Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Do you get this type of communication from your managers? Leadership requires clear thinking and concise communication. Everytime I get rushed and don't think through instructions I really get down on myself. Try this communication on for size. It's from the fitness director of a gym to one of his instructors. "The workers in the room you use for your evening class are puzzled about what to do with your equipment in the morning." When the instructor shared that with me, I was puzzled, too. There was no problem definition, solution, directive, request for more information or meaning. Actually, the evening custodial staff puts the equipment away when they clean the room. It's been going on for five years. We don't know from this epistle what changed, who's responsible, if there's really a problem, what we should do (I'm the substitue instructor) or whom we should call. --Still Puzzled in Sidney 9:25:41 PM    comment []

The Soccer Answer Man I'm neck deep in soccer right now. Just taught a class on the Offside Law at an Entry Level Referee Clinic. Now I'm assigning referees to Spring Youth games, fall high school games and the 11th annual Sidney Mayfest Youth Tournament. Not to mention making sure I'm ready to run Sunday at my first matches of the year as a referee at Wittenberg Univ. Got to thinking, I've been asked several times on trips to explain Offside. It's the shortest of the 17 Laws of the Game, but it's easily the most controversial. It's also very simple if you look at it logically. There are three things in the decision matrix: Offside position Interfering with play or gaining advantage Moment the ball was played by a teammate The next thing you must know is that the Assistant Referee is the only person at a match who is giving (I hope) undivided attention to offside. Other people watch the ball, and, by the time they see the play, the situation has undoubtedly changed. So, Offside Position If a player is nearer to the opponent's goal line than the ball or two defenders, then the player is in an offside position. There is no penalty for being in an offside position. A player cannot be in an offside position on his/her own side of the pitch (the name of the playing field), and cannot be offside on a goal kick, corner kick or throw in. Infringement IF the player is in an offside position at the moment a teammate plays the ball (only teammate, not opponent), AND IF the player interferes with play or is involved in active play, THEN the player is judged to be Offside. That's it. I teach new referees to a) always be aware of who is in an offside position, b) be aware of when a teammate plays the ball, and c) wait to signal an infringement of the Law to make sure that the player in an offside position is the one who becomes involved in the play. If all three conditions are met, raise the flag straight up to signal to the referee an infraction. The Assistant Referee (the one who runs along the Touch Line with a flag) is always positioned even with the second-to-last defender or the ball (whichever is closer to the goal line). This puts the AR in ideal position to judge offside position. At higher levels of play when forwards and defenders are both fast and intelligent, making this judgement requires tremendous concentration. By the way, if you see the AR standing erect with the flag raised and stationary, that is the signal for offside. If the AR gives a little wave of the flag while it's raised, the the AR is signaling a foul. When you watch the World Cup this summer, watch to see how many commentators get confused about the calls. It's really very simple. 9:14:11 PM    comment []

Pinto's e-news The latest Jim Pinto eNews is up. He has an interesting discussion of National Instruments that is "spot on" as they say. I remember going to my first NI Week users conference in 1998 expecting a small gathering of instrumentation geeks. I was blown away by the technology they had developed. An interesting thread to cover that Jim didn't would be the evolution the company has made from PC-based "virtual instrumentation" (you gotta know the term "vi" to talk with NI people) through embedded PC technologies to their FPGA programmable devices. It's also a believer in standards. I've played with LabView. It's a lot more fun than ladder logic. Second item is in the feedback section about the closing of what was known as the Cutler-Hammer Automation Center, aka the old IDT panel display and computer business. I've visited there two or three times, but not in the last 4 or 5 years. Somewhere around 2000 or maybe even 1999 I noticed a "brain drain" of automation people from C-H (now Eaton Electrical). For several years, the only things I hear (and that's not much) from Eaton regards electrical power distribution. I've made email contact with a marketing person through soccer contacts trying to get an update, but we haven't been able to coordinate schedules. As I learn more, you'll hear more. 7:29:24 AM    comment []