Why You Should Watch the Women’s World Cup

Hope Solo Makes the Save

In a world where sports is synonymous with ego, contracts, money, and scandal – the FIFA Women’s World Cup (now 20 years old) is a return to all that is good, right and beautiful in the world. No strikes, no steroids, no rapes, no murders. Just sport and play for the love of the game, in the name of one’s country, for all the world’s viewing pleasure.

Yesterday’s match between the United States and Brazil was the stuff dreams are made of – a gripping testimony to FIFAWWC‘s rightful place in the global sports arena.

There was no reason the U.S. women should have won. Not when their first goal of the game went in off a Brazilian defender. And not when they were given a controversial red card and Brazil was awarded a penalty kick which was to be denied by the captivatingly formidable Hope Solo only then to have the save denied with another controversial call by the ref which allowed Marta to nail the recovery penalty kick in and consequently leave the United States to play a woman down for the remaining 25 minutes in the second half with the scoreboard at 1-1.

And certainly not when the lightning speed and talent of said Marta made for a dire situation when her shot on goal reached the far post, out of Solo’s reach, and into the net to give Brazil a 2-1 lead in overtime.

But somehow, someway — the United Statues made magic happen when Megan Rapinoe sent a beautiful cross that connected with Abby Wambach who headed it in:

With only one minute left on the clock, the U.S. was able to even the score.

Despite all the fakery and theatrics of Brazil’s bombastic cast (watch how Brazil player #13 just pops off the stretcher), they were unable to beat the heart, soul and spirit of the United States in the final minutes of play.

You didn’t have to be a soccer fan, or sports fans, or even a fan of the United States to appreciate the moment. You only needed to be human to understand the sheer determination and collective will that took to make the tying goal and the ultimate victory happen.

In the final overtime penalty kick shootout, it was solid refereeing that recalled a block by an overzealous Brazilian goalkeeper, a tremendous and fair block by Hope Solo, and the unanimous execution of the United States team to deliver one of the finest matches in soccer history.

Fortitude, resilience, tenacity, mental toughness, calm under pressure, execution – these are the hallmarks of greatness. And no single player for the United States team could claim them individually. Ever single player on the field stepped up, dug deep and produced them as one unstoppable unit. You can watch all the highlights from the game at FIFA.com.

Now, heading into the semifinals, the U.S. faces similar opponents in Japan (an underdog who knocked out perennial powerhouse Germany and has never made it to the semifinals), France (who dismantled soccer royalty, England) and Sweden (who beat the United States in the group stage) – teams that drew upon their own unique strengths and depths to make it to the final four.

This final week will be soccer at it’s best, a sport that is embraced by world, played by both men and women, and is a pointed reminder that women (who in parts of the world are still struggling for their right to vote, to get an education, and to simply show their faces) can not only rock out as athletes, but can do it damn well.

Why You Should Watch the Women's World Cup

Hope Solo Makes the Save

In a world where sports is synonymous with ego, contracts, money, and scandal – the FIFA Women’s World Cup (now 20 years old) is a return to all that is good, right and beautiful in the world. No strikes, no steroids, no rapes, no murders. Just sport and play for the love of the game, in the name of one’s country, for all the world’s viewing pleasure.

Yesterday’s match between the United States and Brazil was the stuff dreams are made of – a gripping testimony to FIFAWWC‘s rightful place in the global sports arena.

There was no reason the U.S. women should have won. Not when their first goal of the game went in off a Brazilian defender. And not when they were given a controversial red card and Brazil was awarded a penalty kick which was to be denied by the captivatingly formidable Hope Solo only then to have the save denied with another controversial call by the ref which allowed Marta to nail the recovery penalty kick in and consequently leave the United States to play a woman down for the remaining 25 minutes in the second half with the scoreboard at 1-1.

And certainly not when the lightning speed and talent of said Marta made for a dire situation when her shot on goal reached the far post, out of Solo’s reach, and into the net to give Brazil a 2-1 lead in overtime.

But somehow, someway — the United Statues made magic happen when Megan Rapinoe sent a beautiful cross that connected with Abby Wambach who headed it in:

With only one minute left on the clock, the U.S. was able to even the score.

Despite all the fakery and theatrics of Brazil’s bombastic cast (watch how Brazil player #13 just pops off the stretcher), they were unable to beat the heart, soul and spirit of the United States in the final minutes of play.

You didn’t have to be a soccer fan, or sports fans, or even a fan of the United States to appreciate the moment. You only needed to be human to understand the sheer determination and collective will that took to make the tying goal and the ultimate victory happen.

In the final overtime penalty kick shootout, it was solid refereeing that recalled a block by an overzealous Brazilian goalkeeper, a tremendous and fair block by Hope Solo, and the unanimous execution of the United States team to deliver one of the finest matches in soccer history.

Fortitude, resilience, tenacity, mental toughness, calm under pressure, execution – these are the hallmarks of greatness. And no single player for the United States team could claim them individually. Ever single player on the field stepped up, dug deep and produced them as one unstoppable unit. You can watch all the highlights from the game at FIFA.com.

Now, heading into the semifinals, the U.S. faces similar opponents in Japan (an underdog who knocked out perennial powerhouse Germany and has never made it to the semifinals), France (who dismantled soccer royalty, England) and Sweden (who beat the United States in the group stage) – teams that drew upon their own unique strengths and depths to make it to the final four.

This final week will be soccer at it’s best, a sport that is embraced by world, played by both men and women, and is a pointed reminder that women (who in parts of the world are still struggling for their right to vote, to get an education, and to simply show their faces) can not only rock out as athletes, but can do it damn well.

Why nobody knows how to prevent obesity

The 2011 obesity report from the Trust for America’s Health just came out and the news is as bad as ever. Every state has a minimum obesity rate of 20% and not one saw a decrease, while 16 saw an increase.

“Twenty years ago, no state had an obesity rate above 15 percent.  Today, more than two out of three states, 38 total, have obesity rates over 25 percent, and just one has a rate lower than 20 percent (Colorado at 19.8%).”

“Since 1995, when data was available for every state, obesity rates have doubled in seven states and increased by at least 90 percent in 10 others.”

Now, those numbers are bad and so are the corresponding increases in diabetes (rate has doubled) and hypertension (20%+ in every state). But, the number that I consider telling is found on page 11 of the full report (pdf):

“More than two-thirds (68 percent) of Americans are either overweight or obese”

Or, spin it the other way and it tells you only 32% of America is fit.

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Which makes this issue so tough. No one seems to understand the problem, solution, or even the struggles every individual faces.

The report itself provides little in the way of recommendations only asking for the government to fund research and education.

Here is the problem, as I see it.

Food is the foundation. If we are eating good food then all should be well, after all our species survived for 10,000 years as fit world dominators.

Which means that we are eating bad food, and so what is bad food?

Before we get to that it’s important to point out all the discussion around nutrition, physical activity, cooking and what have you. That is where all the focus is and I think it’s absolutely useless.

I compare it to flying a plane without gas. You can check the wings, throw a pilot in there, and even get clearance from the tower, but if you don’t put in gas (the right gas) none of that matters.

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Bad Food = everything in the grocery store.

I know this sounds crazy, but the facts are there. Everyone in America relies on grocery stores for food and it’s causing 2/3 of them health problems.

How many more need to become overweight before we start to question the very fundamentals of our grocery store lifestyle?

How could Apple spend its $51 billion cash?

The common advice would be to acquire some hot property like Twitter, Pandora, or Hulu. Doing so would satisfy Wall Street’s insatiable hunger for greedy growth, but wouldn’t be all that strategic.

Another idea would be for Apple to invest in itself. A post over on Business Insider highlights this using a thread on Quora.

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It started with this question, “What would make sense for Apple to use its $51+ billion in cash for a strategic acquisition?”

The two most interesting answers present inspired analysis of the company.

One has a list of Apple acquisitions since 1997 and points out that all have been small, with most in the $10-20 million range. The biggest on record was over a decade ago with the “purchase of NeXT that brought Steve Jobs back to Apple”.

1997 Next (programming services). Value: $404 million
1997 Power Computing (cloned computers). $100 million
1999 Xemplar Education (software). $5 million
1999 Raycer Graphics (graphic chips). $15 million
2000 NetSelector (Internet software). Value: NA
2001 Astarte (DVD authoring software). Value: NA
2001 bluebuzz (Internet service provider). Value: NA
2001 Source Technologies (graphics software). Value: NA
2001 PowerSchool (online info systems services). $62 million
2002 Nothing Real (special effects software). $15 million
2002 Zayante (software). $13 million
2002 Silicon Grail Corp-Chalice (digital effects software). Value: NA
2002 Emagic (music production software). $30 million
2002 Propel Software (software). Value: NA
2005 Fingerworks (gesture recognition). Value: NA
2006 Silicon Color (software). Value: NA
2006 Proximity (software). Value: NA
2008 P.A. Semi (semiconductors). $268 million
2009 Placebase (maps). Value: NA
2009 Lala (music streaming). $17 million
2010 Quattro (mobile advertising). $275 million
2010 Intrinsity (semiconductors). $121 million
2010 Siri (software). Value: NA
2010 Poly9 (Web-based mapping). Value: NA

The second, even more insightful, points out that the majority of Apple’s cash is used for strategic capital investment. They find a new technology they want in on and buy the factory, patent, or supply chain and then secure exclusive contracts for them.

Even writing in first-purchase clauses, where they get exclusive production discounts by fronting some start-up costs for the new factories.

Read the full answer for more details on how this world-class supply chain operates:

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Apple actually uses its cash hoard in a very interesting way to maintain a decisive advantage over its rivals:

When new component technologies (touchscreens, chips, LED displays) first come out, they are very expensive to produce, and building a factory that can produce them in mass quantities is even more expensive. Oftentimes, the upfront capital expenditure can be so huge and the margins are small enough (and shrink over time as the component is rapidly commoditized) that the companies who would build these factories cannot raise sufficient investment capital to cover the costs.

What Apple does is use its cash hoard to pay for the construction cost (or a significant fraction of it) of the factory in exchange for exclusive rights to the output production of the factory for a set period of time (maybe 6 – 36 months), and then for a discounted rate afterwards. This yields two advantages:

  1. Apple has access to new component technology months or years before its rivals. This allows it to release groundbreaking products that are actuallyimpossible to duplicate. Remember how for up to a year or so after the introduction of the iPhone, none of the would-be iPhone clones could even get a capacitive touchscreen to work as well as the iPhone’s? It wasn’t just the software – Apple simply has access to new components earlier, before anyone else in the world can gain access to it in mass quantities to make a consumer device. One extraordinary example of this is the aluminum machining technology used to make Apple’s laptops – this remains a trade secret that Apple continues to have exclusive access to and allows them to make laptops with (for now) unsurpassed strength and lightness.
  2. Eventually its competitors catch up in component production technology, but by then Apple has their arrangement in place whereby it can source those parts at a lower cost due to the discounted rate they have negotiated with the (now) most-experienced and skilled provider of those parts – who has probably also brought his production costs down too. This discount is also potentiallysubsidized by its competitors buying those same parts from that provider – the part is now commoditized so the factory is allowed to produce them for all buyers, but Apple gets special pricing.

Apple is not just crushing its rivals through superiority in design, Steve Jobs’s deep experience in hardware mass production (early Apple, NeXT) has been brought to bear in creating an unrivaled exclusive supply chain of advanced technology literally years ahead of anyone else on the planet. If it feels like new Apple products appear futuristic, it is because Apple really is sending back technology from the future.

Once those technologies (or more accurately, their mass production techniques) become sufficiently commoditized, Apple is then able to compete effectively on cost and undercut rivals. It’s a myth that Apple only makes premium products – it makes them all right, but that is because they are literally more advanced than anything else (i.e. the price premium is not just for design), and once the product line is no longer premium, they are produced more cheaply than competitor equivalents, yielding higher margins, more cash, which results in more ability to continue the cycle.

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Here is one of those famous Apple production videos which highlights the aluminium machining technology.

 

My First Surfboards

I love these boards.

They are my coolest toys. I would sleep with them if I didn’t have a pretty lady, so instead I dream about them. Like Mitchell dreaming about Pepe the Spanish-speaking shark in Airborne (see clip far below).

Toffler

This is my current board, a 7’6 white and blue learner board. It’s not custom made or even brand name. As near as I can tell it was made in a factory with about 1,000 others.

We call her Toffler after a friend on Twitter (World Future Society) suggested the name. It refers to Alvin Toffler the American writer known for his work on the digital revolution.

Barnstormer

This is Amy’s current board and it’s a boat. So called the Barnstormer because in the surfing world ‘barney’ refers to a very inexperienced surfer and the board has ‘Wavestorm’ written across it.

It’s 8 feet long and you really can’t do anything with it except float. Which is perfect for the beginner who just wants to feel safe. It gives you a chance to learn the basics like paddling, sitting on the board, learning how waves break, and catching the crumblers (small waves).

Chuck

My very first surfboard, called Chuck, although Dent might be a better name. I bought this way before I was committed to surfing and even then it was a piece of junk.

Dents all over it, nose previously broken and repaired, and already turning post-white yellow (the picture doesn’t do the yellow-ing justice).

It stands 6’5 tall and could probably still shred. I’m gonna have to take it out one of these days and see if it still floats.

*at least the leash is rad with retro 80s colors*

Surf Rug

Where would we be without surfing memorabilia everywhere. Here is one piece from my house…maybe I can practice my pop ups on it..

Surfboard Bag

Surfboards are pretty fragile. I’m always denting, scratching, and cracking mine. After all they they are just shined up pieces of fiberglass. This is where the padded surfboard bag comes in. Great for garage storage and for the surf trip (will I ever take one of those?).

Mitchell on Stylin

From the movie Airborne, where Mitchell is a kid from California who moves to the midwest and has dreams about the ocean, specifically about Pepe the Spanish-speaking shark.

Here he is introducing himself to the class.