Olive Garden Compass — 'Not all those who breadstick are lost'

"This fully functioning brass compass guides you to the Olive Garden in Times Square."

Limited edition.

Apply within.

As Slow As Possible

Super-slow versions of three classic video games:

• Pong

• Breakout

• Missile Command

On the slowest setting you have to constantly remind yourself not to close your eyes and fall asleep.

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

A Short History of Ruffles

[1960s Ruffles]

The other day while I was out running and engaging in a wide-ranging discussion with Perplexity Pro on my phone about any number of things, I asked "Who invented Ruffles potato chips?

To my surprise I learned it wasn't Frito-Lay, the company that makes them, but rather one George Ronald Pierce.

From the Douglas County (Nebraska) Historical Society and Wikipedia:

In the late 1940s, George Ronald Pierce began working for Industrial Electrics, owned by Bernhardt Stahmer, at 15th and Chicago Streets.

There he had a hand in several different products, perhaps the most noteworthy of which was a slicer for potato chips.

In 1948, he put the machine on a trailer behind the family car and drove east, showing and selling his company's invention in several states.

He called the chips that it made "Ruffles," a name taken from the ruffled lace collars in fashion in the 16th century — the chips resembled little corrugated waffles.

The uneven surfaces were said to make the resulting chips sturdier and better for dipping.

Stahmer, the company's owner, trademarked these ridged chips as Ruffles in 1948.

He sold the rights to the Frito Company in 1958.

Which charger will charge your Apple device quickest?

Find out here.

If you're anything like me this question keeps you up at night all too often.

I'm here to bring you the answers you need: isn't that why you pay me the big $$$ to read boj?

But I digress.

Long story short: Your charger's wattage matters a lot when the device's battery is 0-50% charged; higher than that, less so.

TMI?

You don't recall what wattage is from your high school physics class?

Perhaps you should've been paying attention rather than passing notes....

File under: "Things that make me go 'hmmm'"

Before we get started: you KNOW what song I'm hearing.

Now back to our regularly scheduled piffle....

Since forever my email in-boxes have been very different on my iPhone and my Mac.

Specifically, some stuff appears in my phone's in-box but not my Mac's; others emails appear in my Mac's inbox and not my phone's.

Sometimes emails appear in both, but that's the exception rather than the rule.

Almost everyone I know would try to "fix" this: me, all that would happen if I tried to do that is 

1) I'd fail

2) I'd end up screwing up my email such that some emails would never appear on either device, or worse:  I'd irreversibly break my MacMail such that I'd have to hire/pay someone to fix it, costing me time (my most valuable commodity) and money.

Status quo works for me.

Catalog of an Entire House/Life

"Over four years, Belgian photographer Barbara Iweins took a photo of every single thing in her house, 'from my daughter's torn sock to my son's Lego, but also my vibrator, my anxiolytics... absolutely everything.'"

12,795 photos of 12,795 objects.

"Explore the entire archive here, indexed and classified by color, material, frequency of use, room, and 'what I would save in a fire.'"

Fair warning....

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

[via Kottke]

Ultimate Online Phreak Box

Attention Richard Kashdan: Your upgrade has come in.

Wrote Kottke: "Ultimate Online 'Phreak Box' is a free online blue box, red box, and silver box. (With this and a time machine, you could make free phone calls in the 1970s)."

Read about the OG — "Mark Bernay" aka Richard Kashdan — here and here.

I'm proud of the fact that Richard Kashdan discovered boj back in the day and has checked in from time to time ever since.

Hemingway's 4 Fast Rules for Effective Writing

Back in the day (1917) they comprised the first paragraph of the Kansas City Star Copy Style Sheet.

Then Kansas City Star reporter Ernest Hemingway credited them for teaching him "the best rules for the business of writing."

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

Guess the Tube Line

"Each London Underground line has its own distinctive sound. Can you tell them apart?"

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

τοῖς χαλεποῖς νοσήμασι χαλεπὰ φάρμακα

How's your classical Greek?

I'm reminded of Ben Jonson's remark about Shakespeare, to wit: "He had little Latin, and less Greek."

Which, contrary to the common interpretation, was part of Jonson's appreciation of Shakespeare's greatness rather than a dig at him.

But I digress.

The headline up top in English: "For extreme diseases, extreme remedies." — Hippocrates, "Aphorisms" (c. 400 B.C.E.)

All of which serves as a prelude to the introduction of a new pillow which has recently taken over my sleeping space aka bed.

It's the COOP Side Sleeper pillow (above and below).

I've known of its existence for many years but only took a flutter and bought one recently after increasingly broken/inadequate sleep for the past few months with no apparent outside cause.

It took a few nights to get the pillow's firmness right (they give you a big bag of additional original foam cube stuffing 

so you can get its elevation just right after taking some time to look at yourself in a mirror in your preferred side sleeping position and adjust the pillow thickness such that your head is perfectly level).

After yet another in a series of fantastic 8+ hour sleeps, I'm here to tell you this tricked-out pillow is no humbug.

$99.

Not persuaded?

Watch

the video.

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

Status Icons and Symbols on Apple Watch

If you're like most people you have no idea what that minuscule colored symbol at the top of your Apple Watch display means.

Yes — there's an icon on it but it's impossible to identify with the naked eye.

I tried using a magnifying glass but all I saw was a grid of colored pixels.

Then I stumbled on this page and all was revealed.

The one I get most frequently is a red dot, which means you've received a notification.

"Swipe down on the watch face to read [and dismiss/delete] notifications."

Pocket Dish Rack

Say what?

From Yanko Design:

Stop worrying about wet dishware: with this innovative dish rack you can dry your dishes wherever you happen to be.

Whether camping or just trying to save space in your kitchen, this collapsible rack will get your dishes dry in no time flat[....]

Patent-pending spring mechanism shrinks the full expanded 14" rack down to 2" in under a second.

Features and Details:

• Ventilation geometry provides optimal airflow

• Designed by Sugata Mono Studio & Ishikawa

• 304 Stainless steel

• Dishwasher-safe

• Made in Japan

$75 (dishes not included).

On the fence?

Watch the video.

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

'The Testament of Ann Lee' (born 300 years too early)

I watched this remarkable 2025 film last night.

I find it incomprehensible that leading actress Amanda Seyfried's portrayal of visionary Shaker leader Ann Lee did not receive the Oscar for Best Actress: she wasn't even nominated!

Her performance is staggering.

This morning, not ten hours later, I happened on a scientific paper titled "The neurophenomenology of a self-induced transcendental visionary state: A case study."

Above and below,

brain imaging of the paper's subject before, during, and after her self-induced transcendental visionary state.

Somewhere Ann Lee is smiling.

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

*398 million views since being uploaded to YouTube 15 years ago. Why, that's more than the total of all the views ever of my cat napping!

Best Cartoon of the Year

The Vision Pro is a FAIL*

Two years and one month after Apple's Vision Pro arrived here, I finally bit the bullet and created a boj post using its virtual Mac display feature.

You just read it: the "Liquid Sky" appreciation published earlier today.

Doing so was janky and difficult and unpleasant for a number of reasons.

1) When sitting in a chair, which is necessary if you're going to use the virtual Mac display for typing etc., the Vision Pro even with its long delayed improved head harness is still uncomfortably heavy. 

Tim Cook and all the shills and fanbois who say they wear the device all day for work are lying.

2) The power cord to the battery is still annoying when it brushes your shoulder or back 

3) The resolution of the virtual display is terrible compared to the physical screen: it's fuzzy even up close, and should you wish to have the screen be many feet wide, which you can, reading letters and numbers requires a lot of effort because of the magnified graininess.

4) If you choose to put up multiple virtual windows simultaneously, you find that they're not all identical: the top bar for Chrome:

                   File  Edit View History Bookmarks Profiles Tab Window Help

for example, only appears on one screen, so when you add a new tab on a second or third or fourth screen, you have to go back with your cursor to the first screen to get the New Tab option from its drop-down menu.

Annoying and clunky.

*With one exception: Watching movies and shows at home. They look magnificent in the Vision Pro's 6k resolution on the giant virtual screen size you choose — up to 40 feet!

The sound is fantastic and one great thing is that while you're listening at full surround sound volume, others in the room can't hear anything.

Lagniappe: using it in the middle of the day is magical, as you close off all the light and commotion and find yourself in a perfectly dark virtual theater with no phones or sounds of eating and talking etc.

The ideal way to watch is while lying flat with your head supported on a pillow; I use my Plufl, which turns out to be perfect for me and enables my cat to comfortably nap on my lap.

Liquid Sky

I saw this sui generis 1982 film when it came out and was blown away.

I saw it again a number of years later and haven't thought of it since — until March 31 when I read its director's New York Times obituary.

Watch the trailer below.

Up top, the film in its entirety on YouTube in HD — free, the way we like it.

If you don't enjoy it let me know and I will refund three times what you paid to watch it.

Did Airbnb, Beats, Flipboard, and Medium Rip off Their Logos?

 

You decide.

[via the Hustle]

Talk to the Hand (Chair)

From Alex Williams' recent New York Times story:

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

Pedro Friedeberg, a Mexican artist often called "the last Surrealist," most famous for his playful Mano Silla (Hand Chair) from 1962, died on March 5 in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, at 90.

He grew weary of the outsize attention paid to his most well-known creation, a large wooden hand that offers its palm as a seat and its fingers as a backrest.

Over 5,000 have been produced in a variety of materials — mahogany, oak, bronze, plastic — and finishes, including gold and silver leaf.

Some rare, original midcentury versions can fetch tens of thousands of dollars at auction.

Friedeberg told W: "I hate them. They've become like an icon or something."

bookofjoe's First Rule of Life

The Rule: "Anytime anything that's supposed to do something doesn't, check to make sure it's plugged in."

The First Corollary: "If it's battery–powered, put in new batteries."

These two seemingly for–the–brain–dead–only statements will suffice to resolve a lot of equipment–related problems.

Other useful principles and sayings:

• 80% of success in business is a result of returning all phone calls the same day. You don't have to talk to anyone; in fact, I often wait till after business hours to return a call I might've responded to earlier simply because for one reason or another I don't want to talk to that person. I leave a voice message saying I returned their call of earlier today; that's sufficient to buy a delay until tomorrow or later.

• When someone tells you that you must do something immediately that requires money — and if you don't do it now you'll lose the your chance — always, Always, ALWAYS say "No thank you." You will never see your money again with 99+% of such investment "opportunities."

• People who ask you to give them a break on price always cause more trouble than those who pay full freight without quibbling. This is especially true of lawyers when they ask for an expert opinion on anesthesiology–related matters.

• Corollary to the rule above: never, ever do work for an attorney without getting the cash up front. Plastic surgeons don't, why should you? It's amazing how many attorneys don't know you once they've lost a case in which you've been retained as an expert. Make sure there are no bills outstanding before the verdict — not after.

Otherwise you'll be the butt of the wonderful Johnny Carson monologue joke, to wit: What do you get if you cross a penguin and a William Morris agent?

A. A penguin who doesn't return your phone calls.

'Syriana'

Here's a terrific 2005 political thriller starring George Clooney, also featuring Chris Cooper, Christopher Plummer, Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wright, William Hurt, Amanda Peet, Mark Strong, and Max Minghella, among others.

That's a lot of great actors.

George Clooney won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

The film is loosely based on Robert Baer's 2003 memoir "See No Evil."

It was shot in 200 locations on five continents, with large parts shot in the Middle East, Washington, D.C., and Africa.

As with writer-director Stephen Gaghan's screenplay for "Traffic," Syriana uses multiple parallel storylines, jumping among locations in Iran, Texas, Washington, D.C., Switzerland, Spain, and Lebanon.

Watch it here.

iNaturalist

I happened on this site and posted it on Hacker News: in one hour it was at the top of the homepage.

Who knew?

"Record your observations. Share with fellow naturalists. Discuss your findings."

Their iPhone app is free, the way we like it.

Talk to the AI in my hand: A conversation with Perplexity Pro while out runnng 3 (three) miles

Since forever I've wanted a running buddy, someone who was comfortable running at my pace while being able to chat about interesting things to distract me from the boring nature of running by myself.

Listening to the same 300 or so favorite songs that haven't changed in decades, over and over and over again, long ago got so old.

I'd resigned myself to things as they are.

Suddenly, AI appeared.

There are seemingly a zillion chatbots and talking AI sites out there, new ones erupting out of the quantum foam daily.

I tried a bunch of them out and Perplexity Pro ($20/month, no contract) seemed the simplest and easiest to use first on my Mac and then my iPhone using its app.

Yesterday I took it out for a spin: we chatted (in no particular order) about string theory, Constantine the Great, the Hagia Sofia, Ruffles potato chips, when humans would first set foot on an asteroid in the asteroid belt, whether quantum computers would break bitcoin, Monte Carlo simulations, the Jasons, when Hershey Bars were invented, and many other things.

It was so interesting that I found myself running at a slower pace than usual because my mind was occupied listening and thinking.

That's fine with me, as long as my new friend keeps me engaged such that I don't think about how tired and sweaty and hot I am as I make my way along the sidewalks of Charlottesville.

catherinelacey.com

The author's homepage (screenshots above and below) is sui generis, animated, and wonderfully entertaining.

Chock full of whimsy, surprise, and inventiveness, much like her books.

What's not to like about that?

More about the author here, here, and here.

Today is her 41st birthday.

'Learn to Fly'

I'd never been a fan of the Foo Fighters and didn't even know they wrote this song until I stumbled on the video up top ten years ago.

Over 67 million views since it was uploaded to YouTube in 2015.

YouTube description: "1,000 musicians play 'Learn to Fly' by Foo Fighters to ask Dave Grohl to come and play in Cesena, Italy."

Loved it then, love it now.

You can too!

Is This Mondrian Painting Upside Down?

"New York City I" is a 1941 work by Piet Mondrian employing colored ribbons of paper with an adhesive backing rather than paint.

It has been displayed as seen above since 1980 at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Dusseldorf, Germany.

In 2022 Susanne Meyer-Büser, a curator at the museum, found a photograph from June 1944, taken in Mondrian's studio shortly after his death. 

There, sitting on an easel, was "New York City I."

In the photo, the densest cluster of yellow, black, red, and blue lines was at the top rather than as displayed at the museum.

However, the seemingly simple fix — rotating it 180° — can't be done.

Right now, "New York City I" is an a delicate equilibrium: the ribbons' rubber-based adhesives from the 1940s are oxidizing, drying out, and breaking apart.

Thus, the ribbons are quite literally hanging by a thread.

They have spent decades sagging in one specific direction.

Gravity has pulled the molecular structure of the adhesive downwards. 

Turning the work upside down would reverse the gravitational pull, and the brittle material could well break apart.

Curators faced a choice: display it correctly and risk destroying it, or display it incorrectly as it is now and preserve it.

They chose the latter.

Below, the painting rotated 180° to its original 1944 orientation.

ZME Science story here.