Interplanetary Travel – Coming Soon

Awesome presentation on Interplanetary Travel by Charlie Kuehmann, VP Materials Engineering at SpaceX and Tesla. 

Interplanetary travel and colonization is one of the most exciting possibilities for mankind.  

 

It’s all just beginning (we’ve only been in orbit for about 50 years). 

One of the keys Charlie mentioned at SpaceX and Telsa is how quickly we learn. 

It’s okay to fail, as long as we learn quickly and progress from it.  

The progress with reusable rockets at SpaceX is impressive. 

Can’t wait for more to come soon.  😉

(Credit Video: Andy Blumenthal)

Ship+ In A Bottle

You ever wonder how they build that big ship in that little bottle. 

Someone needs very dexterous hands and a lot of patience to put the pieces through the opening of the bottle and assemble the ship inside. 

But this second grader, Dylan Yasseri, upped the game on this whole concept and imagined a whole beach in the bottle. 

The sand, ocean, sky, birds, crabs, fish, umbrella, and even the shack (snack?) bar!

This is one reason that kids are so awesome–their purity of heart and their endless imaginations make almost anything possible.

The fantasy becomes the reality. 

The colors are magical too here. 

If adults could maintain even half the heart and creativity of our children–oh what a world it could be. 😉

(Source: Andy Blumenthal Photo of Dylan’s beautiful painting).

Anything Is Possible

So you’re all aware of the 3 legs of project management:

– Cost

– Schedule

– Scope

I remember learning the adage that if you change any one of these then there is an impact on the others. 

For example, if you “crash” the timeline on a project to finish more quickly, then you either need more money or you need to reduce the scope. 

Similarly, if you want to cut costs on the project then you may have to extend the timeline or scale back on the requirements. 

Recently, I heard someone says the following:

“We can do anything with enough time and resources.”

And when I thought about this, it’s true enough.

If you provide more money and time for a project then, of course, you can do more in terms of the scope of the project.

Pour enough bucks and time into something and conceptually, we really can do anything. 

Technically, we can do the proverbial “anything,” but that’s only if the politics and infighting don’t get in the way of  progress. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

To MARS and Beyond

So excited about the new show called MARS (and yeah, it’s on National Geographic). 

I watched the season premier and it was awesome!

They did this cool combination flipping between the non-fiction of the here and now on Earth in 2016 with all the plans and advances being made to go to settle Mars someday, and the fictionalized future 2033 actual voyage and colonization there. 

The spaceship, rovers, colony are all pretty amazing and it seems so real like we’re practically there!

Elon Musk (SpaceX) does a nice job explaining the vision and the reusable rockets they are focused on to get us cost-effectively to the Red Planet and beyond. 

The imperative is clear for us becoming a true multi-planetary species, so that we drastically reduce (hopefully to zero) the risk of an extinction level event to humanity.

There was a good quote that I remember, something like:

“We go into the dark, so others can follow the light.”

The leap forward of us actually making it to and colonizing Mars is so mid-boggling great that just about everything else literally pales in comparison. 

Mars is just the first real step…after that the possibilities are truly endless. 😉

(Source Photo: here with attribution to NASA Jet Propulsion Lab)

Technology Hope For The Future

Ok, this gives me tremendous technology hope for the future. 

This 4-year old kid is working diligently on her smartphone, while her mom is shopping not far away in the clothing store at the mall. 

She didn’t seem to care about the clothes hanging all around her or the fun in the mall or really anything else at all…she was content with her tech!

And while I certainly believe in work-life balance and in kids being able to really jsut be kids, there was just something so amazing about the promise of technology, especially for those who are now growing up with it. 

After all, it was very cute how intent this kid was with all the technology power right in the palm of her hands, and I could easily see a budding CIO in the making here. 

And of course, with even better and more capable technology in the future. 

Through technology and belief, we can find hope in the impossible. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Fearless = Reckless

I took this photo in the Metro in Washington, D.C. 

It says, “Be Fearless.”

Why?

No, it doesn’t pay to be wholly fearful–and paralyzed by anxiety or indecision. 

But it is stupid to be fearless–because being fearless is being reckless. 

It’s good to think about possibilities and consequences–not everything that can go right will and more often then not, as Murphy’s Law teaches, whatever can go wrong often does.

Better to think about what can happen–both good and bad–how to manage the risks and how to maximize the rewards.

Have fear of heaven and of bad things–and try to make them better, where you can. 

Fearless is for those who want to be stupid, act reckless, and end up mortally wounded or prematurely dead. 

Fearsome is for those who want to confront their fears head on, manage them wisely, and make the most of the opportunities in a risk-reward managed way. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Amazing Advancements In Prosthetics

Watch this video…

Where a man who lost both arms over 40 years ago is fitted with these amazing dual prosthetics that he is able to control with his mind and muscle movements. 

Made with financing from the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA).

John Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab shows the possibilities for the future for helping everyone from Wounded Warriors to those disabled from accidents and disease. 

G-d creates and we imitate and together we make an incredible flourishing world. 😉

(Note: My gratitude to Rebecca Blumenthal for sharing this video with me.)

Radiate Possibilities

Today, I had the opportunity to see one of the best leadership videos I have ever seen, called “Leadership: An Art of Possibility.”

It features Ben Zander, an Orchestra Conductor who is not just a leader of making music, but of driving people to excellence.

Zander’s passion and energy bring out the best in people–and you can literally see them transformed as their playing comes alive, their faces shine, and they glow under coaching of this conductor extraordinaire.

His leadership principles are:

– Speak possibility–create a shift in being (transformation) by seeing the possibility in everyone, and lead people by empowering, not commanding; help people get in touch with their inner passion, so they remember why they love what they do and why it is ultimately important.

– Quiet the inner voices–communicate that everyone can get an A and everyone has value; assume the best of everyone, eliminate the fear of judgement, barriers, and mindset of “I can’t do it,” so people can genuinely perform.

– Enroll every voice in the vision–make every person feel and realize that they can contribute and make a difference on our journey together; shift from a mindset of pure individuals to that of living in a connected world; like in a symphony– we create a “sounding together.”

– Look for shining eyes and radiating faces–you know you are positively reaching people and impacting them when their eyes and face light up; and you need to ask yourself what you are missing, when you aren’t getting this guttural reaction.

– Rule #6 (“the only rule”)–Don’t take yourself so %@&$! seriously; mistakes happen and life goes on; really feel the joy, relief, ease, spontaneity, and community around what we do.

The art of possibility is a paradigm shift where we move from having an external standard to live up to, and instead move to fulfilling the possibility we can live into.

In essence, Zander’s leadership philosophy is about removing the barriers that inhibit us and releasing our deep inner talents, so we can achieve our marvelous potentials–and self-actualize.

As Zander states: the conductor actually does not make a sound, yet by empowering people, he leads them to make the most beautiful music together.

If you get a chance to watch this video, I believe it is extremely valuable because the passion, love, and energy that Zander demonstrates turns every face into a presence radiating their own joy and excellence–it is truly leadership unleashed.

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

The Art of The Fearless

This was my introduction to Wingsuit Flying.

It’s an extension of death-defying BASE jumping off of Buildings, Antennas, Spans (bridges), and Earth (cliffs) with the added feature of soaring like a bird over the most beautiful terrains.

The wingsuits are bat-like jumpsuits with material stretching between the legs and under the arms enabling a user to glide through the sky, rather than free-falling straight down to the ground.

Essentially the wingsuit gives the human body the extra surface area to get the lift to fly through the sky without any mechanical devices at all or with the addition of small jet engines strapped to the feet for added thrust.

I am amazed at the fearlessness of these wingsuit fliers who jump virtually head first from unbelievable heights, fly close to the ground over extremely dangerous terrain, and only then release their parachutes toward the very end, near landing.

The other thing that impresses me about this is the beauty of this sport–the stunning places they jump from in Norway, Greenland, France and so on, the amazing, intricate colorful fly suits, the choreography of the stunts–alone and in groups–the spectacular filming of the events, and even the great heart-pounding accompanying music.

The talent, beauty, and courage of these sports enthusiasts combine to inspire me and hopefully you to go out and do great things (although hopefully not anything near as dangerous) with our lives–because these guys make it seem like almost anything is possible.

(Source Photo: here)

Playing For The Good Of The Team

Good Morning America”s Play of the Day is called “Man Plays Baseball With Himself.”

In this incredible video a Japanese Astronaut on the International Space Station throws a ball, runs and picks up a bat and hits the ball he just threw, and then jumps up and catches the ball he just hit.

An impossibility in Earth environment, but a possibility in the low gravity of space.

One lesson then is that nothing is really impossible–given the right circumstances, the impossible becomes possible, so have faith in your abilities and understand that your limitations are not insurmountable.

A second lesson is that while this astronaut shows what’s it’s like to be literally a one-man team and to succeed; in the real world, there are no one man teams–we depend on each other, whether to play a game of ball or to accomplish things from major projects to minor tasks.

On Thanksgiving, a favorite pastime is watching football and the NFL has been playing on Thanksgiving since at least 1920. In general, there is a huge appreciation of team sports in America whether football, baseball, basketball, soccer, and more.

People on sports teams and in organizational settings who get ahead understand the importance of team and that collaboration and strategy is the key to success and to “winning”. Those that can’t get alone, end up on the sidelines of the game and of life.

Playing alone, especially in space, may make a great video, but working through a difficult problem with others is even a bigger challenge and feat accomplished.

Getting alone is something we try to instill in people in our society from the earliest of ages, but it does not come easy for everyone. That why we describe people in the organization who don’t get alone with others as “not playing nice in the sandbox.”

Perhaps, this Thanksgiving, we can appreciate the ability of those who are team players as well as those who may be more individualist, as long as everyone is playing for the good of team.

(Source Photo: here)