“Disenshittify or die! How hackers can seize the means of computation and build a new, good internet that is hardened against our asshole bosses’ insatiable horniness for enshittification.” — Cory Doctorow at Pluralistic
What Happened to Getting a Doctor’s Finger in Your Butt?
It’s a rite of passage for men. You’re in your 40s, you’re at your annual checkup, and suddenly you hear the snap of a rubber glove.
Why doctors are no longer doing the digital rectal exam (DRE).
You’ve got to hide your myopia away: John Lennon’s contact lenses
John Lennon’s eyeglasses became iconic, but before 1966 he was seldom seen in public wearing glasses. Instead, he wore rigid contact lenses that frequently fell out.
This is a wild article from the professional/scientific “Journal of the College of Optometrists.” It goes deep on medical terminology, attempting to diagnose Lennon’s prescription and explaining why he had such problems wearing contacts.
Nigel Walley, John’s childhood friend and manager of John’s first band ‘The Quarrymen’ (which evolved into The Beatles) recalled: ‘The thing with John though was that he was as blind as a bat—he had glasses but he would never wear them. He was very vain about that’ ‘He didn’t want to be seen out in them, and kept them in an inside pocket along with his mouth organ. He might slip them on to see something, but he’d whip them off again very quickly’.
In 1980, John himself explained that ‘I was just a suburban kid, imitating the rockers. But it was a big part of one’s life to look tough. I spent the whole of my childhood with shoulders up around the top of me head and me glasses off because glasses were sissy…’.
Paul McCartney recounted a story of John’s spectacle wearing habits from their teenage years in Liverpool. ‘He was pretty short-sighted, and it led to some funny occasions… Normally if there were girls around, he’d whip them off. He was a little bit shy with them, so if he was out and about, he’d just take them off… But he came down to my house, he lived about a mile or so away… We were writing some stuff and we got finished about midnight.
And so… he took off his glasses and walked home. The next day he said “…do you know those people on the corner of Booker Avenue?” I said ‘Yeah’. He said, ‘They’re crazy… at midnight when I left you, they were out on the porch of their house playing cards’. I said, ‘You’re kidding me’. So, I had to investigate. I went around and had a look… it was a nativity scene’.”
Chicago officials have been terrified that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott would inundate the DNC with migrant buses. But the people of Chicago may have already called Abbott’s bluff.
This is not the optimistic article suggested by the headline and description. Today’s broken immigration policies are creating a crisis and misery that will roll on for many, many years.
Quixotic attempts to seal the border, combined with prison camps to hold tens of millions of people, won’t solve the problem. They’ll just accelerate the crisis and make it a million times worse.
“I killed him for money – and for a woman. I didn’t get the money. And I didn’t get the woman.” Roger Ebert reviews “Double Indemnity.”
The “Memindex Method” was a 1906 precursor to the Bullet Journal, Hipster PDA, GTD and related productivity systems. It preceded Vannevar Bush’s seminal “memex” essay by nearly a half-century.
Many "ews" were said
Last night, Julie went into the pantry to get a snack. She found a pound and a half of sliced deli turkey breast that had gotten lost on the path from the supermarket to the car to the refrigerator.
This explains the unpleasant smell and flies that had been lingering inexplicably in the kitchen for weeks.
Many “ews” were said that night, and the turkey found its way out of the house and into the trash bin. Fortunately, trash pick-up was this morning.
As a pleasant surprise, the smell and flies were gone almost immediately.
Scott Dworkin: The press must cover Trump’s cognitive decline.. Tom Nichols at The Atlantic: “Trump’s “obvious emotional instability is frightening, not funny.”
A friend said one of my earlier posts about Trump was fat-shaming. Not sure he’s right, but I amend the word “obese” to “with an unhealthy lifestyle.”
Articles I read over lunch today on Fierce Network: Brightspeed’s multi-billion-dollar cash infusion, US and Sweden team on 6G, and Huawei looks to beat Nvidia chips
Brightspeed gets a whopping $3.7 billion to build fiber networks. Linda Hardesty breaks the news.
The US and Sweden are teaming up to develop 6G technology. By Dan Jones
Natural gas companies want to power artificial intelligence. Nuclear power won’t arrive fast enough. By Diana Goovaerts.
Investors are pouring money into hardware to secure sufficient compute power for AI. By Diana Goovaerts
Huawei is developing a new chip to challenge Nvidia and surmount US sanctions
Alert readers will note that last article is not from Fierce Network.
ChatGPT updated to new model based on user feedback — Release notes? OpenAI has heard of them.
Donald Trump is a 77-year-old obese man who is clearly losing his mental faculties. He can’t even remember who he’s running against half the time or remember her name even when he does. What happens when his decline is obvious even to his supporters? Or if he drops dead? What if that happens before Election Day?
An enjoyable, informative but unsatisfying read. Bouie concludes that the party will still be Trump’s as long as he wants it.
Andy Borowitz: Trump and Musk Share Tips on Running Companies into Ground
Trump is starting to give off “All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up” vibes. via