David Wallace-Wells has an article in July 10 issue of New York magazine summarizing the best current knowledge about the consequences of doing nothing to address human-caused global warming. The magazine’s website has an updated and corrected copy of the … Continue reading
When Stephen Colbert shows a photo of someone in the news, he routinely gives an alternative description based on how they look in the picture, as in “Deputy Attorney General and man staring at you from the produce section Rod … Continue reading
Over the past few nights Jimmy Kimmel has had a lot of intelligent, well-informed, and sometimes funny things to say about the Cassidy-Graham healthcare bill, and the bill’s defenders have struck back with name-calling and falsehoods. Senator “John Kennedy” (R-Bizarro … Continue reading
In 1990 the Galileo spacecraft successfully detected evidence of life on Earth. That wasn’t too big a surprise, but it did make the point that in some cases strong signs of life on a planet can be detected from space … Continue reading
You may recall that after Jimmy Kimmel’s newborn son nearly died in April, he talked tearfully about the experience when he was finally able to return to his show, and he added that nobody else’s child should die just because … Continue reading
When Stephen Colbert shows a photo of someone in the news, he routinely gives an alternative description based on how they look in the picture, as in “Commerce Secretary and Jeff Dunham puppet gone rogue Wilbur Ross.” Here’s a collection … Continue reading
A regular bit on Comedy Central’s Key & Peele show (which ran 2012-2015) featured Jordan Peele as the unfailingly level-headed President Obama and Keegan-Michael Key as Luther, whose job was to translate Obama’s calm remarks into something reflecting the anger, … Continue reading
The Daily Show host Trevor Noah acts out the thoughts read to him by Trevor Noah with no rehearsal. It turns out to be reasonably funny: Link: https://youtu.be/kp19uL6AvD8 by … Continue reading
In the video below Hank Green does a good job of addressing one of my hobbyhorses, namely the popular misunderstanding of life expectancy. Current U.S. life expectancy at birth is about 76.5 for men and 81.2 for women, but if … Continue reading
Most explanations given for how airplanes fly, or more specifically how airfoils create lift, turn out to be either dead wrong or seriously incomplete. I found the explanation below, by Professor Mike Merrifield, animator Pete McPartlan, and prolific filmmaker Brady … Continue reading