A swathe of fledgling entrepreneurs have taken the plunge and set up their own companies, with review site Yelp counting a record number of new business openings last year. All told, Yelp tallied a total of 762,200 new ventures in 2023, representing a 20% uptick on 2022. https://data.yelp.com/business-openings-report-2023#methodology

Fed up of chipping her precious china when washing up, and faced with the pressure providing for her family, she decided, “If nobody else is going to invent a dishwashing machine, I’ll do it myself”. In 1926, her company was bought by KitchenAid which later became part of the household-name Whirlpool Corporation. https://www.messynessychic.com/2023/07/12/the-forgotten-housewife-who-invented-your-dishwasher/

Companies may not be able to buy the silence of laid-off workers anymore.

https://www.axios.com/2023/03/27/labor-board-says-non-disparagement-clauses-are-unlawful

The utopian resort covers a plot of virtual land in the Fashion Estate in Decentraland, known as LEVENverse. One of the first and biggest virtual real estate marketplaces, along with The Sand Box, Decentraland is powered by the Ethereum blockchain. https://thespaces.com/leven-wants-you-to-vacation-in-the-metaverse/

When we hire people to work for (or with) us, we sometimes bring on the wrong people. Find out what you can learn from stories of other managers' hiring disaster stories, I wrote in 2010. https://www.infoworld.com/article/2073212/your-worst-hire--four-lessons-from-other-people-s-mistakes.html

You can play Doom using gut bacteria, but the framerate is atrocious
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/you-can-play-doom-using-gut-bacteria-but-the-framerate-is-atrocious

Penn Jillette Wants to Talk It All Out
"...But we also discussed magic and comedy — which, he argues, can help explain politics. Penn Jillette knows he doesn’t have all the answers, but that won’t stop him from asking the questions."
https://www.cracked.com/amp/article_40871_penn-jillette-wants-to-talk-it-all-out.html

The Los Angeles Housing Department got evicted https://lapublicpress.org/2024/01/la-housing-department-displaced-from-office-by-landlord/

Also: A new study finds that remote workers are 35% more likely to be handed the pink slip than those who venture to the office. https://www.businessinsider.com/remote-workers-quit-and-fired-more-often-work-from-home-2024-1

Nearly 25,000 tech workers were laid off in the first weeks of 2024. Why is that?
https://www.npr.org/2024/01/28/1227326215/nearly-25-000-tech-workers-laid-off-in-the-first-weeks-of-2024-whats-going-on

George Carlin’s estate sues producer of hour-long comedy special for ripping off his voice and humor style. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/ai-generated-george-carlin-special-ignites-copyright-infringement-lawsuit-1235807439/

The anatomically-correct doll came out in the 1978 amid tons of controversy. Esquire awarded the toy the “Dubious Achievement Award” and the toy sold remarkably well throughout the year.
https://www.advocate.com/news/gay-bob-out-ken-barbie

Finale countdown: a statistical analysis of the TV shows that did (and didn’t) stick the landing.
https://www.statsignificant.com/p/which-shows-got-their-finale-right

I watched Délicieux last night. It’s absolutely delightful: the (or _a_) story of The First Restaurant. With, of course, plenty of cooking involved. Also a feel-good story. Five stars, good date-night fare.

I found it on Amazon Prime; I’m not sure where else it is.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10738536/

From table hacks to CSS kludges, these are some of the techniques that helped web developers get their fancy pages on the internet. https://tedium.co/2023/11/24/weird-html-hacks-history

The city frozen in time from a sudden eruption of Mt. Vesuvius contained some NSFW details that can be seen even today. Here are some “dirty” secrets of Pompeii you will see in the ancient city! https://stumblesafari.com/the-dirty-secrets-of-pompeii/

At the turn of the century, it was the Iceman who took the blame for leading women astray. Icemen had to be in good physical shape, which made his presence all the more concerning to husbands who were away. https://www.messynessychic.com/2021/07/23/ode-to-the-ice-man/