[it was bananas - B-A-N-A-N-A-S.] Four years ago, I first wrote about the Savannah Bananas, who: …play Banana Ball, a variant of baseball where fans can catch foul balls for outs, walks are now sprints, and there’s a strict two-hour time limit. … Banana Ball is unlikely to replac … | Continue reading
[You won’t be stopped.] That’s where the money is. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/nyregion/nyc-atm-thefts.html?unlocked_article_code=1.U08.Pfmm.5H2NqoZJh2Vp&smid=url-share | Continue reading
[You won’t get far.] Who would steal a car on a tiny island? Link: https://nantucketcurrent.com/news/only-on-nantucket-the-curious-case-of-the | Continue reading
[It sure was nice having some things be apolitical.] Last Friday, the Social Security Administration decided to celebrate Independence Day by spamming American citizens. Their nauseating email opened with this: This is simply not something a non-partisan government agency should … | Continue reading
[To ensure a tolerant society, we must be intolerant of intolerance.] A law that criminalizes the display of a sign that says “Everyone is Welcome here” is probably not such a good idea. Link: https://www.idahoednews.org/top-news/attorney-general-everyone-is-welcome-here-sign-can … | Continue reading
[Jahmai Webster’s wardrobe also deserves special mention.] In 1975, the Reds and Red Sox played an epic World Series, going to 7 games. Though Carlton Fisk’s Game 6 heroics are the most iconic moment of that series, it was the Reds who took home the trophy the next night. 50 year … | Continue reading
[I lean away from the latter, myself.] Sam Apple took a couples retreat with 3 humans and their AI partners, and it was really something. While AI chatbots may have benefits in certain cases, I can’t help but think that they’re likely a net negative for society. Forming real, aut … | Continue reading
[Paying a celebrity to be your friend for a night is really not a flex.] Apparently, the hot new thing for wealthy couples getting married is inviting celebrities they don’t know. Bailey’s clients’ plea underscores wedding culture’s latest obsession: adding strangers—ideally famo … | Continue reading
[In another related not-that-radical idea, money isn’t speech.] For some time, I’ve contemplated the idea that it simply shouldn’t be possible to be a billionaire. That idea recently gained traction. Zohran Mamdani, the presumptive Democratic nominee for mayor in New York City, s … | Continue reading
[🎶 ’Til sweat drips down my walls 🎶] Paint scientists, which, sure, of course is a thing, are working to cool your house passively. That’s an excellent idea, but every single article about this is referring to “sweating”, and it’s really not appealing. For instanc … | Continue reading
[It was everything I hoped it would be—a big, dumb rock in the parking lot of a Staples.] Barely a week after I first wrote about Staples Rock, I found myself taking an unexpected day trip to Cape Cod. This was so serendipitous I couldn’t possibly miss the chance to visit t … | Continue reading
[Collect a lawsuit.] After Bank of America mistakingly discharged hundreds of active mortgages, they contacted customers for permission to refile the paperwork. In cases where that didn’t work, they sued. Link: https://www.wbur.org/news/2025/06/24/bank-of-america-fleet-mortgage-e … | Continue reading
[If it’s black, fight back. If it’s brown, lie down. If it’s gummy, put in tummy.] Workers at the San Diego Humane Society are caring for an orphaned bear cub they hope to release back into the wild. In an attempt to prevent the cub from bonding with humans, they’re even wearing … | Continue reading
[When they can sell me pictures of the future, then I’ll pay.] Often after a road race, runners will receive an offer to purchase photographs of themselves captured during the event. These photos tend towards the terrible, because running is frequently the opposite of photogenic … | Continue reading
[Obama got a Nobel Peach Prize, so of course Trump wants one too.] On Friday, Pakistan recommended Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. Approximately 36 hours later, they condemned Donald Trump for bombing Iranian nuclear facilities. So it is that the AP writes the headline “P … | Continue reading
[When will science learn what birds’ goddamned deals are?] Have you ever been woken before the sun is even up by birds chirping like little assholes, and wondered just what their goddamned deal is? Science isn’t entirely sure, though they’ve got a slew of unsatisfying hypotheses. … | Continue reading
[“Yeah, baby, asbestos is back!”] Who exactly was asking for the return of asbestos? Link: https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/06/trumps-epa-to-reconsider-ban-on-cancer-causing-asbestos/ | Continue reading
[Great work, team.] There’s a lot of terrible JavaScript out there on the webernets, particularly related to text selection. As I often include quotes in Link posts on this very site, I sometimes find myself briefly stymied by web pages which uselessly attempt to prevent copying … | Continue reading
[It’s a huge rock in a parking lot.] Many is the tourist who has been disappointed by Plymouth Rock, a smaller-than-you-expect boulder that “symbolizes the historical disembarkation site of the Mayflower Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony in December 1620”. The rock has been mo … | Continue reading
[If you can hit your annual quota on January 1st, it should probably be increased.] In January of 2024, Steven Kramer orchestrated the sending of an AI-generated deepfake to voters in New Hampshire. Essentially, he had the voice of Joe Biden urge voters to skip the state’s primar … | Continue reading
[It was in development for six years, but for sale for only two.] In 2022, I wrote about the Dyson Zone, a “wearable purifier” that was also a set of headphones. At the time, the odd fusion was merely announced, not released. The next year, though, the company began selling the p … | Continue reading
[It’s possibly climbing Everest is not a great idea.] David Sullivan founded Creating Lifesavers after losing four friends to heart problems. The organization installs defibrillators across England, and apparently, also on Mount Everest. Not long after that defibrillator was inst … | Continue reading
[Please laugh.] Like so much of what the Trump administration is doing, this stinks. Link: https://www.masslive.com/news/2025/06/trump-cuts-threaten-irreplaceable-harvard-stockpile-of-human-feces-urine.html | Continue reading
[Also, shameful.] In 2016, a more enlightened time, the US Navy named a ship after gay rights icon and former sailor Harvey Milk. In the dark age of 2025, the USNS Harvey Milk is going to be renamed on the absolutely pathetic order of Pete Hegseth. A defense official confirmed th … | Continue reading
[Someone really ought to tell that captain he can’t pahk there.] When I first heard that my late father had once slept through an earthquake, I was incredulous. I pictured the sort of catastrophe you see in disaster movies or the 1989 World Series. Since then, however, I’ve lived … | Continue reading
[Apparently, even AI jobs aren’t safe from outsourcing.] According to Wikipedia, Builder.ai is (was?) a smartphone application development company which claims (claimed?) to use AI to massively speed up app development. Rather than an advanced artificial intelligence system, howe … | Continue reading
[It’s like AI slop come to life.] Bin stores are new to me, and I find the concept deeply unsettling. This sure seems like a terrible indictment of capitalism. Link: | Continue reading
[I may not like it, but it sure seems like it could work.] Donald Trump has a rather sickening way with words, weaponizing them in awful ways. Steve Almond has ideas for fighting back: Trump’s budget bill (for instance) could become the “big, beautiful boondoggle.” Why? Because t … | Continue reading
[Washington’s previous crash was in 2015, so these are all new escaped bees.] For the second time in a decade, 14 million bees have gotten loose in Washington State following a semi crash. I don’t know about you, but if I were driving a tractor-trailer containing millions of bees … | Continue reading
[Perhaps she’s a Two Corinthians kind of Christian.] As Iowa Senator Joni Ernst attempted to defend major cuts to assistance programs relied upon by millions of vulnerable Americans, one of her constituents shouted a simple truth: “People will die!”. Ernst’s off-the-cuff response … | Continue reading
[Do you think edible glitter gets everywhere inside your body?] In Wales, scientists are making voles poop glitter, but it’s for their on good. I’m not willing to let voles have all the fun, though. Once I perfect my new glitter-enriched fiber supplement, GlitterPoops™, you too w … | Continue reading
["The Last Algorithm” is a particularly amusing name here.] Recently, newspapers around the country printed a list of summer reading recommendations that mostly consisted of books which don’t exist. If you guessed this was the result of insufficiently reviewed AI output, you win! … | Continue reading
[Every American ought to know why this is dumb, but it’s especially foolish in Boston.] According to their own boasting, Morgan & Morgan is “America’s largest injury law firm”. They have offices in all 50 states, and advertising to match.1 In recent years, they’ve spent literally … | Continue reading
[It’s the collab you didn’t even consider was possible.] Long before he was a billionaire, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang worked at an Oregon Denny’s location for several years. According to Denny’s, “Back then, always on the move, hunger and genius struck”, and Huang created a not-at-a … | Continue reading
[“Bring ’em in and weigh ’em in!”] From the ’70s through ’90s, hundreds of Ground Round restaurants dotted America. The family-friendly restaurants had cartoons projected on the walls and staff doling out free peanuts, with customers tossing the shells right on the floor.1 It was … | Continue reading
[At least we might be getting rid of one tyrant.] Nearly a quarter-century ago, an episode of “The West Wing” posed this question: What is the most ubiquitous man-made object in America that does not interact with any mechanism or machine? The answer is the penny, though as the s … | Continue reading
[Capuchins are jerks.] If you somehow don’t believe humans and chimps are related, perhaps the fact that Panamanian capuchin monkeys are kidnapping howler monkey infants for sport will change your mind.1 Footnotes: National Geographic appears to now have an email-based soft “pa … | Continue reading
[“Ultra-high density” is quite the euphemism.] All I’ve ever wanted on a plane is a pod, but airlines aim to go the other way, relentlessly exploring terrible new ideas for cramming more people onto flights. Today, an awful concept from 2018 is again in the news, with rumors that … | Continue reading
[Sour, then stomachache] Some time ago, I happened upon this ridiculous product: I find this 1.9 pound package of Sour Patch Kids (which we should all start calling “SPKs”) very funny. To start, it makes me think that SPKs (it’s catching on!) might be a controlled substance. Perh … | Continue reading
[Is it just me?] It seems bad for a foreign government to be able to remotely shut off parts of another country’s power grid. Maybe I’m just being paranoid though. Link: https://www.thetimes.com/us/news-today/article/china-solar-panels-kill-switch-vptfnbx7v | Continue reading
[Would you like to buy my billion dollar used car? No low-ballers, please.] If no one wants an $80,000 CyberTruck, is it actually worth $80,000? Or anything at all, for that matter? Link: https://www.vice.com/en/article/tesla-reportedly-has-800-million-worth-of-cybertrucks-that-n … | Continue reading
[Boy, is this whole thing dumb.] In 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery renamed their streaming service from “HBO Max” to just “Max”. Dropping the storied HBO brand was derided by approximately everyone outside of the Warner Bros. Discovery boardroom. Now, almost exactly two years later … | Continue reading
[Or in this case, the lack of proof.] Newark Airport has recently had a series of problems related to air traffic control. It is, at best, concerning. Nevertheless, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has been proclaiming it safe for some time. Despite those claims, he recently r … | Continue reading
[An added layer of insurance solves all problems.] A hat tip to friend-of-the-site Oliver Y., who alerted me to the news that all problems with erroneous chatbots have now been fixed. Insurers at Lloyd’s of London have launched a product to cover companies for losses caused by ma … | Continue reading
[Immigrants make America vibrant.] The shameful detention of Rümeysa Öztürk ended on Friday. She is finally back home in Somerville, but her deportation proceedings are still ongoing. The fight for justice for Öztürk, and the many other people ICE has detained, continues. Link: h … | Continue reading
[I’m planning to outlive you all, but should I fail in that quest, please have the decency to let me be.] It’s said that there’s no wrong way to grieve, but reincarnating your murdered dead brother via AI to deliver an impact statement during his killer’s sentencing may give the … | Continue reading
[Free Rümeysa now.] As reported two weeks ago, lawyers from the increasingly misnamed Department of Justice appealed a judge’s ruling that Rümeysa Öztürk be transferred to Vermont for a bail hearing. Yesterday, they correctly lost that appeal. Barring a government appeal to the S … | Continue reading
[Dum-dums who give their kids their phone get Dum-Dums.] Recently, Liam LaFavers wanted some lollipops. Using his mom’s phone, he ordered them on Amazon. Soon, they arrived: Pictured are just 22 of the 30 cases Liam ordered, each containing 2340 lollipops. That order set his mom … | Continue reading