Archive by Author - Cathy Brooks
Social Media Hour #34: Shredding Conventions and LeWeb 2009
What do Beethoven, Geeks and Paris have in common? All three were topics of discussion on this episode of Social Media Hour. Cathy starts the show with The Great Kat, a classically trained musician who’s shredding stereotypes, and music. Then it’s all croissants and crepes as the discussion turns to the upcoming LeWeb conference in Paris, yes Paris France. First up, Eliane Fiolet and Renee Blodgett of The Traveling Geeks, a group of which Cathy is an original member, talk about their plans and then it’s Chris Heuer and Dana Oshiro of ReadWriteWeb to talk about La Social Media Club House. So don your berets, pour a glass of Bordeaux and take a listen!
The Show:
Want to know more about the guests … then read on…
Comings, Goings, Doings: Events & Activities at La Social Media Club House at LeWeb 2009
It’s official. I’m so excited I may very well explode.
Given the amazing activities that lie ahead for the gaggle of geeks who will be setting up camp at La Social Media Club House in Paris next week, it’s no wonder.
During this morning’s Social Media Hour, Chris Heuer and Dana Oshiro joined me to talk about some of the fun we have planned. (Today’s episode also featured Eliane Fiolet and Renee Blodgett, two of the Traveling Geeks – another posse of pals also en route to Paris for next week’s LeWeb conference. (more…)
My Israel transition day
You know that whole thing about six degrees of separation?
Well, here in Israel that’s more like .025 degrees.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I awoke this morning to a rather startling discovery. I had lost my voice.
But this wasn’t one of those raspy, Lauren Bacall-sounding vocal issues, this was a flat out, phone rang, I picked it up, tried to speak and nothing came out. Not even a squeak. This was most distressing because I was due to speak on a panel at The Marker COM.vention in a few hours time.
What does this have to do with degrees of separation?
On further thought it’s more like one degree of separation meets a strange game of telephone.
I called Brad Reddersen, the key point person for the TravelingGeek squad, to tell him of my dilemma and say that I’d be arriving at the conference a bit late as I wanted to try and salvage some voice for the panel.
He offered words of comfort, said I should call if I needed him to do anything, and that he’d see me later.
Thanks to a lengthy steam in the shower, buckets of hot tea with honey and a half pack of throat lozenges, I regained enough vocal capacity to head for the conference. And after a 20 minute taxi drive through the muggy morning I arrived.
That’s when it began. parental blocker dns information . where is domain hosted domain dns server ip analysis i cloud web archive website down . apache web server . word cloud .
Cathy's TravelingGeek Log: Back to Tel Aviv and on to The Marker COM.vention
Oy.
After three days at Kinnernet I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to being just slightly south of knackered.
However, my physical state runs in stark contrast to the utterly energized cycles of my brain right now. You see, I should be well in bed, getting rested for my session at tomorrow’s Marker COM.vention.
But at the moment, I’m too excited to sleep. The last several days were – as is always the case with Kinnernet – deeply steeped in passionate discussions about art, society, technology and how all those things come together.
The idea behind Yossi Vardi’s annual confab along the shores of the Sea of Galilee (known in Hebrew as “The Kinneret”, thus the play on words with Kinnernet) is simple: talk about anything – except for business. The result is an incredibly engaging experience of meeting people – truly meeting them.
Here’s one of the superb new friends I met. His name is Danny Litani. A serious player in the Israeli music scene, he was very excited about the idea of Seesmic. So, of course, I showed him. And during the demo a special guest dropped by.
There are myriad videos from Kinnernet that I’ll be editing and posting here over the next several days, which will of course be in addition to the ongoing updates from the Innovation Mission on which The Traveling Geeks are embarking.
So stay tuned … as a friend of mine said this afternoon as we sadly departed Kinnernet 2008, the end is really just the beginning … cote d’ivoire . politika . domain owner . parental blocker . where is domain hosted . domain dns server . ip tech info . web archive website down . similar sites word cloud .
En Route to the Holy Land – A perspective for the Traveling Geeks
It’s a land of contradiction – equal parts historic, economic, social, political and religious.
But no matter who you ask, most people would likely agree that the collective set of countries called the Middle East comprise one of the most fascinating – and conflicted – parts of the world. In particular, one of these countries elicits an immediate and almost visceral reaction from anyone of whom you might ask: “What do you think about Israel?”
Last week someone asked that very question on Seesmic. Actually the question that Kfir asked was: “What do you know about Israel?” Here is the query in his words:
It wasn’t long before a wave of people responded. The discussion had intense moments – sharp discord and heated debate followed quickly by an interesting thing … something that almost resembled detente. politika ip information . domain owner parental blocker dns information . where is domain hosted . domain dns server . ip tech info . i cloud domain abuse . website down . similar sites word cloud
Marinating since SXSW – blame the barbecue
In the spirit of disclosure the original “creation” date on this would be more accurate if it mapped to the time I spent in Austin, TX for SXSW.
But as with so many things of this nature, I only just compiled the thoughts and am now writing in the dark cabin of my United flight winging my way across the Atlantic (a quick glance at the in flight map shows we’re just passing over Greenland).
Yes, this has been marinating since SXSW – perhaps a credit to the superlative barbecue that one finds in Austin,TX. In any case its catalyst was a session at SXSW focusing on Muslim extremism on-line and how the moderate Muslim community is arising to combat the way in which the fundamentalist faction of their people is destroying the overall essence of their existence. cote d’ivoire politika . ip information . domain owner . parental blocker dns information . where is domain hosted tourist attrations . domain owner lookup . domain dns server list of domains up or down . i cloud . web archive . website down apache web server . word cloud .
My inaugural journey to Israel – an initiation of sorts
My first journey to Israel occurred in 1995 as part of a mission from my family’s synagogue in Southern Florida – Boca Raton to be precise.
The tale of that journey is one I’ve not shared publicly. I’ve told some friends, but for the most part, I’ve kept it to myself.
Until now. ip information . parental blocker dns information where is domain hosted site rank domain dns server . list of domains . up or down . i cloud web archive . wall cloud apache web server . word cloud
Cathy’s Traveling Geeks wrap-up
With the mental maelstrom sorted, I’m clear of mind enough to hammer out some final thoughts from my Kinnernet/Traveling Geeks 2008 adventure in Israel.
In the spirit of brevity (and clarity), I’m opting to embrace my not-so-inner-Virgo moon and clear out these last items in short order.
So fasten your seat belt, and perhaps keep a crash helmet nearby, as I whip through a series of powerful and impactful events:
Rogozin School
There is, at some point, a far more in-depth commentary from me about this visit. For now, however, I’ll defer to the words of my fellow TG, Robert Scoble because his truly touching post paints a lovely picture of our visit.
Peres Center for Peace
In December 2006, I had the pleasure of hearing Shimon Peres speak at LeWeb. He said that while governments might posture and make noise about peace, the truth is that it was up to the private sector to establish the infrastructure necessary to maintain and grow a peaceful society. That is what the Peres Center for Peace endeavors to do – bridge chasms between disparate groups by bringing the sides together to tackle common issues (education, agriculture, children).
Good Vision
Sadly I missed most of this presentation. As was the case with pretty much our entire week, we were running late. Based on an earlier version of our schedule, which showed Thursday afernoon open, I had arranged a series of meetings with entrepreneurs in Tel Aviv.
My TG colleagues who took part in these meetings each offered glowing reviews. But rather than try and paraphrase, I’ll point you to Renee Blodgett’s accounting of the visit.
Israeli Entrepreneurship – the Ladies’ Way
This trip to Israel brought with it several opportunities to meet a few of the powerful women rising in the ranks of this innovative community. Susan Mernit wrote a great post that captures the essence of how the woman who populate this incredibly aggressive and rapidly moving technology market manage to blaze trails while remaining utterly committed to forward movement of technology and in supporting other women in the market.
My last meeting finished up at about 7:00pm. The Traveling Geeks were to have one last dinner together, but unfortunately some pressing deadlines back in the States required that I work through dinner (since I’d spend the entire next day on the plane).
I sent the last email, got my bags pretty much packed, and that’s when I made a decision that, while perhaps not the most intelligent choice I’ve ever made, certainly was fun.
Our flight was to depart at about 8am. That meant getting to the airport by 6am. Which meant leaving the hotel around 5:15am.
“No problem,” I thought to myself. “I just won’t go to sleep.”
Oy.
While the tales of the evening are amusing, I have to think about whether or not they’re appropriate to share … (and of course if I have to think about it, that probably means the answer is that I shouldn’t).
But in any case … with the trip now in the rearview mirror and many adventures on the horizon, I conclude this last Traveling Geeks Israel 2008 post… and look forward to the future and more TG adventures!
The universe whacks me upside the head
It’s been a month. More than a month, actually. On the one hand, the time has flown by. But even with the rapidly flying calendar pages a month can be a very long time.
Especially when you find yourself creatively constipated.
In my case it’s largely due to the fact that for the last several weeks (four weeks, to be specific) I could have sworn I was sitting on a large pile of what felt like five or six chewy blog posts.
That rather lumpy mass, however, was something else in disguise.
Procrastination.
From Old City Inspiration to New Ventures: A day in Jerusalem
The last 24 hours have been somewhat strange for me. There’s been a sizable amount of meshugass on this trip – misfired communications, sardine-like conditions of our “bus” (which was actually a late model Ford van that the Israeli Consulate very graciously replaced today with a proper tour bus… YAY!), and the TG gang consensus that our goals for the trip and the itinerary were a bit off kilter.
Fellow TravelingGeek, Sarah Lacy, wrote a bit about our rebellion on Monday – an act that set into motion quite a few interesting activities and experiences.
As a result I have several half-finished posts sitting in my draft folder that I’ve just not been able to complete. (Confession: I’m a relatively newly minted blogger in terms of style. My writing has always tended to be a bit more in-depth analytical second day story type of stuff, so this whole rapid-fire writing thing is a new challenge).
In any case, that mini-backlog of items is going to have to wait a bit longer because after today’s adventures I’m focused on something deeply important to me.
Faith.
More specifically the way in which faith inspires.
It’s funny to think that on my first trip to Jerusalem in the summer of 1995, I found myself nearly paralyzed at my first approach to the Western Wall.. While I’ve only returned to the spot twice since that time, I’ve had exactly the opposite experience on each return. English to Armenian . Rather than feeling repelled by the energy that comes off of this majestic edifice, it’s as though a tractor beam grabs me, pulling me in.
But I’m getting ahead of myself… the story begins when we began the most enjoyable forced march you can imagine.