visit, but inexplicably, we were not invited to the private quarters for tea.  Go figure.

After this group shot was taken, several students tried to provoke a reaction by making funny faces and gestures., but the stone-faced, eyes-straight-ahead, and still-as-a-pole guard did not budge.  Or did he?

Deanery at Windsor Castle

At Windsor Castle, there is a church called St. George's Chapel, which has attached to it the ecclesiastical office known as the deanery.  Dr. Walker is shown pointing to the sign that reads:  "The Deanery --  No Unauthorized Parking", which goes to show that for the dean of St. George's, parking, too, is a cherished perk!