#101 The Offcuts
Trademark turmoil, Bluetooth conspiracy, and AI face palms
Returning grateful for the break from The Offcuts last week and ready to announce that I’ve been working on a new format for The Offcuts, which I am excited to experiment with. Call it the 100 edition itch. My intention is to change the frequency of The Offcuts from weekly to every other week and fill the slot created on alternate weeks with fiction/ short story writing. Ideally, this will take the form of an episodic column, so that each entry follows on from the last like one never-ending story. I have no idea whether this will work or not, but there’s only one way to find out. Next week will be your first fiction instalment!
I finally finished reading Don’t Look Now and Other Stories by Daphne du Maurier. Finding the time to read in the past two weeks or so has been tricky. Maurier’s writing is spooky and wry, full of mystery and suspense. I particularly enjoyed Don’t Look Now and A Border-Line Case. It was actually the first of Maurier I’ve read, so of course, Rebecca is next in line.
Paradise Logic by Sophie Kemp is what I’m currently reading. Twenty-three-year-old Reality Kahn is on a quest to become the greatest girlfriend of all time. Obsessive, funny, and awkward, Kemp explores the woes of modern heterosexual dating. As always, I’ll let you know how I get on.
Other reads from the week:
A study found that men named Chris or talking animals were more likely to be the lead in a film than a woman over the age of 60 - the new era of “CEOs named John”
Understanding Patagonia versus Pattie Gonia - essentially, if Patagonia don’t defend their trademark, they’ll lose it. Which is why they’re only suing for $1
We're at risk of a 'lost generation' - more than 1 million young people (aged 16-24) in the UK are out of education or employment. Prospects for the next generation are looking pretty dire
After losing his match, Paraguayan tennis player Adolfo Daniel Vallejo insisted that it ‘shouldn’t have been officiated by a woman’ - he has since been fined $65,000 for his comments
Emma Ilene - The backlash against trying to trademark ‘Hot Girls Read’
Haley Nahman - The psychology of rating art
shit you should care about - Eat the fucking figs
Katy Hessel - Discovering the work of artist Louise Janin
Last month, The Independent wrote that wired headphones are the “stylish” rebellion against big tech. Quick, someone trademark Hot Girls Wear Wired Headphones.
After declining sales, wired headphone revenue has surged in 2026. If it’s good enough for Lily-Rose Depp and Bella Hadid, it’s good enough for me. I love my wired headphones. Mainly because I am prone to losing things, and when I did have AirPods, I never charged them.
Someone I dated last year told me Bluetooth headphones are actually bad for you. A 2024 study found an association with prolonged daily use of Bluetooth headsets and an increased risk of developing thyroid nodules. The study shows correlation, rather than direct causation. Thyroid nodules are extremely common, and most often, nothing to worry about - over 95% are benign (noncancerous).
Maybe I have my tin foil hat on with this one, but the wider impacts of our daily technology habits are yet to be fully explored or understood. Maybe for decades to come. Thus, my cynicism for tech is ever-growing… As you will see more of in 5 seconds.
My biggest LOL of the week has come in the form of AI backlash, shortcomings and major issues.
Amazon is shutting down an employee-created leaderboard that promoted excessive use of AI - it “was never intended to promote the use of AI for usage’s sake.”
Microsoft cancelled Claude Code licenses after engineers were using it too much. They’re also rumoured to be the mystery unnamed company that ‘unknowingly’ spent half a billion dollars on Claude in a single month.
Hackers tricked Instagram’s AI chatbot into giving out access to other people’s accounts.
Enforced usage isn’t working, it costs a fucking bomb, and your data is free for the taking. When are we going to put a pin in it and say, enough is enough?
This week, I went in search of words about summer and couldn’t pick between the two following passages that specifically mention June.
John Steinbeck, from The Winter of Our Discontent:
“In early June, the world of leaf and blade and flowers explodes, and every sunset is different.”
Lucy Maud Montgomery, from Anne of Green Gables:
“I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June.”
In early June, the nights are still growing longer as we edge closer to the solstice, the start date of astronomical summer. I am constantly thinking about time and how little there is of it. June is a reminder that we are only on the precipice. Opportunities stretch out infinitely ahead. A myriad of good days to behold.
