Curling

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Curling 101 (An Infographic)

I’m not sure if I ever mentioned it before but I was a pretty good curler in high school. Well, good is a relative term. I could make an Olympic caliber shot if the moment called for it once out of ten or twenty times. That’s the difference between your beer leaguer and your Olympic star. The guy at the club can make the perfect shot one out of 20 times. The guy you’re watching on TV will do it 18 or 19 times out of 20.

Anyway, Smarter Every Day has a handy infographic and video explaining the basics of curling and the science behind curling a stone. It seems so simple when you watch it on TV. In practice, not so much.

Continue reading →

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How To Fix Curling Overtime

On the rare occasion, a top-level curling game will be tied after the end of regulation. Like many other sports, overtime in curling is sudden death. The first team to score walks away with the win. However, like the NFL’s overtime, there is a decided advantage with getting your hands on the rock at a certain time. Opposite to a football game, if a curling team throws second and has the final stone of the extra end, they have a decided advantage over their opponent. And, typically, if the extra end finishes in a tie, the game goes to a closest draw to the button contest to win. That’s the curling equivalent of a shootout. It’s not been an issue of contention yet but with it being an event with big Canadian hopes, the added focus could result in a crisis if a nation feels screwed. So what’s the best solution? I tell you after the jump. Continue reading →

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Last Call: Education Piledriver

Let’s end today with a couple of education stories:

An education thinktank believes that the government of Ontario should increase university tuition by 25% in order to deal with the recession.  Their thinking is that this will keep the quality of education at the current level.  Of course, the middle class will no doubt call “shenanigans” on this plan and bounce the government if they go through with this. 

But maybe there is a point to raising tuition.  After all, look where the economy went with the current education system.  If somehow dumb people can be filtered out of the education system, then that would help the everyone out a whole bunch.  After all, there’s a fair number of people that have shitloads of book smarts but are an unmitigated disaster if you take them away from a text book.

The second story comes from Connecticut’s education system.  In what also could be considered governmental suicide, Linda McMahon (yes, the same that is married to Vince McMahon and is the CEO of the WWE) has been appointed to the Connecticut state board of education.  At the very least, I’m sure she’ll have some unique solutions to deal with problems in the classroom.

And just because I can put it here, Total Pro Sports points out something curling fans already know.

25% Tuition Hike Touted [Toronto Star]
Linda McMahon Piledrives Her Way Onto Board of Education [Rumors & Rants]