'What even makes a “good” cat? ...I decided to go to a cat show to find out.'
Yeah, like any of us can resist this story.
https://www.vox.com/features/23987904/cat-best-pet-dog-breed-personality-feeding-home-companion

The year Twitter died: a special series from The Verge (with a really interesting UI, too) https://www.theverge.com/c/23972308/twitter-x-death-tweets-history-elon-musk

In otter news...

A Taiwanese man was arrested at Thailand’s Suvarnabhumi Airport on Dec. 5 after he was caught by customs officers trying to smuggle two otters and a prairie dog onto a Taipei-bound flight.
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/5056505

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12 Types of Bad Tech Names
"Life is too short to want to punch a website in the face, but there I was, staring at Apple,com feeling the rage," wrote @carolpinchefsky in 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20130808075749/http://h30565.www3.hp.com/t5/Feature-Articles/12-Types-of-Bad-Tech-Names/ba-p/327.

AtomicJar acquired by Docker https://www.atomicjar.com/2023/12/atomicjar-is-now-part-of-docker/

Transparent wood could soon find uses as super-strong screens for smartphones, glowing light fixtures, and structural features like color-changing windows. https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/12/why-scientists-are-making-transparent-wood/

Today's wisdom: Build a man a fire and he stays warm for a night. Set a man on fire and he stays warm for the rest of his life.

As Europeans encountered and conquered new worlds during the Age of Exploration, they not only took an interest in novel geography, biological specimens, and exportable resources but also in the customs and dress of unfamiliar peoples. https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/recueil-de-la-diversite-des-habits/

Albert Einswine escaped from a New Jersey farm and led cops on a wild chase before they were able to 'apprehend' the pesky porker. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/escaped-pig-albert-einswine-leads-new-jersey-police-on-wild-chase-know-about-it-watch-funny-video/articleshow/105847223.cms

The search for extraterrestrial intelligence, or SETI, received a huge gain recently: a gift of $200 million from the estate of Franklin Antonio, co-founder of Qualcomm. https://www.seti.org/press-release/200m-gift-propels-scientific-research-search-life-beyond-earth

I'm sure you all knew this, but I didn't realize until now that "Otter" from Animal House is the same actor who played VP John Haynes in West Wing. https://blogs.loc.gov/now-see-hear/2021/08/national-lampoons-animal-house-1978-an-interview-with-tim-matheson/

Ex-Twitter exec claims X fired him for raising security concerns
https://www.axios.com/2023/12/07/elon-musk-fired-twitter-executive-security-concerns

When will women start measuring up to Eastern's Standards? ...from the 1970s

A lot of ex-Google engineers talk about how much they miss Critique, Google’s code review tool, out of all the internal tools they leave behind.
https://engineercodex.substack.com/p/how-google-takes-the-pain-out-of

How Ashton Kutcher prepared for his role as Steve Jobs in the movie. (2013) https://www.quora.com/Ashton-Kutcher-actor-investor/What-resources-did-Ashton-Kutcher-use-to-prepare-for-his-role-as-Steve-Jobs-in-the-movie-Jobs-2013-Was-the-biography-a-major-influence-What-video-research-was-used-the-most-to-understand-his-mannerisms-and-demeanor/answer/Ashton-Kutcher

Scientists trained machine learning to sniff out wine fraud, uncorking a solution to a problem that's been fermenting for years. By analyzing chemical compounds in wines, they can trace vintages back to their original vineyards. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/dec/04/researchers-create-ai-tool-detect-fraudulent-wine

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Way too many of you need this advice on "what to do in the first two days after a layoff," right now. I'm sorry. https://www.businessinsider.com/what-to-do-after-layoff-former-vp-hr-at-microsoft-2023-12

On Monday, Dec. 4, the mission turned on Psyche’s twin cameras and retrieved the first images: a milestone called “first light. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-psyche-delivers-first-images-and-other-data