Monday Overnight Open Thread - August 18, 2025 [Doof]

Howdy Hordelings! Time for the Monday night ONT. How has your day been? Do anything fun or exciting today? Grab a beverage of your choosing, peruse the content, then rendezvous in the gray boxes. OK? OK!

I've been looking all over for that!

Wallet Lost by a Ford Employee 10 Years Ago Just Turned Up 150K Miles Later Under a Car Hood

A Ford Motor Company employee was reunited with a wallet he lost 10 years ago after a mechanic found it while servicing a car he built.

This charming story comes via Minnesota, where mechanic Chad Volk was replacing the cooling fan on a 2015 Ford Edge, when something that needed to snap in place, simply wouldn’t snap.

“I messed around a little bit and then pulled it back out and the wallet was sitting on a little ledge where it needed to snap down,” Volk told CBS News. “I pulled the wallet out and that’s what it was.”

Inside the brown trifold was a Michigan driver’s license, $15,00 [sic], a faded lottery ticket, $275 in Cabella’s gift cards, and a Ford employee ID, going to show that no matter how long you work under hoods and under chassis, you’ve never seen everything, Volk says.

***

Cabella’s even said they would honor the gift cards, which for part-time auctioneer Guilford means he can leave the relic of his past totally intact “in his china cabinet,” where he hopes his kids will pull it out and tell their grandkids about their ancestor’s wild, wandering wallet.

Cool story! Video of a local news segment about this is at the link.

Artificial Intelligence vs Natural Stupidity?

In this case, seems like just an old guy who got duped because he didn't know any better.

75-Year-Old Pensioner Asks Wife for Divorce After Falling in Love with AI-Generated Girl Online

A Chinese old man recently fell victim to the deception of artificial intelligence by falling so in love with an AI-generated online model that he asked his wife for a divorce.

According to the Beijing Daily, a 75-year-old man named Jiang came across an AI-generated female avatar while browsing social media. To those familiar with digital avatars, the girl is obviously an AI creation, but to Jiang’s untrained eye, she is just a beautiful girl who enjoys having conversations with him. It doesn’t even matter that her speech and her moving lips are out of sync. As time goes by, he becomes so obsessed with his online girlfriend that the highlight of his day is waiting by his phone to get new generic messages from her. At one point, after his wife scolds him for spending too much time on his phone, the man tells his spouse of several decades that he wants to divorce her to fully dedicate himself to the AI avatar.

***

Experts warn families with elderly relatives to closely monitor their online activity, especially if they spend too much time with gadgets. While AI technology has clear practical benefits, it can also be extremely dangerous against vulnerable targets.

That last bit is a solid piece of advice. We 29 year-olds here at AOSHQ are hip to all the latest technology, but we need to look out for the "SEASONED citizens" (as El Rushbo would say) in our lives. Do your parents, aunts/uncles, grandparents know about AI?

One Thousand Miles of New Interstate Planned

Where will the first Buc-ee's be along the route?

Ohio joins six-state effort to build 1,000-mile interstate corridor

Ohio is examining ways to put underdeveloped parts of the state on the road to prosperity by constructing a new interstate highway.

It’s joining a decades-long effort to create a new interstate highway that would connect Michigan to South Carolina, stitching together existing roadways and planned construction across six states into a transportation corridor that could reshape regional economic development.

The Interstate 73-74-75 corridor would run nearly 1,000 miles from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. On the way, it would pass through Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina.

***

The project aims to upgrade existing routes and connect bypasses into a seamless interstate system - pulling together scattered segments into a unified whole over years of coordinated effort.

***

Jimmy Gray, president of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce and executive director of the I-73, I-74, I-75 Corridor Association says the project has been discussed for almost 30 years.

Members of the group working to build the highway meet regularly with each other and their congressional representatives in six states to discuss their progress and strategize on ways to secure funding.

The corridor would connect major population centers and industrial hubs, from Michigan’s manufacturing base through Ohio’s defense and technology facilities to the tourism economy of the Carolinas, he says.

Long article, but interesting - at least for road trippers and map nerds like me.

Any of you Hordelings in this path have some insight or anecdotes to share about driving through there?

So THAT'S How He Did It

THAT’S how Michael Jackson did it?!🤯 pic.twitter.com/LzJgIIA6HM

— non aesthetic things (@PicturesFoIder) August 17, 2025

Brings us to another example of a great cover song. No disrespect to The King of Pop, but I think this version is far superior.

Why Didn't I Think Of This?

I was a baseball dad / coach for many years. I totally would have done this!

Mom: I can never completely remove the dirt stains on my kid baseball pants

Dad: Say no more pic.twitter.com/y7IVOZr8Af

— BaseballHistoryNut (@nut_history) August 17, 2025

Calling Berserker and all other Hordeling guitarists

Guy kills it on a custom-built guitar made of Beer cans pic.twitter.com/ZEbY63BP6P

— Dudes Posting Their W’s (@DudespostingWs) August 18, 2025

DJ Doof - This Date in Music History Version
from thisdayinmusic.com

On this date in 1986: Bon Jovi released their third studio album, Slippery When Wet, which peaked at No.1 on the US charts, going on to sell over 28 million copies worldwide.

On this date in 1977: The Police made their live debut as a three-piece band when they played at Rebecca's Birmingham, England. The Police became globally popular in the late 1970s and are generally regarded as one of the first New Wave groups to achieve mainstream success, playing a style of rock that was influenced by punk, reggae, and jazz.

Born on this date in 1951: John Rees, Men At Work

What are some of your favorite songs from these artists?

Weekly commenter stats for week of 8-17-2025

Top 10 commenters:
1 [370 comments] 'TheJamesMadison, searching for thrills with John Frankenheimer' [52.55 posts/day]
2 [354 comments] 'Axeman'
3 [343 comments] 'Sponge - F*ck Cancer'
4 [310 comments] 'Receive gp's Free No-Information Obligation Packet'
5 [310 comments] 'Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ '
6 [310 comments] 'Hadrian the Seventh '
7 [297 comments] 'Aetius451AD'
8 [290 comments] 'polynikes'
9 [284 comments] 'Bulg'
10 [261 comments] 'whig'

Top 10 sockpuppeteers:
1 [233 names] 'President Emeritus' [33.10 unique names/day]
2 [88 names] 'Self-loathing patriot'
3 [84 names] 'Quarter Twenty '
4 [67 names] 'Duncanthrax'
5 [64 names] 'The Grateful '
6 [56 names] 'Count de Monet'
7 [35 names] 'pookysgirl, wrestling Lil Pooky for the keyboard'
8 [31 names] 'Estelle Costanza'
9 [29 names] '18-1'
10 [29 names] 'toby928'

Tonight's ONT brought to you by bargain hunting

posted by Open Blogger at 10:02 PM

| Access Comments