[Props are due to the Sam Adams PR team.] Though the relevant stadium may be far away, the Tartan Army has descended upon Boston, with kilts as far as the eye can see. Also, they drank all our beer. The parent company of Sam Adams said its Boston Taproom ran out of the brand’s f … | Continue reading
[Levi’s is handling it well.] New England is a co-host of the World Cup this summer, but due to branding rules, matches aren’t being played at Gillette Stadium. Instead, that building has been temporarily renamed “Boston Stadium”, despite being more then 20 miles from downtown. I … | Continue reading
[It’s not really an A.I. pivot.] As you’re surely aware, A.I. is currently big business. Sometimes, it’s also stupid business, as in the case of Allbirds. When I recently heard that Japanese toilet maker Toto saw their stock soar thanks to A.I., I thought there might be similar n … | Continue reading
[I’d better do something, and fast!] Google has a “Local Guides” program, where users can provide information to help others. The system will sometimes ask a specific question about a business, such as “Does X offer good vegetarian options?”. Because I’d like there to be better i … | Continue reading
[Rest in peace, Helen Menicou] While visiting San Francisco yesterday, I stopped into an old favorite restaurant: The Pinecrest Diner. It had been over a decade since my last visit, but I found the hash browns as delicious as ever. [Photo credit: P. Kafasis] While there, howeve … | Continue reading
[Bari Weiss is just not good.] Last week, I enjoyed the bracing words of Scott Pelley, uttered not long before he was terminated after years with CBS News. Now, veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft has spoken up about Bari Weiss: “Everything she’s touched has turned to s … | Continue reading
[Three years on, LLM flaws remain.] Lawyers are in trouble for citing imaginary legal cases. A federal judge in Mississippi has punished all four lawyers on opposing sides in a civil trial and canceled the proceedings after some of them, relying on artificial intelligence, cited … | Continue reading
[These may, in fact, have dropped many years ago.] Eight years ago, I first noted the phrases printed on the wrappers of Halls cough drops. When I was recently mildly under the weather again, I purchased some more Halls, and found a somewhat updated list of encouragements. Thi … | Continue reading
[Perhaps pictograms would have helped their box band-aid.] In Boston, Massachusetts, Brigham and Women’s hospital can be found at 75 Francis Street. Less than a mile away, the residence of Frumie Burns sits at 75 Francis Street in the town of Brookline. As you might imagine, this … | Continue reading
[Of course, they’re not listening to the Pope anyway.] Following in the footsteps of Pope Leo XIV, Brian Phillips recently collected some of the most grating problems with modern technology. I agreed with nearly all of them, but none more so than #30. 30. I just unsubscribed fro … | Continue reading
[It’s going to require a bit more work than picking up some litter.] Boy has the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers got a bridge to sell you give to you for the low, low cost of dismantling it and re-assembling it in a new location of your choosing. Two, actually!Link: https://www.cape … | Continue reading
[“Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.”] Do you want to get haunted? Because baking sourdough bread with yeast from the guts of a 5,000-year-old frozen mummy is how you get haunted.Link: https://www.livescie … | Continue reading
[“Enjoy the bagels”] After newly hired executive producer Nick Bilton made the laughable claim that CBS’s editor in chief Bari Weiss “loves 60 Minutes”, correspondent Scott Pelley had strong words: “She is murdering ‘60 Minutes,’” the correspondent said. “She does not love this … | Continue reading
[Even as a marketing stunt, this failed.] The Enhanced Games are a rather gross pseudo-Olympics where athletes are permitted to use performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). Amusingly, at the inaugural event last month, clean athletes competing alongside those taking PEDs won several e … | Continue reading
[The future should contain more editors and fact-checkers.] Author Steven Rosenbaum used A.I. to assist him in writing a book about artificial intelligence. That’s natural enough. Perhaps so too is the fact that the final product contains numerous quotes A.I. hallucinated. Most h … | Continue reading
[They made Bobby Strings even worse.] On the internet, one can attempt to make whatever connection one dreams of. There are women seeking men, men seeking women, aromantics seeking aromantics, and so much more. I suppose there are probably not hermits seeking anything. But thanks … | Continue reading
[It may be more precise to refer to it as “stupidly named”.] Back in March, Joe Mazzulla had some unkind words for the NBA’s “Coach of the Year” award, referring to it as “stupid”. That remark came despite his being a frontrunner for the award. Sure enough, this week, he won it. … | Continue reading
[The judge gave him permission to travel outside the state.] Despite a bit of legal trouble in the Hoosier state, World champion gurgitator Joey Chestnut will be able to compete in this year’s 4th of July hot dog eating contest. If you’re keeping score, Major League Eating is OK … | Continue reading
[I’ll stick with mint chocolate chip, thank you.] I scream, you scream, we all scream because someone tried to get us to eat asparagus ice cream.Link: https://www.wbur.org/news/2026/05/14/hadley-grass-asparagus-ice-cream-newsletter | Continue reading
[It’s the anthem of The Bad Place, and rightly so.] If you’ve ever been unfortunate to hear “Kars4Kids” jingle, it’s probably playing in your head right now. I’m sorry for that. If you’re in California, though, you might be hearing less of the jingle for at least a little bit. Br … | Continue reading
[Another thing to wish had not happened, but to try to love.] Tonight, the final episode of “The Late Show”, the pioneering late-night talk show started by David Letterman in 1993 and hosted by Stephen Colbert since 2015, will air. While CBS has claimed that financial reasons led … | Continue reading
[Oh Jimmy Jack, what have you done?] Even in Texas, you can’t just dump your garbage in the lake. [Photo credit: Grapevine Police Department] The local authorities reported that the driver, Jimmy Jack McDaniel, was arrested on charges of “Operation of Vehicle in Closed Section … | Continue reading
[“When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure."] Amazon has introduced targets requiring their developer workforce to use A.I. tools, and tracking usage on internal leaderboards. The fine readers of One Foot Tsunami can surely guess what happened next: Amazon … | Continue reading
[It is unknown if he did so on rock and roll.] Last September, I linked to Joseph Macken’s impressive New York City model. WBUR now has a brief interview with Macken, as his work has gone on display at the Museum of the City of New York. I hope to get a chance to see it in person … | Continue reading
[That poor hat-and-sash-wearing potato got let go.] The war in Iran has apparently disrupted the supply of printing inks in Japan. As a result, Calbee snack packages are losing their color. The difference is stark: Those are perhaps not the most appetizing bag of chips I’ve ev … | Continue reading
[If you read this post too, Sid, don’t email me about it.] Just before 9 AM yesterday, I posted about Dawn Zuidgeest-Craft, the septuagenarian resident. Approximately 90 minutes later, I received an email to my work account with the subject line “if Dawn can be a doctor at 72- it … | Continue reading
[Dawn Zuidgeest-Craft kicks ass.] At the age of 72, Dawn Zuidgeest-Craft is about to become a doctor. When I saw that headline, I had questions, She’s got answers, as well as thoughts on improving education for all medical professionals.Link: https://www.statnews.com/2026/04/24/m … | Continue reading
[At least “Scrotox” has a great name.] Wikipedia defines “looksmaxxing” as “an online self-improvement practice focused on the process of maximizing one’s physical attractiveness.” There seem to be some problematic aspects, but the general desire to improve one’s appearance does … | Continue reading
[I had to type “D-a-y” letter by letter, like an animal.] As I wrote a text message yesterday, I was presented with the dumbest set of auto-suggestions I can recall ever seeing. Please marvel at the ridiculousness: Mothers certainly deserve a full month, but at present, that’s … | Continue reading
[Those are some well-earned pins.] As Karl Arps was teaching about the signs of a heart attack in a CPR lesson, he went into cardiac arrest. Thankfully, his students all passed the test.Link: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/wisconsin-emt-heart-attack-9.7188630 | Continue reading
[They get hung up on by bad customer support.] Like so many of us, Pope Leo XIV had no luck attempting to get phone support from his bank. Perhaps he should count his blessings that he even managed to reach a human being.Link: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/05/06 … | Continue reading
[“Newlydivorceds” have half of everything, or possibly even nothing at all.] For many years, I’ve contended that the logic of wedding registries has been lost. A gift registry made more sense in the more distant past, where they provided the items needed to outfit a home. A groom … | Continue reading
[🥸] To bypass online age checks, kids in the UK have apparently turned to makeup: Parents also said they had caught their children drawing on facial hair in a bid to evade the technology. One mother said: “I did catch my son using an eyebrow pencil to draw a moustache on … | Continue reading
[Not so much “controversial” as “craptastic”] Following their excellent coverage of Aramark’s cut-rate edition of the 9-9-9 challenge back in March, SFGate has a new scoop. It appears the challenge package is no longer for sale at Oracle Park. Good riddance to bad rubbish.Link: h … | Continue reading
[Featuring an announcement from “people with only a tenuous grip on reality”] Is it just me, or does paying $1 billion to not get renewable energy seem like a bad deal?Link: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/trumps-latest-anti-wind-effort-pay-companies-to-abandon-offshore-l … | Continue reading
[Beboppin’ and scattin’ all over him] Renea Gamble, a 62-year-old woman who was arrested when she wore a 7-foot-tall inflatable penis costume to protest the dic(k)tatorial regime of Donald Trump, has been acquitted on all misdemeanor charges. The whole store is farcical, but I pa … | Continue reading
[Tens of thousands of dollars for this is a lot of dollars.] I firmly believe you shouldn’t use A.I. to write a eulogy. I also firmly believe there’s (almost) no wrong way to grieve. I thus find myself rather conflicted about the story of Bill Cronrath, who appeared at his own fu … | Continue reading
[Something something meat cuts] When a Vermont woman purchased a raffle ticket for a fundraiser, she hoped to win some flowers. Instead, she got a vasectomy.Link: https://www.wbur.org/news/2026/04/28/vermont-trade-vasectomy-meat-lions-club-community-strafford | Continue reading
[Sabastian Sawe flew into the record books.] Before yesterday, the fastest marathon ever raced was Kelvin Kiptum’s 2023 Chicago run, where the late phenom put up a 2:00:35. You might also remember Eliud Kipchoge’s 1:59:40.2, which he ran in a non-sanctioned event purpose-built to … | Continue reading
[Did some poor kid receive one of these boxes for their birthday? Maybe!] I am extremely amused by the slightly clever Lego pasta scammer, who thought exactly one step ahead. That is not enough steps ahead.Link: https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/article/police-arrest-man-who-replaced- … | Continue reading
[A good time was had by all.] It’s a good week for things falling out of the sky here at OFT, as we’ve now got a new vehicle where it ain’t supposed to be. Last weekend, a becalmed hot air balloon had to make an emergency landing, and it wound up in Hunter and Jenna Perrin’s tiny … | Continue reading
[This appears to be a one-off item. They ought to consider selling more of them.] The bleachers at Fenway Park are a near-uniform sea of green. However, in section 42, row 37, seat 21, there is a lone red seat. [Photo credit: Ewen Roberts] That special seat marks where Ted Will … | Continue reading
[If I die after being chased down by a super-fast, super-ridiculous robot, at least I’ll have had a good laugh at its expense.] Last April, shared results from Beijing’s robot half-marathon, which I charitably called “not a resounding success” for the machines. Out of 21 entrants … | Continue reading
[Why is there a college football game in April?] This is a rough day at the office.Link: https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/48524840/skydiver-rescued-crashing-virginia-tech-scoreboard | Continue reading
[“Entombed in dirty snow” is a bad way to go] As the weather warms up in New England, the massive snow piles found around Boston are finally melting. One particular pile has garnered quite a bit of attention due to what was revealed underneath it. Namely, cars. A half-dozen cars … | Continue reading
[I also learned that the base is made from steel and designed to look like a landmine.] When writing about the massive monument to the hero rat Magawa, I noted that it looked like wood, despite all reporting stating it was stone. I went so far as to feed a picture to A.I. to try … | Continue reading
[Let’s forget this and just get drunk on roast beef vodka.] For a decade, Allbirds has made quality shoes with a focus on sustainability. In the early 2020s, the company expanded and went public, but they’ve been struggling mightily of late. Never fear, however, as A.I. is here. … | Continue reading
[We should all be managing our own digital calendars.] When covering the automated rudeness of Resy, I said: I’m a responsible adult who keeps a digital calendar. When I book a table for dinner, I also create an event, complete with reminders. Thanks to this system, I don’t beli … | Continue reading