With the nomination of a jazz act (Diana Krall) in the album of the year category and a blues act that records for an independent label (Susan Tedeschi) for best new artist, the Grammys have also made a self-conscious attempt this year to diversify the top categories and make them more than a popularity contest judged by out-of-touch voters.
Both players, rumoured to being paid up to €100,000, were probably relieved that, unlike the epic, draining contests which made them famous, the two "semi-rapid" games last night would last just an hour each.
I don't know if this initiative will succeed — but if it does, it will transform American presidential contests by making them truly national races, in which every vote counts equally.
Cape Verde, whose population of 500,000 makes them the smallest country to contest a Nations Cup, will rue a combination of missed chances and the efforts of Kidiaba, who at 38 is the oldest player in the tournament.
Though as of now we don't plan to make this a contest, we'll still recognize the comments we like best by making them "Comments of the Moment" and, perhaps, highlighting them in other ways.
For 10 years I've worked to make election contests inhospitable to rich special interests.
Two recommendations were given in this paper to make SWC contests more effective in an extension strategy.
Contest designers often use tools to make a contest among asymmetric contestants more even, in order to either elicit higher effort levels, or for ethical reasons.
Both political parties are very supportive of the arts when they are in opposition because they can make minor political contests out of them.
