Ernie Smith
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ernie.tedium.co
Ernie Smith
@ernie.tedium.co
15K followers 1.2K following 15K posts
Editor of Tedium (https://tedium.co), freelance writer, pop-up search engine maven (https://udm14.com).

See my writing: https://erniesmith.net/

“Life is too short to not say exactly what you mean all the time.” — Jesse Welles
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ernie.tedium.co
This is the coffee shop I chose to work out of today
Drip & Sip, a 90s themed coffee shop Yes there is a CRT, it's playing Antz, likely as a favor to Jeffrey Katzenberg The wall of ’90s
November 13, 2025 at 3:34 PM
ernie.tedium.co
Ten months later they fixed it
The Gemini button in the spot where it should have always been
November 13, 2025 at 7:36 AM
ernie.tedium.co
You’ll be shocked to learn that the specs get worse the further you look. It uses DDR4 despite the laptop being capable of DDR5, only has Wi-Fi 5, and has just one USB-C. Also, there’s nothing actually listing the resolutions of the monitors.

But I love weird computers like this.
The specs on the device—uses DDR4 and only has WiFi 5.
November 13, 2025 at 4:38 AM
ernie.tedium.co
The best part is the brand name. This is a Hotface laptop.
Hotface 16" Triple-Screen Laptop with Dual 10.5" Auxiliary Displays, for Intel i7-12700H, 64GB RAM, 2TB SSD, Backlit Keyboard, Fingerprint & Face Unlock, Win 11 Pro, Gray, 128GB Docking Station
November 13, 2025 at 4:31 AM
ernie.tedium.co
OK, who owns one of these and wants to tell the tale
A laptop with three screens—two iPad-sized screens and one 16-inch screen
November 13, 2025 at 4:28 AM
ernie.tedium.co
“I think you should let him hang himself.” — Michael Wolff to Jeffrey Epstein, talking about Trump.

There’s dark humor, and there’s that.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/u...
Michael Wolff to Jeffrey E.: “I think you should let him hang himself.”
November 13, 2025 at 1:25 AM
ernie.tedium.co
I don't want to be alarmist but there are chemtrails all over the sky where I'm at

I'll accept my tinfoil hat at first opportunity
Chemtrails example
November 12, 2025 at 10:14 PM
ernie.tedium.co
Shout out to the guy whose first instinct, immediately after a dude died, was to set up an article for deletion for his band on Wikipedia.

It's what Cleto would have wanted.
Cleto and the Cletones ⋮ Cleto and the Cletones (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | views) – (View log | edits since nomination) (Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL) Fails WP:NMUSIC. Band lacks individual notability for own article as it's solely connected to Jimmy Kimmel Live!, plus the bandleader (Cleto Escobedo III) already has an article. Should be merged into either CEIII or JKL articlepage. 💥Casualty • Hop along. • 05:04, 12 November 2025 (UTC) Note: This discussion has been included in the deletion sorting lists for the following topics: Bands and musicians, Music, and Television. 💥Casualty • Hop along. • 05:04, 12 November 2025 (UTC)
November 12, 2025 at 5:45 PM
ernie.tedium.co
Their website has the same two stock photo people that every other startup website has, because of course it does.

The AI did eventually get there (based on the number of startups that do basically what they’re doing) but yeah, that’s definite fake-it-till-you-make-it energy.
Two very familiar stock photo people promoting their website
November 11, 2025 at 2:37 PM
ernie.tedium.co
One of the Asahi Linux devs posted a screenshot of Asahi with a working RTX 3060 on a Mac Pro.
Asahi Linux running with an NVIDIA GPU on an M2 Ultra Mac Pro. Alt text: photo of Plasma's "about this system" page of a M2 Ultra Mac Pro with a NVIDIA RTX 3060 GPU overlayed with vkcube. photo is taken of a display connected to the RTX3060 and vkcube uses it for rendering using nvidia's open kernel modules with minor modifications and the proprietary driver
November 10, 2025 at 4:12 AM
ernie.tedium.co
Oh no it worked too well
1,341 followers
November 9, 2025 at 11:08 PM
ernie.tedium.co
got the screenshot. OK, nobody else can follow me
1,337 followers
November 9, 2025 at 11:07 PM
ernie.tedium.co
It worked
1,337 followers
November 9, 2025 at 11:05 PM
ernie.tedium.co
Weird ask, but I need two people to follow me on LinkedIn

www.linkedin.com/in/smithern/
I’m at 1,335 followers on LinkedIn.
November 9, 2025 at 11:02 PM
ernie.tedium.co
Unfortunately, since I first published this, @pastemagazine.bsky.social removed the story where this amazing BNL quote came from. I spent a lot of time trying to re-source it. But was not able to.

I confirmed the show happened (the 1998 Bridge School Benefit). But alas.

tedium.co/2025/11/08/b...
“I have to say, you know what, it’s a little disappointing that today that we’re playing in the daylight, because you can’t see our laser show. We have a huge green and red argon laser show—it’s happening right now, but you can’t see it!” — Ed Robertson, the lead singer of the Barenaked Ladies, at a 1998 show in Mountain View, California, around the time that “One Week” was topping the charts. (The link to the Paste article that I culled this quote from is lost to time, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. I can confirm they did play a pair of shows at the Bridge School benefit in Mountain View in 1998, presumably in a daytime slot. The shows are on Wolfgang’s Archive, which I did you all a favor and scanned through on the off chance I could find this excellent banter. However, the part where he presumably said it was probably cut from the set list.) BNL, a band known for its epic stage banter—which it often improvises into full songs—once made fun of Hoobastank on stage, only to get a bouquet of flowers at its next show with a note, supposedly from Hoobastank. It stated the following: “Heard you was talking smack / We are waiting till you say / You are sorry / You’ve got one week.” The veiled threat was actually sent by electronic musician Dan Deacon, who recently did it again.
November 9, 2025 at 3:36 AM
ernie.tedium.co
Just sharing one tweet. That's enough for me
P.T. Ward @HTWardish Correct. It's not about paying out SNAP benefits, it's about the judicial branch overstepping their authority by miles in order to inject themselves into a government shutdown fight. That's it. P.T. Ward @HTWardish Follow ... You'll notice the shocking lack of detail that Kyle gives on this particular occasion. The reason? He knows the order and the reasons for denying the stays are absolutely insane when you try to explain them. Matter of fact, they're completely incoherent.
November 8, 2025 at 12:18 AM
ernie.tedium.co
Sharing this insane gatekeepy take I saw on LinkedIn.

Gates are meant to be broken down.
Canva subsidizing Affinity to make it 100% free is the worst mistake the design world has embraced since the creation of Canva. This isn’t about accessibility, though that will no doubt be the justification. It’s about control. A free tool only exists for as long as its benefactor allows it to. We’re better off paying Adobe $60 a month forever than surrendering our independence to a platform that decides when and how creativity is allowed to happen, or worse allowed to exist at all. Design tools aren’t supposed to be frictionless. They’re supposed to be obtuse — difficult at worse, punishing at best. There’s magic in wrestling with your limitations, in finding the edge of your ability and the tools themselves. Mistakes are how craft evolves, stories are written, and love for imagination runs wild. Strip that struggle away, and you don’t democratize design; you sterilize it. It's in our darkest moments that our greatest achievements happen, this isn’t a cause for concern, it's a warning that no one will see until it's too late.
November 7, 2025 at 2:10 AM
ernie.tedium.co
The roller coaster of this five-paragraph ride:

Court: You have to pay SNAP benefits
Trump: We’re not paying SNAP benefits
White House: You heard the man
White House press secretary, soon after: We’re complying with the order

www.cnbc.com/2025/11/04/s...
Trump on Tuesday said in a Truth Social post, “SNAP BENEFITS, which increased by Billions and Billions of Dollars (MANY FOLD!) during Crooked Joe Biden’s disastrous term in office (Due to the fact that they were haphazardly ‘handed’ to anyone for the asking, as opposed to just those in need, which is the purpose of SNAP!), will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!” The White House, when asked by CNBC for clarification on Trump’s statement given the court filing Monday, said, “Refer you to the President’s truth.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, at a briefing later, told reporters that “the administration is fully complying with the court order.” Leavitt said she had spoken to Trump about his post, and added, “The recipients of these SNAP benefits need to understand it’s going to take some time to receive this money, because the Democrats have forced the administration into a very untenable position.” “We are digging into a contingency fund that is supposed to be for emergencies, catastrophes, for war, and the president does not want to have to tap into this fund in the future, and that’s what he was referring to in his Truth Social post,” Leavitt said.
November 4, 2025 at 8:23 PM
ernie.tedium.co
Hey all, just offering a quick shout that as a freelance guy, I am always on the lookout for cool new editorial/content strategy projects. Have anything like that? Give a shout!

erniesmith.net
November 3, 2025 at 2:37 PM
ernie.tedium.co
Yes, this is the direction the Overton Window is going. Way to show your biases, Giant Freaking Robot.
Giant Freakin’ Robot’s assessment of the Overton Window
November 3, 2025 at 12:49 PM
ernie.tedium.co
Found the show that's gonna replace Ridiculousness on MTV
I Powered My House Using 500 Disposable Vapes
November 2, 2025 at 1:04 AM
ernie.tedium.co
Are the people who run MTV stupid? They were paying one dude $32 million per year to appear on TV 100 times a week.

At least Taylor Sheridan was making shows people liked
One day before news of the cancellation broke, Bloomberg reported that MTV was paying Dyrdek, a former professional skateboarder, at least $32.5 million per year, according to court documents reviewed by the publication. Per Bloomberg, that paycheck includes bonuses, a $21,000-per-episode executive producer fee and an escalating $61,000-per-episode on-camera fee. (Those fees add up when the network orders hundreds of new episodes per year.)
November 1, 2025 at 3:06 PM
ernie.tedium.co
This doesn't sound like a scam at all
Hey do you want to purchase the domain name erniesmith.com?
November 1, 2025 at 12:02 PM
ernie.tedium.co
By the way, I already have a logo for this ready to go. I actually had a big plan for this but decided not to run with it because I one of my clients had a similar ask.
The logo
October 31, 2025 at 6:57 PM
ernie.tedium.co
THREAD:

In case you really hate the new Affinity: It is still possible to download v1 and v2 without logging in. Here are the links for Windows & Mac:

v1: Windows:
Designer: store.serif.com/en-us/update...
Photo: store.serif.com/en-us/update...
Publisher: store.serif.com/en-us/update...

(1/3)
The Affinity v2 icons
October 31, 2025 at 2:31 AM