Monday, November 9, 2026

Interesting websites on maps, travel, remote sightseeing


Occasionally I like to document websites and social media accounts that I’ve come across that I find fun, interesting and informative. What follows is the latest bunch of websites that I’d like to spotlight.

Roadside America

The Roadside America Project spotlights unusual attractions, statues, museums and oddities across the United States. The project is also on Facebook and has a Facebook fan group.

Terrible Maps

Terrible Maps is a website that makes amusing maps to illustrate differences in regions of the U.S. and the world. It also is on Facebook and X.

Rundown Buildings

The Rundown Buildings account on Instagram shows the transformation of houses, stores and abandoned places over time. Often things get worse but sometimes they improve. The website uses photos from Google Street View.

Jakexploring

The Jakexploring account on Instagram also uses Google Street View photos as well as others to show changes to businesses, homes and attractions over time.

Jozi vs. Jozi

In a similar vein, the now-deleted Twitter/X account Jozi vs. Jozi showed the decline of businesses and neighborhoods in Johannesburg, South Africa, over 10 to 15 years.
Jozi vs. Jozi lives on in archived news articles. (See reports by Times Live and Mail and Guardian in South Africa.)

Old Maps Online

Old Maps Online allows web users to browse historical places and see maps with timelines, including the U.S.

Flightradar24

Flightradar24 tracks airplanes currently in flight and the skies look pretty darn crowded.

Wednesday, October 21, 2026

Patriots raise warning flags on Islamic jihad 2.0 in the U.S.


The Islamic takeover of the U.S. is underway, albeit on a local and regional basis for now (see Minnesota and Texas, for instance), according to numerous analysts and activists.
The alarm sirens are blaring, and the warning flags are out, but mainstream media just dismiss those concerns as Islamophobia, which isn’t really a thing. That’s because a phobia is an “irrational” fear of something. But Islam has shown itself to be a violent and repressive system of governance wherever it gets established. It’s a more brutal form of authoritarian control than socialism.
But the leftists who promote open borders and no vetting of immigrants to the U.S. are only focused on winning elections for Democrats. That has created a strange alliance of conflicting philosophies (gays for Gaza, for instance), united only by the desire to oust conservative politicians, Republicans and especially President Donald Trump.
The media blames the ongoing violence and destruction in France on young people supposedly protesting education and economic conditions. But the story they don’t want to tell is the impact that unchecked immigration from Islamic countries is having on France, the U.K. and other countries in Europe.
Islamic immigrants are loyal to their religion (some call it a “death cult”) not the countries they move to. This leads to lack of assimilation and the creation of separate societies with their own rules and laws that are an affront to Western values. Once in the majority, Muslim rules apply to all.
Islamic leaders have shifted their approach from traditional terrorism to taking over Western institutions from within. Call its jihad 2.0. Muslims are well organized and they’re getting elected to school boards, judgeships, local, state and federal representative positions to advance their causes. They bring with them the principles of their religion and U.S. rules of law are secondary.
Conservative voices complaining about unchecked immigration and the rise of Islamic influence have been censored and even jailed in some Western countries. Thankfully that hasn’t happened in the U.S. yet. However, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution only applies to government censorship. That doesn’t prevent internet companies from deplatforming critics with views they disagree with.
Luckily for First Amendment supporters such as myself, entrepreneur Elon Musk bought social media platform X, formerly Twitter. He has allowed critics of the Islamic religion and governance as well as supporters of strong U.S. border controls and rational immigration policies to have a voice online.
What follows are a list of X content creators you should follow to get the real skinny on what’s going on the U.S. when it comes to Islam and immigration.
Please read these X accounts: Gad Saad (@GadSaad), Ex-Muslim Testimonies (@FamilieB3), Amy Mek (@AmyMek), RAIR Foundation USA (@RAIRFoundation), Dr. Maalouf (@realMaalouf), Chloe (@ItsAllPoliticss), End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) and Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes).
And for good measure, here are a few celebrities who “get it” on the subject: James Woods (@RealJamesWoods), Rob Schneider (@RobSchneider) and Kevin Sorbo (@ksorbs).
Finally, I’d like to mention anti-Islam demonstrator Salwan Momika, who was killed for his views. He was assassinated in January 2025 at the age of 38. His account (@Salwan_Momika1) is archived on X. His words live on.
Get educated on the threat Islam poses to the U.S. before it’s too late.

Photos: Funny memes that speak the truth about Islam.







Sunday, October 18, 2026

Crime data is being manipulated. Mainstream media is silent.


The news media are reluctant to discuss race, ethnicity or immigration status when it comes to crimes, except in instances where the offender is Caucasian and victim is non-white. The supposed reason for this is because reporters don’t want to reinforce negative stereotypes. But what if the data backs up stereotypes such as blacks being more likely than whites to commit violent crimes?
Those media outlets and reporters are doing a disservice to the public and their profession by refusing to disclose all the facts about a case. That includes race and immigration status. Likely many journalists are blinded by their liberal, progressive politics and don’t want to give weight to conservative claims, especially when it comes to illegal aliens, because that would support the views of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Thankfully there are independent journalists such as American hero Nick Shirley, who has exposed widespread government fraud, most notably by Somali immigrants in Minnesota. Opponents of his reporting are trying to claim that he is right wing or far right when he is simply showing how U.S. tax dollars are being wasted and stolen. That should be a non-political issue.
Mainstream media are too reliant on access journalism and taking the word of government agencies and politicians (from whatever slant they favor) instead of doing boots on the ground reporting like Shirley to see what’s really going on.
Another group of citizen journalists is reporting on how crime data is being manipulated by municipalities labeling criminal suspects as white when they are black, Hispanic or Middle Eastern. Sometimes the racial data is changed on a secondary arrest.
This skews crime reporting data to show more whites are committing crimes than truly are. That is fraud. And worse yet, government agencies and the news media will use this erroneous data in their reporting, spreading that misinformation and giving it validation.
Thankfully there are users of social media platform X, formerly Twitter, who are exposing the fraud in states like Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin.
X users who actively point out the erroneous racial data in offender booking reports include Triple D (@thetripledshow), White (@thatsnotawhite), Matt Van Swol (@mattvanswol) and White Criminal of the Day (@WhiteCrimeOTD).

Photos: Sample images from The Triple D Show, That’s Not A White and White Criminal Of The Day.


Friday, October 9, 2026

Hollywood movies about the tech industry are having a moment


Hollywood has taken a renewed interest in the technology industry as a source of subject material for movies and TV series.
This weekend (Oct. 9) will see the release of “The Social Reckoning,” starring Jeremy Strong as Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Meta Platforms, owner of Facebook and Instagram. The movie depicts the company’s legal troubles and the societal harm caused Meta’s social networks.
The movie is a spiritual sequel to “The Social Network” (2010), which starred Jesse Eisenberg as Zuckerberg. Both movies were written by Aaron Sorkin.
On Nov. 18, Netflix will release an eight-episode series called “The Altruists” about the rise and fall of Sam Bankman-Fried and the collapse of his FTX cryptocurrency exchange. Anthony Boyle plays Bankman-Fried.
Coming to theaters in December is “Artificial,” starring Andrew Garfield as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman during a pivotal era at the artificial intelligence company, which included the launch of ChatGPT.
But wait there’s more. In addition to that trio of biographical tech industry movies, there are also several notable documentaries coming.
Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, SpaceX and xAI, is profiled in the documentary “Musk” from director Alex Gibney. The film, which runs 3 hours and 52 minutes, is due out Oct. 16.
Elizabeth Holmes, the notorious founder of Theranos, is the subject of “You Can See Everything.” The film, which clocks in at 2 hours and 54 minutes, also is set for release on Oct. 16.

I have compiled two lists on IMDb about these types of movies. (See links below.)

IT industry movies based on true stories


Documentaries about the IT industry

Related articles:

At the movies, tech founders like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk are in their villain era (Business Insider; Oct. 9, 2026)

Hollywood’s New Shows Take Aim at Big Tech (The Wall Street Journal; Sept. 3, 2026)


Sunday, October 4, 2026

Sexy ‘Odyssey’ costumes set to conquer Halloween 2026


“The Odyssey,” the epic film directed by Christopher Nolan, dominated at movie theaters this year and its influence is likely to spread into adult Halloween costumes this year.
You can expect to see lots of sexy women dressed as Greek goddesses and Helen of Troy along with men in ancient Greek warrior outfits at parties and nightclubs on Oct. 31.
In its annual Halloween costume trend report, retailer Spirit Halloween said this about the trend: “Mythological lore is staging a ferocious takeover. Ripped straight from ancient texts and cinematic masterpieces, battle-hardened Greek armor, flowing cloaks, and epic accessories are primed to rule 2026.”
Lingerie company Yandy also is spotlighting sexy Odyssey-inspired costumes this year.


Saturday, October 3, 2026

Spirit Halloween costume memes parody politicians, celebrities, white-collar office drones


Every Halloween season, social media is flooded with fake Spirit Halloween costume memes. And this year is no exception.
The viral images use a specific template: the iconic orange-and-yellow Spirit packaging, a generic name for a politician, celebrity or derided worker type, and a bulleted list of humorous accessories included in the bag.
A lot of the memes circulated are favorites from prior years that are still relevant.
What follows is a collection of funny Spirit Halloween meme images. New this year are Madonna at the MTV VMA 2026 ceremony (see image above), Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, fake football player Daejon Love and accused child killer Lindsay Clancy.
On the U.S. political front, classics include former First Lady Michelle Obama, aka Big Mike; Sen. Elizabeth Warren; and former Vice President Kamala Harris.
On the business side of Spirit Halloween memes are portrayals of a LinkedIn influencer and private equity associate.



Sunday, September 20, 2026

AI-written articles: The good and the bad


Artificial intelligence programs now write as many online articles as humans, according to digital marketing firm Graphite. That reality has both negative and positive consequences.
On the negative side, some AI-generated articles feature information designed to deceive for political or commercial gain. Also, AI-created articles often contain factual errors and hallucinations.
In addition, AI-generated articles have the potential to flood the internet with misinformation and crowd out fact-checked human-created articles.
Plus, bad actors are making it hard to tell what’s real and what’s fake news on the internet.
As with all new technologies, there are opportunities for benefits and harm.
On the plus side, AI-written articles could serve “news deserts” – areas without human reporters.
If they have access to digitized police and court records, AI systems could quickly generate reports on crimes and legal actions. They could do the same with local government actions and provide summaries of live public meetings if they’re streamed online.
Further, AI systems could monitor location-based social media for incidents of interest, especially photos and videos. It could provide summaries of what is going on locally.
So, there’s likely good and bad with AI-written articles.

Photo: Graphic from Deutsche Bank report.

Related articles:

AI Now Writes as Many Online Articles as Humans (Graphite; May 2026)

With no local news, those in news deserts turn to social media feeds, influencers and gossip (Medill Local News Initiative at Northwestern University; Feb. 10, 2026)

Saturday, September 19, 2026

AI summaries are destroying the news business


Generative artificial intelligence is pushing the news business to the breaking point. AI summaries from the likes of Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and others are diverting revenue from news publishers, leading to fewer click-throughs, less advertising revenue and fewer subscriptions.
Staffers at Microsoft and OpenAI knew that scraping news websites to train their AI models could damage or even destroy those publications, according to court documents in a high-profile copyright infringement lawsuit filed by the New York Times. (See articles below.)
An OpenAI executive referred to an “existential threat” to publishers and a Microsoft executive said AI content scraping had started a “doom loop” for the news business, according to reports this week.
From a consumer perspective, the AI summaries are enticing. They give users the answers they are looking for instead of weblinks to full articles to read. Also, many publications have pay walls that provide friction for the casual web surfer but that AI systems have managed to bypass.
AI model builders must coordinate with news publishers and compensate them for their work. Otherwise, they could end up killing the valuable sources of information that they rely on for their answer engines.

Related articles:

Tech Companies’ Staff Knew Their AI Tools Posed ‘Existential Threat’ to Publishers (The Wall Street Journal; Sept. 17, 2026)

Microsoft and OpenAI Workers Worry About ‘Largest Theft of Labor’ in History (The New York Times; Sept. 17, 2026)

OpenAI, Microsoft executives' quotes on AI training threaten copyright defense, news outlets argue (Reuters; Sept. 17, 2026)

Google rolls out pay-per-value AI licensing program to publishers (Digiday; Sept. 14, 2026)

Ziff Davis CEO: if OpenAI can find $750 billion for data centers, it can find money for publishers, too (Fortune; Sept. 14, 2026)

Photo: AI artwork produced with prompts on Google Gemini.

Monday, September 7, 2026

AI-generated content is flooding the internet


In the early days of the worldwide web, the New Yorker published a now-famous single-panel comic with the caption: "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog."
That cartoon by Peter Steiner was published on July 5, 1993. (See articles by Wikipedia and Know Your Meme.)
Today, with the rise of artificial intelligence, nobody knows if they’re interacting with AI online.
Meanwhile, AI slop content is flooding the internet right now. And it’s probably just the beginning.
A study by Pew Research found that 35% of web pages published since the November 2022 launch of ChatGPT by OpenAI show significant signs of being written by artificial intelligence.

Fake writers, AI-generated articles


Media watchdog Press Gazette raised questions about eight prolific finance journalists who cover the world of cryptocurrency. When websites that published their articles were alerted and were unable to verify that those writers exist, they removed the articles.
The questionable freelancers had a history of writing positive stories about cryptocurrency launches, Press Gazette said. Their LinkedIn profiles appear to be fake.
Press Gazette also uncovered 1,000 articles in the British press attributed to 50 fake, non-existent and AI-enhanced experts. The investigation spurred leading public relations trade bodies to launch a campaign that called for journalists to check sources and the credentials of PR people they deal with.
Press Gazette also exposed two fake versions of the Forbes website that were packed with AI-generated and promotional content. Those websites contained articles by writers whose identities could not be verified, Press Gazette said. The articles appear to be AI generated, according to AI detector Pangram. The fake Forbes sites were linked to a shady PR agency Baden Bower.

LinkedIn adds 'Seems like AI slop' button


Last month, LinkedIn announced a new feature for users to flag posts suspected of being generated by AI. It has added a button called “Seems like AI slop.” The social media platform is awash in AI slop, 404 Media reported.
Social media services Instagram, X and others also are dealing with a surge in AI content. Some of it is benign but some of the content is intended to deceive. And it’s only going to get worse.

Related articles:

How Much of the Internet Is Written With AI? (Pew Research Center; Aug. 20, 2026)

A third of web pages published since ChatGPT launched were written by AI, study finds (Tech Crunch; Aug. 20, 2026)

Tech websites remove articles after failing to verify journalists exist (Press Gazette; Sept. 3, 2026)

PR bodies launch campaign against fake experts after Press Gazette investigation (Press Gazette; Jan. 29, 2026)

Fake Forbes websites and the PR agency offering guaranteed coverage – at a price (Press Gazette; Aug. 12, 2026)

LinkedIn Introduces a 'Seems Like AI Slop' Button (404 Media; July 30, 2026)

LinkedIn offers the option to report AI slop (HR Dive; Aug. 3, 2026)

Photo: Comic generated by Google Gemini.

Saturday, September 5, 2026

Song of summer 2026: 'Choosin' Texas' by Ella Langley


With the arrival of Labor Day weekend, summer has unofficially come to an end. So, it’s time to choose the song of summer – the tune that defined summer 2026 and racked up the most attention, airplay, streams and media buzz.
The song of summer for 2026 is “Choosin' Texas” by Ella Langley. The country-pop crossover hit "Choosin' Texas" spent 20 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. It also was the top pick for Song of Summer by the editors at streaming music service Spotify.
A strong runner-up was "hate that i made you love me" by Ariana Grande. It was Spotify’s global most-streamed song of the summer after spending 89 days inside the Spotify Global Top 10.
Ariana Grande is my pick for music artist of summer 2026. Her hit song "hate that i made you love me" and her Eternal Sunshine Tour created a lot of buzz. The tour started on June 6 in Oakland, Calif., and ended on Sept. 1 at the O2 Arena in London, England.
My honorable mentions for music artist of summer 2026 are Harry Styles and Zara Larsson.
Harry’s Together, Together World Tour earned glowing reviews. Instead of a traditional stadium concert tour, Styles opted for multi-night residencies at large venues in major culture capitals. The tour included a 30-night run at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Meanwhile, Larsson owned the digital aesthetic of the summer season. Her remix album “Midnight Sun: Girls Trip” was a smash and she became the face of TikTok's "Pop Girl Summer" with viral dance choreography, beauty trends, and heavy festival coverage.

Recent songs of summer

2018   “In My Feelings” by Drake
2019   “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus
2020   “Rockstar” by DaBaby featuring Roddy Ricch
2021   “Good 4 U” by Olivia Rodrigo
2022   “As It Was” by Harry Styles
2023   “Last Night” by Morgan Wallen
2024   “I Had Some Help” by Post Malone and featuring Morgan Wallen
2025   “Ordinary” by Alex Warren
2026   “Choosin' Texas” by Ella Langley

Music artist of summer

2018   Cardi B
2019   Billie Eilish
2020   Doja Cat
2021   Olivia Rodrigo
2022   Harry Styles
2023   Taylor Swift
2024   Chappell Roan
2025   Morgan Wallen
2026   Ariana Grande

Related articles:

From Country Roads to Football Anthems, These Are Spotify’s 2026 Songs of Summer (Spotify; Sept. 3, 2026)

So, What Was Song Of The Summer 2026? (Nylon; Sept. 3, 2026)

Ella Langley’s ‘Choosin’ Texas’ Breaks Record With 20th Week at No. 1 (The New York Times; Aug. 31, 2026)

Sunday, August 30, 2026

TikTok is censoring conservative voices


Conservative commentators on X have been speaking out lately about how social media platform TikTok has been deleting videos that talk about the infiltration of Islam into American communities and politics.
Content creators including Chloe Trapanotto, Nate Friedman, Cam Higby, Amy Reichert, Xaviaer DuRousseau and others have said their videos and posts on TikTok about the threats posed by Islam and illegal immigration have been deleted.
TikTok is vaguely claiming that the videos violated “community guidelines.” Islamists like to complain about “Islamophobia” even though having fears about an Islamic takeover are not an irrational concern. It’s already happened in hosts of formerly Christian countries.
Instead of trying to weaken the U.S. and Europe through terror attacks, Islam’s Jihad 2.0 is about mass immigration and changing western governments from within. It could take decades but Islamists are playing the long game to advance their totalitarian ideology.
Check out the following thread on X for specifics.
Pundits expressing outrage over the TikTok censorship have included Eric Daugherty, James O'Keefe, Ryan Fournier and Avery Daye.
While TikTok and other social media platforms have bowed to complaints from Muslims and leftists to take down posts, X, formerly Twitter, remains a beacon of light for expressing diverse opinions. Thank you, Elon Musk.


Saturday, August 15, 2026

The perfect bathroom-break mobile phone game: Connections


I’m not much for mobile games. My wife and daughter like to play Wordle, but that’s never appealed to me. Fellow New York Times game Connections is more my speed.
For free players like me, it offers one short game each day. The object is to sort 16 blocks containing a word or phrase into groups of four based on how they’re related.
The game designers try to make it tricky by including a few blocks that could be related but don’t fit into a group of four.
I like Connections because it allows me to take a short break from whatever it is I’m working on. And it’s not too involved. In fact, it’s the perfect length of time for bathroom break.



Sunday, July 26, 2026

Netflix DVDs-by-mail was peak home entertainment


In hindsight, consumers never had it so good with home entertainment than with Netflix’s DVDs-by-mail service.
As soon as theatrical movies were available for home video release, Netflix subscribers could get them via the U.S. Postal Service in short order.
In 2000, Netflix began offering unlimited rentals and no late fees for a monthly fee of $19.95 and users could have four discs out at a time. Whenever subscribers returned a disc, they received the next title in their queue. Netflix added high-definition Blu-ray discs to the DVD library in 2006.
The popularity of Netflix’s service eventually drove out of business home video rental stores such as Blockbuster.
Netflix had every major release and practically every film you could think of in its catalog of DVD and Blu-ray disc movies and TV series.
When the company added streaming video titles to its service as a free added perk in 2007, it spelled the beginning of the end for physical disc rentals.
In November 2010, Netflix introduced a “streaming-only” subscription service plan. The popularity of that service and its expanding content selection, including exclusive originals, led the way for Netflix to end its discs-by-mail service on Sept. 29, 2023.
Netflix in its disc-rental days was the Library of Alexandria for movies and TV series because its catalog was so extensive. But that nirvana is gone.
Now, if you want to watch a particular movie, you must search for it across multiple streaming services – Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, Disney+, Hulu, Paramount+, Peacock and more.
The company that is best positioned to serve this new world is probably Amazon. Because if you can’t find a certain theatrical release on its streaming service, it likely is available on Amazon for pay-per-view. That’ll cost you more, but at least it’s all in one place.

Tuesday, July 14, 2026

AI is hammering the news business


Generative artificial intelligence is having a big impact on the news business. And it’s mostly been negative so far.
For starters, internet search traffic has shifted rapidly from traditional search engines that provide links to relevant content to providing straight-up answers. That has led to news publishers losing traffic and advertising revenue. The situation has gotten dire for the news business.
For many years, publications taught journalists to load their articles with popular search terms or keywords in hopes of ranking highly on Google search pages. This technique, called search engine optimization (SEO), is now on life support.
News publishers are preparing for a scenario called “Google Zero,” when internet searches on Google result in zero click-throughs to the source information.
AI (including Google Gemini) has changed the way people discover information online. Industry pundits are advocating approaches called GEO and AEO (generative/answer engine optimization) by structuring their articles to be the source for the large language models used by AI.
News organizations also have pivoted to getting traffic from other sources such as Reddit, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and within AI chatbots.
For news publishers to survive, experts say that they need to lean into Google’s E-E-A-T principles (experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness).
But those actions might be just a Band-Aid for a bigger problem.
Meanwhile, large media organizations are suing AI companies like Google, OpenAI and Anthropic for using their content to train AI models without compensating the media companies. Some media firms have reached content licensing deals in lieu of litigation.
“To many publishers, Google’s AI Overviews feel uncomfortably close to a kind of IP (intellectual property) heist: The company ingests their journalism, surfaces synthesized answers at the top of Search and increasingly cuts off the traffic that once compensated publishers for their work,” Andy Meek, Forbes senior contributor said in a recent article.

Related articles:

Once Unimaginable, Publishers Are Preparing to Opt Out of Google Search (Adweek; July 8, 2026)

Who’s suing AI and who’s signing (Press Gazette; July 3, 2026)

Report: Google Zero Click Searches To Open Web Fall To 27.6% (Search Engine Roundtable; June 10, 2026)

Google Search AI Overhaul Leaves Publishers Bracing For ‘Google Zero’ (Forbes; May 25, 2026)

Photo: Image generated by Google Gemini.