Congratulations!!

Congratulations to Nick Carter who was just elected President of the American Philatelic Society! Couldn’t have happened to a nicer or more deserving person.

Oh yeah – he’s my Dad.

My Boss is a ……..

Many people secretly harbor the desire to denigrate their boss in public, but few actually get to do so. Recently, a staffer at NASA got to do just that – thanks in large part to the fact that he has the Global Warming Gang behind him.

The boss of NASA, Michael Griffin, made the cardinal sin of speaking common sense when discussing global warming during an interview on NPR.  The key points of the interview can be found here, but the contentious comments were as follows:

“I have no doubt that … a trend of global warming exists. I am not sure that it is fair to say that it is a problem we must wrestle with. To assume that it is a problem is to assume that the state of Earth’s climate today is the optimal climate, the best climate that we could have or ever have had and that we need to take steps to make sure that it doesn’t change. First of all, I don’t think it’s within the power of human beings to assure that the climate does not change, as millions of years of history have shown. And second of all, I guess I would ask which human beings — where and when — are to be accorded the privilege of deciding that this particular climate that we have right here today, right now is the best climate for all other human beings. I think that’s a rather arrogant position for people to take.”

Of course, a comment like that from the head of NASA didn’t sit well with the global warming crowd. They were quickly calling for Griffin to be fired.  Just read this article. But James Hansen, NASA’s top climate scientist, really went off:

“It’s an incredibly arrogant and ignorant statement. It indicates a complete ignorance of understand of climate change. It’s unbelievable. I thought he had been misquoted. It’s so unbelievable.”

Pretty brave to call your boss arrogant and ignorant to the national news media. But given that global warming deniers are pariahs, he seems to be on safe ground.

Fortunately, there were some scientists who applauded Mr. Griffin’s comments.

And in case you really think that there is a huge consensus on global warming, check out this article by a National Post reporter who set out to profile some global warming deniers, thinking them all to be nut cases. Surprise surprise!  He found out that the consensus is far from it (Sorry Sheryl Crow and Laurie David!), and not everyone who is skeptical about global warming is a nutjob, on the margin of science or in the back pocket of the oil companies.

Shhh… Don’t tell Al Gore…..

Golfing in Paradise

I was in the Dominican Republic this past weekend at Punta Cana. It was very relaxing. I was last in the Dominican Republic in 1988 with the Harvard Jazz Band – things have certainly changed.

I was fortunate to get in a few rounds of golf, the first on Punta Espada – a new Nicklaus design in the Cap Cana resort area. Talk about spectacular! At 7,396 yards from the tips and 6,800+ from where we played it was tough. The thirteenth is most likely the signature hole – a 230 yard par 3 over the ocean. Despite a bail out area to the right, my ball is currently “sleeping with the fishes!”

So, having started the golfing season on a high note (and yes – my score was high too) – I’m ready to get out there and work on my game.

Wireless Made Easy

The other day I discovered a great wireless store out in Framingham – imo – independent mobile. The simple idea is that one store offers all the phones, all the carriers and all the plans in once store. Right now there are two stores, one in Ohio and one in Shoppers World in Framingham (where Cambridge Soundworks used to be).

I found the store to be clean, bright, with a clear layout. The staff were knowledgeable and helpful. The had every phone you could possibly imagine on display along with a plethora of accessories. They had even set up laptops with wireless mobile cards from both Sprint and Verizon so you could compare the speed of the two networks.

Finally, there was a computer that displayed the company’s “Wireless Advisor” – a great program that allows you to compare all the plans from all the different carriers. They will even do a detailed analysis of your existing mobile plan and your usage patterns to determine if you can save money by changing your plan or changing carriers.

Given the massive number of different cell phone plans – even within a single carrier let alone all the carriers – it is no wonder that a lot of consumers express confusion regarding wireless plans. It seems to me that there is job to be done that isn’t being satisfied very well today: “Help me choose the a wireless plan that I can understand and be confident that I am not getting ripped off and paying for things I don’t need.”

imo may just be on to something….

The Magic of Disney

I just spent a long weekend at Disney Word with the family and we had a great time. We went to EPCOT, Animal Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom and managed to hit all of the major rides. After this weekend, I think I can sum up the magic of Disney in one word – LOGISTICS.

Sure the rides are fun, the themes are vibrant, and the sounds, smells and smiles are something only Disney can create. But what really makes everything click is Disney’s mastery of logistics. We stayed at the Saratoga Springs Resort, which is a few miles away from the parks. Not once did we have to wait more than 5 minutes for a bus to pick us up and take us where we wanted to go.

And once we got to the parks, it was clear that Disney has things down to a science. The openings were on time with “cast members” there to ensure there was no mad dash to the most popular rides. FastPass machines at the most popular rides made it easy to void lines (although I was amazed at the number of people who would rather wait 35 minutes in a line instead of going away, doing something else, and coming back an hour later to a 5 minute wait).

Of course all of the lines are set up so that people have something to look at as they wait. The winding paths and the different rooms for the line make it so that no one looks at the line and gets discouraged. Finally, the estimated wait times posted at the end of the line are probably a bit on the high side, so that patrons are pleasantly surprised when they get on the ride in 10 minutes rather than 20.

So – what rides were the big winners with our family? Amazingly the classic Space Mountain seems to have withstood the test of of time – I can recall riding on it when I was 10 – and it was the favorite ride. Other winners were:

• Thunder Mountain
• Splash Mountain
• Kali River Rapids
• Expedition Everest
• EPCOT’s Test Track
• Dinosaur

The biggest disappointment: Pooh’s Adventure. I guess the kids are just a little too old…

Into Thin Air…

As May begins, I am reminded that this month is the prime month for summiting Mt. Everest. Due to the weather patterns, April and May are the best months to do any climbing in the region. Any earlier and the Winter cold is too much, any later and monsoon season brings heavy storms.

I find it fascinating to watch the progress of the various teams as they mount their assault on the world’s highest peak. Even more interesting is following the progress of teams looking to summit K2 – the second highest mountain, but significantly harder to climb. I follow the Everest climbs here and the K2 climbs here.

This season has started off well. Five sherpas achieved one of the earliest summits ever, climbing from the North and setting ropes all the way. A very impressive achievement. At the same time, Maxut Zhumayev and Vassily Pivtsov from Kazakhstan also summited (without supplemental oxygen). This amazing duo plans to attempt K2 later this summer. It will be fun to track their progress.

Wii Mania Continues

I was out running errands yesterday and saw a line outside our local Gamestop. About 10 people in line waiting for the store to open in order to get a Wii. And in talking to a clerk at another store recently, it is clear that the Wii’s go as fast as they arrive. As the clerk told me, “They are literally gone in about 3 minutes. Someone sees one person buying a Wii and they rush into the store to see if there are more.”

Six months after launch and Nintendo still can’t make them fast enough. See what happens when you get the “job to be done” right?

Notes, Notes, Notes…

I often take notes on my laptop and I’m still trying to find the ideal software to help me do this. Initially I used MS Word, but I found it to be hard to organize notes. I was torn between a new file for every note taking session or one big file that I continually added to.

Next up was MS OneNote, a program specifically designed for note taking. In general I like it – good organizational tools, good searching tools and powerful. But when I’m taking notes as I surf, I find myself cutting and pasting a lot.

Thinking about note taking from a jobs to be done approach, my job to be done is to get information from a document, web page, etc., into my notes as quickly and as easily as possible. Copying, switching apps and pasting, although easy, is somewhat of a pain.

Recently, I stumbled upon Evernote, a simple, effective piece of note taking software. All your notes are in one long document, each note separated. Depending on the type of information you enter, the software categorizes it, be it pictures, email, notes, or web clips.

The software also has extensions that work in Outlook, Thunderbird, Firefox and Explorer – so all you have to do is highlight the text and click on a button on your toolbar. The data is automatically copied to Evernotes (along with a link at the bottom that takes you to the original source).

There is also a “Universal Clipper” – a floating textbox that allows you to take information from most applications and send it directly to Evernote.

There are many other tools that I haven’t had the chance to explore yet, but what I have seen I really like. Check it out.

Is "The Debate Over..?"

Sheryl Crow and Laurie David have been in the news lately after their confrontation with Karl Rove at the White House Correspondence Dinner over global warming. Who knows what actually happened, but Sheryl and Laurie have been making quite a stir lately. Al Gore couldn’t ask for better allies. The pair certainly distinguished themselves before in an interview with Joe Kernan. Take a look and see if you agree that Mr. Kernan was “confrontational” as Ms. Crow claims.

Now, if you believe that “the debate is over”, like Laurie David claims, then you can go ahead and follow Sheryl Crow’s brilliant suggestion to use only one square of toilet paper from now on. (By the way, how many squares of toilet paper do you need to forgo to make up for the carbon footprint of three tractor trailers, four buses and six cars – Ms. Crow’s touring entourage?). On the other hand, if you are looking for a more reasonable take on global warming, check out this Question and Answer Session with Richard Lindzen, the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at MIT that was published in the National Post this past weekend. Oh – and in case you were wondering – Professor Lindzen has not received any money from the energy industry.

Gilbert and Sullivan meet Sir Mix-a-lot

A great take on the rap song “Baby Got Back” as it might have been done by Gilbert and Sullivan.  The video is here. I think the actual video is Pirates of Penzance (with what looks like Kevin Klein as the Pirate King)!