A friend sent the URL to an essay at The Oncology Underground on Substack: Words and Phrases That Should Be Banned From All Cancer Conversations. It’s a good list.
Editorial
True’s New Beginning
This is True Went Online before Amazon. Before Google. And has already run longer than News of the Weird. This issue marks the end of True’s 32nd year. There is no end yet in sight. But there is a change in sight.
Three Seconds to Live
I’ve said it many times before: True’s stories and taglines are not always meant to be funny. This one is a great example, because there’s something to learn, and I have an EMS story that informs my commentary on this.
Play Misty For Me
While I went into quite a bit of detail on the Mayor story, there was just so much more that’s worth exploring, including the obvious: did the punishment fit the crime?
The Cop Lied
Remember the story from Issue 1656 where an unnamed woman said she was pulled over by a Palm Beach County (Florida, of course!) Sheriff’s deputy who says he saw her holding a phone “in your right hand”?
There is an unsurprising update, but let’s start with that March 8 story:
Please Hold for Humanity
One of the stories this week was a natural to paste into Chat-GPT for analysis, and it surprised me. It declared my tagline “nasty” (twice)!
The State Needs a Trim
This seems like a lighthearted, amusing story (and yeah, it is), but it also reveals an ongoing Constitutional issue. Let’s start with the story from this week’s issue.
The News Media ‘Arms Race’
When I write True’s stories, I use copy/paste from the source articles for quotes to make absolutely sure I don’t introduce errors with my own typos: I never want to accidentally put the wrong words into anyone’s mouth. This week, that practice revealed something interesting.
Performative Motherhood
Online “influencers” seem to me to be a fairly clear example of a job that shouldn’t exist.
The Lunch Lady is Not the Story
Two arrests were announced on the same day by a Florida sheriff’s office — both involving its own employees. Most newsrooms decided just one was the real story. We begin with the True version.
Deepfake Education
There is a lot more to be said about the top story this week:
Ask Me Anything 014 …Will We Go to Mars?
A big question, so this got a bit long even before I inserted some extra details in post-production.
The Story’s Disturbing Logic
In a Recent AMA Video, I answered a question about publishing “horrible” stories, and when I’ll choose to do one.
Google’s Ads Banned from Honorary Unsubscribe Site
I’ve “Had It” with Google Ads! Again.
I ripped the ads out of the True site many years ago. Now I’ve also banned them from the Honorary Unsubscribe site. Here’s why.
Hahaha, Psych!
More on a story from this week’s newsletter. Let’s start with the story:
NCL’s Shame
We were quite aware of the earthquake and tsunami last week, and naturally a related story made it into True. Let’s start with that.
Hands Off My Work, NYT!
I use ChatGPT for some of my research and brainstorming, to find interesting obituaries for the Honorary Unsubscribe, and more. And the New York Times is demanding to know what it is I ask ChatGPT, and how.
Uh Oh, J.Lo
A story in this week’s issue brings up an important legal issue. Let’s start with the story, by True contributor Alexander Cohen:
A Gift to Women
A Couple of Editors asked me about what “incel” means, from the story about the 24-year-old college dropout who wants to be the governor of California.
Freudian Typo
In a story this week, Jen, one of my editors, pointed out an interesting typo.