"While his first book was weird and esoteric enough to have obviously been written by a human, this one reads like a politician’s memoir churned out by ChatGPT..." and other examples of The Most Scathing Book Reviews of 2023
https://lithub.com/the-most-scathing-book-reviews-of-2023/

Truth

Barry Manilow: "I think every Jewish and Italian boy cannot get out of Brooklyn NY unless he learns how to play the accordion. There's a guard at the Brooklyn Bridge. And you have to play 'Lady of Spain' before you can go over the bridge. Everybody I knew played the accordion - badly."
https://www.npr.org/2023/12/08/1217824491/barry-manilow-reflects-on-writing-songs-and-making-the-whole-world-sing

An apartment in Japan went up in flames after a man got a bit too zealous while killing a cockroach. https://www.businessinsider.com/apartment-blew-up-after-using-insecticide-to-kill-roach-report-2023-12

GM’s Cruise laying off 900 employees, or 24% of its workforce https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/14/gms-cruise-laying-off-900-or-24percent-of-its-workforce.html

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Meta is beginning to test making Threads posts available on ActivityPub-supporting services. https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/13/24000120/threads-meta-activitypub-test-mastodon

Moderna Melanoma Vaccine Cuts Death Rate in Half https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/benefits-moderna-merck-melanoma-vaccine-plus-keytruda-extend-three-years-2023-12-14/

Today I'm reminded of my 2009 article, "10 Business Lessons I Learned from Playing Dungeons & Dragons" https://www.computerworld.com/article/2774693/10-business-lessons-i-learned-from-playing-dungeons---dragons.html

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For my SF/F friends: Enter the F&SF Humor Competition! Deadline Thursday, Dec 14

This is lightweight and fun. Typically the grand prize is an autographed copy of a book/ARC. Runners-up get a one-year magazine subscription.
https://carolpinchefsky.com/blog/enter-fsf-humor-competition-105-tagline/

SoCal to Vegas in two hours? High-speed rail comes closer to reality with $3-billion award
The trip on the 218-mile electrified line from Rancho Cucamonga to Las Vegas will take just over two hours, with stops in Hesperia or Apple Valley.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-12-05/socal-to-vegas-in-two-hours-high-speed-rail-comes-closer-to-reality-with-3-billion-award

Create Christmas decorations using chemistry? Why yes, I DO know my friends. https://www.thoughtco.com/make-holiday-ornaments-using-chemistry-606135

I’m behind on this news, but I just learned that Bob Ostrander, a major figure in the shareware industry, passed away from cancer in September. https://www.facebook.com/groups/softwarepubnews/posts/9897727370269145/

An antelope whose species was declared Extinct in the Wild has today been downlisted to endangered – the direct result of a globally coordinated effort. https://www.zsl.org/news-and-events/news/oryx-downlisted-conservation-success

Fake belly buttons are temporary tattoo-style stickers. Placed a few inches above your navel, they give the illusion of longer legs. One Chinese reviewer described them as “the most successful invention of 2023.” https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/gender-diversity/article/3230438/fake-belly-buttons-all-rage-china-women-seek-freedom-dress-and-boost-confidence-some-raise-body

We find wisdom wherever we encounter it. And since I’m at the ballpark a lot of the time, that’s where I get my tech business lessons. https://www.tomshardware.com/opinion/everything-i-know-about-the-tech-industry-i-learned-from-baseball

(reprise, but maybe you don't mind)

'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