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Since 1994, this is the 1659th issue of Randy Cassingham’s...
| 29 March 2026: Ad Astra | Copyright ©2026 https://thisistrue.com |
Other Good Reading: Hollywood thinks it needs to talk down to filmgoers — that we’re not smart enough to absorb messages, or have SciFi that’s based on science. The huge success of Project Hail Mary is proving them wrong. Are they getting the message? ‘Project Hail Mary’ Offers 4 Lessons Hollywood Should Learn — But Won’t argued the Hollywood Reporter last week. Note this article hassome of what I consider to be minor spoilers that have already been covered in a lot of my other reading about the film. If you are sensitive to spoilers, skip it. Or if you’re like me and can read the book (or a summary of the script plot) and still love the film, go for it!
(As always you’re welcome to copy out that paragraph and forward/post it as desired; credit True if you care to — not required.)
Playtime: “He mentioned the game, and it caught me off guard,” said Michelle Martinez, the mother of a Granite School District student inKearns, Utah. “And so I asked him about it, and he told me that it was a game he had played at school.” The game? “Five Nights at Epstein’s”, where players find themselves on Epstein’s Island and have to survive the sex offender and his sex-starved cronies who are trying to find them. The school is not hosting the game; students have found it online and played on school computers. Martinez was so shocked that her son knew anything about Epstein that she didn’t ask him any questions. “Itabsolutely disgusts me and breaks my heart that our children are subject to this, especially in this day and age,” she said. “I hadn’t had the conversation with him yet, or talked to him about situations like that yet.” (RC/KTVX Salt Lake City) ...“In this day and age” with a kid old enough to play online games, that’s the more shocking part.
This Day and Age: Let’s just say this story goes perfectly after the previous one. [Premium Only]
May It Displease the Court: Kimberly Carroll had a virtual appearance scheduled before Woodhaven, Mich., District Court Judge Michael McNally. Sheshowed up late, with her camera off. McNally told Carroll to turn on her camera, revealing that she was in a car. “You cannot be driving ma’am,” McNally said, and asked “What are you doing?” Carroll said she was going out of town for a family emergency. She said she was a passenger, and would ask the driver to pull over. After going back and forth with the judge on which side of the car she was on, McNally pointed out that her seat belt was coming from the driver’s side of the car. “Now you’relying to me, right?” he said. “Let me see the driver.” Carroll said she needed to get permission for the driver to be on camera, and then got out of the car. “Do you think I’m that stupid?” McNally asked. He ended the hearing and issued a default judgement against Carroll, recording that she “was not available at the time and then was driving a car and telling the court she was not.” (MS/WJBK Detroit) ...She drove him to that decision.
Road Warrior: The most-suggested story this week, about a particular Florida Man. [Premium Only]
A Meth to His Madness: His excuse for robbing a bank was what, now? [Premium Only]
Last Week of No Ad (probably): Only 1 upgrade in the past week of the 5 needed to omit running an ad. There were 2 credits left over from last week, and I granted two scholarships, using up that fund. Yep, I get that the economy is pretty uncertain right now, with layoffs, rising gas prices, and war. But if you are doing OK, it would help True continue to be OK too if youupgraded, or contributed toward a scholarship for someone who is not doing as OK. Thanks!
Welcome Tourists: A Florida Woman takes revenge, and will almost certainly go to prison. [Premium Only]
Sticky Situation: Another health supplement contains a surprising (and undisclosed) prescription-only drug. [Premium Only]
“It Was Real”: Gregg Phillips told his friends he was going to a Waffle House. “And I ended up at a Waffle House.” But when he told his friends that the Waffle House he had ended up at was in Rome, Ga., he recalled, “They said: ‘That’s not possible, you just left here a moment ago’.” He’d gone about 50 miles. “But it was possible,” he said. “It was real.” He told the story on a podcast episode last year, claiming he was teleported. Trying to dismiss the story as “out of context” now,his employer characterized his remarks as “personal, informal, jovial, and somewhat spiritual,” “made in the context of barely surviving cancer,” and “in a private capacity prior to his current role.” His current role is head of the Office of Response and Recovery at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “Teleporting is no fun,” Phillips, 65, said on the podcast. (AC/AL.com) ...Now that sounds like a federal emergency.
Mockery of Justice: A well-arrested man, in more ways than one. [Premium Only]
When the Chips are Up: Lost, then found: the feelgood story of the week. [Premium Only]
Someone Still Wants In? Coyote smuggles a man to the border, but wasn’t clever enough to get him over it. [Premium Only]
Drinking Aged: When competent adults have to petition the government to please let them have a glass of wine. [Premium Only]
How’d That Get There? They’re popular purchases at the Lagardère AWPL gift shop in the airport departure terminal in Hobart,Tas., Australia: plush Aussie toy animals — kangaroos, Tasmanian devils, koalas, and more. But a customer was aghast at a brushtail possum, because it was looking back at them, and reported it to a clerk. “It looked like he was pretty comfortable with his friends there,” manager Liam Bloomfield said, and the clerk whipped out her phone for a quick video — then called for help. Staff captured the critter and got it back to the wild. (RC/ABC Australia) ...Finally, a souvenir that was actuallymade there.
Doubling Down
Florida Bill to Ban Marrying First Cousins Fails to Pass
WFLA Tampa headline
Did You Find an Error? Check the Errata Page for updates.
This Week’s Contributors: MS-Mike Straw, AC-Alexander Cohen, RC-Randy Cassingham.
Stories This Week were Written/Edited at sea as we were avoiding a cyclone between Adelaide and Fremantle, Australia. We had some rough seas, but the captain overnighted us in a sheltered cove to avoid the worst of it.
Regarding “Playtime” (the first story), an editor commented, “You’d think the school would have ‘parental control’ type blocks set up!” That was actually (for once!) addressed in the source article: they do, but the kids have figured out VPNs.
I never bothered with a VPN at home in Colorado, but I’ve had to use them aboard ship: so many American sites, including many news sites, simply block foreign traffic rather than work to comply with various privacy laws. That makes it a lot harder for a news commentator to work, so now a VPN is a nearly full-time tool for me.
Kevin Resubscribed to Premium after a 10+ year lapse last month, commenting, “We’re snowed in today in Minneapolis, so I did some spring cleaning of my digital life. Canceled a few other subscriptions that no longer sparked joy 🙂 and realized that I missed the full array of True. Thanks and keep living your best life, Randy.” Welcome back!
Ten Years Ago in True: Won the Battle, Lost the War.
This Week’s Story of the Week (you’re welcome to share it), about live plushy toy, is shareable on Telegram, Mastodon, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, and/or Facebook, or grab from any of those to post elsewhere.
This Week’s Sunday Reading: That time two humor sites had a war, and convinced a thousand obliviots to report the problem to the ‘Internet Police’. April Fools all, from 1999. April Fools and the Internet Police. “A tale of a joke site war,” one of True’s social media followers said when reposting the link, “and a sadder tale of a lost Internet.” Indeed all the sites the page talks about are now gone.
This Week’s Honorary Unsubscribe goes to Judith Rapoport. Before Dr. Rapoport came along, OCD was considered very rare in children. She found it was more common than bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. The interesting story in just 3 minutes.
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Copyright ©2026 by Randy Cassingham, All Rights Reserved. All broadcast, publication, retransmission to email lists, web site or social media posting, or any other copying or storage, in any medium, online or not, is strictly prohibited without prior written permission from the author. Manual forwarding by email to friends is allowed if 1) the text is forwarded in its entirety from the “Since 1994” line on top through the end of this paragraph and 2) No fee is charged. I request that you forward no more than three copies to any one person — after that, they should get their own free subscription. I appreciate people who report violations of my copyright.
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