http://www.oribrafman.com/blog Ori Brafman's Blog Tue, 20 Feb 2007 17:55:24 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en My favorite room in our house is the office upstairs. It’s a small, square, 8-by-8 room that was the fainting room back in Victorian times. Every wall is covered with books. And in a way, they tell a story about us: my business books above my desk, Hilary’s collection ... http://www.oribrafman.com/blog/?p=13 Noah Brier and his friend Tad were over at my house yesterday. Noah was showing us his new phone, the Blackberry Pearl. No surprise: like everyone else on the planet, he loves it. The thing is, he didn’t just love his phone, he started showing us all its cool features, ... http://www.oribrafman.com/blog/?p=12 I’ve meaning to do this for, well, about five months. Huge thanks to everyone who’s been blogging about The Starfish and the Spider. Watching it spread has been an incredibly interesting and humbling experience. So, in no particular order, a partial list of the bloggers I owe a huge thank ... http://www.oribrafman.com/blog/?p=11 It’s not often that I simultaneously think of songs by the Smiths, Britney Spears, and Pete Seeger. But Viacom’s lawsuit against YouTube has me humming a few tunes. It starts with Morrissey’s plea: “Stop me if you think that you’ve heard this one before…” Let’s go back to 2001 and the record ... http://www.oribrafman.com/blog/?p=10 I think of a story I once heard about the Ohlone tribe of Northern California. Back in the day, if a tribe wanted to get together with other tribes, they’d send out a clover leaf. Each time the moon was full, the receiver of the leaf would cut ... http://www.oribrafman.com/blog/?p=9 My wife, Hilary, came to yoga class with me last week.  I’ve been going for the past four years, and for the past three years I’ve tried to get her to come along. This was her second class, and I think she might already be better than me, but that’s a ... http://www.oribrafman.com/blog/?p=8 Abe Lincoln, Mark Twain, or another smart guy once said something along the lines of, "It is better to keep quiet and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." Lately, I’ve been hanging out with lots of introverts. I’ve learned a couple of things ... http://www.oribrafman.com/blog/?p=7 My friend Leor told me this story: There was this dog.  He was a nice enough dog.  But one winter, his human owner kicked him out.  There just wasn’t enough food for the dog.   Times were different back then, and the dog couldn’t show up at the SPCA.  So, the dog went into the forest and ... http://www.oribrafman.com/blog/?p=6 I’ve been reflecting lately about the creative process. My brother, Rom, and I have an incredibly productive relationship that looks completely intense from an outside perspective. My wife describes it best. Rom and I sit upstairs in the office, and for an hour all she hears is arguing ... http://www.oribrafman.com/blog/?p=5 Speaking of Catster, a few weeks ago, I visited Ted Rheingold, Top Dog (i.e. founder and CEO) of Dogster and Catster (think MySpace for pets). The San Francisco office is this large open space, and just like you’d expect, the moment I walked in, a friendly lab ran up ... http://www.oribrafman.com/blog/?p=4