Genuine | Dynamic | Maverick

Faster Better Cheaper

noreply@blogger.com (Gabe) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 06:16:00 +0000

According to Dr. Howard McCurdy, NASA's "Faster, Better, Cheaper" initiative achieved 10 missions for the price of one (that analysis courtesy my friend Dan Ward). Dr. McCurdy's book Faster, Better, Cheaper divulges more detail, but in all there were 16 total missions from 1992 to 1999. Apparently 6 failed, but the overall cost of the 16 was less than NASA paid for the Cassini mission to Saturn. FBC was subsequently canned because of the four high profile failures in 1999. FBC is apparently anathema now...too bad. It seems that overall, it was very successful.

The Kahn Academy

noreply@blogger.com (Gabe) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 04:58:00 +0000

For anyone who has a student in school or knows a student in school, I've discovered an AWESOME, FREE resource that you might want to investigate: The Khan Academy.

I recently read about it in this WIRED article and was PUMPED by the potential this resource has in helping students (of all ages - including me) better learn math, science and other difficult subjects. My enthusiasm stems partly from the simplicity of the resource and partly from the truly selflessness this guy, Sal Khan, exhibits in helping kids (people) learn. I can't recommend the site enough. Read the article (because it's fantastic) and then visit the Khan Academy site for yourself to see it in action.

Rogue University

noreply@blogger.com (Gabe) — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 05:46:00 +0000

My buddy, Dan Ward, came up with an idea a while back for a "Rogue University Curriculum", which is outlined below. He actually included it as part of a larger "Sexy Rogue Guide" that I think went unpublished. However, I've shared this particular curriculum with some folks and have received some positive feedback. People really seem to like having a reading list for Rogues. So, here it is.

The Rogue University Curriculum

The Course Of Study to receive the title Rogue Master is largely self determined, in accordance with the fundamental principles of Roguedom. The general approach goes something like this: Read a bunch of the books on this list. Underline the good parts. Think about what you read. Digest it. Re-read some of it. Write something, preferably for publication in a magazine, professional journal and/or Rogue Project Leader, that

demonstrates your understanding of some Rogue principles. Full-length books are good too. Do something that demonstrates your ability to translate all this reading into meaningful action. Tell the story of what you did, preferably in a professional or other type trade journal. Complete a selection of the book list, write some articles and then give yourself a Rogue Master certificate, suitable for framing and signed by the Deans of Rogue University.

Focus Areas

There are three Focus Areas in the Rogue Master curriculum: Military Studies, Industry and Technology, and Poetry and Literature. A Focus area is not required, and students are encouraged to create their own focus areas. Prior approval by the Rogue University deans is not required. In addition to the six items in the Core Reading list, students are encouraged to select 12-15 additional books. Those students who opt for a Focus Area will typically read 7-10 from the Free Elective list in addition to their Focus Area books, while those pursuing the General Course will usually select their 12-15 books from the entire list. Students are not limited to the books on this list, and are encouraged to pursue books that interest them. We do like to see a wide variety of genres, to include both fiction and non-fiction. We also offer these two guiding principles as you continue down this path:

1) If it's interesting, it's relevant.

2) Read constantly, but if you can put the book down, do.

Timeframe

The Rogue University study program does not have a strict timeline. However, we do recommend students establish a reading plan of their own, to make sure you keep moving forward. Some of the entries can be read in a single sitting, and with discipline and creativity, this course of study can be accomplished in a year.

Core Reading (Recommend Reading All 7 items)

Orbiting The Giant Hairball, Gordon MacKenzie

Six Degrees, Duncan Watts

Re-Imagine, Tom Peters

Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson

The Golden Key, George MacDonald

Declaration of Independence

US Constitution

Free Electives (Recommend Reading 12-15 for General Course, 7- 10 for Focus Areas)

The Seven Day Weekend, Ricardo Semler

Faster, James Gleick

The Abilene Paradox, Jerry Harvey

How Come Every Time I Get Stabbed In The Back, My Fingerprints Are On The Knife, Jerry Harvey

The Starfish and the Spider, Brafman and Beckstrom

Gesundheit, Patch Adams

Walden, Henry David Thoreau

The Pleasure Of Finding Things Out, Richard Feynman

Love, Leo Buscaglia

The Medici Effect, Frans Johansson

The Wisdom of Crowds, James Suroweicki

Learned Optimism, Martin Seligman

Painting As A Pastime, Winston Churchill

The Design of Everyday Things, Donald Norman

The Radical Elements of Radical Success, Dan Ward

Love and Profit, James Autry

Up The Organization, by Robert Townsend

The Wonderful Flight To The Mushroom Planet, Eleanor Cameron

The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell

Losing My Virginity, Richard Branson

Certain To Win, Chet Richards

The War Between The Pitiful Teachers And The Splendid Kids, Stanley Kiesel

The Rise Of Theodore Roosevelt, Edmund Morris

Manalive, G.K. Chesterton

The Napoleon of Notting Hill, G.K. Chesterton

The 95 Theses, Martin Luther (online)

Wikinomics, Tapscott and Williams

The Rise Of Theodore Roosevelt, Edmund Morris

How To Draw What You See, Rudy De Reyna

How To Win Friends And Influence People, Dale Carnegie

A Whole New Mind, Daniel Pink

The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran

Radical Careering, Sally Hogshead

Enders Game, Orson Scott Card

Recommended Periodicals

TomPeters.com

Space.com

WIRED.com

ChangeThis.com

Defense AT&L

Military Focus Area (Recommend Reading All)

Boyd, Robert Coram

Pentagon Wars, James Burton

Certain To Win, Chet Richards

American Caesar, William Manchester

Skunk Works, by Ben R. Rich & Leo Janos

Wild Blue Yonder: Money, Politics and the B-1 Bomber, by Nick Kotz

Industry & Technology Focus Area (Recommend Reading 4-6)

The Cluetrain Manifesto (online)

The Cathedral And The Bazaar, by Eric Raymond (online)

Maverick, Ricardo Semler

The Dilbert Principle, Scott Adams

As The Future Catches You, Juan Enriquez

The Hacker Ethic, Pekka Himanen

The Unfinished Revolution, Michael Dertouzos

Just For Fun, Linus Torvalds

The Case For Mars, Robert Zubrin

Literature & Poetry Focus Area (Recommend Reading All)

Crossing The Unknown Sea, David Whyte

AnOther, ee cummings

Leaves Of Grass, Walt Whitman

Where The Sidewalk Ends, Shel Silverstein

The Hobbit / Lord Of The Rings, J.R.R. Tolkein

Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud

Movies (optional)

Pentagon Wars Pump Up The Volume

Patch Adams Life Is Beautiful

Dead Poet's Society Matrix

Spirited Away

ESPN Socials

noreply@blogger.com (Gabe) — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 04:39:00 +0000

Wow! Looks like the new social media has made it harder for me to keep up blogging. With twitter as the new medium of choice, it seems to be making blogs like mine completely pointless. Never-the-less, I'm not a big Twitter user simply because I'd rather use the Facebook news feed, which this blog feeds into. I also intend to use blogger as my forum to sharpen my writing skills, what little they are.

With that, to kick things off again, an issue I noticed recently was that the ESPN college football commentators and crew are WAY superior to the ESPN NFL commentators. It seems the NFL ESPN commentators are just old NFL players trying to maintain what little celebrity they have. The college guys, on the other hand, are much more enjoyable to watch, more articulate and succinct, and they seem to have more fun. The NFL guys take the game much too serious and they seem to take themselves too seriously. This is part of the reason I rarely watch the NFL anymore.

Sparky Baird Award!

noreply@blogger.com (Gabe) — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 04:54:00 +0000

I've been meaning to post this news, but obviously I keep forgetting. An article I helped to write, Twitter is Mission Critical, won an award! Unbeknownst to me, the article won the Sparky Baird Award for "the best article published in SIGNAL magazine during 2009." My fellow co-authors and I didn't even know there was such an award, but we're excited to be so honored!

SIGNAL magazine is published by the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA). On this same subject, I just uploaded a post at Rogue Project Leader (where I sometimes moonlight as a guest blogger) more thoughts on social media and decentralization.

Buddy Holly's Galaxy

noreply@blogger.com (Gabe) — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 04:09:00 +0000

I had a random thought tonight while eating dinner at the Galaxy Diner in Flagstaff. The diner, located along the old Route 66, is a really fantastic rendition of the "classic 50s" style diner with all the minutiae that entails. While gazing at the picture below, hung with the Marilyn shrine, I noticed that "Peggy Sue" was playing over the house radio. It was then that I thought, why isn't Buddy Holly or Ritchie Valens ever included in these old tribute montages of James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart, or Elvis? Buddy and Ritchie died as tragically as any of these guys and their futures were just a promising?

My siblings and I are well versed in Buddy Holly because of the long road trips we used to take as kids. My dad listened to cassettes of all the oldies on these trips: The Everly Brothers, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, The Beach Boys. But most of all he listened to Buddy Holly. My dad grew up in Buddy's hometown of Lubbock, Texas, so he is naturally a big fan. Around west Texas, Buddy is the progenitor of Rock-n-Roll. So it's always been an enigma to me why someone of such great influence on music, who died so tragically, is never included in these kitschy pantheons of 50s inconography. Maybe that's just it. He wasn't kitschy.

Again, Social Media

noreply@blogger.com (Gabe) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 05:05:00 +0000

I heard this really good story on Market Place today about how corporate America is scrambling to understand how to harness Facebook and Twitter to communicate with potential customers. It was reminiscent to ideas of yore from the likes of Seth Godin and the Cluetrain Manifesto.

Yes, in days of old (around 2004-2005), these oracles enlightened would be social medialites about how Blogs were changing the landscape of corporate communications. Namely, that the freedom to publish your thoughts and opinions for the world to see made it impossible for companies to continue their one-way dialogue with customers and control their public perception. How crazy it is that blogs have so quickly been usurped by "micro-blogs" like Twitter (I mean, seriously, I'm just hitting my stride with this thing). Even more crazy is that corporations are slow as ever realizing this phenomenon. Is there a visionary left among the crowd?

Stacey's Public Enemy

noreply@blogger.com (Gabe) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 06:35:00 +0000

Living in Vegas is pretty surreal sometimes. My wife told me a great story on Saturday. This isn't verbatim, but it's pretty close:

I was at Sam's getting some things this morning when I noticed this guy walking through the store very loudly greeting people he passed with, "God bless you, and God bless your family...God bless you ma'am....and God bless you sir" and so on. He wasn't dressed particularly outlandish or anything, relative to Vegas standards, except that he had on some bright orange sneakers, a jacket with some rap group on it....I can't remember who but it had a big target symbol on it, like when you look through the scope of a gun....and a flat brimmed ball cap tilted sideways like the kids wear now. He did appear to be wearing some heavy necklaces that went under his jacket, but I only remember that after the fact. I got behind him in the checkout line and because he was so enthusiastically greeting everyone around him, I kept thinking, "who is this guy and why is he being so loud?"

Most people smiled really big back at him and one lady even came up and asked him if she could take his picture. I kept
thinking, "Is this somebody I'm supposed to know?" He had a cart piled so high with stuff that, as I followed him out of Sam's, he almost tipped it over in the parking lot. I started to reach out to help him, but he regained control and thanked me for even considering to help him and then asked God to bless me. Right then another lady passed by and said, "Flav where's your big clock?"
Gabe, I think that was Flavor Flav

"Really? Shopping at Sam's?" I said. "Yeah right, and I've chatted with Alice Cooper." Oh, wait........

Tea and Crumpets

noreply@blogger.com (Gabe) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 05:56:00 +0000

One of my new all time favorite experiences is.....high tea! "Really", you ask.

Really.

I've had "high" tea three different times and every time I'm like, "Wow! Why did America ever stop doing this?" And why is it called "high"? Because of this:

A three tiered tray of heaven. It's like, some of the best food I've ever had! The dessert is worth the price of admission by itself. This version is at the Ritz Carlton at Lake Las Vegas and it is, hands down, the best spread I've ever had.

Oh, and the tea's good too.

Bathroom Graffiti

noreply@blogger.com (Gabe) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:00:00 +0000

Forgive my sense of humor, but due to the context of this tag, I laughed at this for days. It was boldly penned on the inside of a stall door in a Dulles airport bathroom.

Gabe's Axiom

noreply@blogger.com (Gabe) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:00:00 +0000

I devised a new platitude that I’ve dubbed Gabe’s Axiom:

Engineers make stuff work. Designers make stuff useful.

I did so in response to my overall experience as an engineer to date. This thought coalesced recently while reading the book The Design of Everyday Things. Engineers love making and using gizmos and gadgetry and they love figuring out how to use a new widget. Therefore they find it frustrating when Joe user isn’t as passionate about learning all 15 ways to shut down a Windows based computer. I’ve often seen this frustration manifest as rebuke when a layman has trouble using equipment in the shared workspace (office copier, coffee pot). I’m guilty of it myself. I’d posit that a great many engineers don’t design with elegance or ease of use in mind. Making stuff work is their MO. However, the gizmos that are most useful are ones that are intuitive. It’s not the users fault if a gadgets operation isn’t readily apparent. True engineering involves synthesis and distillation with an eye toward elegance, not tech savvy alone. It’s the simplicity on the other side of complexity. It’s more challenging, but definitely more fun. After all, if it isn’t useful then what’s the point?

Calculators can do Magic Things!

noreply@blogger.com (Gabe) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:53:00 +0000

"It's called evil kid." - MST3000, Trumpy episode.

I've always admired the Hacker ethos as proposed by Pekka Himanen because of the passion and creative spirit it evokes. For this reason, I love this article in the current IEEE Spectrum online: Calculator Hackers Don’t Add Up. The comments are particularly insightful. In your face TI!

Understand that I use hacker in the original sense here, not in the malefic form known as “cracker” (don’t get me started on malware).

Alice Cooper, Me, and shoes

noreply@blogger.com (Gabe) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 06:41:00 +0000

I had a short conversation with Alice Cooper two Friday’s ago in the Vegas airport. I was funneled (for some random reason) to the business class security lane in Vegas and I guess Alice got in line just behind me. I didn’t know this of course. After I went through the metal detector I proceeded to gather my shoes from the X-Ray machine when the TSA rep grabbed them telling me he needed to test them. He then placed my shoes in some kind of weird microwave. Once the microwave went “ding”, he handed the shoes back to me while telling me he discovered evidence that I had some wear along the outside of the shoes. I must use them a lot he posited and then told me to be careful. I looked at this guy dumb founded thinking, “What the heck is he talking about.” I quickly realized he was messing with me.

As I squatted down by the X-ray machine to put my shoes on, the guy that had followed me through the X-Ray machine proceeded to tell me, “Man, that’s why I always carry these slip on jobs”, as he showed me his White Adidas super slip-on shoes (or whatever the heck they are) while pulling them onto his feet. "They make this whole thing go so much faster" he added. Since I was kneeling still tying my shoes, and this guy was standing, I only got a vague idea that he was a bit unusual with his crazy, black hair and perhaps slightly eccentric dress. “You ain’t joking around, man”, I retorted. Shortly thereafter, some random other guy came up to the conveyor belt and goes, “Hey Alice Cooper, that’s you. Man, my dad loves your stuff”. This prompted Alice to reply, “I’m sure I turned him into a juvenile delinquent”. Or at least that’s what I thought he said.

I guess Alice is my mentor now when it comes to shoes. I ought to ring him up and ask what I should wear tomorrow since my black ones are apparently wearing out. He might know.

Airplane Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Gabe) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 05:29:00 +0000

My wife volunteered to make a cake for a baby shower recently, so she enlisted my help in "realizing" the design. She was asked to do an "airplane" themed cake and this is what we came up with. To get this form, she came up with the ingenious idea of using a "football" molded cake pan. I then carved it until I arrived at a somewhat fuselage shape. We then added the wings and a tail and viola - an airplane cake. We had a blast making it!

Drawing Disney

noreply@blogger.com (Gabe) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 04:48:00 +0000

One of the things I love about Disney is their creativity and innovation. My recent trip to Disneyland was no exception. At Disney's California Adventure, my wife and I were pleased to find elements from their more popular attractions at Disney World including one we normally would have passed up called the Animation Pavilion. Of all the things to do at the park, we had the most fun here, learning to draw a Disney character. It reminded me how much I really enjoy drawing. Can you guess who this is?

It never ceases to amaze me how seemingly boring, mundane, or out of the way things turn out to be the most fun.

The Team Rogue Approach

noreply@blogger.com (Gabe) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:43:00 +0000

My presentation with Team Rogue was just picked up in a story on WIRED's Danger Room blog. They linked our FIST concept to the Air Force's decision to look into Light Attack Aircraft. AWESOME!

The Thing About Texting

noreply@blogger.com (Gabe) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 04:40:00 +0000

So here's the thing about texting - Why would I pay my provider extra to communicate on a device that I've already paid them to communicate on?

Thus spake Zarathustra.

Courage + Integrity = Radical

noreply@blogger.com (Gabe) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 04:49:00 +0000

Cool! Team Rogue got another plug over on the PaperTrail blog at the Center for Public Integrity. The author, Nick Schwellenbach, attended our presentation and keyed onto our discussion about courage. Courage indeed...thanks Nick! Check out his post.

Infinite Hope

noreply@blogger.com (Gabe) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 04:07:00 +0000

I came across this quote last night which stopped me in my tracks:

We know finite disappointment but we know infinite hope. We have a sense that what we do, with God's help, makes a difference.

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Google vs Facebook anyone?

noreply@blogger.com (Gabe) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 04:04:00 +0000

Why can't Google and Facebook just b friends? WIRED noted recently that all roads lead to a conflict between the two giants which I loathe to think about. I really like both of them and would hate to see all of us lose out as a result of a fight. It seems that Facebook's intent is to make their site a safe haven for it's members such that they'll quit using the "regular" internet and start surfing exclusively through their site. Facebook's founder Mark Zuckerberg believes members are more likely to use their network of friends to find the stuff they want online than to use Google's faceless engine. Google would love to have more info about users, like Facebook does, to help tailor the ads they include with searches.

To me there is a fundamental difference between the two. Google's whole existence is making money off a clever advertising scheme that doesn't kill the user's experience. I love this because it allows Google the freedom to provide users with awesome tools to enhance their internet experience, all for free! On the other hand Facebook is about connecting. It's a big hit because it's fun and easy and non-intrusive (now). I'm afraid Mark Zuckerberg will kill Facebook if he tries too hard to make money (thanks to stupid Microsoft) with intrusive marketing. It'll go down the tube just like MySpace. If I had to choose between them, I'd pick Google. In fact, without Google's Blogger, you wouldn't be reading this note at all. In your face Facebook.

Air Force Magazine's Daily Report

noreply@blogger.com (Gabe) — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 04:58:00 +0000

Hey all,

The Air Force magazine recently commented about a presentation fellow Rogue Project Leader Dan Ward and I gave to the Defense Acquisition University in DC. We were there to advocate our FIST concept. Read the blurb in Air Force Magazine's Daily Report under the heading:

Say Hello to FIST

Transparent Shoes

noreply@blogger.com (Gabe) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:00:00 +0000

I love transparent shoes. Well actually, that's not what I mean. I love transparent companies like the Zappos shoe company. What kind of transparency am I talking about? The type that does this:

...transparency reduces barriers to communication, builds trust, and accelerates consensus building and decision making.
- The Standish Group

If you want to see what Zappos transparency is all about, click here.

Search This!

noreply@blogger.com (Gabe) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 04:47:00 +0000

Why would anybody use Bing (I'm purposely not hyperlinking to them here)? I mean, have you ever used the "Help" search engine in Microsoft Office? It's terrible! If they can't search within their own product well, why the heck do they think they can make a search engine to compete with Google. Retarded.

This is another lame-o attempt by Microsoft to try and kill Google. Yeah, good luck with that.

Notice how I linked to Google twice (oops three times). That's how much MS.................well you know.

National Healthcare Anyone

noreply@blogger.com (Gabe) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 05:40:00 +0000

I'm not fond of the entangled mess (Giant Hairball) that healthcare has become. Neither is Wendell Potter. Bill Moyers of PBS interviewed the former Cigna senior executive after he recently testified before congress. His testimony in this interview is fascinating, upsetting, and makes me down right mad. The embedded video is only part of the full interview. To view the whole thing (and believe me, you WILL NOT regret it), follow this link to the PBS website: Bill Moyers Journal or download the transcript. In any case, Mr. Potter's first hand accounts leave me speechless.

Rogue Project Leader

noreply@blogger.com (Gabe) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 05:29:00 +0000

The Rogues have resurrected the slightly subversive Rogue Project Leader magazine in the form of a blog. It's for punks, radicals, and pirates - and maybe a few thought leaders with attitude. If you like sacred cows, or you're a process monkey, or if you simply like checking boxes.....this probably isn't for you.

Rogue Project Leader