Me either

Microsoft Word’s Subtle Typeface Change Affected Millions. Did You Notice?

"You may notice this when you type 'je ne sais quoi' [it means 'I don't know what'] in Aptos," says Microsoft's corporate vice president for design and research, a guy named Jon Friedman.

I don't know what either, and I didn't notice, because I haven't used MSWord for anything recently but I might give it a try. I never liked Calibri (Aptos's predecessor) all that much.

Ever since I took a printing class, long ago in an ancient age, I've been a minor-league type junky. Typefaces are just kind of fun. 

(The default typeface for this blog is Verdana, another Microsoft typeface which was designed specifically for use on web pages.)

Which they just did

A Secret Garden to Discover Before the Cruise Ships Do

Dominica, a remote Caribbean island, enchants with its waterfalls, hot springs and hummingbirds. But a new airport and more tourists could tame its wildness.

Well…when you publish it in The New York Times. And at the very top of its web page.

And no doubt the airlines just did too. Discover it.

Rule: They always know before you do. 

[No link, because we're still trying to keep it a secret.]

Does eternity arrive?

In Caleb Williams, will the Bears finally find their next franchise quarterback?

The Bears last "franchise quarterback" was a guy named Sid Luckman. I once owned a Sid Luckman bubblegum card. I can't remember if I traded it or just lost it.

Since Luckman played that role for the Bears from 1939 through 1948 (winning NFL championships in 1943 and 1946), the Bears have gone with Johnny Lujack, Steve Romanik, Bob Williams, George Blanda, Zeke Bratkowski, Ed Brown, Billy Wade, Rudy Bukich, Jack Concannon, Larry Rakestraw, Virgil Carter, Bobby Douglass, Kent Nix, Gary Huff, Bob Avellini, Mike Phipps, Vince Evans, Jim McMahon, Steve Fuller, Rusty Lisch, Greg Landry, Mike Tomczak, Doug Flutie, Mike Hohensee, Steve Bradley, Jim Harbaugh, Peter Tom Willis, Will Furrer, Steve Walsh, Erik Kramer, Dave Krieg, Rick Mirer, Steve Stenstrom, Moses Moreno, Shane Matthews, Cade McNown, Jim Miller, Chris Chandler, Henry Burris, Kordell Stewart, Rex Grossman, Craig Krensel, Chad Hutchinson, Jonathan Quinn, Kyle Orton, Brian Griese, Jay Cutler, Todd Collins, Caleb Hanie, Josh McCown, Jason Campbell, Jimmy Clausen, Matt Barkley, Brian Hoyer, Mitchell Trubisky, Mike Glennon, Chase Daniel, Nick Foles, Andy Dalton, Justin Fields, Trevor Siemian, Nathan Peterman, and Tyson Bagent.

 [However in the last 100 seasons the Bears have won eight NFL championships and one Super Bowl, a record second only to that of the Green Bay Packers.]

Where Winter took the winter off

Snow and ice are a way of life here. See how a lost winter upended that.

Lake ice too thin to support pickup trucks

Earlier recent winters in Duluth (from WDIO Radio):

2020-2021 brought 76.4” of snow to Duluth, which was a good foot below our normal 90.2”. The next year was just a touch above average with 93.4”.

Then there was the season of 2022-2023, the snowiest winter on record in Duluth coming in 140.1”. That’s almost twelve feet!

This past winter (Minnesota Department of Natural Resources):

The strange and winterless winter continued into January of 2024, which started warm, ended even warmer, and had a middle 10-day period with the only winter-like weather since December 1st. It was dry, and nearly snowless in many areas, although our brief, wintry interlude did bring a couple snowfall events to parts of the state.

No more SpongeBob?

They are TV’s ghosts — networks that somehow survive with little reason to watch them anymore

Without favorites like “The Walking Dead” or “Better Call Saul,” AMC’s prime-time viewership sunk 73%. The Disney Channel, birthplace to young stars like Miley Cyrus, Hilary Duff and Selena Gomez, lost an astonishing 93% of its audience, from 1.96 million in 2014 to 132,000 last year.

TBS, TNT, History, Lifetime, FX, A&E, BET, E! Entertainment, SyFy, Comedy Central, VH1 and Discovery have all lost at least half of their 2014 audience.

The "Netflix and chill" generation is to blame, AP suspects. 

Sopranos seek better beach

Forget California exodus. New Jersey residents lead an influx back into the Golden State

New Jersey, a similarly expensive and densely populated state, saw more residents move to California than the other way around in 2022 — a rarity amid the state’s population exodus. It was one of only eight states to be part of a reverse exodus phenomenon, and the state with the largest net number of transplants to California.

People from New Jersey move faster because it's colder there, one transplant says.

Makes Elon happy

Apple cancels decade-long electric car project, source says

Tesla CEO Elon Musk cheered Apple's move on X social media with a post of a saluting emoji and a cigarette.

Well, yeah, Although Tesla itself is shifting its focus more towards hybrids and away from fully-electric vehicles, this report from Reuters says. 

How fast are you moving right now?

 Well, it depends…

The leap day of a leap year

 

XKCD for more.

Deadline

Boeing given 90 days by FAA to come up with a plan to improve safety and quality of manufacturing

Quality of manufacturing? Profound improvements? Foundational change?

Sounds…concerning.

Meanwhile Boeing, also a major defense contractor, moved its headquarters from Seattle to Chicago in 2001, and from Chicago to Arlington, Virginia, in 2022. “The region makes strategic sense for our global headquarters given its proximity to our customers and stakeholders," the company's CEO said at the time.

A scorecard from the Associated Press

Here’s where all the cases against Trump stand as he campaigns for a return to the White House

 

Why just these guys? Why not everybody?

Biden Acts to Stop Sales of Sensitive Personal Data to China and Russia

The president will ask the Justice Department to write rules restricting the sale of information about Americans’ locations, health and genetics to China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela, as well as any entities linked to those countries. The restrictions would also cover financial information, biometric data and other types of information that could identify individuals and sensitive information related to the government.

I can think of a half-dozen snarky answers to those questions, but no good ones. 

Personal data should be, well, personal. Shouldn't it?

There'll always be an England

Cheers to being crooked again.

LONDON (AP) — The owners of a quirky 18th century British pub unlawfully bulldozed after a mysterious fire last year were ordered on Tuesday by a local council to rebuild it — and to stick to its original, lopsided dimensions.

Biden and Trump win!

Michigan takeaways: Presidential primaries show warning signs for Trump and Biden

Running against…well…nobody. Sure, there's Nikki, if you insist, in the Republican race. And Biden running against "lesser known candidates," according to the AP. (No kidding.)

Making this thing seem like a horserace sells newspapers and TV (and internet) advertising, and has become a traditional feature of Presidential election years.

Get back to me in mid-October.

In just one week

Vulnerability Summary for the Week of February 19, 2024

This is a typical if not exactly (it's a bit more lengthy than) normal weekly report of newly-discovered security vulnerabilities in software. It's published by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (DHS) of the U.S. gov.

You don't have to read it; just scroll down and admire the ricketiness of it all. 

Meanwhile the FBI is openly warning that Chinese hackers are busily prepositioning malware in U.S. networks, to be trigged at will, and furious hacking by other nation states is a continuing concern. 

It's a Wild West World. 

[One can subscribe to this and other CISA advisories delivered by email, free.]

Thereby writing a new definition of "Battleground State"

Chiefs parade shooting could be a new test of expanded ‘stand your ground’ protections

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The man accused of firing the first shots at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl rally told authorities he felt threatened, while a second man said he pulled the trigger because someone was shooting at him, according to court documents.

Experts say that even though the shooting left one bystander dead and roughly two dozen people injured, 23-year-old Lyndell Mays and 18-year-old Dominic Miller might have good cases for self-defense through the state’s “stand your ground” law.

I knew a girl from Missouri once. She insisted on pronouncing it "Misery." 

Honey, Honey

Somebody told me last summer that eating honey from local bees would help desensitize me from Spring pollens, the kind that have been causing me a lot of stuffy problems in recent years.

I'm guessing the time to start finding out if that's true is now.

Grocery list.

Who could have guessed?

 Just before the Michigan primary…

Biden signals there could be a truce in Gaza soon but Israel and Hamas indicate no deal is imminent

Is this a miracle of lucky timing? Or not?

[The Michigan Primary is today, Feb. 27.]

In Boston this month…

it was the first February since 1872 (when records were first kept) during which there was no day with a high temperature below freezing (32ºF).

The coldest low temperature for the entire winter was 14ºF. (That's so far, of course. but not likely to get any colder at this point). No other winter on record has been that warm.

Boston is on the coast and weather there is moderated by the sea. It's been somewhat chillier where I live, but still quite mild as New England winters go. 

Make of that what you will. 

(It's fine with me.)

Living on the edge

California doctor refuses to move from $15.9M cliffside mansion despite warnings it could slide into the ocean

While experts claimed the Dana Point cliffside properties are safe to live in, further work will need to be carried out for them to withstand future storms.

It's the pictures. 

Wait a minute. Lost?

A giant meteorite has been lost in the desert since 1916—here’s how we might find it

A tale of "sand dunes, a guy named Gaston, secret aeromagnetic surveys, and camel drivers."

[That's a decade longer than Amelia Earhart. FYI] 

The AI has a moment

ChatGPT goes temporarily “insane” with unexpected outputs, spooking users

"The common experience over the last few hours seems to be that responses begin coherently, like normal, then devolve into nonsense, then sometimes Shakespearean nonsense," wrote one Reddit user…

Suffers from the same malady a lot of writers do (no surpise there): Does not know when to quit.

Or maybe it gets paid by the word? 

The good news is…

 …(yes, good) the sun is waking up at just about the same time I do now. Here. Good morning, Sun.

Won't be long until it's waking up even earlier —which would mean daylight wasted, but we've figured out a way to save some of that and use it in the evening instead. 

Win win, say I.

(And maybe hit the mid-50s this week, but not today.)

Second City, you say?

Opinion: Welcome to Payola World!

A University of Illinois study finds that despite all vows to abolish shoebox and pork-barrel politics, Chicago remains the most corrupt city in the nation, judged by the per capita number of indicted officials. Illinois is the third most corrupt state.

Looks like #1 to me.