Tag: Marco Bizzarri

1997: Don’t Sell Yourself, I Say!

Rather buy into your more authentic self.

(updated: 28 April 2024)

In the first half of 1997 I was weightlifting and eating a lot of red meat. I gained about 10% in body weight at my peak.

Because turning 18 wasn’t just about driving and drinking. It was also about weight training, clubs and effortless attraction.

My brother Luke was also going to the gym.

My gear above is 26 Red. The rugby top above is Blanc Bleu. The red/brown shorts are also 26 Red. The white shoes are Air Max 96 and black trainers are Puma. Luke’s top is Ministry-of-Sound (MOS) from London.

Anyway, as part of a uni assignment, I put up a personal page about myself (pic 3 below) and that’s not me in the hammock.

[ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ]

So in 1997, the notion of “selling myself” wasn’t really a thing. You buy into me, I decide if it’s worth it, we make it happen, and that’s it.

Anyway, nothing resulted from that page. But a couple of years earlier I put up a page on my high school site (above right) about myself and a few girls emailed me about it. I didn’t know who they were and didn’t reply. That was my first web page. For this next uni page, I think I wanted to avoid strangers contacting me because the idea of “selling myself” online wasn’t a thing. Who was the person behind the email?

So I had a taxi driver and Deakin University economics lecturer pal Jack Alan who was also weightlifting and was 10 years older. He was of Persian descent and arrived from Buffalo, New York. He had a PhD (or Masters) from New York University regarding stochastic methods in economics and he personally knew Peter from Monash, who Luke also knew, but not personally like Jack.

Initially, Jack drove my dad and I back from somewhere at night in late 1996 and we ended up inviting him into our house for further intellectual discussions. We played tennis and hit the pool at my uncle’s place nearby and Jack had another buddy of his come along to join us for the game. We made a number of homemade videos of us cruising around listening to G-funk, sometimes in his red Mazda 121 and other times in my green/blue Nissan Bluebird.

pic | CC

(self-portrait (2024) insertions, car insertion)

Unfortunately the video tapes were thrown out after selling Washington Street in 2006.

[ ’06 ]

The camera I used to film was below, and like below, I did record another 21st party or two for friends at the time.

[ 1998 ]

The videos were kept in the wooden cabinet if anyone has a time machine! Perhaps some of those videos I took may be floating around somewhere. I think Jack had kept one for himself.

I worked as a busboy in that year at Carousel, (Albert Park) delivered pizzas and controlled the dancefloor lights at Silvers (now Jacksons). I also did mobile DJ’ing with a computer (see pic above) and general event promotions work like dropping flyers and passes. One was for the Whisky aGoGo Friday night at Silvers for the organiser Warren, and I brought Jack to that, and a couple of female friends I knew at the time also came to Silvers. That club was around the corner from Washington Street.

I spoke to Warren initially at Jac’s Bar (upstairs at Silvers) and he was a landscape gardener by day. The “Whisky” night had a few female dancers in hot pants dancing all night on podiums. There was also one guy dancing too.

Additionally, I was rehearing at home with guitarist and school friend Noah, and also upright bassist Lucy but we didn’t do any gigs together. I was also rehearsing at Revolver (when it was a music store) with Kon and Nik after responding to a street press advert and we did do a number of gigs together.

[ src | jamming at home 1997| eating out 2007]

[home recording ~2000]

I pushed off a lot of old school friends in order break my comfort zone at the time. Very difficult to do. I don’t know what happened to Jack, maybe he went to the Gold Coast. He was selling protein powders too at the time and was really bulking up. Fun times. We swung by a lot of clubs together. Once at Silvers, he saw some of his own students from uni and they went bananas.

One standout track we bumped was “This DJ” and we considered ourselves as Ticks [1:36: “So I hops in the van with my homie Tick”]

1997 wasn’t all peaches and cream. I failed Accounting and repeated it again in summer. Failing a subject wasn’t something familiar to me. I also cut out alcohol consumption as the hangovers were bad and could knock me about over the next day. Also, I could never fall asleep drunk.. I would just lie awake with my head spinning. I do miss the beer goggles though!

Moreover, I came to the conclusion that drinking was just a way to spend one’s “happiness credits” that would accrue naturally over the week. So being “happy drunk” meant a loss of happiness someplace else during the week during sobriety. In 1997, I explained this to someone drinking at the bar at the Arcadia Hotel and they sort of agreed with me. Lucky I didn’t get kicked out!

[at the downstairs bar, 2022]

The theory explains a lot of why people crave the weekend so badly – just another theory, though.

Yet, at Club Med, Val d’Isere in 1992/93, another skier Matthieu said in a French accent regarding women that “You must attack!” He was around 15 at the time and had a girlfriend, so that was his tip on how to get one because he asked me if I had one and I said ‘no.’

Whatever the case, I still enjoyed playing drums.

And spending time with the family.

I think what he meant was to be confident. Yet Matthieu was a great skier and good companion, and on our last day we went off-piste, I think even crossing into Italy, and then took a long bus ride home to make it piste-off.

“Women need a reason to have sex. Men just need a place.” – Billy Crystal

Speaking of forthcoming, on 25 Jan 1997, I went to the Big Day Out music festival. I rolled up alone and without a ticket in the evening. At the gate, someone was leaving and sold me their ticket for $5. Win. After entering, I said hello to an extended family member who I saw by chance (person I was filming at top in front of fireplace) but then kept walking to the main stage alone. People were all sitting down. Then a girl – complete stranger – walked up to me, paused for about 3 seconds and said: “Do you want to have sex with me?” I became the rock star.

She was attractive too – around my age. I had long hair at the time and still had a tan from schoolies week. But I hesitated. I think I said “I don’t know” and then she said “well do you?” and then I was silent and then she walked off permanently. The whole interaction was easily less than 20 seconds. I can’t fully recall the dialogue, but I told a school mate Cam about it a couple of days later.

So later that night, I saw Marc at the main stage and checked out Soundgarden and started moshing which really wasn’t that enjoyable.

Incidentally, I spoke to a random chap that year (maybe the next) at Silvers and he said that he would wait until closing time and walk around the room and keep asking females the same question “Do you want to go home with me?” (or something similar) until he got a yes. It worked for him, and he said that people that hang around that long are all there for the same reason and would rather have something than nothing. I don’t think he was much older than me either. Each to their own – a spoonman.

Nevertheless, I’m not sure if I had planned to meet Marc at the BDO. Also, the bizarre thing about Marc was that we first met by chance at a beach hotel in Goa, India in the late 80s [below right, at left].

Note – this is not skateboard Mark although he still might be interested.

I even went out on a rented yacht with his father after failing at windsurfing, unlike Marc.

(1 2 3)

Around 5 years later he ended up at Wesley College, lived close to my house and we became good friends. He was from New Zealand. Then one day while at home, it all clicked that we had met before and I showed him my diary from India and it even had his name written down. Wild moment but I haven’t seen him in decades as of April, 2024 – like many of my other friends from growing up and these memoirs are a way of retuning myself with the past and upcycling consciousness, whilst corporations monetise them on the sly – and the French are known for this.

Tech alone, meaning corporate espionage, economic espionage – nothing beats DGSE in France. They’re the top. They’ve got a massive budget that goes almost exclusively to stealing foreign secrets. They’re the biggest threat to the United States, even above Russia and above China. DGSE in France is a massively powerful foreign intelligence organization but they’re so exclusively focused on a handful of types of intelligence collection that nobody even really thinks that they exist.

– Bustamante/Fridman (2:28)

Formed in 1982, around the time of the Ariane 1, my guess is that the DGSE have access to incredible spy satellites due to their engineering talent.

“In the 1980s, the DGSE heavily invested in satellite telecommunications interception, and created several satellite listening stations in France and overseas.” – src

“The irony is that what most people are trying to imitate is authenticity.”

[ Marc at left from 2016 ]

Our school motto was “Dare to be wise” (Sapere aude) but how about “Dare to be different” in a world where fashion can easily become tyrrany?

But this is what’s really in fashion right now: growing old… so can I upcycle out of it using marvellous profundity? Will that activate the etheric 12-strand DNA? How do I bring nourishment into the thousand-petaled lotus and stop the fountain-of-youth from crumbling away?

But that’s only for the yogis and believers.

Does growing old have to be about getting old or getting on? Can’t it be about having an indefinite shelf-life like honey and rather growing wise and kind? I’m already part of an unbroken chain back to the patriarchs/matriarchs, so perhaps I am part way there anyway.

Heroes are made, not born, one should hope!  Is life about “God versus the devil” or “God includes the devil?” Is enlightenment about having all questions being answered in a single moment?

Anyway, so a few days after BDO, I saw Silverchair at Festival Hall with Michael and found myself amongst masses of screaming girls. I think that gig was an overflow gig for the Palace show as a result of high demand and is unlisted. Otherwise I went to the one in December.

Daniel might know.

Anyway, it is worth noting in Victoria that: “It is an offence for a licensee or permittee to supply liquor to a person in a state of intoxication. It is also an offence to permit drunken or disorderly persons to be on the licensed premises, or on any other premises where we have authorised licensees to serve liquor.” source

And in that respect, in 1997 during uni Orientation Week, one night after leaving Prince Alfred Carlton adjacent to Melbourne Uni, I was told something like “come back to see us during the day” as I stepped through the door on the way out. I asked why and the bouncer just said to come back. And the exact same thing happened again in March 2019 for reasons unknown to me – I wasn’t even drinking alcohol then, but I didn’t ask the bouncer why.

In ’97, I wore a pair of blue, velvety Diesel pants (drum pic below) and red, suede Vans skate shoes a lot back then – so was it for a photo shoot? The demand really irked me after a good night out and I never went to the venue properly ever again, until 2019 for moment of déjà vu. I was phasing out drinking as well in early 1997, another reason I never returned except for a gig in October.

[pic 3 – Sydney, early 2000]

The band was named after the book The Celestine Prophecy from 1993 but I never got far into it. Some great quotes can be found here. We even had a song called Celestine.

I did read Siddhartha and saw the film at the Trak (underneath Silvers.) I also read CwG Book 1 and ended up reading most, if not all in the series.  I also liked the Osho website and could download his talks.

[src | src 2 ]

I also read a Sivananda book brought back from India for me that covered Kundalini much to my interest.

“If Kundalini is awakened before he attains purity by Asanas, Bandhas, Mudras and Pranayama, he will come across the temptations of the other planes, he will have no strength of will to resist these temptations and will have a hopeless downfall. It will be very difficult for him to climb up again to the original height which he climbed in the ladder of Yoga. Therefore the aspirant should try to purify himself first. If perfect purity is attained through Japa, Kirtan and constant selfless service, Kundalini will awaken by itself and move towards the Sahasrara at the crown of the head to meet Her Lord Siva, the trident-bearer of Mount Kailas, the store-house of wisdom, bliss and peace.” – src

[ 1 | 2 ]

Notice he implied people should strive for purity rather than to awaken Kundalini. Interestingly, I ended up handing many of my books to Toby, including that one, and we recorded music as well in 2003. Toby put me onto the incredible The Wisdom of Ramala which mentions purity 26 times.

Kundalini in 2023 has 37K subscribers (Dec, 2023) on Reddit and it doesn’t interest me at all, but there’s interesting stuff on Marginalia.

[ 12 Jan 2024]

I suspect Kundalini-Shakti is as important today as it has ever been because it is more intelligent that any AI because it knows the future due to its incredible presence. In 2001, there was an issue of What is Enlightenment? called Can Enlightenment Save the World?

[ src | 2| 3 | Jan 2024 ]

All great content, including White’s description of Homo Noeticus – the next stage in human evolution. Says White above: “Enlightenment is the only thing which can save the world. The only thing.” And that “Homo noeticus is the term I use to designate what I see as a higher form of humanity emerging on the planet now, characterized not by genetic changes but by noetic changes.” So researching these topics kicked into high gear for me in 2001, my last year at university that began in 1997. It was my unofficial degree I suppose, and how can you sell someone the future – it’s already been bought!?

Another channelled take on Kundalini alongside Datre (book) was St Germain from 1999 and I remember printing the whole amazing interview out and reading it in a park.

“The thing is that everybody is different, in terms of the clarity of that moving through the body. Some people do kundalini in a clear way, some people don’t, then it comes right up, causing the mind to shift – burns out the mind, in some people’s cases – but when it is balanced, it just is an addendum to your life, it just adds in. It doesn’t really awaken, it opens your capacity to function with your spirit through your body rather than through your mind and through your imagination. If you’ll notice, people who really stand in their knowing and have a truth mechanism in there, it’s because they experience it in some fashion in their body, not in their mind. So energy when it moves in the body is identified as Shakti, as kundalini, everyplace has a different name.” – src

I also found a Gene Kieffer interview in the same journal.

[src | 2]

Also, Maitreya (another channel) covers the topic here in the following snippet as related to sexual energy, and it actually dates back to 2003:

[ 1 | 2 ]

Incidentally, at the time I remember the artist formerly known as Terence Trent D’Arby becoming Sananda Maitreya – I wondered if he was channelling himself.

(goto 1:35) And he says “a new spirit has become a part of my experience.”

So Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras date back almost two thousand years ago and address the same topic of preparing for, and enabling the dissolution of the microcosm. And today there is a lot of Kundalini information and people on Quora, although I prefer to avoid using that Sanskrit word for something that is so universal and undefinable – it also opens someone up to being labelled, condemned or even idolized . . . Shakti is at least more specific.

[ 8 Dec 2023 ]

For the doubters, just because someone doesn’t understand something or can’t access it (often due to fear or pain,) doesn’t mean it’s not true. Although one could say: “you don’t awaken your Kundalini, it awakens you, and until then, forget about it.” And interestingly, in 2022, an English translation of Abraham Abulafia’s Light of the Intellect from 1285 appeared on Patreon.

[8 Dec 2023 – links above]

For one person’s Samadhi may be another person’s Active Intellect, and the translator above is a Jewish Indian.

Anyway, from 1997 onward I walked passed PAs everyday for years, being at the end of Bouverie Street and on the way to the main Parkville campus. I saw groups of people – uni students – ejected from that premises at certain times to fill up the footpath outside. Perhaps selections are made via CCTV from a back office – that bizarre scenario is not to be ruled out. Like many others, I think I was ejected back in 1997 but can’t fully recall what happened. Maybe I wasn’t. Why do they even stay open during O-Week? You keep drinking, and when you’re spotted (apparently) inebriated, you’re thrown out, just as the the law states. But why are you asked to return the following day? Nice interior, though.

Continuing, as with PAs, I used to spend much time looking at the Arcadia hotel in my prior school years waiting for the tram ride home and readying myself for a tertiary education somewhere and a trip into the “real world.”

[Oct 2002 | Dec 2018]

But the past got pissed!

K-Ci & JoJo – You Bring Me Up (Remix) ft. Snoop Dogg (1997)
– includes mashup

1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

✓ 7 hours ago

Israel Tech Scene 2006-2011

– part 3 of 5: Beyond Blacklists: EXPOSURE!

I attended a number of tech events in Israel – really I could have gone to Israel straight after uni, 4 years earlier… or not at all!

last updated: 27 October 2022

The first event I attended was the IVA Annual Conference 2006 – press release (now removed, April 17):

src | 2 | 3

This was a great conference and Shimon Peres even accepted an award. Amazing days just before mass use of smartphones!

I had a few meetings in Herzliya Pituach after that event in order to raise finance for GrooveTip or whatever came next.

In June 2008 whilst living in Tel Aviv, I went to MashBash and in July 2008, I went to TWS2008.

In August 2008 I attended iDrink #9 at Beach Bar in Herzliya Pituach.

Then in September I made it to Mobile Monday.

On 14 Feb 2009 while building Twitya.com, I attended the tech workshop Eurekamp.

Pic 3 Yossi Vardi can be seen sitting.

פרק 31 – Eurekamp 2009 from Yosi Taguri on Vimeo.

..see me at timecodes 3.14, 3.22, 6:03, 10:38, 12:20:

I have no personal photos of me at Eurekamp except for the video stills above, but I can be seen wearing the same Industrie jacket below. My name is also on the attendees list (source) and I did give a talk called Web Conglomerate.

CV 2008 | Extra WebC info: 1 2 3

Further notes on my Eurekamp 2009 experience, please see here.

So after building Twitya.com during this period, I attended the TechAviv Town Hall Meeting on 2 Sep ’09 having already begun work on Bopgig.

Then I submitted a business plan on 17 Nov ’09 into the TechAviv Angels group for judgement regarding Bopgig (then GigPop.)

[pic 2: 16 Nov 2009 | pic 3: 17 Nov 2009]

It got into the top 10 out of ~45 entries, which was considered a very good result especially because there was no working product at that stage. I ended up sending that business plan to Michael Eisenberg, but he did not reply – that really raised a red flag with me. When I asked if I could send the business plan, he replied “Send Away!” I suppose I should’ve called as well. I had never actually met Mr Eisenberg before but we did exchange a few emails prior to this although I am not 100% sure – I am locked out of a gmail account.

As an aside, I met Ariel Finkelstein at his office for a job at Kampyle in ~2007 and was rejected – that rejection may have been related to all this.. or not. Pity, I could have really assisted him. I enjoyed meeting Jacob Ner-David around this time – nice guy – many vegans are! I also had a job interview at Kontera in ~2008 and was also rejected… but perhaps my rough sketches were a little too… rough, or was it something else!?! I got a call from a woman at Wix at one point when it was just starting for an employment opportunity but I waxed and waned. I was in contact with Ori Soen from MuseStorm, and if they had only raised a new funding round, I may have ended up working there.. or nipped in the bud.. or were they nipped in the bud?! I met with the late Alon Hochberg (SeeToo) and Vitaly Sirota (FoxyTunes) together but that was more for brainstorming. I remember sending suggestions to FoxyTunes back then and they were acquired by Yahoo in 2008. I also met David Kariv from Copenda for a Yogo ice-cream in Neve Tzedek and suggested to keep the site as simple as possible to emulate Plenty Of Fish. This led to a redesign. But the only date I was seeking was a date with destiny!

Continuing, I also spoke to Sequoia and they were interested, but ultimately said there was overlap. Randy Ditzler spoke to his partners about it after speaking to me. Did they call up the “Israelis” to see if I was “legit?”

I was irked when I saw that EventBrite obtained Sequoia as a new investor.

This announcement came prior to my conversation with Mr Ditzler because I remember mentioning Roelof Botha in the call. I am confident (but not certain as yet) that the announcement came after I submitted my business plan to the firm. I am presently attempting (unsusccesfully so far) to enter a Gmail account that should clarify this. Also, my startup was called Gigpop at the time and I switched to Bopgig because I liked the reference to Bebop or a “Bebop gig.” Today I’d use Gigpop with ‘pop’ referring to a father that’s into gigs or just “the father of gigs”.

source

Interestingly, before my discussion with Sequoia I listened to a long interview with Rupert Murdoch, and in my conversation I think I was channeling his style which left a good impression.

Platonix weren’t interested in working with me although the emails with Yishai Beeri were fun. In the last minute, it stayed platonic.

Continuing, I proceeded with Bopgig using US-based developers after the TechAviv comp.

In April 2011, I went to TheMarker Com.Vention while still working on Bopgig.

And that was my final tech conference attended in Israel… for now.

* NB: I also attended OpenCoffee Club and GarageGeeks meetups. In addition, I went to a few one-off events, some even in the CleanTech space as I was interested in wave energy and I was working on an idea called WaveTrific.

Note: Izhar Shay is shown here because I came across him more than any other person out of all the tech events I went to in Israel (except for Shai Tsur.) He even spoke at the IVA Annual Conference 2006 – its press release was removed some months ago (shown at top.)

I even met with Mr Shay after that event with regards to GrooveTip and an internship. In that meeting I suggested that he start a blog, but he said he was interested in keeping a low-profile. It is surprising to see how that self-image has changed over the years. He moved into politics in 2019 alongside Benny Gantz at the time I was working on Ormus King 5.

At the 2006 IVA event, I remember Shay saying on stage something like “the enemies of Israel are not with us anymore” – what did he mean by that? Who can speak for Israel as a whole? What was he talking about? People found to be enemies already residing within Israel? Was that going to be me? Did he mean the enemies of the Jews or the enemies of Israel …am I not remembering correctly? At Aish HaTorah Essentials in 2005, Rabbi Ken Spiro mentioned the enemies of the Jews all eventually disappearing in his WorldPerfect talk.

Also, I don’t necessarily agree with Shay, Iran has been a nuclear threat to Israel since the early 2000s. In 2021, to me going after Iran (as has been done) is like someone chasing their own shadow. Why haven’t they disappeared yet?

At TWS2008 (Prime Sagol), Shay walked up to me outside the hall and acted entitled to hear a pitch of mine. I think he saw me speaking to his friend Ofer Wald and that demonstrated some sort of social proof, yet at the time I was already speaking to many entrepreneurs over email, and had even met a few in person. I even covered TWS on my blog.

– Mr Eisenberg second from left, Mr Shay second from the right | source

Before he left, he asked about who my relatives were in Israel, to which I replied an aunt. Perhaps I told him her name as well, or I told him her name at our initial meeting at Aroma (Herzliya Pituach.) I did not end up pitching to him and I think that irritated him. He also blatantly inspected the top of my head, I presume to see if I was wearing a yarmulka. So I was “off the derech,” but was I ever on it ?!?

From 3 days to around a week later an IDF officer thumped 3 times very loudly on my door at the Great Twitya Pad.

I was sweating after having been rollerblading. He spoke in very loud Hebrew but I could only reply in English. He kept speaking, but I didn’t understand. He walked off in a huff. At the time I was over 26 – the usual conscript age-limit.

I think I was geolocated using my phone and was to have “rank pulled” on me. Then again, this officer may have just been lost or looking for directions. Many people did knock on my door, but I’ll never know – I doubt it though because he was very directed in the way he walked off and the knocking and tone of voice was abnormal.

At the TechAviv Town Hall Meeting on 2 Sep 2009, Mr Shay came and sat two seats away with his new associate (I think it was Adi Pundak-Mintz) right next to me. Shai Tsur (who I had first met before at the 2006 IVA Conference) sat down a chair or two away at about the same time. Scott Tobin (and his associate David Sokolic) sat behind me who I even said a few words to when he forgot something mid public intro. The only thing Mr Shay said to me was “you can stay” while looking at Gil Dibner who was sitting on the riser – and that’s the last thing I heard him say directly to me. Also, when I introduced myself to the room (I remained seated) and announced my idea for BopGig to sell downloads and tickets, he leaned over in full view of everyone and tried to disrupt me – or at least signal to the room something about me – something bad I presume. I got the impression that he was smug about his new associate also seated next to me – a position I may have taken when I was interested in an internship back in 2006.

Then, when someone spoke to the room and complained about VCs micro-managing entrepreneurs, I saw a few people begin staring at Mr Shay. I wouldn’t be surprised if he did micro-manage entrepreneurs. I also got the impression that he had Anal retentiveness * back at TWS 2008  when he checked to see if I was wearing a yarmulka (mentioned above) because he also blatantly checked my shoes. I was wearing Converse All-Star at the time.  He also exhibited some strange body language where he was looking around to see who was looking at him. ​Anal retentiveness is something that I think can be determined with certain micro-expressions such as leaning onto tiptoes and staring intensely onto people – something Mr Shay did to me.​ It can also be overcome with Yoga. That’s my own theory (I’ve seen someone else with AR tendencies do it to me) and Anal retentiveness also doesn’t need to be taken literally in terms of someone with a tense sphincter and could be used as an adjective of someone’s character.

* I deny being vindictive here although I am passing judgement – as I perceive he and others have done to me. I have no ill will. In practice, it means he is someone I would not actively seek association with in the future – and he probably feels the same! Who needs the stress?!?

When I first met Izhar Shay in late 2006 after 2 thoughtful cold-emails to obtain such a meeting (after hearing him at IVA 2006 – he came across as very smart,) his expression turned to horror when he first saw me – there was no profile pic of me online prior to that. Also, when I first met Mr Dibner at Genesis Partners, he initially shook my hand like he was holding a wet rag that he wanted to let go of as soon as humanly possible. At least they met me, but was there hidden prejudice?

A relevant quote from Dec 31, 2021:

"Rich and proudly unpopular is a whole thing in today's political scene."

...

"Yep, a lot of people who don't like criticisms of capitalism fail to understand that this system is disguised as a meritocracy but in reality it's a game and you win it by shaking off any moral scruples and stepping on everyone else."

- Hacker News comments: Peter Thiel hires disgraced ex-Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz

That said, I should never have setup those meetings and I had a strong feeling not to go to those meetings or get too involved in that scene at all. Those were timelines I was (and am?) steering clear of. However, the rational, business-oriented, western-trained mind is very strong. Rather, I think my role was to simply live in the holy cities, avoid cults and meet whoever I needed to meet. Even my time studying Gemara was really too powerful for comfort. If I was a Torah master in a previous life, why should I become one again? I can just dream up knowledge whenever it’s needed. Sometimes one doesn’t need to learn.. they need to remember.

Continuing, when Mr Shay finally stood to leave the event, the final look in his eye (as he looked at mine) was very strange, like he was on a mission and something had gone very awry. Maybe it was part of a “Tom and Jerry” scene that I mentioned in Israel Revisited because the look corresponded to my previous discussion with him at TWS2008 (mentioned above) that may have resulted in an IDF officer thumping on my door a few days later.

When Mr Dibner introduced himself, I saw Mr Shay on the edge of his seat (to my left) and ready to tackle me to the ground like I was about to pull a gun or throw something at the riser. Then, when Mr Dibner introduced himself, I got the impression that Mr Dibner was very faintly crying for a few moments whereby I heard (and saw) a sniffle or two just as his boss Jonathan Saacks stared at him (from a few meters) to his left in slight embarrassment (possibly anger.) Yet although there might have been guilt, I doubt there was shame whereby despite all odds, I had made it to a sought-after entrepreneurs’ meetup where people were supposed to help each other and not hinder each other. To me, this only signaled to those opposed to me to step up their efforts. “Why is this Adrian guy even here?”

Ofer Wald, Shai Tsur and Yoav Leitersdorf weren’t too keen to speak to me at this event. Interestingly, I spoke to both Wald and Tsur pretty easily at the next TechAviv event and even have a recording of that (see further down). That next event was after TechAviv Angels.

  • pic ref and source below.
  • Mr Saacks in the navy blue top and beige pants (legs crossed) looking directly at the camera.
  • Yaron Samid stands.
  • Mr Dibner is on the far left of the riser (unseen) although that vaguely looks like him with arms-crossed.
  • Myself, Shay, Tsur, Tobin, Sokolic off-screen behind Wald (dark red shirt with laptop looking down.)
  • Uri Levanon – dark gray shirt with left hand at chest level, two seats up from Wald.
  • By the end of that meetup, there were people overflowing into the entry hall unable to find a seat and I vaguely recall seeing David Nordell and also Erez Perlmuter who I chatted with briefly as I did also at Eurekamp sitting at a table.

Two months later I later went to the Nov ’09 Meetup and then straight afterward got a lift to the Tel Aviv Hilton with Boris Nadion and his team to meet up with my mother and grandmother. Initially in the foyer a bunch of guys were staring hard at me with the ‘evil eye’ until I turned my back on them – why?

While I sat near Nadion and his team during the actual talk, at that event I ended up speaking to many people in the foyer and auditorium and I actually recorded those conversations (including with Nadion) along with much of the talk itself. Someone even kindly gave me Yossi Vardi’s mobile number. I was ready to continue interviewing my grandmother that night at her hotel, and I decided to place my recorder in my pocket. This allowed me to later evaluate my pitching style and rapport.

Continuing, I had already spoken to Nadion at iDrink #9 (see pic higher up with him next to Sun Microsystems logo.) I had also met with Nadion and his team prior to iDrink as a team-for-hire. I almost hired them for Bopgig but ended up using the USA guys I found on Hacker News.

Also, I was at a Water Tech event in Tel Aviv (Watec 2009) around a week earlier, and Shai Tsur when he was standing next to me whispered in the ears of a couple of people sitting down close to him and their expressions turned to horror as they stared at me (very similar to Mr Shay above.) What did he say to them? Was it about me? I think they may have been partners at his firm Giza Venture Capital. All I was interested in was wave energy (my WaveTrific bringing SDE to Australia via Energy Matters) and water desalination. It was during the afternoon, outside, and underneath a sun-shade. Interestingly, SDE turned out to be basically ineffective in delivering, so I moved on.

Also, another Israeli firm Eco Wave Power adopted an essentially identical design to SDE in 2011 as founded by an ex staff-member, Inna Braverman.

I wonder if this design will ever become popular without a massive shift in consciousness – not that the tech isn’t good, but due to “industry resistance” – same with zero-point (free) energy. Eco Wave Power has only seen 2 small-scale installations setup so far. Is society ready to move to wave energy on a large-scale or will it stagnate? However, it is publically listed so that should bring encouragement.

Moreover, I highly doubt their design has defensible IP due to the Prior Art of the SDE system that was launched in 2010.

source

That doesn’t mean Eco Wave Power isn’t, can’t and won’t do a great job – it just means competitors could come from anywhere.

“Eco Wave Power holds 17 patents and patents pending, including patents in the United States and Europe, as well as an International PCT on its proprietary technology.” source

… I should hope so. Mr Ovadia has many patents listed on his LinkedIn page.  Wouldn’t Eco Wave Power’s clash with these? Are Mr Ovadia’s patents still valid? Are they in the public domain?

See here and here –  “System for conversion of sea wave energy” (also – 1 2)

Interestingly, Mr Ovadia filed a patent in 2013 that was withdrawn in 2014 suggesting he wasn’t collaborating with EWP at that time… or was he? Maybe Mr Ovadia has a stake in EWP or they have licensed his designs. Maybe not. I also wonder if Ms Braverman signed a non-compete with SDE as I did.

With regards to Braverman, I was in extensive email communications with SDE and I met the CEO Shmuel Ovadia in person twice (first in October 2008 with a family member present.)

At one point, I showed him the sales agreement I received via email and he was shocked to see it. I ended up using that agreement to talk to Energy Matters (via Jeremy Rich) in Australia.

Mr Ovadia spoke English reasonably well but all the emails from SDE were of very high proficiency and were sent from “Shmuel Ovadia” in the footer (unless that was blank.) More than likely it was either Ms Braverman or someone else acting as an intermediary for Mr Ovadia, and even a sole source. I ended up emailing General Electric on SDE’s behalf to request a meeting for finance, to no avail.

Mr Rich’s (middle below) main concern about the SDE device at first was corrosion from salt and mine was the physical security of the system. I had known Mr Rich since primary school. We could have fairly easily got that wave device setup and even distributed if SDE had been more willing and able –  although I was still a bit hesitant of the final design with hydraulic arms exposed – and still am with EWP. It seems deceiving in the EWP video above that the hydraulic arms aren’t shown. I had already worked at Energy Matters a year or two earlier on their IT and Mr Rich was very enthusiastic about the idea of wave energy – also he probably didn’t want to compete with me.

[from reunion]

I did actually come up with some designs of my own that I mentioned (but didn’t actually show) to SDE over email, including the logo above. As mentioned, I also signed a non-compete agreement with SDE and SDE threatened to sue me at one point. I wonder if that was Ms Braverman who made that threat because she was ready to compete directly with SDE and didn’t want me implementing that indefensible buoy design with Energy Matters exclusively. Or was it actually Mr Ovadia worried I’d work directly with that design without him? I really need to know more about who was working at SDE during those years. There may have been someone else working there and Inna Braverman has never heard of me.

Australia should have a good wave energy sector and the SDE / EWP floating buoy design can be a great starting point for anyone, anywhere. If EWP can use SDE’s design, then anyone can.

I have the idea that pivoting buoys identical to SDE and EWP should be built within (or retrofitted) to the pylons of off-shore windfarms and drive flywheel accumulators rather than
electro-hydraulic accumulators (as with SDE and EWP) kept within each pylon. Then, if wave heights get too high (which can be sensed by windspeed), the buoy should be retracted into the pylon or elevated up the outside of the pylon. Can I do that without legal repercussions? EWP seems only limited to breakwaters at present. Thus, don’t windfarms still have this opportunity to obtain more energy in this way? Finally, couldn’t someone directly copy EWP and then challenge EWP’s patents based on the existence of SDE’s patents and videos?

Unlike the Porsche flywheel, the ocean flywheel would be driven mechanically by the buoy’s oscillation, but similarly it would use a torque-vectoring device on the wheel, offering resistance to its spin and the buoy’s oscillation to create current.

Best of luck to Ms Braverman regardless: perhaps she can start a fashion blog too.

Not just knee deep?

Continuing, later Shay ignored an email I sent to Canaan Partners about Seedcamp (or Startup Stadium) while I was doing Bopgig (around 2012.) Some years later (around 2017) he even befriended my Israeli cousin Dhalia on Facebook after I made my friends list public – I’m still unsure if it was a coincidence or not.

All very odd indeed – and overall that’s how I would describe this person based on experiences interacting with him.

Yet at the same time, one of my VC blog posts in late 2006 was about Mr Shay, and perhaps he found this odd – I don’t know but I did email him a link about it and spoke in the meeting about Awarenex. I said Awarenex would only be open to high net-worth individuals… accredited investors.

On the topic of tickets, I actually worked closely with a startup CEO in 2003-04 which sold tickets (Moshtix) and it was acquired in 2007. I helped it expand from Sydney to Melbourne. Its first signup was Bennetts Lane and I was at the initial sales meeting – one of many I helped setup. In hindsight, I should’ve also invested in Moshtix – and it was a real possibility to do so at the time.

While I don’t have a picture of Mr Dibner at the Town Hall Meeting (2 Sep 2009) – I didn’t take any, he and others mentioned are on the event’s attendees page (marked in red below.) I am currently shown as ‘Former Member.’ I also did comment on the event’s blog post, username Twitya.

Also, Mr Dibner can be found on the TechAviv members page from 1 Sep 2009 and Mr Shay and myself can additionally be found on the members page from 1 October 2009.

As mentioned, Jonathan Saacks was at this event as was Eden Shochat (both Genesis Partners – Mr Dibner’s firm.)

At one point, Saacks stood up and said “we back winners” while looking at me. Saacks is listed on the TechAviv Angels screenshot above, as is someone from Canaan Partners (Daniel Ciporin) – Shay’s firm at the time.

Also, there are additional people who were aware of me at this event to varying degrees. One person was Yoav Leitersdorf, a VC who I had interviewed for Launchpadisrael.com and who I worked for remotely for a few days. Another person was Ofer Wald, an entrepreneur who I had last spoken to at TWS2008 (mentioned above.) Ofer held Shay in high regard. At this meetup I was wearing my long-lost “Tara” cap and would’ve stood-out as I was the only one wearing a cap.

[ pic 2 | pic 3 – Ofer at TWS 2008 | pic 4 – Ofer from inside the actual room – full pic]

I did enjoy the event except for the underlying drama, which made imprints on my mind.

On the topic of Dark Retribution, earlier in the year I was removed from the IVC-Online industry database.

– 3 screenshots directly above taken 2 April 2009. The 3rd pic as linked from Google should’ve shown my full profile page (prior to its deletion.) The 1st pic shows that my name was still in the search index at the time even if the actual page was already deleted.

Regarding this, in the TechAviv forum on 30 August 2009, I created the thread: “IVC-Online a site failure or larger systemic failure”

– screenshot take 9 January 2010

This was created 3 days prior to the Town Hall Meeting and so I was expecting drama, especially since I had already seen what happened at Eurekamp.

A further oddity occurred on 8 June 2010, when I was blocked from viewing the Genesis Partners website after sending them a message through a form. It was around this time Mr Dibner moved from Genesis Partners to another firm in Israel – see his profile (snippet below).

I applied to Seedcamp Europe 2012 after meeting Reshma at TWS2008. I was rejected from that in around September 2012 and stopped working on the site at around the same time and focused on Bitcoin. Philipp (@pmoe) was fired (or quit) Seedcamp in December 2013 who I had been communicating with up until my application for some months.

Regarding Mr Dibner, who I have only met with once and only replied to the first of his two group emails sent to me. The first one was sent regarding leaving Genesis Partners and the second about starting at Gemini – both in mid 2010. My reply was a one sentence trivial response. But why did he even write to me at all? Also with regards to my blog post about Mr Dibner in late 2006 (1 of 3 blog posts regarding VC meetings I was having at the time), the only controversial thing I remember to have written was something akin to: “As such, we did not proceed with further discussions.” So I was saying in my blog post that I was rejected from him and that firm with regards to my ideas and propositions. Going into the meeting I did not sign an NDA and I recall sending a link to that blog post to the person that setup the meeting initially via email. Later I sent a link to the post to Mr Dibner personally, to which he did not reply.

In January 2014, he posted “Towards a VC code of conduct” [archive] which alerted me to the fact that I was potentially dealing with someone consciously hypocritical, and in looking back today I think he was just being silly or else treacherous. Probably hateful (see twitter results below.) That’s just my own opinion because no one with a “Code of Conduct” would ever do anything to harm someone, right? Also, that article had/has an image of the 10 commandments at top, why? Are they interchangeable?

By July 2014, I put up a picture on my FB.

Within a few months (possibly days) he put up a similar picture on his Twitter.

[ 1, 2, 3, 4 (22 March 22) ]
[5,6 – censored (23 March 22), 7 – uncensored (same day); censored again – or is this a bug with twitter’s UI?]

A dangerous chap. But he may not be wholly responsible for his actions if he has been strongly influenced by others and that is a real possibility.

Note: unlike Anakin, actual *baseless* hatred is still real amongst Jews – especially in Israel as sensed by myself and others. It’s the opposite of mateship – it’s hateship. Furthermore, in a documentary on prison life I saw once, an inmate said that many people would love the opportunity to “hate on” someone else – it’s an emotional outlet. Anakin had reasons for his hate even if they were based on complete misapprehensions. Baseless hatred on the other hand is like free-floating anxiety – no real cause.

Continuing, in his Crunchbase profile above, it mentions him being a team member at Yedda. Was he aware of all the tips I had sent that startup when he was defaming me at Eurekamp in 2009 (my contention) as mentioned in Part 2? Did/would those tips make him jealous?

At that point I blocked his FB. I then unblocked it in September 2015 at which point he almost instantly deactivated his FB. He deactivated his Instagram too, I am almost certain.

His wife (Millia) also deactivated her FB at exactly the same time… why? (*I never had anything to do with her or his family in any way, shape or form*)  I only knew about her due to his mention or reference to her, and I wasn’t following her.

7 years later Mr Dibner’s twitter profile picture still remains (as of 15 Mar 2022) and the aeroplane header picture has been there for almost the same amount of time.

[ pic ]


Very odd indeed.

I suspect he was following my FB for many years due to some similarly-themed posts although I might be wrong. That was a concern of mine. Was I in for more surprises offline? Would that have anything to do with him anyway?

The real crux and importance of this exposé is that people have disappeared in Israel after I have met and become friends with (starting in 2014) … and this should be elaborated upon in the greater specifics of Dark Retribution. In fact, I suspect an entire business that I worked for was shutdown. This was the CU-agency (2nd or 3rd floor, 50 Yitzhak Sadeh street, Tel Aviv) soon after mid-2017 when I mentioned it on FB in my resume and its manager Sharon.

It’s absurd, and I really might be wrong here, and even if I am, there are still many more examples to contend with.

But to me, it’s not about winning some high stakes game, it’s rather about waking up from an epic dream!

Referring to Yogo:

Also see Versace:

 

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…from the video: “by connecting to existent man-made structures such as piers, breakwaters, jetties” (0:41) — Has EWP factored security-costs into each setup? Someone could stab or melt the hydraulic hoses and the units could be vandalized. Will owners need to insure against subsequent blackouts? At Jaffa port, acid could be poured over rubber surfaces and local Arabs would be blamed a few days later after failure.

 

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