Dolly Parton was the Book Lady ∞

Giving away hundreds of million of books is an incredible legacy.

Thursday, August 27th, 2026

Dolly Parton died on Tuesday, but the legacy of her Imagination Library will live on. It’s the best of humanity.

Dolly herself was from a hollow in East Tennessee, and understood that any attempt at equity would begin with the alphabet. Dolly’s father never learned to read or write, a fact that always bothered her because she could see how intelligent he was. When she started the Imagination Library in 1995 in Tennessee, it was an act of retroactive love for a man who didn’t get to dream as big as his world-famous daughter was able to…At the time of her death, the Imagination Library had expanded to mail 270 million books to children in five countries.

Andrew Carnegie built libraries. Dolly Parton did too.

Someday, Our Wretched Flag May Be Replaced ∞

Flag-design-by-politics doesn’t seem to be working.

Wednesday, August 26th, 2026

Previously, I wrote about hopes for a better Massachusetts state flag. Sadly, a year on from that post, we seem to be no closer to replacing it, as this Boston Magazine article details.

On the plus side, I did learn the full story on how Maine’s (sadly unofficial) Lone Pine flag rose to prominence. As well, some key principles to good flag design were shared, courtesy of North American Vexillological Association’s secretary Ted Kay:

A flag should be simple—so simple a child could draw it from memory. It should use just two to three colors, be distinctive, and deploy “meaningful symbolism.” And there should be no lettering or seals.

Massachusetts’s current flag fails this test very, very badly. Maybe someday, that will no longer be true.

Staying Humble

It’s hard to get a big head when you have no head.

Tuesday, August 25th, 2026

My laser printer (a Brother whatever-it-is) can’t do color, but CVS will print a 4”x6” photo for all of 42 cents.1 It takes about a minute and a half to upload an image file and click through to order. A few hours later, your printed photo is ready for retrieval.

And so:

A picture of your humble author, whose face is entirely covered by a blurry elbow in the foreground, printed out and framed

You probably thought I was kidding. I probably thought I was too. But now I’ve gone and done this. It makes a good addition to my trophy case, ensuring that I don’t get a big head.

Footnotes:

  1. It’s possible it was even cheaper than that, as I fear I may actually have stolen this photograph from CVS. As described, I uploaded my photograph online and placed the order to have it printed. When I went to pick it up, I was handed the photo, after which I simply left.

    Only after I got home did I stop to wonder when I’d actually paid. The original emails don’t have any payment information, and I don’t see a 42¢ charge on my credit card. I suspect I was supposed to pay at the store. And yet, the clerk who handed me the photo gave no indication that he was expecting payment. ↩︎

The Wrong Kind of American ∞

Though she’s left the CIA, Julia Curlee is still serving.

Monday, August 24th, 2026

Julia Curlee is a trans woman who ably served the CIA under four presidents. That ended last year, after the second Trump administration decided she was the wrong kind of American. Now, she’s sharing her story publicly.

We Need More From the Media ∞

Everything is so exhaustingly stupid.

Friday, August 21st, 2026

Speaking of terrible things that have stuck in my mind1, I’ve been hung up on something I read a few weeks ago. Following Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s moronic reference to “DEI bike lanes”, the Department of Transportation began stripping evidence-based tools and information on bike safety from government websites. Never mind that data shows bike lanes make roads safer for all users, including drivers, all without causing congestion. This idiotic new front in the cultural wars must be fought, truth be damned.

It gets dumber. When NPR inquired about these website changes, they received a response from a DOT spokesperson which included the following:

“Since nearly 80% of the population uses cars to get to work and
their important medical appointments, we are taking a closer look at federal guidance to ensure American families have the infrastructure they need,”2 the spokesperson said. “This is a common sense approach despite the Left’s belief that everyone should ride a bike to their shoebox-sized apartment to eat crickets to achieve a phony climate agenda.”

I’ve added emphasis to that last sentence, because it’s so profoundly stupid that it makes me want to scream.

The spokesperson who provided this quote was not named in the piece. I would argue they also should not have been quoted at all. Doing so elevated a completely ridiculous reply in a way it did not deserve. It would serve no useful purpose to quote the ravings of a dementia patient, and that’s the level we’re on here.

The media should strive to be unbiased, and they’re not actually doing that very well lately. When one side perpetually acts in bad faith, lazy both-sides journalism is just a weapon for them to spread their misinformation. Journalists aren’t supposed to be mere stenographers, and putting falsehoods on equal footing with facts and data is bad for society.

In other words, printing that quote without calling it out normalized nonsense. When someone attempts to pass off bullshit as reasoned discussion, reporting it as straight news isn’t being unbiased. It’s just being used.

Footnotes:

  1. After that post, I heard from multiple fans of the hummingbird moth. I’m sorry to have yucked your figurative yums. I can only say that I know what I don’t like, and I don’t like that bug! But hey, more hummingbird moths for you folks to enjoy. *Shudder* ↩︎

  2. I feel compelled to note that of course a huge percentage of Americans currently use cars frequently, because decades of transportation policy has privileged cars at the expense of our health, our safety, and our sanity. That doesn’t mean we have to continue the folly forever. ↩︎

The $999,999 Limit

Oh, the points you could earn!

Thursday, August 20th, 2026

Though the recent email sent by Massachusetts was suspicious in the extreme, the registration on my car will indeed come due in a couple of months. After I verified that, I figured I ought to get it taken care of online. It’s generally a relatively painless process, requiring just a few clicks.

As I finalized things and reached the payment stage, I saw this:

A payment screen noting that “The maximum payment allowed on a credit card is $999,999”.

I highlighted what is a truly bizarre sentence to read, in any context. “The maximum payment allowed on a credit card is $999,999”! I would love to know the story behind that. This message has been shown since at least 2025, because I was similarly taken aback when I saw it last October. I took a screenshot then, and chuckled about it with friends. Only now, upon seeing it again, did I think to share it with you too.

Which would you guess is less common: a million dollar RMV charge, or a credit card with a million dollar limit? I suppose someone who purchases a multimillion-dollar super car might owe the RMV taxes that reach seven figures. That type of person might also have a real Amex Black Card (not the bogus Visa Black Card), which could make it possible to charge such a bill to a credit card.

Still, does it really make sense for every single resident who transacts with the RMV to see this ludicrous message?

Hummingbird Moths

I’m sorry.

Wednesday, August 19th, 2026

Last week, I learned of the existence of the hummingbird clearwing moth. I don’t care for it! I mean, just look at it:

A moth that looks a lot like a hummingbird[Photo credit: Larry Dallaire]

This large moth might be mistaken for a hummingbird because it hovers and beats its wings rapidly while unfurling its long tongue (proboscis) to sip nectar…They can fly sideways and backwards, accelerate quickly, and these moths beat their wings about 60 to 70 times per second (!) when hovering — fast enough to produce a buzzing or humming sound that is within the range of human hearing.

I’ve been thinking about this thing a lot, because it’s gross.1 Honestly, hummingbirds might be gross too if I consider them too much, but they get a pass because they’re birds, and birds are cool. A moth is just a gross flying bug. It may be a pollinator, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.

Anyhow, the best way I know to get this thing out of my mind is by sharing the awfulness with all of you. As always, thanks for reading One Foot Tsunami!

Footnotes:

  1. Here’s an extremely relevant video clip.2 ↩︎

  2. “Gross” doesn’t even begin to describe Danny Masterson, the actor who portrayed Stephen Hyde on “That ’70s Show”, nor the reprehensible actions of the Church of Scientology. Masterson is now serving 30 years to life after being found guilty of two counts of forcible rape. The Church of Scientology worked to cover up his crimes.↩︎

Oh, Massachusetts, No

2:50 AM on a Sunday is also a particularly scammy time for this to be sent.

Tuesday, August 18th, 2026

This past Sunday, I received an email from “Do Not Reply” with the subject line “Vehicle Registration Renewal Reminder”. Here’s what it looked like:

This is a very, very bad email, beginning with the awful A.I. slop image at the top. Here’s a larger look at just that:

An A.I. generated image of a colonial man on horseback, on cobblestones, carrying a banner reading “Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Registration is Expiring!

Lest you have any doubts whatsoever as to the origin of this image, note that they didn’t even crop out the Gemini logo from the bottom right. While I’ve compressed the image above, the original of this needless image was also a needlessly large 760 KB png file. Awful.

When I saw this email, I was quite certain it was a phishing scam. I assumed that the link inside would take me to a scammy replica of a government website, one that would steal credit card numbers. But no! As far as I can determine, this is a legitimate email from the RMV.1 The lone link in it does indeed go to http://mass.gov/rmv, which forwards on to the official RMV site.2 And indeed, my car registration is expiring in a couple of months.

In the past, I have always received an official form in the mail which can be used to renew my registration. For many years, that letter has simply prompted me to go online to renew. Given that, a switch to email notifications make sense. They sure ought to look a lot more official than this, however.

Footnotes:

  1. What’s most often known as the “Department of Motor Vehicles” (DMV) is indeed called the “Registry of Motor Vehicles” (RMV) in Massachusetts. Why? Just to be difficult, I assume. But we’re far from the only ones. ↩︎

  2. I’m not sure why the original link is http:// rather than https://, but the forward does lead to a secure page. ↩︎

Subsidized Internet for Vacant Homes ∞

In this case, the internet is a series of tubes to nowhere.

Monday, August 17th, 2026

Adak Island is 1,200 miles from Anchorage, and all but deserted since its naval base closed in 1997. Nevertheless, it receives government-subsidized internet service at a cost of over $340,000 a year. And it seems not a single person is using it.

We know this because we flew to the island in June and visited every building the company itself told regulators it serves. We knocked on every door. Talked to every person we could find.

Not a single one told us they subscribe to the island’s subsidized internet service.

What an incredible waste of money.

Betting on the Wedding ∞

The classiest wedding bet is on how long the marriage will last.

Friday, August 14th, 2026

I’ve been quite horrified by the rapid spread of gambling in American society in recent years, but even still, betting on weddings seems like a tacky new low to me.

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