@dioscuri@francescgo@odoreida “Hard to differentiate” doesn’t support pretending we cannot (and therefore extend human-courtesies like confidentiality).
You’re making things more confusing for yourself.
On Block. I'm mentally exhausted from seeing almost everyone have the wrong take from the $XYZ news.
AI layoffs ARE coming. Across sectors (not just fintech). This is guaranteed over the next 1-3 years. However...
The Block layoffs are NOT those. Block has operated with 2-3x the required staff to run their business for a long time (probably 4-5 years at this point). This is WELL KNOWN in the industry.
Without their headcount, they most likely would have shipped FASTER. They would be a bigger, more profitable company with a larger product suite on the merchant and consumer side.
The promises made by them in their 2021 Investor Day are fresh in my head. I was in awe. Completely visionary stuff and I was in awe, but it was bungled by a lack of ability to execute.
It didn't seem like Square or Cash App was moving at all for about 2 years after that. My job is to monitor them (among other things, of course) and I literally removed them from my map of competitors to stay updated on.
They came back in 2025 after Dorsey actually came back to run the business. 2022-2024 were completely lost in what I assume to be bureaucracy and nonsense. I, along with others, called Block a retirement home -- lovingly after Microsoft, which I also called a retirement home.
These are not AI layoffs. This is the right call to steer a ship that should be a fintech powerhouse back where it probably belonged for the last 4 years.
When I saw the news, I was happy as a shareholder that knew all of the above, and a little concerned as a competitor. That is a GOOD THING.
Inevitably, they will reach a stage where true "AI layoffs" are possible. Dorsey will again NOT lay his people off. This is who he is -- for all his flaws as an operator, he legitimately cares for his people and company morale and that's why this has built up for so long for such a large headline.
I know I only have like 500 followers or something, but I wish everyone could understand this before deciding to post their wrong opinion on everything.
In the NBA, the tanking phenomenon and the Bravo sports fan phenomenon—the fact that so many fans skip regular season games and listen to pods for player-movement gossip—are two sides of the same coin.
They’re both a reflection of the fact that Who Lands the Next Top 10(ish) Player is just way way way way more important for most teams than Who Won Last Night’s Game. The low value of the games and high value of potentially acquiring a star makes it hard to take the regular season seriously. It drives up both interest in trade rumors (for fans) and the expected value of tanking for top draft picks (for non-elite teams).
These problems can’t be fixed with small tweaks. They’re sort of systemic. No rule is going to reduce the value of a Jokic/SGA/prime LeBron player. The relatively low value of each game is also kinda baked in. The NBA season is so long, and two-thirds of the league makes the playoffs/play-in anyway, and the playoffs are ALSO months long, and home court advantage is diminished which reduces the value of seeding…
The NFL is the opposite: individual players are less valuable (Sam Darnold won the SB!) and individual games are more valuable, so attention is pulled toward the outcome of the games rather than some meta-game focused on player acquisition.
But basically, I think any sport with a small number of players, a smaller number of elite players, and a large number of games is going to evolve toward a system where lots of people realize that, for most teams, personnel management is more important than the regular season—and what you get is both general managers and fans spending all their time thinking about how their teams can snag a star.
Two things are clear
1) Dabo stood on business yesterday
2) if he’s going down, he’s going down his way. Morris returning as coordinator, then Boyd, Nolan Turner, and a smattering of other positions on staff.
He is who he is.
Absolutely through and through.
SATURDAY UPDATE- I am cautiously optimistic as potential ice totals look lower for Metro Atlanta through the day tomorrow. Significant ice is still very likely from Gainesville into the mountains.
**this could, and likely will change again, this is just a current trend I'm seeing that could be good news**
Ole Miss fans don’t realize how good they had it.
When Lane left, the whole world had their back. Even more so, when Lane tampered.
But now, they’re just like everyone else, and they did it to themselves.
@dieworkwear "For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him" (ESV).
John 5:22-23
In the last three years...
There's been 16 conference championship game losers that were ranked in the CFP Top 25 entering the game.
15 of the 16 losers dropped in the next poll.
The lone exception...the 2025 Alabama Crimson Tide.