One of the more unique efforts that Frog’s Leap has made is in the area of water conservation. No water is used on the any of the grape crops. They are completely dry farmed. John explains that “all grapes in Napa for 125 years were dry farmed. Irrigation came to Napa in the 70s, was made popular in late 80s, and became required in the 90s. Now it’s thought to be completely impossible to grow grapes without water.”

Another thing I am not is a wine expert, but that’s not going to stop me from giving their stuff a shot.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

The Ten Canine Commandments

Don’t get a dog until you’ve read this.

If you have a dog, read this, weep a bit- “go with me on difficult journeys” is like a dagger to the heart- and then go play with your doggie.

Too often we mistakenly believe that doing less makes us lazy and results in a lack of productivity. Instead, doing less helps us savor what we do accomplish. We learn to do less of what is extraneous and engage in fewer self-defeating behaviors, so we craft a productive life that we truly feel good about.

- Marc Lesser, Do Less, Accomplish More

We really only have one intact “attention” per person, and the more we fracture it, the less we accomplish.

They were indeed heroes- risking their lives for the advancement of science, technology, and national reputation counts, I think- but I think that, in one example at least, more than just the cascading effects of key decisionmakers’ failures were to blame for the catastrophic failure of Challenger’s last mission.  If space exploration had been properly commercialized following the initial successes of the Space Race, we’d likely see higher safety margins and smaller crews on quotidian, virtually unremarkable missions, and would likely be much further- and farther- along in our efforts at space exploration.  This is why I hope to see the ongoing efforts of  outfits like Burt Rutan’s Scaled Composites- think SpaceShip One- succeed.

If I were forced- FORCED!- to choose one of these, it would be the 2012 Audi A6, if only because of this:

“There is technology in the 2012 Audi A6 that is so advanced, the car will be banned from some countries by the United Nations. The international organization feels that the A6′s infrared pedestrian detection system is so powerful that it could be repurposed by rogue paramilitary groups.” As opposed to tame paramilitary groups, I suppose.

Observation 1: People still live, and go outdoors, in Detroit, which is great.

Observation 2: Lots of nice, solid, aesthetically pleasing cars which are, in most cases, continuing to perform more and more economically.  Eliminating oil dependence is an unnecessary and unrealistic fantasy, folks, but making each and every barrel of the stuff stretch further and burn cleaner is not.  Still waiting for networked traffic, though, so long as there’s an opt-out option for travel on old-timey DIY roads.

Observation 3: Where are the trucks?  I find mine- a 2002 Chevy Silverado 1500- to be all kinds of useful.  I also tend to stand out a bit as one of the few lawyers not tooling around in a late-model BMW or Mercedes.  I’d like to see more mainstream “significance” in truck engineering.

Observation 4: We need a prefix to replace “Eco-” across the board.  Every time I hear it I think of unicorn farts.

On the other hand, this gives me a killer idea for a Halloween costume, so long as I get the front end.

Oh, and he also founded PayPal before selling it to eBay.

He’s controversial to some for that, as well as for his multidimensional personality- “He is a complex package of contradictions: entrepreneur, venture capitalist, libertarian, lawyer, gay, Christian, highly educated, contemptuous of formal education….”- but it cannot be said that the man fails to wholeheartedly back his hopes for a brighter future with his own resources.  I think that the efforts of people like Thiel- along with the Ansaris, Kamens and Rutans of the world- will change the world in better and more significant ways than will those of any politician on the face of the planet.

Check out Forbes’ recent profile of him, with warts and everything.