BOWL PLAYOFF PROPOSAL: THE 4+ SYSTEM

The NCAA says it will be considering 60+ methods for determining a football champion via playoff games. My recommendation for the BCS is a 4-team playoff using the top 4-ranked teams, plus a "play-in" game (or two) in case there's an undefeated team (or two) that didn't rank top-4. The "play-in" games, if there are any, would be played the week before.

So, let's say at the end of the football season (after conference championship games and before bowl games), Alabama is ranked # USC #2, Ohio State #3, Texas #4, Boise State #5, and Utah State #6. And suppose both Boise State and Utah are unbeaten. Boise State would play Ohio State and Utah would play Texas in "play-in" games. The Ohio/Boise winner would then play USC, and the Texas/Utah winner would play Alabama. The winners of these two games would play for the championship.

So basically, the "play-in" games would enable an undefeated team to replace (by beating) the 3rd- or 4th-ranked teams in the 4-team playoff.

The "play-in" game(s) would be played at the home site of the higher ranked team(s) or at another site of their choosing that's available on short notice, or tentatively.

"Play-in" games would not be bowl games, although, as a consolation prize, one (or two) of the lesser bowls would have an arrangement where they take the loser(s) of the "play-in" game(s). But the two semifinal games of the playoff would be major bowl games, as would the championship game, determined on a rotating basis.

Any play-in games would take place around Christmas. The semifinals would be played around New Year's, and the championship around a week later. There are probably some good, juicy names out there already for what to call these three games--oh, how about Bowl Championship Series!

Of course, it's theoretically possible that some year there'd be 3 or 4 or even more undefeated teams ranked below #4. Draw the line at the top four of these, and put them up against #1 through #4--lowest ranked vs. highest ranked and so on, in such a way that "play-in" slot essentially morphs morer or less into a quarterfinals round. And the #1-ranked team gets the lone bye if there are exactly 3 unbeatens ranked below #4.

ADDRESSING OBJECTIONS
Possible objections to this system include: A) it decreases the # of official BCS games from 5 to 3. But most fans by now probably attach little importance to any hoopla surrounding the 4 BCS games that are extraneous to determining the national championship. If they do, they are delusional. And they could treat the play-ins like a sort of quasi-bowl game.

Possible objection B): a minor conference team would be financial setback for major bowl organizers, and compel fans of "play-in" game teams to book travel plans on short notice for their bowl games. But minor conference champs who become Cinderella stories would likely attract a larger national following, and airlines might offer special discounts to fans to travel to the bowl game location.

ADDITIONAL POSSIBLE FEATURES
Avoid potentially somewhat disputable national champ game matches/results by preventing intra-conference meetings in championship game if the teams have already played that season (including their conference championship game). The results of these games tend to be either redundant or contradictory. So if there are two teams from the same conference ranked anywhere from #1 through #4, and they've already played each other, they would be matched up in a semifinal. No need to worry about 3+ teams from the same conference ranked in the top4--it's not going to happen.

A possible additional feature: make the championship game team selection involve fan participation to an extent. The highest-seeded team to emerge victorious from the semifinal games and any (other) undefeated team would be automatically invited to the championship game. But a semifinal winner from the #2 vs. #3 bracket, provided they had no "play-in" game win on their resume, could be vetoed by a fan vote. Maybe the won a poorly played game. The potential replacement could be any winner of another major bowl game which had not lost during the season to the prospective title game opponent (including conference champ games).

The vote could be done by phone a la American Idol, although it should be made a bit difficult to pull off a veto. Make the phone call a yea/nay for the team under review, then, if nay, branch it to multiple-choice for the other major bowl winners. To make a change, at this point, at least 2/3 of the votes would have to be against that team under review, and a majority of the other-team votes would have to be for one particular team. If the vote result is 2/3 nay but not a majority for any one potential replacement, have a subsequent runoff between the original team under review and the top two vote-getting options (all treated equally), with the highest vote-getter obtaining the championship game invitation.

This "Barabbasic" feature would bring back the importance of multiple bowl games, as an impressive winner of such would conceivably have a chance at playing for the championship--if voted-in by the fans. It harkens back to the pre-BCS era when there was excitement in the air as the victors of the major bowls each chanted "we're #1", and then the AP & UPI polls decided the next day.

The improvement is that with this system, yes the fans may play a role, and yes the polls do play a role in setting things up,, but the final result is decided on the field in a championship game.

Ideas for Occupiers

Here are a couple of ideas for the Occupy Wall Street movement:Secret Ballot and Trust Bust--both pertaining to Capitol Hill, Washington D.C.

BILL TROUBLE
In the United States Congress, as in virtually any legislative body, there are two kinds of bills: those that pass and those that do not. That is the key difference. A bill that passes becomes law and effects policy. One that does not pass is essentially irrelevant.  As the joke goes, “Close” only counts in horseshoes, tidddly winks and hand grenades.
You can talk all you want about raising consciousness for a cause, getting sponsors, etc. but when the bill fails to make it, these efforts are in vain.

Nor does a bill that almost passes achieve anything tangibly more than one that is utterly ignored.

Legislators communicate with each other about voting likelihoods—this is allowed—so that they might often vote in ways that are politically advantageous, whereas if the fate of a bill hinged on their vote, they would go the other way.

A savvy politician may pretend to support environmental preservation, for example, by voting for a forest protection bill that has no chance of passage, in order to curry favor of the "green" constituency.

Congressional turnover in the House of Reps. assures that those bills that legislators do not want to pass (due to the moneyed power interest groups' control over them) will wallow around in various committees, possibly appear to be gaining momentum, but fail to get enough supports to become law. It may appear that the bill's passage is an achievable outcome, but before you know it, whoops, congressional elections have arrived, and the process must start all over again, minus, in all likelihood, several sponsors.

SECRET BALLOT
It's clear that Congresspersons are frequently made to feel beholden to powerful special interests in determining how they vote. The best way to minimize the role of lobbyists is to remove the possibility of a vote being "bought". This is doable by instituting a system of confidential balloting--like is standard practice in trial by jury, and was like used in classical Athens, Greece. It would enable a Congressperson to vote his/her conscience without the pressure of accountability to the special interests.

The Constitution can be construed as providing an opening. Article 1, Section 6, Paragraph 2; states that "and for any speech or debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other place." A Congressperson who reports repeated intimidation from strong-arming lobbyists or from other politicians should be able to be protected via a secret ballot.

The entrenched, standard policy of posting the vote result in Congress on a name-by-name basis, applies, constitutionally, only to votes following a Presidential veto (U.S. Constitution Art. 1, Sect.7, P'grphs 1-2). So Congress could enact a rule giving itself confidentiality in routine matters. An amendment could subsequently be adopted to cover veto-overrides.

Granted there would be no accountability to John Q. Constituent, either, but nobody really believes their voice matters anymore anyway unless they're tapped into the Lobbocracy, so this proposal might just level the playing field.

TRUST BUSTING
If Congress can't reform itself, it may be time to "break up" the parties—Dems., and Repubs., because they are too big and overconfident (as well as over-cautious), decadent, set in their ways, uncreative, reactive rather than pro-active, and so on.

It's a healthy thing to do—like pruning a bush that has grown too tall too fast. Cut it back some and you might notice how it tends to sprout multiple shoots where snipped—growing back fuller and thence more sturdy and more substantial, less susceptible to wind/snow/ice/pest damage.

Such an action would probably come about as some sort of antitrust argument in the courts--leading ultimately to a Supreme Court ruling to break up the parties like they did AT&T. Clearly they represent a duopoly of the business of political governance. To illustrate, recall the treatment of H. Ross Perot's independent presidential candidacy a few years ago. Even though he was leading in the polls, the two parties conspired to keep him out of debates.

SALARY EQUANIMITY
Towards greater economic equality: one goal of a fair society could be to establish a salary structure that reflects the reality of the workplace. Rank occupations according to how odious, tedious, exhausting, dangerous (to self & others), stressful they are to the average person. Compensate workers accordingly. Also factor-in a position’s complexity, training requirements, etc. And holders of so-called “dead-end” jobs would be rewarded for their dedication and devotion.

Salary structures are not carved into stone, as the labor union movement has proven.

P.S. Note the reality TV show cerca 2008 where the bosses tried doing the dirty work for a week or even a day, with considerable difficulty. It's coming back on in 2012. .

Gift Ideas for One Who Has Everything

Beachfront property! The closer to the beach the better! Here's a nice one in the sand dunes of Cape Henlopen, Delaware.

Why get a yacht or a motorboat when you can get--a transoceanic vessel! The black ship here evidently gets around. Called the Pacific Clipper, it was photographed in Maine.

An antique car! Bonus brownie points if it's still drivable.

A French workhorse! Not as fast as a thoroughbred, but twice the size.

A trip to an exotic place like Egypt for a zany event like the World Arm Wrestling Tournament.

Like a modern-day de' Medici, hire a graffiti artist to paint a couple of walls in the recipient's honor.

A rocket! For the kid in everyone--for having a blast.

A bunch of kitchen sinks--or bathroom sinks (they're interchangeable for the well-heeled)--in honor of that old cliche about having "everything but the kitchen sink."

A large ornate antique hunk of junk to put out in their yard. Like this gorgeous old light fixture on the Columbia University campus.

A full-fledged sculpture park! Buy one like Storm King here in upstate New York. Dig a few dozen holes in the ground, throw some sand around and call it a golf course.

The Gateway Arch! For enough dough the government might be willing to part with the landmark. You'd probably need to disassemble it before shipping.

The Grand Canyon. The one who has everything can spread out his/her toys there.

For the environmentally inclined: a solution to a big problem, such as the runaway greenhouse effect.

A Stairway to Heaven. A fine gift for the religiously and/or musically inclined. Doubters can just try walking all the way up it and they'll find out soon enough.

Give 'em their own crater portrait on the Moon! It could help put them on the map for the space-faring sort of crowd.

Of course, if the One Who Has All behaved particularly badly, Santa's helpers can be recruited to deliver a big Charlie Brown Rock.

SUPERNOVA FORESHADOWED BY A SONG

The spectacular supernova discovered recently in the constellation Ursa Major appears to have been foreshadowed by a Steven Starjet song of mine titled "Big Dipper." The song goes "Big Dipper's burning down tonight", repeating this key line several times. As you may know, "Big Dipper" is more or less synonymous with Ursa Major.

The song is obviously referring to some spectacular, fiery, destructive natural phenomenon happening there and visible from Earth. That's precisely what this explosive supernova is--the brightest supernova seen in a quarter century. If this supernova happened to ber as close to us as the Sun,it would appear several billions of times of times brighter than our home star.

The song "Big Dipper" is on the cd Love Wheel by Steven Starjet, available at cdbaby website and elsewhere.. "Starjet" is a way of describing the explosive path of matter spurting out from supernovae, gamma-ray bursts and black holes (their accretion disks)--these are the most powerful natural events in the universe.

Here are the song lyrics for the first verse:
After dinner take a walk outside
and look up into the sky
there'll be tears in those pretty green eyes
Big Dipper's burning down tonight
Little Dipper's gonna lose a friend
someone better call the fireman
Big Dipper's burning down tonight.

Celebrity Moon Faces & Multi-Galactic Leaves

Above video as discussed in the preceding and following blog entries.

Celebrity Moon Faces
Enormous strange portrait-like features have been spotted on the surface of the Moon using obscure NASA photographs from the 1960's (Figs. 7-4a-l).

A bearded Jesus, Marilyn Monroe ("Moonroe") wearing a top hat (like in her movie with that name), a stringy inside-out baseball face, a couple pairs of fish, and a caped devil with horns were among the first discovered.

The roster of famous figures seen depicted now includes such notables as Albert Einstein, John Lennon, Willie Nelson, Tom Selleck, Bill Clinton, Saddam Hussein, Adolph Hitler, Charles Chaplin and Babe Ruth. Also on display are the likenesses of Bozo the Clown, the cartoon character Shaggy, a goat boy and Pinocchio.

Furthermore, there are representations of a royal procession (including the British royal guard), a Star of David, an American Indian chief and an Egyptian sphinx. Animal sculptures such the fish, a dalmation, and a deer with antlers are also evident.

Though any of these could have been produced by natural means, it's also possible that they were designed by powerful extraterrestrial intelligent beings, such as the Wormhole Web Weavers, say, as a sort of art class project involving expression, of "native Earth culture” in a geological fashion. Their control over material things and the forces of Nature allows them to create immense and expressive works without
any difficulty or need for crude mechanical devices such as bulldozers and fork-lifts. Their work is virtually indistinguishable from natural forces.

Meet Me on the Moon, Marilyn
Nicknames for the sculptures include: the aforementioned Marilyn Moonroe, Magmoon P.I.(Selleck), and Albert Moonstein (Einstein).

It's possible that some of the moon faces are part of a publicity stunt by time traveling moviemakers who used actors from different periods together--for example Tom Selleck and Marilyn Monroe in a James Bond-style thriller with a title like Double-Platinum Blonde. Some DPB scenes may have been set on the Moon--and even shot there. The rock faces might perform a function somewhat similar to those building-sized billboard advertisements that are common today in places like NYC and LA.

What is truly astonishing is the life-likeness, complexity and richness of the sculptural works. They are in another league from the so-called “face on Mars” (planet #4), which is, by comparison, rather generic and poker-faced--more like a nickel-and-dime-store mask. The faces and figures on the Moon are demonstrable evidence of beings capable of controlling the trajectory and impact of asteroids, meteors and comets, as well as having a profound understanding of human facial dynamics.

These marvelous artworks are site-specific, and so are intended to be seen in their natural setting. Naturally, the appearance of any stationary, sunlit sculpture from a distance will vary depending on the time of (lunar) day--angles and shadows. Nonetheless, as there has been precious little geological or orbital change with the Moon in the few decades since these photos were taken, nor any weathering phenomena such as high winds or rain, they should be repeatable by 21st century lunar orbiters' cameras in the right place at the right time(s).

The above is excerpted from the Steve Kearney book Cosmic Web.  It's available on Amazon Kindlle (including Kindle for PC).

Multi-Galactic Foliage: a Field Notebook

Multi-Galactic Foliage: a Field Notebook

Linking the terrestrial to the cosmic: the speckled leaves of the cultivated evergreen shrub Aucuba japonica Variegata (aka Gold Dust Plant) bear an astonishing resemblance to deep-field telescopic images (See Pictures). This includes, notably, the Hubble Space Telescope's Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) photograph. That image used a ten-hour exposure over several weeks to peer far into space and found an abundance of galaxies.

The markings on the Gold Dust Plant's leaves are evocative of stars, star clusters, assorted nebulae, galaxies (spiral, elliptical and irregular), comets, even asteroids. Also, the leaf spines can look like meteor streaks or spiral galaxies viewed edge-on. Some of the leaf images even appear to mimic the phenomenon of gravitational lensing. All these effects can be particularly impressive when the leaves are viewed in black & white, as on a photocopier--where it's also possible to enhance the view with motion (which can boost nebulosity).

Native to a large swath of Asia, the characteristic Aucuba japonica "variegated with yellow spots" was described by Swedish naturalist Carl Peter Thunberg in his 1783 botany catalog following extensive journeys in the Orient. Consequently, the horticulturalists who bred this attractive ornamental plant to look that way had to predate deep-field astronomy by centuries.

See my (Steve Kearney) book--Cosmic Web--available on Kindle (including Kindle pc).

See the slide show in the next posting of this blog--Celebrity Moon Faces & Multi-Galactic Leaves for examples of the Aucuba leaves phenomenon.

Desert Island Art

Steve Kearney's list of top 10 artists whose works he'd take to a desert island:

10) Paul Cezanne ( because I'm "not in Paris anymore")

9) Dan Flavin (so I'll at least have some artificial lighting)

8) George Bellows (since there's no TV to watch the fights on)

7) Mark Rothko or Ad Reinhardt (in case there are no blank canvases I can use theirs)

6) John Chamberlain (gives me a source of scrap metal to build something)

5) Georgia O'Keefe (to feel at-home on a desert island)

4) Frank Stella (when something goes wrong I can sarcastically cry out "oh well that's just stellar!"--in my best NY accent)

3) Eric Fischl (so when something goes right I can exult "It's a Fishl!" (i.e. "official"))

2) Paul Gauguin (if I find a genie there I could point to these and wish for an island upgrade)

1) Michelangelo (so I can have a roof over my head)