Which reminds me that I need to find that quote that reminds us that all life is just ‘replication at scale’

Of course the human invention of copyright law then results in things like the court case between Ed Sheeran and the estate of Marvin Gaye - which in turn conjurs up memories of Zeppelin and Spirit, Harrison and … who was it now … the list is endless.

Meanwhile - The New Yorker’s cover is … well - see for yourself …

I wonder if the Max Escher estate is going to start something?

Criticising is the easy part is a blog post that has been sat in my drafts folder for too long ….

I wouldn’t disagree with @manuelmoreale - you only have to highlight ‘the issue d’jour’ and

• the story is getting more complicated
• the public is defaulting to less and less attention to absorb the necessary information and
• less and less time to weigh in on the issues and
• increasingly the (popular) tools where such discourse can be had are focussed on shorter and shorter time spans.

… all while nothing is done at a country (let alone global) level to lay out a stall and agree the top level strategy.

Case in point … an old one that I was introduced to in my twenties …

If someone is guilty of a crime, do you sent them to prison to rehabilitate or punish? Whichever the answer results in two totally different looking penal systems with very little operational overlap. If we can’t agree on the top level strategy - we will never agree on the solutions.

And don’t get me started on how (in the US at least) - the people’s representatives are not representing the people - how else do you explain the break between politicians and people in subject areas like abortion.

Sorry about all the posts and deletes. This one is staying!

‘From Obsidian’ is a new category on this ‘public journal’. Not sure yet how it will pan out - but my thinking is kinda as follows …

1] don’t want to pay $120 a year to synch your obsidian with a web site (quite apart from what a second web site will cost you).
2] don’t have the technical chops to deal with github (which is a recognized and free solution that solves that first problem)

THEN

3] this might just be what you need

BUT

4] this is really for more the ‘occasional publisher’ than those who have vast libraries and want to share it all with the world.

What do you think?

This is a new identity newsletter from my Kiwi friend Alan Mayo - it’s the start of a journey he is embarking on talking about Identity 2.5. …. wait what? … 2.5?

Don’t fret - I’m not going to steal Alan’s thunder and get into what ‘2.5’ is - but Alan and I have had enough conversations for me to know that if you have an interest in identity - this short series is going to be well worth your time and his 2.5 solution is really rather clever.

“This is about Identity, not Digital Identity.”

And no - that is not code for the newsletter being deeply philosophical - exploring the Id etc … but rather recognizing the challenge that most tech conversation is about digital identity and essentially ignores ‘real world’ identity … and this is true even if the blockchain does finally solve identity.

Que?

Let’s assume that we crack ‘digital identity’ - and in case you don’t know - we are a long way off that - but stick with me - ‘when’ it is solved what happens when you (say) catch a plane, phone a call center, walk into a store, visit a bank, get a mortgage … then what?

If you have explored these scenarios, you already know that it’s a mess and digital identity is not going to solve for those scenarios - except by morphing the real and digital worlds. Beyond that, ‘real world identity’ is

• inconsistent

  • across industries and markets
  • across multiple organizations
  • even in a single organization

• unreliable

• hardly secure

• random

… which typically means that organizations have to create - and support - multiple workflows and systems.

Use Cases

A Gas Company Call Center

A certain Gas company in Southern California has a ‘call center’ security level that goes as follows …

1. I tell them ‘my’ name … any name
2. To validate who I am … I have to tell them ‘my’ address

That’s it. At that point I am free to meddle with that account as much as I like.

How do I know this? Because I have done that three times in the past week. THREE times. I am not asked for ‘social’ - though why that is ever considered secure in this day and age is beyond me. The number I call from is detected at their end - and it is NOT the phone number they have on the record for that account. That doesn’t matter. No secret questions were asked. No texts sent to the number on record.

Full disclosure - I did this for a friend who was traveling and had full knowledge and permission from him (the account holder). Why? Because it was a simple issue that needed to be resolved. BUT had I used my real name I wouldn’t have even been able to have a conversation - because my information wouldn’t have correlated.

Bottom line however - if you find anyone else’s gas bill you could play havoc.

DMV Identity

I wrote a piece recently called An Afternoon With Kafka

It was meant to be a fun piece describing the trials and tribulations of renewing my US drivers license. In the end I got my license.

Key point … the official address they have on record for me required me to prove my identity by providing third party utility bills. BUT, that address is up in Northern California - and I am currently in SOUTHERN California - so I asked if they could send my license to a local SoCal address.

No problem …. it was done - BUT - in DMVland, what that means is that my US Drivers license now has that temporary, non official address on it and I did not have to prove it was connected to me.

I was asked recently to show my license to ‘prove my identity’. I ignored the oxymoron, showed them my license and they dutifully wrote down the address. On that occasion, it made no difference - but what happens if that address was important?

Most people would look at the ‘official government doc’ and take it at face value.

Identity is clearly a mess.

Ok - that’s it - do please subscribe.

A little foraging around the hood yesterday afternoon … some observations.

Going by car makes … Teslas had the most unfriendly, aggressive drivers on the road.

To provide context, on one occasion I was mildly surprised when one car jumped the red lights .. red now, not amber … red, only to see a second one accelerate across right on the first car’s tail causing me to swear in shock. After a brief gap, I guess people ‘with the green’ figured it was ok to move … and they all did … only to slam on their breaks as a third car barreled through.

None of the three cars were Teslas … and yet Tesla still won the afternoon’s 🏆🎖️🥇

At the beginning of the expedition, I needed to do a ‘quick’ trip into Costco. As I left, I found myself standing in line with my receipt and cart. The Latino lady with two-children directly in front of me was definitely being ’checked’ as the ’checker’ worked around the cart accounting for each item on the list. It was maybe 7 items … 2 of which were flat packs of water bottles.

I had forgotten this process and had already packed my few items into a box. Watching the detailed reconciliation going on in front of me, I was just thinking about unpacking the box … when she was waved through.

The checker looked at me and just marked the receipt of this old, caucasian male. There was no way he knew what was in my box (X-ray eyes aside).

Later in the Mall, I passed a Tesla store. Back in the day, I remember lines at Tesla stores … This one was empty … other than a couple of staff … maybe all the aggressive dicks in the area already have their Tesla?

Meanwhile, the Apple Store was as full as ever. I quickly found my ‘pencil tips’ but was told I needed to ‘book an appointment’ to buy them … he clearly spotted the horror on my face …

“Or you can check yourself out.”

I had totally missed the sign. The process took me a whole minute. Very efficient. (I know, I know … this has been possible for the last ‘n’ years … but this was actually my first time in an Apple Store for such a minor purchase in nearly 3 1/2 years .. slack needs to be cut)

On my way home I stopped off at a Wholefoods to pick up dinner for the night. Inside the store was a communal eating area with a total footprint equivalent to half the store - including a bar with seats for maybe 25 people. I am sure this also is old news - but again - it’s been 3 1/2 years

Micro Blog categories are badly displayed - there I said it.

In MicroBlog and the New Drafts Plugin - it is unclear - but I think it is oldest to newest created? (In fairness the plugin probably pulls the raw list from the back end somewhere and uses the default.)

The same behavious in the iOS app.

BUT, in the Mac app, categories appear in three columns - and they read left to right on the first line and then the second line etc - NOT down column 1, then column2 etc … who knows which is the right way? Its like a book spine - should you turn your head to read sideways top to bottom OR bottom to top. There is a 99% standard - but still the 1% of spines designed the other way are around.

I read columns like an old newspaper - down first - then across - not across then down as if you are reading a spreadsheet.

In Mars Edit - they are displayed alphabetically - so clearly that is possible.

I have called this out to @manton - and we agreed, I am more than likely an edge case (over 50 categories (don’t judge)), but surely others have this challenge?

It would be good to choose preferred order in settings - but failing that, can we just have them alphabetically like @danielpunkass has them?

/end