Author Steven Rosenbaum used A.I. to assist him in writing a book about artificial intelligence. That’s natural enough. Perhaps so too is the fact that the final product contains numerous quotes A.I. hallucinated. Most horrifying of all is the book’s name: “The Future of Truth”. Let’s hope this isn’t it.
It’s Not Looking Good ∞
The future should contain more editors and fact-checkers.
Friday, May 29th, 2026
Please Reclaim Your Nightmare Fuel ∞
They made Bobby Strings even worse.
Thursday, May 28th, 2026
On the internet, one can attempt to make whatever connection one dreams of. There are women seeking men, men seeking women, aromantics seeking aromantics, and so much more. I suppose there are probably not hermits seeking anything. But thanks to friend-of-the-site Daniel J., I now know that in Stoneham, Massachusetts, we recently had police seeking owner of creepy puppet. You can probably see why:
Thanks, I hate it.
[Photo credit: Stoneham Police Department]
It appears that this horror show is apparently a modified version of a massive “Bobby Strings” animatronic puppet.1 Not long after posting about this, police did indeed hear from the puppet’s previous owner, who had attempted to throw it out.
[The owner] speculated someone fished it out of the trash and left it on a neighbor’s lawn, possibly as a prank.
Sure, maybe. But more likely, the puppet fished itself out and is out for blood.
Footnotes:
That page includes a video of one of Bobby’s six different routines, which I’ve also archived for you. ↩︎
Joe Mazzulla Wins a Stupid Award ∞
It may be more precise to refer to it as “stupidly named”.
Wednesday, May 27th, 2026
Back in March, Joe Mazzulla had some unkind words for the NBA’s “Coach of the Year” award, referring to it as “stupid”. That remark came despite his being a frontrunner for the award. Sure enough, this week, he won it.
Though his manner is brusque, his reasoning is sound:
[Mazzulla] thinks it should be more of a “coaching staff of the year” than a “coach of the year” award, and that is a noble approach. He repeated that during Tuesday night’s announcement of his win, beginning his remarks on NBC by thanking those who made it possible.
“The long nights, the trips, game plans, the video guys that are clipping up the film and coding it, the assistants who are putting in the game plan, I think there’s so much that goes into winning one game,” Mazzulla said. “It starts with the players, but it goes to our staff. I feel bad that they’re not here — but forever indebted to the guys that we have that give up time with their families and their time to give us a chance to win every day.”
Congratulations to Mazzulla, and all the Celtics staff, on winning this stupid award.
Previously in Joe Mazzulla: Inspiring Words
Joey Chestnut Will Defend His Title While on Probation ∞
The judge gave him permission to travel outside the state.
Tuesday, May 26th, 2026
Despite a bit of legal trouble in the Hoosier state, World champion gurgitator Joey Chestnut will be able to compete in this year’s 4th of July hot dog eating contest.
If you’re keeping score, Major League Eating is OK with some light battery, but is not OK with endorsing a competing hot dog product.
Kars 4 Near-Adults To Go To Israel ∞
It’s the anthem of The Bad Place, and rightly so.
Friday, May 22nd, 2026
If you’ve ever been unfortunate to hear “Kars4Kids” jingle, it’s probably playing in your head right now. I’m sorry for that. If you’re in California, though, you might be hearing less of the jingle for at least a little bit. Bruce Puterbaugh brought suit against the organization for deceptive advertising, and won. Kars4Kids now has 30 days to amend the ad, likely by adding disclaimers, or stop airing it.
Despite the legal victory, the case feels rather weak. But anything that reduces the amount of play that awful jingle gets is a win.
Don’t miss KarsforKidsJingle.com, either, which rather bizarrely catalogs all sorts of (almost entirely negative!) mentions and references to the song.
Farewell to Stephen Colbert ∞
Another thing to wish had not happened, but to try to love.
Thursday, May 21st, 2026
Tonight, the final episode of “The Late Show”, the pioneering late-night talk show started by David Letterman in 1993 and hosted by Stephen Colbert since 2015, will air. While CBS has claimed that financial reasons led them to end the franchise, the circumstances surrounding that cancellation are highly questionable.
The network says it decided to end “The Late Show” because it was losing at least $40 million a year. Sounds credible, doesn’t it? Maybe not. Many insiders — including Mr. Colbert’s friend and direct competitor, Jimmy Kimmel — have noted that CBS’s calculation left out some key factors. It did not include the effect of Mr. Colbert’s star presence on the fees CBS is able to command from local affiliate stations. It shrugged off the value the network has gained from sending stars of its series onto the show for promotion. It ignored Mr. Colbert’s role in bringing viewers to those affiliates’ 11 p.m. news shows, in anticipation of the new “Late Show” episode that would air right after.
Whatever the case may be, for the first time in more than two decades, late-night programming won’t include Stephen Colbert. That loss is worth recognizing.
The network that once had the backbone to air Edward R. Murrow taking on Sen. Joe McCarthy has decided that Colbert — one of the sharpest and most honest voices in American media — is no longer worth the trouble.
What’s being lost is not simply a talk show. It is something older and more important.
Though late-night television was seldom part of my routine, I frequently enjoyed watching clips of Colbert in the days after they aired. I’ll miss that, but I’ll look forward to what he does next.
Previously in Stephen Colbert: “I Love the Thing That I Most Wish Had Not Happened”
“Wade Mode” Is Not “Swim Mode” ∞
Oh Jimmy Jack, what have you done?
Wednesday, May 20th, 2026
Even in Texas, you can’t just dump your garbage in the lake.
[Photo credit: Grapevine Police Department]
The local authorities reported that the driver, Jimmy Jack McDaniel, was arrested on charges of “Operation of Vehicle in Closed Section of Park/Lake and numerous water safety equipment violations”.
Goodhart’s Law in Action ∞
“When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure."
Tuesday, May 19th, 2026
Amazon has introduced targets requiring their developer workforce to use A.I. tools, and tracking usage on internal leaderboards. The fine readers of One Foot Tsunami can surely guess what happened next:
Amazon employees are using an internal AI tool to run unnecessary, low-value tasks — not because the work needs doing, but because the activity inflates their scores on a company leaderboard tracking artificial intelligence usage.
Yes, workers started tokenmaxxing.
Previously in -maxxing: At Least AC/DC Would Be Proud
He Built This City ∞
It is unknown if he did so on rock and roll.
Monday, May 18th, 2026
Last September, I linked to Joseph Macken’s impressive New York City model. WBUR now has a brief interview with Macken, as his work has gone on display at the Museum of the City of New York. I hope to get a chance to see it in person.
