Jedi Church ... Why Not?

It turns out that there is now an official "Jedi Church" ... and why not?

Sure, you have to get past the obvious tongue-in-cheek Star Wars movie tie-ins. But otherwise ... if you think about it, the underlying philosophical principles of the Jedi are not so completely out of whack with our current society. Given the political, economic, and sociological turbulence surrounding us across the globe, it seems to me that people are craving something new and refreshing to believe in. Perhaps a "religion" whose core tenets include beliefs that "there is one all powerful force that binds all things in the universe together" and "there is an innate sense of morality inside every one of us" is just the cure for what ails many people today. Folks tend to find solace wherever they feel most comfortable.

Hey, then again, as a disillusioned Catholic who married a Jewish woman and spent most of last year in Islamic countries, perhaps I'm not the best judge of religious doctrines?! After the latest Star Trek movie comes out in a few weeks, I might switch my affiliation to either "Vulcan" or "Klingon" (I don't think I'd fit in as well as a "Romulan"). ;-)

"Living the Map"

I love it when people intentionally take unique turns with their lives. For example, one of my best friends from high school is finishing up a 5-year sail around the world ... with her husband and two young sons!

I recently came across another individual living an interesting life. A 26-year-old guy named Daniel Seddiqui came up with a unique approach to figuring out "what he wants to be when he grows up": he's trying to work 50 different jobs in 50 weeks ... in 50 different states! Talk about a terrific job-searching and soul-searching experience! He's calling it "Living the Map", and he's currently 31 weeks into the project. As you can imagine, he's garnered lots of media attention, too.

BTW ... those of you who know me very well may notice something interesting at the bottom of Daniel's home page. He organized his photo gallery by state and used photos of each stateline sign as the home page icon linking to each state's photos. A number of years ago, I started collecting photos of stateline signs during my travels. I'm up to 43 (including Alaska and Hawaii!), but I've been stuck for a while. I need to make a return trip to the Pacific Northwest (I was in Oregon and Washington BEFORE I started collecting snapshots) and a doubtful swing through the northern Midwest (Minnesota, Michigan, etc.). The novelty of the project wore off a long time ago, so now it's just a matter of my not wanting to give up without crossing the finish line. We'll see!

Death and Taxes

A while back I was looking for a breakdown of the U.S. Federal budget, just so I could figure out where NASA's budget fit into the big scheme of things. I came across this incredibly useful visualization.

click for larger image
or here for more interactive version

Talent = Hard Work + Luck

Even if you haven't read Malcolm Gladwell's latest book, Outliers, you probably heard about one of his key concepts: the "10,000 hour rule". Essentially, Gladwell studied the backgrounds of many truly exceptional people to find out what made them stand out from the rest of us "normal" people. One thing he found is that most of these "outliers" became truly exceptional only after spending at least 10,000 working in their particular field. This roughly equates to ~10 years.

Since this July will mark my 10-year anniversary working with entrepreneurs and startup ventures, I keep telling my wife that our gravy train is just now getting ready to leave the station. Ha! At least Kirby Ferguson made me laugh with this video take on Gladwell and others:

Absolutely INSANE Bicycle Riding!!!

I previously wrote about "Parkour" (or "free running") and how amazing it is to watch these guys do what they do in an urban setting. Well, here comes "Parkour for Bikes" ...

My youngest child is just about ready to ditch the training wheels on his bike, and my second oldest is just starting to try some small tricks (e.g., riding with no hands, wheelie, bunny hop, ramp jumps, etc.). However, you can imagine how blown away they were by this video of what Danny MacAskill can do on a bicycle. Of course, I had to remind them that he must practice A LOT to get this good. ;-)




Danny Macaskill : Next level street trials from brainchild-films on Vimeo.

Innovative (If Not Workable) Concept Airplanes

This recent article does a great job of compiling and describing a slew of cool-looking airplane prototypes and concepts. Here is a sampling:

Ideo Lab's "Rube Goldberg Machine

For years I've been continually impressed with the high-caliber creative thinking that seems to roll out of Ideo Labs on an almost routine basis. So it did not surprise me too much when one of their corporate "team building" exercise became an instant Web sensation a few months ago. For those of you who missed it, you can read about this project and watch the video on their blog. Essentially, they spent two weeks devising a ultra-complex "Rube Goldberg machine" that would in effect connect all of its worldwide offices. Talk about a great way to build group unity, foster a fun work environment, AND inspire creative thinking among your team!

Speaking of Interesting Photos ...

Here's one that falls into the category of "it's GOT to be fake!" (even though it is a genuine photo from NASA's archives): the Space Shuttle Discovery is on the launch pad in Florida when replicas of Christopher Columbus' original exploration vehicles passed by. Talk about a passing of the torch!

click image to view original at TwitPic

Photos Taken at Unusual Angles

Just about everyone I know has taken the funny photos of themselves picking a President's nose in front of Mt. Rushmore or pushing over the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We love to have fun with how unusual angles can make for amusing images. This site collected a bunch of creative shots ... here's a sample that I call "Jet-Powered Bird":