There are nay-sayers out there letting us know that there is nothing to worry about. Then again - they are the same nay savers that have said before there was nothing to worry about - you know like the housing market isn't inflated or those 'non-profitable, low-revenue companies searching for a business model being valued at hundred of millions of dollars' do not point to an inflated market.

Anyway, from time to time I highlight some of those companies that are considered outliers by those same people, but I keep wondering if it is more the norm.

This just in ...

San Francisco District Attorney files lawsuit against drone maker Lily for false advertising

but actually - it is a lot more ... ^^ that was the headline, this is the first sentence of the article ...

After raking in tens of millions in preorders and venture capital, the drone maker — if it can really be called that — Lily is shutting down. 

I love how Podcasts are really emerging as a story-telling vehicle. Of course Serial is the famous one ... but don’t for one minute think it is the only one.

Take this wonderful series from Hawaii's Civil Beat. When you visit the islands, you might not realise the under-currents. When you move to the islands, you still might not realise the under-currents. To do that, you need to explore, ask questions, understand and at all times keep an open mind.

That is exactly what Jessica Terrell did. And of course, if you follow my writings, you will know that I do too. It is amazing what is not in the history books, much less reported. Kudos to Civil Beat.

Read All About It.

But more importantly - take a listen. You will not be disappointed.

So my tributary feeds my river.

And my river feeds my estuary.

But not always.

I wonder .... as @davewiner says 'still diggin'

1. to arouse the curiosity or interest of by unusual, new, or otherwise fascinating or compelling qualities; appeal strongly to; captivate:
"The plan intrigues me, but I wonder if it will work."
2. to achieve or earn by appealing to another's curiosity, fancy, or interest:
"to intrigue one's way into another's notice."
3. to draw or capture:
"Her interest was intrigued by the strange symbol."

... and also used by a friend when she saw the newly emerging web publication .... And Another Thing.

It just appealed to me.

And I know it's naughty - but as I have demonstrated a few times before ... they aren't my favourite utility company ... which reminds me - I should update that post - it did get fixed.

But there's more.

Time Warner Cable on MAUI - one of the most expensive places on the planet - delivers what I get from Xfinity with FASTER cable AND HBO - for HALF the price.

And so on to my next battle.

Seriously? I Thought Peter Thiel was meant to be a visionary. These are all his comments ...

• 'age of Apple' at its end
• the evolution of the smartphone has reached a zenith.
• We know what a smartphone looks like and does. It's not the fault of Tim Cook, but it's not an area where there will be any more innovation."

... and it was published by the NYT!

taken to the logical conclusion, this seems to be his belief ...

• In 100 years we will still all be using phones that look like slabs of glass
• Innovation is only about what something looks like, not what it does
• Apple's only future is in phones, which have reached their zenith, thus Apple will die

Read All About It ... the sad thing is that he is one of Trumpette's IT peeps. (Apart from his ten-year-old son - who understands 'the cyber'.)

And Another Thing .... why can't he smile more. Is the world really that bad?

Oh Wait!

This right here. This link. This is the single most important link you ever need to have.

The Beer Judge Certification Program lists 100 styles with defined ranges of alcohol by volume (ABV), bitterness (measured in IBUs, or International Bittering Units), and color (measured using SRM, or Standard Reference Method).

... and that link up there will take you to a mapping of every beer you could be consuming.

... oh - and talking of the other Beer Maps - I bet if you did this walk, the chances are that many of these delights could be sampled on route.

Enjoy.

If you see this ... you can ignore it.

I still don't get why Billy Bush was so bad that he was essentially thrown off TV - but Trump is now going to be President. But that aside ... though #Trumpet thinks he is safe - I am guessing he isn't and that someone is eventually going to break ranks - for the good of the country.

Read All About It.

PostScript - there is an expression in England that talks about welshing on somebody. It is a derogatory term about not paying your debts - and seems to come from a feeling that us English used to have abou the Welsh.

And then there are Leeks ... that are quintessentially Welsh.

See where I am going?

I have not owned a printer for the better part of 4 years. In that time I have had to actually print something once - for the Blue Cross/BlueShield. (I know - right !). Everything else that people think I print and sign, is actually done through my iPad using EMail, DropBox and Sign My Pad.

Still - if you do still enjoy paper - here's a deal.

REDUCED to $49 - from $149. Plus ink cartridges - of course. Oh - and paper. Oh - and you can only print wherever your printer is.

Sign My Pad costs $3.99.

#JustSayin

I was fixing a bug in OmniOutliner where it wouldn't open a file with an uppercase .OPML suffix. I did some digging, and the fix was to register the app as handling the com.apple.news.opml file type.

... Brent Simmons writing on his blog about OPML.

In the short piece, he references Dave Winer, the inventor of OPML. Why is this interesting?

Well I use Omni Outliner and I use some of Dave Winer's software - including this blog that you are now reading.

OPML is used for aspects of this site and the river site I run here.

Time to do some investigation because I rarely find OPML files created by OmniOutliner play happily with Dave's world. I have always put it down to operator (that would me) error. Now, I am not so sure.

Fascinating read from NPR. Bottom line - you do not have to be rich to sponsor the arts. Beth Morrison is one of Opera's biggest patrons and does it all out of a two bedroom flat in Brooklyn.

Read All About It.

The drama has some investors predicting more disasters. “What if Theranos is the canary in the coal mine?” says Roger McNamee, a 40-year VC veteran and managing director at Elevation Partners. “Everyone is looking at Theranos as an outlier. We may discover it’s not an outlier at all.” That would be bad news, because without trust, the tech industry’s intertwined ecosystem of money, products, and people can’t function. Investors may find the full version of the old proverb is more accurate: “One bad apple spoils the whole barrel.”

Read All About It. Because the main story is that Theranos might just be the tip of the iceberg.

BTW - The 'Theranos' that Roger refers to ... that's the Theranos that laid off 155 of its remaining 375 staff yesterday - after laying 340 of 790 just three months ago. 

However you look at it 220 people out of 790 just three months ago is a 72% staff reduction.

There is a lot of noise about the inadequacy of Twitter, that it is stagnant, lacks innovation and does nothing that actually improves life. In fact, there seem to be an increasing number of people leaving for just that reason. Here's another one. Lindy West has left because it is "unusable for anyone but trolls, robots and dictators".

Trump uses his Twitter account to set hate mobs on private citizens, attempt to silence journalists who write unfavourably about him, lie to the American people and bulldoze complex diplomatic relationships with other world powers. I quit Twitter because it feels unconscionable to be a part of it – to generate revenue for it, participate in its profoundly broken culture and lend my name to its legitimacy. Twitter is home to a wealth of fantastic anti-Trump organising, as well, but I’m personally weary of feeling hostage to a platform that has treated me and the people I care about so poorly. We can do good work elsewhere.

You might guess that I am a big fan of this idea - it's a kick starter project for micro-blogging and I am watching with interest.

Sometime this year - something has to happen with Twitter. If it goes away - then something needs to replace it. If it doesn't go away - it is still going to change.

Me - I have my Wordpress Blogs, Medium, Several Twitter Accounts and, and, and ... no Facebook - although I might even reverse that this year to grow my reach.

And of course, I have this platform that emanates from the mind of Dave Winer ...

So, with all of those places for me to provide content - not sure I have the capacity for another ... but we will see.

I just hope it is not another App.net.

Another place to track some outpourings of yours truly and my friend Graham. 

We are intending to develop a kind of 'Siskel and Ebert' approach to stuff we find and have an opinion on. And with that said, I am guessing that there will be many many many posts !!

And Another Thing is it's name - and in so many ways - this says it all ....

2017 is upon us and while this piece of writing is not about new years resolution, it is an excellent reminder to clean up our lives at least a little, if not a lot. 

Not only that, but remember what is important - and forget that which isn't. Thank you Dave.

I think I figured it out. He knew there would be a 45 minute wait, and decided to let me do the waiting. That's what an ass Dick is.

In remarks to reporters upon entering a New Year’s Eve celebration at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Saturday night, Trump warned against being quick to pin the blame on Russia for the hacking of US emails.

“I just want them to be sure, because it’s a pretty serious charge,” he said. “And if you look at the weapons of mass destruction, that was a disaster, and they were wrong.”

I remain completely stumped why the media continues to quote these absurd words without reminding the reader that The WMD fiasco was all about politics and not about intelligence. And now, to support his politics he is attempting to did credit The Intelligence Services.

Take a read of this ... it is very clear. The intelligence communities were not convinced of the claims but were railroaded into submission by Bliar, Bush and their cronies - culminating in that shameful spectacle at the UN by Colin Powell.

So please - if we are serious about holding Trump accountable - then don’t just repeat his words - but go on to point out the falsehoods he will always utter if they suit his purpose.

My thanks to my buddy Louis for this link .... a long story, full of detail and exposure of the coverups around The Trump Foundation .... love this line ...

Together, we had discovered Trump doing exactly what the law said he couldn’t do: using his charity’s money to decorate his resort.
A Trump spokesman later offered the explanation that the resort was actually doing the foundation a favor, by storing its art free of charge. Tax experts were not impressed by this reasoning.

Read All About it. (David Fahrenthold of The Washington Post) who at one point was told by Trump that ...

“You know, you’re a nasty guy,” he said. “You’re really a nasty guy.”

That's good enough for me to read more of David in 2017.