No employee is ever perfect. If they were perfect they wouldn't be working for you
Tuesday, August 4, 2026
Are 2nd babies born at a different time of year?
A highly popular strategy among second-time parents is to deliberately wait until August or September to conceive. This ensures they experience the bulk of their pregnancy during autumn and winter, allowing them to wear comfortable layers and avoid peak summer heat entirely while heavily pregnant.
First vs. Second: Across the general population, a massive volume of first-born conceptions happens spontaneously during late fall and winter holiday seasons, leading to an involuntary influx of late-summer births.
Intentional timeline: Because second-time parents are more experienced with tracking cycles and managing family timelines, they are far more likely to practice deliberate contraceptive spacing to override seasonal patterns and force a preferred birth month.
Energy conservation: Couples take into account that managing a first-born's outdoor summer activities while simultaneously experiencing third-trimester exhaustion and heat stress is structurally unsustainable. This makes planning for a winter or spring birth much more appealing the second time around.
Your customer service chat bot puts you on the hook
Air Canada's chatbot lied to a customer. Then the airline argued in court that the bot was on its own — it didn't go well.
Jake booked a flight after his grandmother died. Before buying, he asked Air Canada's website chatbot about bereavement fares. The bot told him he could book now and apply for the discount within 90 days.
So he did.
Then Air Canada rejected the refund. Because that policy the chatbot described? It didn't exist. The bot made it up.
Jake took them to a tribunal. Air Canada's defense was that the chatbot is a "separate legal entity" responsible for its own actions. In plain English, the airline argued it shouldn't be on the hook for what its own bot said.
The tribunal was not amused. The ruling basically said a chatbot is still just part of your website. You're responsible for everything on it, whether it comes from a page or a bot. Air Canada paid up.
The lesson isn't "don't use chatbots." It's simpler and scarier than that: whatever your AI says, you said. There is no version where the bot is the one who messed up. The customer doesn't see a bot. They see your company making a promise.
A lot of owners are racing to automate customer-facing stuff right now to save a few bucks. Fine. But every automated word that goes out under your name is a word you're legally and morally on the hook for.
If a human employee promised something wrong, you'd own it. The bot is no different. It's just faster at being wrong.
https://www.facebook.com/share/19BJsMwjiz/
Jake booked a flight after his grandmother died. Before buying, he asked Air Canada's website chatbot about bereavement fares. The bot told him he could book now and apply for the discount within 90 days.
So he did.
Then Air Canada rejected the refund. Because that policy the chatbot described? It didn't exist. The bot made it up.
Jake took them to a tribunal. Air Canada's defense was that the chatbot is a "separate legal entity" responsible for its own actions. In plain English, the airline argued it shouldn't be on the hook for what its own bot said.
The tribunal was not amused. The ruling basically said a chatbot is still just part of your website. You're responsible for everything on it, whether it comes from a page or a bot. Air Canada paid up.
The lesson isn't "don't use chatbots." It's simpler and scarier than that: whatever your AI says, you said. There is no version where the bot is the one who messed up. The customer doesn't see a bot. They see your company making a promise.
A lot of owners are racing to automate customer-facing stuff right now to save a few bucks. Fine. But every automated word that goes out under your name is a word you're legally and morally on the hook for.
If a human employee promised something wrong, you'd own it. The bot is no different. It's just faster at being wrong.
https://www.facebook.com/share/19BJsMwjiz/
Sunday, August 2, 2026
Truck reversing
Wow, some clever driving! Especially with all the idiots trying to go around his truck in tight spaces.
Friday, July 31, 2026
Dramatic rescue
https://youtu.be/GBLQEnYy_68?is=EKbAk0cgTKttUpza
Can you imagine going through this? I can't believe he was still conscious when they picked him up.
Wednesday, July 29, 2026
Tuesday, July 28, 2026
Sunday, July 26, 2026
Boston's "Museum of Bad Art"
Many paintings submitted are rejected. "Works must demonstrate serious artistic intent, possess an "Oh my God" quality, and above all, not be boring." https://whichmuseum.com/news/museum-of-bad-art-where-artistic-failures-become-celebrated-masterpieces-83
Here's a documentary about it.
Saturday, July 25, 2026
Friday, July 24, 2026
Contagious cancer in fish
The cancer cells on the fish were all similar to each other and very different from their hosts. The possibilities of such a tumor happening in humans are particularly ominous.
Thursday, July 23, 2026
Radical Acceptance
1:19:25 in the Hidden Brain episode "Changing our Mental Maps," in the Q&A appended section about the show "Radical Acceptance."
What's the difference between "It is what it is," and radical acceptance?
Radical acceptance invites me through acceptance to not become passive. Passivity, as the outcome of acceptance, means you've not changed your mind about everything. What radical acceptance is supposed to do is to free you to change your mind about what can be not get stuck on what can't be and then move into that. The reason acceptance helps is you're no longer wasting your time on something that didn't require your attention, so you can do that which deserves your attention to some distance pointed out day.
Victor Borge Claire de Lune
https://youtu.be/1mPJ3hm6M5I?is=0X6isbzXsE2D4Sz2
Absolutely beautiful performance. I love how he plays around with the tempo so delicately.
Here's a rare recording of Debussy himself playing it.
And here's Victor Borge at his best doing comedy.
Very funny - the "page turner"
Preventing relapse into depression
Comedian Gary Gulman describes having to be "vigilant" so he doesn't relapse into depression.
What does he mean:
11:09 "Exercising every day, eating right, getting enough sleep, taking on projects that keep me busy, and accepting invitations."
Wednesday, July 22, 2026
Training robots pays
https://youtu.be/yfZhpEupz5M?is=9BWaAP3yxoZ7n1zC
Smart startup - have your home cleaned for free by people wearing headsets that train robots for everyday tasks.
You just have to ignore the privacy concerns.
Crushed basalt helps trees grow.
1:49 Crushed basalt encourages 85% more growth and 27% more carbon sequestered in 4 years.
Why?
Crushed volcanic basalt slowly dissolves in soil water, releasing vital trace elements like magnesium, calcium, potassium, and iron over several years. - ref
This also supports soil bacteria and fungi, which build a healthier living network around tree roots.
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