- HarvardBusiness.org: How to Innovate With Less http://bit.ly/V0upg #
- RT @capricecrane: Heidi Pratt claims 20-30 orgasms in a day. Less impressive when you figure she has one every time she talks about herself. #
Twitter: 2009-08-12
- HarvardBusiness.org: Focus Your People on What They're Best At http://bit.ly/1WKag #
What Was Difficult
One friend described an interaction with Fujio Cho, former head of Toyota, visiting a plant and gently chiding people for too much attention to accomplishments and too little on struggle points. If he didn’t know what was difficult for them, he was reported to ask, how would he know where he could be of help?
My New Favorite Writer is Named Camille Paglia
Hi Everybody! It’s me, Lightning! I wanted to tell you that my new favorite writer is named Camille Paglia!
A lot of people say that dogs and other animals can’t think because thought requires language and animals don’t know any language.
Well, here is what Camille Paglia says about that:
I disagree that language is or should be our primary medium for understanding the world. . . .
Words are very important in human development, but they can never adequately explain the awesome mysteries of the universe. Dante dramatized this when Virgil, the Roman poet who is his guide through hell and purgatory, cannot accompany him to paradise. Virgil stands for reason and language, but sacred vision requires a leap into another dimension. . . .
Exactly! I wish she said what kind of dog Dante is — maybe a pug!
Expanded perception is closer to how animals are instinctively attuned to their environment. Words can record our observations, but they are merely a tool, subordinate to nature’s stubborn physicality.
I know some words like “sit” and “walk” but I don’t know “stubborn physicality.” My owner says I have it though — especially the stubborn part!
— Lightning 
Ultra Lean Planning
I’m not wholeheartedly endorsing the Ultra Lean Planning approach but it does lead you to question how much of the overhead of traditional software development is really necessary. It may be important to know that the author is one of the top guys in the industry and not a random flake.
Twitter: 2009-08-11
- Writing Microcopy http://bit.ly/pYMPz #
- Hof's Hut closes. Went there on my first date, then to a movie at the Cinedome, which was demolished 10 years ago. http://tinyurl.com/nkc2s8 #
Cash for Clunkers
Cash for Clunkers has the following elements of spectacle:
- Americans destroying perfectly functional cars
- Americans whose skills are uncompetitive in the global marketplace driving around in fancy new cars
Somewhere in China and India they must be having a good laugh.
Twitter: 2009-08-10
- RT @diablocody: I wonder if there are any amazing singles who live right in my area. #
- Leading When You Don't Have Formal Authority http://bit.ly/EST45 #
Matchup Problems
My 15-year-old kid has created a custom NBA 2K9 roster consisting entirely of 7-foot-11 point guards.
“It creates some real matchup problems,” he says.
Microwave Instructions
“There are no microwave instructions,” my son says, looking over a frozen pizza box.
I say, “You want microwave instructions? Put it in the oven and turn it on. Aren’t those pretty much the microwave instructions for anything?”
You Better Believe It
These disruptions are occurring because opponents are afraid not just of differing views–but of the facts themselves. Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American. Drowning out the facts is how we failed at this task for decades.
The “facts” to which they refer turn out to be not facts at all but representations about the glories of ObamaCare: “Health insurance reform will mean more patient choice. . . . Reform will mean stability and peace of mind for the middle class. . . . Reform will mean affordable coverage for all Americans. . . . Reform will also mean higher-quality care.”
What, you don’t believe it? You better believe it, or you’re un-American.
Polite Acerbity
I am learning to bring into [my voice] that polite acerbity that makes people feel that far from being welcome they are not even tolerated and are under continual and scathing analysis at every moment.
Twitter: 2009-08-09
- RT @paulandstorm: [S] A proper diet is half the battle: Upper GI Joe. #
- RT @diablocody: I used to think grownups automatically knew how to take care of themselves. Flash-forward to my squalid adulthood. #
- "I'm sorry but business is business." #usefulphrases #
- "You ought to have thought of that before you got into this trouble." #usefulphrases #
- "I'm not the person to see about that." #usefulphrases #
Twitter: 2009-08-08
- White House Hails iCU-R-Fishy App as ‘Truth Tool’ – http://shar.es/IxfP #
John Hughes, 1950-2009
Very sad news. Love him or hate him, you had to admire his originality as a filmmaker.
An openly gay man known for his pencil-thin mustache . . . wait, what?! John Hughes died? Oh, he was TERR-ible! Ferris Bueller’s Day Off — worst movie I ever saw!
For a moment there I thought you said John Waters had died . . .
I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Get Up!
RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler was airlifted to a hospital after falling from stage during a concert at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in western South Dakota.
Hey Steve — maybe life is trying to tell you something. Let’s listen closely and see if we can hear what it is . . .
YOU’RE OLD!
Stop trying to suck every last dollar out of your former glory and retire, you geriatric bastard . . .
Twitter: 2009-08-05
Emotional Rescue
The two American journalists imprisoned for five months by North Korea came home to a tear-filled airport reunion with their families Wednesday morning following a dramatic rescue mission led by former President Bill Clinton.
In June, the North Korean government sentenced the journalists, who work for former Vice President Al Gore’s Current TV cable channel, to 12 years of hard labor for illegally entering the country.
I don’t know . . . these gals look very emotional to me. Emotional women are hard to live with. Or so I’ve heard.
I’m sure the husbands are happy to have them back though . . .
Helping the White House Keep an Eye on Things
From the White House Blog:
Scary chain emails and videos are starting to percolate on the internet, breathlessly claiming, for example, to “uncover” the truth about the President’s health insurance reform positions.
There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.
Right. There’s no informed opposition to health insurance reform, only “scary chain emails” and “disinformation” traveling “just below the surface,” whatever that means.
It all sounds very sinister though, so as agents of the government, we are encouraging all good citizens to inform on their neighbors if they may be up to something.
Twitter: 2009-08-04
- RT @presentationzen: 11 ways to use images poorly in slides http://snipurl.com/one4r [www_presentationzen_com] #