5 stories
·
4 followers

💧 The Perfect Valentine’s Day Gift

1 Comment

[Did the world really need another place to buy trash?]

During the Super Bowl on Sunday, an ad for “Temu” played several times.1 In it, a woman buys a flurry of products at what I can only describe as disturbingly low prices.

A dress for sale on the Temu app, for $8.99
In 2023, a dress should really cost more than $9.

But what exactly is Temu? The ad was not clear. Is it a fast fashion site? Do they sell used items? I couldn’t figure it out, so I visited the Temu website. In a word, that was a mistake. Though the company had spent millions of dollars on advertising during America’s single biggest night of television, their site was the worst kind of spammy garbage. It had pop-up offers, flashing messages, countdown clocks, and a wide variety of very cheap and very crappy products. Once I ascertained that the company was a reseller of all manner of disposable crap, I quickly left, expecting never to return.

The next day, I found myself inundated with their web ads, likely a result of that initial visit to their site. One particular item being advertised really caught my eye, and led me to open Temu site once again. This is the “Creative Silicone Bicycle Tail Lights, Waterproof Bicycle Accessories Suitable For Night Riding”:

A glowing light which resembles human testicles, hanging from a bike seat
🙊 Barvd

Now you might be thinking “Are those…bike nuts?! Truck nuts…but for a bike?”. I urge you to get your mind out of the gutter. No. Of course they are not glowing bike nuts. Perish the thought!

No, that is clearly a lovely upside-down glowing heart, and it’s just in time for Valentine’s Day. For the low, low price of $3.59, you can show your cycling sweetie how much you care, all while helping them stay safe. I can’t think of anything more romantical.


Footnotes:

  1. The ad is archived here. ↩︎

Read the whole story
aripollak
107 days ago
reply
Now that jingle is living in my head rent-free forever.
Share this story
Delete

No One’s Topping That Joke

2 Shares

Recently, a robot vacuum in England made a dash for freedom. Unbeknownst to staff, it popped over the lip at the entrance, and then took off. That’s a fun little story, certainly, but it was this quip that really stood out to me.

While some readers joked about the robot’s adventures, one feared for its safety in the great outdoors, pointing out that “nature abhors a vacuum”.

If Aristotle knew his work would be remembered almost 2,500 years later, and used thusly, he would surely be proud.

Link: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-60084347

Read the whole story
aripollak
490 days ago
reply
Share this story
Delete

Link: Better to Remain Silent and Be Thought a Fool

2 Comments and 4 Shares

In 1995, technologist Clifford Stoll wrote an article for Newsweek entitled “Why the Web Won’t Be Nirvana”. 20 years later, in 2015, that article is more than a little hilarious.


∞ Permalink
Read the whole story
aripollak
2757 days ago
reply
Share this story
Delete
2 public comments
tedder
2755 days ago
reply
I knew Clifford Stoll was going to be a crank when he started writing this stuff.
Uranus
MotherHydra
2759 days ago
reply
"Then there's cyberbusiness. We're promised instant catalog shopping—just point and click for great deals. We'll order airline tickets over the network, make restaurant reservations and negotiate sales contracts. Stores will become obselete. So how come my local mall does more business in an afternoon than the entire Internet handles in a month? Even if there were a trustworthy way to send money over the Internet—which there isn't—the network is missing a most essential ingredient of capitalism: salespeople."

Yes, this was the missing piece for e-commerce!.
Space City, USA

He Went to Six Years of Clown Medical School

2 Shares

Computer Repair MD

I just don’t think I could trust a computer repair shop with a sign in Comic Sans, even if they do have a doctor on staff.

Read the whole story
aripollak
3629 days ago
reply
Share this story
Delete

You are my density. (via Steve Spangler)

1 Comment and 3 Shares


You are my density.

(via Steve Spangler)

Read the whole story
mako
3779 days ago
reply
Seattle
aripollak
3781 days ago
reply
Share this story
Delete
1 public comment
glenn
3781 days ago
reply
*
Waterloo, Canada