20 January 2019
How the Sticky Glove Could Save Football
The silicon coated football receiver’s glove that allows him
to grab and hold 20% more passes may be one of the solutions to the sport’s
loss of fan (and parents’) enthusiasm in recent years. The controversy about
the prevalence of brain injuries (CTE) among players who sustain repeated blows
to the head might favor greater reliance on the aerial game over the ground
game, although tackles resulting in contact between the head and the ground are
likely for receivers, too.
If the likelihood of damaging injuries to the brain is shown
to be lower in the passing game than the running game, however, an improvement
in technique that raises the rate of success for teams that rely more heavily
on throwing the football than on carrying it over the ground may alter the
character of the game and appeal to a different mix of fans (and make it more
acceptable for protectors of children’s long-term health).
14 January 2019
Trump"s Helsinki Talk wtth Putin
Trump’s Helsinki Talk with Putin
President Trump is rumored to have confiscated the
translator’s notes of his conversation with Vladimir Putin a couple of years
ago in Helsinki. Speculation in the
media has implied that its disclosure could implicate Trump in collusion with
the Russian dictator. However, Trump has
a record of bragadocious behavior in the past, and I suspect that President
Putin own secret-service background led him to try building a false sense of
brotherhood in a vulnerable rival. The
conversation was an embarrassing exchange of sexual exploitation fantasies
between the two leaders, that Trump does not want ever to see the light of day.
A dumb President of the United States is much more helpful
to the accomplishment of Russia’s strategic goals than a shaky fifth columnist.
