[Some days, it’s the little things.] Last fall, the National Zoo in DC welcomed two new pandas, Bao Li and Qing Bao. They’re not receiving visitors just yet, but yesterday, they got to play in their first American snow. The video is a delight.1 I hope you can take a moment to app … | Continue reading
[It also makes me think of ululating, and that’s weird too.] Last week, I expressed my long-time desire to understand this slogan: [Photo credit: xxxxxCanManxxxxx at The Can Museum] But second and more importantly, I’m writing about this in the hopes of solving a decades-old myst … | Continue reading
[You’d think Amazon would be better at logistics.] During the height of the COVID pandemic, huge swaths of people worked from home, and workers came to appreciate the fact that they didn’t need to spend hours of their lives commuting. More recently, however, many companies have a … | Continue reading
[It sounds pretty bad-ass.] The headline on this is misleading, as there are a few hundred of these machines, and even more techs for them. Still, it’s a fascinating look at some foundational technology that’s incredibly hard to comprehend. Link: https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/asml- … | Continue reading
[“The Society for Totally Useless Pranks and Immature Dumbassery” has my current favorite acronym of 2025.] Friend-of-the-site Colin T. knows of my love of both truck-eating bridges and googly eyes. So naturally, he swiftly alerted me to the existence of Lansing, Michigan’s Big P … | Continue reading
[Dennis Nedry would be pleased if he weren’t fictional and dead.] As a young lad in the ’90s, I consumed soft drinks which now seem quite vile to me. I suppose that even at the time, I knew they were gross. Have you ever really looked at Mountain Dew? As slightly vulgar teenage b … | Continue reading
[Startling mice, virtually] Scientists at Cornell have created technology to enable mice to better experience VR in the lab. I give you “MouseGoggles”! I ran some numbers, and it appears that MouseGoggles actually have almost as many daily users as Apple Vision Pro. Link: https:/ … | Continue reading
[Let me know when they pay you to take.] Hertz is moving away from EVs in their rental fleet, and they’re apparently trying to offload their existing inventory onto customers who currently have them in their possession. Despite Hertz’s statement that they’re expanding customer ch … | Continue reading
[Slalom!] Urban cyclists looking to change things up from just getting doored or right hooked should head to Newton, Massachusetts, where a fun new challenge awaits: The state has been working on improving this road via a redesign which includes a separated bike lane, but the uti … | Continue reading
[Just in case you need something to argue about today.] Did you know that the NOAA has an official definition for a “white Christmas”, and that it’s incredibly nitpicky? A white Christmas is officially defined as having at least 1 inch of snow on the ground at 7 am local time Chr … | Continue reading
[“Most Unusual Winter City” would probably generate less buzz.] Boston was recently named the most beautiful winter city in the world. Initially, I was surprised. Eventually, I was just amused. Now, at present, the city is nicely covered with a blanket of snow. That’s certainly a … | Continue reading
[“From you, alright? We learned it by watching you.”] The public response to the murder of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO has frequently been callous, but there’s a reason for that. The hundreds of millions of citizens stuck dealing with America’s for-profit healthcare system have had a … | Continue reading
[Are we sure?] Down in Virginia, a man has died after the bear he was hunting fell out of a tree and landed on him. That’s a bad way to go, and I’m sorry for both the man’s family and the bear in question. However, I am again amused by the photo accompanying the article. Here’s t … | Continue reading
[That’s just sad.] Friend-of-the-site Alex S. alerted me to the missteps of NJ Congressman Josh Gottheimer, who was got caught faking his Spotify Wrapped in an attempt to curry favor with constituents. Gottheimer’s list included such glaring mistakes as inconsistent font sizes, i … | Continue reading
[This feels like quite a low for civilization.] Wikipedia describes OnlyFans as “an internet content subscription service…popular with sex workers who produce pornography”. Though the article goes on to state that OnlyFans “also has a market with other content creators—including … | Continue reading
[It’s certainly not for me. I hope it’s not for anyone else either.] Because selling TVs is no longer profitable in and of itself, TV makers now also sell data and ads. Earlier this year, TV manufacturer TCL announced they would be making content for their own ad-supported stream … | Continue reading
[Let me know when they pay you to take.] Hertz is moving away from EVs in their rental fleet, and they’re apparently trying to offload their existing inventory onto customers who currently have them in their possession. Despite Hertz’s statement that they’re expanding customer ch … | Continue reading
[A single vote really can make a difference.] Speaking of saving taxpayer money, two candidates for the Galt City Council recently saved their town about $99,997. When Mathew Pratton and Bonnie Rodriguez wound up tied for a single council set, they opted to forgo a costly special … | Continue reading
[How about “continue enhancing public art”?] Recently, the city of Bend, Oregon issued a call to stop damaging public art. The damage they referred to was a result of the foolish removal of enhancements which had been made to sculptures found in the city’s roundabouts: [Photo cre … | Continue reading
[He got at least three rocks, and that’s enough to make a pile.] When researchers spotted the shape of a plane on a sonar image, they thought they might have found Amelia Earhart’s final resting place. Instead, much like Charlie Brown, they got a pile of rocks. Link: https://www. … | Continue reading
[Alas, they lasted just a day or so.] Frankly, this is good advice for all drivers: The profanity on some of the other sham signs is not ideal, but bringing awareness to the violence of automobiles in America is a worthwhile endeavor. Link: https://www.cpr.org/2024/11/21/boulder- … | Continue reading
[Did they go on Etsy? Did they scour the web? Did they commission it?] I received quite a few emails after last week’s piece about hotel art, and several including delightful stories from fellow hotel art appreciators. I thought I’d share one such story today, courtesy of reader … | Continue reading
[That’s putting it mildly.] Back in 2019, two couples in California who had worked with an unnamed I.V.F. clinic discovered that they had given birth to each others’ babies. After they realized, they had an unbearable choice to make. When the two women pulled apart, Daphna said t … | Continue reading
[Stay in touch, and tell your friends about OFT too!] It’s once again time for weekend housekeeping. Here are some updates on how you can best keep up with America’s most beloved website, One Foot Tsunami. 💩 Social Media First up, I maintain three auto-posting accounts fo … | Continue reading
[I’m thinking of having business cards made up.] For many years, I’ve been an appreciator of hotel art. I don’t mean that I value or esteem the works found in hotel rooms, but simply that I make myself aware of it. I pay attention to it and attempt to consider it with a discernin … | Continue reading
[Jira is big and bad, and they acquired Trello.] Christmas season is here, and to me, that means a collection of cloying seasonal tunes. Recently, however, I found a weapon to fight back: the Earworm Eraser The Earworm Eraser is a 40-second audio track designed specifically to sq … | Continue reading
[End-to-end encryption ought to be table stakes for communication wherever possible.] The FBI has long waged an anti-encryption campaign, seeking to mandate the creation of backdoors into end-to-end encrypted communications like WhatsApp, Signal, and Apple’s iMessages. In their f … | Continue reading
[Grant me the serenity to ignore the things I cannot change.] As someone who lives in a democracy (for now), I believe it is both good and important to be an informed citizen. However, in Donald Trump’s first term as America’s commander in chief, I was unnecessarily tuned in to e … | Continue reading
[Remind me not to visit San Francisco on Tiger Day.] I find Waymo’s driverless taxis fascinating, as I expressed back in July, so I quite enjoyed Wired decision to stalk a Waymo: Our idea: We’ll pile a few of us into an old-fashioned, human-piloted hired car, then follow a single … | Continue reading
[“Deer are not predisposed to wearing clothes.”] I don’t know who did this, and I don’t know how they did, but I’m impressed. But sedating an animal, especially deer, comes with its own risks. A phenomenon known as capture myopathy, which is common in deer after they are sedated, … | Continue reading
[Economics does not work that way!] It’s Thanksgiving in America, and today, I’m thankful for asteroid 16 Psyche. Once we capture it and bring it back to Earth, we’re all going to be billionaires. It’s going to be great. Link: https://www.unilad.com/technology/space/nasa-psyche-1 … | Continue reading
[Misogny is, sadly, still going strong.] How much does America, including the women, hate women? Twice, an immensely qualified woman has run for president against a frighteningly unfit man, and twice that frighteningly unfit man has won. Before the election, Oliver Hall had conve … | Continue reading
[Turnabout is fair play.] Over in Japan, an industry of “job-quitting” services apparently exists to help employees leave their jobs. One such company, Momuri, hired a former client to work for them. Soon, however, they found themselves on the receiving end of his proxy quitting … | Continue reading
[This is a very, very dumb crime.] I got my first good laugh in the month of November from this ridiculous scam. The hubris on display here, as well as the high level of effort on the part of the conspirators, is just great. Look at this high-quality costume! [Photo credit: Calif … | Continue reading
[] Try and leave this world a little better than you found it, and when your turn comes to die, you can die happy in feeling that at any rate, you have not wasted your time but have done your best. —Robert Baden-Powell One Foot Tsunami has always been a labor of love. Since 2009, … | Continue reading
[I’m sorry, but right now, I have nothing to offer.] This post intentionally left blank | Continue reading
[Let’s do this one more time, everyone.] Today is election day in America. It’s time for America to move past the incredibly unfit Donald Trump, and time to send Kamala Harris to the White House as America’s first female president. America, let’s do this. Here’s how: If You’re Re … | Continue reading
[“[R]arely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid.”] British writer Nate White has Donald Trump figured out: Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that. He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat. He’s more a fat white slug. … | Continue reading
[Infinity is a mirage.] If you were somehow counting on the infinite monkey theorem to help you accomplish something, a pair of Australian mathematicians have some bad news: “It is not plausible that, even with improved typing speeds or an increase in chimpanzee populations, monk … | Continue reading
[Also, what the hell is a tomato “factory”?] “Seymour! The northern lights are out!” “No, mother. It’s just the local tomato factory.” It does have a strange beauty of its own. I believe I would enjoy a whole “area person disappointed” series. Link: https://www.independent.co.uk/ … | Continue reading
[To err is human. To cover your ass with AI is not divine.] This week, Apple has unveiled a set of artificial intelligence features to the world. The new Apple Intelligence functionality is being touted with two new commercials that pitch a smartphone as a substitute for being at … | Continue reading
[The petard in this case is “racism”.] Over the weekend, Donald Trump held a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City. There, “comedian” Tony Hinchcliffe disparaged multiple minority groups, including Puerto Ricans. That might prove to be a problem for the Trump campaign, … | Continue reading
[Hold Jeff Bezos’s beer.] Not to be outdone by Patrick Soon-Shiong and the Los Angeles Times, billionaire Jeff Bezos has apparently also killed his paper’s endorsement of Kamala Harris. Declaring the paper’s lack of an endorsement just 11 days before the election is a breathtakin … | Continue reading
[He’s right. We ARE all going to be dead soon.] Speaking of the Boston Celtics, Boston.com has a collection of great quotes from their head coach, Joe Mazzulla. [Photo credit: Boston.com on Instagram] Whenever you’re feeling overwhelmed, just remember that we’re all going to be d … | Continue reading
[Two not-actually-that-radical proposals: Billionaires should not exist and news organizations should be publicly funded.] Earlier this month, billionaire owner of the “Los Angeles Times” Patrick Soon-Shiong dictated to the paper’s editorial board that it would not be allowed to … | Continue reading
[You just keep trying to kick that football, Charlie Brown.] I live just down the street from the home of both the Boston Celtics and the Boston Bruins, TD Garden. Games, concerts, and other shows at this arena can impact me greatly, so I frequently want to know “What’s happening … | Continue reading
[Perhaps it would make sense to require manual renewal of regulations every so often.] Though smoking hasn’t been permitted on U.S. flights for decades, I can recall taking notice of a bathroom ashtray on a Virgin flight just a few years ago. The plane was brand-new, with plastic … | Continue reading
[Nuts and gum, together at last!] For most of the 2010s, Virgin America was my preferred way to travel between Boston and San Francisco. Eventually, however, Virgin shuttered their cross-country routes from Boston when they were acquired by the extremely West Coast-based Alaska A … | Continue reading