Over four years since the release of his last album, alternative rock veteran Bob Mould has announced the release of his newest record, Here We Go Crazy.
Set for release on March 7, Here We Go Crazy arrives as the 15th solo album for the prolific musician, who previously served as a member of Hüsker Dü and Sugar. Produced by Mould at Chicago’s Electrical Audio in early 2024, and mixed by longtime engineer Beau Sorenson, the record’s announcement comes accompanied by a Gus Black-directed music video for its title track.
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“I’ve been spending time in the Southern California desert over the past few years, and the video was shot there,” Mould explained in a statement. “Chilly wilderness atop a mountain, expansive vistas below the hills, distant places to escape life’s routines. ’Going crazy’ can be many different things. The joy of reckless abandon, the uncertainty of the world’s future, the silence of solitude.”
“On the surface, this is a group of straightforward guitar pop songs. I’m refining my primary sound and style through simplicity, brevity, and clarity,” Mould continued. “Under the hood, there’s a number of contrasting themes. Control and chaos, hypervigilance and helplessness, uncertainly [sic] and unconditional love.”
Somewhat uncharacteristically, Mould also shared a follow-up statement via social media where he simplified the standard jargon utilized in his media release.
“In the Hullabaloo Speak of press releases, I talk about refining my core sound,” he explained. “In Bob English: Give the people what they want. I spent the majority of the last three years touring the world, test driving some of these new songs, and talking with many of you after the Solo shows. I have a pretty good sense of what you enjoy in my work.”
“It’s loud guitars, catchy melodies, and the team (Jon, Jason, Beau) you know and love. It’s an intimate look into my current perspectives on life, love, and how we make it through the world one day at a time. It’s a Bob Mould album.”
The record’s release will also be accompanied by 26-date U.S. tour throughout April and May which will see Mould joined by his longtime bandmates Jon Wurster and Jason Narducy.
Bob Mould Band 2025 Tour Dates
April 1 – Music Box, San Diego, CA April 2 – Pappy & Harriet’s, Pioneertown, CA April 4 – Teragram Ballroom, Los Angeles, CA April 5 – The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA April 7 – Neptune Theatre, Seattle, WA April 8 – Wonder Ballroom, Portland, OR April 9 – Knitting Factory, Boise, ID April 11 – Marquis Theater, Denver, CO April 12 – Washington’s, Fort Collins, CO April 14 – The Waiting Room, Omaha, NE April 15 – Codfish Hollow Barn, Maquoketa, IA April 16 – Majestic Theatre, Madison WI April 18 – Turner Hall, Milwaukee, WI April 19 – Palace Theatre, St. Paul, MN April 25 – Metro, Chicago, IL April 26 – Metro, Chicago, IL April 27 – El Club, Detroit, MI April 29 – Grog Shop, Cleveland, OH April 30 – Mr. Smalls Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA May 2 – Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA May 3 – Le Poisson Rouge, New York, NY May 4 – Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA May 7 – Black Cat, Washington DC May 9 – Headliners Music Hall, Louisville, KY May 10 – HI-FI Indy, Indianapolis, IN May 11 – Bell’s Beer Garden, Kalamazoo, MI
Medics who analysed data from 235 studies have revealed how long a person can expect to live after being diagnosed with dementia.
Previous survival estimates for those hit by the brain-wasting condition have varied widely, and few studies had considered how much time was likely to pass before people are admitted to nursing homes.
Now, experts led by academics from Erasmus MC University Medical Centre in the Netherlands have found that typical survival after diagnosis is “strongly dependent on age”.
Life expectancy of people diagnosed with dementia ranges from nine years at age 60 to 4.5 years at age 85 for women, and from 6.5 to just over two years, respectively, in men.
Overall, women had shorter survival after diagnosis compared with men because women tend to be diagnosed later in life.
The team examined all studies between 1984 and 2024 which reported on survival or nursing home admission for people with dementia.
A total of 235 studies reported on survival among more than 5.5 million people and 79 studies reported on nursing home admission among 352,990 people.
People with Alzheimer’s disease appeared to survive for 1.4 years longer than those with other forms of dementia.
The researchers also found differences over the continents, with people in Asia expected to live 1.4 years longer after a diagnosis than those in Europe or the US.
The average time before a patient moved to a nursing home after diagnosis was 3.3 years. Some 13% of people moved to a nursing home in the year after their diagnosis. This increased to 57% after five years.
“About one third of remaining life expectancy was lived in nursing homes, with more than half of people moving to a nursing home within five years after a dementia diagnosis,” the authors wrote in the BMJ.
The number of people with dementia in the UK is projected to continue rising due to the country’s ageing population.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has faced criticism in recent days for not giving a hard deadline for his plans to create a National Care Service aimed at tackling the massive costs of social care.
An independent commission is expected to begin exploring the future of the service in the spring but its timeline means proposals for the long-term funding and major reform of social care in England may not be delivered until 2028.
Mr Streeting defended the long-term nature of his plans on Tuesday, telling LBC radio that consensus with other political parties is needed because “politics has torpedoed good ideas” in the past.
Sold on SLCis back with an eye-raising rumor via Episode 4. Last week, a friend of the cast outed Matt for his alleged love of strip clubs and strippers. Meanwhile, Kenny also got called out for his passions, aka talking trash to his boss to help guide her thought processes, as if Jennifer did not already have a mind that worked. It was a lot, but the ladies in this cast showed well, which we loved.
Malaysia and Sarah are in the clear. Jennifer trusts them (for now), yet their boss remains ticked off at Paige, her former agent, as Paige still has pending deals to settle with Malaysia. Jennifer is not about that split commission life, so hopefully, Malaysia can exit her shared contracts with Paige soon.
Matt, however, has problems that are not as easy to solve. Life-ruining accusations have just emerged, so Matt has some explaining to do. Cue this recap for an appropriately titled Sold on SLC Episode 4: “Thou Shalt Confront Thy Sins.”
What happened in Sold on SLC Episode 4?
This week, we returned to the Cinco De Mayo party, where a friend dropped a Matt-related bomb on Malaysia. This reval rocks her mind, as Matt is one of the most conservative agents on staff. Slowly, every agent learns about what has transpired, leaving Matt burning solo in his hot seat in Utah.
The entire Presidio office is now up in arms over this announcement. Therefore, Jennifer has to hold an emergency staff meeting to get her agents back on track. But this meeting somewhat backfires.
Is Jennifer playing favorites? Some of her agents might suggest yes.
Matt’s secrets are still sounding at Malaysia’s Cinco De Mayo party
Photo Credit: Natalie Cass/Bravo
After an eye-opening conversation about “soaking” and “docking,” we return to the rumor mills, whispering about how Matt loves strippers and strip clubs. Malaysia places a call to get to the bottom of this rumor. Her phone call approves of this narrative.
Her friend in the green dress starts dropping this bomb on other partygoers, including Chris, who quickly texts the details to his wife, Sarah. Sarah is shocked.
In the corner, an unaware Matt dials Nicole, his wife. She left the party early, as she was sick. Matt returns to the party, where a fully aware Sarah asks, “Did you do something wrong?” Matt laughs, joking that this might be true.
Matt approaches Malaysia to say goodbye and to thank her for the party invite. She asks him where Nicole is. Matt suggests that something in her served food might have made his wife sick. But Malaysia checks Matt, telling him she knows what the issue might be.
Back in the corner, Matt asks Malaysia what she knows. She tells him he has behaved like a dog, but Matt smiles, shutting her down. Annoyed with his only good guys here style of lip service, Malaysia tells Matt that her best friend comes from a long line of dancers. The smile on his face freezes before shifting into an oh-sh*t-like line.
Matt understands what Malaysia is suggesting. But he still admits nothing. Instead, Matt leaves her party to talk to Nicole about “whatever is going on” here.
The other agents react to Matt’s alleged antics
Photo Credit: Brett Colvin/Bravo
“Holy sh*t,” Sarah quips, watching Matt leave. But Kenny follows Matt out the door, where Matt is taking off his mic pack on the sidewalk. “Apparently, I need to talk to my wife about some stuff,” Matt tells Kenny. Kenny presses for further details, but he has his mic on, so Matt shuts him down.
Standing by the door, Tyna asks Kenny, “What’s going on?” Kenny does not know how to answer this, so he heads to Malaysia. Malaysia tells Kenny that something has happened between Matt and Nicole, and Matt needs to figure out how to proceed.
Jennifer approaches their huddle, asking where Nicole went. She calls Matt. Matt sends Jennifer to voicemail.
In her confessional, Malaysia points out that what Matt (possibly) did goes against everything he claims to stand for. In the Mormon Church, affairs can get you excommunicated, she notes. Malaysia wipes away her tears, knowing how detrimental this tea might be to her colleague’s life.
Kenny leaves the party to check on Matt. Sarah approaches a still-confused Jennifer and Tyna. She tells them that she heard the words “sister” and “strippers.” Jennifer grows hot, asking who said these words.
Sarah answers, “Malaysia,” who learned from someone else. Jennifer sighs and notes that this is a heavy-sounding allegation. Jennifer will “drop bombs” if someone has lied about this, she states. She knows his character, and she believes that this rumor is bullsh*t.
Tyna says nothing, but her facial expressions suggest that she disagrees. Matt started rumors that threatened to ruin her life. Therefore, Tyna does not feel bad for Matt, she answers. Jennifer leans in, stressing that “Matt is a good person.”
As the crowd parts, Malaysia tells Jennifer everything. Jennifer is upset with Malaysia for calling Matt out on this rumor.
Sides begin forming as Matt handles the fallout of his behaviors
Photo Credit: Fred Hayes/Bravo
The following day, Kenny visits Jennifer at her house. They both heard from Matt. Matt explained that, yes, he used to frequent strip clubs. However, he never cheated on Nicole.
Jennifer and Kenny believe Matt. Jennifer also wants her agents to respect how sensitive this issue is for Matt and Nicole. She does not want anyone talking about Matt in a negative light.
Meanwhile, Tyna heads over to visit with Sarah and Chris. Tyna correctly calls Matt’s behaviors out, stressing that Matt had his fingers in her business because he was hiding something in his life. And now we all know what Matt was hiding, she adds.
Jennifer hurts for Matt. Thankfully, Kenny is sadder for Nicole and their kids.
The scene pivots to focus on Matt and his wife. A broken Nicole asks if there is anything else she needs to know. Matt says no, and in his confessional, he explains that he has been visiting strip clubs off and on for ten years. When production inquired about how much he spent, Matt refused to answer.
In his confessional, Matt explained that he had been using strip clubs as a way to numb his stressors and low self-esteem. “As a youth,” kids would say mean things to him. He would go home and lock himself in his closet, where he would repeat self-negative thoughts at length. “Being exposed for [his] coping mechanisms was extremely painful,” Matt says, and now, he feels like he is back in that closet, reminding himself how awful he can be.
Sarah and Tyna, however, are baffled at Jennifer for being frustrated with Malaysia. They call Malaysia, who does not answer. She does not have time for drama today, Malaysia states. Instead, she has a listing.
Matt lashes out at Malaysia over text as Nicole draws a line in the sand with Matt
Photo Credit: Bronson Farr/Bravo
After leaving her party, Matt allegedly texted Malaysia, writing, “Who TF you think you are?” Malaysia giggles at his TF usage before reading the rest of his text, which says, “Keep that to yourself and let me handle my life in private. Why on camera? Why not address me privately?”
In response, Malaysia wrote, “F*ck you. I did not ask for this. I did not go fishing for this.”
The following morning, Matt responded with an apology.
Jennifer remains worried about Matt. Churches in Utah are very strict with their fall-in-line ways, which makes it hard for any of their members to seek help for their deeply hidden struggles.
Nicole tells Matt she still feels like he has been unfaithful. Matt understands. He is filled with shame. Nicole grabs his hand as he tearfully explains how “the trickery” of this world kept him in a dirty cycle, but he can change.
If not, Nicole does not need Matt to make her cheerful. She can be happy solo, so Matt needs to self-correct in extreme ways. Matt cries
Real estate storylines also transpired on Episode 4 of Sold on SLC, but the Matt of it all kills this quickly
Photo Credit: Brett Colvin/Bravo
Tyna has a long-term project with a developer that will pay her well for six years. She needs this nest egg. And we need to see Tyna succeed because we stan Tyna.
Door-to-door salespeople are annoying AF. But in Utah, this is the norm, as Mormons often knock on doors to communicate about Jesus. Cue Sarah and Malaysia, hysterically knocking on doors with fliers to invite their wealthy neighbors to an open house, giving us a break from the Matt-related narratives.
Malaysia employs her family to help her pass out fliers. Sarah does as well. Across town, Kenny films a reel with a cake to help market his listing.
Tyna meets with Jennifer to discuss their movements forward in real estate. Tyna brings up the Matt drama. Jennifer reveals she originally thought the issue was between Tyna and Matt. Tyna is offended.
Jennifer is “continually in protection mode when it comes to Matt.” She is also “in f*ck you mode with” others, Tyna states via her confessional. Matt is lowering his bar, “or pole,” Tyna jokes, while Jennifer expects everyone else to raise their standards.
Tyna then reveals that she met with Chris and Sarah. They rehashed what the lady in the green dress shared, but Jennifer is “disgusted” that Chris and Sarah invited Tyna over to gossip about Matt.
UGH.
Jennifer laws down the law with her agents as Lisa Barlow reenters the Sold on SLC chat
Sarah discloses a text she received from Jennifer. Jennifer is calling for an all-staff meeting to discuss Matt. Sarah and Lisa think that her approach is wrong. Only Matt should get called out for this mess.
They then giggle about fashion and jail outfits.
Jennifer is ready to shut down the gossip. She fears this storyline will make agents leave her firm or perhaps even sell less, as their mouths are too busy flapping. Tyna enters, comically asking where the snacks are. Dear Tyna, never change.
Shockingly, Matt attends this meeting. He somewhat smiles as Jennifer accuses her agents of borderline bullying tactics. Our other queen, Malaysia, looks gobsmacked. Jennifer is turning the other cheek too swiftly, eager to blame anyone but Matt for his downfall.
Jennifer asks her agents to read bullet points from their ethics handbook. Sarah and Tyna clap back, as Jennifer did none of this when Matt spread awful rumors about them. Jennifer asks them to reset.
Matt chimes in. This meeting is not about him, he states, which, what? Jennifer agrees with him. Instead, this meeting is about resetting everyone following ALL of the drama.
Malaysia feels targeted. Jennifer (and her sidekick Kenny) stress that everyone is to blame, as reactions and actions are equal. UM, NO.
As the credits roll on Episode 4 of Sold on SLC, Matt appears one final time, smirking. And now, we have to find some air to punch.
Celebrity Jeopardy! is back and pitting stars against one another as they compete for a chance to win big for a charity of their choosing. But with the latest season’s contestants comes a nostalgic moment for host Ken Jennings.
In the episode’s opening anecdotes, the host approached player W. Kamau Bell to hear his brief story about having been part of Jeopardy! before despite never playing it. “In a way, you’ve been onJeopardy! before I’m told,” Jennings began his conversation with the comedian, author, and podcaster from Chicago who is best known for CNN‘sUnited Shades of America.
“Yes, I was not a contestant, but I was a clue, which confirmed that I was a successful person, so I could prove to my dad that I’d made it in show business,” Bell revealed. But that memory isn’t all as Jennings added another layer to the meta moment.
Disney / Christopher Willard
“You were a clue on Jeopardy! and I remember this because I was playing in that game,” Jennings pointed out.
“Yeah, and I got texts from people [saying] ‘You were a clue on Jeopardy!’ and I was like, ‘Who on Jeopardy! would know me? And it was you, of course!” Bell revealed, before jokingly adding, “Cause we live in the same home…”
“We do not,” Jennings clarified, “but I’m a big fan of your work. I owe you $800 apparently for knowing your name,” the host added. The mention of the clue all those years ago and its value led Bell to reply, “Yeah, and I’m a little mad I wasn’t a $1,200 clue.”
But as Jennings pointed out, it’s better to be worth less in a clue because it means you’re too easy to identify. The mention led Bell to realize that he was “mad in the wrong direction.”
Regardless of their past connection through Jeopardy!, Bell’s night ended on a high note as he came out on top against fellow competitors, The Neighborhood‘s Max Greenfield and Grey’s Anatomy‘s Camilla Luddington. Bell’s win gives him a chance to earn big for his charity DonorsChoose, a non-profit organization that supports teachers.
While Greenfield and Luddington both took $30,000 home for the charities of their choice, as an advancing player, Bell will get the chance to multiply his winnings for his organization. Stay tuned to see how he’ll fair against other celebrity competitors as the tournament gets underway, and let us know what you thought of Jennings and Bell’s sweet connection in the comments section, below.
What if AI could apply to jobs for you by crafting custom cover letters and resumes tailored to each job description, and get you an interview?
It might be possible. One Reddit user, who has since deleted their account name after posting about their experiences on the “Get Employed” community five months ago, created an AI bot to automatically apply to 1,000 jobs on their behalf. The bot applied to the jobs—and got the user 50 interviews in one month.
The AI took in the person’s information, like where they worked and their educational background, and automatically applied to jobs by generating unique cover letters, resumes, and application question responses.
“And all of this while I was sleeping!” the Reddit user wrote. “In just one month, this method helped me secure around 50 interviews. The tailored CVs and cover letters, customized based on each job description, made a significant difference.”
The user didn’t specify the exact job listing sites, like Indeed or LinkedIn, the bot tapped into. They wrote that the unique cover letters and CVs helped them get past automated screening systems and get noticed by human beings.
The Reddit user posted a link to the code for the AI bot so that other people could try it for free. MultipleRedditors have noted that the project is broken at the time of writing and doesn’t work.
Even if the tool was live, it might not be wise to use it. A report released in August by the Financial Times found that though about half of job applicants use ChatGPT and other AI tools to help with job applications, employers can easily tell if an applicant has used AI — and it reflects poorly on the candidate.
“Without proper editing, the language will be clunky and generic, and hiring managers can detect this,” Victoria McLean, chief executive of career consultancy CityCV, told the publication.
The biggest red flag for hiring managers was AI-generated resumes, according to an April Resume Genius survey.
Meanwhile, employers are using automated systems to filter out candidates. A Guardian report from March shows that AI is conducting interviews on behalf of companies and shutting out candidates before they talk to a human hiring manager. According to Jobscan research, 99% of Fortune 500 companies use AI technology in hiring.
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s inflation-adjusted real wages fell for the fourth straight month in November weighed down by higher prices even as base pay grew at the fastest pace in more than three decades, government data showed on Thursday.
The Bank of Japan considers various risks in deciding the timing for raising interest rates and the central bank has repeatedly said sustained, broad-based wage hikes are a prerequisite for pushing up borrowing costs.
Inflation-adjusted real wages, a barometer of consumer purchasing power, slipped 0.3% in November from a year earlier, falling for the fourth straight month, data from the labour ministry showed. It revised October’s unchanged reading to a 0.4% decline.
The consumer inflation rate that the government uses to calculate real wages and includes fresh food prices but not rent or equivalent, rose 3.4% from a year earlier, accelerating from a 2.6% growth in October, reflecting higher inflationary pressure.
Base salary, or regular pay, rose 2.7% in November, marking the fastest increase since 1992, the data showed, after major companies agreed to higher pay at the spring wage negotiations.
Overtime pay, a barometer of business strength, grew 1.6% for the month from a revised 0.7% gain in October. Special payments, mainly volatile one-off bonuses, climbed 7.9% in November, after a revised 2.2% fall in October.
Total (EPA:) cash earnings, or nominal pay, grew 3.0% to 305,832 yen ($1,935.03) for the month, the data showed.
Large Japanese firms are likely to raise wages by about 5% in 2025, the same as last year, the chair of a major business lobby said on Tuesday while pledging efforts to spread the wage growth momentum to smaller firms.
The government of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has put pay rises at the top of its public policy agenda with Ishiba promising to push for wage growth at this year’s spring negotiations.
At last year’s talks, Japanese firms delivered their biggest pay hike in 33 years.
LAS VEGAS – A wave of AI-powered gadgets, “smart home” devices and futuristic personal wearables wowed attendees at CES 2025 on Wednesday – and the impressive demonstrations suggest that many of them are more than just a passing fad.
While the phrase “AI-powered” is something of a punchline among attendees at the annual tech conference, organized by the Consumer Technology Association, many products seen by The Post are genuinely useful to the public out of the box – or point to innovations that will make life easier in the near future.
One that caught the eye of many wandering the show floor at the Las Vegas Convention Center was the Omnia, an AI smart mirror developed by French firm Withings, which looked right at home in “Star Trek.”
Omnia’s AI smart mirror, which looked right at home in the sci-fi movie “Dune.” AFP via Getty Images
The prototype conducts 360-degree scans of the human body and provides a data-based breakdown on key health metrics, such as heart health and vitamin analysis.
Though still in the conceptual stage and not available to the public, Withings spokesperson Thi Nguyen said the device, or future iterations of it, could also serve as a telehealth platform that would connect users to doctors if they need an appointment.
The company is aware users are concerned about their privacy and is building its AI-powered personal health products with that in mind.
“We are not selling any data,” Nguyen told The Post.
In the wearables category, startup Ozlo displayed its “Sleepbuds” – a pair of Bluetooth-enabled earbuds developed by former Bose engineers that help users fall asleep faster by masking outside noises like snoring or police sirens.
“These are a marriage-saver,” one CES attendee joked at Ozlo’s booth at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Sleepbuds – a pair of Bluetooth-enabled earbuds developed by former Bose engineers that help users fall asleep faster by masking outside noises like snoring or police sirens. Ozlo
Sylvox, a China-based TV manufacturer, had one of the more eye-popping exhibits for its new Cinema Pro Outdoor TV – a 110-inch screen that functioned despite being inundated with water from a nearby fountain.
“It can withstand temperatures of negative 22 degrees up to 122 degrees Fahrenheit,” a representative at the booth said. “It’s 100% waterproof, 100% weatherproof.”
Startup LeafyPod unveiled an AI-powered planter that should help anyone who struggles to keep their plants alive manually. The device, which is available for preorder and ships this spring, automatically waters plants and monitors metrics like light levels and humidity to ensure optimal growing conditions.
The planter is designed to make “plant care stress-free and deeply satisfying,” co-founder Cleo Song said in a press release.
Sylvox’s Cinema Pro Outdoor TV – a 110-inch screen.
Beatbot unveiled a next-gen robotic pool cleaning system, the AquaSense 2, that uses AI to map out pools, identify debris and avoid obstacles. The cheapest of three available models, which ship in February, starts at $1,500.
Other exhibits at the trade show showed how AI-powered gadgets could bring ease to our daily lives in the future.
The Transportation Security Administration is testing a smart prototype that could finally allow passengers to keep their shoes on while passing through security.
The AquaSense 2 uses AI to map out pools, identify debris and avoid obstacles. AFP via Getty Images
A TSA representative said the shoe scanner, which can identify any objects hidden within footwear, would run automatically by algorithm and integrate with existing security checkpoints – speeding up the process for travelers.
Another intriguing device was LG’s Signature Smart Instaview microwave, which seems tailor-made for the social media era.
The device features a 27-inch touchscreen with entertainment options, built-in cameras to record the cooking process and automated sensors to ensure nothing gets burned.
The Transportation Security Administration is testing a smart prototype that could finally allow passengers to keep their shoes on while passing through security.
Smart accessories and appliances were a major theme on show floors as companies like Amazon, Samsung and countless others unveiled their latest entries.
As a kid walking around New York City, those yellow cars were pretty seductive – and completely out of reach for me.
My parents wouldn’t even entertain it. “Why take a cab when you have the subway,” they’d say. The convenience, cost and the people-watching were unbeatable.
I grew up near the Jersey Shore but both my parents were from the city and lived downtown until my father “dragged” my mother south. Most of our family remained – in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens – and we’d go regularly. My aunt’s house in Bensonhurst was my second home, the F train at Avenue P, my stop.
Chariman and CEO of the MTA, Janno Lieber dismissed straphangers’ fears as “in people’s heads.” Kevin C Downs forThe New York Post
Despite technically living in carburbia, my mother remained the subway’s biggest evangelist. Everyone knew to consult her on how to get around the city.
In high school, two Japanese exchange students spent a year at my school and my mom sought them out at a football game to ensure their host families were taking them to the city. They were not, so my parents did. We boarded the F train at Avenue P and watched Hiro and Nami with second hand delight. They giggled as we rolled over Brooklyn and pulled into Rockefeller Center.
About a decade ago, my mother moved back downtown and easily fell into her transit groove. As the underground turned grotty during covid, she took it less.
But she shocked me on Saturday, as she was mapping out her route to get to the Port Authority. It was convoluted, mostly above ground and wasted so much time. Why didn’t she take the nearest trains? “Kirsten, I’m scared of those stations.”
Governor Kathy Hochul and MTA boss Janno Lieber heading into a subway station. Vanessa Carvalho/ShutterstockIllegal migrant Sebasian Zepata Calil set a sleeping woman on fire in the subway and let her burn to death, in a crime that shocked the city.
This spunky and spry woman who was for years doing free public relations work for the MTA all over Jersey, is avoiding the very thing that lured her back.
It was fresh in my mind when days later, a dismissive MTA boss Janno Lieber said, “Some of these high-profile incidents, you know, terrible attacks have gotten in people’s heads and made the whole system feel unsafe.”
Pardon?
Last year, there were 11 murders on the subway, according to Manhattan Institute – the most of the 21st Century. By the grace of God, it wasn’t 12 after an innocent man was pushed in front of a train by 23-year-old Kamel Hawkins on New Years Eve.
Jamar Banks, the deranged subway stabber who allegedly knifed two people last week is hauled away by cops. Stephen Yang
Never mind how much random crime goes unreported by a public who has simply grown to accept and shrug off such disorder.
Lieber’s words were the equivalent of him instructing a subway vagrant to piss on your leg then tell you it’s raining.
In a horrifying video, suspect Kamel Hawkins randomly shoves stranger, Joseph Lynskey in front of a moving train. He miraculously survived. Obtained by the NY Post
This precarious feeling isn’t some illusion. I remember a time when it took only one “high profile incident” for New Yorkers, pols and agency leaders to unite and ensure there wasn’t second. Not shrug off countless more.
The subway was never perfect but there was a common sense consensus that public safety trumped the comfort of law breakers. Crime was fought, laws enforced.
Now trains and platforms are filthy, smelly and unsanitary as they’ve been turned into one big slumber party for our city’s most deranged. We’ve ceded it to our worst element.
Subway shoever Kamel Hawkins was arrested for pushing a random stranger in front of the train. Sam Costanza
I ride it daily because I have to, but I do so with my head on a swivel, walking that fine line between minding my own business when a lunatic enters and staying alert.
And it’s even more galling to pay for the dysfunction and watch day after day as people in scrubbed up work clothes clear the turnstiles like they’ve been trained on the vault by Bela Karolyi.
For many years, the subway was clean, functioning and safe. And we took it for granted. Now no one seems to know how to get back to the conditions we squandered.
Meanwhile Lieber and Kathy Hochul thought it was a fine time to push congestion pricing while offering a diminished product to tapped out New Yorkers, (who must trust the MTA will not mismanage those funds).
Illegal migrant Sebastian Zapeta-Calil claims to not remeber setting Debrina Kawam on fire in the F train last month. Gregory P. Mango
In the lead up, Hochul used the subway car for a photo op to tout its safety while Lieber tells us, fear is all in their head.
Maybe they should take a page out of former Mayor Ed Koch’s book and ask “How’m I doing?”
His arrogance, Mr Lieber, wouldn’t lower himself to ask but I’ll offer this anyway: You lost people like me and my mother, New Yorkers who championed the subway, viewed it as an essential and, yes, exciting part of the city experience.
Denial won’t fix the trains. But listening to people who love it, would be a start.
Your email application is full of stuff. All those Mail attachments mount up over the years, and while you need to keep some of them some of the time, you probably don’t need to retain all of them forever. The best practice is to delete attachments in emails you no longer need; you can do this by deleting the message itself or selecting a message and choosing Remove Attachments in the Messages menu.
You can also create a search in Mail that lets you identify emails containing attachments. Try Mailbox>New Smart Mailbox, select “contains attachments” and save. This is a very unsophisticated tool that just makes it easier for you to monitor any emails you might have received that contain attachments, though it still makes for a very manual process. This is actually the problem with Mail: it doesn’t let you easily manage emails containing large attachments. It does let you do one more thing, however, which you should do now: Open Mailbox and choose Erase Junk Mail to get rid of all the junk that has accumulated. You should also select Erase Deleted Items.
Run Onyx or CleanMyMac
There are numerous applications that claim to help you free up and better manage space on your Mac. I like the free Onyx application, which has been my go-to troubleshooting solution for years. But many users also like MacPaw’s CleanMyMac application. What these applications do is make it possible to delete data you can’t easily or safely get to on your Mac, including unwanted database files, bloated logs, and more. Apple says that macOS will automatically clear such data — including temporary database files, interrupted downloads, staged macOS and app updates, Safari website data, and more — when space is needed on your Mac. But some users might prefer to be proactive.
The Detroit-based company Astrohaus has been making its “distraction-free writing tools” under the Freewrite name for about a decade. So far, those have all been standalone, single-purpose devicesmeant simply for drafting text, but Astrohaus is branching out at CES 2025. The company just announced a mechanical keyboard called the Freewrite Wordrunner, a device designed specifically with writers in mind.
This comes more than three years after Astrohaus quietly revealed intentions to build a keyboard, originally known as the Maestro. But the company eventually pulled the plug on its planned 2022 launch, and I hadn’t heard anything about it since then — it seems that they’ve just been working away at it this whole time. CEO Adam Leeb said in a press release that the company had been iterating and developing it for almost four years.
Freewrite
Mechanical keyboards have largely become the domain of gamers; the company wanted to build a device for people who make their living writing instead. Without spending some quality time with it, I can’t say if they’ve hit that mark yet, but there are some fun ideas on display here.
The Wordrunner has a tenkeyless design that looks familiar at first glance, but you’ll quickly notice that the function row has been replaced by a custom set of keys that’ll make zipping around text documents faster. That includes find and replace, undo and redo, paragraph up and down as well as back, forward and reload keys. I’d be upset about losing media controls from the function row, but the Wordrunner has it covered with the bright red joystick / button. It moves in all four cardinal directions, can be turned like a knob and can also be pressed in vertically to skip tracks, change volume or pause your tunes.
Nathan Ingraham for Engadget
On the other side, you’ll find three customizable macro keys with the cutesy names “zap,” “pow” and “bam.” They’re programmable for anything you might want, but Astrohaus suggested using them to launch specific writing apps, converting text to title case or inserting the date. I don’t yet know what I’d use them for, but having customizable keys is a table-stakes feature for most enthusiast keyboards so I’m glad to see them here.
Probably the most visually striking thing about the Wordrunner are the two mechanical counters you’ll see up top. One is a timer you can use for writing sprints or just staying focused for a bit. More intriguing is the Wordometer dead-center at the top of the keyboard. It’ll track your words with its whopping eight-digit mechanical counter, and since it saves your word count as long as you want, you could try and max it out someday. Of course, you can also reset it at any time or pause it if you don’t want it to advance while you’re chatting with friends or sending emails.
Nathan Ingraham for Engadget
The mechanical keys are backlit and use Kailh switches; the keycaps are replaceable but the switches aren’t. It also has some sound dampening built in so you can use it without subjecting everyone around to you overly loud key clacks (this may be a plus or minus depending on how you like your keyboards). As for connectivity, the Wordrunner uses Bluetooth or USB-C, and you can pair the keyboard with three different devices and quickly switch between them with dedicated hotkeys.
I got a chance to play with a prototype of the Wordrunner, and my first impressions was “wow, this is heavy!” It’s a thick slab of polished aluminum that matches the finish of the premium Hemingway edition of the Smart Typewriter. Astrohaus founder / CEO Adam Leeb told me that the company was shooting to make this keyboard feel like a premium, limited edition with the finish even if they’re planning for it to be part of the permanent portfolio.
Nathan Ingraham for Engadget
While I didn’t get to try the Wordrunner hooked up to a computer, I still got to see the mechanical Wordometer turn over when I started typing. It’s quite satisfying to see it count up as I wrote an imaginary story on it, and there’s a small LED that’s green when the counter is turned on and red when you turn it off. The keys and travel all felt great, and the joystick was similarly a lovely tactile experience — I’m looking forward to using it like a volume knob for media. Leeb says that this keyboard is still a prototype, but it feels quite polished and nearly final to me.
Finally, there’s the ever-present question of availability. Astrohaus is launching the Wordrunner on Kickstarter, as it has done with most of its other hardware over the last 10 years. The campaign should start in February with early bird pricing, but we don’t know what that price will be yet. Fortunately, there’s a pretty low-commitment way to get the best price if you’re curious. Astrohaus says you can place a $1 reservation for priority access and the best possible pricing, with plans to deliver the first batch of keyboards before the end of the year. That’s a long ways out, but a buck isn’t a bad investment if you’re interested.
Update, January 8 2024, 9:27PM ET: This article has been updated to include some hands-on impressions and photos of the Wordrunner.
