[Where in this case, a dragon is a water-spewing robot.] A dragon is a mythical flying beast with the ability to breathe flames. As such, it’s an odd inspiration for a firefighting robot, but here we are: The Dragon Firefighter’s firehose is propelled upward (flying at two meter … | Continue reading
[This is a delightful use of machine learning.] Using satellites to spying on beavers from space then training artificial intelligence to analyze the resulting imagery is an incredibly complicated way to deal with effects from climate change. It also just might work.Link: https:/ … | Continue reading
[It’s lasers all the way down.] When NASA needed to test a laser-based deep space transmission earlier this month, they had a little fun with the video. The contents of the video didn’t matter for the experiment, so the team decided to have a little fun, using a cat video featuri … | Continue reading
[Lighthouses from our heart space] Last month, I wrote about Sally Snowman, the last official lighthouse keeper in the US. On the eve of her retirement, she spoke with WBUR. That conversation included this amazing quote: I believe we are all beacons of light. We are all lighthous … | Continue reading
[This seems terribly foolish.] When I saw that former James Bond Pierce Brosnan had been accused of trespassing in Yellowstone National Park, I was intrigued. I wondered where he might have gone to get in such trouble. It turns out, he went off trail near Mammoth Hot Springs, whi … | Continue reading
[They’re picking up good vibrations.] Billions of dollars are donated each year trying to cure cancer, and competition for those funds is surely fierce. Having a technique that can reasonably be called a “molecular jackhammer” seems likely to be good for getting funding.Link: htt … | Continue reading
[Today in reasons to not take a cruise.] I live in Boston. I like it here. But if I went on a December cruise to the Caribbean, and I instead wound up in New England and Canada, I would not be happy. Nor would I, or anyone who didn’t get the heads-up, be properly packed.Link: htt … | Continue reading
[I’m curious why the child’s relevant adult didn’t get a gate pass and take them to the correct plane.] Did you know children as young as five can fly as unaccompanied minors on most airlines in America? Even if they don’t get misplaced by Spirit Airlines, that seems very young.L … | Continue reading
[“Plus, mice can be difficult to trick.”] You won’t be able to get your grubby little mitts on Apple’s Vision Pro until “early next year”, whenever that is. In a Northwestern University lab, however, mice are running on mini treadmills while wearing virtual reality goggles, all i … | Continue reading
[At least you made it, Ricardo.] A week ago today, a loose steer on the tracks disrupted train travel in New Jersey. The then-unnamed steer [Photo credit: NJ Transit] It was quite a sight to behold, and though trains were delayed, the internet was briefly in love with the escape … | Continue reading
[That flag looks real good now. You betcha.] Those lucky folks in Minnesota are getting a new state flag. Last week, the State Emblems Redesign Commission had narrowed things down to this: Any one of these would be a substantial improvement over the current flag, but the third d … | Continue reading
[I’m not sure what the minimum amount is to qualify as “funds”, but it’s got to be higher than $4.99.] On December 7, I ordered a small gift on eBay. I needed it by December 19, and the listing indicated it should arrive to me between December 11 and December 15. Perfect. However … | Continue reading
[It‘s impressive just how far this got.] In the mid-’90s, Melrose Place was one of the biggest shows on TV. Apparently, it was also the secret host for a culture-jamming art project. While contemplating an unwanted pregnancy, a character used a quilt depicting the molecular model … | Continue reading
[I will give them credit for making something different. Awful, yes, but at least not awful and boring.] Tesla’s Cybertruck is now out in the real world, with a small number of purchasers taking possession last month. Just as it was at its unveiling back in 2019, the released Cyb … | Continue reading
[If you don’t, why the hell should anyone else?] I have been frustrated by this story, and now you get to be too! Last month, Ryan Roth won a seat on the Rainier City Council by exactly one vote, 247-246. Roth voted for himself, while his opponent Damion Green opted not to vote a … | Continue reading
[Also, what the hell kind of a name is “Xhamster”?] Recently, my pal John Gruber posted about Verizon providing customer data to a man who was falsely posing as a cop. The story is terrible, of course, and Verizon really blew it here. Still, I don’t find that too surprising. Comp … | Continue reading
[An eternity of Kiss is too much Kiss.] The human members of Kiss have retired from touring, but apparently, the show will go on. That’s thanks to digital avatars that have promised “a new Kiss Era”. Per Sundin, CEO of Pophouse Entertainment, says this new technology allows Kiss … | Continue reading
[What’s in the box? What’s in the box?!] Recently, friend-of-the-site Alex S. sent me the following image: Alex had recently purchased a desk, and it had arrived in this rather confusing box. He quipped that the whole thing deserved a David Attenborough voiceover “Here we see ho … | Continue reading
[Running Twitter has always seemed like a miserable job, particularly for one of the richest people in the world.] Back in November of 2022, when X Formerly Twitter was known by the simpler name “Twitter”, I theorized the Elon Musk was trying to destroy the company he’d just purc … | Continue reading
[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