Changing of the Guard

Not to deride the effort of the Americans, but two thoughts: 1) the US had no edge yesterday, leading me to think they took their 4 point advantage as insurmountable.  They should have remembered Brookline, where they came back from 4 down.   2) the impressive play for the US side came from the younger players. Love's addition of Stricker was of no use.  Woods played not to lose.  While Mickelson and Bradley played well the first two days, kudos belonged to Bradley.  For the next Ryder cup, let's limit the team to those under 30. 

Here's Another Question

Who is the target group for Dr. Pepper 10?  It runs on local sports radio and prides itself on being a manly diet drink.  So it's aimed at men, not women.  But of the men in the world, who's going to switch from their preferred soda to Dr. Pepper 10?  I would assume it's those who drink Diet Dr. Pepper.  That can't be a big target audience!

Asymmetrical Information

One of my favorite bloggers, Megan McArdle, is back blogging.  She's now at The Daily Beast. Prior to that, she wrote for The Atlantic and before that, The Economist.  Check her out.  Here's a good example.   

What Has Me Thinking

At the end of  Plato's Apology, Socrates argues that he should not fear death because death is either a cessation of consciousness or a blessing: he'll get to spend his days post mortem speaking with his heroes. I've always used this as an example of a false dilemma in logic class.  My question: does it have any evidential value for the nonbeliever, i.e.  if we only look at evidence available through mere human effort, does the good man have reason to think nothing bad will happen after death?  Let me know your thoughts.   

Gambling Assumes a Fair Game

The fact that one online betting site is refunding money to those who bet on the Packers says more about the wisdom of the NFL to use replacement referees than anything else!

Update:  Oops!  The refund applies to non-Americans only!  Sorry about that!

The Rule of Law

Events in the NFL are a perfect illustration of what occurs when people lose faith in the ability of government to rule justly and fairly.  The major difference: the NFL owners could solve their problem swiftly.  Once a government has gone corrupt, the way out is treacherous.

Presidential Beer

I've blogged about the White House beer before.  Here's one attempt at using the recipe. I'd be very surprised if the President actually came up with the recipe, although pleasantly so.