Tom Merritt Has a Close Call With Molasses
Hey folks,
I just had a close call. OK, just between you and me, "circle of trust" as my friend Brian calls it, I have an episode of Know A Little More coming out later this year that is not about a tech topic. It has a little tech in it, but it's a departure for me.
It's about the word OK. I'm fascinated by the fact that the word OK is used in almost all the commonly spoken languages on the planet. So I wanted to find out why.
In my research I uncovered how similar the 1830s are to the 2020s. Like massive reposting of news, shortening everything into initials, even trolling! I also found out just how much people *hated* President Van Buren's Vice President. Man. They hated him a lot! And I found out why we click OK in those little boxes on computers and stuff.
So you're probably wondering about the close call I mentioned.
Right.
So in the original script for the episode, I mentioned that the first occurrence of OK in print happened the same day a 50-foot wave of molasses killed 50 people in Boston.
Don't worry. I was not harmed by the molasses. I didn't do any time traveling to Boston to try to go molasses surfing.
The problem was in a screenshot. The New England Historical society provided me some great information on the origins of OK. They also showed a screenshot of the Boston Post in which OK first showed up in print.
But instead of showing the 1839 edition of the newspaper they put up one from 1919. The day of the 50-foot wave of molasses.
Thank goodness Allison Sheridan noticed the date when I was having her beta listen to the episode.
Sadly though, I had to remove multiple references to living in a world haunted by 50-foot deadly molasses waves. In their place are references to finding the governor a kitten, and burning President Van Buren-- not his Vice President-- in effigy.
To thank you for supporting this newsletter I'm going to give you two gifts.
First is the front page of the Boston Post from Janaury 16, 1919
And the second is the raw recording of "About OK." Let me know what you think.
Have a great weekend if you celebrate,
Tom
Driving - Tom Merritt — shows.acast.com
It's just Tom this time, talking about how driving is an example of how people follow rules even if they don't really need to.
Featuring Tom Merritt.
Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/a-word-with-tom-merritt.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Cordkillers 424 – The Young Pope King — cordkillersaudio.wordpress.com Netflix’s TUDUM event is the latest ultra-announcement-fest. Lightning round: what looked TU-GOOD and TU-DUMB? Plus, a Star Wars revelation and a full-length trailer for The Last of Us. All that and more on Cordkillers! This week on It’s Spoilerin’ Time: Star Trek: Lower Decks (305), Rick and Morty (604), She-Hulk (106)Next week: Star Trek: Lower … Continue reading Cordkillers 424 – The Young Pope King →
Is That Really What My Spleen Looks Like? – DTNS 4366 — dailytechnewsshow.com What is spectroscopic x-ray imaging and how is it being used in the medical field? We go over the latest Twitter vs Musk saga? And what should happen to a drone operator when it causes a power outage? Starring Tom Merritt, Dr. Niki Ackermans, Len Peralta, Roger Chang, Joe, Amos MP3 Download Using a ScreenContinue reading "Is That Really What My Spleen Looks Like? – DTNS 4366"
Stadia Game Over – DTNS 4365 — dailytechnewsshow.com Google announces it will close the Stadia game streaming service Jan 2023. Meta introduced its new AI generation tool called Make-A-Video, letting users type in a description of a scene, with the system generating a short video matching that text. Starring Sarah Lane, Rich Stroffolino, Justin Robert Young, Roger Chang, Joe. MP3 Download Using aContinue reading "Stadia Game Over – DTNS 4365"
All Of Amazon’s New Stuff – DTNS 4364 — dailytechnewsshow.com We sift through and analyze all of today’s product announcements from Amazon including a new version of the Kindle that you can write on called Scribe. Character.AI opened a public beta letting visitors create a chat bot based on any character they choose. And we look back at the origins of the humble electric button.Continue reading "All Of Amazon’s New Stuff – DTNS 4364"
Lies, Damn Lies, And Benchmarks – DTNS 4363 — dailytechnewsshow.com Intel has announced its 13th generation “Raptor Lake” of Core processors. How does it stack up against AMD’s recently announced Zen 4 based Ryzen 7000 series? And how do you prevent images you’ve taken and uploaded to the Internet from being used to train AI? Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Patrick Norton, Roger Chang, Joe,Continue reading "Lies, Damn Lies, And Benchmarks – DTNS 4363"
He’s More Machine Now, Than Man – DTNS 4362 — dailytechnewsshow.com We look at some of the ways boardgames are integrating apps and smartphones into their gameplay. Plus what are the implications of an artist who copyrighted their work that was created by an image generation AI? And can technology help iconic voices live forever? Starring Tom Merritt, Rich Stroffolino, Chris Mancini, Roger Chang, Joe, AmosContinue reading "He’s More Machine Now, Than Man – DTNS 4362"
A Side Quest for OTP - It's a Thing 233 — shows.acast.com
Tom and Molly correct for Adam Levine. After that Tom talks about an evolution on shipping and Molly finds the latest video game thing creeping into life. Then Tom goes on the record with Trombone Champ, while Molly finds a new hair thing.
Get the transcript here.
LINKS:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.