Weeding Out Land Mines

 
Weeding Out Land Mines. Thale cress, a model organism from the mustard family, grows like a weed almost everywhere on Earth. The modified plant's bright green leaves turn deep red whenever its roots are exposed to nitrogen dioxide, a gas released into the soil by degrading mines.

 
Oooh, what a curious stew: Monty Python, Broadway and spam! Monty Python's SPAMALOT, a new musical comedy lovingly ripped off from the motion picture Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Directed by Mike Nichols, written by Eric Idle, with the full backing and encouragement of all the Pythons. Stars David Hyde-Pierce, Tim Curry, and Hank Azaria.

 
CBC Radio 3 has compiled a great top 20 list of the best new music in Canada in 2004. Sweet tunes - definitely worth a listen. And it's all presented in an incredibly gorgeous (and easy to navigate) website.

 
Season's greetings everbody! Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers,
_S

 
Fast Company's Innovation Station offers a couple new columns about, well, innovation. The first, by Iconoculture consumer analyst Michael Tchong, starts with a very interesting survey stat showing the growing importance of ideation and innovation:

In 1991, 37% of top management surveyed by McKinsey and I&TM reported they wanted to be innovation leader in their category. By 1999, that innovation strategy had jumped to 95%. This marked shift signals one of the fundamental changes of doing business these days: global competition, a changing consumer, and time compression have made innovation paramount for survival.

In strategy meetings throughout the world, "ideation" sessions are taking place. Their goal? Brainstorming the next big hit. But how does one latch on to a new idea? And how do you propel your organization forward to make it receptive to the change management required to bring new ideas to market?

The second, Don't Confuse Creativity with Innovation by think tank CEO Richard Watson, wanders around a few points but eventually zeros in specifically on the distinction between idea conception and process (execution). He furthers his argument by tying it to one of three (BCG) ways of handling innovations: the integrator approach, the orchestrator approach and the licensor approach.

The main enemy of ideas is not risk but inertia.

Companies also think they can be great at creativity and innovation when generally they're either good at one or the other. The trick is to know which you're good at and then to go outside for the other. However, doing this involves a level of self-knowledge and confidence that many companies lack.

 
Some good advice at Cyberlibris on how to read a business book.

(via Slacker Manager)

 
It's a Wonderful Life in 30 seconds, re-enacted by bunnies.

(via Adland)

 
Most popular color in the world? Blue.

At least according to a survey conducted by three global marketing firms that determined blue is overwhelmingly the favorite color of people in each of 17 different countries.

(via Cup of Java)

 
Rethinking traffic by making it less obvious. No street signs. No crosswalks. No accidents. Surprise: Making driving seem more dangerous could make it safer.

Roads Gone Wild. Wired's latest issue profiles the thinking of Dutch traffic engineer Hans Monderman, a man so convinced of his methods that he'll walk out -- backwards -- into busy traffic to prove the safety of them.

Wearing a striped tie and crisp blue blazer with shiny gold buttons, Monderman looks like the sort of stout, reliable fellow you'd see on a package of pipe tobacco. He's worked as a civil engineer and traffic specialist for more than 30 years and, for a time, ran his own driving school. Droll and reserved, he's easy to underestimate - but his ideas on road design, safety, and city planning are being adopted from Scandinavia to the Sunshine State.

 
A must-see documentary: The End of Suburbia. This brilliant film presents a coherent and scary picture of how the current peak in oil production combined with the extravagence of North America's vast urban sprawl and inefficient energy use will cause major social and economic challenges in the near future.

Suburbia, and all it promises, has become the American Dream. But as we enter the 21st century, serious questions are beginning to emerge about the sustainability of this way of life. With brutal honesty and a touch of irony, The End of Suburbia explores the American Way of Life and its prospects as the planet approaches a critical era, as global demand for fossil fuels begins to outstrip supply. World Oil Peak and the inevitable decline of fossil fuels are upon us now, some scientists and policy makers argue in this documentary.

 
CNN pokes fun at itself with this "under your command" ad campaign.

 
Work. This new quarterly magazine from New York looks to be an analysis of the USA's work culture and its influence over the world. Why and how we/they work - from politics to design to health to fashion to travel. The first issue includes online articles about office attire, freelancer unions, and 24-hour retail people.

 
An amusing banter exchange at Snopes about sneezing. Does your heart skip a beat when you sneeze? Can your eyes pop out of their sockets? Can a sneeze feel like an orgasm? Will your head explode if you hold a sneeze in?

 
strategy+business contributing editor Nicholas G. Carr puts forward a sensible case for conservative innovation in the Winter 2004 issue of the magazine. Carr argues that bridging the breakthrough gap is a better third way -- the other two are being the first mover or being the copycat -- to profit from an innovation. By finding the space between where the big idea will be and where the market already is one can both profit immediately from the innovation while also moving into a better position for the future. Carr uses a couple great examples: Netflix beating webcasters taht had outinnovated a market not yet serviced with broadband connections, and Toyota showing patience on the hrdrogen fuel cell front by first producing a car (the Prius) that still uses existing technology even while moving away from it.

There’s an important lesson in this story: When a disruptive new technology arrives, the greatest business opportunities often lie not in creating the disruption but in mending it — in figuring out...a way to use an older, established technology as a bridge to carry customers to the benefits of the emerging technology.

When we talk about business innovation today, we tend to use terms like breakthrough and pioneering and revolutionary. But some of the greatest and most lucrative innovations are essentially conservative. They are brought to market by companies that are as adept at looking backward as looking forward, and that have the skill and patience to achieve the most commercially attractive balance between the old and the new. “Conservative innovation” may sound like an oxymoron, but it’s an idea that deserves to be a part of every company’s thinking. ...

Conservative innovation follows a different path, a third way. Conservative innovators neither pioneer a new technology nor copy it. Rather, they combine it with an older technology to create a different sort of product altogether. And, often, it’s exactly the product that today’s customers actually need, want, and are willing to pay for.

 
A plug for a pretty original holiday gift: the Limited Edition 2004 Maisonneuve Box Set. It's a cool hinge-top wood box packed with six issues of Maisonneuve Magazine (electic curiosity), a one-year subscription, a best-of CD compilation from the Pop Montreal Independent Music Festival, a set of illustrated postcards, a free issue of Geist magazine and a few other goodies.

 
In The Art and Skill of Conversation the authors identify specialized knowledge as being a common pitfall of good conversation. Expert-speak and industry jargon can have an alienating and even condescending effect - at least in the beginning - and usually doesn't carry over well from the workplace to broader social situations.

Writing about The Dying Art of Conversation columnist Duane Wells touches on the same notion, arguing that generalists have a much easier go at a good chat:
Now in addition to being a good listener, one must also be engaging in order to succeed at conversation. It is not enough to simply sit and listen attentively and politely to your guests like a bump on the proverbial log, you must also feed the conversation in much the same way one stokes a fire in one’s fireplace. As conversation sizzles and crackles, you may sit back and enjoy the warmth and beauty of the thing, but as conversation begins to wane, you must do your part to get it going by throwing a log on it…i.e. introducing a new topic. This is the only way to bask in the glow of good conversation for an entire evening.