2023 in (Brief) Review
That was the year that was… and it had three big turning points.
https://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2023/12/31/2023-in-brief-review/
Archive for December, 2023
ONLY ON 5: Sources say 8-9 died at RRMC from drug diversion - KOBI-TV NBC5 / KOTI-TV NBC2
MEDFORD, Ore. – Sources say several Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center patients are dead and police are now conducting a criminal investigation. NBC5 News broke the story last night (12/29/2023), that police were investigating at least one patient death at Rogue Regional Medical Center. Now several Asante sources are shedding more light into this tragedy. […]
https://kobi5.com/news/crime-news/only-on-5-sources-say-8-9-died-at-rrmc-from-drug-diversion-219561/
Adding webmentions to your static blog
The portfolio and blog of Jan Monschke
https://janmonschke.com/adding-webmentions-to-your-static-blog/
An Interactive Guide to CSS Grid
CSS Grid is an incredibly powerful tool for building layouts on the web, but like all powerful tools, there's a significant learning curve. In this tutorial, we'll build a mental model for how CSS Grid works and how we can use it effectively. I'll share the biggest
Out with a Bang as FTC Beats the PharmaBros
The FTC won a huge merger case yesterday to cap off the year. Plus, major decisions on crypto and private equity.
https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/out-with-a-bang-as-ftc-beats-the
TBM 263: "I Aspire to Regret How We Used to Work"
Note: I will return to my series on dependencies (see Part 1 and Part 2) in 2024. I'd like to close out 2023 with something brewing in my mind for a while. It involves one of the critical limiting beliefs that gets in the way of improvement and one of the core enabling beliefs that sets "good" teams apart. It is also something I'm considering as I set some goals and aspirations for 2024 and catch myself falling into common traps.
https://cutlefish.substack.com/p/tbm-263-i-aspire-to-regret-how-we
Corruption Unbound — The Atlantic
Donald Trump and his cronies left his first administration with a playbook for self-enrichment in a second term.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/01/trump-second-term-mafia-state/676128/
Opinion | I Want a City, Not a Museum
New York’s layers of laws to protect existing buildings has led to a shortage of housing.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/30/opinion/new-york-housing-costs.html
5 things to know about Tom Smothers — The Hill
Tom Smothers, the elder of the iconic musical comedy duo the Smothers Brothers, died Wednesday at 86, his younger brother and creative partner, Dick Smothers, confirmed. Here are five things to know about Tom Smothers and his influence.
https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/4380243-five-things-to-know-about-tom-smothers/
What we can learn from Disney's Main Street
Disneyland may be a completely fake city but the lessons we can learn from it are very real.
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2018/3/20/what-we-can-learn-from-disneys-main-street
Things are about to get a lot worse for Generative AI
A full of spectrum of infringment
https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/things-are-about-to-get-a-lot-worse
Taser maker Axon has a moving backstory. It's mostly a myth
Axon CEO Rick Smith says the Taser was inspired by the shooting deaths of two school friends. It's largely a tall tale, part of a pattern at Axon, Reuters found.
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/axon-taser-corporate-governance/
‘They Were Traumatized’: How a Private Equity-Associated Lender Helped Precipitate a Nursing-Home Implosion
Advocates for elderly people say loans from private lenders are enabling nursing-home operators to take cash out of their homes, jeopardizing their finances.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/12/24/nursing-homes-private-equity-fraud-00132001
2024 Total Eclipse: Where & When - NASA Science
The Monday, April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse will cross North America, passing over Mexico, the United States, and Canada.
https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2024/where-when/
The best places in the US to experience totality during the April 2024 solar eclipse
On April 8, 2024, the U.S. will experience its second total solar eclipse in seven years, but only parts of 15 U.S. states will experience totality.
https://www.space.com/best-places-US-states-to-see-total-solar-eclipse-april-2024
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine vetoes bill that would've banned gender-affirming care for trans youth — Ohio Capital Journal
Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has vetoed legislation that would have prohibited transgender youth from accessing gender-affirming care. His veto shoots down the controversial bill, which would also stop middle and high school trans students from participating in athletics with cisgender peers.
Column: How the retail lobby sold a $45-billion whopper about organized shoplifting
Politicians and the press bought into the panic over organized shoplifting, but the source of the alarming statistic now admits that it was a lie.
An artist fights back, and Midjourney has embarrassed themselves
Reid Southen is a successful concept artist who has worked for many of the biggest studios (Marvel, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros, Paramount etc) on a lot of huge films (Matrix Resurrections, The Hunger Games, Transformers, and Alien, among others).
https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/an-artist-fights-back-and-midjourney
Thatcher ‘utterly shattered’ by MI5 revelations in Spycatcher, files reveal — Guardian US
National Archives papers show prime minister tried in vain to avoid inquiry over Peter Wright’s memoirs
Apple Annie’s Weblog · Diving into indiewebify.me & microformats, a series
A series landing for 'Diving into indiewebify.me & microformats' posts, where I walk through adding microformats to weblog and other omg.lol properties, the tools I used, and what I learned.
https://weblog.anniegreens.lol/2023/12/diving-into-indiewebify-me-microformats-a-series
Thursday's Headlines 'Round About Midnight
Why doesn't the U.S. have more roundabouts? Plus, the growing threat of violence faced by transit workers, and the fallout from Bird's bankruptcy.
https://usa.streetsblog.org/2023/12/28/thursdays-headlines-round-about-midnight
Roundabouts Are Safer. So Why Does The U.S. Have So Few Of Them?
Roundabouts - the circular intersections seen all over Europe and elsewhere in the world - are said to be far safer than traffic lights. Research shows they ...
Why Doesn't The U.S. Have More Roundabouts?
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News! If you’ve ever hypermiled, ... [continued]
https://cleantechnica.com/2023/12/25/why-doesnt-the-u-s-have-more-roundabouts/
Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special: FULL Episode in 1080 HD!
'Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special' as you've never seen it before — Beautifully restored, remastered and in high definition! Join the whole Playhouse ga...
Smothers Brothers -- Take it Naked Bacon
Smothers Brothers with the Boston Pops.
Smothers Brothers - My Old Man (1963)
from the 1963 Mercury album "Think Ethnic"Written by Oscar Brand
Laredo
Provided to YouTube by Universal Music GroupLaredo · The Smothers BrothersThe Two Sides Of The Smothers Brothers ℗ 1962 The Island Def Jam Music GroupReleased...
Opinion | What the death of your dad’s favorite lefty comedian highlights about cancel culture — MSNBC
Tommy Smothers showed us what should happen in a functional Comedic Liberal Democracy.
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/tommy-smothers-dead-dies-comedy-censorship-rcna131355
Miracles happen, Chagrin Falls house fire victims say
Miracles happen, even in the midst of tragedies. After losing their home and one of their beloved dogs in a house fire, Chagrin Falls residents Jim and Gladys Vittek say
http://www.chagrinvalleytoday.com/communities/article_f39bc064-a4e3-11ee-a3d3-23da93f2d24d.html
Monopoly Power Is the Elephant in the Room in the AI Debate
There are good reasons to believe that – left to itself – the market for foundation models trends towards consolidation, says Max von Thun.
https://techpolicy.press/monopoly-power-is-the-elephant-in-the-room-in-the-ai-debate
Watch the Newly Remastered Pee-wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special (1988) on YouTube
The entire episode of Pee-wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special (1988) is on YouTube, fully remastered in 1080p HD. Special gu
Iacampo pleads not guilty to sexual battery
On Tuesday, former Chester Township police officer Nicholas Iacampo, 29, of Painesville, pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual battery and contributing to the unruliness of a minor for alleged
Grand jury indicts man in Solon brothers’ murders
Shawntell Ellis, 29, of Cleveland, was arrested and charged with two counts of aggravated murder in the deaths of brothers Dominic and Joshua Cunningham, 22 and 21, respectively, of Solon,
The Insufferable Bros Who Run Corporate America
A quiet merger trial between antitrust enforcers and a pharma data giant called IQVIA reveals how bro-style executives control your medical data.
https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/the-insufferable-bros-who-run-corporate
Cars and business
I’m going to draw a parallel that isn’t quite straight, but it’s close enough. It’s between old (analog) cars and new (digital) cars, simple (analog) businesses and complicated (digital) businesses. Lately I’ve been driving two distinctly different cars. One from 1970, and the other from 2023. They essentially have nothing in common ot...
Blood
One hundred duck-sized Christs is better than one horse-sized Jesus.
This Deep Tissue Massager Looks Like a Medieval Torture Device. But It Works Like a Dream.
For post-run rejuvenation, I swear by the Roll Recovery R8, a spring-tensioned clamp with grooved rubber rollers on each side that squeeze and massage limbs.
https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/roll-recovery-r8/
Rare museum specimen reveals new insights into how trilobites curled themselves into a ball
A team of evolutionary biologists at Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology and Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, has learned more about how trilobites curled themselves into a ball based on a rare find in the museum's collection. In their paper published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the group describes how the unique specimen was found and how it was studied to learn more about its characteristics.
https://phys.org/news/2023-12-rare-museum-specimen-reveals-insights.html
Opinion | ‘Fairytale of New York’ Isn’t Like Any Other Christmas Song (Gift Article)
It doesn’t matter where you’re from or what anyone says, the life in you is worthy of music.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/24/opinion/fairytale-new-york-the-pogues.html
Two heads
Product roles are frequently solo roles. There's a lot of collaboration with designers and engineers, but it's uncommon that two product people work alongside one another. That's why you hear a lot about being the "CEO of the product" or owning things, whether a product, feature, flow, or metric. The list of reasons I wanted to join 37...
“Why isn’t the new year on the winter solstice?”
“Why isn’t the new year on the winter solstice?”
What really happened to the Titanic sub? The tragic inside story — The Times and The Sunday Times
In March 2019 Patrick Lahey, an undersea explorer, was on a yachting holiday with his family in the Bahamas. After coming ashore one evening he got into a conversation with a submarine crew at the bar. Their company, OceanGate Expeditions, had designed a submersible to take paying customers to the wreck of the Titanic and it was about to begin sea trials. They asked if Lahey would like a tour of their craft, which they had christened Titan. Lahey, 61, a Canadian who has lived in Florida for 20
Fun is dead. — The Washington Post
Fun has become work, an afterthought, a performance. Fun is now planned, performed, learned. There are books on fun. Coaches for fun. Which means fun is done.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/of-interest/2023/12/23/fun-is-dead/
Santa’s a sleazebag. The elves are drunk. How did Christmas sweaters get so raunchy? — The Washington Post
The ugly holiday sweater party has turned Christmas into a second Halloween.
Web Design History
Explore the timeline of milestones in the history of web design from 1990 to the present day.
Can the exhausted, angry people of Ottawa County learn to live together? — The Washington Post
Adeline Hambley’s employees at the Ottawa County health department saw her as their protection from political interference. Then the county board offered her $4 million to quit.
Chagrin Falls’ New Year’s Eve popcorn ball drop pops into the next decade
Chagrin Falls will drop a popcorn ball on New Year's Eve for the 11th straight year.
John Roberts, Donald Trump and the ghosts of Bush v. Gore — POLITICO
The Supreme Court may become the decisive player in the 2024 election.
The hyperloop is dead for real this time
Turns out the real hyperloop was the friends we made along the way.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/21/24011448/hyperloop-one-shut-down-layoff-closing-elon-musk
Here Dragons Abound
Exploring procedural generation and display of fantasy maps.
Just How Rich Were the McCallisters in ‘Home Alone’?
Fans have been debating the McCallister family’s wealth for years. We asked the Federal Reserve for answers.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/20/movies/home-alone-mccallisters-wealth.html
Student shoots 14 people dead at university in Prague — Guardian US
Police chief says ‘premeditated violent attack’ at Charles University appears to have been inspired by massacres abroad
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/21/prague-shooting-charles-university-deaths-injuries
Jan. 6 rioter nabbed in Bumble dating app sting pleads guilty to assaulting officers
Andrew Taake was turned in by a Bumble user who used the dating app to try to elicit confessions from Donald Trump supporters who took part in the Capitol attack.
Chagrin grad, teacher have a hand in library overhaul
Thanks to the drive of one Chagrin Falls High School graduate and the ingenuity of his math teacher, a lasting legacy has taken shape.
New Year’s Eve ball drop right here at home
A completely refurbished Popcorn Ball will be center stage on New Year’s Eve for the 11th annual Popcorn Ball drop, held fittingly on “123-123,” Chagrin Falls Popcorn Shop owner Dewey
Someone Ate The $120,000 Duct Tape Banana, Again
Maurizio Cattelan’s art piece, “Comedian,” was munched by a hungry visitor, the second time the pricey banana has been eaten.
Feds, Advocates Talk About What's In The New MUTCD (And What Isn't)!
The new MUTCD isn't the revolutionary rethink advocates sought, but it does offer officials more flexibility to design roads safely (if they use it!).
Tradition continues: Chagrin Falls Popcorn Ball Drop is set
The traditional Chagrin Falls Popcorn Ball Drop is back.
TBM 261: Dependencies In Fast(er) Growing Companies (Part 1)
We often hear about dependencies in the context of large, slow-moving, and slow-growing companies. The reality, however, is that dependencies are challenging in companies of all sizes and growth rates. Ironically, in faster-growing companies—due to scaling and other factors—the problems are even more acute AND the appetite for solving those problems is lower.
https://cutlefish.substack.com/p/tbm-261-dependencies-in-faster-growing
Chagrin Falls charter amendments head to March ballot
The special election for the three proposed charter amendments will take place on March 19.
Trump disqualified from Colorado’s 2024 primary ballot by state Supreme Court — The Washington Post
The ruling on Donald Trump from the Colorado Supreme Court marked the first time a court kept a presidential candidate off the ballot under the 14th Amendment.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/12/19/trump-off-colorado-ballot/
Goin' to Graceland: Take a virtual ride on the nearly finished Clark PBLs between Montrose and Irving Park
The project appears to be pretty much finished, but I'm double checking that no additional concrete, flexi-posts, or paint are planned.
Body Cameras Were Sold as a Tool of Police Reform. Ten Years Later, Most of the Footage Is Kept From Public View. — ProPublica
There were 101 people killed at the hands of police in June 2022. More than a year later, police had released body-camera footage of only 33 of those killings, ProPublica has found.
https://www.propublica.org/article/body-camera-videos-police-killings-remain-hidden-from-public
Fuzzy to focused - 5 focus areas for better project framing
When we do project recovery or post implementation reviews on poorly performed projects, one of the most common findings is that the project team was set up to fail. Unintentionally, of course, but the project team was handed a project that had a low chance of achieving a successful outcome.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/your-project-fated-fail-5-focus-areas-better-framing-brad-kerwin
A car dealership added an AI chatbot to its site. Then all hell broke loose.
Pranksters figured out they could use the ChatGPT-powered bot on a local Chevrolet dealer site to do more than just talk about cars.
https://www.businessinsider.com/car-dealership-chevrolet-chatbot-chatgpt-pranks-chevy-2023-12
The teenager who lives like it's the 1940s
Callum John Grubb is only 19 but he is obsessed with everything from the 1940s, including his car.
More product, fewer PMs
There has been a lot of discussion about how many Product Managers (PMs) are required in a product team. This conversation gained momentum after Airbnb restructured their product management organization, followed by articles about how startups are thriving without any PMs.
She miscarried in her bathroom. Now she’s charged with abuse of a corpse. — The Washington Post
An Ohio woman, still recovering from a potentially fatal miscarriage, is being investigated by a grand jury, outraging health-care professionals and reproductive rights activists.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/12/15/ohio-woman-miscarriage-abuse-of-corpse-grand-jury/
The Cycle of Unwalkability
Traveling through Mumbai one notices many things. One of those things is many, many pedestrians walking in the street (or on the motorway) amidst traffic (motorcycles, three-wheelers (auto-rickshaws), cars, trucks, buses, etc.). On the one had, yay? for pedestrians for reasserting their rights and transforming the whole country into a de facto
The Other Reason American Pedestrian Deaths are Rising After Dark
A NY Times article broke down many of the factors that are driving pedestrian death tolls to stratospheric highs after dark. But it missed one big one.
Most people think the U.S. crime rate is rising. They're wrong. — NBC News
Almost 80 percent of Americans, and 92 percent of Republicans, think crime has gone up. It actually fell in 2023. An expert blames a familiar culprit for the mistaken impression.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/people-think-crime-rate-up-actually-down-rcna129585
The New CSS · Matthias Ott – User Experience Designer
Matthias Ott is an independent user experience designer and developer from Stuttgart, Germany. Besides design practice he teaches Interface Prototyping at the Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Kiel.
Own Your Web – Issue 5: For Everyone
Hi All! 🤗 In the previous issues, we looked at how you can choose a domain name, how a personal website can change your life, and what people are using to...
Tesla driver who killed 2 people while using autopilot must pay $23,000 in restitution without having to serve any jail time
The case is believed to be the first time that U.S. prosecutors have brought felony charges against a motorist who was using a partially automated driving system.
https://fortune.com/2023/12/15/tesla-driver-to-pay-23k-in-restitution-crash-killed-2-people/
Metafoundry 80: Tea and Famine
*Today is the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Tea_Party>, generally known as 'the time that patriots dumped tea into the harbor to protest taxes and ...
https://tinyletter.com/metafoundry/letters/metafoundry-80-tea-and-famine
This Photographer Captured One Image of Cambridge Every Day for 13 Years
After 5,000 photos, Martin Bond has decided to conclude his project, which showcased the city's mundane and extraordinary moments
Sharing in the Age of 3p Cookie-mageddon :
Over a decade ago, I wrote up detailed instructions on how to enable users to share your content on social media without allowing them to be tracked by every social media site via cookies. In a few short weeks “third party” cookies will get the boot in Chromium-based browsers. If you’re still relying on third party share widgets on your site, your users may start seeing problems. Now is a good time to replace them with code that Just Works™. Here’s how…
https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/notebook/sharing-in-the-age-of-3p-cookie-mageddon/
Ohio prosecutors broke rules to win convictions and got away with it — NPR
About 100 prosecutors across Ohio violated standards meant to protect a defendant's civil rights in criminal trials, an investigation by NPR and its reporting partners found. Some did so repeatedly.
https://www.npr.org/2023/12/14/1216111092/ohio-court-prosecutor-misconduct-due-process-rights
Mayim Bialik Announces She Will No Longer Host 'Jeopardy!' — People
PEOPLE has learned that Bialik, who became a permanent host alongside Ken Jennings in 2022, had not completed her 'Jeopardy!' contract by the time Sony executives made their decision
https://people.com/mayim-bialik-no-longer-hosting-jeopardy-8417104
Chagrin Falls church to hold Christmas Eve service at Triangle Park
Born out of necessity in 2020 because of the pandemic, the outdoor Christmas Eve service has become a permanent tradition at Chagrin Falls' Triangle Park.
31 Photos From September 11th That You Have Never Seen
In 2001, digital cameras were a rare commodity. They were expensive, bulky and captured images that were inferior to the organic look of…
https://medium.com/@jeremiahjw/31-photos-from-september-11th-that-you-have-never-seen-9514aaac2d54
Rudy Giuliani Hit With $148 Million Verdict for Defaming Election Workers — The Wall Street Journal
Former Trump lawyer, who has said he is in financial straits, must pay both punitive and compensatory damages to Ruby Freemen and Shaye Moss
Variable Fonts for Developers
Variable fonts for developers, a collection of fun experiments, effects, demos, articles, font lists, and stuff I have learned as a developer about variable fonts
The Shoegaze Revival Hit Its Stride in 2023
The 30-year-old subgenre has found new life in the hands of indie rockers, digicore artists, TikToking teens, and reunited first-wavers.
https://pitchfork.com/features/article/the-shoegaze-revival-hit-its-stride-in-2023/
He’s Wanted for Wirecard’s Missing $2 Billion. He’s Now Suspected of Being a Russian Spy. — The Wall Street Journal
Jan Marsalek, the jet-setting former COO of now-defunct Wirecard, enabled Moscow to fund covert operations around the world, officials say; ‘whiff of Silicon Valley’
TBM 260: The Thoughtful HIPPO
Top-down decision-making is underrated. Teams often desperately want leaders to make decisions and establish meaningful constraints. They may not want a leader to dictate the how, but they DO want someone with formal influence and authority to take a stand, take options off the table, and take responsibility. But the big challenge is that when this is needed the most is when it is hardest. Here's why.
https://cutlefish.substack.com/p/tbm-260-the-thoughtful-hippo
How to Crush the Ivy League Cartel
Recent controversies over affirmative action and speech at top universities are beside the point. Harvard and Yale have power because they operate like a cartel. And they should be treated like one.
https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/how-to-crush-the-ivy-league-cartel
The Most Consequential Act of Sabotage in Modern Times — The Atlantic
The destruction of the Nord Stream pipeline curtailed Europe’s reliance on Russian gas. But who was responsible?
Rock Paper Pencil by Astropad: A more realistic pen-on-paper feel for your iPad
iPad screen protector and Apple Pencil tip. Designed to work together for the most realistic pen-on-paper feeling for iPad. From the makers of Astropad Studio and Darkboard.
Operational changes for Kennesaw attraction after teenager’s death
The death of a Harrison High School senior has led to changes in how the popular Kennesaw attraction Lights of Joy will operate moving forward.
Sidewalk installation debate continues
A standing-room only crowd of more than 40 residents from Carriage Stone and Monticello drives packed council chambers Monday for further discussion on the possibility of sidewalks in their neighborhood.
The AI trust crisis
Dropbox added some new AI features. In the past couple of days these have attracted a firestorm of criticism. Benj Edwards rounds it up in Dropbox spooks users with new …
The Best Spy Thriller on Television Just Keeps Getting Better — Slate
Slow Horses stands head and shoulders above the competition, and its third season is its best to date.
https://slate.com/culture/2023/12/slow-horses-season-3-apple-tv-plus-gary-oldman-slough-house.html
Chagrin Falls High School’s Financial Literacy Team makes history -- wins stock market challenge and heads to nationals
The Chagrin Falls High School was the top team in the stock market challenge.
Is Santa Real? How to Talk to Your Kids About Santa Claus
At some point, most children question whether or not Santa is real. We spoke with psychologists to learn how parents should handle these inquiries.
https://www.parents.com/how-to-talk-to-your-kids-about-santa-claus-6836193
Behind the calamitous fall of hip-hop mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs — Los Angeles Times
In the wake of multiple lawsuits filed against him, former members of Combs' inner circle told The Times that his alleged misconduct against women goes back decades.
NBA suspends Draymond Green indefinitely, cites 'repeated history' — ESPN
Warriors forward Draymond Green has been suspended indefinitely by the NBA for striking Suns center Jusuf Nurkić in the face. He will be required to meet 'certain league and team conditions' before he returns to play.
Biden impeachment inquiry authorized by House Republicans, despite lack of evidence — Reuters
The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to formally authorize its ongoing impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, as Republicans unite behind the effort even though they have yet to find evidence of wrongdoing by the Democrat.
December 13th, 2023, 2:36pm
If you added a website to the dock from Safari, it used to be that external links opened in your preferred browser.
Woman, 57, fatally struck by hit-and-run SUV driver is third pedestrian killed near one-mile stretch of Congress in Garfield Park in three months
This fatality took place one day after an off-duty police officer struck and killed a female pedestrian in River North.
Black-trimmed homes, tiny libraries and other signs your neighborhood is about to be gentrified — Los Angeles Times
Gentrification is easy to spot if you know where to look. If homes in your neighborhood follow these trends, gentrification might be on the way.
Historic downtown Chagrin Falls bridge to receive facelift
The bridge over the Chagrin River on North Main Steet will be renovated.
My Own Prison by Creed
We all listened to some things that ended up being kind of embarrassing.
BOOM: Google Loses Antitrust Case
Search giant Google has lost its first antitrust case in a San Francisco jury trial. The breakup of Big Tech begins.
https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/boom-google-loses-antitrust-case
A Guide to Felt's Plans
In this video we'll take a detailed look at what's included in each individual Felt plan. 0:00 Intro0:35 Personal Plan1:30 Standard Plan2:40 Professional Pla...
button invoketarget=”share”
An alternate route to a declarative version of the Web Share API.
Judge: Giuliani may have defamed Georgia election workers again outside DC courthouse — POLITICO
Just minutes after leaving the first day of his civil trial, Rudy Giuliani repeated a false allegation about the pollworkers.
Using date-based CSS to make old web pages *look* old
How do you know you're looking at an old website? You may have found a page which has lots of interesting information, but how can you tell it's a modern and relevant result? Some websites don't contain dates in their URls. There may not be a © date or publication date shown on the page. [...]
https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2023/12/using-date-based-css-to-make-old-web-pages-look-old/
The hidden depths of the input element
A collection of bad practices in HTML, copied from real websites.
The Problems With Police Crash Reports
More and more transportation agencies are incorporating the use of police crash reports to determine empirically if a road is safe. Here’s why that doesn’t work.
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2023/5/10/the-problems-with-police-crash-reports
Texas woman blocked from getting emergency abortion by court leaves state — The Texas Tribune
The Texas Supreme Court ruled that Kate Cox did not qualify for an abortion under the medical exception to the state’s near-total abortion ban. Just hours prior, Cox’s lawyers said she’d traveled out of state to have the procedure.
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/12/11/texas-abortion-lawsuit-kate-cox/
Christmas Cookie Inflation Index, 2023 Update
The Christmas Cookie Inflation Index has risen 12.0% in the last year. This is compared to the official inflation rate of 3.2%.
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2023/12/11/christmas-cookie-inflation-index-2023-update
'FYI Pickleball DRAMA': Local Governments Overwhelmed By Tennis-Pickleball Turf Wars, Documents Show — 404 Media
What I learned about the pickleball lobby and pickleball turf wars by reading thousands of pages of documents from inside local government.
The Cost of Not Shaping
A founder came to me with questions about his team's results adopting Shape Up. Some projects were knockouts. They got exactly what they wanted done, when they wanted it done. But other projects dragged on, stuck at the last yard line. What was going on?
The Bicycle Friendly Community Ideabook | League of American Bicyclists
The Bicycle Friendly Community Ideabook is designed to help communities learn about projects, policies, and programs that have been successfully used by peer communities around the country to better support…
Why scientists are making transparent wood
The material is being exploited for smartphone screens, insulated windows, and more.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/12/why-scientists-are-making-transparent-wood/
The Unfortunate Truth All This Pickleball Drama Reveals About American Cities — Slate
All this commotion over a few hundred square feet of concrete.
Could removing every road sign in the UK actually make driving safer? — BBC Top Gear Magazine
A few years back, the German municipality of Bohmte implemented a definitely not mad strategy to improve driving standards in its town centre: removing all the road signs.
omg.lol: an oasis on the internet
If you enjoyed the old web of the 90s and 00s; if you love tinkering with your personal website; or if you just like quirky, fun things on the internet, you will love this.
https://blakewatson.com/journal/omg-lol-an-oasis-on-the-internet/
Pentagon Stupidity Is a Design Choice
In the National Defense Authorization Act, Congress just empowered the Pentagon to learn who owns the defense contractors that supply it. This is good for national defense and bad for private equity.
https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/pentagon-stupidity-is-a-design-choice
Hanukkah will be celebrated for all eight nights at Chagrin Falls’ Bell Street Park
The Menorah at the Bell Street Park will be lit for the next 7 nights. for Hanukkah
Webmentions for Jekyll
A Jekyll Plugin for rendering Webmentions via Webmention.io
It's one of the biggest experiments in fighting global poverty. Now the results are in
The study focuses on a universal basic income and spans 12 years and thousands of people in Kenya. How did the money change lives? What's better: monthly payouts or a lump sum.
After trying to pick up her phone while driving SUV, off-duty CPD officer jumped curb and killed woman, 56, on sidewalk
It's infuriating that a person who was entrusted to help keep the public safe was reckless enough to take her eyes off the road while driving to pick up a phone, with tragic consequences.
Three Decades of HTML
A few days ago was the 30th anniversary of the first time I wrote an HTML document.
https://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2023/12/06/three-decades-of-html/
Chester trustees protest commissioners’ letter
The Chester Township Trustees recently questioned the cost and legality of a letter the Geauga County Commissioners sent to all Geauga County residents, calling the letter a “facade of fiscal
Solon HR Director resigns, found guilty of assault
Solon’s embattled Human Resources Director Yolanda Guzman resigned her position with the city effective Nov. 17, and then appeared in Bedford Municipal Court Dec. 5, where Judge Brian J. Melling
First phase of police, fire renovations approved by Council
The village is moving forward with the initial phase of a $2 million project involving renovations to the police and fire stations.
http://www.chagrinvalleytoday.com/communities/article_ecc6a3c6-9462-11ee-a000-afb49527164a.html
Police to re-examine tree-lighting event safety
As crowds continue to grow at Chagrin Falls’ annual Lighting of the Greens, village safety forces are seeking to re-examine event security measures.
http://www.chagrinvalleytoday.com/communities/article_bcb35d1e-9462-11ee-b6e3-1fba42e36753.html
W. Cottage Street retaining wall repairs are complete
Chagrin Falls has completed the first phase of improvements to the retaining wall along West Cottage Street.
http://www.chagrinvalleytoday.com/communities/article_0de8d5c4-9463-11ee-bf22-b7d6e0d6f5d0.html
TBM 259: The Predictability Trap
But my key argument is that you cannot make predictable delivery the goal. You have to put value front and center and put sustainable and differentiated growth front and center. Predictable delivery needs to be in service to that, not the end goal. Because if you don’t, then one day you wake up and predictable delivery is impossible.
https://cutlefish.substack.com/p/tbm-259-the-predictability-trap
The NRA's Secret Tapes : Up First
The National Rifle Association opened its annual conference on Friday in Houston — across the state from Uvalde, Texas, which was the site of the country's second-deadliest school shooting earlier this week. Back in 1999, a similar scenario played out. A day after the horrific school shooting at Columbine High School, leaders of the NRA gathered to craft their response. Tim Mak of NPR's Investigations team obtained secret recordings of how they developed their message; it would become their standard response for decades of school shootings to come.
https://www.npr.org/2022/05/28/1101931493/the-nras-secret-tapes
Important People Are Noticing How Terrible CLEAR Is for Airports — Slate
A profit-seeking entity has no place in a federally mandated process. Nothing hazy about that.
https://slate.com/business/2023/12/clear-lines-airports-tsa-congress.html
David Rees and Blackwing Pencils: Artisanal Pencil Sharpening
David Rees, author of the new book "How to Sharpen Pencils" shares his equipment and technique, using Palomino Blackwing pencils. Artisanal Pencil Sharpenin...
Candy Cane Malört Triggers a Chicago Social Media Feud — Eater Chicago
Nisei Lounge and its backers say the owners of Jeppson’s Malört stole their idea for holiday infusions
Venice gondola capsizes after tourists refuse to sit down and stop taking selfies
Video of passengers and gondolier ending up in canal water widely shared online
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/06/venice-gondola-capsizes-tourists-canal
Omnivore
Omnivore is the free, open source, read-it-later app for serious readers.
How to run a small social network site for your friends
This document exists to lay out some general principles of running a small social network site that have worked for me. These principles are related to community building more than they are related to specific technologies.
Root & Branch - Erin Kissane's small internet website
I took a break after the Meta in Myanmar posts, partly because I was crispy and partly because of heavy family weather. Then, wonderfully, we got a
Vs. by Pearl Jam
One of the biggest, most anticipated albums of my lifetime delivered.
Olmsted on Campus
A walking exhibit of landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted's influence on UChicago's campus, as part of the Olmsted200 celebration.
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/8bc70c8a457943da81800274c93100ca
The Olmsted Legacy in Chicago — Julia Bachrach Consulting
Frederick Law Olmsted and his sons, the Olmsted Brothers, made lasting contributions to Chicago that have often been overlooked.
https://www.jbachrach.com/blog/2021/9/28/the-olmsted-legacy-in-chicago
The Olmsted Legacy in Chicago
Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. (1822-1903) is one of my favorite figures in American history. Not only was he the nation’s pre-eminent landscape architect, but he made significant contributions as an author, conservationist, abolitionist, and social reformer. Frederick Law Olmsted and his sons–the Olmsted Brothers–had important ties with Chicago that are often overlooked. At 6:00 p.m., […]
You’ll need a permit to sell your wares in Chagrin Falls parks
Chagrin Falls Village Council has passed an ordinance to regulate sales in its public parks.
Freeing Ourselves From The Clutches Of Big Tech
Right to repair and other efforts to liberate technology from monopolistic corporations is a precondition for winning many vital societal battles.
https://www.noemamag.com/freeing-ourselves-from-the-clutches-of-big-tech/
Reminiscences from the End of the Horse Era in New York City - Untapped New York
Architect Lewis A. Coffin reminisces about growing up as a young boy at the end of the horse era in New York City, circa 1899.
https://untappedcities.com/2022/02/21/horse-era-new-york-city/
In Uvalde, Students Followed Active Shooter Protocol. The Cops Did Not. — ProPublica
Across the country, states require more training to prepare students and teachers for mass shootings than for those expected to protect them. The differences were clear in Uvalde, where children and officers waited on opposite sides of the door.
https://www.propublica.org/article/uvalde-officer-student-trainings-mass-shootings
Opinion | Why Americans should worry about Subway’s new ownership — MSNBC
Sen. Elizabeth Warren is trying to prevent a sandwich monopoly.
What's a Medieval Castle Doing in Ohio? — National Review
‘We decided we wouldn't be real knights unless we had a castle’
https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2024/01/whats-a-medieval-castle-doing-in-ohio/
Ammon Bundy Has Disappeared — The Atlantic
An anti-government extremist seemed on the verge of another standoff with the law. Then he vanished.
You don't need JavaScript for that
A collection of bad practices in HTML, copied from real websites.
George Santos Expelled From Congress in Historic House Vote — The Wall Street Journal
Freshman Republican made up family and career details, is charged with stealing from donors
Perfecting the password field with the HTML passwordrules attribute
Learn how to integrate sign up forms with password generators by using the autocomplete and passwordrules HTML attributes.
Analysis | The Cardinals, clear-eyed about their failings, aren’t wasting any time — The Washington Post
The Cardinals have been clear about what they want this offseason. And they have been aggressive in trying to get it.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/11/30/cardinals-mlb-offseason-moves/