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Since 1994, this is the 1660th issue of Randy Cassingham’s...
| 5 April 2026: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood | Copyright ©2026 https://thisistrue.com |
Other Good Reading: “I was 48 years old when I left my job and enrolled in the Entrepreneurial Studies program at Stanford.” But his new idea was dismissed by 33 different investors until he found one to back his company, which exploded into a huge success. Peter Thompson, in this op-ed, argues that it’s stupid to discard experience not because it’s discriminatory (though it is), but rather because it reflects bad business. I was rejected 33 times and built a $390 million company — at 48 years old. Age bias in tech is costing us all at Fortune.
(As always you’re welcome to copy out that paragraph and forward/post it as desired; credit True if you care to — not required.)
Felony in Progress: Dispatchers in Oklahoma City duly relayed the information as it came in, calling in Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers and other agencies during a chase on April 1. The situation was dire: “City just advised that the suspect just threw a baby out the window” of his car during the chase, the OHP relayed to troopers. The next outrage showed a bit of skepticism on the dispatcher’s part: the driver “supposedly ran over a transient.” As emergency responders swarmed, theperpetrators realized it was getting seriously out of hand and stopped. The chase never existed: it was an April Fools “joke” by several OKC police officers, who have all been put on leave pending results of an investigation. The department refuses to say how many officers are involved, or whether they’re being paid while on leave. “My initial feeling is, is how much stress and workload did it take on all responders, including the 911 dispatchers,” said State 911 Coordinator Lance Terry, sayingany prank call, no matter where it originates, “wastes resources” and “endangers the public.” (RC/KOCO Oklahoma City) ...Actually when the cops are doing it, it “destroys respect” and “outrages the public.”
What Every Parent Already Knows: Sure, prove it with a study, but we all knew it already. [Premium Only]
Magical Thinking: When you know what you need to retire, and ignore it. [Premium Only]
Uber Sitting: How to lose custody of your kids in one easy step. [Premium Only]
Repeat Business: A guy’s second (well-deserved) appearance in This is True in less than a year. [Premium Only]
”Last Week of No Ad (probably)” I said last week, as there have been declining upgrades recently: we need 5/week to create enough financial support to omit ads. Since then there was just 1 upgrade, but 3(!) returning expired folks, and a contribution for 1 “scholarship” to squeak to the finish line. Whew! Yes it’s awfully hard to do this every week, but you expect a newsletter every week(right?), and here it is. The costs come every week too, yaknow? The newsletter really does need a few of you to step up every week. When more than 5 do that, the ‘credit’ carries over — just an average of 5/week is good enough. Don’t take this weekly dose of sanity for granted: upgrade here or contribute here tokeep it all going. We’re just barely getting by. Please step up if you can, and thanks!
Transporting Transportation: Man’s car tells him it has been stolen ...in Florida. [Premium Only]
Dumb upon Dumb: Man is dumb and is likely going to prison. But the reporter who wrote the source story for this one is dumber for how it was reported (a rare meta-obliviot instance). [Premium Only]
Keep Out, You’re Dead: One of the weird effects of communism. [Premium Only]
Papa-Razzing: A tabloid turns its squadron of paparazzi on a new target. [Premium Only]
Heroic Hugs: Three years ago Nathan Newby, now 35, was at St James’ Hospital in Leeds, England, being treated for a chest infection. “I hate going into hospitals but on that day, I was in there for a reason and it was not to get better,” he said. He’d spotted a hospital worker, Mohammad Farooq, sitting outside looking anxious. “He looked out of place so I went over to see if he was alright, to see if I could cheer him up,” recalled Newby. “He was watching a bag all the time which wassix feet away.” Newby persuaded Farooq to show him the bag’s contents: a pressure cooker bomb. Farooq wanted to “kill as many nurses as possible.” Instead of panicking, Newby talked for two hours about his own life and problems. “He asked me to stand up and give him a hug, so I said, ‘yes, have a hug mate’,” he recalled. “He then said, ‘I want you to phone the police before I change my mind’.” Farooq was arrested without incident, and Newby has been presented with the George Medal from the Kingin recognition of his bravery. (MS/BBC) ...Sitting still can be the bravest move.
Here’s Looking At You: A freaky new medical treatment idea is made more palatable because it helps young children. [Premium Only]
Hot Cards: “These are as good as what you’ll find at McDonald’s or any of the Tim Hortons trading cards,” said FrancisManning, director of public relations for Pasadena, N.L., Canada, Fire and Rescue. Manning is also a firefighter at the volunteer agency. “They look like the real deal.” Well, except that they don’t exist. The “cards” Manning made of members of his team — “Because unlike your NHL team this team won’t let you down!” he posted on Facebook — are just digital images, at least so far. The first five were a surprise for the firefighters as well as the public, and now “everybody’s eagerly waiting tosee what their card looks like,” said Assistant Chief Kevin Garnier. He said the cards give members of the public a chance to “break the ice a little bit” with the firefighters when it’s not the kind of bad day firefighters get called out for. (AC/CBC) ...One way or another, encountering a firefighter is always in the cards.
Hoppin’ Mad: Police in Upper Saint Clair, Pa., were summoned to the South Hills Village mall after an assault on the Easter Bunny. The handler for the unnamed woman wearing the costume, taking photos with children, said a man asked her if she — the Bunny — “is a girl or a boy?” He apparently didn’t wait for an answer: he groped the woman’s chest to find out for himself. The incident was captured by the mall’s security cameras. After viewing the video, officers went looking for the man,and found him sleeping in the mall’s movie theater. As he was being arrested, Shivakrishna Bera, 36, of New Jersey allegedly asked the officers, “It’s a doll, right? By mistake my hand touched her if it’s a lady.” He then lamented, “If I did not watch a movie here, I wouldn’t have been caught.” (RC/WPXI Pittsburgh, KDKA Pittsburgh) ...And if he hadn’t chosen to watch “Goat”, he wouldn’t have fallen asleep.
Sure, Damned Shame, Next!
Anarchists Blew Themselves up When Building Bomb in Rome
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 in Fremantle (the port for Perth), W.A., and then finished up as we sail away from Australia, heading back to south Asia. Thanks to staying a couple of nights, Kit and I were able to pop out to watch Project Hail Mary. I have a few quibbles with some plot points (and quibble with one of the quibbles of a reviewer), but all in all, it was an excellent film with terrific visuals.
The Oil Shortage due to the war in Iran is definitely affecting us, with very expensive fuel but, worse, difficult-to-find fuel. We were originally to be in Australia until April 20, but we were informed that we would not be able to get fuel so we have left early. It would not be a shock to hear that from other countries later, but the company is working on it, and moving more slowly to conserve fuel so what we can get lasts longer.
I’m Choosing to Not Name the “scholarship” recipients, but I’ll say that every single one of them has been very thankful for receiving one, which I hereby pass along for those who have sponsored this new program.
Prior Premium subscribers are not excluded from the program: indeed, they know more than most what they’re missing. The most recent recipient is in that boat, and had to drop Premium in 2022. They sent this message this week: “Received my first full edition. Just as much good reading as I remember from before I had to content myself with the free edition. Thank you for the idea of the scholarships. Thoughtful (and thought-provoking) commentary such as yours has become rare, but it certainlynever will go out of style.”
Ten Years Ago in True: Acting Innocent (with update).
New Meme on Randy’s Random on Sunday: The Village.
This Week’s Story of the Week (you’re welcome to share it), about the mind-numbing stupidity of the cops’ “April Fools” “joke,” is shareable via Telegram, Mastodon, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, and/or Facebook, or grab from any of those to post elsewhere.
This Week’s Sunday Reading: Why I removed Google's ads from the TRUE site ...10 years ago this week. Why I’ve Removed Google's Ads. (Yeah, I realize that I’ve pointed to that post recently in the context of removing ads from the Honorary Unsubscribe site, but it just goes to show that the Sunday Reading posts are queued up as much as a year in advance. Sometimes current events pull them up in the meantime! 🙂 )
No Honorary Unsubscribe this week, despite looking quite a bit for someone. In some ways, that’s a good thing.
But for next week, there will be something extra in this space on the Honorary Unsubscribe front.
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Copyright ©2026 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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