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.

Wikipedia defines “looksmaxxing” as “an online self-improvement practice focused on the process of maximizing one’s physical attractiveness.” There seem to be some problematic aspects, but the general desire to improve one’s appearance does not strike me as a unusual.

By contrast, there’s ballmaxxing, which is exactly what you’d guess it is.

Even if the procedure is executed perfectly, doctors tend to warn against scrotal inflation. “The scrotum area is very sensitive and contains delicate structures, including the testes, blood vessels, and nerves, which are not designed to accommodate fluid distension,” says Dr. Shirin Lakhani, an aesthetic physician and intimate health expert in Kent, England. If a scrotum is stretched past its limit and can no longer expand, the skin ruptures.

Yeah, no.

As Karl Arps was teaching about the signs of a heart attack in a CPR lesson, he went into cardiac arrest. Thankfully, his students all passed the test.

Like so many of us, Pope Leo XIV had no luck attempting to get phone support from his bank. Perhaps he should count his blessings that he even managed to reach a human being.