Category Archives: Curiousities

War on Cash: NYC Enforces its Cashless Business Ban

NYC sides with those who want to use cash and enforces its cashless business ban, hitting ice cream shop Van Leeuwen with $12000 in fines.

Villeneuve’s Dune: Reviewing the Reviewers (and a Review)

I would go see it again.

Swimming With Sharks in the Maldives

Maldivians are changing their attitudes towards sharks, sparking a tourism boom. Tourists bring plastic, creating a waste disposal problem.

A Football World Cup Every Two Years? An Expert Runs the Numbers

FIFA has floated a proposal to hold the football World Cup every two years rather than every four. Will the overall effect be a positive one for Fifa’s income?

Musical Interlude: Fathers and Sons

Rick Beato; Bruce Springsteen

New York Times Exalts Vegan Frankenfoods

The Grey Lady celebrates the culinary alchemy that’s processing plant-based foods so it tastes like meat, dairy, and the pièce de résistance: Spam.

What I Did Over Labor Day (Dimash!)

Dimash strikes again.

The Contempt in Tangy Ranch Doritos

Doritos as a case study in companies flavor-reverse-gaslighting their customers.

The Tokyo Games Prove That the Olympics Are Less Relevant Than Ever

The Olympics keep getting smaller as they move further from their original ideal and become ever more commercial.

The Infinite Loop of Empty Direct-to-Consumer Branding

Taking note of a weirdly hollow millenial-focused consumer brand type.

UNESCO Strips Liverpool of World Heritage Status

Liverpool now seeks to have UNESCO’s decision deferred or overturned at a meeting scheduled to occur in July.

Musical Interlude (“On the Path of Decent Groove”): Bombast

Bombast is where my head is right now. And you?

Musical Interlude (“On the Path of Decent Groove”): B Side Favorites

Some great songs lurk in what is normally the B side netherworld. Your picks?