Pioneer dies on the trail after 7 billion mile trip
Thirty years ago, the NASA/Ames scientists launched a little spacecraft at Jupiter and they hoped it would last as long as 21 months. It worked as planned and in a flyby of the red giant it sent back dazzling pictures of Jupiter and then with the ol' slingshot maneuver it accelerated past Jupiter and headed out of town. It never fell prey to spacecraft eating asteroids in the Van Allen Belt and it kept on working in minus 459 degree weather. The radiation belts around Jupiter didn't phase it and it kept talking to us for 30 years until January 23rd, 2003. The final message was, "Send more comic books and beer!"
March 28, 2003
189 YEARS OF NICE GUY
A fella came in to Buck's one evening and I stopped by his table to say hello. He was a man "of an age' and the first thing he said was, "Did you tie that tie?" I had on some comic tie hanging from my typically comic shirt. "I did tie this tie."
- Jun 18th, 2002
VIETNAM AND THE JAPAN
"Hum, I hear that's a beautiful country," people would invariably say. Of course, the first thing that actually pops to mind is that we dropped quite a few bombs and some other really bad stuff from the stem to the stern of this country. Our government whipped up a paranoid fantasy that countries in Asia were going to fall like a cascading row of dominos and we had to put our foot down. And put it down we did.
- Apr 29th, 2002
MY LUNCH WITH ZSA ZSA?
Newsweek once called me the Zsa Zsa Gabor of Silicon Valley, a backhanded slap of a compliment which meant famous for no apparent reason. I have always loved the whole idea of Zsa Zsa Gabor.
- Mar 19th, 2002
DEATH OF IRONY?
There has been entirely too much loose prattle in the popular press questioning whether irony has a future.
- Jan 23rd, 2002
MACNIVEN TO BECOME AMBASSADOR
This guy came in and told me that he was the former Mayor of Los Angeles. "Yeah, sure but what have you done lately." "Well, I'm running for governor."
- Jan 8th, 2002\
NEW YORK CITY REVISITED
I left New York City on July 4th 1976 with my wife Margaret and our two cats. We cruised among the Tall Ships in New York City Harbor celebrating the Bicentennial from a boat off lower Manhattan. We could see President Ford on the deck of the aircraft carrier Nimitz. We sailed by the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island where so many came to these welcoming shores, and in the distance, Manhattan, with the recently completed World Trade Center...
- Nov 26th, 2001
The RED HERRING NDA
The nice people at the Red Herring have had the bad taste to invite me, once again, to a conference and this one was a stunner. Two years ago all the talk was head-shaking-wonder at the glory and the power of the New Economy, but this year there was wonder but of a very different sort. The purpose of the conference was to discuss mega trends in the future in telecom, venture capital, biotech, and the net.
- Nov 2nd, 2001
Big Charlie and an unnamed pumpkin discuss personal growth.
I thought that when I bought a lock of Napoleon's hair I had hit the big time with weird stuff. I paid a lot for that stupid hair and the DNA test showed it to actually to be George Washington's hair. I got gypped! Sometimes though you get really cool stuff for free. Like when Charlotte Ames (AKA Big Charlie) dropped by to see me the other day. Big Charlie is BIG and proud of it. Not unlike this year's 900 pound pumpkin. If you got it strut it baby!
- Oct 29th, 2001
WHERE WAS CHURCHILL?
The Churchill Club was founded in Silicon Valley to provide a forum for business and political topics. The recent panel moderated by brothers Michael and Tony Perkins certainly made everyone perk up in their seats. It was the Perkins' who brought us the Red Herring (Tony is the Editor-in-Chief), as well as the provocative best seller the Internet Bubble along with the just released Internet Bubble Revised Edition.
- Sep 27th, 2001
A STOLEN FLAG
I hung an American flag in front of Buck's the day of the disaster. The flag I'm flying is the one I stole from the Telegraph Ave. branch of the Bank of America in May of 1969 shortly before other students broke all the windows and the place was looted. This is same summer when the B of A was burned to the ground in Isla Vista next to UC Santa Barbara. I wasn't of the window breaking or bank burning persuasion but I was a leftist radical. The student struggles with government policy seem like such a long time ago now. Everything before September 11, 2001 seems so very long ago.
Sept 14, 2001
The legendary Pam and Craig with some biker named Lemond
Craig Johnson's tombstone has already been written, although he won't be needing it for quite awhile. It reads: "Did some law and was crazy about biking" Well, Craig has done "a bit of law." He founded Venture Law Group on Sand Hill Road and has done the legal for way too many firms to list.
Aug 21, 2001
So how often do twins come along who are basketball superstars? Well, we know of at least two. Jason and Jarron Collins are said to be the most intensely recruited and highly rated players ever to be part of the great Stanford Cardinal team. And now they have been drafted into the NBA, Jason by the Utah Jazz and Jarron by the New Jersey Nets. I could run down basketball stats and
July 2, 2001
Summit at Table 10
Woodside's always ebullient Richard Pivnicka is the handsome one on the right. He's a technology entrepreneur and the founder of Czechtech www.czechtech.net which is an organization charged with forging ever stronger ties between The Czeck Republic and Silicon Valley. Richard is also the Czech Republic Honorary Consul General of San Francisco. The Czech's have a long history of technological and cultural prowess and Richard has been instrumental in introducing both Czech and other European business and political leaders to the West
June 6, 2001
MACNIVEN DEFECTS
The oldest son of the loudmouth owner of Buck's has had quite the ride in The Valley but love, adventure and the ruination of the Internet boom drove the guy to extremes. He now finds himself literally tiptoeing through the tulips as reported by Matt Marshall of the San Jose Mercury News. Matts story:
May 23, 2001
