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Time Capsule.
With the launch of my new stanforth.org blog, this
NeuroTripping site is officially frozen and finished. No new content here. I was going
to take the site down entirely, but there are a few old posts here that I'd like to link back to.
(Also, it'd be nice to not break the links on other people's blogs who have linked to
my posts in the past.) So, enjoy the archive here, and visit stanforth.org for the new stuff.
// 10.09.2004 1:02pm // A Thank-You Never Sent. It seems somehow tragic, and almost ironic, that certain people can impact your life with the smallest and most routine of ways -- an offhand comment here, a small suggestion there -- and that because the actions weren't grand or heroic, that their true impact could take years to be fully realized. Even worse when those realizations come too late to properly convey your gratitude. I heard this morning that Daniel Jacoby, co-founder and original CTO of Digital Insight, passed away on Saturday after a long battle with an inoperable brain tumor. I'd love to say that we were close friends -- it's certainly my loss that we weren't -- but the reality is that Daniel, more than just about anyone, accomplished his impact in very few total minutes. In the end, I'm left with a collection of moments that's already gotten significant "air time" in the quotings and retellings of those stories to others since then. In both the spirit of celebrating the life instead of mourning the loss, and the spirit of crediting the unnamed sources of my whatever wisdom I've found over the years, I thought quite a bit today about the brief time I spent working with Daniel. [ More ] // 03.15.2004 2:32pm // Rediscovering Re-Emerging Technology. Writing from the Plaza Room of the Westin Hotel here in downtown San Diego, where the eBay developer session with Senior VP of Technology Marty Abbot is scheduled to start shortly, followed by a presentation from Google about some of their engineering/systems tips and tricks. Already, the show has been excellent and definitely worth the trip. Got here yesterday evening, checked into the Hilton ("doing my part to keep Paris off the streets..."), and drove up to Sparky's for the Laszlo party announced by Marc Cantor. Met several interesting people there, and really enjoyed the conversations about social software-- essentially the focus of this entire conference. With this year's rise (bubble?) of companies like Friendster and LinkedIn, the conference is certainly abuzz. Even more telling than the several sessions in a dedicated social software track is the fact that nearly every discussion in the hallways and over meals inevitably drifts to discuss "the impact of _____ on social software networks." I got some great insights last night talking to Paul (the CTO of Tribe) about their upcoming roadmap-- first RSS, then Jabber, and then FOAF. Lots of acronyms, and my whole point of being here is to piece together how everything works. Today's tracks have also been interesting, begining with Marc Smith of Microsoft Research discussing the dynamics of groups online (with statistics culled from their analysis of millions of Usenet posts). Really great visualization methods there, which quickly cull massive amounts of data into useable glimpses of a person's posting characteristics. An Apple technology preview of their new Xgrid technology was really amusing, because it's almost exactly the same system that we (at EP/Paraprise) built into the Hathor monitoring system. Essentially, it's a system (more coarsely-grained than MPI and other distributed computing methods) that ships tasks off to a cluster of machines to take advantage of the aggregated cpu power. It's even built on the BEEP protocol the same way our system is. The only two differences I could see is that they've created their own Xgrid protocol for client-agent-controller interaction, while we used a Jabber-based protocol (XMessage), and they ship full binary executables to run on the agents, while we shipped only a dynamically loaded library module that runs through a custom interface. So Xgrid works with any command-line util while Hathor requires custom development. And maybe that's exactly the secret ingredient for mass-market success, who knows. But most interesting to me so far was a talk by danah boyd (capitalization intentional) of Berkeley, whose research into social theory provided an excellent understanding of the flaws of the current social network systems like Friendster and LinkedIn. I'll write about that in more detail later, but the punchline is that I learned a few things I never considered before, and its given me some new challenges to address in my 17-year-old vision for the Divia autonomous agent system. In fact, her research also explained to me the problems I have with blogging here as well, and made me think even more about how to (or whether it's even possible to) integrate the different aspects of how I interrelate with my very diverse friends into a single site. I'll have to let this marinate before drawing any meaningful conclusions. Also cool sitting next to Doc Searls for this session. (It's always great to meet people in meatspace who you've known for a long time online.) Alright, looks like Marty's ready to get started... More later. // 02.11.2004 2:01pm // 
Crony Capitalism and the Rise of the Bush Dynasty.
Author Kevin Phillips is discussing the Bush-Walker dynasty on NPR right now, how the current President's
great-grandparents started an amazing insider clan... how their early ventures included significant plays
in the German economy both before World War II and during the Hitler reign of the 1930's...
how connections between old friends and Yale alum became the roots of true political power...
("so many Yale alum were in the intelligence community that they used to say the Whifflepuff songs
were whistled in the halls of the CIA"). Even goes so far as to talk about GHWB and GWB connections
to people like Ken Lay of Enron, after GHWB (as Vice President) oversaw the energy deregulation policies
of the Reagan Administration. Then in 1989, Ken Lay was appointed to the
President's Export Council, was the host of one of the G7 economic meetings, and was directly positioned
to be credible to the highest levels of government. In fact, soon after George the Father became President, George the Son
called the President of Argentina to lobby for Enron getting approval for a new oil pipeline. Best of all
is the insight that the Bush dynasty's elitism has ideologically moved the Republican Party to a place that
even Nixon and Reagan disdained. "Most real Republicans," the author is saying right now, "really didn't
think much of the elder President Bush, and John McCain ran against the younger Bush with the same view."
Very interesting. Definitely need to add this book to my reading queue...
// 01.29.2004 1:20pm // Keeping the Dream Alive. Doc has a picture of a great quote from a Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial in San Francisco, especially appropriate to remember this MLK Day: "Through our scientific genius, we have made this world a neighborhood; now, through our moral and spiritual development, we must make of it a brotherhood. In a real sense, we must learn to live together as brothers, or we will perish together as fools." // 01.19.2004 8:17pm // Happy Birthday! To the blogger who inspires me to link, the reader who inspires me to write, the friend who inspires me to dream, and the beyond-blog writer who just plain inspires me..... Happy Birthday. // 01.16.2004 10:51am // 
My-Alternate-Reality TV.
Every so often, I get these glimpses of what my life could have been like if I'd
continued uninterrupted on the path on which I was headed fifteen
years ago. Yes, I was a really strange teenager, which probably comes as no surprise
to anyone reading this, except to find that I was strange in a very different way
than readers might expect. While normal kids were listening to Def Leppard,
I instead had noted bond investment experts on my walkman and spent lunchtimes reading
The Art of the Deal.
When arguing once with a friend who was desperately trying to save my soul from
capitalism, she sarcastically said in frustration, "What do you want to be, Trump??"
I stared at her blankly, not getting it at all. Who didn't want to be Trump??
Of course, if a show like The Apprentice had existed in those crazy days, I had quite enough ambition to crawl the three thousand miles to New York and do whatever it would take to claw my way to the top. So there's something personally meaningful and fascinating to me to watch these aspiring moguls on Trump's new show trying to both kiss up to The Donald and somehow earn his respect too. Each week, two teams (the men vs the women) compete in various tasks given to them, and the losing team gets one of their members "fired" by Trump -- or "voted off the island," in the parlance of Apprentice creator Mark Burnett's other hit show. Beyond the obvious made-for-tv lapses in judgement (like the fact that men vs. women instantly predisposes the women's team to win every consumer-facing challenge given to them), it really is quite a cool concept for a show, and one that could easily make it one of my favorite shows ever if they don't totally screw it up. And for the record, while I've changed enough in fifteen years that the thought of apprenticing with Trump, even "at a six-figure salary," now makes my skin crawl, I have to admit that it was only about three months ago when I'd thought up my own perfect apprenticeship completely oblivious that any such tv show existed... After talking to a movie-producer client who was flying to London to meet with Sir Richard Branson, I'd fanatically ranted to a friend that night that I'd happily put my entire life on hold and work for a year for no salary if I could apprentice with the Virgin founder. Sure, Trump's Art of the Deal may have fueled my adolescent ambitions, but Branson's Losing My Virginity changed my entire view of career and business, with a story that only he could tell: How I've Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way. If JSL Dragonfly's approach to venture development seems somewhat similar, it's certainly not coincidental. // 01.09.2004 11:28pm // Living the Fairy Tale. When I was a little kid -- a peculiar little kid, apparently -- I used to daydream of what I'd do when I was a grown-up, about how I'd fly around the world, for important meetings with important people, with my suits and briefcase and other businessy things. I don't recall ever having any actual jobs in any of these daydreams-- mostly just flying around and meeting with people. :-) As fairy tales go, I have to admit, yesterday was pretty much the perfect day. [ More ] // 12.31.2003 3:37pm // Truly English. It's quite cool how well things work out sometimes. When planning this trip, I'd originally wanted to sample a few Bed & Breakfast type places in England, but later opted for the more predictable Hilton experience on the premise that the trip was too over-scheduled for major surprises. [ More ] // 12.28.2003 11:06am // So Much Fun, It Should Be A National Holiday. It was the best of times; it was the worst of times; but thankfully, the "lose the battles but win the war" theme is holding strong. :-) I'd planned out quite a busy schedule for my time in England, and one of the things I was most looking forward to was taking my adorable little cousin Hannah -- who I can't believe just turned 18 on the 23rd -- to see The Lion King on the West End in London for her birthday. After seeing it in Los Angeles with my sister last year, I think it's the perfect introduction to the world of theater and culture and all those things that young adults should learn to appreciate at some point. [ More ] // 12.27.2003 5:02pm // Off to Cambridge. Well, the crazy London tourism week is drawing to a close, as I head off to Cambridgeshire for Christmas with my family. I'm all checked out and just using up the last of my WiFi access. Probably won't be online much in the next few days, so Happy Christmas to all of you! I'm happy to be here and having a great time, but I already miss friends and family there this holiday season. // 12.24.2003 1:22pm // Looking Tired. The cold I caught the other day is starting to feel like bronchitis or something, so I scrapped my plans to stroll through Kensington Gardens today in favor of getting more sleep. I did sample the breakfast downstairs at the Hilton Kensington's imbue restaurant, and have to say, I'm thoroughly unimpressed. Maybe this is good British food, I don't know, but it's rather disgusting and not exactly cheap either. About £15.00 for one person to eat runny scrambled eggs, disgusting bacon, undercooked sausage, and a few dried out croissants. There was some fruit as well, but I was pretty sick by then, so I had to abort the endeavor. :-) Not a big deal, by any means, but just something I won't do again. Then again, the whole hotel probably falls into that category, now that I think about it. I've heard this week that the Hiltons in London are, overall, not nearly as nice as either other hotels in London or other Hiltons elsewhere, and that certainly seems to be true from my limited experience here at the Hilton Kensington. The service staff downstairs by and large seems to be rude and French, not quite what I was expecting from this particular European capital. I should mention that the one concierge I talked to, Anthony, was fantastic, and sorted out an issue we had with British Tours and got everything resolved beautifully. The other concierge, though, seems far less capable and gave me horrible directions to ValueClick on Monday and seems generally unhelpful, though still more polite than the rest of the staff. Anyway, lots of JSL/D work this afternoon, and I'm glad that's done and out of the way. Hopefully I can figure out what's wrong with this blog software here, and then get this online and re-pack my stuff, and go back to sleep. I'm off to Cambridge tomorrow for Christmas with my mom's sister and family, so that'll be a delightful change from the staff here. // 12.23.2003 7:20pm // Looking Outward. Just back from yet another meeting, again with great food and great company. As background, most of you will remember our late-2000 effort to build a non-profit organization called The Stanforth Foundation (chartered by Stanforth Acquisitions). Through the cooperation of a handful of small technology companies in Southern California, each effectively pledging their excess service capacity toward coordinated projects, we announced on Christmas Day 2000 (three years ago this week) our plan to create a freely available online donation system, as part of our larger goal to engineer innovative solutions that significantly improve the operational efficiencies of other non-profits. [ More ] // 12.22.2003 11:28pm // Looking Forward. Well, Brian returned to Los Angeles today, and I just got back to the hotel after a great lunch with a couple of the guys from ValueClick's London office. Can't say much about it here, of course, except that I'm quite impressed with their vision and their approach. Hopefully I'll be working much more with these guys over the next few months... Seems like they've got a great team here in the UK. As for lunch itself -- isn't it almost obligatory that blogs gloss over strategic vision to instead focus on food details? *laugh* -- we walked over to the Blue Pumpkin there in East Putney (a southern area of London). The bruschetta was great, the beer was good, and the lamb burgers were excellent, easily the best lamb I've had in quite a long while. Overall, a great time with good food and good company. Cheers! // 12.22.2003 4:10pm // Looking Inward. The Day Three write-up is now online, with photos and commentary. Today left me feeling rather introspective, so be forewarned that this is your usual rambling Neurotripping fare ahead. :-) // 12.22.2003 4:37am // Looking Upward. I'm writing this at 36,000 feet, on Virgin Atlantic's flight 24 on its way to London! The past couple weeks have been just a blur as I scrambled to get everything done before leaving. In the end, consistent with the theme of the past few weeks, some of the little things didn't work out but all the big things seem to be in pretty good shape. I guess that'll have to do for now. Speaking of which, I'm not sure yet whether this flight fits the theme, but I'm starting to suspect it does. I can't help thinking this is a rather shabby operation overall, which surprised even me given how much I wanted to enjoy this, being such a loyal follower of Sir Richard and everything. But yeah, we got on the plane to find that six pairs of travellers had been assigned three pairs of seats in our only-28-seats-to-begin-with middle class section. The cabin staff seems, for the most part, rather detached and generally irritated to be there, quite a contrast to the ultra-professionalism I enjoyed with British Airways. There was, of course, a crying baby that has made sleeping in the past couple hours rather impossible, and a truly irritating woman from Santa Barbara who will likely warrant an entire "stupid Americans" post of her own at some point soon. The punchline, though, is that after a couple hours of intolerable blathering about how she "just can't believe that over 75% of Americans don't even have a passport?!", she actually redeemed herself quite a bit by passing out and vomiting in the aisle. Sad but true: It's at least easier to excuse when you realize she was drunk. And the crying baby and drunk woman really are beyond Virgin Atlantic's control, of course, but the sense overall is that a lot of little things are sort of falling apart all at once and the flight crew isn't entirely sure how to handle them. And yet, on the more important topics, I really like this flight better than any other before. I got to the terminal at LAX to find a line all the way out of the terminal doors, and yet, after checking my ticket, I was ushered all the way up to the counter because of the Premium Economy (middle class of three) ticket I had. Nice! That saved me well over an hour, and had me through security and at the gate in plenty of time with no further stress. Even in the air, the slightly larger 2-3-2 seating here compared to Economy's 3-4-3 arrangement really makes a difference. I remember flying back from London on British Airways in 2000, where my tiny Sony Vaio laptop had to be angled at a carpal-tunnel-inducing angle to be used in flight. And yet, here I am in Virgin's middle-class section with enough space to accommodate this huge "desktop replacement" laptop that I brought. Food was pretty decent, I suppose, and above all else, it's pretty much the "getting us there in one piece" bit that qualifies as the one big thing to get right. ;-) So I guess, so far, they're doing alright. // 12.18.2003 1:16am // Front Row with Popcorn. Ever feel like the universe is speaking directly to you? It can be a bit disturbing, to say the least. I've been pretty cheery of late, quite happy with all the things happening as the year comes to a great close. But even good karma takes a day off here and there, and yesterday was clearly one of those what-else-could-possibly-go-wrong sorts of days, with a 3am database crash, then me accidentally locking us all out of a control server for two hours, then me accidentally disabling a production site while our division head was in the middle of a demo in Chicago. So I'm off emailing apology letters around the country while the other managers are in a cool technology meeting to which I'm not even invited. Lovely. Even after work, I got stuck in unusually bad traffic, and got to the post office just in time to realize that I didn't have my box key. Just one of those days. So I'm heading back home, sitting at a red light, waiting to make a left turn, and -- for the first time at the end of this big, bad, awful, horrible day -- devolving into a really irritated and whiny "Why the hell is all this happ---" *CRASH*, the universe answered instantly, interrupting me in mid-sentence. The car turning left onto Kester (the street where I was waiting to make a left onto Ventura) smashed into a car trying to beat the yellow light on Ventura. You might think, as I did in that split second, that a car turning left and slamming into another car would send that car straight into the car waiting to make a left -- me, in this case -- and you'd normally be right. The impact of the second car, while wiping out the front end of the car going straight -- pieces of fender and headlight glass exploding outwards all over the road from the point of impact -- pushed the car towards me until it stopped no less than 18 inches from my car, leaving me shaken but completely unharmed. And just like that, in the blink of an eye, I went back to feeling pretty damn lucky. :-) // 12.10.2003 4:02pm // Those Pesky God and Jesus Fellows. Even with the world seemingly on its way to hell in a handbasket, it's impressed me lately just how many concurrently running missions God's got going these days. I mean, the evening news has practically devolved into a survey course on world religions, with divine intervention taking the rap for everything from modern crusades, international discord, and desert sand storms to the whacko tobacco tractor guy, White House security failures, and not-so-Smart kidnappers. Reminded me of an essay I wrote a few years ago, explaining to family and friends why I'd lost my faith in religion. It was an "ode to Izzard," written after watching Eddie Izzard's Dress to Kill HBO show and written in what I imagined would be his style if he too wrote long, rambling essays. So imagine this read in a British accent, by a bloke in a dress, heels, and make-up. // 04.05.2003 11:21pm // The Perfect Getaway. I escaped the hustle and bustle (and heat) of Los Angeles this weekend for a quiet weekend up on California's Central Coast, and I'm definitely enjoying myself. Stopped in for lunch today at my favorite restaurant, the Apple Farm, a quaint little Americana-style inn and restaurant here in San Luis Obispo. My friends Joe, Yevette, and Praveen first introduced me to this place 15 years ago, and I've been coming here with friends and family ever since.   // 09.13.2003 5:52pm // Just Another Day in Westlake Village. I'm trying to get into the habit of taking more pictures, and driving back to work after lunch today, I was pretty pleased that I had my camera with me. I have to admit, as much as I'd like to move to London sometimes, I'm really spoiled by Southern California scenery, where images like this are... well... par for the course.  // 09.04.2003 3:36pm // Taking the Scenic Route. You know, gorgeous views like this remind me why people brave fires, floods, earthquakes, and mudslides just to live in the impending-natural-disaster that is Malibu, California. The photo here was the view from our table at Duke's in Malibu on Sunday evening, looking out over the vast expanse of the Pacific just north of Santa Monica. The opened window was a really nice touch too. In fact, LA in general turns out to be a pretty nice place when most of its inhabitants leave town for the weekend. :-)  // 09.01.2003 4:22pm // The Legacy Lives On, 35 Years Later. Martin Luther King Jr., April 4, 1967 (exactly a year before his assasination): "The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just. ... This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." // 04.04.2003 10:14pm // Dubious Solutions to Complex Problems. The worst thing about American foreign policy is that we don't really have one. This painfully-long essay criticizes our penchant for over-simplification, and, in the process, probably alienates just about everyone on both sides of the Iraq issue. Yep, hell of a week to start a smirky little site. // 03.23.2003 09:23pm // |
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