Though not as rare in the wild as Sony’s PlayStation 3, the Nintendo Wii is still a good catch. After waiting in line to get my own Wii on the launch date (actually I waited in line to get one as a Christmas gift for the boys), I’m anxious to hook it up and start […]
Monthly Archives: November 2006
It’s all in how you look at it
As our first winter storm approaches, I’m reminded of something I heard many (many) years ago:
There is no such thing as bad weather; only inappropriate clothing.
The crowd may be wise, but can it write a book?
Tonight’s All Things Considered on NPR featured the story Using the Wiki Method to Write a Book about the We Are Smarter than Me project. The project was inspired, in part, by the open-source software movement and by the success of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, which is largely written and edited by its users. […]
Free-solo rock climbers and the way of the samurai
Hot on the heels of my post about rock climbing and mountaineering, I saw jonno’s post about the “sport of lunatics” and his link to the article Free-Solo Climber Prefers the Unencumbered Ascent in Sunday’s NY Times…. While jonno sees free soloing as “the work of a madman,” in many ways free-soloing is the ultimate test of a person’s rock climbing mastery.
KM is dead; long live KM
KM is dead. Long live KM!
That was my first thought on reading Dave Snowden’s response to the oft asked question: Is KM dead?
Mastery (and not) in the mountains
Though I’ve not indulged it much lately, I have a passion for rock climbing and, to a lesser extent, mountaineering. If ever there were an activity that requires mastery, especially at the elite level, those two would be at the top of the list. I’ve had the good fortune of meeting many good climbers, and […]
St. Louis Idea Market Update
A quick reminder for my readers in St. Louis (or within reasonable travel distance), the third installment of the St. Louis Idea Market is coming up Monday, 20 November. Details on location and agenda here, and you can sign up here. Hope to see you there.
On reinvention and doping in sports
Elite athletes, by definition, have followed the master’s path to achieve their elite level. And we all know that the better you get at something – anything – the harder it is to continue to make gains. The plateau gets wider and wider, and the improvements at the end of the plateau get smaller and […]
Jim McGee on Reinvention
Following on my closing thoughts on re-invention yesterday, I’d like to point you to some thoughts on the subject from Jim McGee earlier this year. Back in February, Jim wrote Get Better at Reinventing the Wheel, which carried the subtitle To succeed with knowledge management, organizations should focus on getting better at reinventing the wheel […]
Finding inspiration in the mastery of others
While mastery in one area isn’t necessarily transferable to another, experts in different fields can quite effectively share their expertise to help each improve. The story A Hospital Races to Learn Lessons of Ferrari Pit Stop (subscription required) in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal tells the story of how surgeons at Britain’s Great Ormond Street Hospital […]