Calling for a straitjacket

In a post about renaming oceans, I imagined a straight-faced reporter asking the current occupant why he hasn’t yet renamed the Strait of Hormuz.

And now the occupant has wondered aloud if that name should be changed to Trump Strait. But Trump Straitjacket would be more fitting. A nice snug fit.

[I refer to him as “the current occupant” whenever I can. Here it seems appropriate to use his name. But I won’t link to his TЯuth Social post.]

Tell Apple Maps it’s Lake Ontario

Did you know that Apple Maps permits the user to Report an Issue about a location? I reported an issue this morning about Lake America. Wrong name! “Sanity requires that it remain Lake Ontario,” I wrote.

It’s sad to see that on his first day as Apple CEO, John Ternus permitted this change. Perhaps he can visit the Oval Office and present the current occupant with a gold replica of a bended knee.

“As if we suddenly remembered it!”

Charles Dickens, David Copperfield (1850).

The first Oxford English Dictionary citation for déjà vu  in English comes from a 1903 publication. But the term first appeared in 1876, in the work of the French philosopher Émile Boirac.

A passage from Dickens’s Pictures from Italy (1846) is another example of déjà vu before its time.

Related reading
All OCA Dickens posts (Pinboard)

[Why is the first déjà vu in this post italicized? Because it’s words as words, as in the sentence before this one.]

Eww, influencers

In an e-mail:

New England has long been home to L.L.Bean, and now it’s home for Drake and Ann Michael Maye. As they continue this next chapter, we’re excited to partner with them and share stories that celebrate time outside, everyday traditions, and the moments that make a place feel like home.

He: a New England Patriots quarterback (though L.L. makes no mention of his team affiliation). She: “content creator and media personality known for her popular baking and lifestyle content.” It all seems like a deeply un-Beanie marketing strategy.

Something I realized only after copying and pasting the above text: the company name has no space before Bean. How long has that been going on? At least nineteen years: there’s a discussion at Wikipedia.

Goodbye, Guitar Works

Sad news: I learned today that Guitar Works in Evanston, Illinois (estd. 1979) is closing. My Guitar Works story:

In 1994 Elaine and I were bopping around Evanston with our kids. Our daughter Rachel, a tyke of seven, pointed to a store window. “Look, Daddy,” she said, “that’s the kind of guitar you like.” It was a modern-day National, a resonator guitar. She must have seen a National on a videotape of Son House or Bukka White (yes, she was brought up right). We went in, and I thought I’d just try the instrument and walk out wistfully. Instead, I sat and played for an hour and half while Elaine took Rachel and Ben for ice cream. I tried two Triolians too — not as good. And then, before I knew about it, Elaine was putting the National on our credit card. I still have my National, play it, and love it. Its only problem: after thirty-two years, the maker’s label inside (held in place with Fun-Tak) has detached. (I got it and the Fun-Tak out, carefully.)

It was so comfortable to try out guitars and to just be able to play — no pressure. Thanks, Guitar Works. Now guitarists will have one less place for that to happen.

[An hour and a half: Elaine’s estimate. I lost track of time, as one does when playing an instrument.]

Zippy ink

[“It Came from India.” Zippy, September 1, 2026. Click for a larger view.]

If there’s another comic strip that regularly mentions stationery supplies, I’d like to know about it. Today’s Zippy also mentions Wite-Out pens and correction tape. Supplies are everywhere in the strip’s history. F’rinstance.

For anyone who needs to know: you should never fill a fountain pen with India ink, which is for use with brushes and dip pens. I’m partial to Pelikan pens, and I long used Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black (not an India ink). At some point I switched to Aurora Black. Not cheap, but it’s one of the blackest black inks. And a bottle can last for years, just like a box of Ko-Rec-Type, Part No. 3.

Venn reading
All OCA ink posts : ink and Zippy posts : Zippy posts (Pinboard)

[How to get that speckled look? My dad did it with ink, a piece of screening, and a toothbrush.]

Defragmenting

Do you remember defragmenting the hard drive? The Windows 98 Disk Defrag Simulator is oddly soothing.

[When I think back on all the time in spent in Windows, &c.]

Faces

If you follow Aaron Rupar on Bluesky, you may already have seen the current occupant nodding in and out of consciousness this afternoon.

What really caught my eye though was his facial expression as he prepared to answer a question (at the eight-second mark). It may be normal to fall asleep as Howard Lutnick goes on and on. But that kind of facial expression? Not normal. It was there a few days ago as well. I think that’s the face of dementia.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? I don’t think so. What’s really irresponsible is journalists’ refusal to ask obvious questions. “Mr. President, you sometimes appear to be asleep while members of your cabinet are speaking. Could you comment on what Secretary Lutnick said earlier?”

Signage

[By me.]

I thought of it yesterday while walking and drew it when we got home.

The last subway pay phone?

From Ephemeral New York: “Is this the last public pay phone in a New York City subway station?”

A handful of pay phones
A Blue Dahlia pay phone : A Henry pay phone : A Naked Alibi pay phone : A Naked City pay phone : A Nancy pay phone : A Two O’Clock Courage pay phone : The Lonely Phone Booth : A subway pay phone, 1932 : Chicago pay phones : “If your coin was not returned” : The last pay phones in NYC?