"Said the Queen, 'When I was your age, sometimes I believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!'" — "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," Lewis Carroll (1865)
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
Blast from the Past: Coca-Cola BlāK
On Monday, April 3, 2006, Coca-Cola introduced Coca-Cola BlāK, "a carbonated 'coffee-essence' drink."
It came in glass bottles like the one pictured up top; 45 calories/8 oz serving; a middling amount of caffeine (46 mg/8 oz compared with classic Coke's 23 mg and coffee's 80 mg).
Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?
Monday, May 4, 2026
8 Things I've Done Once That I'll Never Do Again
1. Ride in a helicopter
2. Ride on the back of a motorcycle
3. Ride Space Mountain at Disney World
4. Ride a Ferris wheel
5. Run the New York City Marathon
6. Set a brand-new pickup truck on fire*
7. Trek to an altitude of 18,000 feet in the Himalayas
8. Eat durian
Wait a sec —what's that song I'm hearing?
*Age 12 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; I was trying to smoke some ham in the glove box and the wiring caught fire and suddenly I was running for my life!
Eye Contact with a Humpback Whale
Wrote Kottke:
........................................
I've never seen anything like these photos before.
In October 2024, underwater photographer Rachel Moore had a close encounter with a humpback whale in French Polynesia and took these photos of the whale's eye.
She wrote of the experience: "This moment of eye contact was beyond my wildest dreams. I've never encountered a whale like this one, and it was the most profoundly beautiful experience of my life."
Joist Hanger
Clever.
Also called rafter hooks, these steel grippers have red rubberized plastic handles that let you easily attach or release them from wood joists, beams, rafters, and wall studs of up to 1-5/8" thickness and static loads up to 80 lbs. in your garage, basement, attic, etc.
• 7"H x 3.5"W
• No moving parts
• Easy to attach or remove
• No tools or fasteners required
• Hang a rod with two joist hangers: instant closet
• Black powder-coated finish for both indoor and outdoor use
• The heavier the weight attached, the more tightly the hangers grip
• For bicycles, garden tools, hoses, extension cords, paint cans, lawnchairs, holiday decorations, fishing gear, pool equipment, luggage, toys, etc.
Set of 4: $10.
Sunday, May 3, 2026
How Homer's 'Iliad' May Have Sounded to its First Listeners
YouTube description:
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The famous Iliad was composed by Homer or unknown author(s) (800-700 BCE) and was likely orally transmitted before being standardized in the contemporaneously developing Greek script [Robert L. Fowler 2004]. The Iliad by Homer is the oldest European poetic and liturgical tradition, and has been significant in historical linguistics for its striking similarities with the Rigveda of Ancient India and the Gathas of Ancient Persia [John J. Lowe 2015].
This recitation of the Iliad Book 1:1–27 with pitch accents and dactylic hexameter in Homeric Greek is an original reconstruction of @perquunos which synthesized comparative and diachronic analyses of morphophonetic developments in attested Ancient Greek dialects and reconstructable Proto-Hellenic and Proto-Indo-European stages of the language.
The digamma Ϝ/ϝ is reconstructable intervocalically, word-initially and finally but never in clusters with the yod /j/, whereof assimilation yields in geminated /jj/. E.g. PIE *h₃éwi- → PH *hówi- + *ōnós = *owjōnós → PG *ojjōnós → HG ojjōnós (not ojwōnós or owjōnós); PIE *diwjós → PH *dijjós → HG dĩjjos (not dī̃wos!). Additionally, digamma Ϝ/ϝ is not reconstructable where it breaks the meter and when the etymology does not require a digamma reconstruction.
The phonetic value of Zeta ζ is debated but is metrically always a cluster in Homeric Greek, and is result of PIE *j in certain clusters, e.g., PIE djḗws → PH dzews → HG dzews; PIE h₁jeǵjómh₁nos → PH hjədzómɘnos → HG hadzómenos.
The following phonetic values are reconstructable for each Greek character: υ = [ʊ]; ῡ = [uː]; η = [ɜː] ~ [æː]; ω = [ɔː] ~ [ɒː]; ϝ = [w]; j = [j]; ζ = [dz].
This recitation uses four pitch accents namely the acute ά (high), the circumflex ᾶ (falling), the unaccented α (medium) and the grave ὰ (low).
English Translation is from Anthony S. Kline, William Cowper, Robert Fagles and Augustus T. Murray.
Joanna Stern's great iPhone hack
I immediately subscribed — I mean, it's free, the way we like it! — and happened on a wonderful tech tip toward the end:
"On the iPhone, you can hold the spacebar and it functions as cursor control."
It's TechnoDolt©®™ friendly and it works!
This hack makes it much easier finding the exact spot you want to correct spelling/punctuation/grammar/syntax/whatever before you send out an email or text that makes you look stupid.
Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?
Caramel Corn Throwdown
I got a caramel corn jones recently and after having Perplexity Pro look into brands and reviews, I chose 5 to try out: 3 widely available (i.e. on Amazon with free shipping) and 2 "boutique" brands — Carroll's Caramel Corn and Berco's Popcorn — sold only by their makers and requiring additional shipping charges.
Below are my ratings, best to worse, along with prices:
1. Werther's Original Caramel Popcorn — $13.00 for 10 oz [$1.30/oz]
2. Popcornopolis Caramel Corn — $6.99 for 9.5 oz [$0.74/oz]
3. Carroll's Caramel Corn — (many large multiple-kernel clusters which I found annoying) $5 for 8 oz [$0.63/oz; additional cost for shipping]
4. Cretors Caramel Corn (huge chunks encompassing multiple pieces required significant physical force to break them down into edible sizes) — $9.99 for 8 oz [$1.25/oz]
5. Berco's Popcorn [self-proclaimed "Best Caramel Corn Ever," it has by far the most expensive and elegant packaging of them all] (same flaw as Cretor's but also way too much caramel; the only brand of the five with old maids (8 in one 8 oz bag!) — $20 for 32 oz — [$0.63/oz; additional cost for shipping]
Price/oz is proportional to quality with the exception of Cretor's, the second most expensive brand, which came in next to last.
Bottom line: After considering the not-insubstantial additional shipping costs for Carroll's and Berco's — as well as the fact that they were slowest to arrive compared to Amazon — I'm going with Werther's and Popcornopolis.
Saturday, May 2, 2026
'La Cara Oculta' — The Hidden Face
I happened on this 2011 Spanish film while browsing the zillions of films under various "If you liked that, you might like these" headings that Netflix/Prime Video/AppleTV/etc. now feature.
You could spend your whole evening just virtually wandering through all those TV movie and show listings.
Anyway, I added the movie to "My Stuff" and decided to have a look last night.
One great thing about streaming is that you don't feel obliged to sit there and watch the whole thing like in the old days when you bought a ticket at the theater and paid $5 for a box of Whoppers guaranteed to make you wish you'd instead bought Raisinets or Nonpareils (oops, I'm dating myself).
Even if you paid to rent the film, it's not all that painful to abandon it after 10-15 minutes when you're sitting at home all comfy, because you can just go back into the listings and try something else.
Long story short: I rented "The Hidden Face" on Prime Video for $3.99 (same price on YouTube) and it turned out to be very good.
In Spanish with English subtitles, featuring three excellent Spanish actors none of whom I'd ever seen nor heard of and — bonus: 97 minutes long!
The joy when movies are around an hour and half long compared to the increasingly common drawn out contemporary releases that go over two hours, sometimes over two and a half hours... get an editor!
How to hack a missing K2r Spot Lifter plastic nozzle: use one from a can of SURE deodorant!
I couldn't find my can of K2r spot lifter (I hadn't used it in many years) so I bought a new one: I was shocked at the price ($20.25) because I vaguely remembered it was less than half that when I bought the now-missing can.
"New Larger Size - Better Value" — who cares when you only use it every 10 years or so?
But I digress.
I read the directions:
"Shake can well. Hold upright - do not invert - Spray 6-8 inches from spot. Depress button fully for 1-2 seconds."
OK then, all set.
I took the item (top) with the spots I was trying to eradicate — a white terry cloth bathrobe one of whose sleeves I inadvertently dragged through something yellow which didn't come out in the wash — outside 'cause I remember this stuff is irritating when inhaled.
I shook the can as directed, removed the plastic soft-bristled top that you use to brush away the dried K2r powder after 10 minutes, and was dismayed to see there was no plastic nozzle to depress, just a slender short plastic stem on which the outward-facing spray nozzle was supposed to rest.
What?
Did I somehow knock off the nozzle while unboxing the can?
Or was the nozzle missing before I received it?
Arrggghhhh.
Time to move to Plan B, which you will recall from an earlier post can be stated as "Solve the problem with what's in the room."
In this case I moved to the laundry room where I keep all my spray cans.
I rummaged through them all, uncapping them to see if I could find one whose plastic nozzle could successfully substitute for my missing original.
The SURE deodorant nozzle came closest, though it didn't sit securely atop the plastic thingie on the K2r can.
I was so fired up I didn't bother putting on disposable latex gloves though I was sure... the less than ideal fit would result in spray going everywhere.
As any fool can plainly see in the video up top: my kludge worked!
'Coyote vs. Acme' is finally getting released
The concept alone is sheer brilliance: Wile E. Coyote, after decades of ACME equipment failing him in his efforts to catch that darned Road Runner, decides to sue the corporation. It’s based on a well-known satirical piece by Ian Frazier (also titled “Coyote vs. Acme”) published in The New Yorker in 1990. Development of a film version didn’t start until 2018, but some pretty talented people worked on the script, including James Gunn. Big stars signed on for the main cast, and the film was completed and slated for release in July 2023.
Then Warner Bros. changed its mind and scheduled Barbie in that slot. Now, Barbie is a brilliant film, and that decision gave us the summer of “Barbenheimer,” so it’s hard to argue with the marketing strategy there. But rather than simply rescheduling Coyote vs. Acme, the studio canceled it to take a tax write-off. (The same fate befell two other Warner films, Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt.)
The collective outrage caused the studio to waver and allow the filmmakers to shop Coyote vs. Acme to other studios. Netflix, Amazon, and Paramount all submitted bids, and Warner Bros. turned them down because they didn’t meet its $75–$80 million price range. Co-star Will Forte even released a statement in February 2024, admitting that, without having seen the final cut, he’d just assumed “this thing must be a hunk a junk. But then I saw it. And it’s incredible!” Eventually, Warner Bros. sold the rights to Ketchup Entertainment for $50 million — less than their original asking price. But I’m not gonna quibble, because at long last, everyone will have the chance to see the film.
Per the official premise:
......................................
After decades of being blown to bits by bombs, demolished by dynamite, mangled by magnets, battered by boulders, trampled by trains, tricked by tunnels, sprung by springs, steamrolled by steamrollers, maligned by misfires, bedeviled by bungees, rattled by rockets, backstabbed by bat suits, rocked by rocket skates, upended by unicycles, quaked by quake pills, rubberized by rogue bands, and hurled headlong off every cliff in the Southwest, Wile E. Coyote (Genius) finally fights back. Teaming up with billboard accident lawyer Kevin Avery (Will Forte), he takes on slick corporate counsel Buddy Crane (John Cena) and ACME, Inc., the profit-obsessed conglomerate behind every one of the Coyote’s chaotic catastrophes.
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In addition to Forte and Cena, the cast includes Lana Condor as Kevin’s niece, Paige Avery; P.J. Byrne as ACME lawyer Bill Pellicano; and Luis Guzman as the judge presiding over the trial. Director Dave Green even tapped longtime voice actor Eric Bauza — a longtime fixture for Looney Tunes — to voice several classic characters, including Tweety Bird, Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, and Foghorn Leghorn.
Coyote vs. Acme finally (finally!) hits theaters on August 28, 2026. We can’t wait.
Friday, May 1, 2026
New Optical Chip Can Project Video the Size of a Grain of Sand
Above, a roughly 125-micrometer (1/8 mm)-wide image of the Mona Lisa projected by a new MEMS array designed to steer lasers for a quantum computer.
The MEMS array (below)
is a 1-square-millimeter photonic chip.
Full IEEE Spectrum story here.
BeyondTheMedspeak: Why your joints sound like Rice Krispies
"The human body's 'joint music' is a natural, normal thing."
So says Susan Saliba, a professor in the University of Virginia's School of Education and Human Development and co-director of the Exercise and Sports Injury Laboratory.
More:
Q. What makes your joints crackle, crinkle, and clatter?
A. There are two causes of snapping and popping.
One is like cracking your knuckles. There are microscopic gas bubbles within the synovial/joint fluid, and when the joint is 'distracted,' the suction creates a negative pressure, and the gas bubbles consolidate and 'pop.'"
Lots of joints pop. Often, it relieves pain and pressure around a joint temporarily. If you've ever baked a cake, you gently slam the pan to consolidate and pop the gas bubbles to make the cake smooth, a process called cavitation. Cavitation in the joint takes pressure away from joint receptors, and almost immediately there is a sense of relief.
The second cause of joint noise is friction. We're designed to have bursae — synovial fluid-filled sacs — over bony projections to allow gliding and sliding. But just like a blister, frictional overuse makes the structure produce more fluid, and sprains and strains make tendons and bursae swell.
We may feel the friction but we keep going, and the bursa swells, and now there's limited space. It may not hurt after it heals, but the clicking and popping often remain.
Q. If you have osteoarthritis, should you keep exercising?
A. Osteoarthritis is not a reason to stop moving. It's a reason to get moving, or keep moving, so that overall health is maintained and the joint fluid can do its job to reduce friction and provide nutrition to the surfaces.
Often, we're told to pay attention to pain and avoid it, so many people just shut down. This approach can result in a devastating loss of motion, pain, less mobility, worsening strength, poorer health as a result of decreased mobility, and weight gain. Millions of people are in this situation, and general health decline is often associated with this cascade of events.
Q. Are there specific exercises or programs that help keep joint flexible?
A. Anything you like. Yoga, walking, hiking, swimming: movement is fundamental.
Specific directed exercise, biomechanical evaluation, and coaching help guide a person through recovery from an injury. Athletic trainers and physical therapists are skilled at this and can suggest modifications that are well tolerated and will help restore joint fluid.
Even if movement doesn't prolong your life, it will definitely improve its quality.
Strangeness — John Koethe
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Constant readers will recall last month's appearance of Elizabeth Jacobson's 2025 poem "Quantum Foam."
I knew I'd seen a poem by John Koethe also invoking that foam but couldn't think of the title, so I had my Crack Research Team©®™ (I know I haven't referred to them in a while but I'll save that back story for another post) drill down.
Above, their excellent find.
Koethe's poem originally appeared in the May 8, 2000 issue of the New Yorker.
Thursday, April 30, 2026
Amazon Reviews FTW!
Since forever I've read Amazon reviews of products I'm thinking of buying.
They can be very amusing, surprising, and/or informative.
The ones with photos submitted by the reviewer are the most entertaining.
Usually they're variations on a FAIL! theme.
Then there are those mildly critical, like the one pictured up top.
Full disclosure: I bought one of these jar openers from Amazon in 2022 — a month before Jay published his review — and it's fo shizzle, works great, besides being a beautiful piece of industrial design which is said by the manufacturer to have "... not changed in 75 years."
The diameter of mine is 4-7/8", exactly that of reviewer Jay's.
You can too!
More?
Your wish is my demand.
View the original 1941 patent and learn more on the company website.
The Accursèd Alphabetical Clock
"This clock displays the current time alphabetically."
 |
I'm reminded of one of my favorite sayings, to wit:
"A man with one watch always knows what time it; A man with two is never sure."
Wednesday, April 29, 2026
Chinese Robots Are Flooding America. I Brought One Home.
One of my favorite tech writers on the planet, the great Joanna Stern, formerly of the Wall Street Journal and now on her own with a weekly newsletter, "New Things With Joanna Stern," earlier today posted this video about her experience with a Chinese robot she brought home to test out.
Buy Bodum Double-Wall Mugs from Bodum — NOT Amazon!
Long story short: I ordered 2 Bodum 15-oz double wall glass mugs from Amazon last Thursday (above).
They arrived later that same day but that was the only good thing about my order.
When I opened the paper bag — not box! — containing the mugs, which were in their usual store shelf display package with a very thin layer of bubble wrap around each one, with the bubbles on the outside rather than the inside against the glass, which placement has been discussed previously here — to my dismay but not great surprise one of the mugs was no longer a mug but rather a collection of many sharp shards of broken glass.
Only the handle was intact.
Note also that the outer paper bag had on it a boastful declaration that this packaging used less material than the standard delivery enclosure.
I recall in the past ordering from the Bodum website when Amazon was out of these mugs: they came in a seriously padded hard box with molded styrofoam, as one would expect with such delicate glassware.
Two of these mugs from Bodum, now on sale, cost $29.99, same price as at Amazon.
Leaf Sheep Slug
The leaf sheep slug gets its energy from photosynthesis, taking chloroplasts from algae and storing them, and is thus able to survive on solar power.
More here.
Tuesday, April 28, 2026
THEY SEE YOUR PHOTOS
From the website: "Your photos reveal a lot of private information. In this experiment, we use the Google Vision API to see how much can be inferred about you from a single photo. See what they see."
Up top, what the website gleaned from the picture I use for my YouTube channel etc.
I'm impressed!
That red marker pinpoints my home, where I'm sitting right now typing these words.
And you thought nobody knew....
Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?
Tilting Cake Turntable
Finally.
I've never baked a cake but you don't have to be a rocket scientist or a near-brain-dead anesthesiologist who inhaled too much unscavenged waste gas over many decades to know that this is one cool toy for people who practice the fine art of cake baking.
To a serious pastry chef this device has to be catnip.
From the website:
- Professional decorating is easy with the Tilting Turntable.
Secure soft non-slip grip design on top plate.
Positions any cake at just the right angle for easy decorating.
Tilting mechanism provides 18 secure plate positions controlled by large push button.
Dual rotation: turntable rotates in either direction, enabling right- or left-handed use.
Base has a balanced weight and non-slip feet to keep turntable in place.
12"Ø x 7"H.
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18 positions?
Push button control?
Non–slip grip design?
Duel directional rotation?
Wait a minute — I thought this was a cake platform, not a new Lexus.
Be still, my heart.
And if not, why, get out the defibrillator.
Tickets to Ride
Designer and art director Daniel Benneworth-Gray's
"compendium of transit tickets" from around the world.
Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?
Monday, April 27, 2026
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