Who put the ‘Con’ in Content?

There’s that word popping up again. As WP launches G and the world at large talks about how they hate it and they want a simple editor to use for their; post, article, photography, journal, chronicle ….

No of course they don’t they say content.

good name that … who did put the con into content?

Eleven, Eleven, Eleven, Eleven

The First World War officially ended 100 years ago today … November 11, 1918. More than 16 million people were killed, 8 million of them ‘civilians’.

And then just 21 years later … WW2 broke out. But that is a different story.

100 years ago today is a fascinating site that gives you a day by day summary of The Great War.

Meanwhile, Yo Yo Ma performing at WWI Armistice Ceremonies:

and The Guardian writing about ‘They Shall Not Grow Old’

WW2 broke out just 21 years after the end of WW1. That’s like a major war ending in 1997 and a second one starting this year.

Here’s hoping (though we probably need to do more than ‘hope’) that WW3 is not just around the corner - because sometimes I wonder. And I think senior world leaders also ask …

“Patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism,” the French president said, according to a translation of his remarks. “Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism. By saying our interests first, who cares about the others, we erase what a nation holds dearest, what gives it life, what makes it great and what is essential: its moral values.”

President Emmanuel Macron

Trump continues to be a global disgrace, and increasingly a major threat to world peace and stability.

Read more on Vox here

1 Password Subscriptions - A Gouge?

Asking myself why I hadn’t upgraded to 1Password7.

Because subscription I reminded myself.

36 dollars per year IF billed annually.

I have used since v 3 … I have had v 6 since Jan 2016 ( I upgrade asap for good valuable products).

Under subscription that would have cost me $90 to date … minimum - round about double what I paid.

That is a price increase that I see as gouging.

I am not anti subscription … I am for fairness. I mean - I pay that for Bear, more for Ulysses … so it isn’t that … under the old system existing customers got rewarded for loyalty.

Have I missed something?

Teething Problems at Starbucks, or ….

Super Dooper new one opens, you know the kind - with the beer, wine and couches. BUT a few teething problems …

Used the phone to redeem my free drink - which they managed to take off and charge me for … I know that because they wanted more money than I had stored … took the manager to resolve that one.

As they gave me the drink, the barista sneezed all over the cup. No ‘sorry’. No ‘excuse me’. No, ‘let me get you a fresh one’. They did after I asked.

Which I returned after I sat down, since it was a Mocha, not a Latte.

Meanwhile - the locals are settling in … looks like a table to me … but it is obviously confused with a foot stool.

Note to self - don’t eat off this table … If I come back.

People: Jan

Jan knows the UK and lives in Texas now, but the journey from one to the other allowed her to see the rest of the world.

She lived in Mildenhall. I’d heard of it. Used to live near there myself.

She joined the USAF to get trained, qualified and see a world ‘outside of the 50’. She left after just three years because she met and fell in love with the man who became her husband (best-laid plans and all that!). Training and Qualifications put on hold, but still traveled and saw the world. After all - her husband was still in the forces.

Now she is an antique dealer and her husband works at the nearby USAF facility. Well not just the USAF, turns out it is the only joint USAF and NATO training facility in the world.

Who knew?

Read More →

People: Alex

“I spent the day with my dog.”

"What kind of dog is it?" "A Boston Terrier."

"Oh wow, do you have pictures?"

"I did, but I lost my camera and so all my pictures."

"Oh no, you know these days it’s so easy to keep your photos backed up in the cloud, so you’ll never lose them."

"I know. I have Google storage and Verizon cloud, but I just never get round to doing it, because it isn't important."

"Well maybe you will now."

"Maybe. But now there’s an opportunity to create a set of new memories."

The differences in people are revealed by the smallest truths. I live in a world of online back ups, local back ups - duplicated and a system that allows me to recover files lost just a minute ago. Anything less would make me nervous.

There are also those people that never back up because they simply don’t know. Or they have never lost their phone, and with it their only copy of photos, phone numbers and notes.

And then there are people like Alex. He knows all about that. He just doesn’t care. He is not driven by the same triggers that drive me. He lives in the moment. For the moment.

“What day is it?” asked Pooh. “It’s today,” squeaked Piglet. “My favorite day,” said Pooh.”

A.A. Milne

Thinking Allowed

This 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.

Winner Of The The Nobel Peace Prize

Unless you track it, this kind of news can scoot past you before you even realize what is going on.

The 2018 winner was just announced.

"The Nobel Peace Prize 2018 was awarded jointly to Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad "for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict."

Read All About It.

It’s extraordinary how people contribute to society for the better good, and you think - what can I do to be more like them?

Which reminded me of last year.

Read More →

And Another One Bites The Dust

For the past two months, I have been running blottings.philpin.com in parallel with a free wordpress site. All has been working fine, so this morning I moved the prior three months of that site to john.philpin.com - perfect.

Doubtless some odd css cleanup as I find them - but random testing says no point in going through it all.

SO .... about that Wordpress site ... well the newest relevant post in there is now 2015 - and the oldest May 2012 ... time to wander through and [see if these posts do in fact provide context](https://blottings.philpin.com/who-are-you-just-in-time-advice) ... or is just garbage.

Wish me luck!

Two Years Ago Today and Nothing Has Really Changed

I wondered back then if some people were above the law (spoiler alert - they seem to be)

According to Wikipedia …. about three weeks later he resigned.

”Stumpf stepped down as CEO and Chairman of the board on October 12, 2016.[19] In February 2018, Janet Yellen, on her last day as Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (2014-2018), approved a strongly worded critical letter to Stumpf to emphasize his failures as Chair of Wells Fargo board of directors. The letter, signed by Michael Gibson, Director of the Division of Supervision and Regulation, cited Stumpf’s complicity in ignoring the bank’s poor risk management programs, and failure to initiate any serious investigation into its sales practices.

And since then donuts.

I guess he’s safe now - or does anyone know any different?

Good To Know

Brexit Explained

It Must Be Me. Not You.

That day you walk into a coffee bar with a big beautiful Espresso Machine behind the cashier.

“A latte please.
Sorry?
“A latte”
Cross talk behind the scenes asking someone else if they know what I was talking about.
A third person enters the scene ….
How can we help?
“A latte please.”
She turns to the two young kids …
Latte … It’s a coffee drink …
Oh … never heard of that … thank you.
Third person turns around and starts to make the drink … The coffee appears and she disappears behind a curtain, to emerge three minutes later with one of those ice blended abominations.
“No. sorry, I wanted a Latte.”
So you’ve changed your mind?
“No. Not at all. I have wanted a Latte since I came into the store.”
She turned around and made one.
It really is rather nice … But what did they THINK I was talking about?

Security

Why Banks Need To Die

VoiceMail: This is BofA ... please call us at your earliest convenience, we believe your card has been compromised.

I logged on to ‘free up’ the situation - usually works - but no - please call this very specific number.

I do - I am on hold for over 20 minutes - I know - I can see.

Eventually my call is picked up.

I identify myself.

“Before we get going, I know it isn’t your fault, but I would like to point out that I have been on hold for over twenty minutes.”

Snaps back - “Well that shows you how busy we are.”

“Oh - good to know” - in my mind.

“Well I said - you have stopped my card because of possible fraudulent activity, which I can’t resolve through your web site, so essentially you are asking me to call you - because you have stopped my card and then failing to provide a reasonable response time to help me - a customer - solve your problem.”

“Do you want to get this solved?”

I moved on. Five minutes later, all was confirmed that yes - the purchases I made with the card are indeed my purchases - you will note that I have bought from these enterprises in the past …. etc etc …

Deaf Ears.

“Your card is good to go.”

Hang Up.

Ok - and thank YOU for being my credit card company - I say to a ‘dial tone’ (remember those kids?).

Thirty minutes later the card was refused.

Not having another spare half hour today, I just tried to log on. This is what I got.

Says it all really.

Yes - the Internet is working - that is how I managed to post this!!

Thinking Aloud About People On Micro Blog

Back in the day when I was using Dave Winer’s 1999 - he used to have a class of user called ‘POETS’ … in his mind they were the ‘non tech’ crowd.

I see a lot of tech and non tech peeps on micro blog … and it got me to wondering if everyone on micro blog self selected that they were ‘primarily’ either ‘POET’ or ‘TECHNOID' (we need a better word) … it might help discover like minded people - and of course un-like minded people for each of our communities.

Maybe there is a different spectrum that could be applied?

Maybe there are Five Descriptors and you get to distribute 10 points across the 5? So your personal proloctivity shines through?

Thoughts?

People: Nenah

I worked in San Diego in those days. Everybody around me was promising the world and just doing it what it took. Nobody was asking questions. It was crazy. I held to my truth. But I was the only one that did. But it still all blew up.

That was ten years ago. Now I am here, for me, nothing has changed. I work hard. I reap my rewards.

I love Commercial Banking. It is what I do. All of it.

I find the deals. I work the deals. I close the deals.

I never let go of my core principles.

I didn’t react.

Our truths are our lives. Those truths can do move.

No legacy is so rich as honesty.

William Shakespeare

Thinking Allowed

This 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.

Trump Has Remade the Republican Party

“With the 2018 primaries about to end, all but two of the 37 Republicans Mr. Trump has endorsed for House, Senate and governor during their primary campaigns have won. Mr. Trump has abandoned or undercut the party’s traditional commitment to free trade, fiscal conservatism and a hawkish foreign policy. Mr. Trump’s most vocal GOP critics in elective office have been defeated in primaries, announced their retirement or gone quiet.”

The Full Story

That may well be - but is the mood of the country (well - at least those that vote) … such that they will be allowed to beat the democratic opponents?

Make your voice heard …. Vote On November 6th

Are you in pain by having to gas up your own car? There’s an app for that.

On-demand gas startup Yoshi expands to 16 cities to end your pain at the pump … so now we are so lazy we can’t even be bothered to go gas up our own cars.

But what do we need them for anyway? Our food is delivered and Amazon does everything else. Our entertainment is virtual and streamed. We work at home.

And aren’t cars meant to be electric and self driving anyway?

Alex Jones has not been barred from speaking ... he’s just had his microphone taken away.

Inside the triumphant Alex Jones banned everywhere story is a worrying nuance about free speech and platform dominance

‘Cory’ himself commenting on the Alex Jones stuff … nowhere connecting the ‘amplification’ aspect that @manton raised yesterday(?) … how do we move that thought into wider mainstream thinking?

Feedly * Unread * Reeder

I have used Feedly for the longest time - always done it for me …. and then I switched on Feedbin to benefit from some specific features that I wanted to try out … which in turn took me to Reeder and Unread as rss clients.

Reeder is functionally very rich - very nice.

Unread has a beauty all of its own.

Feedly is not as feature rich as Reeder nor as beautiful as Unread.

What’s a boy to do?