Master of 500 Hats

Had a good time at

Had a good time at the Milken conference, and learned some stuff too.  Made connections with a few folks, including Hernando de Soto from ILD in Peru, Glenn Yago from the Milken Institute, and one of the senior investment staff at CalSTRS.  Also met some other nice folks at Milken and a few finance and entrepreneur types too.

And, formulated some ideas for small business equity that i've been working on for a while.  Starting to take shape :)

many related finance topics swirling

many related finance topics swirling around in my head these days... de Soto's work (see below), the Grameen Bank, related info on MicroFinance  looking forward to exploring this stuff further this week.

and a side-riff on the "Globalization" thing:

We don't accomplish anything trying to prevent international trade from occurring. It WILL happen, and it's GOOD.

for the most part, i think demonstrations against Globalization are misguided.  i can understand concerns about the over-representation of global corporations and their interests in the WTO, and concerns about how the sudden onset of international trade affects society and the environment -- however, generally trade promotes understanding between peoples and cultures (not to mention prevents wars).  there are exceptions, but mostly all these demonstrations against Capital and Corporations are preventing a greater connection between people around the world, and limiting the options for developing nations. 

Capital and Corporations are not Evil... they are simply what we make of them.  They are aggregations of individuals, and the collective value of those individuals' efforts -- in other words, they are US, not "THEM".  Demonstrating against Capital and Corporations is the equivalent of "demonstrating" against your own hard work and savings, and against the goods and services you use in your daily life.  You might as well demonstrate against getting a job and eating.  It's approximately the same thing. 

We are not helping the 3rd world from cutting it off from global trade and capital.  Furthermore, they don't WANT that kind of help. If we really want to empower the poor and disadvantaged and promote international understanding, we should focus on ways to create capital access and availability for the common man (and woman), and support small business creation with economic incentives and legal reform.

When we trade with others = exchange our goods & services & values with others... then we understand others.

working late again at .

working late again at .  It's just after midnight PST and as my colleague put it "60% of the marketing department is still at work right now"... sheesh.  Hey, we're not even the engineering geeks and we're here til the wee hours.  makes a man proud!



Yesterday released their earning announcement.



We also announced our PayPal Q1/02 earnings release the previous day.


If you want you can hear the audio of the release.

I've been reading The Mystery

I've been reading The Mystery of Capital by Hernando de Soto... totally mind-blowing.  In first 50 pages, he explains why capitalism doesn't work very well in the developing world, and also how it CAN work with legal reform.  Makes a lot of sense..

Hernando de Soto is the founder of the Institute for Liberty & Democracy, a non-profit based in Lima, Peru that is reforming legal frameworks to empower the poor and provide new economic opportunities.

Dude Rocks... 

gonna hear him in person at the Milken Institute conference

Had a totally beautiful California

Had a totally beautiful California day playing Ultimate Frisbee @ the Davis Ultimate Invitational (aka DUI).


These old bones don't run like they used to 15 years ago, but I can still get out there and huck and lay it out a bit.  Had a great time playing with Commanding Moses, and of course the Clown Suit and Hats were on full gear.

God i just love Ultimate.  Hope I'm still playing in another 15 years!

Headed to the Big Easy

Headed to the Big Easy this coming week... gonna geek out with Mr. Bill and 5,000 .NetHeads in New Orleans for Microsoft Tech Ed

.

Gotta admire Gates & the Borg... "resistance is futile" and all that.

Hey, some of my best friends (and former employees) work for Microsoft.  really, they do... ;)

Saya is playing at Bacar

Saya is playing at Bacar and Butterfly next few months. Come check out one of her gigs

What the hell is a

What the hell is a Google Bomb?

Learn how to GoogleBomb your friends (and enemies) for fun and profit...