I am delighted to be included in the new blogroll for Dave Winer’s Scripting News —consistently one of my favorite blogs for more than 20 years.
Something I thought about while naked
Something I saw while walking the dog.
This would have been a fantastic photo if not for that frickin green blurry stick photobombing the right side.
LED light bulbs have gotten great—inexpensive, energy-efficient, bright and reliable.
Kevin Drum: We are living in a golden age of light bulbs. [jabberwocking.com]
Wirecutter: It doesn’t matter if you turn them off when you leave the room. The energy usage and financial cost is trivial. [nytimes.com]
Via Jason, who says: “LED light bulbs are like every conservative outrage— once the fight against them is won, we all move on and just live in a better world.” [json.blog]
Something I saw while walking the dog.
Two weeks ago, executives from TikTok’s U.S. operations flew to their company’s international headquarters in Singapore with good news. They told bosses that after years of battling over its fate in the U.S., the popular video app wasn’t in imminent danger of being banned in its most important market.…
— How TikTok Was Blindsided by U.S. Bill That Could Ban It. [wsj.com]
I’m half-bald. I don’t see myself getting a hairpiece, even if they are realistic now. I just get my hair cut down to 1/8 of an inch and wear hats to protect myself from the sun when I’m spending a long time outdoors. And because I like hats.
How Toupees Got So Realistic That Young Guys Started Wearing Them. [robbreport.com] — My feelings on toupees, hairpieces and baldness treatments for men are complicated.
On the one hand, it seems like foolish vanity, insecurity, a wicked waste of money and conspicuous consumption.
On the other hand, if you don’t like your body, you should absolutely change your body.
The road from “I agree; the cat will never sleep in our bed” to “Of course she smacked you, that’s her pillow” is shorter than many imagine.
— @quinncummings [threads.net]
Why people are falling in love with AI chatbots. [theverge.com] — Generative AI is transforming dating apps and spurring real people to romance AI bots. On the Vergecast, hosted by Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel, with reporter Emilia David.
One company lets users set up AI chatbot versions of themselves and then the chatbots talk with each other to decide whether the originals would make good romantic matches. Presumably the people make the decisions, after reading transcripts or summaries of the chats, and the bots are not matchmaking directly.