I enjoy your beer. Very much. I detest your online policies ....

24 Hours? 28 Days!!!

In my world - with the (essentially free) software I use - when someone unsubscribes - it happens within seconds. Call me if you need help. It looks like you do.

Who Are Fullers?

Meanwhile - file under core versus context ... 

Virgin, BA et al might not be the best food you can get on the planet, but I know of no restaurant that can fly you around the world. Likewise, I have yet to find an ESP/ISP or any other 'X'SP that does a decent beer.

My superpower is that I can sleep when people are wrong on the Internet. But I do sometimes blog about it the next morning.

... Don Marti introducing us to his latest blog post where he writes about the latest abomination that adtech is about to drop onto humanity.

Read All About it. 

I have written many times before that Tesla is not a car company. For example - 18 months ago. So, I for one was not surprised to read that;

Tesla drops 'Motors' from name as CEO Musk looks beyond cars

Quoting Reuters:

Chief Executive Elon Musk looks to transform the Silicon Valley firm from an electric car maker to a diversified energy products company.

Ummm - not news .... I wrote this last summer, and 

To quote Elon Musk - on his own web-site :

I love Flowing Data.

Which is one reason why I am highlighting this post.

Lessons for all ... not just data presenters ... but data readers. When you see a graphic - know where it is coming from. Know the context. Explore and understand the data that surround what you are looking at.

Yes. It's hard work - but how else can you unpick the truth.

And that my friends is absolutely necessary in the times we find ourselves living in.

Remember when I wrote this?

And this?

And how if you are paying attention, you will get the idea that I think we have a bit of a problem in tech .... Check out what just happened at Zenefits.

50% of Zenefits workforce gone.

What's left?

That’s about a third of the size it was a year ago, when it ousted its founding CEO, Parker Conrad, over revelations that it flouted state regulations for selling health insurance.

Wait .... Parker Conrad flouted state regulations for selling health insurance.

But nothing happens to Travis Kalanick (that's the Uber guy in case you are wondering) when he flouts state and national laws all over the world. 

Is he above the law .... or is it just that he is bribing enough people and the right people?

I mean - he does keep on getting banned ... everywhere!

Way back in 2012 I wrote this.

... as long as I have been in business I keep hearing (and repeating) the phrase – how do you ‘monetize the network’ ?
And remember that old line from Stanford University Network (sic) – ‘The Network is the Computer.’ ? How about “.. it’s not what you know – it’s who you know”. Let’s not forget that the second oldest profession in the world is ‘The Middleman’ – who live and die (see Layer Cake) by their connections.

And?

And. When I saw this graphic from Gaping Void ... it got me to wondering. Has he worked it out? If so - will he share? Because I definitely understand how I can love my making introductions between people ... but have yet to wrestle to the ground how I make wealth if the value is delivered three degrees of separation away ... and that is what we are talking about. Right?

The entire contraption of “Unbridled Energy” is supported only by a rote optimism: “The United States has 250 billion tons of recoverable coal reserves — enough to last 100 years even at double the current rate of consumption.” We humans have inhabited the earth for many thousands of years, and now we can look forward to surviving for another hundred by doubling our consumption of coal? This is national security?

Source : Harpers - Faustian Economics by Wendell Berry

More than questioning national security ... how about planning? As a young country of under three hundred years old, then 100 years might sound a long time. After all, it represents one-third of the entire country's life. This thinking is what will lead America down a very long road of nowhere. Success is about the long game. Take China for example. (This is just ONE of many examples of how China plans the long game. Just Google the long game of China. 

My thanks to my friend Louis for the link.

This Team Runs Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook Page

Gruber's original post ... ending with

Key point here is that Mark Zuckerberg is much too smart to actually spend time on Facebook.

Yup.

To match the number of novels, letters, essays, and other scribblings Asimov produced in his lifetime, you would have to write a full-length novel every two weeks for 25 years.

Holy crap! How did he do it? Have a read. There were 6 tenets to his approach, but to understand them properly - you really should read the article.

1. Never stop learning
2. Don’t fight getting stuck
3. Beware the resistance
4. Lower your standards
5. Make MORE stuff
6. The secret sauce

Will Donald Trump be assassinated, ousted in a coup or just impeached?

Read All About It. 

The UK's Spectator ruminates ... as do I. In the 'pre-truth world' Impeachment was seen to be the ultimate extreme for how a Presidency might end. Now it is the least of three options - and none of them good. Meanwhile ....

• Trump was sworn in on Monday
• Lied throughout the weekend
• His first law-suit arrived this morning - and yes - I am SPECIFICALLY linking to Buzzfeed.

In the movie Now You See Me ( 1 and 2), there are some nice quotes about the essence of magic. Was reminded of them today when I read this.

Put your most junior people in the White House briefing room. Recognise that the real story is elsewhere, and most likely hidden.

Read All About It.

Relevant ?

What is magic? Focused deception. But deception meant to entertain.

and

The closer you think you are, the less you'll actually see.

Yes - good advice ....

Facebook:

We will work with third-party organizations on how to better understand and to promote news literacy both on and off our platform to help people in our community have the information they need to make decisions about which sources to trust.

Frederic Filloux:

No kidding. If you can wrap your mind around this 42-word sentence, it'll amount to saying McDonald’s goes low-fat, low-carb, or Monsanto acquires Whole Foods. Lofty words, unconnected to reality.

Read All About It.

Good piece from Monday Note about Facebook's Journalism project. I'm with Frederic - way too little - way too confused. BUT - thankfully not too late.

Whichever way you look at it - same face.

Status Quo is Your Biggest Competitor

... so being an old fart - I clicked through. No. Not THAT Status Quo.

People ... I'm talking to YOU Barbara - should be more careful with their headlines. 

I thought for a minute that the boys had moved into business consulting.

Phew.

The one thing I do know? Honest mistake. I know Barbara. It wasn't meant to be 'click bait'.

Great Article.

The paper tried to rise above all this, but it made a new rule: If you sack a compositor, get him off the premises immediately.

Which Paper?  The London Times

When?  1882

Why?  Well, it turns out for very good reasons ...

When I was a lad, there was a Genesis song ...

"Get 'em out by Friday!
You don't get paid till the last one's well on his way.
Get 'em out by Friday!
It's important that we keep to schedule, there must be no delay."

... it would seem even in 1882, this was too slow ...

Read All About It.

The saddest part of this :

Third of Republicans Think Trump Won Popular Vote

... is that I am not surprised.

I wrote this yesterday ... and then it got me to thinking ...

Theranos - this just the latest legal action

Lily

Magic Leap

The General Malaise

Hampton Creek

Zenefits

... and now Facebook's Oculus

But no worries - all is good and upright in the world of Tech.

What Grande does need is a reality check. Sorry, honey but you can’t base a career on selling sex and then get angry when your horny fans treat you like a sex object.

I agree mainly with a lot of this, but not;

The truth is that Ms.Grande is actually astonishingly talented as a singer and an actress.