Stick & Move
The deals, developments, inventions, and mishaps to keep your brain active this week
Substance over sizzle. I make no promises about the cadence of this email. I do promise it will be worth your time and mine. -Dave
The Navy’s Next Fitness Test Will Be Done on Paper with New Software Not Ready
Proving once again that an $800B annual budget is no match for unchecked incompetency, the U.S. Navy will continue administering its fitness test using pen-and-paper (link). Perhaps the Navy is honoring World War II veterans by operating like it’s still 1939.
Slow Motion Train Wreck…
Like any good recipe for disaster, the Army dutifully spent 7 years awkwardly researching the wrong topic, then (accidentally?) burned $100M on bumper plates and TRX cables, before sacrificing a carousel of (dutiful) 2-star Generals in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The tragic comedy culminates December 29th when enterprising startups and America’s military industrial complex (“Paragons of Incompetency”) bid on a software system to support a burgeoning Holistic Health and Fitness program (link). Will anyone use it?
Make Me Smarter, Dave…
If you haven’t read Michael Lewis’ The Premonition, you’re missing out on the best book of 2021.
Second-hand Loot
Assume you have been sweating like Patrick Ewing 5-days-a-week since 2011. Your lululemon Pacebreaker shorts and “Basic T” look like the day you bought ‘em and now, 10 years later, that’s just weird. Fear not, innovation has arrived. 2022 is officially the year that a mountain of athleisurewear purchased at the dawn of Facebook becomes new again thanks to the burgeoning category of “like new” gym clothes (link).
EVERYBODY GETS AN N-F-Teeeeeeeeeeee!!!!
Who will be the first to issue a successful NFT collection of screenshots from their STRAVA account? First person to say '“Oprah” wins…
“I don’t think the heavy stuff is coming for a while”
Prediction: After a holiday season COVID-surge spooks university presidents, the NCAA cancels winter and spring 2022 sports (gasp!). The loss of revenue accelerates the elimination of college sports teams aside from football and men’s basketball (link), further destabilizing pathways to higher education unless one submits to a lifetime of American Dream-killing student loan debt (link). Income inequality rises, and America’s peer-adversaries huddle to celebrate conquering a world power without ever firing a shot. Happy New Year!
This, I Gotta Try…
The Special Warfare Tier 2 Operational Fitness Test (link) is an operational-focused Special Warfare physical fitness test. As COVID torpedoes yet another season of live, mass participation events, who emerges as the go-to platform to configure, organize, and administer at-home fitness challenges that are actually worth our time and effort?
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