Personal Dialect Map

Over the past week, my Facebook network has been buzzing with conversations about a new "personal dialect map". This is an online quiz that asks you 25 questions about how you use the English language (e.g., pronunciation, descriptive terms, idioms, etc.) and then uses your answers to create a personal map of what parts of the U.S. you're most similar to (and most unlike). The quiz seems to be incredibly accurate.

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the quiz determined that I speak most like someone from ... the San Francisco Bay Area.

My wife grew up in Northern New Jersey, and the quiz determined that she speaks most like someone from ... New Jersey.

The more interesting results came for my 14-year-old daughter and my 12- year-old son (we figured my 8-year-old son was too young to generate valid results). We've moved around a bit, and my kids have been raised in San Francisco, then Northern Virginia (near DC), then Seattle, then South Florida (near Miami), and then/now Atlanta. We were curious what the quiz would say about their dialects.

The quiz determined that Rebecca speaks most like someone from Seattle and that Daniel speaks most like someone from Miami. Interesting. Thinking about this further, we realized that Rebecca spent 5th-7th grades in Seattle and that Daniel spent 6th grade in South Florida. I realize this is only two data points, but ... could it be that Americans today tend to develop their dialects during middle school (i.e., their "tween" years)?

Hmmmmm ....

Guide to International Problem Solving

Given the ongoing frequency of my international travel, I thought this was insightful and funny (if not painfully stereotypical):

Frank Medrano

As part of my ongoing fitness training, I recently started focusing more on "bodyweight exercises". This is where you use only the weight of your own body to provide the resistance in strength training. In other words, no free weights.

While the common thinking is that you cannot build up large defined muscles without free weights, Frank Medrano is proof positive that it IS possible. In fact, some of the stuff this guy can do is simply amazing ... and inspirational.

Pentatonix

I've always been fascinated by a capella music, especially modern versions where vocalists make such incredible sounds using only their voices. Most recently, I've been especially blown away by a young LA-based quintet called Pentatonix. This video is by far their most amazing (and popular) work so far:

NBA Christmas Commercial - 2013

This is one of my favorite commercials in a long time. Never mind the online controversy over the fact that it was shot in front of a green screen and therefore "not real". It's still very creative and greatly entertaining. Enjoy!

Psi U + Transformers

During my undergraduate days at UC Berkeley, I was part of a fraternity called Psi Upsilon. Since "Psi U" was a primarily East Coast fraternity, it was rare for me to ever find anyone who had ever heard of it. In fact, many people thought I was making it up.

So you can imagine my surprise a few weeks ago when I was watching Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and saw my fraternity featured prominently in one of the scenes! As it turns out, the director of the movie, Michael Bay, is a Psi U brother from Wesleyan University (we graduated roughly around the same time). Small world!

Van Damme and Volvo

Growing up as a teenager in the '80s, I couldn't help but love Jean-Claude Van Damme. I even tried becoming more flexible, so that I could do they splits as easily as he could. Well, he's now 53 years old, and he's STILL doing his famous splits. Check out this amazing commercial he did for Volvo:

"Dream Bigger, Change History"

On October 31, 2013, I moderated a roundtable discussion at the Pioneers Festival in Vienna, Austria. The "Explorers Panel" including Ariel Fuchs of SeaOrbiter and Bas Lansdorp of Mars One, both of whom are working on incredibly ambitious entrepreneurial ventures. The Festival was a 3-day celebration of technology innovation, with 50+ speakers, 25+ startups, and 2500+ attendees.

There were some technical glitches that prevented the introduction and conclusion from going exactly as planned, but overall the entire session went quite smoothly.

It consisted of 4 sections:

• Part 1: "Dream Bigger, Change History"
• Part 2: Highlights from my professional life
• Part 3: Panel discussion
• Part 4: Conclusion

Here is the video:

Since the final edit of the public video focused more on me and the panelists than on the constantly changing slides, here is the entire slide presentation:

Best Emergency Exit Sign ... Ever

This is a hilariously appropriate emergency exit sign ... found everywhere around the Atlanta Tech Village, a startup incubator.

"It's Not About the Nail"

For anyone who is married--or even in any sort of long-term relationship--this video needs no introduction. Just watch, listen, and moan.

Fortune Cookie Fiasco

This past weekend I was cleaning out my home office, and I came across 5 fortunes from a dinner I had with my family at a Chinese restaurant over a year ago. My three kids (now 14, 12, and 8) love going to Chinese restaurants, and one of their favorite parts of the meal is the end ... when we get our fortune cookies.

On this particular night, they quickly grabbed their cookies, broke them apart, and read their fortunes out loud. I was really proud of how insightful they were, thinking deeply about the philosophical messages inscribed on the little pieces of paper from their cookies, as well as their mother's.

Then, in a scene straight out of a comedy movie or TV show, the table looked at me, got quiet to hear me read my fortune, and then burst into uncontrollable laughter. We all still talk about that moment every time we eat Chinese food.

Here are their fortunes:

"May your faith always exceed your fears"

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin."

"'Should have' is a favorite phrase for those looking for excuses."

"Even the smallest candle burns brighter in the dark."

And mine:

"Never spit against the wind."

Camille Seaman -- Incredible Photography

My 14-year-old daughter is an aspiring photographer, and she was initially hooked by taking pictures of clouds. Well, Camille Seaman takes this type of photography to a whole new level. She was highlighted in a CNN feature, which is truly awe-inspiring. Here is just a sample:

"Space Oddity" on the ISS

Many of my friends and colleagues in the space industry have complained that since the heyday of Apollo NASA has suffered from twin ailments: (1) lack of vision and leadership; and (2) lack of connection with the public.

Well, last week the outgoing Canadian commander of the International Space Station, Chris Hadfield, released a video that in 5 minutes created more public support for human space exploration than decades of effort by NASA's PR machine. This was the first music video shot in space. With over 13M views on YouTube, here is his rendition of David Bowie's Space Oddity:

Overview Effect

Some of you may already be familiar with the "Overview Effect", which is "a cognitive shift in awareness reported by some astronauts and cosmonauts during spaceflight, often while viewing the Earth from orbit or from the lunar surface." It has been nurtured and promoted by The Overview Institute. Many astronauts, space enthusiasts, sociologists, and even politicians have espoused its virtues.

The video below is a terrific introduction to the power of this effect, in the words of astronauts who have actually experienced it firsthand.

Human Flight Through a "Bat Cave"

It is only mid-April, but 2013 has already been a busy year for wingsuit-BASE jump athlete Alexander Polli. He kicked off the new year with a unique practice flight:



Most recently, he pulled off an historic first, flying at over 150 mph through a narrow passage in a mountainside. This dramatic feat led to this CNN feature story:

Passion, Practice, Perseverance ... and Yo-Yo's

My kids tire of my always telling them that the best way to get good at ANYTHING is to practice, practice, practice. Regardless, they occasionally enjoy when I show them what others accomplish by combining a strong personal interest with countless hours of commitment. Enter BLACK, a Japanese yo-yo world champion.

"Newsroom" -- Opening Scene

First, let me say that I have been a huge fan of Aaron Sorkin ever since I fell in love with West Wing. His writing style is unmistakable, providing rapid-fire inspirational and insightful dialogues among various intelligent characters. And he is unafraid to be honest.

This was on display in spades with last year's opening scene of his latest creation, Newsroom, an HBO series. I believe every American should watch this scene, especially starting at 3:07.

Amazing Photos from the Great Pyramids

Last month a couple of young Russian photographers made headlines for scaling the pyramids at Giza and shooting photos of the surrounding landscape. In order to preserve these ancient wonders, such climbs are strictly forbidden. The daredevils escaped unnoticed, and then brought down all sorts of public condemnation on themselves by making the photos freely available on the Internet.

I agree that the young men should have gone through proper channels for their project rather than taking it upon themselves to risk injury and property damage with a clandestine operation. However, I don't think anyone can deny that the powerfully unique images they captured are awe-inspiring. They should certainly help re-vitalize public support for preserving, studying, and protecting these and other treasures of human society.

Film Post-Production

I have always been fascinated by the story-telling process, especially when it comes to film. I specifically enjoy thinking about how particular video clips could be re-cut or have their audio re-mastered in such ways as to completely change its tone. Well, I recently came across a terrific student project on this very point.

This first video is the official trailer for the hit comedy, Hangover.

This second video is a student project that re-edited the trailer to give it the look and feel of a horror film. Very cool!

On Leadership and Space

Whether it is teaching entrepreneurship to students, analyzing leadership with colleagues, or discussing myriad issues with my three kids, I have always found a powerful tool in drawing parallels to popular culture. Points really seem to hit home when viewed through the lens of something that we otherwise feel is benign or simply entertaining.

About a year ago, Alex Knapp, a staff writer for Forbes, wrote three wonderful blog posts about leadership. The posts would have been fine as stand-alone analyses of sound leadership principles. However, what really drove home his points--and made the pieces such an easy read--was his framing the arguments within terms of two popular space media franchises, Star Wars and Star Trek.

Regardless of whether you are a fan of either series, his articles still focus on solid leadership advice.

	Five Leadership Mistakes Of The Galactic Empire
	Five Leadership Lessons From Jean-Luc Picard
	Five Leadership Lessons From James T. Kirk

[Loose] Personal Ties to Pope Francis

Earlier this week (on March 13, 2013), the Catholic Church elected its new Pope to become the "Archbishop of Rome". The cardinal they selected, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was an historic choice on many counts, but he was also special for me through two very personal connections. First, he was formerly the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, which is where I was born and spent my first six years. Second, he selected the papal name of "Francis" after St. Francis of Assisi, who was also the namesake of my high school alma mater. Felicitaciones, Papa Francis!

Astronaut Video from ISS

There are several versions of these ISS videos floating around the Web (including my earlier post), but this one is pretty cool because of its focus on what our planet looks like at night.

Wealth Distribution in the U.S.

I recently came across this "viral" video, which does a really good job of explaining the difference between the public's "perception" and the "reality" of wealth distribution in the U.S. I really like the simplicity of the presentation, but I take issue with the implied message ... and the unasked questions.



The data seem to show that there are clear differences between how most Americans ideally want wealth distributed, how they think it really is distributed, and how it actually is distributed. Fine. Makes sense to me.

However, the title of the video is "Wealth Inequality in America", which has obvious negative connotations. The clear implied message throughout the presentation is that the way wealth is currently distributed in the U.S. is wrong (or perhaps unjust), especially since an overwhelming majority of Americans would prefer that it were distributed more equitably.

I take issue with this implication, because most Americans happily support a free enterprise capitalist system operating within a political democracy. Such a system naturally rewards a small minority of "winners", who eventually comprise the bulk of wealth owners in a society. How can you support a system that gives every member the freedom to succeed and then bemoan the fact that a very few have succeeded more than most? You simply cannot "have your cake and eat it too".

Similarly, the video also fails to ask several key questions (which, in all fairness, were obviously outside the scope of the video's production). Most critically, if the highly skewed distribution of wealth in the U.S. is so onerous, why have we not experienced massive socio-political turmoil like many other countries have when such a small minority "hoard" so much of the society's wealth?

Yes, there are a plethora of dynamic issues at play here, but I would suggest that perhaps it is because historically speaking most Americans (in some cases, even the poorest Americans) enjoy a higher quality of life than their counterparts in equally skewed economies. Simply put, while most Americans may not be fairing well compared to our richest 1%, we are in fact doing much better than most of our counterparts in other countries where their richest 1% account for a large percentage of their wealth. That is the beauty of a political democracy and a free enterprise economic system.

I believe that everyone should watch this video to understand the reality of our national economy. However, I would urge everyone to watch it with a critical eye and an open mind. Come to think of it, this is also a sound philosophical approach to life in general.

The Start-Up of You

Last year, two people who I truly respect, Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha, published a book called The Start-Up of You. It is a terrific book laying out a new philosophical approach toward careers ... an approach that is entrepreneurial and wired for our global 21st century. I really hope I can pass along some of these innovative ideas to my children (currently 14, 12, and 10). Until then, I will enjoy this recently released summary:

Start-up of You, Visual Summary from Reid Hoffman

Will Smith -- Freestyle Philosophy

A few months ago, I stumbled across a YouTube video of Will Smith freestyling at a birthday party. I couldn't really make out much of what he was saying, but then he let loose with a quote that struck me between the eyes:

If you say you're gonna run three miles and run two, I don't never have to worry about losin' at nothin' to you.

I guess it's a rap version of "Quitters never win, and winners never quit." Regardless, I've been using it as inspiration just about every day when I work out. You can check it out yourself at ~2:03 of the video:

Chillin' on the Moon

I don't know where this image came from or how this guy is going to actually enjoy his Carlsberg, but all I can say is ... someday!!!

Ed Lu & the B612 Foundation

On February 15, 2013, a small asteroid named 2012 DC14 passed extremely close to Earth, garnering global attention. Despite many "boy who cried wolf" accusations in the past, it seemed like this particular fly-by was getting too close for comfort, and people took particular notice of ongoing expert warnings of imminent natural catastrophes from a potential direct impacts.

Enter Ed Lu. He is a former NASA astronaut, who I had the pleasure of meeting during our 2012 Sea-Space Summit at Google's headquarters in Silicon Valley. He is dedicating his life to saving our planet from rogue asteroids.

Ed knows that we currently have the technology to divert any asteroid heading directly toward Earth. The challenge is giving ourselves enough of a warning. Therefore, in true entrepreneurial fashion, he helped launched the B612 Foundation. Named after the title character's asteroid home in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince, the Foundation has plans for a modern asteroid early-warning system based on a single infrared space telescope placed in orbit around the sun. Their "Sentinel Mission" would identify and map any potentially threatening asteroids.

To customize an oft-quoted phrase, "If the dinosaurs had had Ed Lu, the B612 Foundation, and the Sentinel Mission, they would probably still be around." Let's hope modern homo sapiens take advantage of our good luck.

Five-Year Photo Project

I don't know how I feel about this recent CNN story about five friends who have gotten together every five years to re-take the same group picture they took during a teenage vacation 30 years ago.

On the one hand, it is really cool that their friendship has lasted this long and that they have kept alive this tradition [and, in fact, created a web site to share it!].

On the other hand, I was a teenager just like them in 1982, and watching the progression of the photos makes me feel, well, old. Not that the guys look shabby today; they have simply aged. Like all of us. Like me. I just don't like to be reminded that I'm turning 47 this year and that next year will be time for my 30-year high school reunion. Yikes!

Gary Vaynerchuk

In April 2011, I had the privilege of spending a few days with 1,000+ fellow entrepreneurs and "world changers" on a cruise ship during a unique experience called "Summit at Sea". It was a huge life-changing experience for me, and it gave me the courage to continue following my passions as a social entrepreneur. Not only did I meet some amazing people with incredible talents, but I also listened to several motivational--and entertaining--presentations by various awesome speakers.

One of the most hilarious talks was given by Gary Vaynerchuk, whose brazen delivery of heart-felt insights brought down the house. During the presentation shown below, delivered a couple of years before I saw him in person, he talks about one of the key messages I try passing on to every entrepreneur I meet (as well as my kids): to be happy in life, you have to pursue your passions. It is a valuable lesson to learn ... and apply.

Planet Earth From Space [video]

This is one of my favorite video compilations of footage from the ISS:

"Chasing Ice"

Someone recently sent me a link to this video, and I absolutely loved it. It contains some amazing footage of a huge glacier calving in Greenland. Truly epic. Enjoy!

Giant Squid Caught on Video!

Human history is filled with stories about fanciful ocean creatures that reach out of the deep to consume entire ships and drag sailors to their watery graves. Over the years, scientists have developed theories based on scant evidence that "giant squid" truly do exist ... living at extreme depths, sporting tentacles spreading wide enough to grab large buildings, and feeding on some of the largest mammals on the planet. However, no one has ever seen a giant squid alive in its natural environment. Until now.

A few months ago, an expedition funded by NHK TV in Japan set out to find these elusive predators. Several of our friends were involved in the project, most of them piloting the submarines carrying the scientists and filmmakers. They ultimately succeeded in their mission, and their story will soon be told to the world. Here is a video trailer previewing their amazing discovery.

Apollo Robbins

I love watching magicians, especially innovative ones. I recently came across someone who is certainly on the verge of becoming even more widely known than he already is. Apollo Robbins takes his skills as a pick-pocket to a new level as a stage performer and security consultant. His is a fascinating story, and he is truly incredible to watch, so ... enjoy!

Black Marble

In an earlier post, I wrote about an updated image of Earth reminiscent of NASA's original Blue Marble. Now NASA has gone one step further, compiling images of our planet AT NIGHT ... hence the name, Black Marble.