... when you don't know
\n- \n
- \n\n\n
where you are going
\n - \n\n\n
how it will end
\n - \n\n\n
what it's about
\n - \n\n\n
how long it will be
I don't know - seems all arse about face to me. \n
\n
But sure - lets see where this cart is heading.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2026/2eb487c3e4.png\")
... when you don't know
\nwhere you are going
how it will end
what it's about
how long it will be
I don't know - seems all arse about face to me.
\n
But sure - lets see where this cart is heading.
\n📺 Just finished Legends .. based on a true story it says - and seemingly not wrong according to 🔗The Radio Times Not half bad - with ‘Alan Partridge’ playing the boss - straight down the middle. That said - a lot of the full story definitely not in the show. Future series? 🚧
\n", "date_published": "2026-05-29T15:03:55+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2026/05/29/just-finished-legends-based-on.html", "tags": ["? WWW","? Shows","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2026/05/28/another-smithsonian-this-from-resent.html", "content_html": "Another Smithsonian - this from 1910.
\n\n\nResent the Attempt to Smash the British Constitution by American Dollars" poster. Lithograph in black and red ink on white paper showing a caricature of John Redmond armed with a club called “Home Rule” with a large money bag containing US dollars in each hand, produced for the Unionist Party in December 1910.
\n
💬 The Smithsonian
\nIt’s all about fighting the use of American Dollars to ‘break Britain’. Apparently it used to be frowned on. Fast forward 100 years and ….
\nwell, here we are. Again. 🚧
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2026/62ebf6a8a0.jpg\")
\n",
"date_published": "2026-05-28T17:44:17+12:00",
"url": "https://john.philpin.com/2026/05/28/another-smithsonian-this-from-resent.html",
"tags": ["? Quotes","? WIP"]
},
{
"id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2026/05/28/a-lot-of-images-from.html",
"content_html": "A lot of images from the Smithsonian are on Unsplash for free use. This one caught my eye.
\n\n\nThis sign was designed to be placed in the window of a home so that all who passed would know that the woman within had exercised her right under the 19th amendment and registered to vote. It also served as a reminder to other women to do the same. ca 1920.
\n
💬 Smithsonian: Record ID: nmah_1414548
\n… and here we are 100 years later. 🚧
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2026/a2d21b682b.jpg\")
\n",
"date_published": "2026-05-28T17:37:48+12:00",
"url": "https://john.philpin.com/2026/05/28/a-lot-of-images-from.html",
"tags": ["? Quotes","? WIP"]
},
{
"id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2026/05/27/finished-imperfect-women-last-night.html",
"content_html": "🍎📺 Finished Imperfect Women last night. Really rather good. Seem to be more and more of these ‘secrets wrapped up in Russian Dolls’ stories. They aren’t always great. 🚧
\n", "date_published": "2026-05-27T09:44:14+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2026/05/27/finished-imperfect-women-last-night.html", "tags": ["? Shows","? WIP","? Apple"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2026/05/27/careful-what-you-wish-for.html", "title": "🖋️ Careful What You Wish For California", "content_html": "When Lockhead writes 🔗 this - I get it and makes sense around ‘category definition’ - my worry is something different:
\n\n\nSteve Hilton is running a parallel experiment in the California governor’s race.
\n
💬 Christopher Lockhead
\nI hadn’t really heard of him either, so I turned to 🔗 Wikipedia
\nCareful what you wish for California - and definitely who you vote for. I mean Cameron worked out so well for the UK. Right?
\n🚧 I will probably be back with more on this.
\n", "date_published": "2026-05-27T08:52:22+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2026/05/27/careful-what-you-wish-for.html", "tags": ["? WWW","? Quotes","? LongForm","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2026/05/19/the-lincoln-lawyer-series-check.html", "content_html": "📺🔗 The Lincoln Lawyer - series 4 - check. 🚧
\nI will need to return to finish - but in a nutshell - well worth a watch, but make sure you go through the first three before you start - it will add to your enjoyment.
\n", "date_published": "2026-05-19T18:05:46+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2026/05/19/the-lincoln-lawyer-series-check.html", "tags": ["? WWW","? Shows","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2026/05/18/a-good-girls-guide-to.html", "content_html": "📺🔗 A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder Season 1
\nA total surprise and some great twists.
\nOnce again - will return for the formal rating. 🚧
\n", "date_published": "2026-05-18T17:53:51+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2026/05/18/a-good-girls-guide-to.html", "tags": ["? WWW","? Shows","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2026/05/18/i-saw-this-promoted-checked.html", "content_html": "📺 I saw this promoted, checked out the trailer and realised I had watched it.
\nThat is how good this show is.
\nI’ll come back to add the star rating …
\n\n", "date_published": "2026-05-18T17:47:30+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2026/05/18/i-saw-this-promoted-checked.html", "tags": ["? WWW","? Shows","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2026/05/16/yes-yes-i-did-watch.html", "content_html": "Yes - yes - I did watch 📺🔗 Pluribus Season 1 .. I mean it’s not a loser - but truly have a hard time understanding what everybody was raving about. 🚧
\n", "date_published": "2026-05-16T14:28:21+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2026/05/16/yes-yes-i-did-watch.html", "tags": ["? WWW","? Shows","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2026/05/16/parish.html", "title": "📺 Parish 🚧", "content_html": "🔗📺 This popped up in my feeds - one short series with Giancarlo Esposito - 6 episodes in total. Well of course - no brainer. I thought.
\nMy enjoyment ran the gamut. Started great. Ended great. In the middle - an awful lot of filler. Don’t know why it seemed that way- just that it was slooooow .. and there seemed to be a lot of irrelevancy
\nSo I looked into it - turns out Parish is an American remake of a UK original called 🔗 The Driver - 3 short 1 hour episodes.
\nGiancarlo seems to have got himself involved in an American remake - with the original creators as Exec Producers. Originally they had high hopes for a second series. Not now it seems.
\n", "date_published": "2026-05-16T13:21:56+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2026/05/16/parish.html", "tags": ["? WWW","? Shows","? LongForm","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2026/05/16/watched-homeland-season.html", "content_html": "Watched - all 8 of them it turns out. Not in a binge I hasten to add❗️ 🚧
\n
📺 Watched: Series 1,2 and 3 of The Lincoln Lawyer
\nWatching: Series 4 now.
\n🚧
\n", "date_published": "2026-05-16T08:37:59+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2026/05/16/watched-series-and-of-the.html", "tags": ["? Shows","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2026/04/28/and-why-not-another-one.html", "title": "🚧 Design Test ", "content_html": "h at dui. In in dolor sit amet urna tempor pulvinar. In ut odio et ligula faucibus placerat. Proin pulvinar ex et sagittis molestie. Vestibulum dignissim faucibus diam, quis lacinia lacus mollis et. In fermentum ex quis consectetur semper. Nullam ut metus quam. Suspendisse potenti.
\nh at dui. In in dolor sit amet urna tempor pulvinar. In ut odio et ligula faucibus placerat. Proin pulvinar ex et sagittis molestie. Vestibulum dignissim faucibus diam, quis lacinia lacus mollis et. In fermentum ex quis consectetur semper. Nullam ut metus quam. Suspendisse potenti.
\nh at dui. In in dolor sit amet urna tempor pulvinar. In ut odio et ligula faucibus placerat. Proin pulvinar ex et sagittis molestie. Vestibulum dignissim faucibus diam, quis lacinia lacus mollis et. In fermentum ex quis consectetur semper. Nullam ut metus quam. Suspendisse potenti.
\nh at dui. In in dolor sit amet urna tempor pulvinar. In ut odio et ligula faucibus placerat. Proin pulvinar ex et sagittis molestie. Vestibulum dignissim faucibus diam, quis lacinia lacus mollis et. In fermentum ex quis consectetur semper. Nullam ut metus quam. Suspendisse potenti.
\nh at dui. In in dolor sit amet urna tempor pulvinar. In ut odio et ligula faucibus placerat. Proin pulvinar ex et sagittis molestie. Vestibulum dignissim faucibus diam, quis lacinia lacus mollis et. In fermentum ex quis consectetur semper. Nullam ut metus quam. Suspendisse potenti.
\nh at dui. In in dolor sit amet urna tempor pulvinar. In ut odio et ligula faucibus placerat. Proin pulvinar ex et sagittis molestie. Vestibulum dignissim faucibus diam, quis lacinia lacus mollis et. In fermentum ex quis consectetur semper. Nullam ut metus quam. Suspendisse potenti.
\n![\"branded](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2026/brandedline.png\")
Maybe it is all just plain old text - like this:
\nh at dui. In in dolor sit amet urna tempor pulvinar. In ut odio et ligula faucibus placerat. Proin pulvinar ex et sagittis molestie. Vestibulum dignissim faucibus diam, quis lacinia lacus mollis et. I
\nLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius sollicitudin consequat. Etiam cursus blandit nisl accumsan fermentum. Phasellus faucibus velit non porttitor tincidunt. Ut quis erat ac nibh auctor tempus. Sed a metus sed dui pulvinar dapibus pulvinar et nisl. Sed consectetur, magna sit amet vestibulum dapibus, augue orci dignissim nulla, nec interdum ligula nibh at dui. In in dolor sit amet urna tempor pulvinar. In ut odio et ligula faucibus placerat. Proin pulvinar ex et sagittis molestie. Vestibulum dignissim faucibus diam, quis lacinia lacus mollis et. In fermentum ex quis consectetur semper. Nullam ut metus quam. Suspendisse potenti.
\n’\n
m. Phasellus faucibus velit non porttitor tincidunt. Ut quis erat ac nibh auctor tempus. Sed a metus sed dui pulvinar dapibus pulvinar et nisl. Sed consectetur, magna snar. In ut odio et ligula faucibus placerat. Proin pulvinar ex et sagittis molestie. Vestibulum dignis
\n\n\n“Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius sollicitudin consequat. Etiam cursus blandit nisl accumsan fermentum. Phasellus faucibus velit non porttitor tincidunt. Ut quis erat ac nibh auctor tempus. Sed a metus sed dui pulvinar dapibus pulvinar et nisl.
\n
\n\n“Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius sollicitudin consequat. Etiam cursus blandit nisl accumsan fermentum. Phasellus faucibus velit non porttitor tincidunt. Ut quis erat ac nibh auctor tempus. Sed a metus sed dui pulvinar dapibus pulvinar et nisl. Sed consectetur, magna sit
\namet vestibulum dapibus, augue orci dignissim nulla, nec interdum ligula nibh at dui. In in dolor sit amet urna tempor pulvinar. In ut odio et l
💬 Who Said it - as an attribution
\n\n\n“Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius sollicitudin consequat. Etiam cursus blandit nisl accumsan fermentum. Phasellus faucibus velit non porttitor tincidunt. Ut quis erat ac nibh auctor tempus. Sed a metus sed dui pulvinar
\n
💬 Who Said it - as a cite
\nBasic Text: Phasellus faucibus velit non porttitor tincidunt. Ut quis erat ac nibh auctor tempus. Sed a metus sed dui pulvinar dapibus pulvinar et nisl. Sed consectetur, magna sit amet vestibulum dapibus, augue orci dignissim nulla, nec interdum ligula nibh at dui. In in dolor sit amet urna t
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2026/efe045edd2.jpg\" "\\"80d0121a53.jpg\\"")
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2026/1780177702-6a1b5b2663864.jpg\")
🚧 Please - just ignore me - you know what this is …
\n\n\ntest test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test.
\n
💬 the dude
\n\n\nyet another test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test test .. just give me a little more echo.
\n
💬 not the dude
\n", "date_published": "2026-04-28T10:15:49+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2026/04/25/please-just-ignore-me-you.html", "tags": ["? Quotes","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2026/04/24/i-know-this-thing-is.html", "content_html": "📸 🚧 I know this thing is on - but is it working …
\n![\"An](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2026/90c73975f3.jpg\")
\n",
"date_published": "2026-04-24T12:59:15+12:00",
"url": "https://john.philpin.com/2026/04/24/i-know-this-thing-is.html",
"tags": ["? Photographs","? WIP"]
},
{
"id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2026/04/23/experiment-malus-clean-room-as.html",
"content_html": "👁️🚧 Experiment.
\n\n", "date_published": "2026-04-23T14:39:45+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2026/04/23/experiment-malus-clean-room-as.html", "tags": ["? WWW","? Quotes","? Asides","? WIP","? Organisations"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2026/04/11/morning-claude-can-you-look.html", "content_html": "👁️🏢 🔗 MALUS - Clean Room as a Service | Liberation from Open Source Attribution
\nA parody I believe - but just like with satire - I have this nervous feeling that parody might not be able to keep up with reality.
\n
Morning Claude
\n\n\nCan you look through all of our conversations and across all projects and give me an action list of projects that we have started but are not yet complete. In a seperate list - and reading between the lines - are there some project possibilities that we have not yet picked up on that could make sense and then present me with a full Markdown doc that I can review.
\n
🤯 It did - it is now in Craft. Careful what you ask for … thinking about the next prompt. Something like …
\n\n\n", "date_published": "2026-04-11T12:35:31+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2026/04/11/morning-claude-can-you-look.html", "tags": ["? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2026/04/07/interesting-though-not-unexpected-switch.html", "content_html": "Can we set about developing priorities to help focus.
\n
Interesting - though not unexpected switch on Claude …
\n“Oh - you have run out of tokens - buy more? Click here."
\n… and I swear to god - two days ago on the click you chose how much. (5 bucks typically does it for me.)
\nToday … “choose one: 50, 250, 1,000, other."
\nClick on other - you get to enter 5 bucks.
\n", "date_published": "2026-04-07T15:22:02+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2026/04/07/interesting-though-not-unexpected-switch.html", "tags": ["? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2026/04/03/spending-more-time-looking-at.html", "content_html": "Spending more time looking at Feedland as I seek to work towards a better way of managing my canonical OPML for all feeds …
\nI know that I am definitely not the only reader of people like Gruber and Ben … but according to Feedland .. nobody else is subscribed to them.I wonder what gives❓
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2026/37ab416999.jpg\")
\n",
"date_published": "2026-04-03T08:16:01+12:00",
"url": "https://john.philpin.com/2026/04/03/spending-more-time-looking-at.html",
"tags": ["? WIP"]
},
{
"id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2026/02/06/once-more-everybody-is-jumping.html",
"content_html": "Once more everybody is jumping up and down over ads. Once more to remind that ads do make (a few aspects of) the world go round.
\nBut
\nIf I am paying you to use your product … I do not want you to put ads in that product.
\nThe ad isn’t the real problem .. it’s the tracking. My ‘ad blocker’ doesn’t block ads .. it blocks the ability for the advertiser to track me. Why do we still not understand this?
\nIf I want you to provide your service without tracking and/or ads … then you should … of course … recognising that to do that costs money … so I would expect to pay a fee for that. But nobody really offers that.
\n—-
\n🚧 I might comeback to this in the future.
\n", "date_published": "2026-02-06T07:34:45+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2026/02/06/once-more-everybody-is-jumping.html", "tags": ["? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2026/01/18/todays-surprise-from-history-biggest.html", "content_html": "Today’s Surprise From History - 🖇️ Biggest surprise here is that it is still marked 🚧 - so I guess I need to finish it off!
\n\n", "date_published": "2026-01-18T13:43:38+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2026/01/18/todays-surprise-from-history-biggest.html", "tags": ["? HUB","? WIP","? Surprise","? Searched"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2025/12/18/100445.html", "content_html": "“If the wedding photographer can’t deliver more magic than the phone in my guest’s pocket, no thanks.”
\n“And if the local print shop can’t set type better than my Mac, I’ll move on.
\n" So is your copywriting, research, illustration or coding better than I can get from the AI on my desk? "
\n\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2026/858a730520.jpg\")
\n",
"date_published": "2025-12-18T09:04:45+12:00",
"url": "https://john.philpin.com/2025/12/18/100445.html",
"tags": ["? WWW","? Quotes","? WIP"]
},
{
"id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2025/05/21/from-an-article-by-noah.html",
"content_html": "From an article by Noah Smith that I need to come back to and write more. I find those three groupings quite fascinating.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2025/245b5db32f.jpg\")
\nAdded Later … sorry not helpful - right?
\n🔗 Is the U.S. in a ‘high-level equilibrium trap’? | Noah Smith
\n🚧 Still more to come.
\n", "date_published": "2025-05-21T21:33:02+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2025/05/21/from-an-article-by-noah.html", "tags": ["? WWW","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2025/02/23/blog-challenge-music-edition-thank.html", "content_html": "🎵 🖇️ Blog Challenge - Music Edition - thank you for the inspiration @Annie
\n🚧 Links To Posts by Others
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2025-02-24T08:51:26+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2025/02/23/blog-challenge-music-edition-thank.html", "tags": ["? Music","? HUB","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2025/02/04/prisons-and-bitcoin.html", "title": "🚧 Prisons and Bitcoin", "content_html": "I am unsure if they are connected - so parking this here while we think.
\nThere is also something going on with the Argentinian playbook - which I am planning to publish in a newsletter.
\nI am no expert - but my spidey senses are up … Bitcoin, Argentina, El Salvador .. OR, it’s all summarized thus ….
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2025/6a73da2808.jpg\")
El Salvador introduced bitcoin as legal tender in 2021 and then - as now - one Tim Draper has oft’ spoken breathlessly of how cool it is that a sovereign nation has adopted it.
\nTim Draper Expects Bitcoin to Transform El Salvador Into One of the Richest Countries in the World.
\nThe flag waving by Tim has never stopped.
\nThat Said
\nPerspective
\nIn a recent Bloomberg interview, Michael Saylor, executive chairman and co-founder of MicroStrategy, revealed that beyond his company’s holdings, he personally owns at least 17,732 Bitcoin, currently valued at approximately $1 billion.
\nYup - Saylor personally owns 150% more Bitcoin than The country of El Salvador - and let’s not forget that his company MicroStrategy owns another 471,107 bitcoins.
\nQuestion
\nWhy do we still trumpet the El Salvador story?
\n\n\nEl Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) is the largest prison in Latin America, with a capacity to hold 40,000 inmates. The facility spans 410 acres of land, with the prison complex itself covering 57 acres (approximately the size of seven football stadiums). It features eight cell blocks and extensive security measures, including electrified fences, reinforced walls, and 19 guard tower.\nIt was built in late 2022 during a large-scale gang crackdown and officially opened in January 2023.\nPopulation of El Salvador - 6.5 million\nThe USA has a total prison capacity across federal, state, and local facilities that can house 1.9 million people in federal prisons, correctional facilities, state prisons, local jails, and other detention centers.
\n
Today’s News
\n# Could US criminals be sent to El Salvador’s mega-jail?
\n\n\nPresident Nayib Bukele confirmed that he had offered the United States of America the opportunity to outsource part of its prison system".\nPutting aside the legal questions of exporting US citizens to another country’s prison system - I am wondering what’s going on.
\n
Back Of The Napkin - Capacity
\nBack Of The Napkin - Prisoner Count
\n\nI’ve been doing this every year since 2019. My 7th will be out in a few days time.
\n2024 - substack.philpin.com/p/here-we…
\nTransform | Transition | Transcend (sic)
2023 - substack.philpin.com/p/its-tha…
\nFocus | Flexible | Fabulous
2022 - substack.philpin.com/p/take-th…
\nClear | Closer | Choice
2021 - john.philpin.com/2021/01/0…
\nTransform | Transition | Transcend
2020 - substack.philpin.com/p/take-th…
\nBelieve | Move | Ascend
2019 - substack.philpin.com/p/here-we…
\nUncertain | Less | Different
🚧 💬 Quotes. I collect them, so maybe a ‘collection’ application?
\nThis is going to be a living , breathing kinda post.
\nAnd like all living, breathing things … it might die.
\n![\"A](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2024/071c32fab1.png\")
![\"A](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2024/733829db60.png\")
![\"A](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2024/bec4ae913d.png\")
![\"Text](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2024/9debb60eb0.png\")
![\"A](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2024/bf986d93d1.png\")
![\"A](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2024/10e3b516e0.png\")
![\"A](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2024/311bcd5fec.png\")
![\"A](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2024/50722a4a96.png\")
I need to understand what this means. It’s from an essay that I tried to read, which lead me to the conclusion that I am definitely not the target reader, which might explain why this seems to be the absolute opposite of my understanding of even ‘why’ an ecosystem.
\nI will try to 🚧 revisit.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2024/991d5fcf04.png\")
\n",
"date_published": "2024-06-17T19:38:21+12:00",
"url": "https://john.philpin.com/2024/06/17/i-need-to.html",
"tags": ["? Quotes","Quotewise","? WIP"]
},
{
"id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2024/05/26/behold-the-tiny.html",
"content_html": "The ‘Tiny Pod’ 🚧
\nis indeed a thing to 🔗 behold - for those of you that have a watch but don’t want to wear it on your wrist?
\n", "date_published": "2024-05-26T08:57:19+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2024/05/26/behold-the-tiny.html", "tags": ["? WWW","366","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2024/05/25/today-is-my.html", "title": "🎈146/366 Today Is My Anniversary 🚧", "content_html": "It’s 🔗 Towel Day ( thank you @odd ) - but today also happens to be my 25th Anniversary
\nYup - 25 years. Truth be told it had been going on a lot longer - but it was 25 years ago that we actually tied the knot .. and I have had my ‘personal space’ on the internet ever since May 25th, 1999 (Creation Date: 1999-05-25T20:14:36Z).
\nNow of course, we had known each other a lot longer than that - long before the web in fact, but you know when you first connect you don’t really note the dates do you? It’s like a permanent honeymoon. Hours merge into days into weeks into months … who really knows when ‘it’ really all started?
\nI can tell you that I first got ‘involved’ with the internet in 1985. I mean it wasn’t what we know today. My own internet experience in those days was email around our international offices .. but it was the internet (ok, ok - intranet - there’s a word you don’t hear much these days.)
\nAlthough Google Trends suggests I am wrong …
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2024/cleanshot-2024-05-25-at-11.40.582x.png\")
.. again!
\nAnyway, I do remember being annoyed that my messages wouldn’t go out to the people I wanted to talk to - you know customers, partners, vendors - all the people a business should be talking to. .. we could only talk amongst ourselves. I mean the Cerne account team could connect to their customer .. why did I have to use Compusurf (sic)? … but that’s a different story.
\n( .. and no I didn’t do AOL, Prodigy, Compuserve .. they were never for me - maybe even back then I had the innate desire to avoid being locked into a silo.)
\nAnyway, that’s it … 25 Years with my 🔗 own domain ✅
\nOnwards.
\nHow will I celebrate? Why - taking my towel down to the beach of course.
\n", "date_published": "2024-05-25T11:48:05+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2024/05/25/today-is-my.html", "tags": ["? WWW","? LongForm","366","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2024/05/10/shame.html", "title": "🚧 Shame", "content_html": "I have deleted what should have been this post since it wasn’t doing what it should. No time to debug now .. will come back and flag when I have fixed or got a workaround.
\n", "date_published": "2024-05-10T23:33:28+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2024/05/10/shame.html", "tags": ["? LongForm","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2024/04/21/setting-the-record.html", "title": "🚧 Setting The Record Straight", "content_html": "It has been brought to my attention that assumptions have been made - and - call me a stickler - that pisses me off.
\nMy mum was born just outside of Manchester.
\nMy mum’s parents were Mancunians.
\nMy dad was brought up in Rochdale.
\nMy dad’s parents were .. well, that is a long story.
I was brought up in York (not born - but then I wasn’t born in the UK - so there’s that).
\nSuffice to say that I would never have been able to play for Yorkshire - even if was good enough (I wasn’t even close … I got to play for my ‘house’ once because only 11 of us turned up) .. and by the way - despite what it sounds like my ‘house’ wasn’t part of a ‘public’ school.
\n(Oh - and in England - public schools are actually private - I know - it’s all fucked up}
\nStill, I am Yorkshire enough to know that this was a rule (until all the other clubs started bringing on international players and - well - ‘knocking them for six’.)
\nSuffice to say, I am without a doubt of Northern Stock .. and proud of it.
\nIt has been a while, but people that ‘fancy themselves with accents’ still pick up my Yorkshire twang.
\nMy People First thinking probably emerges from my early (I wasn’t even a teen) introduction to ‘cooperatives’, that you may know got their start in Rochdale (guess who I learned that from).
\nHe also told me all about Gracie Fields .. arguably one of the most famous Rochdale alumni (despite living out her final years in Capri) .. I sometimes wonder if this very early introduction to a singer from a previous generation sort of shaped some of my takes on music?
\nDespite never having lived in Lancashire, if there is one football team I could be described as supporting .. it would be ManU … because my Dad and Grandad were both supporters, ie long before it was fashionable to love them.
\nI am old enough to remember Cyril Smith .. and even though in those days I was not particularly politically aware, he made sense to me .. maybe that Rochdale fairness and equality shining through.
\nAll this to say that when (and it is when - not if) I make a joke about ’the north’, such as there should be customs at Watford Gap or the M25 is the inspiration behind the movie ‘Truman’, flat caps, ay up, whippets … whatever the hell it is … I am having fun - and dear ‘Upset Notherner’ - I would strongly suggest you get over yourself.
\nI would further argue that customs at Watford Gap would be highly beneficial to The North, because customs work both ways.
\n![\"straight](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2023/ca962a7041.jpg\")
.. just a few - I could go on.
\n\n\nFlat caps are dress accessories that fall between casual and formal. Back in the 19th century, a flat cap was a sign of working class men but has now evolved to being a piece of headgear popular among elites. Men who wear a flat cap these days are trendsetters and well-dressed men in Hollywood.
\n
💬 W and H
\n\n… ‘appen, ee bah gum - its all dialect people .. and if someone from Yorkshire is going to accuse me of cultural appropriation OR cultural sterotyping - well - I say Fuck You.
\nHave you been to a party recently? Read the internet? Whippets might not be what you think I mean. But let’s say I am talking about the dog .. they have been a recognized bread in Kennel Clubs around the world for nearly 1 1/2 centuries. Moreover, it was a Whippet that won the Frisbee Dog World Championship three years in a during the seventies. They are great dogs and why is it bad to be associated with Whippets?
\nBottom line, this fits in the Politically Correct space that is absorbing this world in a very bad way. No - you cannot tell me how I want to say things or reference them - particualrly if they are MY HERITAGE.
\n", "date_published": "2024-04-21T13:46:46+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2024/04/21/setting-the-record.html", "tags": ["? PeopleFirst","? WWW","? Quotes","? LongForm","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2024/04/21/about-this-blogroll.html", "content_html": "\nI updated the base to include @ameripie and @jedda specifically.
\nWhile I was there - I found some peeps in my Feedbin that I had - but weren’t in the right folder - so fixed that and now the list is a bit longer. Discovering some additional anomalies;
\n@manton - Is there a way to make that list alphabetical ?
\n@simonwoods I have you - and I also have ‘TIL’ - but there are two different feeds?
\n@odd - I pulled what seems to be your feed - but these are your replies(?), whilst your real feed is here - raising in case you didn’t know.
\nJust to make it easier to check - this is a screen capture of the blogs in the system as of the weekend of 20/21 April. Proving it in alphabetical order. LMK if want to be added - or indeed taken off … all good.
\n![\"MB](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2024/cleanshot-2024-04-21-at-08.53.562x.png\")
📺 Criminal Record 🚧
\n‘Truth to Power’. Solid, gritty, Brit detective drama.
\nCriminal Record on 🔗 Reelgood
\n\n\n
![\"ShowNameBanner\"](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2024/6231b3da2d.jpg\")
🎈095/366 🚧
\n
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🚧
\n![\"surrealistic](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2024/762d1d99e3.jpg\")
Gah!
\nThat moment you realize that you should have paid more attention to that message about your phone account needing ‘topping up’.
\nThe exact moment?
\nWhen your Internet service breaks.
\n
🎈054/366 🚧
\n
🎈053/366 🚧
\n
🎈050/366 🚧
\n
Caveat ‘Navigation is 🚧’
\n\n![\"boys](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2024/cleanshot-2024-02-20-at-17.56.292x.png\")
I don’t know which I am more amazed by.
\nThat I was half way up a hill looking down on this beach over the weekend and mesmerized by these 4 guys kicking a ball between themselves for close to a couple of hours in pretty intense sun. It was truly amazing - just gentle self control of moving a ball between them - you gotta know that i am no football fan - but they had me.
\nOR
\nThat being half way up that hill my 5 year old iPhone recorded a video of them - which I then cropped to focus just on the game and it’s ‘just there’.
\nWho needs a new iPhone? Really.
\nClick on the green arrow to watch the video.
\n\n \n \n \n \n![](\n\"[john.philpin.com/uploads/2...](https://john.philpin.com/uploads/2024/89cd96e59f.jpg)\")
\n \n \n\n
🎈045/366 🚧
\n
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\n
![\"Serendipity\"](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2024/5bd6c8700e.jpg\")
Is it catching❓Or is it just plain old serendipity❓
\nIt was January 1st when I had the idea for the 366 series. It wasn’t fully formed, but I had to start. And, as the posts started to happen over the next few days, there were different ideas and formats running around in my head and being tried out. With the layouts, every time I locked down on a new one - I went back to the older 366 posts and adjusted. (Not the post itself - the layout.) I have never been diagnosed with OCD, but I have my suspicions.
\nIt has now all settled down, a flow has been building, so much so that I have topics in my head that are maybe a week out.
\nThe trouble is that some of the topics are big, and I know I don’t have time on that day and some get really big so have to flag with 🚧 - my signal that I will be coming back.
\n🖇️ Like this one for example, which I flagged with the emoji - but I know there is so much more to say that I even added words for more context.
\nI happen to share 366 posts into specific, yet different communities to solicit feedback. 🖇️ This one for example, has spawned comments applying the thinking to a game, which then moved on to applying that game to corporate workshops. Which is just brilliant really. No idea if any of that will take off - we will have to see .. I just like the idea that
\n… and that’s where we have got to so far. In amongst all of that I have some actions I need to do to close some loops - but it’s all because of the serendipity of the different people coming together in this chain of thinking. #Awesome
\nBut - and here’s the weird part … this wasn’t the serendipitous event that I was referencing when I first ideated the theme of this post. Not at all.
\nThe thread started as a simple idea that as I came up with this project - so too did Om, who I follow and read anyway - but within his ‘river’, he has a sub-theme called 🔗 Project 36
\nI don’t really follow his photos (though they are really rather good), and I became aware of it because of 🔗this post on his blog, which ends with these words …
\n![\"As](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2024/f24cad093b.jpg\")
They really resonated with me. ()Om often does) and on the 3rd🖇️ January I linked to his New Years message because those words there in my mind right at that point because just three days in I was already feeling the enormity of what I had challenged myself to deliver, daily.
\nI also have a couple of posts in the 366 series that are very short - to maintain the flow - but they don’t take much time. Like🖇️ this one from the 28th January - it’s a quick photo!
\nBut there’s more. fellow MicroBlogger 🔗 TeeJay seems to have also latched on to the one a day post. In his case - every single day he is putting a lovely image that he takes on that day.
\nTurns out - for him it is not a new idea. 🔗As his new year post points out. and now his daily photo comes into my RSS feed each and every day - reminding me to stay the course.
\nAnd to tie it all back. This whole post was one of those quick throwaways. I had the idea for a ‘serendipity’ post when I had seen Om and Teejay - it was up my sleeve to write it when I was short of time. Like today.
\nThe observant amongst you will have spotted that an ’eye candy’ image accompanies every post. In this case, I wrote my two lines and hopped over to Leonardo to generate my image.
\nThis was the first image to come out …
\n![\"Earlier](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2024/df32bfb940.jpg\")
Seriously? Cubes? After just writing a a long post that featured a cube. Is Leonardo watching me? Of course I had to connect those dots and unpack that serendipity.
\nAnd with that … done. Time to post. A quick check reveals the word count to be roughly 100 times my original target. I know I am hitting the send button with the post not fully proofed, which is why 🚧 is at the top.
\nI will come back later to make whatever inevitable fixes I will need to do. For now though … I feel I have rambled to the end of this garden path and I can sense it has come around full circle back to where it all started.
\nIf you are still with me. Thankyou for seeing it through.
\n
![\"a](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2024/0a52432349.jpg\")
🚧
\nOut in the wild - and really - these days what else would you call ‘LinkedIN’, I 🔗 read a post by 🔗 Tim Parsons that had garnered a few comments. It was touching on a pet peeve of mine, despite TL;DR being a technique I use from time to time.
\nThis was the essence;
\n\n\nSometimes it just can’t be any shorter and still be useful. Some lynchpin bit of data or context would have to be sacrificed, a risk go unnamed, a requirement remain unidentified.
\n
\nSometimes information exchange has to include all the information AND the meta data it needs to build a bridge from you to me.
\nSometimes “Too Long; Didn’t Read” is a terrible risk/reward proposition, and you have to go all the way to “Very Long; Must Read.”
\nWhen everything extra has been distilled out, but there’s still a lot there, that’s a sign of something complex enough to be fascinating, or at least full of critical, decision-influencing intel.
He ended his post with a reference back to the source.
\n\n\nI remember 🔗 Marjorie Anderson activating that thought in my head weeks ago, and now it won’t leave.
\n
This resonated ….
\n\n\nSometimes TL;DR simply must yield to VL;MR
\n
Which got me to thinking.
\nYou know how I am with that word … ‘content’.
\nTo remind from one of many posts on the topic - just on this blog ….
\n\n\nAs long as ‘we the creators’ keep using low cost, homogenous, non-descript words like ‘content’ to describe our work, our soul, our passion, our beliefs then our work will continue to be viewed as ‘free - to - cheap - to - low - cost’, ‘homogenized, non differentiated, interchangeable fodder’ (which coincidentally is what silos have always been used for), then, we only have ourselves to blame as the resultant payment for our art, our thinking and our ideas, will continue to race to the bottom.
\n
And whilst on the topic of silos ….
\n\n\nYou should never … ever … trust a Silo. It’s theirs. The stuff you put there is theirs. Even our’ handle is actually ‘theirs’.
\n
All this and more can be found in an earlier post here : 🖇️ Friends Don’t Let Friends Write Content
\nAnd it is not just me …
\nJust today
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2024/d74ba293da.png\")
and last year .. Dana Carvey and Will Arnett brought it up (listen it’s a one minute snipped) on the Smartless podcast.
\nAnyway, with that all said … ‘set up’ done … ✅
\nIt struck me that ‘TL;DR | VL;MR’ is the second axis I have been looking for in my one man war on ‘content’. So I drew the picture.
\n‘content | material ’ on the x axis and ‘TL;DR | VL;MR’ on the y axis - and I was left with ‘Yeah .. so what?
\nThe ‘so what’ was because I realized that it was missing the third axis …‘Entertainment | Understanding’
\nThe fact is that so much that is running around the ‘interwebs’ is ‘Entertainment’. Nothing wrong with that, but VL;MR is really about Understanding.
\nMoreover, the front facing 4 quadrants are all about ‘Entertainment | Understanding’ and TL;DR | VL;MR - not ‘Content | Material’
\nSo I drew it again.
\n![\"a](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2024/af86c5d388.jpg\")
The coloration isn’t quite right for all occasions, but in this particular context
\nBut generally that is not the case, because what triggered me is that context and history and space and time and .. is needed to really bottom out ‘Understanding’
\nSo far so good?
\nI added the third dimension.
\n![\"a](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2024/9908723c18.jpg\")
And we are there … nearly.
\nThe dimensions are right - but the colors remain at odds with my thinking. I have the image in my head plus the colors need to be fading from one color to the next - depending on the context. I am not a graphic artist … and I could draw what I am thinking … eventually … and maybe I will return to complete / correct this.
\nBut before I do that. Make sense? See where I am coming from?
\n
🖇️ 🚧 🔍 Posts I Need To Revisit
\n", "date_published": "2024-01-28T08:48:14+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2024/01/28/posts-i-need.html", "tags": ["? HUB","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2023/08/23/thinking-allowed-glossary.html", "content_html": "🚧
\nThinking Allowed
\n\n\n\n\nThis is a People First post that was originally on the People First domain. It has been moved here as part of my domain consolidation program. It’s a steady and slow WIP as I check each entry, so do please bear with me.\n\n🚧 Toying with the idea of a new post category on the site - ‘Living Pages’.
\nThen scrapping the ‘real’ pages altogether.
\nIn this way, I can keep the pages updated in Drafts and use the excellent plugin from @donnydavis to manage …
\nAny thoughts as to what might go wrong?
\n(Just a test … please ignore.)
\n", "date_published": "2023-05-13T05:58:21+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2023/05/12/105821.html", "tags": ["? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2023/02/18/streams-of-consciousness.html", "content_html": "🚧 🔗 Streams of Consciousness · Matthias Ott – User Experience Designer via ‘Om’.
\nMore on this, in the comments, soon, like I often do.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-19T17:10:46+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2023/02/18/streams-of-consciousness.html", "tags": ["? WWW","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2023/02/17/not-sure-what.html", "content_html": "🚧 Not sure what the plan is … or even if there is a plan … but I would vote from some more thought into how pages work on Micro Blog. Everything works just fine for a handful, but I am now over 20 and counting. It is starting to get hard to keep track of them with just a list;
\nMy kluge is to use emojis
\n![\"My](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2023/9cabd795ce.png\")
… but emojis in the page title do not consistently show up on the site. See this compared to this for example - and yes - not yet fully consistent with
\nI popped in a couple of posts recently that are part of what I am naming the ‘New Zealand Jigsaw’. This post is one of my ‘living posts’ that will serve as the gateway to the full set, once they are all published - and assuming that I can publish faster than I can think of more topics.
\nIntroduction
\n\nArdern Resigns - Hashtag
\n\nColbert Monologue
\nCompared To Iceland
\nCompared To The United States of America
\nCompared To The United Kingdom
\nConversations
\nCrossing The Chasm
\nInvesting
\nNZTE
\n\n\nOther parts of the New Zealand ‘MicroBlog Storm’
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-18T12:10:50+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2023/02/17/new-zealand-the.html", "tags": ["? LongForm","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2023/01/23/i-died-today.html", "content_html": "\n… not me - someone else.
\nP O W E R F U L
\nI will come back to this at some point because I want to say something - but not right now. 🚧
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-23T15:35:20+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2023/01/23/i-died-today.html", "tags": ["? RIP","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2022/11/03/coordination-costs.html", "title": "🚧 Coordination Costs", "content_html": "\n\nThe Stripe co-founders were candid about their failure to predict where the economy was heading. They also said they overspent on things like “coordination costs.” That’s not a term I’ve heard before, but I suspect it is a reflection of getting too big and too inefficient.
\n
💬 Jessica Lessin
\nIt's a new term to me aswell - BUT recently on LinkedIN there was a meme running around - which used this graphic.
\n![\"Coordination](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2023/646f70d407.jpg\")
It's pretty self explanatory. The formula is that for every person you add to an organisation, the number of potential conversations increases - a lot. If 'n' is the number of people in an organisation, the number of potential conversations is n-1 + n-2 + n-3 .... in other words ...
\n3 people ... 2 + 1 = 3\n4 people ... 3+2+1 = 6\n5 people ... 4+3+2+1 = 10\n6 people ... 5+4+3+2+1 = 15
\nAnd adding 1 person to a 10,000 person organisation adds 10,000 possible new lines of communication.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-04T14:07:39+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2022/11/03/coordination-costs.html", "tags": ["? PeopleFirst","? Quotes","? LongForm","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2022/10/17/we-are-becoming.html", "title": "We Are Becoming A Power Skills Economy", "content_html": "Josh Bershin writes that we are becoming a power skills economy.
\n\n\nIn other words, automation did not eliminate work at all – it created new jobs, better jobs, and an acceleration of our workforce into what we now call the “service economy.” We are essentially shifting to the right in this model.
\n
💬 Josh Bershin
\nBTW, in case you are wondering, ‘Power Skills’ is the 'new' name for ‘Soft Skills’. To be fair, it did need a new name. It’s also fair to say that whilst he’s not wrong, he fails to mention that in the last 15 years (where he references 2007) no mention that the average income of people is flat and that real income is declining.
\nBut that's a different opportunity.
\nOh - and maybe not so 'new' Josh was talking about this back in 2019 - and gave us a few clues as to what he was talking about, this is one of his graphics.
\n![\"What](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2023/da73423919.jpg\")
1) Becoming? I think it is really more like that we are starting to recognize these skills. They have always been there - and though not necessarily recognised or even understood - I bet if you find successful people in that 'old' economy - they would demonstrate a lot of these traits.
\n2) Josh is not alone in highlighting these skills and their importance. What nobody is doing is organizing these skills into a taxonomy - much less an ontology.\n(What's the difference you may ask) Stan Garfield has a very simple explanation)
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2023/f34a8a4d9c.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2023/aaa0163104.jpg\")
... except now there is.
\nMore of this to come, but have to say, very excited by a company I have been talking to that has not only done a lot of research into these skills, but also which skills are most important - and why, depending on what you are trying to do.
\nNot only that, but they are releasing an app that will allow anybody to
\nAs I said - more to come. Just to say - the cavalry is on its way.
\nFeatured Image by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-17T22:17:11+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2022/10/17/we-are-becoming.html", "tags": ["? PeopleFirst","? Quotes","? Posts","? LongForm","People First","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2022/04/02/the-coup-we.html", "title": " 🚧 The Coup We Are Not Talking About", "content_html": "Shoshana Zuboff calls this development The Coup We Are Not Talking About. The subhead of that essay makes the choice clear: We can have democracy, or we can have a surveillance society, but we cannot have both. Her book, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power, gave us a name for what we’re up against. A bestseller, it is now published in twenty-six languages. But our collective oblivity is also massive.\n
💬 Doc Searls (my emphasis)
\n\n", "date_published": "2022-04-03T17:31:59+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2022/04/02/the-coup-we.html", "tags": ["? PeopleFirst","? Quotes","? LongForm","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2022/03/24/its-a-pattern.html", "title": " 🚧 It's A Pattern", "content_html": "\nIn my book ‘For Business Leaders Slapped In The Face By A World They Thought They Knew’, I referenced an organization called 'The Prout Institute'.
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2023/f9a38f4593.jpg\")
It came to mind as I watched this relatively unwatched (in the big scheme of things) video.
\n\n\nAndrew Pancholi is definitely an interesting man.
\n\n\nIt's a 2022 video - but predates the invasion of Ukraine, though not the build-up with the result that we have an immediate feedback loop on some aspects of how right or wrong his thinking is. (He seems to be right.)
\n\n\nThe talk is only 35 minutes or so of the nearly 1-hour video (the rest is a Q and A) - and touched on many topics including China's penetration into the world that Peter Frankopan - amongst others - wrote about in his 2018 book The New Silk Roads. (The Guardian). An excellent book that if the future of the world is interesting to you, this book should be either on your bookshelf - or (as in my case) in your iPad.
\n\n\nThere is part of me that questions the pattern making ‘proofs’. Kind of like the ley lines of England … that are in the canons of ‘lost knowledge’. If you are loose enough with definitions and correlations then yes - everything is going to align.
\n\n\nStill, for all of that, it’s a good 35 minute listen - and it gets harder to say that as each day passes.
\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2022-03-25T14:49:23+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2022/03/24/its-a-pattern.html", "tags": ["? PeopleFirst","? LongForm","People First","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2022/03/23/experimenting-with-footnotes.html", "title": "Experimenting With Footnotes", "content_html": "
🚧 I wanted to write this post as a permanent test of applying ‘footnotes’ on my blog.
\nHere in the time line it is almost certainly going to look weird if there isn’t a title - but the idea is to improve the reading experience on the site - and then of course explore what it might look like in an RSS feed.
\nThe footnotes aren’t coming through hyperlinked. YET!
\nLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius sollicitudin consequat. Etiam cursus blandit nisl accumsan fermentum. Phasellus faucibus velit non porttitor tincidunt. Ut quis erat ac nibh auctor tempus. Sed a metus sed dui pulvinar dapibus pulvinar et nisl.
\n\nLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius sollicitudin consequat. Etiam cursus blandit nisl accumsan fermentum. Phasellus faucibus velit non porttitor tincidunt. Ut quis erat ac nibh auctor tempus. Sed a metus sed dui pulvinar dapibus pulvinar et nisl. Sed consectetur, magna sit amet vestibulum dapibus, augue orci dignissim nulla, nec interdum ligula nibh at dui. In in dolor sit amet urna tempor pulvinar. In ut odio et ligula faucibus placerat. Proin pulvinar ex et sagittis molestie. Vestibulum dignissim faucibus diam, quis lacinia lacus mollis et. In fermentum ex quis consectetur semper. Nullam ut metus quam. Suspendisse potenti.\n
\nSed consectetur, magna sit amet vestibulum dapibus, augue orci dignissim nulla, nec interdum ligula nibh at dui. In in dolor sit amet urna tempor pulvinar. In ut odio et ligula faucibus placerat. Proin pulvinar ex et sagittis molestie. Vestibulum dignissim faucibus diam, quis lacinia lacus mollis et. In fermentum ex quis consectetur semper. Nullam ut metus quam. Suspendisse potenti.
\n\n\n“Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius sollicitudin consequat. Etiam cursus blandit nisl accumsan fermentum. Phasellus faucibus velit non porttitor tincidunt. Ut quis erat ac nibh auctor tempus. Sed a metus sed dui pulvinar dapibus pulvinar et nisl. Sed consectetur, magna sit amet vestibulum dapibus, augue orci dignissim nulla, nec interdum ligula nibh at dui. In in dolor sit amet urna tempor pulvinar. In ut odio et ligula faucibus placerat. Proin pulvinar ex et sagittis molestie. Vestibulum dignissim faucibus diam, quis lacinia lacus mollis et. In fermentum ex quis consectetur semper. Nullam ut metus quam. Suspendisse potenti.”
\n
💬 Joe Blow
\n\n\t\t\n\n\"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius sollicitudin consequat. Etiam cursus blandit nisl accumsan fermentum. Phasellus faucibus velit non porttitor tincidunt. Ut quis erat ac nibh auctor tempus. Sed a metus sed dui pulvinar dapibus pulvinar et nisl. Sed consectetur, magna sit amet vestibulum dapibus, augue orci dignissim nulla, nec interdum ligula nibh at dui. In in dolor sit amet urna tempor pulvinar. In ut odio et ligula faucibus placerat. Proin pulvinar ex et sagittis molestie. Vestibulum dignissim faucibus diam, quis lacinia lacus mollis et. In fermentum ex quis consectetur semper. Nullam ut metus quam. Suspendisse potenti.\"\n\t\t
\n\t\t\n\t
Meanwhile ….. why not explore header formats while I am here
\n![](\"https://cdn.micro.blog/books/9781982168018/cover.jpg\")
\n🚧
\nJust Finished Reading: Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci 📚
\nI don’t write many book reviews but for this one I will make an exception - with a good reason - but not yet.
\nI will be back. (If you will pardon a spot of ‘Arny Channeling’ !!!)
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-28T15:43:39+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2022/01/28/just-finished-reading.html", "tags": ["? Books","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2022/01/27/rebuilding-my-micro.html", "title": "🚧Rebuilding My Micro Blog", "content_html": "By simply adding stuff / pages and plugins to my blog without thinking something eventually had to break - and it did. My thanks to @manton and @pimoore for pointing out the error. Turns out Hitchens doesn’t include a ‘Replies’ page - which caused my archive to disappear.
\nFlat Earth time. I mean - everything. (Barring two hidden pages being used for 🖇️ 🔎The Readers Republic ).
\n🚧
\nI still need to write more about this - but no more dilly-dallying - time to share regardless. The image speaks volumes.
\nCredit Tim Urban via Chris Hladczuk
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2022/62c3a8734c.jpg\")
📚 🚧 Funny how you come across stuff that is so cool - and then it disappears again … such as the Literature Map
\nI used it to create a 🔗 series of 7 posts last year and then it got lost.
\nMaybe something to use in the 🖇️ 🔎The Readers Republic?
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-06T09:45:26+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2022/01/06/funny-how-you.html", "tags": ["? Books","? WWW","? HUB","? WIP","? Searched"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2021/12/10/a-post-to.html", "title": "🚧 CSS Experiments", "content_html": "\n\t\t\n\n\t\t“wise words being captured for posterity.”\n\t\t
\n\t\t\n\t
\n\n\n💬 They Who Said It\n\n“wise words being captured for posterity.”
\n
\n\n“wise words being captured for posterity.”\n\n💬 They Who Said It\n
\n
\n\n“wise words being captured for posterity.”\n
\n
\n\n💬 They Who Said It\n
\n\n“wise words being captured for posterity.”
\n
\n\n“wise words being captured for posterity.”\n
\n\n💬 They Who Said It\n
\n\t\t\n\n\t\t“Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius sollicitudin consequat. Etiam cursus blandit nisl accumsan fermentum. Phasellus faucibus velit non porttitor tincidunt. Ut quis erat ac nibh auctor tempus. Sed a metus sed dui pulvinar dapibus pulvinar et nisl. Sed consectetur, magna sit amet vestibulum dapibus, augue orci dignissim nulla, nec interdum ligula nibh at dui. In in dolor sit amet urna tempor pulvinar. In ut odio et ligula faucibus placerat. Proin pulvinar ex et sagittis molestie. Vestibulum dignissim faucibus diam, quis lacinia lacus mollis et. In fermentum ex quis consectetur semper. Nullam ut metus quam. Suspendisse potenti.”\n\t\t
\n\t\t\n\t
\n\t\t\n\n\t\t“Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius sollicitudin consequat. Etiam cursus blandit nisl accumsan fermentum. Phasellus faucibus velit non porttitor tincidunt. Ut quis erat ac nibh auctor tempus. Sed a metus sed dui pulvinar dapibus pulvinar et nisl. Sed consectetur, magna sit amet vestibulum dapibus, augue orci dignissim nulla, nec interdum ligula nibh at dui. In in dolor sit amet urna tempor pulvinar. In ut odio et ligula faucibus placerat. Proin pulvinar ex et sagittis molestie. Vestibulum dignissim faucibus diam, quis lacinia lacus mollis et. In fermentum ex quis consectetur semper. Nullam ut metus quam. Suspendisse potenti.”\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t💬 They Who Said It\n\t\t\t\n\t
”You listen, watch, feel, smell, taste … sense"
\n
\n“You analyse, think, interpret, connect, ruminate … process”
\n
\n“You write, record, paint, present, talk … deliver”
\n
\n“And none of it really matters - except you - and what you want out of it all.”
🚧 Brought to my attention by Stuart Robbins, who went on to write ....
\n\n\nIt is known as the Knoster Model for Complex Behavioral Change (circa 2000). For those who would like to know more, search for Timothy Knoster. In sum, Knoster identifies the 5 key elements needed for any Change Management initiative to be successful, and the relative symptoms caused if/when one element is missing.
\nStuart Robbins
\n\n\nInteresting. I went of looking further and found an even better image (see below) that adds context to the steps and happy smiling emojis that reflect the expected feelings! :-)
\nThe keen observers amongst you will also spot a different order and an extra step - but the principle holds. (The principle being - as Stuart said in his original message to me ... (I paraphrase) ... how much information can be packed into a single image (doffing hat to E. Tufte.)
\nJohn Philpin
\n\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2024/knostermodel.png\")
🚧 I have moved my blog from an old domain to this new space. At the same time introduced some design changes which on occasions causes the old posts to look odd. As I see them, I fix them - but specifically not going back into the archives to fix proactively - life is just too short.
\n", "date_published": "2020-10-25T15:48:03+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2020/10/24/i-have-moved.html", "tags": ["? PeopleFirst","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2020/10/18/navigation.html", "title": " 🚧 Navigation", "content_html": "\n![\"\"](\"https://peoplefirst.vision/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/anete-lusina-zwsHjakE_iI-unsplash-1024x681.jpg\")
The RSS feed is here.
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://peoplefirst.vision/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/PeopleFirst-Vision-Navigation-1024x68.png\")
Like any good WordPress blog, searching by category is of course possible. We have also work hard to only have a single category per article.
\n\n\nWe then refine the indexing of the article with free form tags.
\n\n\nWe have also introduced a second layer of article - which is 'post type' ... using this filter you can find posts, asides, videos etc
\n\n\nCombine the two look for
\n\n\nHit 'filter' and back comes the list of all posts that contain 'videos' categorized as 'work'.
\n\n\nAnd then, of course, you have search!
\n\n", "date_published": "2020-10-19T17:57:56+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2020/10/18/navigation.html", "tags": ["? PeopleFirst","? Help","? LongForm","People First","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2020/05/03/seen-two-separate.html", "content_html": "🚧 Seen two separate references in the wilds of the blogosphere to this graphic in the last three days - no original source. Posting for posterity to revisit at some point.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2020/e941c49cdf.jpg\")
\n",
"date_published": "2020-05-03T14:55:48+12:00",
"url": "https://john.philpin.com/2020/05/03/seen-two-separate.html",
"tags": ["? WIP"]
},
{
"id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2020/04/30/the-roam-cult.html",
"content_html": "\n🚧 Me? I’m still on the ’let me in’ part of the list. Anyone else care to share their Roam Reflections?
\n", "date_published": "2020-04-30T12:23:00+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2020/04/30/the-roam-cult.html", "tags": ["? WWW","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2020/04/20/three-stories.html", "title": "Three Stories", "content_html": "These three stories provide context to the People First Newsletter that was published on Tuesday April 21st
\n🔗 Microsoft Files Patent For New Cryptocurrency and Mining System
\n\n\nBody activity data may be generated based on the sensed body activity of the user. A cryptocurrency system communicatively coupled to the device of the user may verify whether or not the body activity data satisfies one or more conditions set by the cryptocurrency system, and award cryptocurrency to the user whose body activity data is verified.
\n
And
\n\n\na brain wave or body heat emitted from the user when the user performs the task provided by an information or service provider, such as viewing an advertisement or using certain internet services, can be used in the mining process."
\n
What could possibly go wrong? The answer - as always - it depends.
\nBack in 2015 Purdue announced that it was going to invest in its students. I mean really invest.
\n\n\nThrough its research foundation, the school plans to create ISA funds that its students can tap to pay for tuition, room and board. In return, students would pay a percentage of their earnings after graduation for a set number of years, replenishing the fund for future investments.
\n
💬 WaPo
\n\nThere was a lot of huh hah in the media at the time about people selling themselves into servitude. Education is a right and and and …
\nand yet 5 years later …
\nIt’s just that this isn’t how he sees it. (The story of the man who sold fractional shares in himself.)
\nIt’s not the same, but it reminded me a little of this idea from 2005 - essentially fractional advertising on a single page to fund Alex Tew’s education. (I am going to say it worked. Ever heard of Calm? Alex co-founded the company and he is now co-CEO. Calm is rocking!
\nAnyway - back to Alex (the other one) - and isn’t it odd that they are both called Alex?
\n‘$ALEX’ holders are promised a share of ‘any money’ he makes in the next three years! (He’ll pay out up to a total of $100,000 over three years—the rest is (his) to keep). $ALEX holders can vote on some of his life decisions!
\nThat second one smacks a little of 🖇️📚 Luke Rheinhart’s Diceman
\n… but essentially what Alex is doing is convincing people with money to give it to him - and in return, he will give them more back within 3 years. Why is that any different to those same people buying stock in a company?
\nThe world has been dallying with these ideas for a long time. There is push back from some quarters that caution needs to be applied because this could return us to millions of people working in ‘indentured servitude’ - and certainly by Investopedia’s definition that is exactly what Alex has just signed up for.
\nI think they are wrong. Sure, we need to tread carefully and not blindly sell all our rights (Lessons learned from musicians of the 60s?) - but surely none of it can be worse than the alternative?
\n", "date_published": "2020-04-21T15:00:00+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2020/04/20/three-stories.html", "tags": ["? PeopleFirst","? Books","? Quotes","? LongForm","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2020/03/27/extra-extra.html", "title": " 🚧 Extra! Extra!", "content_html": "\n![\"\"](\"https://peoplefirst.vision/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/PInballWizard-1-1024x535.jpg\")
\nApologies for this interruption - and breaking with my cadence of one newsletter a week. But I felt this was important.\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2020-03-28T17:01:00+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2020/03/27/extra-extra.html", "tags": ["? PeopleFirst","? LongForm","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2020/03/06/data-is-being.html", "title": " 🚧 Data Is Being Used To Screw Us", "content_html": "\n“\nI hope you agree that this ‘bonus’ addition - more than any other - deserves sharing wide and far. Please do that and let’s make sure that as many people as possible are aware of that they can do - even at home - to help fight this virus.\n”
\nJohn Philpin\n
This popped into a thread that I am part of ...
\n\n\nA thread that caused 'Friend of People First' - Adrian Gropper to write;
\n\n\n\n\n\nA talk that argues that most of the big data is being used to screw us and mentions data trusts as a possible solution. Data trusts are an immature concept but worth considering because it's one approach to decentralizing governance. Until we figure out data governance principles that are transparent and contextual to specific communities we should limit data aggregation by default and focus on personal agents and other fiduciaries.
Adrian Gropper
It is interesting because on that very same day I received these words from another 'Friend of People First' and occasional colleague Daniel Szuc after he received my newsletter declaring Data is Energy.
\n\n\n\n\n\nEnergy is energy.
Daniel Szuc and Josephine Wong
Climate is a result of energy misused.
Environment is the outcome.
What are the impacts on our environment today, inside people and in the outside environment people live in?
What contributes to the health or toxicity of the environment?
Data, understood deeply, should be used to contribute to the healthy environment ... yet ... how is it being used today?
The answer, of course, is exactly what Adrian expressed above.
\n\n\nIt is being used to screw us.
\n\n\n", "date_published": "2020-03-07T15:13:55+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2020/03/06/data-is-being.html", "tags": ["? PeopleFirst","? LongForm","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2020/01/05/take-three-words.html", "title": "Take Three Words", "content_html": "\nI discovered the three words process only last year from Chris Brogan. It worked nicely for 2019, so I repeated the exercise for 2020. Since publishing the three words in my annual new year newsletter, a number of people have asked questions;
\n\n\netc etc
\n\n\nSo first - not my idea. I got it from Chris Brogan - but I don’t think he started it. To fill in some gaps - this is what Chris has to say.
\n\n\n\n\nThe My Three Words idea is simple. Choose 3 words (not 1, not 4) that will help guide your choices and actions day-to-day. Think of them as lighthouses. “Should I say yes to this project?” “Well, does this align with my three words?”
\n\n\nMy take : Rules are made to be broken. I get why three is better than one ... for me - but whatever works for you. This is an exercise to help you shape your thinking and actions in a consistent way throughout a year.
\n\n\nI started this process back in 2006. Back then, my 3 words were “Ask. Do. Share.” I picked these very simple words and they served me very well. One of my best years ever. When I asked questions, I learned. When I took action based on what I learned from asking, I made more ground and took over more of the universe. When I shared what I learned with everyone, I made connections and some friends.
\n\n\nChoose any three words you feel will guide you forward. I can tell you a few things about this:
\n\n\nMy take: Can't argue with anything here. That last one is probably the most important. The three words are not for you to explain to others. They are your words, for you.
\n\n\nThe more you review your 3 words, the better. I have mine built into my daily planning guides and action stacks. I try using them for a mantra when I can. Sometimes on walks, I just repeat them over and over. I like to reflect on them and meditate a little with those words in mind.
\n\n\nMy take: I didn’t do this last year. I am going to try this year, particularly since this year's words have a very specific direction in mind, whereas last years was more of a broader 'raise the boat' theme.
\n\n\nI have decided to follow Chris' example and publish my words in a single place and so annually, will revisit this post and update.
\n\n\nAs I finished this short post, I headed out to the 'google-web-net' to see if I could find a suitable and representative image. I was failing unitl I focussed on 'Redux'. The images associated with Redux are highly Redux oriented, with a high degree of focus on their logo. What you might expect, given the name - but this is not about what they do. So I kept looking and discovered this.\n\n\n
![\"Let](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2023/4ea3fd2358.jpg\")
It's as if Karin Edgett read my mind. The image was perfect and the words so in tune with my thoughts, that I couldn't resist.
\n\n\n\n\n\nMy entry 'let go of everything or anything and breathe' is part of a series of paintings and haiku exploring infinity in it's transformative sense.
Karin Edgett
Interesting to read this post from Doc Searls today - which also happens to be his birthday.
\n\n\n\n\nHalfway down he writes;
\n\n\n\n\n\nFor individuals, demographics are absurd. None of us are an age, much less a range of them. We’re animals who live and work and have fun and do stuff. Eventually we croak, but if we stay healthy we acquire wisdom and experience, and find ourselves more valuable over time.
Yet we become less employable as we climb the high end of the demographic ladder, but not because we can’t do the work. It’s mostly because we look old and our tolerance for bullshit is low. Even our own, which is another bonus.
Doc Searls
Two main thoughts came to mind as I read those words.
\n\n\nDoc doesn’t mention the boomer, gen x,y or z, he doesn't need to ... but he is circling around that world. And it reminded me of one of my posts from three years ago - where I was on one of my rants about the inadequacy of business having to define its markets by generations - if you are 24 to 35 you want this - but if you are 60 plus - you want that etc etc. I couldn’t resist and wrote Generational Categorization Akin To Astrology and not entirely coincidentally a couple of years
\n\n\nPlease stop talking about, categorizing and yes – judging people based on their age – and I do mean judging. It is absolute nonsense and yet we continue to talk and think and communicate in this shorthand because it suits lazy people in corporate marketing departments as they attempt to build personas that purportedly understand us so they can better target their ‘content’. And yes it is – just content. Homogenized, bland, insipid content that drives people along their customer journeys and through their engagement funnels.
John Philpin (Beyond Bridges)
I even managed to weave in some 'anti-content' sentiment!
\n\n\nSecond thing? Why the newsletter from a couple of weeks ago - Ditch The Binary, which included a quote from Ashton Applewhite.
\n\n\n\n\n\n“Look at gender. We used to think of it as a binary, male or female, and now we understand it's a spectrum. It is high time to ditch the old-young binary, too.”
Ashton Applewhite.
Happy Birthday Doc ... there’s definitely 'Something In The Air' ...
\n\n\nSadly, this wasn’t what I thought this was going to be about.
\n\n\nA Study of More Than 250 Platforms Reveals Why Most Fail
\n\n\n\n\n\n\"Platforms have become one of the most important business models of the 21st century. Five of the six most valuable firms in the world are built around these types of platforms. However, a study of 252 platform companies showed that 209 of them failed. The most common mistakes into four categories:
(1) mispricing on one side of the market,
(2) failure to develop trust with users and partners,
(3) prematurely dismissing the competition, and
(4) entering too late.
Researchers have extensively studied pricing decisions, yet managers still get them wrong. A platform often requires underwriting one side of the market to encourage the other side to participate. But knowing which side should get charged and which side should get subsidized may be the single most important strategic decision for any platform.\"
Kyle Westaway
![\"\"](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2023/0770df8895.jpg\")
Interesting what each of us takes away when we read articles. The quote above is from Kyle Westaway - and indeed nothing wrong with his takeaway. But there is more - and even the HBR article doesn’t really get down to it.
\n\n\n\n\nFor me, platforms have been a key to my thinking ever since I read Platform Scale, which I first discovered by reading this blog, which I came to know through Jobsworth's Blog ... that I was certainly reading 10 years ago.
\n\n\nPeople, Passion, Platforms were even my 'three words' for a few years - but more recently I have been moving on. More on this to come - but increasingly I am seeing platforms as yes, a way to 'lubricate a market place', a way to do 'better business' and certainly 'good platforms' fall into place under this particular lens ...
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://people-first.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/A-Platfrom-Bill-Gates.jpeg\")
But ... I can't help thinking there is more. Platforms serve the corporate masters well. Look no further than Uber for that, but in fact do they really serve people well?
\n\n\nJeremy Heimans' 'Power and Values' model, I think highlights the issue perfectly. The graphic below is old, but I haven't been able to find a more recent one. Like all good 2*2 quadrants, top right is best, bottom left is worst and the other two quadrants have their challenges [efn_note]To be fair JH would disagree with my assessment - he argues that no quadrant is wrong - so long as you understand which quadrant you are in and work accordingly. And yes of course. But I am not in any of those quadrants. I am arguing for how people can operate in a 'Corporate First' society - and to me - the best chance they stand is in the top right quadrant.[/efn_note].
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://people-first.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/New-Power-New-Values.jpeg\")
Platforms are indeed lubricators of
Quick Example .... imagine that you
How hard would it be to have a universal reputation that travels with you. Spoiler alert - not hard at all (technically). Very hard if you actually want these silo'd platforms to adopt your reputation system.
\n\n\nMore to come, but just as Sangeet was talking all that time ago
It's not a new idea. It's just that some ideas don’t get much air.
\n", "date_published": "2019-07-18T09:32:44+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2019/07/17/platform-failure.html", "tags": ["? PeopleFirst","? LongForm","People First","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2019/07/01/people-not-assets.html", "title": " 🚧 People - Not Assets, Talent, Staff ... People", "content_html": "\nI just read this and decided to drop in a few People First tenets to remind us all .... the problem Kevin raises is not easily fixed - it is a systemic view of how people are seen by
![\"\"](\"https://i1.wp.com/people-first.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Human-Beings.jpeg?ssl=1\"/)
![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/people-first.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Assets-or-Liabilities.jpeg?ssl=1\"/)
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Bunker19
\n", "date_published": "2019-07-02T05:03:44+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2019/07/01/people-not-assets.html", "tags": ["? PeopleFirst","? Podcasts","? LongForm","People First","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2019/06/18/our-greatest-assets.html", "title": "🚧 Our Greatest Assets", "content_html": "\nOur fourth Newsletter just dropped. The focus this week .. People!
\n\n\nHamid Ulukaya - founder and CEO of 'Chobani Yoghurt' presents his plan - 'the anti-CEO playbook'. A fascinating journey through the early days of the company - and how it's
Secondly, A reminder that when you build systems and make changes in your organization, it's
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://people-first.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/image-1.png\")
Finally, for a while now, I have been writing about why we should stop using the word 'Content' to describe our ”book, novel, short story, article, white paper, promotional piece, advert, painting, sculpture, song, opera, photograph …. you get the point.
\n\n\nThis week Om Malik and Khoi Vinh have both written about that very topic. Personally delighted if finally this message is catching on and
\n\n\nAs long as ‘we the creators’ fall into the trap of using ‘their’ words to describe our work, our soul, our passion, our beliefs as ‘content’, then our work will continue to be viewed as ’free - to - cheap - to - low - cost, homogenized, non differentiated, interchangeable fodder’.
John Philpin - People First
🚧 UK - USA Differalities (3) : Presenters
\nWhy do American TV sports announcers speak with that aggressive, phony, half scream. They could just talk.
\nThen again why do English announcers pretend they are American.
\n
One of an occasional series of posts commenting on ‘Differalities’ (the ‘commonalities’) that divide the UK and the US.
\nSee them all here, along with other ‘Johnisms’ here.
\n", "date_published": "2019-03-12T05:03:03+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2019/03/11/uk-usa-differalities.html", "tags": ["? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2019/02/09/uk-usa-differalities.html", "content_html": "UK - USA Differalities (2) : Tea
\n\n\n“Listen and learn, son. Tea is a herb that’s been dried out so to bring it back to life, you have to infuse it in boiling water. That is boiling water and everywhere I’ve been in this country, they slap down a cup of tepid nonsense, you know, with the tea bag lying beside it, which means I’ve got to go through the ridiculous business of dunking it in the lukewarm piss waiting for the slightest change of colour to occur. And at my age, I haven’t got the time.”
\n
💬 Muriel - The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
\n
One of an occasional series of posts commenting on ‘Differalities’ (the ‘commonalities’) that divide the UK and the US.
\n", "date_published": "2019-02-10T07:45:39+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2019/02/09/uk-usa-differalities.html", "tags": ["? Quotes","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2018/11/20/micro-monday-recommendation-number-four.html", "content_html": "Micro Monday Recommendation Number ‘FOUR’
\nonce more with feeling
\n\n🚧
\n", "date_published": "2018-11-20T10:52:00+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2018/11/20/micro-monday-recommendation-number-four.html", "tags": ["? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2018/11/20/070900.html", "content_html": "🚧 Micro Monday Recommendation Number ‘FOUR’
\n\n", "date_published": "2018-11-20T07:09:00+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2018/11/20/070900.html", "tags": ["? HUB","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2018/03/29/cognitive-elites.html", "title": "🚧 Cognitive Elites", "content_html": "“A 'cognitive elite' will rise to power and influence, as a class of sovereign individuals 'commanding vastly greater resources' who will no longer be subject to the power of nation-states and will redesign governments to suit their ends.”\n
Read More In The Guardian Here
\nCognitive Elites … not the same as ‘Elites’ - and - be it a ‘discredited’ term or not - I have no doubt that those that seek to use technology to protect their interests - and not subjugate themselves to the Corporates will win out. They are thinking, acting, doing and rising above the media clutter. Who are those people? Well, maybe it is easier to point out who they are not …. they are not people;
\nNO - it doesn’t include those people.
\nBut it also is not about having superior intelligence. (Which is what the book was talking about.) No. That is not going to save you. And those people aren’t the cognitive elites that I think about.
\nTo me - I think you are a cognitive elite if you think. At all. Your IQ can be below 100 - like half the population - but that doesn’t mean you can’t think … that is a choice.
\nStart to think. Start to act. Be Different.
\n", "date_published": "2018-03-30T10:23:33+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2018/03/29/cognitive-elites.html", "tags": ["? PeopleFirst","? LongForm","People First","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2018/02/28/133514.html", "content_html": "Not exactly a purge. Definitely liberating … 🚧
\nAll now consolidated into Ulysses.
\nIf I am writing to publish … that’s where it is.
\n", "date_published": "2018-02-28T13:35:14+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2018/02/28/133514.html", "tags": ["? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2018/02/27/not-exactly-a-purge-definitely.html", "content_html": "Not exactly a purge. Definitely liberating …
\nAll now consolidated into Ulysses.
\nIf I am writing to publish … that’s where it is.
\n", "date_published": "2018-02-28T07:04:51+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2018/02/28/not-exactly-a-purge-definitely.html", "tags": ["? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2018/02/22/uk-usa-variables.html", "content_html": "🚧 UK - USA Differalities (1) : ⚽️ Football
\nIn The UK there is a sport played with the feet - called Football.
\nIn The USA there is a sport played with the hands - called Football.
\n
One of an occasional series of posts commenting on ‘Differalities’ (the ‘commonalities’) that divide the UK and the US.
\nSee them all here, along with other ‘Johnisms’ here.
\n", "date_published": "2018-02-22T14:12:19+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2018/02/21/uk-usa-variables.html", "tags": ["? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2017/09/09/equifax-breach-of.html", "title": " 🚧 Equifax Breach of Trust", "content_html": "On September 07, 2017, Equifax—one of the “big three” credit reporting agencies—shared a quiet investor relations document with information about a security breach that began in May, 2017 and was not discovered until late July:
\n[Criminals accessed] names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some instances, driver’s license numbers. [They] also accessed credit card numbers for approximately 209,000 U.S. consumers, and certain dispute documents with personal identifying information for approximately 182,000 U.S. consumers.\nIt took Equifax another 40 days to let people know outside the company.\n
The response from Equifax has been “corporately cautious” with little consideration for the effect on people.
\nIronically, the company is offering “complimentary identity theft protection and credit file monitoring.” If you do sign up, you are also agreeing to the small print that signs away your right to be part of a future class action lawsuit.
\n[caption id=\"attachment_767\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1440\"]![\"\"](\"https://people-first.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/equifaxsecurity2017.compotential-impact-2017-09-08-1.png\")
The small print links to Terms of Use that read on Section 4: PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE SECTION CAREFULLY BECAUSE IT AFFECTS YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS BY REQUIRING ARBITRATION OF DISPUTES (EXCEPT AS SET FORTH BELOW) AND A WAIVER OF THE ABILITY TO BRING OR PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION, CLASS ARBITRATION, OR OTHER REPRESENTATIVE ACTION. (Source: Equifax)[/caption]
Helping consumers understand the impact of the breach was handled so poorly that according to Ars Technica, Open DNS initially warned visitors that Equifax’s website about the breach might be a phishing scam:\n
[T]he website … runs on a stock installation WordPress, a content management system that doesn't provide the enterprise-grade security required for a site that asks people to provide their last name and all but three digits of their Social Security number. The TLS certificate doesn't perform proper revocation checks. Worse still, the domain name isn't registered to Equifax, and its format looks like precisely the kind of thing a criminal operation might use to steal people's details. It's no surprise that Cisco-owned Open DNS was blocking access to the site and warning it was a suspected phishing threat.\nMany of these issues have been corrected since the release of the website, but it stands to reason that a company would want to secure the website they’re using to rebuild trust with their customers. News about executives within the company also doesn’t bolster their appearance.\n\n
According to company spokesperson, Ines Gutzmer, when Equifax executives, including the CFO, unloaded up to 13% of their shares before the breach, they “had no knowledge that an intrusion had occurred.” This comes reported by Anders Melin on Bloomberg. Whether these executives knew of the intrusion, it feels that people in a power come out ahead in any circumstance: win or lose. The people who trust Equifax to hold their data securely are the ones that lose.
\nChris Drake, the Founder of the security firm Armor, reminds us who suffers most from a security breach:
\nRegardless of emerging details, one thing is certain: big companies will continue to be the ones that make headlines when breaches occur, but the millions of people affected will ultimately suffer the most as their information is potentially traded or sold on the Dark Web.\nCompanies like Equifax can take this as a calling to make the people who use their services a priority, because it’s clearly not happening. Their investor relations document went on to assure investors that, “We ... expect to increase our capital spending in an effort to further accelerate IT infrastructure, systems and data security and resiliency improvement actions.”\n
[caption id=\"attachment_764\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\"]![\"\"](\"https://people-first.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/zerohedge.comnews2017-09-07massive-data-breach-equifax-many-143-million-social-security-numbers-hacked-1.jpg\")
\"After falling as much as 12% in the after hours, EFX stock stabilized... then fell as much as 19%.\" (Source: Zero Hedge)[/caption]
Zero Hedge, an investment website, responded cheekily:
\nOh, good, because a hack involving 143 million SSNs is one of those cases where capex probably should have taken precedence over stock buybacks. Don't worry though, because as it explains in the same quesionnaire [sic], \"Equifax remains committed to delivering on the long-term financial model of 7-10% revenue growth and 11%- 14% growth in Adjusted EPS on average over a business cycle. Equifax’s long term financial model reflects our continuing fundamental ability to utilize our unique and differentiated data assets and leading analytical capability to deliver high value products and services to our customers.\"\n\nIt’s more honest than I can write. We’re getting an idea of the truth, but how can we make this better? Our friends at Adaptable Security are working to combat unethical business practices by making privacy and security transparent, one company at a time. They help people understand which companies can be trusted with their personal information.\nUhm, after this… what customers?
I spotted a call for papers on ethics in business as this story broke. We know it’s a problem, we know it needs to be addressed. Now, let’s get out there and do something about it.
", "date_published": "2017-09-10T01:00:20+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2017/09/09/equifax-breach-of.html", "tags": ["? PeopleFirst","? LongForm","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2017/08/23/lost-knowledge.html", "title": " 🚧 Lost Knowledge", "content_html": "\nForty years ago, I belonged to an organization called RILKO. As you can see, they still exist. A friend of mine, Randall Rospond, Posted this to his site today. And it occurred to me that this too is a 'little bit' of lost knowledge that we could so easily regain... with thought.
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://people-first.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/queen-liliukolani.jpg\")
What do you think?
\n\n", "date_published": "2017-08-23T22:17:50+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2017/08/23/lost-knowledge.html", "tags": ["? PeopleFirst","? LongForm","? WIP"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2016/07/29/laszlo-bock-moves.html", "title": "Laszlo Bock Moves On ....", "content_html": "This is big news …. be interesting to see what he does next.
A lot of unemployment evolves from information asymmetry, meaning I have a taxonomy of skills and abilities that are hard to articulate, and resumes don’t do a good job of capturing them. Employers have a set of jobs, but are terrible at both articulating what they need, and actually filtering candidates.
If you can somehow bridge that information gap, and better match people with jobs, in the short term you can get a lot of people jobs that don’t have them. But in the medium term, you can do really interesting things. If you’re a welder in Detroit, we can say you should go to nursing school and move to Atlanta, and this is the program you should go to, because this nursing school is correlated with people getting jobs. And Atlanta has the most growth in that area.
It’s very interesting stuff. But that’s all a little in the future.
🚧
\nAn Irishman walks into a bar in Dublin, orders three pints of Guinness and sits in the back of the room, drinking a sip out of each one in turn. When he finished all three, he comes back to the bar and orders three more. Question: If you could live forever, would you and why?\nAnswer: “I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever,” Fainting Goats - click here … the video needs to be watched.: Originally Posted On Humor.Philpin.com - a now defunct site. I moved the content here for posterity.\nThe date of this post is the date that it was originally published on that site.
The bartender says to him, \"You know, a pint goes flat after I draw it; it would taste better if you bought one at a time.\" The Irishman replies, \"Well, you see, I have two brothers. One is in America, the
other in Australia, and I'm here in Dublin. When we all left home, we promised that we'd drink this way to remember the days we all drank together.\"
The bartender admits that this is a nice custom, and leaves it there.
The Irishman becomes a regular in the bar and always drinks the same way: he orders three pints and drinks the three pints by taking drinks from each of them in turn.
One day, he comes in and orders two pints. All the other regulars in the bar notice and fall silent. When he comes back to the bar for the second round, the bartender says, \"I don't want to intrude on your grief, but I wanted to offer my condolences on your great loss.\"
The Irishman looks confused for a moment, then a light dawns in his eye and he laughs.
Oh, no,\" he says, \"Everyone is fine. It's me...\"
\"...I've quit drinking!\"\nITS.A.JOKE.PEOPLE
\nOriginally Posted On Humor.Philpin.com - a now defunct site. I moved the content here for posterity.\nThe date of this post is the date that it was originally published on that site.\n",
"date_published": "2007-08-30T22:36:00+12:00",
"url": "https://john.philpin.com/2007/08/30/103600.html",
"tags": ["HumorPhilpinCom","? LongForm","? WIP"]
},
{
"id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2006/04/01/brain-cramps-now.html",
"title": "Brain Cramps - Now That I Know It All",
"content_html": "
\nMiss Alabama in the 1994 Miss USA contest. (On September 17, 1994, Alabama’s Heather Whitestone was selected as Miss America 1995.)
\n\"Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world, I can't help but cry. I mean I'd love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff.\" \nMariah Carey\n
\n\"Smoking kills. If you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your life,\" \nBrooke Shields, during an interview to become spokesperson for federal anti-smoking campaign.\n
\n\"I've never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body,\" \nWinston Bennett, University of Kentucky basketball forward.\n
\n\"Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country,\" \nMayor Marion Barry, Washington, DC.\n
\n\"I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers. We are the president.\" \nHillary Clinton commenting on the release of subpoenaed documents.\n
\n\"That lowdown scoundrel deserves to be kicked to death by a jackass and I'm just the one to do it,\" \nA congressional candidate in Texas\n
\n\"Half this game is ninety percent mental.\" \nPhiladelphia Phillies manager, Danny Ozark\n
\n\"It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.\" \nAl Gore, Vice President\n
\nI love California. I practically grew up in Phoenix.\" \nDan Quayle\n
\n\"We've got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?\" \nLee Iacocca\n
\n\"The word \"genius\" isn't applicable in football. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.\" \nJoe Theisman, NFL football quarterback & sports analyst\n
\n\"We don't necessarily discriminate. We simply exclude certain types of people.\" \nColonel Gerald Wellman, ROTC Instructor\n
\n\"If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.\" \nBill Clinton, President\n
\n\"We are ready for an unforeseen event that may or may not occur.\" \nAl Gore, VP\n
\n\"Traditionally, most of Australia's imports come from overseas.\" \nKeppel Enderbery\n
\n\"Your food stamps will be stopped effective March 1992 because we received notice that you passed away. May God bless you. You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances.\" \nDepartment of Social Services, Greenville, South Carolina\n",
"date_published": "2006-04-02T01:57:00+12:00",
"url": "https://john.philpin.com/2006/04/01/brain-cramps-now.html",
"tags": ["HumorPhilpinCom","? LongForm","? WIP"]
},
{
"id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2006/03/17/fainting-goats.html",
"title": " 🚧 Fainting Goats",
"content_html": "
OK - I shouldn’t laugh … but so you know
“Myotonic goats are also called Wooden Leg goats, ‘stiff leg’ or Tennessee fainting goats. These are one of the few goats that are indigenous to the U.S. There are two strains of this animal. Most of those found in Tennessee and the eastern U.S. are smaller. When the goat is being fed or becomes startled its muscles become stiff allowing the goat to fall on the ground in a fainting position.”
\nITS.A.JOKE.PEOPLE
\n