'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

Warner Bros.’ bizarre 2023 decision to shelve its live-action/animated film, Coyote vs. Acme, sparked outrage both in the industry and among fans online. But the film is finally being released, and Ketchup Entertainment, its new distributor, recently released the trailer. All I can say after watching that trailer is, what the heck was Warner Bros. even thinking? Granted, a killer trailer doesn’t automatically mean it’s a great film, but all the winning elements are here.

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.

.....................................

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.

[via Ars Technica]

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

...........................................................

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.

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!

$13.49.

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."

Bodega Cats of New York

Res ipsa loquitur.

In case you don't speak kitty: The Bodega Cats of New York Project documents the working cats of New York City's delis, bodegas, and corner stores.

But wait — there's more!

Coming in October 2026: the book!

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.

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.

********************

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. 

$59.99.

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?

NASA Artemis Posters

Download

as many as you want — 

free, the way we like it.

Solve the Problem With What's in Your Head

Perhaps my favorite quote of all time is a variation of the headline above, to wit: 

          "Solve the problem with what's in the room." — Edwin H. Land

Since I stumbled on that line in a biography of Land (full disclosure: I've read several; he's one of my favorite people ever) decades ago I've applied it countless times and in nearly every instance it's resulted in both a working solution and a wonderful feeling of satisfaction at having figured it out.

Applying the dictum forces you to find an alternative to solutions that either require something that's not in the room (a part, a person, whatever) or simply giving up.

Whenever I get a new device with a Quick Start Guide I ignore the printed instructions in favor of getting it working on my own.

Once I succeed (90% of the time, roughly) I open the Quick Start Guide and frequently discover features that I didn't know existed, often because they're hidden from view.

What's Old is New Again: Custom Wax Letter Seal

Here's a blast from the past: Wax Letter will create a custom logo or design and then use it to seal letters you send to whomever is deserving.

Apply within.

And who's the idiot who posed for the exemplar above?

Doh!

Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

The People's Clock — Maarten Baas

YouTube description: 

...............................................

Maarten Baas and Schiphol Airport present "The People's Clock."

Using almost 1,000 volunteers — most of them Schiphol employees — people literally came time.

In a 12-hour-long recording, participants formed the hands of the clock.

If you look closely, a runner in orange marks the seconds, completing one lap every minute.

This permanent art installation can be seen in Lounge 1, the departure hall for Schengen destinations.

[via dezeen]

'The Last Question' — Isaac Asimov (1956)

Many people consider this the best short story they've ever read.

Asimov wrote, "This is by far my favorite story* of all those I have written. It is a curious fact that innumerable readers have asked me if I wrote this story."

I don't consider it "the best" — but that's only because I've read so many fantastic short stories I find it impossible to choose just one as ruling them all.

Nevertheless, I reread this one every ten years or so and have since I first encountered it when I was a kid in Milwaukee in the late 50s/early 60s.

nuf sed**

Next: 2036.

*Asimov is estimated to have written some 380 short stories.

**My rap name, invented in the early 21st century by me. I've been waiting patiently for some rapper to adopt it but so far nada.

1917 Russian Biscuit Catalog

[via Present and Correct]

Chef's Knife Earrings

Sterling silver knife earrings with black patina handles.

Punk.

$70.

Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

Holding Hands Is Like Holding the Whole Body — Elizabeth Jacobson

Ice hangs off the roof like a bear claw.

Single drops of defrosted water

melt down long icicles which you catch

in a cup and drink with quick

licks of your tongue, pretending the taste of sugar.

You say: holding hands is like holding the whole body,

and you touch each one of my fingers,

naming it a leg or an arm.

You give each nail a part of my face.

I watch your small face at night,

green in the glow of the night-light.

It never stops moving.

Even the faint hairs on your forehead

seem to breathe as you dream you are

racing toward a gate swinging open.

In the morning you are up first,

going through the drawers in your bathroom

for a cloth to cover the doll house.

You rush into my room with your old baby bath towel,

the one with the turquoise trim,

and the little Carter's bow.

You say you remember this bow.

You remember that you used to try to pull it off,

that you wanted to tell me that you wanted to pull it off,

but you couldn't because you didn't have the words.

There is snow melting on the window frame behind you.

Drops fill in the tiny squares of the screen

magnifying what's beyond into oblivion.

I cannot see past you. It is you who delivered

solitude's ending.

The Most Googled Birds in the U.S.

I can't speak for you but me, I lose sleep wondering about this.

Not any more.

Data visualization artist Nadieh Bremer created Searching For Birds, a website which turns Google Trends data into a wonderfully scrollable exploration of which birds Americans search for — and why the rarest ones barely register at all.

Wrote Bremer, "As you scroll through through the following interactive graphics, you'll get a glimpse at roughly 700 North American and Hawaiian species and learn about why some of them make us fall in love."

Fair warning: there goes the day.

Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

A letter to the future

Okjökull is the name of a former glacier in Iceland, the first one to disappear.

In 2019 a plaque (above and below) 

was installed where it once was.

More here.