tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40528264670521029102024-03-14T11:49:30.265-07:00Epicurus GardenTom Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15096859615238138889noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052826467052102910.post-26455011553042415612024-03-02T03:23:00.000-08:002024-03-06T06:41:11.479-08:00A problem with NCAA basketball rules and shot clock standards<p>When the officials precisely follow the NCAA rules and approved rulings in certain venues, the 10-second backcourt violation becomes a defacto 9-second backcourt violation. But in other venues, this problem does not occur.</p><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;"><br style="outline: none;" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;">The NCAA has not standardized the display truncation specification for the shot clock. Some clock displays (Type 1) reach 20 at 10 seconds after the clock is started, and other displays (Type 2) reach 20 at approximately 9.01 seconds after the clock is started.</div><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;"><br style="outline: none;" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;">Approved Ruling 236 in the <i style="outline: none;">2023-2024 Men's Basketball Case Book</i> specifies that a 10-second backcourt violation has occurred when the shot clock display shows 20. This is the correct rule for Type 1 displays. For Type 2 displays, this is one second too early.</div><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;"><br style="outline: none;" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;">Video evidence of this clock specification problem is easy to find.</div><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;"><br style="outline: none;" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;">In this clip, we see a Type 1 clock in action:</div><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;"><br style="outline: none;" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;"><a class="yiv7499101346ydp4058aa8byiv9687425893" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2UhejNskDk&t=108s" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="color: #196ad4; outline: none;" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2UhejNskDk&t=108s</a><br style="outline: none;" /></div><div style="outline: none;"><br style="outline: none;" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;"><br style="outline: none;" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;">The Type 1 shot clock display ticks down to 0 at the precise moment the clock expires (at around 1:50 in the clip). So, of course, it ticks down to 1 when one 1 second is left and it ticks down to 20 when 20 seconds are left. And, of course, the clock is stated at the 30-second point.</div><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;"><br style="outline: none;" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;">Early in this next clip, we see the type 2 clock in action:</div><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;"><br style="outline: none;" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;"><a class="yiv7499101346ydp4058aa8byiv9687425893" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnJ1RuMl_c8" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="color: #196ad4; outline: none;" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnJ1RuMl_c8</a><br style="outline: none;" /></div><div style="outline: none;"><br style="outline: none;" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;"><br style="outline: none;" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;">The Type 2 shot clock display ticks down to 4.9 when 4.9 (or, perhaps 4.99) seconds are left. It ticks down to 5 approximately 1 second before that. I infer that the Type 2 clock implements the mathematical floor function such that it ticks to 5 at approximately 5.99 seconds. So, the Type 1 clock display ticks down to 20 at approximately 20.99 seconds. And, of course, the clock is started at the 30-second point. Hence, the display ticks down to 20 approximately 9.01 seconds after it is started.</div><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;"><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;">The second clip shows that the Dean Dome is equipped with a type 2 shot clock. With slightly less than 3:31 left in the second half of the recent 2/26/24 Miami-UNC game, RJ Davis caught an inbounds pass. After a couple of passes in the backcourt, Cadeau took possession in the backcourt. Cadeau passed to Ingram in the front court. But the officials stopped the clock before the shot clock reached 19. Therefore, there could not have been a 10-second backcourt violation at the time the clock was stopped unless the shot clock was started a bit too late. Overall there may have been a 10-second shot clock violation (a possibility arrived at by adding a fraction of a second based on a possible late clock-shot clock start and the fact that the clock was stopped before the ball was touched by Ingram).</div><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;"><br /></div></div><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;">One quick fix is to modify Approved Ruling 236 to specify that a shot clock display of 19 (instead of 20) indicates the violation in venues with Type 2 clocks</div><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;"><br style="outline: none;" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;"><br style="outline: none;" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;"><br style="outline: none;" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;"><br style="outline: none;" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;"><br style="outline: none;" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;"><br style="outline: none;" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="outline: none;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "lucida console", sans-serif; font-size: 13px; outline: none;" /></div>Tom Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15096859615238138889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052826467052102910.post-45189488205851822652015-08-10T07:12:00.000-07:002015-08-26T12:44:32.415-07:00Consistency Considered Harmful<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">It seems that almost
every parent swears by consistency. But
sometimes inconsistency is best.</span></span></h4>
<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">Well executed evidence-based
parenting methods typically start showing results in a matter of days. So, if you have doing the same thing
consistently for months on end with no results, then you need to change. I knew
a mom who started consistently reinforcing whining as soon as her kid started
talking, instantly reacting to whining by giving the kid face-time and saying “Use
your words”. Three years later, we kept
the kid for a few days and there was never any attempt to whine around us. But within minutes of the mom’s return the
kid whined at her. The mom immediately turned to the kid and said “no whining”
and the kid made a little pouty face and the mom immediately went over and
hugged the kid. It would be hard to
come up with a better operant conditioning procedure than this one for causing
whining. Since the kid never tried
whining around us, it’s likely that there were other adults in her life that
ignored whining and she had just quickly sized us up and categorized us with
those adults that don’t reward whining.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />Lots of immediate positive
attention at first is great for establishing a habit, but constant, consistent
praise of a specific behavior over the long haul creates a brittle habit that
tends to go away when the praise stops.
In her book <i>Don’t Shoot the Dog!</i>, one of the methods that Karen Pryor recommended
to get rid of a habit was to first subject it to constant positive
reinforcement for a while and then abruptly stop reinforcing it.</span></span></h4>
<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">Alan Kazdin, director
of the Yale Child Conduct Center, recommends, after a habit is established, fading praise to occasional. Variable reinforcement has long been known to
make a habit more robust, more resistant to extinction. Skinner proved this in experiments with
pigeons. The best policy is to inconsistently direct positive attention at a low rate toward an established good habit.</span></span></h4>
<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">But, inconsistency
can be bad. Variable reinforcement of
bad behavior will make it harder to get rid of that behavior. This variable reinforcement effect is
considered to be one of the factors in gambling addiction.</span></span></h4>
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Tom Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15096859615238138889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052826467052102910.post-13827428347357139592015-06-09T11:14:00.001-07:002015-06-10T11:08:53.025-07:00The Noble Prize for Parenting<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Well...not exactly. But James Heckman won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2000 for the evaluation of public policy bang for the buck and he has spent a great deal of time evaluating interventions that include improved parenting. Here's a paper by him:</span><br />
<a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w18121.pdf" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">http://www.nber.org/papers/w18121.pdf</span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">"The larger message of this paper is that soft skills predict success in life, that they causally </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">produce that success, and that programs that enhance soft skills have an important place in an effective portfolio of public policies."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">Some highlights from the paper:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">1. The paper has good things to say about Tools of the Mind:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<a href="http://www.toolsofthemind.org/" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">http://www.toolsofthemind.org/</span></a><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">2. Soft skills training has a long-term effect, and more so than early cognitive skills training. </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">Measured effects are more persistent. Enrichment enhances kids' early IQ scores but </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">this enhancement tends to fade away.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">3. Soft skills training enhances cognitive skills, but not visa-versa.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<span style="font-size: large; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">4. At least some of the Big Five personality traits can be enhanced via soft skills training, so the </span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">notion that genes and peers are the only factors determining these traits is flapdoodle.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">Some discount Heckman's work as being applicable only to low socioeconomic status(SES) groups, but I am not so sure. Soft skills </span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">deficiencies can be a limiting factor for a high SES kid. A prospective parent can probably look at how </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">soft skills deficiencies limited their own success and make some predictions about where the </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">problem areas might be for their own kids, on the assumption that deficiencies tend to be inherited.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">But it's true that Heckman thinks that, for maximum bang for the buck, public policy should focus more on:</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">low SES groups</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">kids before age five</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">prevention</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">soft skills.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">Three of those are relevant for high SES parents.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">Teachable skills like bicycle riding, juggling, swimming are retained long-term. Same goes for </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">teachable soft skills.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; text-align: justify;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; line-height: 17.2900009155273px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"Heckman sums up by saying "traits learned young, like perseverance and self-discipline, make it easier to acquire skills during the teenage years. Skills, that is, beget skills."</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; line-height: 17.2900009155273px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 17.2900009155273px;"><a href="http://www.preventionaction.org/people/skills-beget-skills-nobel-laureate-updates-view-early-intervention">http://www.preventionaction.org/people/skills-beget-skills-nobel-laureate-updates-view-early-intervention</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>Tom Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15096859615238138889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052826467052102910.post-79581176685482519132014-09-27T12:01:00.000-07:002015-06-09T11:25:19.056-07:00Canned Heat and the Flute Mystery<span style="font-size: large;">Here's Canned Heat playing their song "Going up the Country" at Woodstock:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Luq3g47cbWI"><span style="font-size: large;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Luq3g47cbWI</span></a><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Here they are playing the song in the official "Woodstock" movie, the version you all saw:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf0Dm-OaTNk"><span style="font-size: large;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf0Dm-OaTNk</span></a><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Notice anything different? Answer: the first one has no flute.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">See anything odd about this one?:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPcsNqPQuc0"><span style="font-size: large;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPcsNqPQuc0</span></a><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Answer: the guy "playing" the flute starts out blowing through the wrong end of the flute, but the notes seem to be coming out anyway. How the heck can that happen? Lip-syncing, I guess.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Canned Heat rewrote the lyrics of a 1920's song "Bull Doze Blues", renamed it, and used studio musician Jim Horn to play the flute part. The song went to #11 on the Billboard Charts and #1 in 25 countries, but they only had a flute player as a band member between 2000-2005 according to Wikipedia. The "Woodstock" movie used the studio recording, not the recording played at Woodstock.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">There is at least one Youtube version with Canned Heat and a flute player from 2014:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BD6K_WuNX0"><span style="font-size: large;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BD6K_WuNX0</span></a><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">In 1928, Henry Thomas played "Bull Doze Blues" solo with a guitar and a quills (a kind if pan flute) in a neck holder. Here's the original:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qo9R5kDZWY"><span style="font-size: large;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qo9R5kDZWY</span></a><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<br />
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<br />Tom Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15096859615238138889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052826467052102910.post-30835912541091621182013-08-26T08:46:00.001-07:002017-08-12T05:46:41.651-07:00The Reinforcing Power of Adult Attention for Children<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><em>...the discovery—of the reinforcing power of adults' social attention for children. We had never seen nor imagined such power! The speed and magnitude of the effects on children's behavior in the real world of simple adjustments of something so ubiquitous as adult attention were astounding. -</em></span><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1226164/">Tribute to Wolf</a> by Todd Risley</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">T</span><span style="font-size: large;">he power of adult attention has been extensively studied since
1960 and this research has resulted in child care methods that you would do
well to learn to use. Montrose Wolf discovered the
reinforcing power of adult attention and showed how the parent or caregiver can
use it to solve problems. Here’s a <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1226164/">tribute</a> to Wolf summarizing his career. Here's an <a href="http://groups.ku.edu/~endacottsociety/History/OralHistoryTranscripts/wolf.wpd.pdf">interview</a> with Wolf. His most well-known invention (with Arthur Staats) is time-out, but his most important discovery was that the redeployment of care-giver attention causes a 40-fold reduction in many common unwanted behaviors within 2 weeks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The basic technique is to give attention to the behaviors
you want and withdraw attention from the behaviors you don’t want. This puts things under your control, you need
to learn how to direct your attention to solve behavior problems and avoid
inadvertently creating behavior problems. If you want to become skilled at this, here are some resources for learning
the ropes:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.coursera.org/learn/everyday-parenting">"ABCs of Child Rearing" Online Course (free to audit)</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/10-tips-parents-defiant-children/story?id=8549664&singlePage=true"><span style="font-size: large;">10 Tips for Parents of Defiant Children</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.ldsparentcoach.org/Parental_Attention.html"><span style="font-size: large;">Parental Attention</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200109/why-our-kids-are-out-control"><span style="font-size: large;">Why Our Kids Are Out of Control</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.nemours.org/content/dam/nemours/wwwv2/filebox/service/health/parenting/tips/13plannedignoring.pdf"><span style="font-size: large;">Planned Ignoring</span></a><br />
<a href="http://alankazdin.com/"><span style="font-size: large;">Alan Kazdin, Director of the Yale Parenting Center</span></a><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://incredibleyears.com/">The Incredible Years</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/PowerofPositiveParenting">Power of Positive Parenting - Talks</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://ocw.usu.edu/Family__Consumer____Human_Development/oer-power-of-positive-parenting/">Power of Positive Parenting - Online Course</a></span><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">These books are the best:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<a href="http://incredibleyears.com/books/the-incredible-years-guide/"><span style="font-size: large;">Incredible Years (New)</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Incredible-Years-Trouble-Shooting-Guide/dp/1892222043/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377520871&sr=1-2"><span style="font-size: large;">Incredible Years (Used)</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Everyday-Parenting-Toolkit-Step---Step/dp/0547985541/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377520945&sr=1-4"><span style="font-size: large;">Everyday Parenting Toolkit</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Kazdin-Method-Parenting-Defiant-Child/dp/0547085826/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377520945&sr=1-3"><span style="font-size: large;">Kazdin Method</span></a><br />
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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</div>
</div>
Tom Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15096859615238138889noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052826467052102910.post-12424733050495194872011-12-16T07:17:00.000-08:002011-12-16T08:07:39.953-08:00Controlling Tantrums 101Perhaps parents can learn the principles of tantrum control by watching a few youtube tantrum videos.<br /><br />Many tantrums are the results of misdirected parental attention, as illustrated by this youtube video:<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KpSfThUv_pc" frameborder="0" width="420" height="315"></iframe><br /><br />But many parents can't seem to figure this out. At 1:15 in this next tantrum video, the parent hits upon the right strategy, but does not know how to follow through. Notice that the second he directs his attention from his tantruming daughter and redirects it to praising a well behaved kid, his daughter's tantrum starts to abate and she starts cooperating. He should have continued to praise the other kid and should have praised his daughter for putting on her shoes. But instead, he reverts to his usual pattern and the tantrum revs up again:<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5IM1p-Tn-jA" frameborder="0" width="560" height="315"></iframe><br /><br />Most parenting books are not based on evidence from research on how to control unwanted behavior, so they give poor guidance and even advocate methods that are known to increase unwanted behavior. One good evidenced-based parenting book is the Kazdin Method by Alan Kazdin, head of the Yale Parenting Center and former head of the APA:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.alankazdin.com/">http://www.alankazdin.com/</a><br /><br />Most unwanted behavior can be addressed by ignoring it and praising the opposite. Give your kids lots of praise and facetime when they are exhibiting good behavior and moving toward self-control. It OK and good to give a kid having a first tantrum a bit of empathy, but you need to move to ignoring pretty quickly to avoid reinforcing unwanted behavior and thereby getting more of the behavior that you don't want.<br /><br />Not all tantrums are attention-driven. Tantrums have other causes and it's good to try to ferret out the cause. Certainly a kid's early tantrums are initialy driven by frustration. It's only later that a kid learns that he can control his parents via tantrums, if the parents fall into the wrong response pattern.Tom Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15096859615238138889noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052826467052102910.post-78108002942867248832011-09-29T04:46:00.001-07:002015-06-10T05:14:08.504-07:00How to Find a Used Car with ESC<span style="font-size: large;">Electronic stability control (ESC) it the most important non-retrofittable safety feature in the history of the automobile. It prevents about 1/3 of fatalities. It's standard on all vehicles under 10,000 pounds starting with the 2012 model year. But finding it on an used car can be a challenge, particulary if you are looking for an older car or an economy car.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Web sites that can help you find the models that have ESC are:</span><br />
<a href="http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/safety-features"><span style="font-size: large;">http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/safety-features</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.safercar.gov/Vehicle+Shoppers/Resources/Vehicles+with+ESC"><span style="font-size: large;">http://www.safercar.gov/Vehicle+Shoppers/Resources/Vehicles+with+ESC</span></a><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It is optional on some models, so you have to bore down to the trims to see which trims have it as standard. I have not found a good tabulation page for trims, but Edmunds has information on the trims in its feature lists and reviews:</span><br />
<a href="http://www.edmunds.com/used-cars/"><span style="font-size: large;">http://www.edmunds.com/used-cars/</span></a><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Edmunds uses the term "stability control" for ESC.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">If it's optional on a trim then that typically means its could have been purchased as a standalone option, but few buyers did that so its probably going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack. (But VWs might be an exception to this rule - at least it seems to me to be easier to find a used VW with ESC as a standalone feature.)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Finally, you need to be aware that all these web sites, and other information sources, have errors. IIHS and Safecar conflict on the 2008 Malibu Hybrid. IIHS and Safecar both ignore the conversion van aftermarket where cargo van versions of certain passeger van models have been converted to passenger vans that don't have ESC. Edmunds lists the 2008 Malibu LS as having ESC, but it's not available on that trim. You need to confirm that the vehicle you buy has ESC. Used car ads, salespeople, and even window stickers are not reliable. Consulting the owner's manual will help. There is typically an off button for ESC or an icon that lights up during the icon check. (The icon check happens when you turn the key at or before starting the car.) It's not easy because almost every car maker has it's own product name for ESC:</span><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_stability_control#Product_names"><span style="font-size: large;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_stability_control#Product_names</span></a><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">(BTW, You will probably never need to use the ESC off button, check the owner's manual for when that is warranted.)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The search function at <a href="http://www.cars.com/for-sale/advancedsearch.action">cars.com</a> allows additional keywords to be specified to modify a used car search. Adding "stability control" as a keyword with the "Exact Search" option is a useful screen for vehicles with ESC, but I don't think its perfect.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Some of my favorite used cars with ESC:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The 2008 Chevy Malibu New Model (not Classic) LT or LTZ. Car of the Year in 2008.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Toyota 4Runners for the 2001 model year and later models. One of the earliest non-luxury models with ESC. </span><span style="font-size: large;">Might be possible to find a 2000 or later Toyota Avalon with ESC and side air bags for around $5000, but ESC was optional in the early years so it might take some digging to find one.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
Tom Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15096859615238138889noreply@blogger.com91tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052826467052102910.post-9124651548626987602010-03-11T11:45:00.000-08:002011-09-29T05:33:14.642-07:00Lack of ESC Awareness Kills PeopleBefore last September I had never heard of Electronic Stability Control (ESC), but a few months later I found myself blowing the whistle on the fact that the transit van I drive was not equipped with it:<br /><br /><a href="http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/abc11_investigates&id=7293228">http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/abc11_investigates&id=7293228</a><br /><br />ESC is a safety feature like no other. It’s second only to seat belts in preventing fatalities and (unlike seat belts) it cannot be retrofitted by practical means. So, once you buy a vehicle, you are stuck with what you have.<br /><br />It turns out that there have always been problematic trade-offs in fleet buying practices relative to cost versus safety. This combined with the current availability of this unusually important safety option is leading to a rash of bad decision making.<br /><br />ESC will be mandated by the NHTSA in late 2011 for all 2012 motor vehicles under 10,000 pounds. (I think that conversion vans may have another year to comply, I am not sure about this.)<br /><br />The NHTSA web site and the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS) web sites both say that ESC has been standard on all Ford and GM passenger vans since 2006, but this is not true. Both Ford and GM sell cargo vans without ESC to van conversion companies that covert them into 15-passenger vans. That’s how I ended up with a 2009 Ford E350 passsenger van without ESC. (The van I drive has has 13 seats, by the way)<br /><br />There is an ESC awareness program in Europe:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.chooseesc.eu/">http://www.chooseesc.eu/</a><br /><br />but there is nothing comparable in the USA. There are campaigns in Europe to try to get fleet buyers to equip vehicles with ESC, but no such effort in the USA:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/2010/2/18/fleet-sector-lags-behind-retail-with-esc-equipped­cars/32609/">http://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/2010/2/18/fleet-sector-lags-behind-retail-with-esc-equipped­cars/32609/</a><br /><br />I have made estimate that equipping 1700 vehicles with ESC on average saves one fatality over the life of the vehicles. So its realistic to think that an awareness program to get people to choose it prior to the mandate could save lives:<br /><br />1.53 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveld (vmt)<br />128,000 vmt per vehicles lifetime<br />1.9584 deaths per 1000 cars<br />0.3 = ESC fatality reduction (based on field data)<br />0.58752 lives saved per 1000 cars equiped with ESC<br />equipping 1702 vehicles save one lifeTom Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15096859615238138889noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052826467052102910.post-10808706270811817062007-01-30T04:49:00.000-08:002007-01-30T05:06:49.836-08:00Whitehouse.gov Search CensorshipTony Snow used the term "global warming" in his January 18, 2007 press briefing. But this reference is not found if you use the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)">whitehouse</span></span>.gov search function (you have to put the term in quotes). The search box is in the upper right corner of the main <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/">http://www.whitehouse.gov/</a> page. Part of the briefing is indexed, since the search turns up "addiction to oil" in the same sentence as "global warming". But it does not find "greenhouse" or "climate change" in that same sentence. However, "climate change" is indexed in many other cases. It is as if someone took "electronic white-out" and made part of a sentence disappear from the search indexing process.<br /><br />"Global warming" is indexed by the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)">whitehouse</span>.gov search function in one case, a memo that tries to cast doubt on human caused global warming. But, if you compare <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)">whitehouse</span></span>.gov searches with advanced <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)">google</span></span> searches limited to the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)">whitehouse</span></span>.gov domain, then you can find more examples of these curious <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">omissions</span> of "global warming" from the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)">whitehouse</span></span>.gov search function.<br /><br />The phrase "globe is warming" which was used by the President in one briefing is also not indexed by the search function.<br /><br />The word "<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)">plame</span>"and "<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)">joe</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)">wilson</span>" seems to be uncensored. I guess "global warming" is more sensitive to the White House?Tom Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15096859615238138889noreply@blogger.com4