  A random neighbor extremal stick-slip model is introduced. In the
thermodynamic limit, the distribution of states has a simple analytical form
and the mean avalanche size, as a function of the coupling parameter, is
exactly calculable. The system is critical only at a special point Jc in the
coupling parameter space. However, the critical region around this point, where
approximate scale invariance holds, is very large, suggesting a mechanism for
explaining the ubiquity of scale invariance in Nature.
