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While we are on the topic of that election things coming up in the UK …. Excellent reminder from ‘Led By Donkeys’
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Miss Ken. So spot on.
\nA simple, lovely idea from Ami Dar (on LinkedIN) - founder of Idealist. Enjoy.
\n🖇️ After this .. another one from May last year. This one wasn’t as ‘finished, so tweaked a bit for clarity.
\nSeparate question - what was going on in my life in May last year?
\n![\"straight](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2023/ca962a7041.jpg\")
Just off a loooong web session with 50 or 60 very wise people talking about AI and ESG. Specifically ‘The Future of Sustainable Decisions in the Boardroom.’ Great session, and they are regular sessions, so ping me if you would like to join the next one.
\nIt came up, so I will report … though I have said this before AND I am going to keep saying it in different ways.
\nAI used to be about being the best. If the chess program couldn’t beat a grand master then clearly it wasn’t very good. And then it was - so then they said what about ‘GO’ … it never won - and then it did. Clearly AI doesn’t work - until it does.
\nBut this stuff is new.
\nYes - it doesn’t write like Stephen King or paint like Monet .. but most of us don’t and …
\nAND that’s not the point.
\nThe point is that it can write better than the average person.
\nSo (to begin with ) only the below average people will be replaced.
\nProblem 1 - ask anyone how good they are at anything - they will ‘generally’ see themselves as ‘better than average’.
\nProblem 2 - statistically - 50% of those people are wrong.
\nProblem 3 - a substantial part of the population can’t see it coming.
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This video is more recent and is an ad - been circulating in places like the book of faces - but makes for a good two minute watch and relates.
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Introducing one of my best friends in the world. Sorry the video is small post some cropping. Hope to fix that.
\nPS - Everything you hear is Randall, live at that moment. No backing dubs or overlays - other than his loop box.
\nOriginal video by David Wiltsie
\n", "date_published": "2020-04-09T13:42:43+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2020/04/09/may-i-introduce.html", "tags": ["? Music","MyVideoEmbeds","? Videos"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2020/03/27/inline-video-test.html", "content_html": "Mr Pie - as spot on as ever.
\n\n", "date_published": "2020-03-27T13:52:57+12:00", "url": "https://john.philpin.com/2020/03/27/inline-video-test.html", "tags": ["? Humour","MyVideoEmbeds","? Videos"] }, { "id": "http://johnphilpin.micro.blog/2017/03/09/john-philpin-the.html", "title": "John Philpin - The Other One ", "content_html": "![\"\"](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/2529/2025/8f3206a0eb.jpg\")
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It was a few years ago now, you can tell, because I had to get up from my chair, walk to the kitchen and pick up the phone.
\n\n\nHello .. John Philpin
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.. and those were the last words that seemed to make sense in this particular conversation. The following is paraphrased, my memory is not that good.
\nOh hello, we are calling to see if you have any commentary on the recent developments in Gainesville.
\nSorry, could you repeat that?
\nOh yes, we are following up on some recent developments around the murders in Gainesville, and calling to ask if you might add any perspective.
\nI’m sorry .. what kind of perspective?
\nWell given your involvement at the time, we were thinking ..
\nSorry. What involvement?
\nIs that John Philpin?
\nIt is.
\nP H I L P I N ? (Spelling it out).
\nYes.
\nWell given your connection to ..
\nI’m sorry, I think you have me confused with someone else.
\nBut you are John Philpin ..
\nYes. Tell you what if you give me your number, I will look into who it might be and get them to call back.
\n.. number exchanged and I sat down.
\nIn 2024 if you Google “John Philpin”, you will indeed find that there are two of us, but back then, there wasn’t a Google … I know kids .. hard to believe. There was something called ‘Alta Vista’ and Yahoo - but nascent at best.
\nIn all honesty, I can’t recall exactly how I went about the next step. We had Compuserve - and of course at Oracle I had access to the ‘real’ ‘internet’ - but - there still has to be something at the other end to be found for a ‘search’ to work … so this was going to be tough.
\nBut … BUT - you may not know this, but ‘Philpin’ is a pretty uncommon name. Uncommon like there may be 5 to 6 hundred of us - tops - around the world today. I can also tell you that 75% of them live in Pembrokeshire, Wales, or at least in South Wales.
\nOk - I jest - but it is not so far off.
\nDonald Philpin - a cousin of my dad’s - did some research back in the 60s and 70s and unpacked a family tree of sorts essentially connecting us all back to a ‘Walter Philpin’ of Tenby, Pembrokeshire in the 1600s. (When I say - research - this was no internet search (see earlier google comment), this was serious - visiting parish churches, pouring through registers of birth, deaths and marriage and painstakingly putting it all together, by talking to family members. (Now THAT was commitment.)
\nAnyway, long story short (let’s assume I used Compuserve) and tried to find this other Philpin. I failed. Kind of. I found an author called John Philpin - who was probably the writer this journalist thought I was. But - no way of connecting - no phone - certainly no email - even for the publisher - just an address in NYC, which IMHO seemed too hard. (Clearly I was no ‘Donald’.)
\nI also found a musician by name of 🎵Five Philpin and there seemed to be a connection to a John Philpin - and I am a music nerd anyway - so what the hell - I reached out to him through email that seemed to be associated with his music.
\nAnd nothing … for a few weeks and I then got an email from Five.
\nWe exchanged emails - and I bought every CD he had ever released - ( I like to support ‘smaller’ musicians and hell - with the same last name as mine - of course I was.)
\nAsked him about John - and turns out John is his father - at the time Five was in LA / Seattle - and dad was over In New England. Anyway could Five connect me?
\nFive - “Leave it with me.”
\n… delivering a result a week or so later, here’s Dad’s phone number - give him a call.
\nI did.
\nWe talked for a couple of hours … mainly around who both us ‘John Philpins’ came to be us ‘John Philpins’ .. and given the tightness of our Family tree, we tracked back to our mutual roots … in .. Pembrokeshire and and and …
\n.. and finally I got round to telling him about the call from the news paper asking for a comment .. and there was a silence, and then .. (again ..paraphrasing)
\n\n\nI have no interest in talking to these people whose only job seems to be title tattle, so I wouldn’t bother getting back to them … but should they call again, I would answer their questions. They are looking to speak to John Philpin and gather ‘quotes’ .. give them. Don’t let knowing nothing about the cases they call about get in the way .. make it up .. it would stand more chance of being right than some of what they write. Might be fun?
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We chatted a little longer - said our good byes and moved on with our lives.
\nI never heard anything more from the journalist - or any other for that matter, so I never got to try out John’s idea. I sporadically kept in touch with Five - had one more email exchange with John - but basically all our lives just continued, with this one tiny dent of connection.
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