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. It actually lies about equidistant to Providence, Rhode Island, but sure, sure “Boston” Stadium.

Even more ridiculous is “San Francisco Bay Area Stadium”, which is a whopping 40 miles from San Francisco. That venue is more commonly known as Levi’s Stadium, but their batwing logo has been covered up in rather hilarious fashion. It’s fine, FIFA, nobody’s gonna know.¹

I have to applaud the way Levi’s has leaned into it, changing their Instagram avatar thusly:

I’m very much in favor of less advertising in the world, but that’s not what this is about. Instead, the mandatory debranding is a rather foolish attempt to ensure that only FIFA-sanctioned advertising is seen. Over at The Athletic, Melanie Anzidei has a look at all the ways host stadiums are complying with FIFA’s mandate. The result seen in this picture strikes me as particularly absurd:

At a glance, I can visually identify French’s mustard, Hellman’s mayonnaise (or, given that this image is from west of the Rockies, Best Foods), Heinz ketchup and relish, and Huy Fong sriracha, Kikkoman soy sauce, Tabasco, and I think Tapatío hot sauce. I’m not thrilled to have so much brain space devoted to brand imagery, but I also don’t think the black tape is doing much.

Footnotes:

1. The post in question is archived here. ↩︎

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 nonsense at play. It turns out that instead, they’re benefitting from that fact that they also make crucial components for semiconductor manufacturing.

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 shit. Everything she’s touched has gone colossally wrong. And I don’t think she’s showed any talent for this position. She’s only fulfilling other people’s agendas.”

Worth noting, Nick Bilton won’t be able to fire Kroft from 60 Minutes, as Kroft retired from the program back in 2019.

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 has often resulted in confusion.

Once an anxious young couple came to the door and said that they were looking for the fertility clinic. Shouldn’t they have asked if they were at the hospital first? Since when do you ring the doorbell to enter a clinic? Wasn’t my professional attire of cut-offs, a tee shirt and flip flops another hint that they were in the wrong place? Another time an elderly gentleman handed me his paperwork for a colonoscopy before even saying hello.

I think in that situation one is obligated to perform the colonoscopy. Just use whatever’s at hand.

In recent years, however, the bigger issue has been the many, many food deliveries coming to the wrong place. The local wildlife has no doubt appreciated when they were left without even ringing the doorbell.

Burns’s piece about her experiences was shared with me by friend-of-the-site Oliver Y., and it’s since come up in multiple conversations I’ve had with others. Now, I recommend it to you.

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 from your email updates because I receive too many emails from you. You do not need to send me an additional email confirming my cancellation.

Over at my day job, the unsubscribe flow for our mailing list is built to do the job with one click and zero additional emails.

As you can see, we do offer a resubscribe option, which mostly just pokes fun at the idea that such a thing could be useful.