Pre-Ramble: I’m guessing we’re not going to see THIS doll in a heap on the floor with snarled hair and no clothes on …

Quick – there’s still time! … Break out the piggy bank and head over to Rockefeller Plaza to join in on the bidding on “the rarest and most valuable Barbie ever created.”  … !!

Australian jewelry designer Stefano Canturi was invited by Mattel to create a unique piece to highlight the iconic Barbie brand. The result is Barbie by Stefano Canturi, a one-of-a-kind gem inspired by the Cubist art movement and recognizing Barbie’s “modern yet timeless style over the ages.”

Hand-selected by Canturi himself, the modified square-cut fancy vivid purplish pink natural color 1.00 carat diamond transforms this exceptional doll into a “historical investment piece.“ The stone, shown above, is nestled into a tiny latticework collar necklace fashioned out of variously-cut diamonds to dress up a simple accordion-pleated black strapless party dress and pink peep-toe stilettos, also designed by Canturi.

Yay Stefano!  This exquisite toy is expected to fetch between $300,000 and $500,000 at auction with 100% of the proceeds going to benefit The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. (The current world auction record for a Barbie is $17,091, set at Christie’s London in 2006.) So, what, you may ask, does a bedazzled Barbie have to do with creativity, innovation, nonprofit strategy, grantwriting or any of the other topics this blog is supposed to be about??  Well, it goes to the grand caldron concept of creativity …  … the idea that innovation and creative combustion happen when seemingly random elements (or, “bunches of hunches” as innovative author Steven Johnson calls them)  come in contact with each other in the big steaming swirling cauldron of existence and incite something new. This baubled Barbie scenario is just such an odd end.

The Take-Away: I’m betting you that Stefano Canturi’s Big Bling Barbie will work its way into your sphere of relevance in one way or another … In fact, if you aren’t compelled to mention BBB out loud at some point in the next couple of months, I owe you a pack of bubble gum.

For more information about the diminutive BLING go to the Christie’s website .

Pre-Ramble: I want to put a word in on the awe-inspiring rescue of the 33 Chilean miners before the clock strikes twelve and reality comes rushing in to spoil this fairytale scenario.

What a historic, heroic and humbling thing we were able to witness last week as a cadre of scientists, engineers, psychologists, doctors, mechanics, nutritionists and sunglasses manufacturers came to the assistance of the thirty-three men who were trapped 2,300 feet below the earth.

Apparently, pretty much the whole world was watching as Chilean President Sebastian Pinera marshaled his forces and the will and spirit of his country to methodically and confidently move forward with a plan to bring every man out alive.

Viva Chile! Many compare the rescue to the NASA moon landing, a seminal moment in American history that I remember watching on our big old black and white television as though it was yesterday. In her usual well-crafted and moving account of events, Peggy Noonan (WSJ) describes the “Leave no man behind” ethos of the miners’ rescue and cites its power to forever transform the people and nation of Chile …

“What does it do to the children of a nation to see [this unifying and transcendent event] … Everyone from Chile will be proud as they go through the world … ‘You saved the miners.’ Chilean children will know, ‘We are the kind of people who get them out alive. We did not let the men die. We made up our mind to do it and we did.’ … What a thing to know about your country… What a transformational event this is going to be for that nation … Viva Chile!”

Form follows function - If I was writing about the innovation surrounding the event, this would certainly be an example of creative thinking and collaborative implementation at its best. What a dizzying spectacle those early brainstorming sessions on the miners’ situation must have been – fueled by adrenalin and parameters around time, space and the human condition too grim to fully comprehend. 

Charged by a staggering number of unknowns, the real miracle is the fact that a hierarchy of power and identification of resources and skills could be sorted out at all, let alone in any kind of reasonable timeframe. In the end, the jury-rigged capsule and rigorous pre-game routine designed to ferry the miners to safety were as comprehensive as they needed to be – simple and functional - a hallmark of truly successful solutions.  

Rock-solid solidarity - Even more impressive than the mechanics of the rescue however is the unshakable optimism and rock-solid solidarity displayed by ”the 33,” both while biding their time underground and carried forward as the ordeal continues to play itself out in the daylight. 

These rugged working-class men are rock stars – the world is throwing every imaginable appearance, book and movie deal at their feet. What kind of forethought must it have taken to prepare the miners for the onslaught of media attention they were undoubtedly going to receive? According to reports out of Copiapo, Chile, the miners received several hours of “media coaching” as part of a “broader strategy to control their story and any proceeds it generates.”

“The men appear to have formed a pact to jointly disseminate and market the story of how they survived longer underground than any previous accident victim … All 33 have agreed not to say anything that would break the pact they have made underground, which is that they will speak only as a group … They have some kind of group agreement to create a ‘foundation’ that would market their story.”

The Take-Away: There is plenty to take-away from this uniquely harrowing and deeply inspiring situation. My hope is that the universe will continue to shine upon the 33 miners and allow them to persist in conducting themselves on the incredibly high ground upon which they currently stand. … How tempting must it be for these individuals to capitalize on their extreme misfortune and cash in on the drama? What kind of character have these men, to forgo the lure of personal fame and fortune for the ultimate benefit of the whole? For the rest of us, I hope this event and the character demonstrated by the folks involved can even scratch the surface of the interminably shallow greed-driven hype of our ”reality TV” culture. 

Post-Note: Talk about point/counter-point — last night’s 10 o’clock news covered the return of one of the volunteers who worked on the drilling crew over at the rescue site,… Meanwhile, on a return trip from Boston, my beloved and oblivious spouse recently found himself seated next to fab-ab reality television celebrity “The Situation“  …

Pre-Ramble: What better time than this back-to-school week to think about thinking, innovation and the proposition of lifelong learning. 

Cut to the MIT Media Lab, a covey of designers, engineers, artists and scientists who conduct a staggeringly broad array of research around “the impact of emerging technologies on everyday life.” 

Tucked into the academic mêlée that is Boston, this hotbed of geeks and geniuses established in 1980 by Professor Nicholas Negroponte and former MIT President and Science Advisor to President John F. Kennedy, Jerome Wiesner, has developed new approaches to physical and social “human adaptability,” cognition and learning, and merging our physical world with digital technology. In this unique culture of “learning by doing” …  

… researchers develop new technologies that  ”empower people of all ages, from all walks of life, in all societies, to design and invent new possibilities for themselves and their communities … future-obsessed product designers, nanotechnologists, data-visualization experts, industry researchers, and pioneers of computer interfaces work side by side to tirelessly invent—and reinvent—how humans experience, and can be aided by, technology.”

Part of the point here is, “Wow – look at all the neat stuff these guys are working on!” … The other, more important message is that there is so much to know and do and experience “out there” in the world, that you might want to seize this opportunity to strap on your backpack and look to the cool productive air of fall to redirect your energy around some new exciting and enriching experiences.

The Take-Away: Hey – if not now, when? … Conduct your own inquiry into the things that are most intriguing to you. One place to kick-start your process might be to look into the Lab’s “Lifelong Kindergarten” project. Here, on a mission to create a more creative society, researchers look at new ways to “engage people in creative learning experiences.”  Go ahead and eat the paste, if you want … In the spirit of ”blocks and fingerpaint,” the group works to expand upon tradition ways of thinking, ultimately to incite “a world full of playfully creative people, who are constantly inventing new possibilities for themselves and their communities.” 

Class is in session!!

Pre-Ramble:  So, I came across an ad in one of the business publications I read, maybe it was Wired … could have been Fortune … anyway, I came across an advertisement promoting the Disney Institute.  Apparently, Mickey and the gang are leading a professional development consulting practice, preaching the gospel of Disney to organizations and individuals who want to realize success by “thinking differently” about their businesses.

“Are you ready to D’Think your organization? … Think outside the status quo … Built on the real-life practices of the Walt Disney Company, a global leader in everything from customer service to leadership excellence, our customized programs have re-inspired over half of America’s Fortune 100 companies. See their testimonials on our website and ask yourself: Are you ready to D’Think?” 

D’Think? … Does this mean, “de-think“? As in, “de-ice or de-clog“? … ”Stop thinking the way you’ve been thinking“? Or, does it mean, “Think D-isney” … as in “Disney-Think“? 

I think they were going for something creative and catchy and think-outside-the-box-y. (Never mind that the accompanying photo features two guys with cardboard boxes over their heads that actually look like giant Fig Newtons with legs … ) At first blush the concept of a corporate coaching arm inspired by Disney is, well, … inspired. 

Certainly, the Magic Kingdom, created by “artistic genius” Walt Disney, embodies all of the elements that one could wish for in an effective organizational model. The efficient and whimsical work environment can only be characterized as “innovative,” and the Disney reputation for delivering a world-class “Guest experience” is legendary. And when it comes to branding, Disney, with its tightly controlled worldwide scope of motion pictures, theme parks, stage shows, books, magazines, television, merchandise, music (… we can talk about the Mouseketeers later), apparel, radio, resorts, cruise line and more, practically invented the concept. So, as claimed,

“The end results may be magical, but the Disney formula … has much more muscle than pixie dust.”

Hey there, hi there, ho there …  Sounds like the muscle of the Disney Institute “formula” involves some pretty basic business school fare…

… That’s what you’ll learn in Disney’s Approach to Inspiring Creativity — one of the five core topics available at Disney Institute. Discover ways to tap into the same power source that has propelled more than 80 years of continuous business success:

• Analyze the working definition of “organizational creativity” as it applies to the success of any organization
• discover the four key components of the organizational creativity model – organizational identity, collaborative culture, structural systems, and the leader
• Examine the best practices of Disney in each of the four components

Wait a minute, Boys and Girls … What’s all this “analysis” and “key components” and “collaborative culture” talk?  Is this the brand of Disney-Speak that leads to Disney-Think? 

Where’s the pixie dust?  Sure, there’s value in sound, foundational business processes and practices, and deft strategy and execution around these things this is surely a part of what has made Disney the formidable and ubiquitous powerhouse that it has been for decades. But, the Disney “formula” is only part of the equation.  The thing is, what amounts to a highly innovative and organic outcome for the wonderful world of Disney, cannot be that for any other entity. Like a fingerprint, an innovative, thriving brand is unique and authentic and it takes some serious alchemy between relevant and random factors to punch that ticket.    

The Take-Away: It’s the “pixie dust” that offers the most competitive advantage here.  Beyond a business formula dressed up in tutus and tiaras, organizations and individuals who seek the vistas beyond the edge of the box are looking for the magic. They’re looking for ways to access the kind of creative spark that will inspire their thinking and transform their business.  Hopefully, the Disney power point includes a magic wand.

Pre-Ramble: For the uninitiatied, the word Flugtag is pronounced “flew’- tog” … rhymes with “blue’-fog” and it means something like ”Flight Day” in German. 

I consider myself an expert, now that I have attended the goofy event which was recently held in a big Saint Paul park on the banks of the Mighty Mississippi River. Once you’ve shared the Flugtag experience with 90,000 people, you can’t help but be a fan.

Basically, the Red Bull Flugtag features a bunch of teams of five folks who design and  fabricate largely aerodynamically challenged human propelled contraptions that are launched off a 30 ft. tall platform into a body of water below. The Flugtag events are as much about creativity and showmanship as they are about actual flight. (In some years, the winning teams put down some pretty pathetic distances.)

According to wikipedia, Flugtag was invented by Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz, “… although the format was originally invented in a small English seaside town under the name “Birdman Rally.” The first Red Bull Flugtag was held in 1991 in Vienna, Austria. It was such a hit, that it has been held every year since in over 35 countries across the world.

Flugtag 101 – Anyone is eligible to compete in the Flugtag event, although I’m guessing that there is a mutant genetic component found in the DNA of individuals who would actually sign up. To participate, each team must submit an application and their contraption must meet the criteria set by Red Bull. For example, each flying machine (again, the term “flying” is used loosely) must:

• have a wing-span of no more than 30 feet
• have a maximum weight of 450 lbs. … including the pilot
• be powered by muscle, gravity and/or imagination
• be unsinkable (Wasn’t the Titanic billed as unsinkable?)
• be constructed entirely of environmentally friendly materials
• have no loose parts (… it is unclear how rules officials can control for the flotsam and jetsam created by entries that break into smithereenes upon impact)
• have no greater than one square foot of advertising
• be accompanied by some kind of clever/lame skit and choreography to cool amped up music

Team members must wear a helmet, life preserver, mouth guard, goggles and are probably asked to sign a big fat Flugtag waiver. Entries are scored by a random panel of judges in three categories – distance, creativity and showmanship.

The Take-Away:  Are you ready for this?!! … The record for the longest Flugtag flight is 207 feet, set on July 24th, 2010 IN SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA by the team “Major Trouble and The Dirty Dixies” (record-breaking contraption shown above) in front of more than 90,000 people, which also set a record for the biggest attendance at a Flugtag event in any U.S. city!!!  To see the record-breaking flight, click on the Red Bull Flugtag link here.

Pre-Ramble:  Just the sound of the word “innovation” gives me a rush of energy that rises up out of a cross section of art, science and the romantic notions of resourcefulness and hard work. Over the past decade, this glorified word has been slapped all over everything from business schools to soap, claiming the “frontier spirit” and trading on its appeal to dreamers and pragmatists alike. 

There is growing concern, however, that the U.S. prowess for innovation is in danger, and that steps must be taken to ”reclaim our edge.”  John C. Lechleiter, chairman, president and CEO of Eli Lilly and Company expounds upon that sentiment in a recent Opinion page article (WSJ, 7/9/10, p. A17).

A stream of inventions helped make the 20th century the American century … Unfortunately, America’s economy is in danger of losing what has always been our greatest competitive advantage – our genius for innovation. … A recent study ranked the U.S. 6th among the top 40 industrialized nations in innovative competitiveness, but 40th out of 40 in the rate of change in innovative capacity … In other words, we’re at serious risk of falling behind.”

(Forgive me if I’m missing something here, but how much farther behind can we fall if we’re already dead last?)

Building capacity. In crafting a turnaround plan, Lechleiter talks about an “ecosystem” of conditions that are required to foster an environment of innovation, among them the “seeds of innovation” meaning, us human beings with our talent and energy, creativity and insights, “…  a priceless resource and one that is woefully underdeveloped in this country.” Lechleiter goes on to suggest that, along with simplified immigration policies and adequate funding for our research infrastructure, one way to bolster America’s “capacity for innovation” is to step up the rigors of science and math instruction in our schools.

At the recent Apsen Ideas Festival, education gurus like Bill Gates, Jeffrey Canada, and Howard Gardner discuss the future of education in America. They suggest all kinds of great ideas, innovative ideas even, that strive to engage young people in real learning and give them the tools they will need for a successful future. They talk about innovative models for reform … a longer school day, … an articulated curriculum, … more rigorous testing, … accountability for results, … teacher quality and parent involvement.  Certainly, these are all important elements in a high-quality education, and important building blocks for innovation as well.

Jack Hidary, a successful innovator/entrepreneur in the tech and finance camp, former philosophy and neuroscience student at Columbia University, and also a speaker at this year’s Aspen Festival, puts things in another perspective, 

“Problem-solving is not correlated with grade scores on a transcript.”

Science and reading and math – Oh my!  Sure, high performance in math and science (and reading ) are critical skill sets that must be nurtured in the well-rounded innovator, but so too are the critical traits of curiosity, independence and engagement. What is going to actually engage these kids?  Why are they going to want to sit in the classroom longer and take harder courses?  What is going to get them excited to come to school and apply themselves?  To get excited about learning?  How are they going to find what they are looking for in life unless they are given an opportunity to access their their imagination, their chi, their passion, their hidden sources of motivation? What is going to compel these students to shift their internal paradigm such that they see barriers and obstacles as exciting ”challenges to be overcome”?

Follow the yellow brick road.  Sometimes the answer is to go off of the beaten path and find yourself in a whole new place … maybe even one with rainbows, a tin man and ruby slippers (awesome, magical sparkliness shown above). Problem-solving – a gateway to innovation – involves critical thinking, exploration, resourcefulness and creativity. Future  innovators need to develop the motivation and capacity to snoop around … to follow their whims … listen to their gut, and rely on instinct and insight to make new connections among an infinite sea of random data points.

We need to provide kids with opportunities to venture down the yellow brick road … to get out of the black and white and see the world in color on a regular basis. In addition to a crabby Auntie Em and high winds, Dorothy’s data points were facilitated by her encounters with the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion.  The future entrepreneur needs a firm understanding of math and science and literature, AND art and music and team-work and a whole bunch of other random and wonderful things.

The Take-Away: We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto. Like Oz and the Fab 4, our the world is spinning and we need to figure out a way to make sense out of it. If we are to have any hope of rebuilding the American capacity for innovation, we need to engage and “nurture the seeds” in new ways. … Even clicking our societal heels in a spanking new pair of sparkly red shoes isn’t going to help us find our way back to innovation if we continue to ignore the critical role that the arts and extracurricular activities play in human engagement and continue to undervalue (cut funding for) them in our public and educational environments.

Parts of this post originally appeared in a feature that I wrote for the PUSH Institute. A new iteration of that piece appears below. 

Pre-Ramble:  A recent WSJ headline notes that at 3M, “Innovation Comes in Tweaks and Snips.”  3M CEO George Buckley charged staffers to find cheaper ways to make products like respirator masks as a way to improve products and cut costs, suggesting that in hard economic times like these, innovations can be found “at the bottom of the pyramid” rather than in pursuit of a single “grandiose invention.” 

Huh? Certainly, innovation can come in many shapes and sizes, but the brand of iterative chicken scratching suggested in this charge raises serious questions about the definition of “innovation.” For example, can any/every iterative maneuver, be it cost cutting, process improvement, or otherwise tweaking and snipping, be considered “innovation”? Where are the lines drawn around an “ah-hah moment” born of the elusive “creative spark,” and simple problem-solving?  Are we wrong to lump the concepts of innovation, invention and creativity into the same category?  Is being “skillful” the same as being “innovative”? What about resourcefulness?  And, where does novelty come into play?

With operations in more than 65 countries, 75,000 employees, and global sales of over $23 billion, 3M leadership must remain engaged on all levels of the innovation pyramid in these tough economic times. No stranger to innovation, Buckley’s training as an electrical engineer combined with a broad knowledge of physics and thermodynamics led to many patented, industry-changing inventions including early prototypes of the front-loading washing machine. In his role as CEO of 3M (current tagline, “Innovative Technology for a Changing World”), Buckley is both an idealist and a realist when it comes to innovation. The cost-cutting exercise around the respirator masks belies the true depth of Mr. Buckley’s creative nature. 

Part genius, part maverick. In 2007, I had an opportunity to sit down with Mr. Buckley to talk about the dynamic of creativity. An intensely curious and widely read man, he described himself as a life-long-learner, engaging in regular inquiry into a wide variety of topics including ancient history, biographies, classical music and the arts. Buckley is comfortable talking in both broad abstract terms and in the vernacular of the pragmatic, Fortune 500 business leader that he is. Introverted and thoughtful, driven to a state of near constant scanning, observation, processing and critiquing, Buckley believes that the creative process occurs at the intersection of intuitive vision, specialized “deep” knowledge and opportunity. He believes that creative discovery is something other than linear processing that “comes on another level of awareness … part genius, part maverick … a willingness to risk, to go out into an unknown realm.”

Whether it’s intensive, intentional brainstorming or pie-in-the-sky day-dreaming, innovation can come at any time in any place.  If the classic anecdotes are true, it would seem that innovations are more likely to come to those who are sitting at a bar doodling on a cocktail napkin. Seems to me that the flash of insight in the “ah-hah” moment is a much sexier way to go than the plodding, nose-to-the-grindstone approach, … some thoughts:

• Value-add.  The nature of the innovation and its value to society is a factor in assessing the innovative quotient of a product or process. Resourcefulness, for example, can be a component of innovative behavior, however it does not necessarily deliver social value. If you’re lost on a deserted island, there will be great personal value in being able to forage for food, fashion shelter out of palm fronds, and create an imaginary friend out of found objects …. But, beyond that immediate situation, what is the enduring or replicable outcome?  What is the value-add for mankind? Does there need to be one?
• Novelty.  Toys and games, can claim some real estate in the sphere of creativity, innovation and invention as well. Think Nerf ball. Invented by journalist-turned-toy-mogul, Reynolds Guyer, the Nerf was a literal game-changer, challenging the once unbreakable rule that “you can’t throw a ball in the house.”  The invention of the Nerf spawned an industry of fun, neon-colored, foam-based weaponry and continues to score millions in revenue every year.
• Context.  One man’s failure is another man’s innovation. Take the ubiquitous, highly innovative 3M product, the Post-it note. In the context of the 3M research department, inventor Spencer Sliver’s attempt to formulate a new super-sticky adhesive was a failure. Years later, however, colleague Arthur Fry conceived the application for Sliver’s easily removable glue compound that we celebrate today. 

The Take-Away: At the end of the day, innovation is as innovation does. If this week’s pull-out in The Economist, “The world turned upside down: A special report on innovation in emerging markets,” is any indication, we have not begun to exhaust the possibilities here, and, as it turns out, Mr. Buckley’s “tweak and snip” approach is spot on with global innovation trends. Woot!

NOTE: In recent efforts to “make the Post-it brand more relevant and ‘cool and hip’ with members of Gen X and Y, 3M marketers have released “Project Things We Forget” into the social media marketplace.  The project website has attracted 770,000 visitors; has 13,000 fans and 700 friends on Facebook; 1,500 followers on Twitter; 700 devotees on Stumbleupon (a website where you can collect and share neat stuff that you find online); reviews and features on over 674,000 sites; and a review on Singapore’s largest radio station.

Post-Note:  As for the challenge to 3M respirator researchers – consumers can breathe a sigh of relief; an ultra-low-cost respirator mask will be released into the marketplace this month.

Pre-Ramble: There is a lot of buzz and quite a few books out there that promote the value of “branding” yourself as a way to attract recognition and business. I just don’t know about that. As a dedicated “intuitive thinker” who delights in the pursuit of random stuff, the idea of nailing myself down to a single focus is more than a little scary.

Well, so, by ”branding,” of course, I don’t mean scorching your backside with a hot metal “K.” I mean representing yourself to others — who you are, what you do and what you are about in a specific and consistent way.  Beyond a title or symbol, a brand is a holistic summation of the character of a person or entity — its personality or reputation.

Brands of businesses are all around us … the bold FedEx letter forms, the Nike swoosh, the little blue Twitter bird, the Target … target, the Apple … apple … They all have a distinct look and feel … they all have a unique differentiated point of view.  Alina Wheeler discusses the many dimensions of “brand”  in Designing Brand Identity (2003) …

There is substantial evidence that companies whose employees understand and embrace the brand are more successful. What began as “corporate culture” under the auspices of human resources is fast becoming branding, and the marketing department runs the show; … each touchpoint is an opportunity to strengthen a brand and to communicate about its essence; … brand identity increases awareness and builds business.” 

I get it. I can see the value there. The more people recognize you/your brand for what you “do,” the more likely they are to seek you out when they need someone to do that for them (… or with them … to them … whatever).  I am so all over this in the business world. I believe that businesses who are able to articulate a clear consistent message about who they are and what they do are ideally positioned to attract meaningful (and prosperous) business opportunities. So, I guess it is no small stretch to apply this same principle to the individual.  At any given time, in any given place, you as an individual may be called upon to perform as the brand that you are.

I guess what that means is, that at any given moment ”you” are a potential business … or a potential business opportunity.  By establishing a consistent set of attributes, skill sets, a look and a feel for yourself, … you are constantly marketing yourself in the world marketplace. I guess that’s the big hairy deal about the “new social media” venues – Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter. In launching a Home Page, or a Profile, or even a blog (!), you are, for better or for worse, putting yourself out there as a brand. Yikes – no pressure there.

The dilemma I have is, if in order to successfully be “a brand,” you have to forsake the enticing array of random very-cool-stuff that lurks around so many corners, it that worth it?  Creativity and its kissin’ cousin, innovation, are made from the very stuff of random collisions/conjunctions of things and ideas. So, does a guy have to sacrifice the capacity to think big, out-there thoughts for the privilege of having a successful business or personal brand?  (How do the folks whose brand is that they Think Big Out-There Thoughts make that work?)

The Take-Away: Doomed.  If I need to be together enough to align my appearance, environment, family members, pets, possessions, activities, attitudes, disposition and every confounded twittering thought in my head with my designated “brand,” …

… JUST SHOOT ME NOW.

Pre-Ramble: Buried in the newspaper between stories about the Palin book tour and Tiger’s “bad lie” is a tiny snippet worth writing about — In an effort to show young kids “how cool science can be,” President Obama has announced that he will convene a national science fair in 2010 to honor young inventors “with the same gusto that professional athletes celebrate their victories” at the White House. Knucks to that, oh, self-proclaimed Nerd-in-Chief!

I’m fired up about this news for a couple of reasons … First, because I love science fairs!  If it involves pipe cleaners and paper Mache — I’m in!  … Adobe villages made out of popsicle sticks … the African veldt in a shoebox — bring it on! You can imagine my thrill when the kids came home with the annual science fair flyers in their backpacks. 

One year, I was able to convince my daughter to do a project on the solar system.  Designed to demonstrate the sizes of the planets relative to the sun, we called it, “What if the Sun was a Basketball?”  … The poor kid never saw it coming.  She looked on in disbelief as I raced around the kitchen in search of small round objects that could represent Mars … “Do you think it should be a marble or a pea? … Do we know anybody with a bebe gun? … What about a poppy seed for Mercury?? … How in the heck are we going to get this tennis ball to stick on the tag board???”  As I recall, we got an A on it (and nobody misses that green bocce ball).

The art of science.  The second reason I’m so charged about the White House science fest is that where there’s science, art isn’t far behind. Like art, science is the result of the inspiration of brilliant minds. From the tiniest pixel to the largest expanse of the universe, the collective scope of art and science is vast and wondrous. Whether you’re dealing with neutrinos or Neoclassicism, the same kind of inquiry and invention is at play. Designer Bruce Mau describes the symbiotic relationship between art and science:

” … My commitment to scientific knowledge in no way diminishes my belief in the mystery and power of the arts. It is art that sings to us and opens our hearts to one another. It is art that gives meaning to things that would otherwise go unnoticed … that connects us to our past … that laughs at our hubris and limitations, while speaking to us of the darkness we cannot say out loud. In the end, it is art that allows us to understand, express and share science. While science works to order the matter of the world, art orders the meaning of the world. In my practice of design these two worlds of meaning and matter, of aesthetics and scientific knowledge, of quality and quantity, of mystery and certainty, of intuition and expertise, come together to create new possibilities for shaping our world.”

The Take-Away: Put on the safety goggles and throw down some tarps – the next wave of brilliant and inspired minds is headed to Washington. In the great search for knowledge and discovery, art and science are essential elements.

Post-Note: Visions of kryptonite …  If you’re looking for an artfully scientific stocking stuffer, look no further than The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe. There is also an amazing website that brings the Periodic Table of Elements to life.

Pre-Ramble:  So, four things happen pretty much every year around the end of October that signal that the fall season has officially arrived:

1. tons of acorns fall into the backyard until you feel like you’re walking around on marbles; 
2. the local bakery rolls out its seasonal frosted pumpkin cookies (unbelievably yummy);
3. the classic animation, “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown“ is on at 7:00 on a school night;
4. the closing story on the local news is some rural yahoo hurling pumpkins 500 feet through the air with one of those medieval homemade catapults as cheering bystanders watch them smash into tiny bits in an adjacent corn field. 

Yep, it’s officially fall in the upper Midwest.

It’s that fourth indicator that I’d like to discuss — the catapult, or trebuchet (pronounced treb-yoo-shet). According to our experts at Wikipedia, a trebuchet works by “using the mechanical advantage principle of leverage, releasing a sling and arm mechanism to propel a stone or other projectile towards a target with great force.” The trebuchet was used in the Middle Ages (and in the Broadway play “Spamalot“) to smash into masonry walls or to throw projectiles over them. Recorded flings could apparently send “350 lb+ projectiles at high speeds into enemy fortifications.” (Caution: skip this next part if you’re squeamish or eating breakfast.) “On occasion, disease-infected corpses were flung into cities in an attempt to infect or terrorize the people under siege – a medieval form of biological warfare.” (Eeeeeoww!)

Over the past decade, the sport of “pumpkin chucking” has become somewhat popular, with the annual World Championship Punkin’ Chuckin’ Contest held in Sussex County Delaware bringing a variety of launching machines, including the trebuchet, to the fore.  The record-holding toss in the competitive 8 pound pumpkin event is the Yankee Siege, a 51 foot tall, 55,000 pound apparatus developed by former dentist Steve Seigars. Owing to the miracle that is constantly updated, open-sourced information, “as of October 2009 (which would basically be now), the trebuchet has unofficially broken the 2,000 foot mark, with a possible throw of up to 2,300 feet.”

Boys will be boys -  Well, so, there are these four guys in Minnesota who have designed and constructed a trebuchet in one of the guys mother’s backyard. We’re not talking about Beaver Cleaver and a group of Cub Scouts messing around with sticks and rubberbands (“Wash up for dinner, boys!” … ), these guys are in their mid-thirties and presumably have day jobs. 

In the spring of 2008 they began construction on their machine using reclaimed materials like construction lumber, landscape timbers, slabs of aluminum, old garage-door parts (“stuff you can get at any Menards … “), and a 265-gallon fuel tank that they found on Craigslist.  The initial goal was to launch old bowling balls into the nearby field, but after a few ”successful” attempts, they began to branch out. “The trebuchet team is now testing the flight and crash-landing characteristics of obsolete consumer electronics” including old televisions, computers and clothes dryers.  This could be ”David Letterman, the Rural Edition.”

William Gurstelle, author of “Backyard Ballistics,” suggests that,

Most people who build stuff like giant catapults are doing what they’re doing because they’re seeking a challenge — the challenge of creating something big and wonderful in a physical, tangible way.”

The Take-Away:  Great! Never mind the trauma that would be visited upon Linus and the gang should they have cause to witness their much beloved pumpkins subjected to the vaulting/smashing exercise, the homemade trebuchet is appealing for a number of reasons. It is inventive, over-sized and somewhat whimsical; it uses recycled materials; incorporates movement; invites anticipation; and ultimately, it provides an oddly simple, down-to-earth form of entertainment. While I’m not generally a fan of wrecking stuff, anything that facilitates and celebrates the creation of “something big and wonderful” is a potential personal growth opportunity and worth a second look.

Post-Note: I wonder how far a fully-loaded golf bag would go?