Walt's Corner

Amazing how much data these new cars are sharing with the manufacturer who then share with insurance companies – for a fee. GM is making in the “low millions” from LexisNexis. GM. Subaru. Kia. Honda. Hyundai.

Users are unknowingly agreeing to this when they click yes on the user agreement for Starlink and Onstar or the manufactures’ equivalent. Instructions on how to opt out or get your own report that is being shared can be found at the story.

Read the full New York Times article here thanks to Dan Gillmor for the paid link.

I’ve always been passionate about fountain pens. As a kid I used this desk in school that still had ink wells and they always fascinated me. I tried to imagine the children before me who used to dip their nibs into it, knowing it had to be years ago. That also attests to the quality of the desks. There I was in 1976 sitting in a desk that had been in circulation since before modern pens and pencils were used.

Here’s the latest fountain pen acquisition. Decided to get this one engraved. Love it!

The other day Wendy’s CEO announces his crazy plan to use price surging on their new menu boards. Like Ubers. Or airline fees. Intended result? Higher prices during the day’s busiest hours while lower cost during slower periods. The update would happen autonomously (I assume) and work seamlessly with the registers.

Society’s response? They lost their proverbial shit. As if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

Wendy’s response to Society’s response? Our bad. Here is what our CEO meant to say: It’s not price surging. The system will just apply discounts to our less busy periods of the day.

Society’s response? Wait. What?

My response? Wait a minute. <does some math> Higher prices during the day’s busiest hours while lower cost during slower periods. You haven’t fooled me Wendy, you red-headed stepchild. I still respect your mad rapping skills though.

A research paper from International Journal of Biological Sciences describes growing testis in a dish with the eventual purpose of assisting with male infertility. Researches refer to these artificial testis as “organoids” and are derived from the testis of mice.I hope they’re careful not to attempt this in the state of Alabama, where they might be mistaken for actual people.

Since we won’t know when the first offspring resulting from these mice-derived artificial testicles, I’d like to be the first to recommend that they be named Mickey or Minnie.

We hear the same shit every year. New Year, New Me. I’m going to change. A new person.

Sorry dog. No, you’re not, and you’re not.

Our chances of changing ourselves are no different on January 1st than July 2nd (or July 1st for a leap year). The beginning of a new cycle around our star has no bearing on the nature of our humanity. Every moment bears the same chances for breaking habits or bettering ourselves.

In fact, one could argue that change happens now – that moment you realize something is wrong or could be better. No waiting for the next day. No waiting for the next month or year. The fact that people say tomorrow, next week, or next year I’m going to bitch-slapping you every hour on the hour, shows they don’t really want to change. They’d rather procrastinate. They’d rather enjoy bitch-slapping you for the rest of the day than stop right now.

So who benefits from all these New Year celebrations? The Market. The economy. Same as those who really benefit from all the other bullshit civic holidays. Candy companies. Card companies. Alcohol/beverage companies. Fireworks companies. Catering/hosting agencies. Gym memberships. Tourism. Just think about how much money is wasted being spent going to the big apple to celebrate. To what end? Ring in another year? It’s just another mother fuckin year, folks. We’ve had many, and if we’re lucky, we’ll have many more. Some won’t be so lucky. For some, this is going to the last one.

According to Our World in Data, 67 million people who rang in 2023 will not be ringing in 2024. It’s not all doom and gloom though. 134 billion births took place during the same period increasing our net population by .84%.

Having said all this, using a new year as an excuse to better yourself? Sure go for it. Using any potential as an opportunity for self betterment is OK in my books. Just realize it has no bearing on whether or not that change is going to take place. If you couldn’t better yourself yesterday, you ain’t gonna better yourself.