El Estepario Siberiano has been popping into my feed for well over a year - and every time I am blown away - but until now never shared him here.

Fixed.

🔗📼🎵 This could be my BEST video TO DATE. - YouTube

➕

🔗📼🎵 MY STORY - HOW I MADE 1 MILLION SUBSCRIBERS. - YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@ElEsteparioSiberiano

[🔗📼🎵 Tenacious D

.. another one I have seen before an never shared - who knew that Jack Black had this voice inside of him? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLWkl5YpiD0

🔗 U.S. Customs and Border Protection Signs New Clearview A.I. Deal

"This is not facial recognition of criminals or even people suspected of wrongdoing. It is recognition of anyone who has a face that has been photographed and shared even semi-publicly."

ANYONE https://pxlnv.com/linklog/cbp-clearview/

Today’s Surprise From History - 🖇️ The Services Industry is prostitution minus …

🖇️🔎 Other Surprises https://john.philpin.com/2019/11/11/run-no-mercy.html

You might have noticed that ‘the daily surprise’ has just been updated to the ‘when I remember it - and have time surprise’.

🖇️🔎 Surprise - surprise - surprise https://john.philpin.com/search-space/?q=Today%27s+Surprise+From+History

So running his agency is no longer tenable — so announced irs sale but somehow it’s ok to continue to chair the 28 Olympics.

Got it.

🔗 Goldman Sachs Boosts Apple Inc. with Positive App Store Trends

"NB: No meaningful (or perhaps even measurable) impact from off-Appstore payments alternatives. Turns out adding friction to a frictionless business is not an attractive option for the customer."

💬 Horace Dediu

‘Ease’ replaces ‘Price’ in my 🖇️ 4 E Model for the Age of Engagement. https://asymco.com/2026/02/13/goldman-sachs-app-store-spending-accelerates-7-yoy-in-january-2026/

🔗 Meta planning facial recognition with glasses – FlowingData

"Meta’s internal memo said the political tumult in the United States was good timing for the feature’s release."

🤯 https://flowingdata.com/2026/02/13/meta-planning-facial-recognition-with-glasses/

🔗 Ring cancels partnership with law enforcement supplier Flock – FlowingData

"This comes shortly after Ring’s Super Bowl commercial for dog-finding. Ring owners were already rumbling, but it seems cute dogs were not enough to calm things down. Trust is already lost"

Even tech companies are drawing lines. https://flowingdata.com/2026/02/13/ring-cancels-partnership-with-law-enforcement-supplier-flock/

🔗 The Coming AI Cataclysm

"we will discover that even if your job mostly consists of interacting with LLMs, doing so well will require people who remember what it was like to read and interpret a document or contrast two ideas without asking an LLM to do it for you."

There used to be a lot of people that used to be able to thatch roofs - and now there aren’t. But that isn’t quite the same IMHO. https://www.compactmag.com/article/the-coming-ai-cataclysm/

🔗 Mark Bernstein: AI: New Frontiers

"Today’s AI can make you better at doing things you do well. That is what AI is for."

A simple sentence to cut through the noise. https://www.markbernstein.org/Feb26/AINewFrontiers.html

I feel I might have shared this in the past - but bears repeating.

🔗 How to Grow Up: Nick Cave’s Life-Advice to a 13-Year-Old – The Marginalian

"Read. Read as much as possible. Read the big stuff, the challenging stuff, the confronting stuff, and read the fun stuff too. Visit galleries and look at paintings, watch movies, listen to music, go to concerts — be a little vampire running around the place sucking up all the art and ... https://john.philpin.com/2026/02/14/i-feel-i-might-have.html

🔗 The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

@manton - saw this and thought might be an interesting spin on your new Longreads feed on Micro Blog. https://longreads.com/2026/02/13/the-top-5-longreads-of-the-week-597/

🔗 Apple Repeats Release Date for New Version of Siri – Asymco

"NB: I’m told repetition is necessary in order for others to understand. Sometimes you’re supposed to say the same thing twice. Sometimes even three times. But still, some fail to grasp the idea."

Tell ‘em what you are going to say.
Tell ‘em.
Tell ‘em what you said.

…number one rule of any presentation.

Then again - there are so many comments made about ... https://john.philpin.com/2026/02/14/apple-repeats-release-date-for.html

Scripting News: Friday, February 13, 2026

"the quality assurance of decentralized systems will be done by AI, and overseen by a non-profit organization, staffed by retired journalists."

Human curation is what it is going to be about. BUT - for truly excellent curation - the skill set is way more than ‘Being Human’ - a starter for 10.

Composition Skills
Be Credible
Increase Friction
Good Judgment
Restraint - lots ... https://john.philpin.com/2026/02/14/scripting-news-friday-february-the.html

Today I learned that you can DoS a Waymo by opening its door

And that’s how you get a $100 billion valuation my friends. https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/door-ajar-versus-100-billion-valuation/

ER, er, um. | Self Distract

"There isn’t any — not any — criticism of his performance that doesn’t tell you more about the critic than the show. I suppose you can argue that the praise for his show also reveals something of the critic, but that one I’m okay with because they’re celebrating something well done and also they are not talking bullshit."

True of much - not just Bad Bunny. http://williamgallagher.com/selfdistract/2026/02/13/er-er-um/

From the same post - love it. One day corporate decision makers will think before making decisions. (Or did some lowly dev make this decision all by themselves.)

🔗 ER, er, um. | Self Distract

"Sky’s website let you search for shows but, for some unfathomable reason, at the time required you to type in at least three letters. I said this was a problem, since Sky’s most popular and so presumably most searched-for series then was ER." http://williamgallagher.com/selfdistract/2026/02/13/er-er-um/

According to ‘Integrity’ my blog @ https://john.philpin.com has

"123,014 links across 12,604 pages and 8,602 are ‘bad’."

Double checked because 123,014 seemed a lot - but that is what it says.

I didn’t check the 12,604 pages - that seemed about right.

But the implication is that there are an average of 123014/12604=9.76 links per page. AVERAGE. That would also mean that only 0.699 % of my blog links (which spread ... https://john.philpin.com/2026/02/13/according-to-integrity-my-blog.html

I have never really looked into Ghost - but plenty of people have - and they tell me how great it is. And I have no reason to believe otherwise, so hard to believe that this has only just happened.

🔗 Welcome emails

"Starting today, automated welcome emails are now built right into Ghost ." https://ghost.org/changelog/welcome-emails/