The joy of racing cardboard kayaks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At KTVB7 on September 13, 2024 I saw an Idaho Today article titled Cardboard kayak races? The Indian Creek Festival begins tonight! It has a five-minute video showing the creek and racers enjoying paddling furiously. There is another two-minute video from Idaho News 6 titled Cardboard kayak races showcase the evolution of the Indian Creek Festival in Caldwell.

 

A Wikipedia page on Cardboard boat race says the first was held back in 1974, and that there even is a Cardboard Boat Museum in New Richmond, Ohio.

 

I was not familiar with cardboard boat races, but knew about concrete canoes raced by university civil engineering students. The Wikipedia page for them says concrete canoes typically are more sophisticated than cardboard kayaks.  

 

An image adapted from Wikimedia Commons shows a 2012 cardboard boat regatta on Lake Accotink, Virginia.  

 

A bogus claim about how the city of Ann Arbor got its name

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Now and then I see a particularly awful statement in a blog post. The latest doozy was in one by Dr. John Livingston at the Gem State Patriot News on November 18, 2023 titled Where are the Grownups? He claimed that:

 

“…Ann Arbor was named for a prostitute by the same name.”

 

I lived in that city from 1977 to 1984 and never ever heard that nonsense. Historical articles say the Ann came from the wives of the two founders, and the Arbor referred to trees or shrubs. An article by Lela Duff in the Ann Arbor News on February 15, 1960 titled Ann Arbor Yesterdays – That Puzzling Name says:

 

“It is accepted as a well authenticated fact that John Allen and Elisha Walker Rumsey, our founding fathers, named the village in honor of their two wives. But there has always been considerable bickering about the arbor. Some old settlers insisted that the two men built an arbor, or even two arbors, one apiece; some say as a temporary shelter, others as an adornment just to pretty up the place. I doubt the latter idea especially. If they had any spare time between 1 February, 1824, when they first tramped about this lovely region, and May 25, when the plat was recorded in Detroit, surely they could have found more important things to do than building an arbor for mere decoration, There were chopping down trees and fashioning them into dwellings, breaking the ground and planting vegetables, following the surveyor up and down the proposed streets, all this in a background of the time-consuming mechanics of mere existence in the wilds.

We lean toward the other theory, held by equally trust-worthy pioneers, that the arbor was a natural one, where wild grape vines had crowded gaily over wild plum trees; that it remained for many years near the southwest corner of W. Huron and First Sts.; that Mary Ann Rumsey had enjoyed doing her work there, or just sitting there, as the warm spring days advanced (for Ann Allen did not arrive until October); that the name was hit upon spontaneously one day by herself and John Allen.”

 

There is a more recent article by Ken Haddad at AllAboutAnnArbor on October 10, 2019 titled

How did Ann Arbor get its name?

 

What prompted Dr. Livingston’s bizarre claim? He was writing about a recent sports scandal at the University of Michigan football team – the Wolverines, which is discussed by Pat Forde in an article at Sports Illustrated on November 17, 2023 titled Michigan has gotten curiously quiet on its sign-stealing scandal, and another by Louisa Thomas at The New Yorker on November 18, 2023 titled The Michigan sign-stealing story is the perfect college-football scandal.

 

There are gag tee shirts for fans of their rival Big Ten team, the Buckeyes at The Ohio State University, like this one and that one which say that:

 

“Ann Arbor is a Whore”

 

and turn the Michigan M upside down to become the W in Whore.

 

I also lived in Columbus, Ohio for nine years, and got really tired of all the attention paid to college football. At least wolverines are suitably fierce animals for naming a team. Buckeyes are just horse chestnuts, which might be thrown by angry monkeys like dung.

 

The unknown woman image was adapted from one at Wikimedia Commons.

 

Peloton recalled over two million exercise bikes to replace their seat posts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you watch television, then you have encountered ads for the fancy Peloton PL01 exercise bicycle (shown above), which sells for $1445. An article at the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) on May 11, 2023 is titled Peloton recalls two million exercise bikes due to fall and injury hazards. A Peloton web page titled Peloton Original Bike Recall and Free Seat Post Repair explains:

 

“The original Peloton Bike seat post can break unexpectedly during use, creating a potential fall and injury risk. Peloton has identified 35 reports of seat posts breaking out of 2,160,000 units sold in the US. There have been 13 reports of injuries, including a wrist fracture, lacerations and bruises.”

 

Another article at DC Rainmaker on May 12, 2023 titled Peloton’s seatpost recall, Zwift’s curious steering rebirth, and GoPro price drop described the problem:

 

“The issue stems from the seat post, specifically the welds. There have been sporadic reports on Peloton Facebook and Reddit groups over the years of the seatpost snapping or separating during use.”

 

An arrow in the image shown above indicates the L-shaped seat post, which consists of two oval-shaped tubes connected by an elbow. The post can easily be replaced by the bicycle owner.

 

Yet another article at Reuters on May 11, 2023 titled Peloton recalls 2.2 million exercise bikes over seat issue describes the financial impact:

 

“During the January to March quarter, Peloton said it had accrued $8.4 million as an estimated expense related to ‘voluntary corrective action plan’ involving the defect.”

 

Still another article by Edward Segal at Forbes on May 16, 2023 is titled How product recalls can create a crisis for companies. This recall is a potential crisis because of the huge number of products, and parts which needed to be stockpiled before announcing it. There have been other CPSC recalls involving seat posts, like for Faraday electric bicycles on July 2, 2019 titled Electric bicycles recalled by Faraday; seat post poses fall hazard, But that recall involved just 4,450 bicycles – 485 times fewer than Peloton.

 

Failure analysis of a product typically involves an attempt to isolate the defect to a problem that occurred at a specific time period. Apparently due to the small number of broken seat posts Peloton was not able to localize a time, and had to recall all of them.

 

In early 2022 another problem with bicycles at Peloton was reported. An article by Patrick McGee at Ars Technica (from the Financial Times) on February 22, 2022 is titled Inside “Project Tinman”: Peloton’s plan to conceal rust in its exercise bikes, along with another by Lucas Nolan at Breitbart on February 23, 2022 titled ‘Project Tinman:’ How Peloton planned to conceal rust on its fancy exercise bikes.

 

The image of a Peloton bike came from Wikimedia Commons.    

 

More on Donald Trump and a name change from the Cleveland Indians to the Guardians

 

 

 

 

 

 

Politics leads to strange statements. Back on July 25, 2021 I blogged about how After over a century, the Cleveland Indians are changing their name to the Guardians. That topic just came up again, when on April 26, 2022 Donald J. Trump commented that:

 

“Anybody who changes the name of the ‘storied’ Cleveland Indians (from 1916), an original baseball franchise, to the Cleveland Guardians, is not fit to serve in the United States Senate. Such is the case for Matt Dolan, who I don’t know, have never met, and may be a very nice guy, but the team will always remain the Cleveland Indians to me!”

 

Trump was trying to shoot down Mr. Dolan. But on April 29, 2022 there is an article by  Natalie Allison at Politico titled Republican who refuses to bend the knee to Trump surges in Ohio Senate race.

 

Clevelanders with long memories will recall that back on February 15, 1983 Trump had tried to buy the Indians. This was discussed by Arthur Weinstein at The Sporting News in an article on March 6, 2016 titled Donald Trump once tried to buy Cleveland Indians for $13 million. Really. His bid later was raised to $34 million, but it was turned down because he would not guarantee keeping them in Cleveland for more than three years (reportedly planning a move to Tampa).

 

The Guardians logo came from Wikimedia Commons.

 

After over a century, the Cleveland Indians are changing their name to the Guardians

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baseball (and other pro sports) teams commonly are named after fierce animals, or groups of people. I grew up in Pittsburgh, which has the Pirates. Boston had the Braves, who kept that name even after moving first to Milwaukee and then to Atlanta. Cleveland named the Indians as a reaction to the Braves, as was discussed by Tyler Carey at WKYC on July 4, 2021 in an article titled Before becoming the ‘Guardians,’ how did Cleveland’s baseball team end up with the name ‘Indians’? It’s more complicated than you think.

 

Another article by Graison Dangor at Forbes on July 23, 2021 titled Cleveland’s baseball team switches name to ‘Guardians’ after calls to drop ‘Indians’ moniker mentioned one clueless reaction from out of town:

 

“Former President Donald Trump released a statement calling the name change ‘a disgrace’ and claimed that ‘the people who are most angry about it are the many Indians of our Country’ - even though American Indian groups lead protests against the team’s name and logo for nearly a half century.”

 

The Indians uniforms came from Wikimedia Commons.

 

Table Topics questions about names for sports teams

Table Topics is the impromptu speaking section of a Toastmasters club meeting. It is where members give a one to two minute answer to a question. A good topic category can generate a series of questions. On November 23, 2019 I posted on Table Topics questions about college team names or mascots. But much more can be said.

What are the most upsetting names for sports teams?

If you are a native American, either Braves or Redskins is offensive. Boise High School used to be the Braves, with the logo shown above. An article at KTVB7 on August 12, 2019 described how School board unanimously approves Boise High mascot change. Another article by Sydney Kidd in the Boise Weekly on July 29, 2020 discussed The voices of history’s unheard: Here’s what’s behind the recent removal of many indigenous-themed Idaho high school mascots.

Native Americans might say that a more suitable high school team name in a city like Boise would be the Lying White Devils. You can’t object to White Devils, since it is the name for an Army unit in the 504th Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division. Their First Battalion is the Red Devils, the second is the White Devils, and the third was the Blue Devils.

What other names could be revenge?

The professional football team in Washington, D.C. used to be the Redskins. Right now they just are the generic Washington Football Team. 

Native Americans might say the Washington team deserve to be called the Treaty Breakers. 

Most people distrust politicians. Others might prefer the Politicians (lying is implied) or the Windbags.   

What are the least fierce names for professional sports teams?

Those which name their hosiery color – like the Chicago White Sox or the Boston Red Sox. The Cincinnati Reds once were the Red Stockings, and later the Redlegs.

The Los Angeles Dodgers moved there from Brooklyn (New York City). A Wikipedia page on the History of the Brooklyn Dodgers mentions they once were the Brooklyn Bridegrooms, and also the Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers.

A devil and the politician (Richard Nixon) were adapted from cartoons at Wikimedia Commons. The treaty breaker and windbag were adapted from Puck cartoons at the Library of Congress.

A dozen awful sports quotations

Great quotations are wonderful, because there are oodles so bad they are funny. Yesterday at USA Today high school sports there was an article by Joe Leccesi titled NCSA: The worst inspirational quotes of all time. His twelve picks are:

“Chemistry is a class you take in high school or college, where you figure out two plus two is 10, or something.” – Dennis Rodman

“Ninety percent of the game is half mental.” – Yogi Berra

"Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.” – Joe Theismann

“I quit school in the sixth grade because of pneumonia. Not because I had it, but because I couldn’t spell it.” – Rocky Graziano

“Why should we have to go to class if we come here to play football, we ain’t come to play school, classes are pointless.” – Cardale Jones.

“I want to rush for 1,000 or 1,500 yards – whichever comes first.” – George Rogers

“We didn’t underestimate them. They were a lot better than we thought.” – Bobby Ronson

“We must have had 99 percent of the match. It was the other three percent that cost us.” – Ruud Gullit

“Defensively, I think it’s important for us to tackle.” – Karl Mecklenburg

“If lessons are learned in defeat, our team is getting a great education.” – Murray Warmath

“Lads, you’re not to miss practice unless your parents died or you died.” – Frank Leahy

“Look, I’m a coach. I’m not Harry Potter. He is magical, but in reality, there is no magic. Magic is fiction and football is real.” - Joe Mourinho

The facepalm gesture cartoon was adapted from one at Openclipart.

‘In play’ is a stale old phrase from sports. Instead try something else like ‘up for grabs.’

On March 3 at her Speechwriter-Ghostwriter blog Jane Genova posted that President Trump Blows It With Over-Used Buzzphrase ‘Witch Hunt.’ I thought that was a hilarious example of ‘the pot calling the kettle black’ because she has recently used the phrase ‘in play’ in her post titles once a month:

March 7th - Law School Deans – How Many Jobs Are In Play?

February 20th - Uber – Its Business and Brand Could Be In Play

January 3rd - Megyn Kelly aka Megawattage Pivots to NBC – Fox News Brand In Play

‘Up for grabs’ is an obvious alternative for ‘in play.’ The day after her January 3 post I blogged about her Tired sports jargon – please don’t say pivot when another word would be better. Then on January 7 she blogged about “Pivot” “Deep Dive” “Disrupt,” et al. – Buzzwords Belonging in Graveyard. Her use of et al. also belongs in the graveyard, since it should refer to names rather than things (where et cetera belongs).

It’s easy to get ‘stuck in a rut’ of overused words or idioms. Back in graduate school I picked up the five-dollar word deleterious (harmful often in a subtle or unexpected way) from my thesis advisor. Remember that Mark Twain said:

“Don’t use a five-dollar word when a fifty-cent word will do.”

Every day or two I look at Alltop Speaking. Jane’s post titles show up there in the feed from Speaking Pro Central. My pointing to her as a bad example just is like ‘shooting fish in a barrel.’

The volleyball game image is from Wikimedia Commons.

Sports are an awful metaphor for business

John Sadowsky had a blog post on February 10 titled Can sports teach us anything worthwhile about business? and another on February 23 titled Is sport such a poor metaphor for management?  I don’t share John’s claim that sports can teach us anything, or his enthusiasm for the National Football League (NFL).

On February 3, 2017 the web site for the Harvard Business Review had an article by William C.  Taylor titled Why Sports Are a Terrible Metaphor for Business. He said:

“The logic of competition and success is completely different.”

“The dynamics of talent and teamwork are completely different.”

“The creation of economic value is completely different.”

I agree. Bill wrote that a few days before the Super Bowl. Most businesses don’t compete in an artificial oligarchy like the NFL where less than twenty events over part of a year decide a championship. And most don’t have their talent come from indentured servants like college students playing under the NCAA.

Also, as George Carlin hilariously discussed long ago there are huge differences between even Baseball vs Football.

Tired sports jargon - please don’t say pivot when another word would be better

Jane Genova is horribly prolific. That is, she cranks out a plethora of blog posts (16 just this year), some highly questionable. I look at Alltop Speaking each day, so I glance at Speaking Pro Central and see some of her post titles.

One of her posts yesterday was titled Megyn Kelly aka Megawattage Pivots to NBC - Fox News Brand In Play. That’s a horrible title - using two items of sports jargon- “pivot” and “in play.” If she had thought a bit longer, she might instead have said that Megyn had jumped from Fox News to NBC.

Pivot is:

“A term in basketball used to define both the act of keeping one foot in place while moving the other and the actual foot which remains on the ground. Keeping one foot in place is necessary when a player stops dribbling the ball but wishes to re-position himself for a pass or shot.” 

An image of a pivot is shown above. An article by Eric Ries on June 22, 2009 at Startup Lessons Learned titled Pivot, don’t jump to a new vision transferred the concept to business:

“I want to introduce the concept of the pivot, the idea that successful startups change directions but stay grounded in what they've learned. They keep one foot in the past and place one foot in a new possible future. Over time, this pivoting may lead them far afield from their original vision, but if you look carefully, you'll be able to detect common threads that link each iteration. By contrast, many unsuccessful startups simply jump outright from one vision to something completely different.”

UPDATE January 7, 2017

Very curiously today Jane Genova posted on "Pivot," "Deep dive," "Disrupt," et al. - Buzzwords Belonging in Graveyard. I wonder what started that.   

Eight memorable quotations from the late great Yogi Berra

Tuesday the famous catcher (and coach and manager) for the New York Yankees died at age 90. A memorial article in the New York Times was titled Yogi Berra, Yankee who built his stardom 90 percent on skill and half on wit, dies at 90.

Sports Illustrated reported back in 1986 he had protested that:

“I really didn’t say everything I said.”

Seven other of his quotations are:

“You can observe a lot by watchin.’ “

“It gets late early out there.”

“If you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

“We’re lost, but we’re making good time!”

“It’s déjà vu all over again.”

You’ve got to be careful if you don’t know where you’re going ‘cause you might not get there.”

“It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.”

All eight appear in the Yale Book of Quotations, edited by Fred R. Shapiro (2006). The last quotation was Yogi’s answer to a reporter in July 1973 - when he was managing the New York Mets. At that point they were nine games out from first place, but went on to win the division.  

The 1960 World Series (where Yogi was catcher for the Yankees) provided another demonstration for that quote. The Pittsburgh Pirates won it for their first time in 35 years. The Wikipedia page notes:

“The Yankees, winners of their 10th pennant in 12 years, outscored the Pirates 55–27 in this Series, outhit them 91–60, outbatted them .338 to .256, hit 10 home runs to Pittsburgh's four (three of which came in Game 7), got two complete-game shutouts from Whitey Ford - and lost.”

An Associated Press story provides 20 quotations. The image of Yogi’s Baseball Hall of Fame plaque came from Wikimedia Commons.

Another half truth - There’s no “I” in team

If you’ve listened to sports talk radio, or watched movies about sports or business, then you’ve probably heard that tiresome old cliche. But, if you step off the beaten track and use a font like Silom with a round top as shown above (or another with a square top) you can see that the space inside the “A” really does make an “I.”

Chris Muller included it on his list of Business Cliches That Must Die, and ranted:

“Seriously? We’re using spelling now for motivation? Although there’s no ‘I’ in team, there is a ‘me’, ‘am’, ‘eat’, and ‘meat.’ Not sure if that means anything, but based on spelling, I think the team should go out for a burger.”

British cartoonist Royston Robertson added:

“You’re right, there is no ‘I’ in team. But there is ‘tea’, so I’m nipping off for a break right now...”

Better still, if you look up team in the Oxford English Dictionary, you will find a 1688 alternate spelling of taime. So, there really is both an “I” and a “me” in team.