My Political Leanings
By Max | October 5, 2009
In my last post, I mentioned that my politics have changed since reading the book, “Collapse” by Jared Diamond.
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The Inevitable Collapse
By Max | September 27, 2009
I recently finished reading “Collapse” by Jared Diamond. His book has given me some new perspective on the world and caused me to change some of my past ideas about how society should be organized.
The basic theme of the book, is that a society will exploit its environment until they are either forced to make significant changes in their lifestyles or collapse. Mr. Diamond details some past societies and their collapses. While reading the book you discover there are a lot of parallels between some of these isolated failed societies and the global population today. Our world is headed for a collapse unless we collectively change our behavior drastically.
The chief environmental cause of our decline will be running out of oil as a fuel source. Oil can be viewed as the sun’s energy stored up over millions of years. Humans are currently exploiting this resource as fast as they possibly can. While we aren’t going to run out of oil any time soon, prices are going to rise quickly as demand increases and production slows or declines. Because oil is required for so many things that our world needs on a daily basis, large price increases are going to contribute to the decline in production of almost everything we need. This production decline will mean that we’ll all have to make do with less. Maintaining our current quality of life implies a huge decrease in the size of our population.
One thing I would have liked to see from the book is how the economy and politics of the world relate to the coming collapse. I think this would be an interesting topic, but would probably double the size of the book. Mr. Diamond has presented his case studies and mostly leaves it to the reader to draw their own conclusions about the future. One thing is certain, our world in 50-100 years will look vastly different that it does now.
While Mr. Diamond sprinkles in a couple messages of hope, I personally feel that the collapse is inevitable. He details a coupe of examples where crisis was averted by society. In perhaps the most relevant case of forest depletion in feudal Japan, it took a strong central authority to save the society. I don’t see how a democratically elected government would be able to wield the same power. History is littered with examples of democracies trading long term sustainability for short term benefits. Even though most voters will agree that oil is a nonrenewable resource, they also prefer to put off conservation decisions until a future date.
The obvious solution to these (and pretty much every other) problems is to reduce the size of the global population. Of course this will never happen. There are too many entrenched interests that desire to see ever increasing populations. If we don’t manage this change ourselves, it will be forced in one way or another upon us.
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How To Start a Football League
By Max | August 6, 2009
You may have seen in the news recently that the UFL is starting a new professional football league. This season, they’ll start with 4 teams and expand to 6 next year. If you have reservations about their chances for success, you’re not alone. There have been several attempts over the years to start a professional football league. I think many men in this country have a dream to one day own a football team, and since there aren’t many for sale, the only other option is to start your own even if the chances for success are low. Who wouldn’t want to employ a bunch of cheerleaders and get box seats for every game?
To date, only Arena Football has enjoyed any success as an upstart league. They managed to play for 22 seasons before the economic problems of 2008 forced the league to cancel the 2009 season. A number of teams came and went over the years, so the longevity of the league should not be mistaken as a great success, but they were a lot better than the USFL and the complete disaster called the XFL which folded after one season. Even the NFL’s own NFL Europe finally went the way of the dodo.
I have some advice for the UFL. This is how I would start the MaxFL.
Step 1: Play in the Spring/Summer
Right after the NBA playoffs, there is a dry spell in the sports world. ESPN starts showing reruns of poker tournaments and hotdog eating competitions while the rest of us try to stay interested in the boring middle part of baseball season. This time of year presents an opportunity for the aspiring football league. By June, we’ve all forgotten how bad our football teams were in the previous season, and start eagerly anticipating the fall. Playing games during this time of year gives the league its best chance of getting covered by sports writers. During the fall, writers and broadcasters are going to have plenty of better football stories to cover.
Step 2: Recruit the young guys
One mistake that UFL and XFL seem to be making is by hiring NFL rejects. Honestly, who is going to care about the athletes we know aren’t going to make it to the next level? Half of the names I saw on UFL rosters for this fall didn’t even ring a bell. This league needs to compete with the NCAA for talent, not the NFL.
The NFL has a rule that prevents them from recruiting players until they are three years out of high school. The UFL should use this fantastic opportunity. Fans will be a lot more excited to watch players they think have a shot at the next level. A certain type of player will welcome the opportunity to play for real cash rather than a pat on the back in the NCAA. Think about the true freshman who enters college and takes a big time program to a BCS bowl game. Everyone knows an NFL payday is in his future, but why should he slave away for a college program risking injury for nothing. Why not play for a decent salary in the UFL? The NFL will be in his future either way. The UFL should be happy to pick up these types of players. A great college player who receives national exposure will raise the profile of the league in the eyes of fans, since they know they are watching the future of the NFL. Compare this type of player to some of folks on the current UFL rosters. We know those guys aren’t likely to play on Sundays in the future.
Step 3: Cheap beer nights
I know beer sales provide great margins to sports teams. The NFL can get away with charging us $8 per beer because they know we’re going to go to the game regardless. The UFL should make a point to sell beer for as cheap as possible. Charging $2 or maybe even $1 for a small cup should do the trick. Their target demographic likes to drink. The league should want these guys to have a blast at their first game so they’ll keep coming back. Nothing will pack them in or provide as good a time as much as $2 beers. Hire a few cute waitresses to staff the beer garden and you’ve just provided someone the perfect Friday night.
When I lived in Portland, I used to love going to see the Beavers’ games on “Thirsty Thursdays”. They charged $2 per beer and I think everyone under the age of 30 showed up. I had more fun on those Thursday night minor league games than I ever had at a MLB game. Once I went for a game during a regular night and was amazed at the difference in attendance. Do yourself a favor UFL, keep the beers cheap and don’t cut us off until the game is over.
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How To Buy BCS Championship Game Tickets CHEAP
By Max | December 8, 2008
Is your team in the BCS National Title game? Perhaps you would like to buy tickets to another bowl game. After my team Penn State beat Ohio State, their remaining schedule looked pretty easy, so I went ahead and purchased some title game tickets. Unfortunately those seats were quite expensive, ringing in at around $700. I found a way to save a boatload of money on these seats using MSN Live search cashback. Here’s how…
Step 1:
Go to www.live.com and search for “bcs championship game tickets”.
Step 2:
This search will yield some sponsored links, one of which will hopefully be for ebay tickets. Click that one.
Step 3:
Clicking the sponsored link will bring you to ebay’s website. From here you should find the tickets you wish to buy and click the “Buy It Now” option to purchase them. If there is a little yellow dollar sign icon next to the auction listing, then you’ll know it is eligible for Microsoft cashback. You must use Paypal and “Buy it Now” to pay for the tickets.
Step 4:
Register for a Microsoft Cashback account. You may already have a Live ID which you’ll then use to create a cashback account.
Step 5:
Check your ebay mail inbox. It may take a couple hours, but you should soon receive an ebay message concerning the cashback for your purchase. The message will look like this:
The ebay message is how you link your livesearch cashback account to your ebay account. Once Microsoft knows that you have completed your purchase then they will credit your cashback account. I got my rebate through paypal. The rebate is instant if the item you are ordering cannot be returned. Otherwise you will have to wait 60 days.
After up to a day you should check your Live Cashback account to make sure that your rebate has been awarded. The percentages vary from day to day. When I bought my tickets, you could get 25% back, but at the time of writing, only 8% is available. If I were you I would wait to see if that goes back up. Also you can use this procedure to buy practically anything from ebay.
There is a limit to using cashback. You may only earn $2500 in total. Also there is a $200 limit per transaction. Since tickets are so expensive, if you want to go with a friend, the best strategy is to find an ebay auction where there are several tickets listed for for sale individually. An auction like this will have a listing title that appears something like this: “1-8 BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME TICKETS MIAMI 1/8/09″. This means you can buy any number up to eight tickets and they’ll be together. Buy one for yourself and have a friend use his own cashback account to get a second ticket. My friend and I found a listing we liked and emailed the seller to see if he could relist the auction as two individual tickets so that we could both get the discount. That worked pretty well too.
Also if you want to buy my tickets from me, send me an email since my Nittany Lions are headed to the Rose Bowl instead. 
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Penn State Can Get Er Done
By Max | October 28, 2008
PSU’s remaining games…
@Iowa is imo the biggest challenge. They are only 9 points away from being undefeated right now and their defense is statistically in the top 10. PSU always plays much better at home than on the road, so Iowa has a chance. Clearly PSU is the better team and coming off a bye with plenty of time to prepare, but this hawkeye team will be a bigger challenge than many think. If the spread is anywhere close to 14 points, I am probably going to bet on them covering.
Indiana – no problem, guarenteed win
MSU – MSU does have a history of upsetting the Lions and other ranked BigTen teams. They even pull it off on the road, however this Spartan team is different than in years past in that their strength comes from the run game rather than the pass. PSU has a great line, and even with injuries the LBs are certainly capable. We will be able to contain Ringer, and I don’t think MSU has a good chance for an upset. It would require a few turnovers for them to get it done.
BCS title game –
I am tired of hearing how bad the Big Ten is and that PSU is unworthy to play in the big game. People point to the last two years’ OSU teams. Well, how about OSU in 2002? Miami was supposed to blow them out. Penn State in ‘86 was going to get stomped by another Miami team. There are a lot of factors besides talent that will weigh on the outcome of a game. If PSU brings their best, I am confident they can compete with anyone.
FACT: The last 4 teams to win the BCS title all had top 10 defenses. PSU is 3rd right now. Where are the best Big12 teams? Texas is the best of the bunch and they are barely in the top 30. TT, OkSU, and Oklahoma are on back a bit further. Many of these teams played absolutely no one in their OOC schedule, so its hard to say how they would stack up out of conference. I am not saying the Big12 is weak or uncompetitive, I am just saying there are still question marks about how their conference champ would perform in the title game. Defenses win championships!
Alabama has a good defense, and if they win their conference, they certainly deserve their title shot. How would they do against PSU on a neutral field? I bet Vegas would have the line within 3 points. Alabama has certainly had a couple close games with weaker opponents and of the four BCS unbeatens, most would pick them to end the season with a loss.
Of the top 5 or 6 teams, USC has the most impressive out of conference win. They beat OhioSU, a team PSU also beat. Obviously, the TRojans were more impressive, but PSU won theirs on the road, and used the run to shorten the game.
I have listed the other signature OOC wins here…
1 – Texas – terrible Arkansas team
2 – Alabama – underachieving Clemson team
3 – PSU – Oregon St. a team which beat USC and is still in the hunt for a Pac-10 title
4 – Oklahoma – TCU is at least ranked
5 – USC – OSU a team PSU also beat
6 – GA – beat a terrible ASU team
7 – Texas Tech – didn’t even recognize the names of some of their OOC games
Part of PSU’s schedule problem is the fact that the two big10 teams they aren’t playing, NW and Minn, are having decent years. PSU has been taking care of business with they teams they do play though and are currently the only team ranked in the top 10 for offense and defense statistically.
Are they the best team in the country? Probably not, but they are pretty good. Are they deserving of a shot to play for the title if ranked in the top 2 BCS? If they take care of the next 3 games, I think so. You never know which team is going to get up for the big game and I think it is naive to just assume PSU will get blown out because of OSU’s troubles the past two years.
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Penn State vs. Ohio State!!
By Max | October 21, 2008
Does anyone really believe that OSU can compete with this?
I have been thinking about this weekend’s game nonstop. It is the defacto Big10 championship game. Last week was the first time this season that Ohio St. actually looked like the team ranked in the top 10. Lets put this weekend’s matchup into perspective though.
The Ohio State University scored 6 touchdowns.
TD 1: MSU shanks the punt, OSU gets the ball with only 47 yds to go.
TD 2: After a fumble, OSU only has 17 yds to score.
TD 3: Another short field (57 yds) results in an OSU TD after a low percentage 56 yd. Pryor pass completion.
TD 4: Legit OSU TD where they have to drive 77 yds over 9 plays.
TD 5: Defense scores off fumble.
TD 6: Defense scores off fumble.
As you can see, everything that could go wrong for MSU did go wrong. Giving OSU turnovers and short fields is a quick way to land your team into a big point deficit. MSU has a strong running game this year, but once they found themselves down 4 TDs, the play calling would have to compensate by adding in some more passing plays.
The score last week doesn’t reflect the actual strength of the OSU offense. PSU only has to accomplish two things to win this game. First, they have to avoid mistakes early making OSU drive the length of the field. Then the PSU defense needs to show up strong against the OSU running game to force Pryor to beat them through the air. Thats the key to victory and the Big 10 championship.
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Vote For Change
By Max | October 15, 2008
Undecided voters listen up! The third party debates are going to be held this Sunday at 8pm EST. If you’re like me and haven’t yet decided whom to vote for, then you should tune in. The broadcast will be shown on CSPAN or across the internet at http://www.thirdpartyticket.com.
The good news is that all four of the third party candidates are anti-war and anti-bailout. So if the Republicrats’ lack of choice in this election has frustrated you, perhaps you can find a better match for your ideology by watching these debates.
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The European Weightloss Plan
By Max | October 10, 2008
I came back from Europe a few pounds lighter. I think I probably lost about 10 pounds over there. Walking around, seeing the sites all day can really burn some calories I guess. It is pretty much impossible to go to Europe and not spend lots of time walking around. You don’t really need to rent a car in most cities and even if you did, it would be difficult to find parking. In some places I didn’t even take much public transportation because of all the interesting stuff was within walking distance. This is a lot different compared to most of my American vacations where I eat and drink so much I usually gain some weight. So if you’re thinking you would like to try to lose some weight, here’s what you do:
Step 1: Go to Europe. (this is the hard part)
Step 2: Spend most of your day walking around to all the sites. One good suggestion I have is to go to Prague walk up the massive hill to the castle, remember that you left your camera in your hotel, then walk back down to get it. Return to the castle with your camera. That right there will probably leave you quite hungry.
Step 3: Eat and drink whatever you want.
Step 4: If you find this plan helpful, please send me $10 on paypal to mxt196@yahoo.com
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Last Day In Berlin, Potsdam
By Max | October 5, 2008
Last night’s game was awesome. Penn State handled Purdue a lot better than the score indicated. Their one touchdown was penalty assisted, and PSU missed a couple of opportunties. The score could easily have been 30 – 0. Not bad for the first Big Ten road game. I think Daryll Clark will be much more confident heading into the Wisconsin game which should be our first real test.
After the game, I went out with the Australians from the hostel again. We found out about another warehouse party. This place was the largest club I have ever been to. There must have been a thousand people crammed into a giant warehouse. We were told to arrive at midnight, and we partied until 5:30am. It was pretty fun. Berlin has definitely lived up to its party reputation. I don’t think these people sleep.
Today it rained, but I decided to check out Potsdam on a whim. I know everyone loves analogies, so Potsdam is to Berlin as Versailles is to Paris. There are several palaces in Potsdam as well as one of the largest gardens in Europe. Frederick the Great and the other Prussian Kaisers hung out there. I took a 2 hour bus tour, but to do it right, you need to really get there early and spend the whole day walking around to the different sites. Our bus just drove us around and we snapped a few quick photos, but didn’t have time to actually walk into any of the palaces. That was fine with me, because I was cold and wet most of the time, but if I ever go back, I’ll make sure to plan better.
This famous photo was taken at one of the Potsdam palaces:
And so was this less than famous photo:
Topics: Europe, Max | 4 Comments »
Live From Berlin, It’s Penn State
By Max | October 4, 2008
I am watching the PSU game right now, live streaming on the internet here in Berlin. I am so excited I can’t contain myself. Hopefully we win this first Big Ten road game.
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