“But is it our art?”
Thursday, April 25th, 2024
I occasionally engage in scampish art of put-pocketing, wherein rather than filching an item from someone, I instead slip something into a friend’s pocket or bag. Though I rarely get to see the end result, I still delight in the idea of them finding these unexpected things and wondering how they got there.
As such, I can certainly appreciate this artist trying to earn his big break. For now, however, it does not seem to be going well.
Separating satire from misinformation is difficult but essential.
Wednesday, April 24th, 2024
Apparently, free speech absolutist Elon Musk has died.
Look at what we can do.
Tuesday, April 23rd, 2024
Back in February, I noted that after nearly 47 years, Voyager 1 may be dying. But Goonies NASA nerds never say die. After months of meticulous debugging work, we are once again receiving valid data from Voyager.
On April 18, 2024, the team began sending the code to its new location in the FDS memory. This was a painstaking process, as a radio signal takes 22.5 hours to traverse the distance between Earth and Voyager 1, and it then takes another 22.5 hours to get a signal back from the craft.
By Saturday (April 20), however, the team confirmed their modification had worked. For the first time in five months, the scientists were able to communicate with Voyager 1 and check its health.
A jubilant flight team, after receiving valid data from Voyager 1 for the first time in five months
[Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech]
Patching code from 15 billion miles away to work around a corrupted 46-year-old memory chip is pretty damned amazing.
If Mark Cuban is preparing to run for office, a lot of places could do worse.
Monday, April 22nd, 2024
Last week, billionaire Mark Cuban wired a massive $275.9 million dollars to the IRS, as payment for his 2023 taxes. That is a whole lot of money, but Cuban smartly said he’s happy to pay what he owes. After all, as Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote, taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society.
Also, a $275.9 million tax bill is a really solid humblebrag.
I’m not sure why they have “Taxi” lights though.
Friday, April 19th, 2024
Earlier in the month, I wrote about rats driving cars. Thanks to friend-of-the-site Drew S., I can now point you to additional rodent driver content.
[Still frame via @EmperorsofMischief]
These are some sweet rides.
AI can be really, really dumb.
Thursday, April 18th, 2024
A tip from friend-of-the-site Alex S. led me to enjoy a good laugh at X Formerly Twitter’s expense. It seems their AI bot Grok recently decided to just fabricate an entire news story out of thin air. It’s some really incredible nonsense.
As Golden State was eliminated from the NBA playoffs on Tuesday, Warriors guard Klay Thompson had a rough night. Despite playing 32 minutes, he put up 0 points while shooting 0-for-10. In basketball slang, he shot bricks.
Though that’s a very ugly stat line, it’s not actually criminal. Grok, however, believed otherwise:
This is like a game of Telephone, being presented as real news. It’s funny, but it’s also pretty terrible.
As you might be able to make out, that fictitious story includes this very hard-to-read disclaimer:
Grok is an early feature and can make mistakes.
Clearly.
Undermining the essence of sports and disrespecting the spectators
Wednesday, April 17th, 2024
Apparently, it’s running week here at OFT. Chinese racer He Jie is obviously very fast, capable of completing a half-marathon in a little over an hour. However, his victory at Sunday’s Beijing Half Marathon has raised quite a few eyebrows, as it did not appear he was actually the fastest racer out there.
Willy Mnangat seemingly waving He Jie ahead at the finish line
[Image and Video: @whyyoutouzhele]
The video is pretty damning.1 It seems to clearly show the three African runners holding back, to allow He to win. Kenyan runner Willy Mnangat initially stated that he let the Chinese athlete pass “because he is my friend”.2 However, he has now claimed he was hired as a pacer, despite the race listing him as a competitor.
Whatever happened here, it stinks to high heaven.
Footnotes:
Even if they felt this is a reasonable option to provide, showcasing it was a very poor decision.
Tuesday, April 16th, 2024
In ancient Greece, Olympians competed naked. Nike’s new uniforms were recently unveiled, and it seems they’re hoping to get close to the original spirit of the Olympics:
[Photo credit: Citius Mag]
Oh. Oh my.
In response to the criticism, Nike said female runners are not limited to the leotard and that the new line offers nearly 50 styles to choose from, including shorts.
“We showcased some of the new Olympic uniforms at the Nike On Air experience in Paris — but, as we are a few months from the Games and working with limited samples in a limited format presentation, not all looks and styles were featured,” a Nike spokesperson said in an email.
It’s certainly good that athletes will not be required to wear this. It will be interesting to see if any at all opt for it. I’m pretty skeptical.
Goofy collective nouns are fun.
Monday, April 15th, 2024
It’s Marathon Monday here in Boston, one of the very best days of the year. As the oldest and most prestigious marathon in the world, it’s accumulated many traditions since it was first run in 1897. From the Wellesley Scream Tunnel to Team Hoyt and all the charity runners, the race is truly one of a kind.
From 2015 to 2022, one of the fixtures of the race was a dog named Spencer, who appeared along the course with “Boston Strong” flags in his mouth, giving runners a boost.
[Video credit: Rich Powers]
Spencer was even named the official dog of the 2022 race. Sadly, he passed away last year at the ripe old age of 13, but he’s since been immortalized with a statue along the course.
Yesterday, in Spencer’s honor, a Boston Marathon Golden Retriever meetup was held on Boston Common. It looks like a really fluffin’ good time.
[
Photo credit: Arthur Mansavage]
Alas, I missed it, and I’m more than a little disappointed. Next year?
It’s a gross job, but apparently, somebody’s got to do it.
Friday, April 12th, 2024
So, you want to be a scientist? It’s not all glamour, Nobel Prizes, and sex with supermodels. Sometimes, it’s testing lots and lots of poop.
They chased some questionable leads. The researchers were suspicious the virus might be coming from an animal. At one point O’Connor took people from his lab to a dog park to ask dog owners for poop samples.
Wastewater testing has been a key tool in dealing with COVID, but it’s also led to interesting ethical questions.
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