Chris Sacca's 'What is left?'

The Power of Technology

Buckminster Fuller is likely my favorite author of all time. He could pen things that make one feel so small and yet capable of effecting change. Here we are, teetering on the brink he envisioned, empowered with more knowledge than any generation before:

“Think of it. We are blessed with technology that would be indescribable to our forefathers. We have the wherewithal, the know-it-all, to feed everybody, clothe everybody, and give every human on Earth a chance. We know now what we could never have known before-that we now have the option for all humanity to make it successfully on this planet in this lifetime. Whether it is to be Utopia or Oblivion will be a touch-and-go relay race right up to the final moment.”

Buy Nothing Day - We Blew It

For the last few years, I have tried to play along with the aims of Buy Nothing Day, an event sponsored by one of my favorite  counterculture magazines Adbusters. The point is  that the day after Thanksgiving marks the pinnacle of mindless commercialism, so why join in? Instead of rushing to the stores with the herd, instead, take the day off from spending and just enjoy what you have.

Noble enough. And, in the past, we have succeeded. Nevertheless, yesterday, we blew it. As a certain form of penance, I feel a need to disclose my purchases:

Calphalon One  Anodized Saucepan - Hosting Thanksgiving dinner at home reminded us of how much we love to cook, and this saucepan has killer versatility. Sure, we could have waited a day before buying it, but those immediacy demons took over.

U2's new album - Required listening doesn't count right?

Y Tu Mama Tambien -  Alfonso Cuaron put together an amazing flick here. Couldn't resist the $15 price tag. Damn, I am such a sellout.

$8 Entrance Passes to the International Auto Show - So random, but Serena and I became so curious after walking by the convention center. Neither of us had ever been to a full-blown marketing event like that. Wow! What a hoot. It was like walking back in time. Throngs of folks gathered round new models on rotating platforms being introduced and pitched by attractive women.

Gouda Macaroni and Truffle Fries at Fog City Diner - Okay, okay, I suck. No self control. But, mmm, this dinner was decadent.

Despite my lapses, I do laud Adbusters for their efforts to call attention to our blind materialism. Though it may be very difficult for any of us to ever lead the life of austerity that they would have us espouse, I don't doubt for a second the complication and stress that come from our pursuit and hoarding of stuff.

Kristen Ulmer's Ski To Live

This post is an unapologetic plug for a dear friend of mine. Many of you know Kristen Ulmer as the world's greatest female extreme skier, and arguably the most dominant skier of all time, male or female, in the off-piste skiing realm.  She has been recognized by every magazine and trade group in the business, over and over again, as being the best around.  From big mountain stuff  to ridiculous airs, Kristen always sets the standard and leaves her ski buddies agape.

Though I grew up watching her in my favorite ski movies, I didn't meet Kristen until relatively late in my ski career.  Nevertheless, in just a couple of years of skiing together, Kristen really helped me push the envelope and take my skiing to mind-boggling levels. From dealing with fear, to honing technique, and achieving nutty levels of fitness, Kristen has been a remarkable adventure mentor.  Since then, it has been my privilege to tackle slopes throughout Europe and the US alongside Kristen, and each time, I have come away a much better skier, and an improved athlete all-around.

Now, as part of Kristen's highly praised Ski To Live clinics,  each of you can get a taste of the education and thrill that come with being in Kristen's posse.  Essentially, Kristen has always believed that skiing is 90% mental. Yet, traditional ski clinics tend to focus on the 10% of the sport that is strictly physical, such as hand position and edging. Thus, Kristen set about designing a clinic that would transcend the dichotomy between the mental and physical aspects of skiing by incorporating yoga, reflection, and visualization alongside personalized slopeside ski and snowboard training. Three years and scores of gushing testimonials later, Ski To Live has been widely praised as a genuine breakthrough in the realm of wintersport clinics and the demand for more has lead to expanding the clinics to multiple sites and dates on both coasts. 

To learn more about Ski To Live, or Kristen herself, visit her website, www.kristenulmer.com, or give her a call at + 1 801 733 5003. Maybe I will see you out there with her this winter.

A few links to chew on

Twenty Questions - An AI engine that is doing a pretty fabulous job of patterning the way we respond to queries. Go ahead, think of an object, and let 20Q guess. It got me about 75% of the time.

Sorry Everbody - An entertaining collaborative gallery in which folks post webcam shots of handwritten apologies to the world for our failure to elect a legit  leader.

Fallujah in Pictures - We all know that the news we get is highly santized. Not necessarily by government conspirtators, rather, often by commercial sell-outs afraid of offending viewers and alienating the ruling party.  Fallujah in Pictures presents images of war that don't make it through the other traditional filters.

Textbook Disclaimers - Following the lead of the Cobb County School Board in Georgia, some folks at Swarthmore developed an expanded line of textbook disclaimers.

Fuck the South - The red state/blue state divide deepens with a little east coast vitriol.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

VoIP Showdown at the SBC Corral

For a week, I have been meaning to note the bold move made by SBC on the heels of the FCC's  ruling that VoIP traffic is interstate and not subject to state-level regulation.  The Wall Street Journal detailed a new offering from SBC called TipTop which essentially allows SBC to  reassert its rights to recoup termination fees for traffic passing over its network. While some have derided SBC for taking this step, I think it is a shrewd move. If nothing else, it will help accelerate the evolution of business models in the VoIP space, by forcing the freerider issue.  Recent reports indicate there are 400 VoIP providers in North America already! I wonder who will survive the shakeout. My money is with the RBOCs to be among the names in this space. If only for the advantages inherent in owning the pipes over which these calls will need to be termed.  Until the regulatory vacuum which never contemplated VoIP addresses this end-run, I think many of the start-ups will need to play bus dev ball with the incumbents.

making turns on November 13 . . .

Thanks to those of you who have written asking where I have been. All is well in this neck of the urban San Francisco jungle.  Just busy as all get out. Seriously, I haven't had this much on my plate in years.  So  a quick update post to let you all know I still have a pulse.

First and foremost, I went skiing yesterday at Squaw.  Living in seasonless Northern California I don't feel the traditional build up to the ski season that begins with smelling fall leaves, heightens with the first few flakes, and approaches frenzy with the arrival of free new ski gear. Instead,  I find myself in the heart of surf season  and suddenly realizing the lifts are open up in Tahoe.  A three hour drive later and I am on the Gondola at Squaw.  Surreal transition. So, there I was yesterday ripping turns, popping jumps, and deep carving on November 13th. 

Speaking of surfing, I guess I haven't mentioned here that I got really into surfing this summer. My colleague  Minnie's dad took me out for a day of hydro-abuse on a Santa Monica beach in June.  Not sure what I found so particularly appealing about packing the Pacific into my sinuses that day, but I was hooked. Two weeks later, Min and I went out and bought our own boards, and we have been surfing at least four days a week now ever since. We mostly hit Linda Mar beach in Pacifica before work.  Serena got a board for her birthday and she is into it now too.  All told, surf culture is not unlike ski culture , I am finding. Thus, I am feeling right at home on the water and I feel like my gills are drying out if I miss a couple of days in a row.

On another note, I was supposed to be seeing some of you in Europe this next week, but as you likely  heard, my trip was cancelled. Due to the upcoming vote on  Barroso's cabinet, scheduled for this week, the Dutch Prime Minister called off the conference I was to attend.  Though the was the core purpose for my trip, my itinerary had me tearing through Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, London, and Dublin without a lot more to do than visit our local offices  for important strategic, umm, nights on the town.

That said, never one to sit still, it looks like this week will take me to Seattle and Portland.  Thus, I will keep the streak alive of not having to have visited  a 'red' state since the election. Drop me a line if we should get together while I am in town.

By the way, it looks like I will be speaking to a big group of business school students, faculty, and alumni, at the University of San Francisco on November 30th.  Trying to scratch out some notes now.  Working title: "Two to the third ways by which to ensure a climate of creativity, innovation, and kick ass results  without making any forward looking statements."