Choke

The point put forth in this post explains, in part, the problem with all of your previous posts, especially about sports and choking under pressure. Another "head" was desperately needed to explain to you such basic things as (too much) fan support had nothing whatsoever to do with Tiger Woods' performance at the 2010 Masters or that he even "choked." Another "head" was needed to explain to you that a statistical analyses was needed before you impulsively argued that A-Rod choked in going from 599-600 home runs, or that great players can't become great coaches (wrong!), or that practice should be similar in nature to performance (Duh!), or saying silly things like playing video game "eight hours a day, every day, will likely have diminishing returns in terms of reorganizing the brain to support exceptional performance" (OMG!), or that ALL of the broad generalizations you make do not lead to a deep understanding of a topic and that "averages" do NOT help THE individual(i.e., all generalizations are false!).

I'm convinced...we should definitely ask more novices about the problems in Japan. Maybe some people who flunked out of the Physics program at State U. can tell us what is really going on in Japan, given all of the "misinformation" being posed by experts.

Also, kudos for referencing a study with absolutely no real-world value. Consumers do not operate new technology in a vacuum, and unless they have no friends, family, etc. or a customer service line to call, are not going to take 30 minutes to figure out a phone. And who wants a salesman that is going to say "oh, this is going to take quite a while for you, a new user, to figure out." Yeah, that will sell phones! Kind of like "hey, if you read "Choke" it will put you years behind the curve in terms of intellectual thinking." Sure, it may be true, but it won't sell any books.

Moderator: In an effort to curb misconceptions about the health consequences of the disaster here in Japan, we are not only bringing in a nuclear expert to the table for our discussion tonight, but someone with less knowledge as well. This less knowledgeable individual will help bring to the forefront the misconceptions people have and keep everyone on the same page. We are doing this in an effort to mitigate against the curse of expertise.

Moderator: Okay, let's start our discussion tonight with nuclear engineer, Dr. Mayumi Negishi. Dr. Negishi, can you tell us how this disaster compares to 3 Mile Island and to Chernobyl? What are the best and worst case scenarios going forward?

Dr. Negishi: Comparing this to Chernobyl is like apples and oranges. Two completely different types of reactors in every way and at Chernobyl they were attempting to perform a test and they purposely turned off their redundant safety systems. Instead of stopping the experiment when the test conditions were not met, they tried to force the reactor to produce those conditions, which caused the reactor to ramp up and run out of control with no safety mechanisms in place and leading to a hydrogen explosion the exposed the core and spewed radioactive material making thousands of acres uninhabitable for several lifetimes. TMI’s incident is a little closer even though it also is a different type of reactor and design from Fukushima. Its similar in that the coolant pumps failed and the reactor shutdown, but TMI also had a pressure operated relief valve which was stuck closed not allowing coolant from the emergency tank into the reactor vessel which allowed half the core to become uncovered and to melt. The radiation released from that incident however didn’t even get close to the amount you would normally receive annually from nature. So the reality is that the situation at Fukushima Dai-ishi is entirely unique. The best we can hope for is that they are somehow able to put out the fire and be able to get cooling water into the reactor vessels and spent fuel pools and bring the temperatures back under control. Worst case scenario would be a Chernobyl type event where containment is breached and there is a massive release of radioactive particles into the environment for miles and into the natural water table.

Moderator: Great. Thank you very much, Dr. Mayumi Negishi. Now, let's welcome Sushi restaurant manager Mr. Shigeaki Ohashi. Mr. Ohashi, can you tell us your thoughts about how this disaster compares to 3 Mile Island and to Chernobyl? Also, what are the best and worst case scenarios going forward?

Mr. Ohashi: What the hell are you talking about?

Moderator: And there you have it, folks! Mr. Ohashi has just balanced the response from Dr. Negishi. Thanks for tuning in tonight. Goodnight and good luck.

[Break to commercial]

NASCAR race cars are becoming more complex as their performance and safety technology evolves. One result is that more people need to be in the driver's communication loop. In addition to the team manager, crew chief and spotter ...

... let's have a less knowledgeable person - someone with different types of information and knowledge - talk with the driver during the race. According to that important study you cited, having this additional less knowledgeable person talk with the driver during the race will help the driver to get the race car around the track as quickly and safely as possible!