[Tyranny is at our door.] Tonight will mark the 250th anniversary of Paul Revere’s midnight ride, during which he warned his fellow colonists of the approach of British troops. Revere began the evening by rowing across the river from Boston to Charlestown, where he slipped past a … | Continue reading
[Now he’ll have other rent-free accommodations.] For two days, I’ve been ruefully chuckling at the headline “Man who didn’t want to look after girlfriend’s pet sent bomb threat to cruise she was on”. It’s just such a hilariously out-of-proportion response to something that is bar … | Continue reading
[Claude really ought to be paying royalties to the estate of Kurt Vonnegut.] It is a truth universally acknowledged, that an AI company in possession of a good fortune of VC cash, must be in want of a butthole logo. Link: https://velvetshark.com/ai-company-logos-that-look-like-bu … | Continue reading
[Always change default passwords.] Out in Silicon Valley, hacked crosswalk buttons started telling the truth last weekend. Link: https://www.paloaltoonline.com/technology/2025/04/12/silicon-valley-crosswalk-buttons-apparently-hacked-to-imitate-musk-zuckerberg-voices/?ref=activity … | Continue reading
[Maybe the DHS could immediately start paying attention to detail.] Last week, the Department of Homeland Security sent Nicole Micheroni an email stating it was “exercising its discretion to terminate [her] parole”, and telling her “[i]t is time for you to leave the United States … | Continue reading
[”Memes are powerful, and so is the surveillance state.”] New York Knicks owner James Dolan is a small, small man, and his company’s misuse of facial recognition to identify people he doesn’t like and bar them from his venues is dystopian and disgusting. Link: https://www.theverg … | Continue reading
[And yet, not a single Paul Kafasis has gotten to play in a Major League game.] Speaking of baseball nonsense, I don’t want to alarm you, but Major League Baseball appears to be running out of names. First, there was Max Muncy, the two-time World Series champion infielder for the … | Continue reading
[Decoupling parking from development is a great idea.] In January, I wrote about how too many Americans need a car and how the mammoth size of those cars is killing us. There are some signs of progress, however. In the Culdesac Tempe rental complex, in Arizona, hundreds of famili … | Continue reading
[Always Be Checking-if-your-design-is-vulvular] One of my favorite things about minor league baseball is how teams simply do not care about their identities. They’ll start with the most ridiculous name, and then change it to something else preposterous for a single night. In a ri … | Continue reading
[Let’s hope that’s not the royal “we”.] A couple years back, Massachusetts made it illegal to throw out old clothes. Now, they must be recycled, and that’s good. But while researching my recycling options, I came across this awful quote: All types of textile items can be recycled … | Continue reading
[Geriatric penguins need a slower pace.] At New England Aquarium here in Boston, several aged penguins have moved to their own section, with less pecking and noise. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/16/science/penguin-retirement-home-aquarium.html?unlocked_article_code=1.9E4. … | Continue reading
[Later, in the bathroom, the prophesy is fulfilled.] “Buy Now, Pay Later” sounds more like a warning about fast food than a method to pay for it. Link: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/21/business/doordash-klarna-buy-now-pay-later-partnership/index.html | Continue reading
[Just answer the question!] Recently, Pew Research Center got some surprising feedback to one of their surveys: While we get a wide range of feedback on our surveys, we were surprised by a comment we received on an online survey in 2024: “You misspelled YES with FORKS numerous ti … | Continue reading
[That joke is imperfect, but I’m rolling with it anyway.] In the area of traffic calming, chicanes are a useful tool. They take a straight speedway of a road, and make physical changes to give it more meandering curves, forcing drivers to reduce their speed. Chicanes are a bit st … | Continue reading
[“If it ain’t, don’t break it” is just good advice.] For more than a decade, Ford executive Mike O’Brien kept a list of malapropisms uttered at work. The list served as an amusing method of team-building, and eventually filled more than five whiteboards with 2,229 linguistic brea … | Continue reading
[This is wrong on so many levels.] 99.999% of the time, there’s no monsters in the streets. But not 100% of the time. On Tuesday evening, federal authorities abducted Tufts PhD student Rumeysa Ozturk off the streets of Somerville, Massachusetts. A neighbor’s security camera caugh … | Continue reading
[I’m not sure who’s going to be more traumatized, the kid or the babysitter.] 99.999% of the time, there’s no monster hiding under a child’s bed. But not 100% of the time. Link: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/babysitter-checking-monsters-finds-man-hiding-kansas/ | Continue reading
[That pilot is not going to live this down.] “Folks, this is your captain speaking…I’m afraid we’re going to have to turn around…I seem to have, uhh…forgotten my passport.” Link: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/united-airlines-flight-china-diverted-san-francisco-pilot-forget … | Continue reading
[Where’s the data? I smell data! Data! Data! Gotta be data, only one things smells like data and that’s data! Data data data!] Long ago, it could be both fun and profitable to take an Internet survey. In the late ’90s, it was novel to have someone care about your opinion, and com … | Continue reading
[My hope is that Holmen understood what would happen, and is sacrificing for the greater good.] The first thing to know is that Arve Hjalmar Holmen did not murder his children, no matter what ChatGPT says. The second thing to know is that thanks to the Streisand effect, the name … | Continue reading
[I hope my doctor doesn’t read my website.] Recently, I found myself in an exam room, waiting for my annual physical. As I fought the urge to rifle through the cabinets,1 I allowed my wind to wander. Responses I considered for when a doctor knocks on what is effectively their own … | Continue reading
[Perhaps I ought to just turn these off.] Since they were first enabled last year, I have frequently found Apple Intelligence’s notification summaries for emails to be something less than helpful. Here are some I spotted in just the past few days. A Pricey Used Book The notificat … | Continue reading
[That’s not a good place to be.] When it comes to a concert, what exactly does “a unique set” mean? It’s possible the courts will decide. | Continue reading
[I’m sorry.] Would you like to take your mind off of the horror of American politics for a bit? Enjoy Geraldine DeRuiter’s review of some Christmas candy she found at the Goodwill? Link: https://www.everywhereist.com/2025/03/its-march-heres-my-review-of-some-christmas-candy-i-fou … | Continue reading
[That’s why it hurts so much.] The Statue of Liberty is one of the most famous sculptures in the world. It’s also one of the most famous gifts in the world, having been given to America by France. For well over a century, it has served as a prominent symbol of the United States. … | Continue reading
[This post sits at the intersection of technology and 20th century history.] At 42 Lomasney Way in downtown Boston, there’s a brownstone known as the Last Tenement. Built in the 1870s, it was once part of blocks and blocks of similar buildings. Now, it stands as the last of its k … | Continue reading
[No one asked for this.] Netflix recently added the sitcom “A Different World” to their catalog, and they’re touting it as “high-definition”. To get there, someone apparently used AI to upscale footage, and the results are pretty terrible. The intro credits already raise alarm be … | Continue reading
[Congress really ought to have been more specific.] Recently, while reading about one pathetic bootlicker’s attempt to create a new $250 bill featuring the hideous visage of Donald Trump, I found myself diverted toward more pleasant politics of the past. Specifically, our story t … | Continue reading
[Today, in weird science…] Sure, virtual reality sometimes looks great. And with certain tactile technology, it might even feel great. But so far, it doesn’t taste great. One thing VR can’t yet do, however, is simulate the experience of eating lunch. But that could change thanks … | Continue reading
[Between this and the Cooper's Hill Cheese Roll, England really has the best goofy group activities.] While murder isn’t allowed in most sports, few codify an explicit prohibition against it in their rulebook. Royal Shrovetide, a sort of medieval soccer or rugby, does. You probab … | Continue reading
[Seriously, don’t call other people “NPCs”.] Too many times in the past decade, I have found myself asking rhetorically “Remember shame?”. I think it was pretty valuable, societally speaking. I think it would be good for it to make a bit of a comeback. Barry Petchesky is open to … | Continue reading
[Now that he’s gone, “James in a Jar” is a very bad name.] Back in 2018, I wrote about James Harrison, “The Man With the Golden Arm”. Over more than 6 decades, Harrison donated plasma 1,173 times, which saved the lives of over two million babies. That’s remarkable. Alas, Harrison … | Continue reading
[I don’t condone this at all, but I do understand the desire.] Earlier this week, police and firefighters found several Tesla charging stations in Littleton, MA on fire. One story said the fires were “being investigated as suspicious”. [Photo credit: Littleton Fire Department] Wh … | Continue reading
[A rising tide sinks some packages.] If you live on Cape Cod and recently found your package delivery delayed, there may be a very good reason. [Photo credit: Wellfleet Fire Department] On Saturday, a FedEx driver had to be rescued after his truck was partially submerged due to a … | Continue reading
[This is even stupider than “Freedom fries”.] Texas’s lieutenant governor Dan Patrick is focusing on what matters: [Patrick] moved for the state’s restaurants and groceries to change the name of the “New York strip” steak cut to the “Texas strip”…he intended to go to Texas’s sena … | Continue reading
[“Xiǎo gǒu shān” is Chinese for “Puppy Mountain”] Shanghai-based designer Guo Qingshan has created a viral sensation, with Puppy Mountain. Guo had gone on a hike while visiting his hometown of Yichang in central China’s Hubei province in late January. When reviewing the photos, h … | Continue reading
[Also, what the hell are “plant shavings”? Surely drugs would fall under some other prohibition.] Until now, the only Luigi who’s gotten any ink on OFT is Luigi Mario.1 I haven’t had much to say about Luigi Mangione, the suspected killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Mu … | Continue reading
[That’s not a bug, it’s a feature.] OK, it’s possible Apple Intelligence does know a few things. I managed to trigger this goofiness on my very own phone, dictating the word “racist”. I’m including a screen recording for posterity: Your browser doesn’t support the video tag. Clic … | Continue reading
[It’s been a couple years, but here are further bad ideas in brainstorming.] It’s once again time to look at the failed first versions of candies that, with some iteration, eventually found their footing in the marketing place. Fruit by the Millimeter Skittles + M&Ms (Combo pack) … | Continue reading
[How far is too far?] Until earlier this month, my pal Ethan Marcotte was a government employee. He was working at 18F, a fascinating part of the US government: We help other government agencies build, buy, and share technology products. 18F is a team of designers, software engin … | Continue reading
[Perhaps more than a “cursory examination” is warranted.] Maybe the Social Security Administration is issuing payments to people it believes are 150 years old. Or maybe, just maybe, that’s a quirk of COBOL related to missing birthdate information. And maybe more than 10 million p … | Continue reading
[There IS plenty to swear about.] People with a motor neuron disease gradually lose their ability to move and control muscles. In time, they may lose their voices. Thanks to new technology, however, it’s sometimes possible for them to get a voice clone. AI is bringing back those … | Continue reading
[Maybe it was a really nice espresso machine.] Back in December, a post in the Ohio State football subreddit came to my attention. In it, the poster helpfully alerted fellow Buckeye fans about their discovery of some brand-new Ohio State football swag in a dumpster: Those who hav … | Continue reading
[Big yikes.] When you live in a rental property, it’s likely there’s a defined expiration date for the arrangement. A standard one year lease means that at worst, you need to gut things out for 12 months before moving on. On the other hand, when you buy a home, that’s forever. I … | Continue reading
[Colin Jost wins.] I once said that the “Reply All” button found in email clients ought to require a permit, and I stand by that idea. An email sent by “New Yorker” editor Susan Morrison provides the latest supporting evidence. Link: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/the-lo … | Continue reading
[We’ll never know what it was, and that makes it even better.] On a crisp fall day in 2018, I visited Bennington, Vermont. In pursuit of fresh cider doughnuts, I stopped off at a farm store. At the entrance, I came face to face with this sign, which I still think about regularly: … | Continue reading
[Sorry, ugly people with good ideas.] How do you get funding for a new hardware company working to build smart bicycle handlebars? In 2025, the answer is apparently “OnlyFans”. Engineer Sabrina Fischer is a founder of Flite, which has been funded with the proceeds from sharing “c … | Continue reading
[Climate change is here.] Sea levels are rising. Land is eroding. Climate change is not a hoax. It’s as real as this multi-million dollar home that’s about to fall into the ocean, and we badly need to act. Link: https://www.wbur.org/news/2025/02/05/wellfleet-home-erosion-climate- … | Continue reading