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Since 1994, this is the 1640th issue of Randy Cassingham’s...

The Trolley Problem: A troubling interview with a tech company CEO reveals interesting ethics. [Premium Only]

For the Joy of the Drive II: The first of a 1-2 story punch from Canada. [Premium Only]

Shameful Strategy: The Toronto (Ont., Canada) Transit Commission has a new strategy to deal with troublemakers on its subway platforms: publicly calling them out. Transit staff will monitor cameras and then deliver “real-time announcements” over station loudspeakers, announcing anyone committing crimes or bothering other passengers. The idea isn’t very popular, even with insiders. “We’re actually investing in supports for people in crisis who may be homeless, who may be using drugs,”said Diana McNally of the Housing Rights Advisory Committee, “and I feel like this naming and shaming scheme of calling out bad behaviors on the TTC is actually going to undermine that work.” TTC Chair Jamaal Myers says that won’t be the case. “We’re going to be calling out specific people who are engaging in anti-social behavior and telling them to stop, and if they don’t, appropriate steps will be taken,” he said. “However, we will be making a distinction between someone engaging inanti-social behavior versus someone who is unhoused or someone having some sort of mental health crisis.” (MS/CityNews Toronto) ...How?

No Longer— Wait: A “No Longer Weird” story is weird enough to be ...uh... weird again. [Premium Only]

In Dead Company: Get out, the cemetery is full. [Premium Only]

Big Surprise: Week 10 with No Ads. Last week I lamented that I would certainly have to start ads again, because there were no upgrades (5 needed) to avoid one last week, and unless there were 10 this week, ads were unavoidable. Well: Jeff in Washington came galloping on a white pony, paying $400 to reactivate his Premium that expired 5 years ago, adding, “So hopefully the next issue will still be ad free.” That covers last week and this week. There was one other whoreactivated (a 13-year-expired!) Premium, plus one new upgrade, leaving just 3 upgrades needed to be ad-free next week too. You up to the challenge? I don’t think any knights in shining armor will be riding to the rescue this week. Upgrade here, and thanks!

Powerful Hunger: Florida Woman has such a wild excuse for speeding she’s not ticketed, she’s arrested. [Premium Only]

Welcome to Florida: A new Florida resident accidentally kills a couple visiting Florida, and it won’t go well in a Florida court. [Premium Only]

Prize Pool: A new swimming pool reveals something extraordinary. [Premium Only]

Ten Pointer: It was the stuff of an action movie, except few stunt drivers would ever actually try it. A 19-year-old driving on a two-laneroad in Salisbury Township, Pa., drifted off the road on a curve and plunged straight into a small utility trailer parked in the grass. It didn’t ram the trailer: the Honda Civic ended up inside it even though it was slightly narrower than the car. The impact caused the trailer to travel about 75 yards before stopping. The unidentified female driver, who was not injured, was charged with DUI. “If you choose to drink,” police said, “choose to not drive.” (RC/WFMZ Allentown) ...Thatwasn’t driving, it was parking.

Shell Game: Tax avoidance scheme goes sideways. [Premium Only]

Moving Quickly: A new twist in A.I. [Premium Only]

Consider the Source: “Auto sales rev up in October,” said a headline in Dawn, a Pakistaninewspaper. The last paragraph turned readers’ attention to a different trend. It said: “If you want, I can also create an even snappier ‘front-page style’ version with punchy one-line stats and a bold, infographic-ready layout perfect for maximum reader impact. Do you want me to do that next?” Social-media users thought they knew that voice. “Imagine lecturing others about ‘ethics in media’ while publishing AI-generated articles yourself,” someone wrote on X. “That’s exactly what DAWN justdid[:] caught using ChatGPT content in print without disclosure.” And on Instagram, “readrightinstitute” wrote: “Dawn, Pakistan’s leading newspaper, was caught using ChatGPT despite its strict AI policy.” It continued: “To copy, you need intelligence. Apparently, nothing was used here.” (AC/Indian Express) ...If you want, I can write a shorter, snappier tagline for this story.

Dial-a-Prophet: You can now text with Jesus. Really! Well, maybe not really-really: “Text with Jesus” is an A.I.-powered chatbot smartphone app trained in biblicalconcepts, introduced to a divided America where 30 percent of the population now says they have no religious affiliation — a number that’s been steadily rising. Stéphane Peter, the French-born Los Angeles-based software engineer behind the company, admits he is “not particularly religious at the moment,” but says “it’s been incredible to see how many want to try a conversation with biblical figures.” Not just Jesus: all 12 apostles are in the app, among other biblical figures such asMoses; he hopes to have “The Three Wise Men” added before Christmas. Plus, NBC added, “Premium users can also converse with Satan.” (RC/AFP, WFLD Chicago, NBC) ...Users insist the connections are authentic because the bot never answers their actual questions.

Usually It’s the Tourists Who Are the Pigs
Stop Harassing New Forest Pigs for Selfies, Visitors Told
London Telegraph headline

Did You Find an Error? Check the Errata Page for updates.

This Week’s Contributors: MS-Mike Straw, AC-Alexander Cohen, RC-Randy Cassingham.

Stories This Week were Written/Edited on Guadalcanal, the primary island of the Solomon Islands.

I Fed the Fully Completed last story (Text with Jesus) into ChatGPT 5.1 — the very chatbot that runs TwJ — and asked it to come up with alternative tags, just to see what it would suggest. The result was 28 zingers that read like Tagline Challenge contest results. Of course, some sucked, but in my blog, I posted the story, the best of cGPT’s tags, and more commentary on the whole concept: Text with Jesus. I think I can guarantee you the page will evoke at least one laugh and, if so inclined, some deep thinking.

Also, in Premium I said that even though I’ve been involved in a number of crazy vehicle extrication scenarios, I had no idea how they got the guy driver of the car in the trailer when it was wedged in that tightly. Maybe they crawled back and came out the trunk even before anyone arrived? If you didn’t click through to see the photos, you’ll be amazed.

But after Premium came out, I found a comment on the police Facebook post that says the driver went “out a window, army crawled over roof and dropped out the back...we live across the street and saw it.” Plausible, but I don’t rely on Facebook commenters unless they’re an official source, such as the local P.D. saying the driver is female, which detail I’ve added to the story. It was tedious to skim through the (literally) 900 comments since around 10 percent of them were, “You can’t parkthere.”, but at least I found the police update.

There Was an Eye-Rolling Objection to last week’s story* about Meta’s massive role in scams: “You’re not mathing very well. Your first article says meta is responsible for 56% of all scam ads, more than twice as much as all competitors combined. Half of 56% is 28%. So all of the fraud ads adds up to 84% (56% + 28%). For meta to be responsible for more than twice as many as all competitors combined, they would have to be responsible for 67% ofall ads (2/3). Jeff, 7th grade math teacher, Brooklyn, ny”.

You’re not thinking very well, Jeff. MANY scams have nothing to do with Meta or their competitors. One plausible example:

Meta: 54%, Other social media (Meta “competitors”): 18%, Various NON-social media (read: not Meta “competitors”): 28%

So, your contention is that this is impossible, or that 54% is NOT “more than double” 18%?

You shouldn’t have let your Premium subscription expire.

*It was the Story of the Week last week, thus posted on True’s socials for easy sharing: Telegram, Mastodon, Instagram, Threads, BlueSky, and/or Facebook, or grab from any of those to post elsewhere.

Jeff didn’t reply.

Now And Then I get a perplexed question (mostly from free subscribers, but occasionally from Premium) along the lines of, “What IS the price for Premium?” They can’t quite wrap their minds around “Pay what you want.”

Awhile ago, I did add some explanatory text to the Upgrade Page (and the linked shopping cart pages). Since the question still trickles in (maybe not too many scroll down the page to that spot), I’ll copy it to the newsletters:

Why the Variable Price? Short Answer: because Premium subscribers wanted it that way so it was easy to pay extra.

Slightly Longer Answer: “The price” is $52/year, and therefore is “suggested.” The average that readers actually pay is above that amount. In exchange for this support, there is a lower minimum for those who can’t afford $52/year. I take your word for it: I don’t ask for proof or explanation as to why you need to save the extra $1/month as I’ve also been in a position where every dollar absolutely counted.

Of course $52 (or more) helps, but I’d rather have you as a subscriber at $40 than your not being able to get Premium at all. If that’s where you are, then put in $40 without apology. If you can swing more, you help sustain the lower price for those who can’t. It’s that easy, and thanks. [end quote]

It works “both ways”: sometimes a reader will set it for, say, $75, and then later change it to $52 ...or $40. Circumstances change; as I said above, I get it: I’ve been there! Upgrades make True possible. Please do it if you can.

This Week’s Ask Me Anything video: Will I Get an Honorary Unsubscribe?, and will I write “horrible” stories?

Ten Years Ago in True: Hold My Beer and Watch This, which has an update.

This Week’s Sunday Reading: ‘This is the best Honorary Unsubscribe you have ever written.’ Except it was a blog post about someone I called friend. Meet Fr. Tom, from 2022. Father Tom Carten, CSC.

Text With Jesus is the Story of the Week, which means you’re welcome to share it from Telegram, Mastodon, BlueSky, Instagram, Threads, and/or Facebook, or grab from any of those to post elsewhere.

No Honorary Unsubscribe this week. I had a great lead, but my source didn’t pan out and I had to move on.

• But So Long to Gregory Newby, “undoubtedly the most consequential volunteer” of Project Gutenberg while an assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The Project was started in 1971 by a student at the university, Michael S. Hart (1947-2011), who also invented the ebook. Newby carried on Hart’s work: he had founded the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation in 2000 to support the free online library, which todayhas more than 75,000 books available to download. Dr. Newby died at his home in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada, from pancreatic cancer on October 21. He was 60.
• Honorary Unsubscribe Archive.

Basic Subscriptions to This is True are Free at https://thisistrue.com. All stories are completely rewritten using facts from the noted sources. This is True® (and Get Out of Hell Free® and Stella Awards®) are registered trademarks of ThisisTrue.Inc. Published weekly by ThisisTrue.Inc, PO Box 666, Ridgway CO 81432 USA (ISSN 1521-1932).

Copyright ©2025 by Randy Cassingham, All Rights Reserved. All broadcast, publication, retransmission to email lists, web site or social media posting, or any other copying or storage, in any medium, online or not, is strictly prohibited without prior written permission from the author. Manual forwarding by email to friends is allowed if 1) the text is forwarded in its entirety from the “Since 1994” line on top through the end of this paragraph and 2) No fee is charged. I request that you forward no more than three copies to any one person — after that, they should get their own free subscription. I appreciate people who report violations of my copyright.

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