] One woman, curvy and statuesque in her nude shot, looks
] dumpy in an oversized T-shirt tucked into baggy cargo
] pants. Naked, she's as feminine and sexy as a woman can
] be. Clothed, she downplays breasts and hips and hides her
] waist. Eric muses that she deliberately uses clothing to
] neutralize her gender; I think she just thinks she's fat
] and hasn't watched What Not to Wear.

Celebrating the Body Beautiful

awesome

NHL Lockout T-Shirts

] "I don't think there's any way not to resent it," said
] Generals forward Rob Valicevic. "I understand from their
] standpoint they want to play, but you have to look at it
] from our standpoint. A lot of guys are making $300 to
] $500 supporting their families.

While I agree that NHL players going down to the minor leagues is just plain wrong, I think this is an ironic quote, since Valicevic has at least several seasons under him at the NHL. Wrong guy to get a quote from.

Nearly 4,500 fans come to see Hatcher

Watch this.

Frontline: secret history of the credit card

] "Under Rutan's approach, space missions will
] become justifiable just for the fun of it," says
] Tolkowsky. "If the early history of atmospheric
] aviation is any indication, then the fun of flying is a
] much more effective accelerator of public interest than
] the prospect of scientific knowledge. Like the Wright
] brothers versus the Europeans, this is a very clear
] example of different belief systems that lead to
] different choices of technologies and missions."

This one comment reminded me that most of the things that have advanced quickly and with great efficiency over the last 200 hundred years have some component of fun associated with them, despite being highly dangerous. A few personal examples are skydiving, white water rafting, motorcycle racing, and model rocketry.

But the real reason why I blogged this is the overall discussion of the value of 'belief'. It ties into the article I posted earlier today that spoke to the rise of the Conceptual Age. I think these two things are highly intertwined.

Recently I gave a presentation urging decision makers on investing in Remote Patient Monitoring devices and services. My first slide was a quote from Alan Kay, who said "The best way to predict the future is to invent it." There's very little in the way of truly innovating ideas floating around these days. What counts is execution, but that springs forth from the belief that doing anything will result in success.

I think this philosophical difference is what separates the winners from the also-rans. As an organization, if it believes in what it's doing, it will systematically make the adaptations and choices necessary to survive. This will make a product that logically might not be a match for the current market needs ultimately successful.

You can take this one step further as the belief of the market can be altered too. In the example of whether a human looking robot will meet more resistance than a non-human looking robot, I think that the point is moot. If the developers of robots BELIEVE that their robots will be successful, then that same infectious vibe can spread to the marketplace and cause it to happen. Sure, there will be natural tension between what the market wants today, and what the market wants tomorrow over time, which will impact the product itself. But success is not that the designers chose whether to make the robot look human or not. Success is the designer's ability to adapt upon learning what the market understands, and tuning accordingly to that. That requires BELIEF that what you're doing is right, but is not above reproach.

Should Your Next CEO Be a Philosopher?

] Beneath the nervous clatter of our half-completed decade
] stirs a slow but seismic shift. The Information Age we
] all prepared for is ending. Rising in its place is what I
] call the Conceptual Age, an era in which mastery of
] abilities that we've often overlooked and undervalued
] marks the fault line between who gets ahead and who falls
] behind.

I'm gonna have to stew on this for a bit before I think I can truly understand the shift. But I would on first blush disagree to some extent. I feel like the blah of the current decade is more atributable to the fact that few organizations truly maximize their potential for managing information effectively, and executing based upon that management. Most companies are still run very very poorly, and most knowledge workers are ill equipped, either by skill or environment, to truly do their best work.

But the fact that I started that thought with "I feel" means that I'm probably more in agreement with the author than not.

Revenge of the Right Brain

] Mr. McGuigan gave a speech.
]
] "You guys are all great hockey players," he said. "I
] don't care what is said to you when you walk out this
] door. I don't care. I'm proud of you."

Another great article in this series, highlighting travel youth hockey. Oddly enough, I was in Detroit at the Auto Show the same time this tournament was going on. They may have even stayed at the same hotel that we were at.

Ice Time: For Players, Fast Pulses; for Parents, Raw Nerves

] But lawmakers from both parties and a broad range of
] public interest groups criticized the changes, saying the
] FCC regulations had given large media companies too much
] control over what people see, hear and read.

DUH! Michael Powell might rank in the top three Bush administration officials who have done the most lasting and caustic damage to the US landscape in four short years. The entire communications realm is now exclusively dominated by large lobby players and innovation and competition has ceased.

F.C.C. Officials Say Chairman Plans to Resign Today

] A study into why women flashed crowds of Calgary Flames
] fans during last year's NHL playoffs should shed light on
] current Canadian attitudes about female nudity, says a
] Calgary professor.

**PLEASE** bring back the NHL!!!

Prof to study why women flashed breasts at hockey fans

] Many young athletes, in yearlong pursuits of team sports,
] like baseball, soccer, football, basketball and lacrosse,
] play more than one. The number involved in ice hockey
] alone is striking. USA Hockey, the governing body for the
] sport and the chief advocate for the spread of the game
] among young people, had nearly 25,000 under-18 teams
] registered last year, a total of some 366,000 players, up
] from 166,000 in 1991. That includes more than 48,000
] girls, a nearly eightfold increase in the same time
] period.

Great article on youth hockey and the proper perspective one must have to benefit from it.

Ice Time: A Fierce Investment, in Skates and Family Time