[That’s some payback.] Back in 2021, I posted about Stride for Stride, an organization founded by my pal Tom O’Keefe. As I wrote at the time: Stride for Stride works to make races more inclusive and more diverse by buying race bibs for immigrant, BIPOC, and low-income runners. Ev … | Continue reading
[I can’t stop laughing at the idea of “microwave music” being a genre.] After the first two posts this week touted the skill of AI in penning advice columns, humanity could use a counter. How about the “debut AI-generated single” from non-existent singer “Anna Indiana”? It’s trul … | Continue reading
[ChatGPT can act as a bad advice columnist, if you’d like.] After reading yesterday’s post on the possibility of automating advice columns, friend-of-the-site and co-conspirator Chris D. speculated that if you asked ChatGPT what not to do, it would probably kick back something cl … | Continue reading
[You have to build up to that, kid.] Back in June, friend-of-the-site Chris D. linked me to a “Dear Abby” column. In that column, a 13-year-old letter writer wanted to share his “really cool love rap” with a fellow teen who hadn’t seen since in three years. He fears that the girl … | Continue reading
[Get in on the ground floor!] It’s been almost exactly a year since I wrote about FTX, after the company evaporated billions of dollars of customer money. Since that time, the company’s founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been convicted of fraud and money laundering. He now awaits sent … | Continue reading
[It’s all very exhausting and stupid.] A few years back, I was unfortunate enough to learn of the existence of the idiotic “sovereign citizen movement”. Wikipedia describes it as: a loose group of litigants, anti-government activists, tax protesters, financial scammers, and consp … | Continue reading
Defaults matter, and this feature should at least be opt-in, if it should exist at all. | Continue reading
[Parking officer Steve…GRABOWSKI] Though it is not #GivingTuesdayNow, it is Giving Tuesday, now, as I write this. That means we’re nearing the end of one of the most annoying weeks of the year, the one that includes the annual Black Friday-Small Business Saturday-Cyber Monday-Giv … | Continue reading
[But perhaps we could hope for better.] Mike Johnson is an extreme Christian fundamentalist, and sadly, the current speaker of the House of Representatives. He also talks a lot like Ned Flanders.Link: https://newrepublic.com/article/176764/said-it-mike-johnson-ned-flanders | Continue reading
[Maybe they can just put the year, rather than exact dates.] It’s been a ridiculous week at OpenAI, makers of ChatGPT and perhaps the world’s most well-known artificial intelligence company. Last Friday, OpenAI’s then-and-now CEO Sam Altman was fired by OpenAI’s board for a failu … | Continue reading
[This is not as heroic as the headline implies.] When massive flooding inundated Vermont back in July, 120 turkeys were probably happy to be rescued. In November, however, things presumably look quite a bit different for them.Link: https://www.wbur.org/news/2023/11/22/vermont-sum … | Continue reading
[That really is a terrible personal brand.] Over at Wired, there’s a great interview with Del Harvey, Twitter’s former head of trust and safety. It provides a good look at what a difficult task it is to moderate a major social media platform. It also includes this amusing quip: W … | Continue reading
[They jumped ahead to the ending.] Down in St. Louis, a shuttered city jail is proving it’s still up to the task, after three trespassers managed to accidentally lock themselves in a cell. Eventually, they called 911, and my oh my would that be an embarrassing call to make. The s … | Continue reading
[Do better, urban planners.] Quality bike lanes are good for cyclists, as well as drivers and pedestrians. Bad bike lanes are good for a bit of amusement, but very little else. I can’t believe this one hasn’t killed someone.Link: https://momentummag.com/worst-bike-lanes/ | Continue reading
Not all space accomplishments are worthy of praise | Continue reading
Don’t bring pythons home for your kids either. | Continue reading
Come for the horse, stay for the lesson on fuel jettisoning | Continue reading
[“Best described as just a head crawling along the seafloor”] Starfish are really weird. They have no blood and no brains. They eat by vomiting their stomach out of their mouth and engulfing prey within it. They move around on thousands of tiny tube feet. And many have the extrao … | Continue reading
[They got hit with a 35% surchage for this nonsense.] After a Colorado welding company was ordered to pay a $23,500 settlement to a subcontractor, they decided to build a custom metal box. Why? So they could delivery their payment via three-plus tons of loose coins, of course. Pr … | Continue reading
[Imagine trying to explain this to your boss.] Way way back in the year 2022, NFTs were a thing some people cared about for some reason. At the time, I gave a very simple primer on NFTs, one which may be worth refreshing your memory on. After that, you can determine just how much … | Continue reading
[She’s the last official lighthouse keeper in America.] Back in 2015, I met a woman with the unlikely name of Sally Snowman. Since 2003, Snowman has been the keeper of Boston Light, the first lighthouse built in the American colonies. I was fortunate enough to be able to visit it … | Continue reading
[What’s the worst that could have happened?] Yesterday was the three year anniversary of one of the most absurd moments in all of modern politics, the infamous Four Seasons Total Shitshow. Today, I saw an article about what could have been another such moment. Apparently, back in … | Continue reading
[This crime definitely did not pay.] Back in April, I linked to the goofy theft of over 2,000,000 dimes. A few months later, four men have been arrested and charged. Did they get to enjoy their spoils? No. No they did not. In the weeks after the theft, the others allegedly conve … | Continue reading
[We’re all just springs, man.] Sometimes, technology is both amazing and ridiculous, as in the case of Mark Rober’s tiny “Nerf” guns. This may look small, but he eventually went far, far smaller.Link: https://www.cnet.com/science/biology/how-mark-robers-dna-nerf-guns-could-lead- … | Continue reading
[But this is ridiculous.] Recently in Southborough, Massachusetts, a woman drove through a safety chain and hopped a curb before ultimately landing her car in a trash compactor. It’s something to see: [Photo credit: Southborough Fire Department] Just as I’ll never fully trust a g … | Continue reading
[I’m pretty sure “remove it before you show them” is part of the Hippocratic Oath.]Earlier this year, a woman in Taiwan heard an unexplained rustling for several days. When she finally saw a doctor, he determined that there was a spider living in her ear. A spider. Living. In her … | Continue reading
[Unless you’re a high-ranking elected official, or possibly an ambassador.]A couple weeks back, while writing briefly about the horrors in Israel and Gaza, I noted that “people should consider staying silent, listening, and learning”. Since that post, I’ve seen contradictory sugg … | Continue reading
[“A raging inferno of fireworks” is a wonderful phrase.]When a semi-trailer collided with a pickup truck that was towing a trailer of fireworks, the situation got explosive. The bad news for some passing motorists is that the highway was closed for about an hour. The good news is … | Continue reading
[I suppose Sour Patch Kids are the human version of this.]I believe a bear stole from a convenience store. The video shows that much. Security camera footage from the store caught the bear casually walking in at around 6:30 a.m. on Monday, going through racks of chocolate bars be … | Continue reading
[“I’m from Amazon, and I’m here to help.”] The healthcare system in America has some major problems. For interesting but unfortunate historical reasons, it’s needlessly tied to employment, so that if you lose your job you’re very likely also losing your healthcare coverage. It’s … | Continue reading
[No. No, I do not.]I enjoy a good snarky headline, and “Netflix to open branded retail stores for some reason” is certainly a fine example.Link: https://www.engadget.com/netflix-to-open-branded-retail-stores-for-some-reason-184331296.html | Continue reading
[ Mr. Clean, Mr. Clean ]Years ago, I had the mischievous idea of going around the world, burning down all the wax museums. They just seemed so pointless in the modern world, and something about the idea of turning the figures into puddles of wax, like so many melted candles, appe … | Continue reading
[…you can have Pepto anytime] Pepto(-)Bismol is a medicine for indigestion and other gastrointestinal issues which may or may not have a hyphen in its name. Even its manufacturer, Procter & Gamble, seems unsure. While the product’s domain is pepto-bismol.com, but they also contro … | Continue reading
[How did he afford all those spoils with this haul?]I am amused by this crime: A German museum employee swapped out a painting with a fake and then sold the original to buy luxury goods, including a Rolls Royce and expensive wristwatches, according to a Munich court. In addition … | Continue reading
[You have to add more weight than an empty bag before you call it “rucking”.]Recently, I’ve seen multiple news stories about rucking. Rucking is pretty straightforward, just walking with added weight on your back. It comes from the military, where ruck marching is both a way to t … | Continue reading
[“[T]his editorial board doesn’t like getting yelled at”]When it comes to the recent horrors in Israel and Gaza, I feel completely unqualified to go beyond simple and earnest feelings of sorrow. It is, as the folks over at The Onion note, “a complex and multifaceted conflict that … | Continue reading
[“This is probably the most boring way to play a video game.”]Down in Australia, they’re using video games in an effort to combat invasive ant species: Australia’s national science agency CSIRO and the University of Western Australia have used Age of Empires to simulate ant warfa … | Continue reading
[The pumpkin was not extremely seaworthy.] Earlier this month, I wrote about a Boston-area Redditor looking for help locating a forklift, so as to ride a giant pumpkin in the Charles River. This past weekend, that man’s dream became a reality. With some help from his friends, Ben … | Continue reading
[Pete Davidson's father was a New York firefighter who died in 2001 at the World Trade Center on 9/11.]Last week, following Hamas’s brutal terrorist attacks in Israel, it seemed like everyone wanted to make a statement about the situation. For at least two local universities and … | Continue reading
[A haunting isn’t guaranteed, but the odds are good.]If you’re trying to sell a funeral home that recently suffered a fire, you may as well have a little fun with it. Out in Millbury, MA, one real estate agent recently put a placard reading “Probably Haunted” on the “For Sale” s … | Continue reading
[Full disclosure: My USPS packages are delivered by the affable Chris, who texts to let me know he’s on his way, and I appreciate him.] How did I know the iMessage I received from “vaedpiaghv@outlook.com”, supposedly on behalf of the United States Postal Service, was fake? It was … | Continue reading
[I’d like to see more like this, please.]Over in France, a major supermarket chain is pressuring manufacturers to reduce their prices: French supermarket chain Carrefour (CARR.PA) has slapped price warnings on products from Lindt chocolates to Lipton Ice Tea to pressure top consu … | Continue reading
[She’s not even doing her own research.]Last week, Republican congresswoman Nancy Mace voted to remove Kevin McCarthy from his position as Speaker of the House. Now, she’s supporting the lamentable Jim Jordan to be McCarthy’s replacement, despite repeated accusations that Jordan … | Continue reading
[“(Except, uh, then she set the American course record, so…)”]Yesterday, all-around bad-ass Molly Seidel toed the line for her first marathon in a year and a half. She had an impressive race, finishing in 8th place among women, and setting a new personal best of 2:23:07.1 That’s … | Continue reading
[Big pumpkins keep on bobbin’]Earlier this week, a random Bostonian on Reddit posted a new thread entitled “Help borrowing forklift to ride a pumpkin down the Charles River”. It is exactly what it says, a request for someone with a forklift to help him get a massive pumpkin into … | Continue reading
[“Almost 40” is not “a young man”.]Here’s a novel excuse: A New Jersey electrician who is running for a seat in the State Assembly admits he once smeared poop on the doors of a day care center ― and he says it’s Barack Obama’s fault. … Although Viso admitted it was wrong, he offe … | Continue reading
[Also, climate change is making a very rare problem at least slightly less rare.]For my day job, I have Google Alerts set up for the names of our products, as well as our company. Very rarely, they return an unrelated result, like this one: There’s always a chance our company’s … | Continue reading
[That’s not a bingo.]Here’s a horrible new formulation of language: Back in the spring of 2022, professor of linguistics David Pesetsky was talking to an undergraduate class about relative clauses, which add information to sentences. For instance: “The senator, with whom we were … | Continue reading