Sorry, clothed for the winter

February 15, 2025

Sorry, clothed for the winter: An Oregon woman’s naked photos became town gossip after a prosecutor looked through her phone and shared them with the county sheriff. There was no warrant, no consent and no suspicion of a crime. She sued, but he’s got “qualified immunity,” a loophole that protects government officials unless a court has already ruled the exact same misconduct illegal. PSA: This is just one of many reasons not to store naked pics on your phone.

Tags: crime, government, Oregon, photos, winter

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Your Wi-Fi was part of 2.7 billion records leaked

I bet you’ve never heard of Mars Hydro. It’s a company headquartered in Communist China that makes Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Their speciality? LED lights and hydroponics equipment.

Security researcher Jeremiah Fowler (I had him on the show about other breaches, and he’s a smart, standup guy) was digging around and found they had a massive 1.17TB database online for anyone to see. There was no encryption and no password required.

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Winter bash goes viral

I love this and I know you will, too. An 87-year-old guy in Bucks County, Pennsylvania is having a party tonight. Doug Turner went door to door with handwritten invites. The winter celebration is from “4 p.m. until the cops arrive.” His neighbor shared their doorbell cam chat on TikTok. No strangers at the party, but after Doug said he liked the snail mail, letters flooding the PO Box his daughter set up. He’s planning to reply to each one with his special fountain pen.

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Swatting phone calls made by one teenager. Alan Filion from California charged up to $75 to send police to schools, businesses and even an unnamed former president. In one call, he said he was approaching a school with an AK-47, and the bomb squad showed up. When he targeted homes, Filion said the goal was to “get the cops to drag the victim and their families out of the house, cuff them and search the house for dead bodies.” He’s so lucky no one died.

Remember the 'Charlie Bit My Finger' video?

You know, the toddler crying because his baby brother bit his finger. Almost 900 million views later, Charlie is 18 and says the clip helped him pay for law school. The 55-second clip has earned his family over $1 million. A big chunk of that came in 2021 when the video sold as an NFT for over $600,000.

$2

For a Toyota Corolla with 116,000 miles. Yes, the side mirrors are duct-taped, the license plate is bolted on with pliers, and there’s a minion painted on the hood. But mechanic Scotty Kilmer said in a viral TikTok he’d never get rid of an old Corolla. Under the ugly paint job is a 1.8L engine that’ll last forever. Here’s one for ya: Can a Toyota stretch? No, but a Mercedes-Benz.

34 seconds

Mandatory pit stops coming to Formula E. Pit Boost fast-charging stations are debuting at the Jeddah E-Prix this weekend. They’ll power up the electric racecars 10% in just 30 seconds.

23 seconds

Tests that predict your fall risk. Test 1: Stand heel-to-toe with one foot touching the front of the other. Test 2: Balance on one leg. Brazilian researchers say 10 seconds (the old baseline) isn’t enough. Aim for 23 seconds. Every extra second lowers your risk of a fall in the next six months by 5%.

Modern day Jonah

A dad watched a giant whale swallow his son and caught the whole thing on video. Phew, the kid survived! The whale spat him and the kayak he was in out after a few seconds. One moment he’s paddling, the next he’s completely gone.

57 years old

The new Spanish Scrabble world champion. This is wild. Nigel Richards is from New Zealand and doesn’t speak any Spanish. He has an encyclopedic memory, memorizing words as soon as he reads them. He’s also won the Scrabble world championship multiple times in French and English (paywall link). Reminds me … My dog accidentally swallowed some Scrabble tiles. Her next poop could spell disaster. (Oh, that was so good.)

$439

For AirPods that aren’t the default Apple white. ColorWare sells custom-painted earbuds in neutral skin tones with names like “Glaze,” “Toasty” and “Java.” Heads-up: You don’t need to waste money. A colorful AirPod cover is around $5 if you want to jazz yours up.

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