The Weekly Whatever: a mere 8 by 8 grid
Quotes of the week
Elon Musk explaining why he doesn’t play chess any more:
“I did as a child, but found it to be too simple to be useful in real life: a mere 8 by 8 grid, no fog of war, no technology tree, no random map or spawn position, only 2 players, both sides exact same pieces, etc.”
Sean Hannity, asked if he believed the claims about election fraud he broadcast on Fox News:
“I did not believe it for one second.”
Science
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Aspartame is linked to increased anxiety in mice.
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That nuclear fusion breakthrough wasn’t really about generating electricity.
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The super-rich are an inevitable mathematical consequence of repeated free trade.
Business
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New regulations require labeling of foods containing sesame. Businesses respond by adding it to more foods and labeling them, as that’s cheaper than trying to keep them from being contaminated with it.
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Wells Fargo agrees to pay $3.7 billion to settle claims that it had customers’ cars and homes illegally repossessed.
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Your favorite dark chocolate probably has unsafe levels of lead and cadmium in it.
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How Ticketbastard came to dominate the music ticket industry.
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Florida dominatrix demands tax-funded spanking dungeon.
Technology
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Ever wanted a toilet with Alexa built in so you could talk to it? Your dream can come true for only $11,500.
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The LastPass breach in January was much worse than they let on. Hackers have a backup of your data. It’s still encrypted, but it’s probably worth changing any passwords that are particularly important.
Crapto
- One of the largest Bitcoin mining companies, based in Austin Texas, declares bankruptcy
$8chan
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A journalist asks Elon Musk for comments on a story he’s probably not going to like. Yeah, that’s worth a suspension.
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Police see no link between ElonJet and the alleged incident with a stalker that Elon used to justify suspending ElonJet and journalists who reported on it. A few days later, it turns out that a member of Elon’s staff is a suspect in the incident. And those journalists are still suspended.
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Elon has used the same playbook at his other companies, but this time it isn’t working.
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Elon orders the removal of a Twitter suicide-prevention feature right before the peak time of the year for suicide. Meanwhile, images and videos of self-harm are flooding the platform.
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The latest brainwave: Twitter Blue subscribers now get their posts promoted above everyone else’s.
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Meanwhile, Tesla improves its reliability ranking in Consumer Reports by four places, to sixth worst of any vehicle manufacturer.
‘Tis the season
- Pub-crawling Santas get armoured vehicle stuck in Cornish hedge. No word on whether one of them was Richard D. James.