The University of Michigan won it's fifth national championship in solar car racing. Almost 20 years ago I cut my entrepreneurial teeth on this project at Michigan (winning our 2nd championship). The rayce is similar to the Tour de France in that it is divided into several stages over 10 days and about 2400 miles from Austin, TX to Calgary, AB. Michigan opened a commanding 9 hour lead over the second place finisher, which I believe is the largest margin of victory in the history of the event.
These cars take tens of thousands of volunteer hours to design, build and test plus millions of dollars (solicited from sponsors) and a lot of blood, sweat and tears over several years. Congrats to the entire field, especially Michigan.
There are a lot of lessons to learn from this team/event. I'll write more on that later. In the meantime, you can learn more about the team and the North American Solar Challenge from their websites.
to me last week and I hear it's been flying around the internets. It's basically a picture book description of the sub-prime mess. If you haven't seen this already, it's pretty funny and worth a few minutes.
They say all politics is local and this election year, that couldn't be more true for me. Like many folks I first heard of Obama in the summer of 2004 when he gave an amazing speech here in Boston. I remember how he opened the speech:
Tonight is a particular honor for me because, let’s face it, my presence on this stage is pretty unlikely. My father was a foreign student, born and raised in a small village in Kenya. He grew up herding goats, went to school in a tin-roof shack. His father -- my grandfather -- was a cook, a domestic servant to the British.
But my grandfather had larger dreams for his son. Through hard work and perseverance my father got a scholarship to study in a magical place, America, that shone as a beacon of freedom and opportunity to so many who had come before.
While studying here, my father met my mother. She was born in a town on the other side of the world, in Kansas. Her father worked on oil rigs and farms through most of the Depression. The day after Pearl Harbor my grandfather signed up for duty; joined Patton’s army, marched across Europe. Back home, my grandmother raised a baby and went to work on a bomber assembly line. After the war, they studied on the G.I. Bill, bought a house through F.H.A., and later moved west all the way to Hawaii in search of opportunity. And they, too, had big dreams for their daughter. A common dream, born of two continents.
My parents shared not only an improbable love, they shared an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation. They would give me an African name, Barack, or ”blessed,” believing that in a tolerant America your name is no barrier to success. They imagined -- They imagined me going to the best schools in the land, even though they weren’t rich, because in a generous America you don’t have to be rich to achieve your potential.
When I heard that, I thought, geez, replace "Kenya" with "Pakistan" and "Kansas" with "Oregon" and that's me. A guy with a funny name who was lucky enough to be born in a country where something this crazy is possible.
If you haven't seen Obama give a speech, it really is amazing. He makes Reagan, the "Great Communicator" sound like a stuttering fool. I've personally never seen a better speaker than Obama. In fact, some folks released a music video today (see below) that is a song made from Obama's stump speech titled "Yes We Can." I think MLK gave the last speech I've heard that was worthy of song. It's worth watching if you haven't seen it already.
Then in 2006, I was downloading podcasts to my iPod and stumbled across Obama's incredibly articulate argument for legislation he cosponsored to increase CAFE (corporate average fuel efficiency) standards. That's something I've been a fan of for over a decade and thankfully it was signed into law recently. I was really impressed not only with his leadership, but also that he was savvy enough to have a podcast when most politicians in Washington barely use email.
The funny thing is that if you asked most people, they would say that Obama is the candidate most likely to "be a uniter and not a divider" and I think that is primarily because of his charisma (after all he was recently ranked as having the most liberal voting record of all 100 senators last year).
Growing up, I idolized Evel. He had no fear, or at least appeared to have none, but in reality he worked hard behind the scenes to make the impossible look like magic. He had grand ambitions. And he was a master at marketing. In other words, he was a great entrepreneur. RIP.
A while back I saw this video from the Onion and it got me wondering if there is any country that requires political candidates to pass certain tests to demonstrate qualification for office in the same way that medical doctors have to pass the boards, lawyers have to pass the bar, engineers the PE, etc. It sure would be nice to be able to vote for someone based on something that mattered (like how well they know the issues) as opposed to BS like what someone wears...
Growing up, I idolized Evel. He had no fear, or at least appeared to have none, but in reality he worked hard behind the scenes to make the impossible look like magic. He had grand ambitions. And he was a master at marketing. In other words, he was a great entrepreneur. RIP.
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