🔗 The Mediocrity of Modern Google

But here’s the thing about tech – and I’ve been saying this for years – technology’s self-obsolescence is a more effective regulator than any government agency. Google, despite its trillion-dollar market cap and infrastructure advantages, risks becoming the first of the mega-caps to fade into irrelevance as the internet evolves beyond the “10 blue links” paradigm that made it a giant.

Me - never been overly into the land of Google. Yes - I have an account - and of course I have Google Drive - but it is not my ‘go to’ - unless I am forced into it because a business I am working with has decided it hates Microsoft and has enabled Google. I do think it is hard to beat their ‘office suite’ - for the collaboration part of it - BUT I would never consider writing a doc or knocking out a spreadsheet on Google if I wasn’t expecting somebody to be collaborating with me.

In my world …

GoogleSheets Airtable

GoogleDocs Craft

GMail AppleMail/Spark mainly running my own domains in some data center

Google Search Perplexity

GDrive iCloud/Dropbox

GooglePhotos et al. Apple

What else do people use Google for - I forget.

🔗 Were Your Managers Managing Your Decline?

This is “managed decline,” – the art of overseeing failure with exceptional documentation. Managed decline hides under terms like cost control, risk minimization, and streamlining, but it guarantees one thing: job security for managers. The EU and UK exemplify this, where managed economic entropy and decline have become a boon for the managerial class. Managers multiply like Gremlins in water.

🔗 Division is easier than connection - Seth Godin - just reminding us all of good behaviour.

I don’t know - I share a lot of Om - but this one - this right here is in a class of its own - so beautiful. A delight to read. A level where you don’t just give up highlighing the best parts - but maybe even give up writing - because how can you even begin to achieve this.

🔗 When AI Whispers - On my Om

Talking of 🖇️ Herb .. this is one of his iconic ones and it got me to wondering why Haight Ashbury wasn’t called Ashbury Haight. I now know the answer - BUT - now I’m wondering what rules the signage in SF follows .. I have my suspicions, but need to check - and if they are consistent.

Sitting and catching up with the world - and not one, not two but three Substacks all on a single theme;

🔗 Open Source and AI, FSF Edition - Dana F. Blankenhorn

🔗 The Mar-a-Lago Accord, or the Plan to Crash the US Economy - Umair Haque

🔗 State Of The (Super)Consumer: Why Government Cuts Are Spooking The Market

They are all different and come from different angles but the theme is not good. And planned?

It’s head-scratching if you’re a boomer. You lived through JFK, proffering what you could do for your country and… Now it’s WHAT CAN YOU DO FOR ME?

💬 Bob Lefsetz

🔗 Read the whole thing

🔗 Scripting News: Monday, March 24, 2025

Peter O’Toole starred in 🔗🎬The Ruling Class, a favorite when I was younger. The 🎵📼 last song in the movie is pretty freaking great.

💬 Dave Winer

I agree with Dave - ‘The Ruling Class’ was a good movie (not great - but good). ‘Favorite’? Not so sure, definitely not ‘in general- since it was pretty much panned at the time only time turning it into what we now call a ‘cult classic’. (But do watch the song - it has all the expected cheesiness of its time!)

Four years earlier was 🔗🎬 If - now THAT was a film and arguably did for McDowell what Layer Cake did for Craig.