Every year, UEA - my alma mater - has a global reunion. I attended my first one last week. I cannot believe that there were so many people that attended my University in the sleepy town of Norwich, East Anglia (that's in England folks) .... that now live in the Bay Area !

If you have an aversion to hearing Cruz's voice - and I do understand - then scroll through to the start of minute 2. 

Trevor Noah absolutely nails it.

Watch It All Here.

Just 7 LINKS to share today.

Apple Insider

Patently Apple

Engadget

Mac Rumors 

BGR

The Verge

BGR

To save you the click through - they are all about a Samsung 7 bursting into flames. Old news you might think. Actually - no. These links all point to today's story of how this one is one of the replacement phones that were exchanged for a faulty one!

You cannot make this stuff up - and I will say it again - IF THIS WAS APPLE - the mainstream media wouldn't have time to cover the election, because there would be so much coverage about Apple's problems.

A National Security Agency (NSA) contractor has been arrested and charged with stealing highly classified information, U.S. authorities said Wednesday, a data breach that could result in a damaging new leak about the U.S. government’s surveillance efforts.
The contractor worked for Booz Allen Hamilton.

.. and no - it wasn't Edward Snowden. It’s another one that Juan Cole explores in this excellent read.

All I am wondering is how long it will be before BAH is sued, charged, anything over placing spies into the Government.

If not that - then maybe at least stopping them from working with the Government?

#JustAsking

Today's musical offering.

From Bertrand Russell to Oswald Mosley

It is always difficult to decide on how to respond to people whose ethos is so alien and, in fact, repellent to one’s own. It is not that I take exception to the general points made by you but that every ounce of my energy has been devoted to an active opposition to cruel bigotry, compulsive violence, and the sadistic persecution which has characterised the philosophy and practice of fascism.

The whole letter - with the context can be read over on Maria Popova's excellent site 'Brain Pickings'.

In case you are wondering who Oswald Mosley is ... think Trump, in the 30s, in the UK, but actually elected.

History continue to repeat itself. Oh wait - that's right nobody is actually standing up to Trump!

Time is now to spread your voice,
Time's to come there'll be no choice,
Why do you feel small,
It happens to us all.

... as 'writ' by The Moody Blues

... and in case you are wondering just how small, this should put it all into perspective. 

Lots of news. Lots of commentary. Lots of noise about Virtual Reality. Augmented Reality. And it got me to thinking.

It takes about two seconds to find an article on the internet asking whether we are real. Even postulating that the universe itself might in fact just be a simulation. Like this one for example. 

'Virtual Reality', by definition describes a reality that is (nearly) like ours (that is after all the original meaning of the word 'virtual'). How long therefore before 'virtual reality and 'real reality' are essentially indistinguishable? And then what?

I have a feeling that just as the iPhone is actually a misnomer - yes it is a phone - but the name belies the underlying power of the device that so many people carry in their hands. And there are many more historical artifacts such as 

• Unused 'footage' from a movie, and who hasn't asked for 
• a 'dial in' number, when seeking to join an online conference call.

Fast forward to the future ... we will have 

• the reality that we 'know '-  that which most people consider to be their physical space
• the online reality - an alternative reality that is 'in the computers'
• the augmented reality - where the computer's reality is layered on our physical space

It might make more sense to think of it all in terms of

This morning's musical offering for your delectation.

Gentle. Liquid.

Listen.

I need to investigate the connection further ... but just read these words from Shunryu Suzuki

"To stop the mind does not mean to stop the activities of mind. It means your mind pervades your whole body. With your full mind you for the mudra in your hands."
" We say our practice should be without gaining ideas, without any expectations, even of enlightenment. This does not mean, however, just to sit without purpose.
This practice free from gaining ideas is based on the Prajna Paramita Sutra. However, if you are not careful the sutra itself will give you a gaining idea.
It says 'form is emptiness and emptiness is form.' But if you attach to that statement, you are liable to be involved in dualistic ideas: here is you, form, and here is emptiness, which you are trying to realize through your form. So 'form is emptiness, and emptiness is form' is still dualistic. But fortunately, our teaching goes to say, 'form is form and emptiness is emptiness.' Here there is no dualism."

When I was a kid, one of the conundrums that a friend used to ask in the playground was "what is the hardest thing you can do with your mind". (Yes we were kids - and yes he was very advanced for his age !!!)

Answer : To NOT think of elephants.

Now I am trying to decide if these two concepts are connected.

It was George Orwell who wrote

“The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power.”

So consider this - that I TRUST will be extensively reported - we will see.

The GOP website pushed up blog posts declaring its VP candidate, Mike Pence, the "clear winner" of a debate against Democratic candidate Tim Kaine, before the debate actually began.

... but about an hour before the debate had even started !

Engadget likens the error to Apple's pre announcement of the iPhone. I mean everyone needs a little clickbait don’t they? But Apple knew they were going to release an iPhone 7 - they were in full control of the outcome. The GOP did not. They wrote a conclusion about something that they knew nothing about.

So - who do YOU trust?

Work Life Balance as a concept has always annoyed me - and continues to do so. Balance is not only hard - but it is wrong. Because one small step either way and there is discord.

Brad Feld wrote about Work Life Harmony yesterday. It resonated more for me as it did him.

It occurred to me that life is not (or at least should not) be a see saw or set of scales that somehow  measure us - and in turn judge. 

Life is surely more yin and yang - where the forces / principles / opposites interact with each other.

 Stunning Album. Absolutely Stunning.

He was in the middle of a record that was already eerily connected to the themes of death and falling – when you’re Nick Cave, that’s probably more likely than when you’re Taylor Swift – and he simply carried on. He kept writing. He wrote his way straight through the aftermath, and not only did he continue making his record, he decided to invite a huge film crew in to capture the entire recording process, a mere six months after his son died.

Read All About It.

Marvelous stuff ... and important.

This is a great idea - but I would have been more impressed if it was one of Brad's team writing this piece - and not him. 

Three years ago my partners and I at Foundry Group decided to experiment with a month off the grid. Each of us goes away for a month and the other three (now four) cover for him. It’s been remarkably successful for us, both individually and as a partnership.

Why? Because 'at the top' things like this are very easy to do. If you are a coder in an engineering company in one of Brad's investments - I wonder what the reaction would be if they asked for similar benefits. 

It is not clear from this article whether this is the only 'vacation' that Brad takes - but I am pretty sure it isn't - based on other posts in his blog. 

Not enough to title the piece "How to Own the Consideration Phase" - this little gem is popped in half way down ... (my bold).

You're doing enough to fill the top of the funnel: It's time to focus on the consideration stage (20:48): "A lot of companies are spending too much money and focusing too much effort at the top of the customer journey for awareness and too much effort and money at the bottom trying to get people to buy again. The reality is that people are caught in this paradox of choice, and they can't actually make a decision. The biggest threat out there really isn't competitors, it's consumers' inability to make a decision.

I am more than capable of making a decision - WHEN I want to - it is not that I am incapable. Oh - and NO corporation OWNS the 'consideration phase'. 

I Am My Own System of Record.

And this from a professor of marketing. No wonder we are F****D.

Where it all starts .... is of course the tributary ... but before you even get there, if you don’t know what you are doing .... you need help. This is a BIG doff of hat to (in 'first name' alphabetical order) ..

Andy Sylvester for getting me going and talking me off the cliff - a few times actually.

Dave Winer for providing the software that makes all this happen.

Frank McPherson for providing the deep insights into what I was doing.

Scott Hansen for checking, clarifying, explaining and spotting that I was an idiot and pointing it out nicely.

Current rivers powering my estuary include

Podcasts that have piqued my interest that I am currently tracking.

Music - as I find good new feeds an what is going on in that world 0 I will add it into this tributary

Reading - which are the top feeds that I read each morning to keep up with the world.

I will update them all from time to time as I discover new sources. 

And soon I hope to add one for VRM aswell.

Here is my Estuary.

I am back. There has been a little bit of a break as I have been moving both DNS and service providers around - and during the course of it all - breaking things - a lot !

Today is Monday October 3rd - and though my styling isn't right ... yet - I can once more write and publish on my own server at my own address.

I have launched three sites.

Tributary is one you can't really see - but it is where I write all this content.

... and of course where else does a tributary lead but a River - which if you are on the site and not reading this through RSS - that is where you are now.

Finally - all rivers flow into an Estuary before they find their way into the sea - and of course, in that Estuary you will find some collected rivers. That for now is a WIP - and is likely to continue to change as we go forward.