tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85914592011-12-14T18:44:15.616-08:00"The wolf came in, I got my cards, we sat down for a game..." -- Direwolf, The Grateful DeadDirewolffnoreply@blogger.comBlogger441100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1115707409698969422005-05-09T23:40:00.000-07:002005-05-09T23:43:29.726-07:00

Where is all of this privacy erosion heading we ask? Well the following link provides one scenario that as you listen to it doesn't seem so completely unlikely, but is pretty scary to say the least. Check out: http://www.aclu.org/pizza/It does make you wonder why so many people are so adamant about taking away all of our civil liberties.

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1115106390042822542005-05-02T23:24:00.000-07:002005-05-03T01:14:52.480-07:00

Identity being federated. Identity relating to Java and security. Identity relating to social trends. Identity intersecting mobility. These were the themes raised at tonight's Mobile Monday event, (for more about Mobile Monday go here). The first theme was discussed by Simon Nicholson from the Liberty Alliance. While this presentation had plenty to say about technology and about how

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1114194058524186552005-04-22T11:09:00.000-07:002005-04-22T11:33:16.826-07:00

From the Race Organizers:Subject: World's First Upwind Kitesurfing Race St Francis Yacht ClubApril 21, 2005San FranciscoThe St Francis Yacht Club hosted the world's firstupwind Kitesurfing race this afternoon.13 entrants (12 men and a woman) approached the start line atapproximately 5:45PM for the world's first Kitesurfingrace with an upwind start. The course was once around,and included a

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1113775142232945872005-04-17T14:59:00.000-07:002005-04-17T14:59:02.233-07:00

.flickr-photo { border: solid 1px #000000; }.flickr-frame { float: left; text-align: center; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } SoHo Doo-Wap Street Musicians, originally uploaded by direwolff. What a great day it was in New York City today. There was a certain energy that reminds me of why I love this place so. No matter how long

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1113458910968897142005-04-13T21:23:00.000-07:002005-04-13T23:34:35.283-07:00

I've never been satisfied with myself or my achievements, and blogging has been no exception to this lack of self fulfillment. I'm working at not being so hard on myself for everything I do, but no matter how good I get at anything, as soon as I see someone else doing it better, a shadow comes over me and I feel unaccomplished. During the time I've stayed away from blogging, part of this was

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1109724488427762792005-03-01T16:34:00.000-08:002005-03-01T16:56:07.850-08:00

Last night at the Great American Music Hall here in San Francisco, four great American musicians sat down and made for an unforgetable night of acoustical sounds of music. The evening started with G.E. Smith, (for those of you not familiar with him, he was mostly seen as the musical conductor for the "Saturday Night Live" orchestra where he wailed the blues on his electric guitar in and out of

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1109624175864182322005-02-28T12:45:00.000-08:002005-02-28T12:59:17.343-08:00

Too funny not to share given that it was reported by the uber conservative pseudo-news mouthpiece of our current administration FAUX News...no, no, I mean FOX...sorry, slipped there, you know I'm fluent in french, don't you? ;-) This story is kind of like one of those "I told you so"s by the merry pranksters that needed the test of time to demonstrate..."New clues about Alzheimer's disease have

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1109451299335471742005-02-26T12:24:00.000-08:002005-02-26T12:55:46.990-08:00

So in thinking of why I blog a few reasons come to mind. One is that I find it quite therapeutic to get my thoughts out there, and not necessarily because I'm seeking the approval of others but because I want to consider myself a genuine person willing to expose where he stands (or sits :-) in the world. It's part of the "get to know me" philosophy which says that if you're interested in

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1109186650962414982005-02-23T20:34:00.000-08:002005-02-23T21:08:02.036-08:00

After having worked with many entrepreneurs in my life and having had the opportunity to see both good leaders and bad ones, there's one comment no leader should ever have to make..."let me lead". In my youth how one became a leader was an abstract idea to me. Sure in some cases people voted for this person, in other cases it just seemed like every one followed one individual who perhaps had

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1109013692925939832005-02-21T11:03:00.000-08:002005-02-24T14:21:32.473-08:00

How ironic that on my last post I would choose to quote Hunter S. Thompson, and here only a few days later it would be reported that the creator of gonzo journalism had committed suicide. A friend sent an e-mail about this calling Thompson a coward for this act of escapism, but I prefer to view it much as he lived his life...on his ownterms. His life was a cause on to itself and he called out

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1108663609794328342005-02-17T08:42:00.000-08:002005-02-17T10:07:55.526-08:00

Nothing like a good Hunter S. Thompson quote to keep things in perspective.Looks like U.S. House of Representative James Moran, D-Va., may have read my blog posting from October 4th, 2004 titled "Cialis, Viagra, Levitra...oh-hey!". Of course he went down to the wrong conclusion but who can blame the poor sap, he's a congressman, and what can we expect from these guys.If you have a sense of humor

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1108540080190478212005-02-15T23:30:00.000-08:002005-02-15T23:48:00.286-08:00

Let me preface the following letter by saying that Emily is one of my dear friends with whom I enjoyed spending time down in Costa Rica. While down there she read the following letter from her grandma out loud and had us rolling by the end of it. What made this even more precious was that her grandmother is 80 years old ...yes 80! After hearing it through I knew this deserved to be shared as

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1108266159033888192005-02-12T19:28:00.000-08:002005-04-22T11:23:12.636-07:00

Today was to be my last riding day before having to pack up and catch an early flight tomorrow morning. It started out somewhat auspiciously with northern winds clocking in at close to 40 mph...ouch! Basically, that meant we were spectating this morning. Fortunately, my trusty Atlas Shrugged just got into high gear at around page 400 and the conditions made it easy for me to focus my attention

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1108159880756791792005-02-11T14:03:00.000-08:002005-02-11T21:41:04.686-08:00

So today was a day full of adventure, some of it breathtaking, some of it literally took your breath away...but more about the latter in a moment.As always, started the day with the crew over a yummy breakfast, today's was fried eggs and oatmeal. This helps inspire the day's decisions on what we will likely do and we get to discuss what the wind conditions look like. Things seemed to be

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1108086197539858292005-02-10T17:31:00.000-08:002005-02-10T18:16:13.593-08:00

Last night two new guests from the Bay area joined the adventure. Brit and I were acquainted from Sherman Island kiting out by Rio Vista, his buddy John was a new acquaintance. Both were, needless to say, very psyched to experience Costa Rican kitesurfing. We all got up pretty early, around 7:30am, and the conditions looked like yesterday's afternoon weather...perfect 11m riding. Decided to

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1107993190732661232005-02-09T15:51:00.000-08:002005-02-09T16:22:46.836-08:00

So the morning started out on a very happy note, with Emily cooking up an awesome fritata. One of those you gotta see it to believe it, so here you go (I couldn't resist)... "Yummy!!!" So we hung tight most of the morning, which gave a lot of time to make some headway on my Ayn Rand book...and with a 1000+ page book, every little moment you can get ahead on your reading helps towards the

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1107909580262758852005-02-08T16:36:00.000-08:002005-02-08T19:57:14.703-08:00

Well, here it is 6:35pm, as we sit contemplating dinner I figured I'd take this opportunity to provide an update on the afternoon happenings. Quite the chain of events, but ultimately amazing and we've got some of the pics to prove it :-) First off, Jeff decided to brave it out at around noon when the winds were still howling, 35+ mph easily. Well, his ride wasn't without it's share of mishaps

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1107883289325107852005-02-08T09:20:00.000-08:002005-02-08T20:00:13.836-08:00

Today, Scotty Cox and I got off to a nice early start...9:00am...and guess what, it was windy...again...(can you believe I'm riding with kid 20 years younger than me who has been riding just as long but can now throw handle passes like it's nobody's business)... It was a wonderful morning and the winds seemed to be a bit steadier and seemingly backed off a bit from yesterday. Well, that was

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1107829890821293892005-02-07T18:17:00.000-08:002005-02-07T18:46:35.496-08:00

Another crazy afternoon on the water. While we had hoped and expected the winds to drop a bit today, Mother Nature had other plans. Jeff was our "wind dummy" today, braving it out on his 6.5m kite. For those new to the sport of kitesurfing, you should understand that in the Bay area we generally ride any where from 10 meter sized kites to 16 meters. A 6.5m kite represents nearly three kite

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1107700713607210572005-02-06T06:31:00.000-08:002005-02-07T08:22:47.020-08:00

Finally got to my destination last night, and got to see my friends Emily, Jeff and Scott's smiling faces from the fact that they have been living on a small slice of paradise. In last night's pitch black night you could see constellations that only the darkest of skies will reveal...but in the morning, the view of Nicaragua, the green waters, the small island suspended in the bay between Costa

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1107631101569420542005-02-05T11:18:00.000-08:002005-02-06T18:04:32.750-08:00

...testing, check-check...1-2, 1-2... Well, here I am at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport...man, that's tough to say with a serious face with all the irony and absurdity behind this name. And the gall to call it “intercontinental”, it couldn't be called "international" like all the other airports that have flights that go to other countries. What's more absurd here is, who flies

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1107392672317975982005-02-02T16:57:00.000-08:002005-02-02T17:04:32.316-08:00

Just caught a Dec. 22nd post on Roger McNamee's blog named "The New Normal" per his recent book, that continues a theme I like to harp on. Thought it worthwhile to share this along the lines of my postings on communities and friends and the one referencing John Perry Barlow's blog.

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1107388466389962002005-02-02T09:35:00.000-08:002005-02-02T16:41:18.793-08:00

So after hearing about and following the posts about what Technorati is doing with tags, hearing our developers talk about the importance of tags and of tagging all components of the content on Tribe, I started thinking about Google's position in all of this. Even more, I started thinking about what's missing in all of this, and then decided to share these thoughts. Because my thoughts can

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1107084101781052692005-01-31T00:30:00.000-08:002005-01-31T00:34:00.196-08:00

For online communities to work, there's a need for a trust network to grow within the membership. The advantage that the social networking sites have claimed they could bring to communities is the idea that by connecting to people as "friends" this would imply some level of endorsement between the linked participants. Even if the "friends" have never met face-to-face, the fact that they have

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1106722019175793852005-01-25T21:55:00.000-08:002005-01-25T22:54:43.013-08:00

Tonight I decided to surf through some blogs I like to keep up with but have been neglecting as of late due to my current work schedule. The closer I got to reading John Perry Barlow's "Barlowfriendz" blog the more I began to get excited like a little kid about to get some candy. Something about Barlow's expressions and how he writes, that inspires wonderful images inside my head and delivers

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1106638370591546972005-01-24T22:23:00.000-08:002005-01-25T00:31:03.523-08:00

In my first blog posting back in October 2004, titled "Cialis, Viagra, Levitra...oh-hey!", I talked about the dichotomy between what I will call, for lack of a better term, "sex drugs", and the cannabis plant. Really, it was more about the absurdity of one being advertised on TV and the other being illegal punishable by prison terms, one being made available for men to get erections while the

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1106340839068657012005-01-21T13:29:00.000-08:002005-01-24T14:48:15.126-08:00

...we just have to have our eyes open and be willing to see it. It's funny, as this statement is probably common sense to any one reading it, and though it was for me too, I had to rediscover this today. While reviewing some of the members of an insiders' tribe on Tribe, I discovered that one of our developers who doesn't sit too far away from me, and who's profile I decided to check out, E-Nel

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1106035223384100182005-01-17T22:43:00.000-08:002005-01-18T12:32:19.526-08:00

Well, here it is only minutes since leaving Cafe du Nord a club in the Castro district of San Francisco. I've seen some awesome musicians there, with the two most memorable to-date being Red Meat (a really unique honky-tonk band with an fabulously clear and together sound, mixed with some really funny lyrics), and Ledisi (a kick-ass soul singer in the style of Erika Badhu and Lauryn Hill).

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1105944493607432432005-01-16T22:39:00.000-08:002005-01-16T22:53:02.343-08:00

Brad Feld posted to his blog on 1/8 that Quentin was a God. While I agree with Brad's assessment he also posted a link to the site that tests "Which Pulp Fiction Character Are You?". It's pretty funny, and I'm happy to say I totally relate to the character that was selected for me :-) Check it out..."mmm, that's a very tasty burger!" You don't tolerate shit. The .45 you carry in you

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1105735148939025602005-01-14T13:22:00.000-08:002005-01-14T12:39:08.940-08:00

Though I haven't officially lived in NYC since May of '95, and that was for a year, having lived away before that for nearly 11 years, I'm still a devoted Jets fan. Through ugly seasons and uglier ones, I've always stood behind them as a supportive fan. During that 11 year hiatus where I'd only make it back to NYC to visit family, I was living in Pittsburgh, PA during the Steelers' worse years,

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1105555409841038312005-01-12T09:42:00.000-08:002005-01-12T10:44:14.556-08:00

There's a fine line between being considered a visionary or a madman, and yesterday a madman became a visionary...again! The funny thing is that only one thing to affect his status was...my perception. Marc Canter, has been espousing for a while now the idea of Digital Lifestyle Aggregator (DLA). One of his arguments has been that given how much people have migrated many of the functions of

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1105437187337549742005-01-11T01:26:00.000-08:002005-01-11T02:00:18.633-08:00

What if you had access to a technology that was dubbed the periodic table of cognition by mathematicians and scientists who had taken the time to deeply review it? What if this technology was the closest thing to software that could identify ambiguous concepts within articles or communications of all sorts, or from disparate types of data (ie. Web sites, Word docs, Research Reports, etc.)? Even

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1105379455126319162005-01-10T09:50:00.000-08:002005-01-10T09:54:08.713-08:00

.flickr-photo { border: solid 1px #000000; }.flickr-frame { float: left; text-align: center; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } phd band pic, originally uploaded by direwolff. The PHD boys were totally "on" at Club Deluxe with their special concert celebrating KC's (aka. "Therm") 40th birthday party this past Sat night (1/8/05).

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1105378832486193702005-01-10T09:30:00.000-08:002005-01-10T09:55:38.536-08:00

This had to be the most lackluster win I've seen all season by the Jets. What happened? It feels like every time their moving down field that their plan is to get within field goal range, regardless of the situation. By the end of the game, I actually wanted them to loose...how sad is that? More to the issue of teaching Herm a lesson, that you gotta "play to win" as he so emphatically put it

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1105231152088855492005-01-08T16:39:00.000-08:002005-01-08T19:16:21.553-08:00

.flickr-photo { border: solid 1px #000000; }.flickr-frame { float: left; text-align: center; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Big Digital Daddy Gee throwin' down..., originally uploaded by direwolff. ...at the Coachella Festival in Palm Springs in May 2004 in the VIP tent. Apple was kind enough to lay out a set-up but no DJs in

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1105203353611492972005-01-08T08:49:00.000-08:002005-01-08T19:15:43.506-08:00

My plans foiled again!!! Got up dutifully at 5:00am only to find out that both I-80 and Hwy 50 were closed due to snow and poor visibility :-( Looks like snowboarding today was not to be, which perhaps is a higher power's way of telling me that I should be watching the NFL wildcard games and not to worry about snowboarding until after the playoffs :-) Big Daddy (aka. 2BG) arrived real late, as

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1105165749178105052005-01-07T22:04:00.000-08:002005-01-08T08:56:25.413-08:00

Well let me start by finishing the "Go Packers" post with the sad truth, that while the Packers pulled off the win, el Presidente Arbusto (aka. "Shrub") *still* got re-elected. I bet the superstition didn't count on vote fraud to be part of the equation ;-) Anyway, I can only now hope that his growing arrogance will reach the fevered pitch where even those from the "red" states will realize that

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1099248730770944252004-10-31T10:45:00.000-08:002004-10-31T12:06:53.096-08:00

According to "Boomer" (aka. Chris Berman) on ESPN NFL Live Show, the fate of the Washington Redskins (whether they win or lose) has been the fate of the incumbent President of the U.S.A. for the past 16 Presidential elections!!! With this, all I can say now is: GO PACKERS!!! Win to save your country! :-)...(to be continued...)

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1098720561381845042004-10-25T08:59:00.000-07:002004-10-25T09:09:21.380-07:00

This past Sunday had a chance to go see the movie "Team America: World Police". To say that there wasn't a dry eye in the house is an understatement. Can't remember the last time I went to a movie where every one was laughing so hard that we missed some of the jokes :-) For South Park junkies, this hit a new high (for non South Park junkies they may consider this a new low ;-). Before the

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1098501729154915102004-10-22T20:16:00.000-07:002004-10-22T20:28:55.846-07:00

Now I've heard it all. Below is today's issue of "The Daily Mis-lead" e-newsletter. It's news like this that totally dissappoints me in the state of our nation. Part of the answer has to lie in education, educating our children and our adults to think and read for themselves, but such a vast part of our country simply rejects the idea of becoming more educated. Tough problem to solve, but really

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1098426874556061672004-10-21T23:17:00.001-07:002004-10-21T23:50:03.413-07:00

While I consider the term 'evil' to be very subjective, and a relative term, tonight on "The Daily Show with John Stewart", Stewart mentioned that WalMart was building a store next to some ruins in Mexico, and in Hawaii they unearthed 4 corpses from an ancient burial ground during the building of their store there. Now that's evil. How insane is that?...but it comes as a direct result of having

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1097873885472692742004-10-15T13:12:00.000-07:002004-10-15T13:58:05.473-07:00

It's worth checking out a summary of the program to see who the speakers were and what they're planning to speak about. Suffice it to say, the focus was on "Intellectual Property and the Artists' Rights in the World of Technology". Yep, another music industry bashing with perhaps only one real, but weak defender, in the form of Neil Potrow, prez of the National Academy of Recording Arts and

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1097870412422253482004-10-14T13:00:00.000-07:002004-10-15T14:03:47.163-07:00

(Quick Note: I wrote this during the forum on Tues. 10/12/04, but have been struggling between using Blogger or Typepad, so it took a while to get this up during this indecision. I'm opting for Blogger as I don't know how much I'm actually going to be able to write and it seems ludicrous to pay for it until it makes more sense. For now, this is my blog home and I like it :-) So here I am at the

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8591459.post-1096951887791302082004-10-04T21:50:00.000-07:002004-10-15T14:17:53.476-07:00

Will someone explain to me how it is that a set of drugs that enable men to get erections and has several known side-effects can be approved by the FDA, appear on TV commercials several times during primetime (and football games) for our children to see and learn about, and be chemically manufactured after several 100s of millions of invested dollars, be so easily accepted by the medical

Direwolffnoreply@blogger.com5