A parentless 16-year-old in the state of Florida has been denied the abortion she’s seeking. Why? Well, the courts have ruled that the girl known only as Jane Doe 22-B is not “sufficiently mature to decide whether to terminate her pregnancy.” But sure, no, she’s certainly mature … | Continue reading
Back in June, friend-of-the-site Kim B. passed along a link to what has been called “the most Massachusetts news report of all time”.1 In it, reporter Matt Shearer interviews locals about the closure of the Market Basket supermarket on Boston Road in Billerica. No, not the Market … | Continue reading
Last month, on Southwest flight #3658, Captain Holly Petitt and First Officer Keely Petitt made history. With Holly at the helm, and Keely acting as her co-pilot, they became the airline’s first-ever mother-daughter pilot duo. Holly began her career as a flight attendant, befor … | Continue reading
My day job involves a lot of work with audio, and the occasional dip into the world of audiophiles. While some folks certainly have better hearing than others and some equipment does sound better than others, there’s also a whole lot of nonsense being peddled to credulous consume … | Continue reading
Back in May, I detailed some of the rejected first versions of now-famous candies. Recently, I learned about some more draft ideas for eventually successful confections. More Rejected Ideas For Eventually World-Famous Candies Pull Pops Candy anklets Fermented Swedish Fish Sullen … | Continue reading
Fortunately for all involved, the portable toilets were actually empty. | Continue reading
Across the river from me in Cambridge, a Yorkie named Lola brought a neighborhood together in small but wonderful ways.Link: https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2022/08/04/massavelolapetsgrief-e-b-bartels | Continue reading
On June 29, Earth had its shortest day in modern history, measuring 1.59 milliseconds under a full 24 hours. You probably didn’t notice. Scientists watching atomic clocks, however, did. “Our day-to-day existence doesn’t even recognize that millisecond,” McCarthy said. “But if the … | Continue reading
Apparel company Lions Not Sheep makes an assortment of clothing that’s covered in juvenile messages, yet sized for adults. Apparently, much of that clothing was made in China, but the company falsely re-labeled the items as being made in the USA. “Companies that slap phony Made i … | Continue reading
If a 99-year-old great-grandmother wants a five and a half foot tall penis atop her grave, well, I guess she’s going to get a five and a half foot tall penis atop her grave. Big-ups to you, Catarina Orduña Pérez.Link: https://www.vice.com/en/article/wxnnqw/mexico-dick-tombstone | Continue reading
Scamming an 11-year-old lemonade stand operator out of $85 is just really, really low. In this case, however, it seems like things are going to work out surprisingly well for the young victim. In addition to getting a sad lesson about the existence of real jerks out there, entrep … | Continue reading
Almost exactly one decade ago, the Curiosity rover landed on Mars in truly incredible fashion.1 One year later, the robot was programmed to hum “Happy Birthday” to itself, which is somehow simultaneously adorable and deeply sad. In subsequent years, however, there was no celebrat … | Continue reading
Recently, a meme was circulating that cartoon character George Jetson was about to be born. Specifically, it put forth the notion that George was born on July 31, 2022. Whoopee! This is all very silly, of course. As well, it appears there is no canonical birth date for George. Ne … | Continue reading
Way back in 2011, I linked to friend-of-the-site Shane Cyr’s “Louis vs. Rick”, which told the story of a man who taught his cat to use instant messaging. In 2015, I bid the series adieu, as it ended its run. Now, some seven and a half years later, Shane has written the definitive … | Continue reading
The city of Salem, Massachusetts, is infamous for the 17th century Salem witch trials. In modern times, this shameful series of events has been sanitized. The city now revels in its status as a spooktacular tourist destination, one that’s focused on Halloween and all things witch … | Continue reading
In a tweet announcing his passing at age 88, Bill Russell’s family labeled him as the most prolific winner in American sports history. With 2 NCAA championships, an Olympic gold medal, and 11 NBA titles, that’s awfully hard to argue with.1 He also never lost a winner-take-all gam … | Continue reading
Long (very long) time readers may remember the mistake I made in trying trying Four Loko. In a similarly comedic vein, Geraldine DeRuiter recently tried 21 flavors of Mountain Dew for some reason. You are probably saying to yourself, “I did not know so many flavors of Mtn Dew exi … | Continue reading
Yes, in as much as it's something many 16-year-olds do, and not very many 70-year-olds | Continue reading
Folks, I am sad to report that the Choco Taco is dead. It was perhaps the most novel of ice cream novelties, but now, it’s been ripped away from us at the far-too-young age of 38. Oh cruel Klondike, why do you mock us? [Link] In truth, while I’ve enjoyed a few Choco Tacos in my … | Continue reading
Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray just signed a massive $230.5 million contract extension. That’s a whole lot of money. And yet, somehow, the contract is a little bit embarrassing. It contains an “independent study requirement”, stipulating that Murray is required to spe … | Continue reading
Around the world, housing prices have been rising faster than many can afford. Rather than accidentally moving into a retirement community, some are intentionally choosing intergenerational living situations. For instance, 27-year-old graduate student Siobhan Ennis is now paying … | Continue reading
I’ve previously linked to posts on AI Weirdness that used artificial intelligence to create new candy heart messages and new cereals. Today, let’s have a look at new logos for existing corporations. Buy a Jeeep! Or a Jeper!Link: https://www.aiweirdness.com/ai-versus-your-corpora … | Continue reading
Last month, I wrote about whiskey made (in part) from invasive green crabs. It gets worse, however, with a beer in Singapore being made with recycled sewage water. “I seriously couldn’t tell this was made of toilet water,” said Chew Wei Lian, 58, who had purchased the beer from a … | Continue reading
Many years back, while passing one or another of Boston’s many institutes of higher learning, I saw a group of students running around holding brooms between their legs. I eventually determined that they were playing a real-life version of the game of “Quidditch”, from the Harry … | Continue reading
Most years, the Tampa Bay Rays have one of the lowest payrolls in Major League Baseball. Despite that, they’ve frequently fielded a competitive team, despite playing in the same division as the powerhouse Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. One way they’ve done this is by findin … | Continue reading
Wordle was one of the highlights of 2021, a simple and enjoyable word game that was (mostly) free of the rancor and divisiveness affecting so much of the world. Now, in addition to your digital devices, Wordle is coming to your living room.Link: https://www.wbur.org/npr/111159021 … | Continue reading
When I posted about the new James Webb Space Telescope on Tuesday, I also linked to a similar image from the Hubble. Now, there’s a fantastic site to compare images between the two space telescopes: WebbCompare.com. Left: Hubble; Right: Webb It’s not unlike the switch from stand … | Continue reading
In the Second Annual “I Voted Sticker Contest”, put on by the Board of Elections in Ulster County, New York, 14-year-old Hudson Rowan has my vote. He’s also got almost 180,000 other votes as of this writing, just about one vote for every resident of Ulster County, and 93% of the … | Continue reading
“Should we put a floating abortion clinic in the Gulf of Mexico?” is also a question we must now ask ourselves in the year 2022.Link: https://apnews.com/article/abortion-health-reproductive-rights-government-and-politics-bfab2bd6604229d7b2bcad630037c4e8 | Continue reading
The James Webb Space Telescope is the most powerful telescope ever launched into space. It’s a remarkable tool, one which will enable us to see objects which the once top-of-the-line Hubble couldn’t make out because they’re too distant, too faint, or too old. In the past 24 hours … | Continue reading
“Is an unborn fetus a human being in the eyes of Texas traffic laws?” is a logical question we must now ask ourselves in the year 2022.Link: https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Pregnant-Texas-woman-driving-in-HOV-lane-told-17293221.php?t=7a07b9753f | Continue reading
Have you noticed a recent trend in AI-generated imagery? It’s been spreading around social media of late, as several artificially intelligent systems are being used to create surprisingly good artwork. Often, the results from systems like DALL-E are just a curiosity or an amusing … | Continue reading
In this year’s NBA draft, there were two players with very similar names: Jalen Williams and Jaylin Williams. When Jalen was selected at number 12 by the Oklahoma City Thunder, Jaylin’s camp was briefly confused, as this unsourced video spotted online shows: Jaylin himself, howe … | Continue reading
Look at Lilli Martini’s face and tell her America doesn’t need gun control. If you can somehow manage that, read about how the shooter managed to obtain a gun permit despite multiple red flags. The insistence by the NRA and others that even common sense gun control measures are … | Continue reading
When it came to linking to this story of a man who was paid 27.5 years’ worth of salary for a single month of work and decided to disappear with the money, the only question was whether to use a Radiohead reference or a Steve Miller Band reference.Link: https://fortune.com/2022/0 … | Continue reading
Baseball has all manner of statistics to track the performance of players. You might have heard of the unfortunately ever-more-rare “quality start”, wherein a pitcher goes 6+ innings and gives up 3 or fewer runs. Today, you can learn about its opposite, the “quantity shart”.Link: … | Continue reading
After penning my recent tribute to the original Bonus Pig, I located the company’s blog post explaining the change, which apparently took place in mid-November 2021. That post is in Icelandic, and the Google translation is not stellar: The Bónus brand has today been renewed and t … | Continue reading
When life hands you invasive green crabs, make whiskey. | Continue reading
In response to a one potential future for economy flights, Dan Kois has imagined a slightly less hellish option for air travel.Link: https://slate.com/human-interest/2022/06/double-decker-airplane-seats-economy-fly-unconscious.html | Continue reading
Over in Iceland, there’s a supermarket chain called Bónus.1 When I visited the Nordic nation six years ago, I became very fond of the company’s logo, which I call the Bonus Pig. It’s a piggy bank (for savings!), and it’s so round that it often takes the place of the letter “O” in … | Continue reading
When I saw the headline “Monkey in “bullet-proof” vest found dead after bloody cartel shootout in Mexico”, I thought I wanted to know more. I was wrong. I suggest that you not to follow that link. Instead, live in the world I once occupied, a place where a hardened cartel member … | Continue reading
Over a decade ago, I spent a few extra bucks on some slightly more expensive trash cans from Simplehuman. Rather than using the absolutely cheapest refuse receptacle I could find, I thought I’d get something a little nicer. It’s been a fine decision. In late May, I ordered some n … | Continue reading
I can only chuckle ruefully at the idea of a massive ship taking exactly one voyage, from the shipyard where it was built directly to the scrapyard.Link: https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/worlds-biggest-cruise-ship-has-no-buyer-1st-voyage-may-be-to-scrapyard-3085818 | Continue reading
Today in news you can use (to gross out others), the tiny arachnids that live and love on your face have anuses! Thanks for letting us know, science.Link: https://gizmodo.com/demodex-face-mites-genome-1849090328 | Continue reading
Internet Explorer is finally dead, and South Korean software engineer Jung Ki-young gave it a fitting tombstone. It’s really quite the epitaph.Link: https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/oddly-enough/internet-explorer-gravestone-goes-viral-south-korea-2022-06-17/ | Continue reading
I simply cannot imagine that this was anything but a horrible autocorrupt: The Local 12 Plumbers and Gasfitters Union is apologizing for a text message about Juneteenth that was sent to 2,000 members. “The Federal Juneteenth Holiday, June 19th falls on a Sunday this year and is m … | Continue reading
As most folks know, in baseball, it’s one, two, three strikes and you’re out. A strikeout is a fairly common way for an at bat to end, occurring many times each game. Striking out the side is a rarer event, wherein a pitcher strikes out all three batters they face in an inning.1 … | Continue reading
I’m not sure what the right move is when you think that tens, or possibly hundreds, of millions of dollars of gold is located on public property. I will say that it appears “telling the FBI about it” may be the wrong move.Link: https://www.al.com/news/2022/06/treasure-hunters-acc … | Continue reading