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No Give, No Take
From http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2012/01/no-give-no-take-in-israel-2.html :
I argued for a “no give, no take” system for organ donation–people who signed their organ donor cards would be given priority over non-signers should they one day need an organ. The idea has an element of justice to it but the primary goal is to increase the incentive to sign one’s organ donor card.
Israel recently adopted this policy by giving extra points on the allocation system to people who previously signed the organ donor card. In the case of kidneys, for example, two points (on a 0-18 point scale) are given if the candidate had three or more years previous to being listed signed their organ card. One point is given if a first-degree relative had signed and 3.5 points if a first-degree relative had previously donated.
It’s early but so far the policy appears to be very successful
Goals of sport funding
What inspired this post?
In 1981 the Commonwealth Government established the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS). The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) which administers the AIS has 2 objectives: (1) excellence in sports performances; and (2) increased participation in sports and sports activities. State-based institutes of sport have also been established with the same or very similar objectives. Federal policy directs the bulk of the ASC budget to elite athlete programs. A smaller proportion goes towards community participation. The official reason is based on the notion of the ‘trickle-down’ or ‘demonstration’ effect. That is, a flow-on of benefits to the broader community in the form of increased participation as a direct result of elite sports success. The aims of this study were to determine the (1) spending pattern to elite sports programs for the 5 Olympics 1976/77 to 1995/96, (2) evidence for the two ASC objectives having been met, and (3) expected medal tally at the 2000 Olympic Games. Results show funding (in 1998 dollars), has accelerated from about $1.2 million (1976/77) to $106 million in (1997/98), particularly since the Games were awarded to Sydney. The total amount spent on elite athletes was $0.918 billion. In the period 1980-96 Australia won 25 gold and 115 total Olympic medals. This equates to approximately $37 million per gold and $8 million per medal in general. There was a significant linear relationship between money spent and total medals won. This was also found when all medal types were analysed independently. The predicted medal tally in 2000 (based on the cost per medal and the expenditure towards Sydney) indicates the medal count will be about 14+/-1 gold, 15+/-2 silver and 33+/-4 bronze. Based on our nation’s record of international sporting achievement, there is little doubt we have fulfilled the ASC’s first objective. Current data on physical activity patterns of Australians suggest the second objective has not been met. Focusing attention on and achieving the first objective does not appear to have any bearing on the second objective. It is time to revisit the notion that elite sporting success leads to greater mass participation as a result of the so-called ‘trickle-down’ effect.
What is the ASC/AIS?
Our mission
‘To enrich the lives of all Australians through sport’
Our vision
To continue to be recognised as the world leader in developing high performance and community sport.
Our objectives
The ASC’s Strategic Plan 2006–2009 sets the direction, strategies and broad framework that allow the ASC to meet its statutory objectives and achieve the outcomes the Australian Government requires. The ASC’s key objectives are to secure an effective national sports system that supports improved participation in quality sport activities by Australians, and to secure excellence in sports performance by Australians.
Is the ASC meeting its non-elite objective?
No.
Is the ASC responsible for lifestyles of Australians? I would say this is implied within its lofty mission and goals. If these are not the case then why have an ASC at all?
How much money does the ASC/AIS spend?
My one question
Instead of a ‘trickle down’ effect from elite sports funding, why not rely on a ‘trickle up’ effect from community development?
Disclaimers and Assumptions
- Gold medals, although important and shiny, are not as important as the fitness of the population
- More athletes as a proportion of the general population will also increase the talent pool of potential medalists
- That increasing spending on community sports will increase participation in community sports
- I could not find data to verify the split between elite and community spending within the $250,000,000 to $300,000,000 spent each year.
- I suspect that the variance between the high of $308m and the low of $257m is accounted for by an ‘Active After-School Communities program’ (see below)
- I always roll my eyes whenever I hear ‘trickle down effect’. This is because:
- If you want to affect something, target it directly
- I always see the trickle as being a yellow liquid
Side notes
The ASC/AIC is administered under the department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, and not Health or Human Services.
A program to watch, from the budget papers:
The Government will provide $43.9 million over 2011‑12 and 2012‑13 to continue the Active After‑School Communities program for one calendar year until December 2012. The Active After‑School Communities program provides funding to around 2,000 primary schools and 1,300 out‑of‑school‑hours care services to deliver quality sport and other structured physical activity programs.
Sex Is Better Than Poetry
Sometimes I wander down memory lane;
Some things spring to mind straight away;
Sex in the previouis century
Is more vivid than poetry today.
I remember Helen; and Julie was fun,
And evenings with Evelyn were ace;
But Shakespeare and Milton and Wordsworth and Donne?
Disappeared for ever; no trace.
Who here has been rendered ecstatic
By Betjeman, Byron or Scott?
Is poetry better than sex?
No, it’s bloody well not.
Words it was not; it was women
Who took those sweet years of my time;
I never went down to the pub
To see if two sentences rhymed.
Nights down dark lanes in the back seats of cars;
Was it poetry that gave our hearts wings?
Was it poetry that steamed up the windows?
Was it poetry that tested the springs?
Did the thrill of iambic pentameter
Keep the fires of our passion red hot?
Is Poetry better than sex?
No, it’s bloody well not.
Remember the success of the musical “Hair”?
Did the words of its songs make it so?
Was it Glibby glop gloopy nibby nabby nooby
La la la lo lo?
Sabba sibby sabba nooby abba nabba;
Were we gripped by these words of the sage?
I think it had rather more to do
With naked bodies on stage.
Tooby ooby wabba nooby abba naba.
Am I impressed? Not a lot;
Is poetry better than sex?
No, it’s bloody well not.
Does my soul sing out for, say, Shelley?
No; his verses are just so much froth;
Should we have more sex on the telly?
Yes; though I sometimes fall off.
If you were alone in some far away place
And the evening was starting to drag;
If you had to choose, which one would you refuse;
The Lady of Shallot or a shag?
By the latter, in clarification,
I did not mean a guillemot;
Is poetry better than sex?
No, it’s bloody well not.
If poetry was better than sex,
There’d be a torrent of spam sent upon it;
‘Brazilian housewives read Shakespeare for you’;
‘Add an extra four lines to your sonnet’.
There’s no: “You are not Long, fellow;
The opposite sex will not like you;
They want a man with a big soliliquy
All you’ve got is a haiku.”
Does it matter how long a man’s poem?
No indeed; not a jot;
Is poetry better than sex?
No, it’s bloody well not.
Have I passed long years of pure pleasure
In pursuit of the most perfect rhyme?
Oh no; that to me is no treasure;
Procreation’s been the thief of my time.
And when I have something to say,
A passion I need to express,
Do I care overmuch about scansion and rhyme?
No.
Do I preach that we reach for some peach of a word?
No, I lob in some odd apricot;
Is poetry better than sex?
No, it’s bloody well not.
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure dome decree
And would that dome have poets in?
Not if it was up to me;
I get quite confused when I see a hand used
To write verse, whether rhyming or blank;
Some other employment would bring more enjoyment;
That’s what I think, to be frank.
The day that I’m cursed with a preference for verse
You can order my hearse on the spot;
Is poetry better than sex?
No, it’s bloody well not.
The odyssey, Illiad; in days far behind,
Did I seek out girls who could quote ‘em?
Is the way to my heart through the doors of my mind?
No, like most men, I’m led by the scrotum.
And when the debate has come to a close
And we’ve filled you with smiles and with laughter
Don’t come to us with your poems, my dears;
It isn’t your poems we’re after.
What are words when two souls might be dancing
That sweet horizontal gavotte?
Is poetry better than sex?
No, it’s bloody well not.
To keep me amused, I know which I’d choose;
But remind me, in case I’ve forgot;
Is poetry better than sex?
No, it’s bloody well not.
Les Barker – 2003
Weet Bix Crunch
WEET-BIX CRUNCH
- 4 crushed weet-bix
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 1/2 cups coconut
- 1 1/2 cups sifted self-raising flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 8 ozs margarine
Mix all dry ingredients, add melted margarine, mix then put into biscuit tray. Spread evenly.
Bake 15 – 20 minutes till brown at 220 Electric Oven.
ICING
Mix 2 cups Icing Sugar, 1 tablespoon Cocoa with 1 tablespoon margarine melted in 3 tablespoons boiled water.
Ice slice when cool.
The end of 2011, random 1am thoughts.
So we are drawing neigh to close.
The year most gone.
In our time ripose.
A perchance pregnant poignant reflection.
So thought of the next oncoming year.
It approaches ever on.
Consulted by unknown seer.
Her reply in unknown song.
So gander yonder past the future mists.
This too will reproduction.
With many a peer.
Onwards now lest times dissipation.
While poets will a waste,
and miss their own tastes,
next year – ah sure,
that will be the one,
No difference
What’s right before the gambling section of the newspaper? The gambling section of the newspaper (I.e. shares).
Travel Photo’s
Yes, they are still coming at some stage. I’m lazy I know, other stuff on at the moment.
