Ordered ...

Blackfield V sees the duo of Steven Wilson and Aviv Geffen return to full collaborative mode. Written and recorded over a period of 18 months, the album contains 13 linked songs that form a flowing 45 minute ocean themed song cycle. 

The duo handle vocals, guitars, and keyboards, alongside guests Tomer Z, Eran Mitelman, and string performances by the London Session Orchestra. 

Producer / engineer Alan Parsons works on three of the album's key tracks. 

HELL YES!

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And here is another way of looking at it .....

... during an inspection by the Food and Drug Administration earlier this month, regulators concluded that Theranos had collected some data supporting the accuracy of the Zika test without implementing a patient-safety protocol approved by an institutional review board, according to the people familiar with the matter. 

Really, I know nothing about this world - but I do keep up with the news. A company that is run by a CEO who has been banned for two years from operating labs just weeks later is found out again. Cue - "Where Have All The Flowers Gone".

Maybe she should have stuck with Stanford.

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Via Kottke

and I agree - great chase.

But Steve's was nearly 50 years ago.

If you live in the UK you might recall the News International hacking scandal that ultimately brought down The News of the World. Though the editor - Rebecca Wade (now Brooks) - was protected by Murdock and has now reappeared as his CEO of News UK.

... what is News UK?  The publisher of The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun and - if it hadn't been forced to close due to that hacking scandal - The News of the World. So that's alright then.

And so what has all this to do with 2016 in the USA ?

Turns out that Fox News seem to have borrowed some of those dirty tricks ....

New York magazine’s Gabriel Sherman reported on September 2, that Fox News had “obtained the phone records of journalists, by legally questionable means,” including the home and cell phone records of Media Matters’ senior reporter Joe Strupp, in an effort to find Strupp’s anonymous sources at the network.
Media Matters president Bradley Beychok responded to the egregious allegations and said that the organization is “considering all legal options” available and that “anyone involved in the illegal hacking should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

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I am in the process of writing an article on engagement. You know - that thing we are all meant to do in this wonderful social web of ours. I post an article - you comment on it - we end up in a dialogue etc .... Except it doesn't seem to work like that ... which is why I am writing the article.

Meanwhile, this post from Dave Winer appeared in my feed.

It is about what 'nice internet users' do. He has a list of twelve - and I have repeated the four below that fit into my 'engagement' thinking.

- They comment on other people's posts.
- They like other people's posts.
- They share them.
- They read posts before responding to them.

The irony of course is that I couldn't post this post as a comment on Dave's post, because he has comments switched off. Still, I did 'like it' and 'share it' - and 'link back to it' with this post.

EMail me if you can connect the image and content of this post.

And another set of comments on comments. This time from the Washington Post.

This is part of the magic of Apple. They tell us the future without telling us their future.

A truly wireless future .... Read All About It

The former Genesis man wrote the song specifically for the upcoming Oliver Stone-directed film Snowden based on the experiences of Edward Snowden, the computer professional who leaked classified information from the US’s National Security Agency in 2013.

“Snowden’s revelations shocked the world and made it very clear why we need to have some way to look over those who look over us. With increasing terrorist attacks, security is critical, but not without any accountability or oversight.”

Looking forward to the movie - of course - and delighted to see Gabriel part of the music .... but the point of this post is to remind us all of this quote ....

“As we become so visible in the digital world and leave an endless trail of data behind us, exactly who has our data and what they do with it becomes increasingly important.

#VRM

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Steven Wilson has confirmed that the fifth Blackfield album will arrive on November 18 via Kscope.

CANNOT .. repeat CANNOT ... wait.

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Seriously .... while Apple stands up to the EU and the Feds - someone at the EFF thinks they will roll over to the music industry, which is already dead?

We hope that Apple isn’t unwittingly opening the door to new pressures to take advantage of that power.

Interesting that they have already had to update the inaccuracy of the post's facts - so what chance we have on understanding supposition I have no idea.

UPDATE (9/8/16): An earlier version of this blog post incorrectly suggested that no authorized audio devices or connectors that used the Lightning port existed prior to yesterday’s announcement. It also implied that the only way to achieve lossless sound quality on an iPhone was through a wired connection, which was also incorrect. We’ve edited the post accordingly.

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If that >>>> was an iPhone ... the media would be alight with outrage and 'doomed' Apple and 'explodeGate' and all the rest of the crap ... but it's Samsung ... barely a word - really - and we have the FAA warning about using them - airlines banning them on planes and - well you know the story ...

They talk about 'Grading Trump On A Curve' - which they do. And now Samsung.

#SamsungIsTheTrumpOfTech - I know - right - he even uses one - it’s his interns that use the iPhone. 

Fascinating Thought ...

“A person’s identity,” Amin Maalouf wrote as he contemplated what he so poetically called the genes of the soul, “is like a pattern drawn on a tightly stretched parchment. Touch just one part of it, just one allegiance, and the whole person will react, the whole drum will sound.” And yet, inseparable as the parts may be from the whole, we each contain multitudes — not only psychologically, but even biologically — nowhere more so than when it comes to the bifurcation between our inner and outer selves.

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Once again I am with Gruber … this time on that word ‘courage’. How much more powerful would it have been if Phil Schiller said ….

We're trying to make great products for people, and we have at least the courage of our convictions to say we don't think this is part of what makes a great product, we're going to leave it out. Some people are going to not like that, they're going to call us names but we're going to take the heat [and] instead focus our energy on these technologies which we think are in their ascendancy and we think are going to be the right technologies for customers. And you know what? They're paying us to make those choices. If we succeed, they'll buy them, and if we don't, they won't, and it will all work itself out.

… it makes sense - right? Except this words were Steve Jobs talking about Flash

To me it isn’t the word courage - it is the context it was used in.

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Again - spot on ...

There is a large contingent of pundits who apparently would be more excited about a new iPhone that looked entirely different but had the exact same components as the iPhone 6S than they are by the actual iPhones 7, which are shaped like the 6S but have amazing new components. I don’t get that mindset at all. It’s like being a car pundit and judging the new Porsche 911 with a “meh” because it looks like the previous 911, and never even considering what it’s like to actually drive the new car.

... as Gruber usually is.

... then again isn't the pundit thinking a reflection of modern society. It's all about appearance - forget capability.

Couldn't have put it better myself ..

Jeff Williams claimed that in 2015 Apple was the number two watch maker by revenue in the world, second only to Rolex. And Apple Watch was only on sale for eight months in 2015. If you think Apple Watch is a flop you are a moron.

... which is good - because Gruber makes his living out of this - I don't.

I have tweeted about this already - but I still find it fascinating. Capturing the information so that I can come back later and write something more considered. My thanks for making me think this way Graham.

...adjectives in English absolutely have to be in this order: opinion-size-age-shape-colour-origin-material-purpose Noun. So you can have a lovely little old rectangular green French silver whittling knife. But if you mess with that word order in the slightest you'll sound like a maniac. It's an odd thing that every English speaker uses that list, but almost none of us could write it out.

via Kottke

... and Stowe's position 

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Beyond that, anti-Trump Republicans treat his voters like immoral enablers of a malignant boob. Should Mr. Trump lose decisively in November they’ll lord it over everyone, say “I told you so,” and accept what they imagine will be forelock-tugging apologies. Then they will get to work burying not only Mr. Trump but his issues.
That’s where the future of the GOP will be fought, and found: on whether Trumpism can be defeated along with Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump would care about that if he cared about that.