The Old New Thing

A $2 billion bridge to one person

April 19, 2004 Apr 19, 2004 04/19/04

Raymond Chen

The New York Times reported on two enormous construction projects of dubious merit: [The first bridge] would connect [Ketchikan, population 7845] to an island that has about 50 residents and the area's airport, which offers six flights a day (a few more in summer). It could cost about $200 million. The other bridge would span ...

Sorry, no free ice cream in Tennessee; it's illegal

April 16, 2004 Apr 16, 2004 04/16/04

Raymond Chen

It seems that giving away ice cream has been illegal in Tennessee since 1957, when state legislators were trying to combat alleged unfair trade practices by the dairy industry. Upon its being alerted to the existence of this law, the state Senate and House unanimously passed a bill to repeal the law, sending it to the governor for ...

Astonishingly, rules apply to everyone.

April 15, 2004 Apr 15, 2004 04/15/04

Raymond Chen

Spain's Crown Prince and his fiancée are outraged that they had to go through airport security in Miami. "The prince and his bodyguard felt they should not be subjected to the screening, but if they do not have an escort from the State Department or the Secret Service, it is required," she added. "It is the law." Apparently...

Playing on an entirely different level

April 14, 2004 Apr 14, 2004 04/14/04

Raymond Chen

Competitive Scrabble® is another game entirely. For example, here's a game from the 2001 World Championship. You can follow it move-by-move, or you can read the game commentary. The name "Stefan" you see in the commentary is Wall Street Journal reporter Stefan Fatsis, author of Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, ...

First thing we do is kill all the jerks

April 13, 2004 Apr 13, 2004 04/13/04

Raymond Chen

There a fascinating article in today's New York Times on a troop of baboons which went pacifist: ... researchers describe the drastic temperamental and tonal shift that occurred in a troop of 62 baboons when its most belligerent members vanished from the scene. The victims were all dominant adult males that had been strong and snarly ...

Extraterrestrial income

April 12, 2004 Apr 12, 2004 04/12/04

Raymond Chen

As I was reading one of the bajillion annual reports in my mailbox, I happened across a comment regarding extraterrestrial income. Space aliens have to pay income tax? Oh, no, it was just a misread for the controversial extraterritorial income exclusion...

Swedish spicy food

March 25, 2004 Mar 25, 2004 03/25/04

Raymond Chen

My friend Jonathan is acting as my host in Uppsala, and he was responsible for preparing dinner for a staff party at his nation. He chose curry. The same thing he chose the last time he was responsible for preparing dinner for a party. The last time, one of the attendees ceremonially dumped the curry into the trash because it was "...

Out of the deep fryer

March 24, 2004 Mar 24, 2004 03/24/04

Raymond Chen

McDonalds anonunced that it would no longer offer "Super Size" on its menu. The ostensible reason was that the addition of newer healthier options didn't leave room on the menu for "Super Size". This was of course laughable on its face. Now it's even more laughable, because it turns out that the so-called "healthy" options are ...

the qUirKY jaPan HomEPage

March 23, 2004 Mar 23, 2004 03/23/04

Raymond Chen

The weird stuff about Japan you were afraid to ask about. The Seldom-Asked Questions are interesting, but what I find the most fascinating is the pictures of various Japanese subcultures. [Raymond is currently on vacation; this message was pre-recorded...

A privacy policy that doesn't actively offend me

March 22, 2004 Mar 22, 2004 03/22/04

Raymond Chen

I've ranted before about privacy policies and how they don't actually protect your privacy. (All they're required to do is disclose the policy; there is no requirement that the policy must be any good.) Today I read MetLife's privacy policy and found to my surprise that it does not actively offend me. It's written in plain English...