๐ WWW
There are a lot of links out to different parts of the web on this site. I try to mark them all so they get listed here.
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.
Talking of ๐๏ธ Herb .. this is one of his iconic ones and it got me to wondering why Haight Ashbury wasnโt called Ashbury Haight. I now know the answer - BUT - now Iโm wondering what rules the signage in SF follows .. I have my suspicions, but need to check - and if they are consistent.
๐ Another cracker from Ambrose โฆ. by @bradenslen
Corporation: An ingenious device for obtaining profit without individual responsibility. ๐ฌ Ambrose Bierce
How could I not share another Ambrosian delight?
Sitting and catching up with the world - and not one, not two but three Substacks all on a single theme;
๐ Open Source and AI, FSF Edition - Dana F. Blankenhorn
๐ The Mar-a-Lago Accord, or the Plan to Crash the US Economy - Umair Haque
๐ 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 andโฆ Now it’s WHAT CAN YOU DO FOR ME?
๐ฌ Bob Lefsetz
๐ Scripting News: Monday, March 24, 2025
Peter O’Toole starred in ๐๐ฌThe Ruling Class, a favorite when I was younger. The ๐ต๐ผ last song in the movie is pretty freaking great.
๐ฌ 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 ๐๐ฌ If - now THAT was a film and arguably did for McDowell what Layer Cake did for Craig.
๐ฏ ๐ It’s Scorched Earth Time - letโs start with over throwing ๐๏ธ Chuck.
This is the second post from Indexed with that headline …
The Peopleโs OS
Back in the archives of People First I used to talk about โThe Peopleโs OSโ. ๐ Here for example. It sat together with something that I also called HumanIT. In many ways playful ideas on a tech first world that even then was apparent - much less today. (Hat tip to my friend Jeff Orgel who gave me ‘HumanIT’.) (And now you know why I started ‘People First’.)
Reading this today makes me think that this movement might just be an idea whose time has finally come โฆ (another hat tip - this one to โVictorโ.)
I’ve been following ๐ Umair for years - but - only 10 references to him on this blog (I just counted). I think partly because he sometimes seems do be so out there and partly because he desperately needs a good editor - because he can go on … and on … and on …
Still - when you look at some of his old stuff that was ‘out there’ then .. and you look at today - maybe he isnโt as weird as he sometimes reads. So I commend you to today’s offering ….
What’s going to be left after five years or so of this? What we’ve already seen, and we’re just two months in?
๐ฌ Umair Haque
๐ Trapping misbehaving bots in an AI Labyrinth - well beyond my technical competence to understand if this will really work - BUT - I applaud the effort - and on the face of it - very clever โฆ swamp the zones where the zone swampers hang.
I don’t nominate agentic, which is suddenly hot shit
… or just shit. (for now). I get the promise - but all we are really seeing is a demo. HIs argument is ‘agency’ as word of the year - not agentic … why the distinction?
See, agency is a noun, and agentic is an adjective.
But that isn’t really the trust of his main argument.
Go read the whole thing.
๐๐ต๐ผ Objects Outlive Us
Her shopping bag broke sending eggs and flour crashing
Down to the ground, just like star clusters smashing
But no one will give her a glance
They just shuffle on home in a trance
The tiniest lives fill their hives up with worry
To make it to church, well, she needs to hurry
When late she will bow down contrite
While a meteor turns out the light
And there in an ordinary street
A car isn’t where it would normally be
The driver in tears, ‘bout his payment arrears
Still, nobody hears whะตn a sun disappears
In a galaxy afar
First day of the new job and hะต was so nervous
The suit and the platitude, “Can I be of service?”
His boss made him clean all the cars
While he wondered, “Is there life on Mars?”
And meanwhile the stars line themselves up in order
While we bicker on with our fences and borders
But best not think about that
It’s better to live without facts
And now in her old wedding bed
A lady will dream that her husband is dead
Of course he’s alive, he’ll be home around five
Still, silence arrives, when a nebula dives into our Milky Way
The thunder and rain start, the paving stones melt
And oddly the first spots make Orion’s belt as
You queue at the bank for an hour
‘Cause a solar flare blew out the power
The nurse in the care home now empties a bath tub
The water will spiral, a galaxies vast hub
Is draining away as we speak
But she loses her job there next week
And there with his first telescope
A teenager stands full of hormones and hope
As he squints at the night, like a painting of light
He doesn’t suppose that a black hole implodes
In a trillion tears from now (Ah)
๐ฌ Andy Partridge (Music - Wilson)
It's Incredible How Supposed 'Pros' Just Don't Get It.
Back on Apple. Specifically the difficualty people who should know better continue to fail miserably at understanding the company - and if they donโt understand - how can they explain?
Ready To Choose Sides Yet?
I have always been adamant. I am English. British at best. And that is why I remain on a US Green Card - which historically raised eyebrows. It hasnโt alwayss been easy - but right now feeling good about it.
Work Life Balance - AGAIN.
Long said that the whole work/life balance problem โsolves the wrong problem really wellโ. For example - ๐๏ธ me, nearly six years ago
I conclude …
Does John Mayall feel fulfilled? Well, needless to say, I can’t speak for him - but I think he does. Is he the richest musician on the planet? Not by a long way. Is he the most well known? Not at all. But I’d wager he is one of the most fulfilled people out there. And not a work-life balance equation to be seen.
Just read this in Gaping Void
In case you were wondering โฆ. ๐ When You Will Die cute(?) dynamic graphic.
๐ Om has a new idea that utilises Wordland .. which is pretty darn close to what I do here on Micro Blog.
That said .. I would still like a simple way that allows me in โview blog modeโ to quickly edit what I am looking at .. rather than the hoop jumping I need to do.
And then I would like whatever changes I make on the blog to ricochet into the social media platforms .. but I know thatโs a different request.
Bob writing what the Democrats should understand. But do they?

