I’ve started a new AlbumWhale list (and I haven’t even finished the others! Still.) The new list is called ‘Formative Years’ …

"I’m an ‘artist’ guy, then an ‘album’ guy and then a singles/track guy. I like my music ‘in context’ The lists in here are way behind what I see in my mind’s eye - BUT the topics provide a clue to how I relate them all. This new list is all about albums that ‘formed me’ and contributed to the music world I am today. At the time I might not have recognised it - but in the rear view mirror - absolutely."

First Up: 🔗 🎵Odessey and Oracle | The Zombies https://albumwhale.com/johnphilpin/formative-years https://albumwhale.com/albums/10291

Joined the waitlist.

"We are told that AI will assist us, that platforms will adapt to us, and that services will respect what we want. But we are not being asked what we want. We are being modeled, approximated, and acted upon. Once that system achieves high enough fidelity and the simulation of our intent is “good enough,” our actual presence becomes redundant."

"This is not empowerment. It is erosion."

🔗 The whole piece is on LinkedIN - via Doc Searls. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/false-intention-economy-how-ai-systems-replacing-b%C3%A1rtfai-walcott-4vxuc/

US Stock Markets generally pummeled today.

On top of that;

a massive TSLA sell off

related activism

crashing sales

missing their numbers so badly that they came in lower than the most pessimistic analysts outlooks

And yet the company is still up ‘100’ compared to where it was just a year ago.

Updated my 🔗🎬 Mythic Quest review to include the 4th series .. watched the final episode last night. https://john.philpin.com/2023/04/11/mythic-quest-im.html

🕵💬 Inspired By People | 🌐 Author

🔍 All The Posts can be found here, or scroll through the quotes below. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Wendell_Holmes_Sr. https://john.philpin.com/search-space/?q=%F0%9F%95%B5%F0%9F%92%AC+Inspired+By+People

🔗 LinkedIn’s cofounder Reid Hoffman says seeking work-life balance is a red flag that you’re ‘not committed to winning’ | Fortune

"But the reward on the other side is second to none; the 100 or so first employees at LinkedIn don’t need to work anymore, he added. Microsoft purchased the professional networking platform for $26.2 billion in 2016."

.. so why is he still working? https://fortune.com/2025/04/02/reid-hoffman-says-the-best-founders-dont-have-work-life-balance-anything-short-means-theyre-not-committed-to-winning/ https://fortune.com/2016/06/13/microsoft-buying-linkedin/

🔗 If you are happy and need something to take you off your high … - don’t worry - its not that you don’t know l this - it’s just when you see it summarised and ending with …

"But the public is too dumb and too uninformed to wake up and smell the coffee."

"It ain’t morning in America, it’s closing in on midnight."

"If you speak up, no one will rally to your defense, like the law firms sitting on the sidelines and refusing to defend 🔗 Perkins Coie"

"But you’ll compete with other influencers for the last buck, listening to mindless drivel .. happy that you’re still alive." https://lefsetz.com/wordpress/2025/04/02/tariffs/ https://www.perkinscoiefacts.com

🔗 📚‘On Tyranny’ by Timothy Snyder https://micro.blog/books/9780804190121?title=On+Tyranny&author=Timothy+Snyder&cover_id=216335

📺 Adolesence ★★★★ https://john.philpin.com/2025/04/03/adolesence.html

📺 Reacher ★★★ https://john.philpin.com/2025/04/03/reacher.html

Goodness Jervois Road. 📍

Back when we first arrived in New Zealand The Goodness was called The Governor and became our go to place for coffee and breakfast. I think it’s now onto something like the 4th or 5th owner since then .. but it remains our ‘go to’ .. BUT .. our hearts remain with The Governor and ... john.philpin.com https://john.philpin.com/2025/04/03/goodness-jervois-road-back-when.html

The Future Of Work https://john.philpin.com/2025/04/03/the-future-of-work.html

🔗 Daring Fireball: Steve Kornacki Exits MSNBC for New Deal With NBC News and NBC Sports

"They might well just switch off the lights and lock the doors at MSNBC."

💬 John Gruber

He’s not alone with that thought. Comcast has been moving deck chairs for a while now.

But this is more a demonstration of another media company bending the knee. https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/04/02/kornacki

🔗 Daring Fireball: ‘What Makes an App Feel “Right” on the Mac?'

"Martin has a good list here of fundamentals, but ultimately, you know it when you see it."

💬 JohnGruber

.. like ‘pornography’ and ‘art’ then? https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/04/02/apps-feel-right-mac-watts-martin

🔗 ‘A Complete Disaster,’ Says Daniel Ives About Tesla Stock

"The EV giant delivered 336,681 vehicles in Q1 – falling far short of Wall Street’s expectation of around 378,000. Even the more cautious analyst forecasts, hovering near 360,000, were missed by a wide margin.

In all, Tesla missed consensus by more than 10% and underperformed even the lowest projections by about 20,000 vehicles. Deliveries also tumbled 13% year-over-year, the sharpest quarterly drop in the company’s history."

.. and then …

"And yet, in a twist straight out of the Musk playbook, Tesla stock staged a comeback. After plungin... john.philpin.com https://john.philpin.com/2025/04/03/a-complete-disaster-says-daniel.html

🔗 Long Live RSS - Phil Windley - via Doc Searls

A timely reminder. It’s RSS in general - good, but Phil also writes specifically about Substack.

"I found that if you enter /rss after the URL for an author or category page, you get RSS for that author or category."

Meanwhile Substack’s own help. - says to tack on ‘feed’ not ‘rss’.

I do find that both work - and sometimes neither - which is more often than not because of the beginning of the URL …

"Replace “your” with the name of your Substack publication."

It isn’t always clear (to me at least) what that ‘your’ replacement should be. https://www.technometria.com/p/long-live-rss https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/360038239391-Is-there-an-RSS-feed-for-my-publication

🕵💬 Inspired By People | 🌐 Norman Shidlec

🔍 All The Posts can be found here, or scroll through the quotes below. https://www.biblio.com/authors/norman-g-shidle/992936?srsltid=AfmBOorWUnCE2XVWjd4K7iOACCgGBTyyRrd2Bb3F8WjsBk-R5sLia2yA https://john.philpin.com/search-space/?q=%F0%9F%95%B5%F0%9F%92%AC+Inspired+By+People

🪦 oh no! Say it ain’t so Val. And just 65 😔

I like the idea of categorisation in 🍎 email and the 4 categories make sense to 🗂️ BUT sure would like the ability to add a couple more of my own. #EdgeCaseAgain