This would explain so much.

BBC wants to tell us about The people who are ‘allergic’ to humans.

In the best of all possible worlds, I could suffer from a ‘selective allergy,’ that is, I would be allergic only to people I don’t like (for whatever reason). This particular allergy would of course be immune to antihistamines and other treatments.

But now that I know they exist, maybe I can just start sneezing when the unwanted appear…

Ah, the good ol’ days.

Moneywise reports on a new scam that involves receiving unsolicited packages. In the article, they say Although the brushing scam might not directly lead to a financial loss, it signals that your personal information – such as your name and address – is being used without your knowledge.

You know, I remember the days when everybody could get in on this scam. All you needed was a device called a phonebook. Every household had one. All a scammer had to do was open the book, and select a name/address. Granted, some people protected their privacy by paying for unlisted numbers, but they were in the minority.

Also, if you own property, the county or city’s assessor’s office probably has that information on the internet already, again without the ‘owner’s’ consent. Maybe with knowledge—maybe not.

More of the same.

I’m slowly working my way through a stack of 5+ year old Wireds and Fast Companies. It’s still a bit of a shock to see ads for tobacco products and vapes.

I almost feel like an archeologist hitting a trash heap three feet below the surface. The material is still new enough to be familiar and known, but old enough to provide surprises and a hint of the exotic. It’s a great place to play ‘whatever happened to…?’

Wandering afield.

The conversation started about lawyers, bounced to Bleak House, diverted to George Costanza, to Elaine’s writing of J. Peterman entries, to checking to see if J. Peterman still existed as a company.

It does. I wandered into the men’s clothing section, to see what they’re charging for chinos (a holdover from a previous conversation). They were reasonably priced, and I moved on to see what other items, weee there, and found the Irish Pub shirt.

My wife wanted to know what an Irish Pub Shirt is. I just handed her the tablet to read the legendary Peterman story (not this particular story, which was ‘bleah,’ but Peterman s stories are legendary. My wife found the story highly entertaining, but for all the wrong reasons.

When I got the tablet back, I checked to see what the shirt fabric was. There was no answer.

Personally, I think that’s kind of important.

Before moving on, I looked at the other offerings, one of which was ‘Beard Oil.’ My wife asked, ‘what is beard oil for?’

I couldn’t help myself. I replied, ‘to keep your beard from squeaking.’

She didn’t think it was funny either.

The art of the map.

This piece began while reading an advice column by Meghan O’Gieblyn about open tabs in browsers. She referenced full-sized maps imagined by Lewis Carroll and Jorge Luis Borges. That put me in mind of a Steven Wright joke:

I have a map of the United States... Actual size. It says, ‘Scale: 1 mile = 1 mile.’ I spent last summer folding it. I hardly ever unroll it. People ask me where I live, and I say, ‘E6.’

Steal? Homage? Unwitting?

But for this thought piece I’m more interested in map formats, specifically electronic maps.

They haven’t been with us very long–maybe twenty years. That’s when I was gifted with a Garmin. At the time I was disinterested, as I knew where I was going (unlike now). Mostly. The few times I used it, I remained less than impressed. In one case, it directed us around non-existing construction. And then it presented us with a vision of the future. The device was crippled if we didn’t pay for updated maps (can you say subscription?). Soon, though, Google dominated the space with free software that ran on non-dedicated devices, specifically cell phones.

The concept stuck. Google and Apple maps are getting better, progressively adding features. I can now plan a route by bicycle and public transit, get near real time traffic alerts, and can get listings and reviews for businesses, restaurants and churches in an area. I do find it simultaneously awesome and creepy to think that I am being guided and tracked by a satellite thousands of miles in space.

There are still proverbial flies in the ointment.

I’d be surprised if many if any people didn’t have the experience of being misguided by one of these map programs. One guide tried to steer me into a field a number of times when I was trying to get to the Panama City airport. Another time, a map told me to turn right in four miles, when it was actually ten, inducing panic. Sure I had missed the turn, I almost turned around.

For every step forward there’s a step back. Recently, I went someplace I’ve gone before, and had the map open to check for construction and heavy traffic. I had to explicitly tell the program to show me not-freeways. Before, it always included that route routinely.

Sometimes, speed is not the primary consideration in getting from place to place. I’m sure that someday soon we won’t even need maps. Altogether now–HaHaHaHaHa.

What would you expect him to say?

or, self-serving at its finest.

In Futurism., Sam Altman Says “Significant Fraction” of Earth’s Total Electricity Should Go to Running AI.

Probably wants it for free, too.

Also might be helpful to remember fourth grade math, where we were told that 99/100 is a significant fraction.

In case you’ve been fortunate enough to be living in a cave all this time, Sam Altman is one of the developers and chief cheerleader of this whole artificial stupidity thing.

You can’t have anything nice anymore.

Maybe nine months ago, I found out how to add em dashes ( — ), to web pages, and started using them instead of en dashes ( – ) when appropriate.

Now I find out that em dashes are a telling sign that the article is A.I. generated.

I AM NOT A ROBOT, and I’ve got hours spent filling out captchas to prove it.

Back to en dashes, I guess.

But really, would any self-respecting A.I. text generator be spewing out stuff of this quality?

As the sun rises.

PetHelpful tells us about a Bold Black Bear Cub Drinking Coffee From Man’s Mug on Mountain Porch is the Most Magical Morning Scene.

Unless, of course, it’s your coffee. And your porch. Then maybe not magical.