Many years ago I heard T.R. Reid, then Tokyo bureau chief for The Washington Post, recount on NPR’s Morning Edition that KFC had convinced Japan that the American thing to do on Christmas was to eat Kentucky Fried Chicken. This … Continue reading
This goes nicely with the clip from John Cleese I posted this morning: An article by Tim McDonnell (link) from just before Christmas summarizes some of last year’s worst new developments and continuing annoyances in the realm of people who, … Continue reading
In under a minute John Cleese describes the tragic scientific fact that explains why some people drastically overestimate their abilities, and what else this explains: Link: http://youtu.be/wvVPdyYeaQU by … Continue reading
Here’s another video clip you might already have seen. I’m posting it because it’s both funny and disturbing, though fortunately no one gets seriously hurt. It seems that Ellen DeGeneres recently challenged her viewers to shoot video of themselves dancing … Continue reading
[Updated to add a link to Drum’s follow-up post.] Kevin Drum, one of the best political bloggers in the business, offers up some interesting speculation about technological, environmental, economic, and political changes over roughly the next three decades (link) and … Continue reading
This BBC News report was originally aired December 22. It recounts how the self-styled “Islamic State” (which is in fact neither) has abused several thousand women and girls kidnapped four months ago. The captives are members of the Yazidi religion, … Continue reading
This is just amazing, a Shell gasoline station with a restroom that would be the envy of some CEOs. Unfortunately, to see it in person you apparently have to go all the way to Bohol, Philippines. Link: http://youtu.be/szihUm6NM_o by … Continue reading
Here’s the BBC’s summary of good news reported in 2014. Don’t be too worried that it runs only 90 seconds; these are rapid clips with links to longer reports. Link: http://youtu.be/TjyTldaQz3c There’s a lot of good news not mentioned here, … Continue reading
A YouTuber conducts an experiment worth seeing. A homeless man is given $100 and then followed to see what he does with it, then confronted and questioned about it, including how he came to be homeless. It really is worth … Continue reading
This video from Veritasium is surprisingly interesting, involving visits to a number of the most high-radiation places on Earth, including Chernobyl, Fukushima, and an airliner in flight. It also builds up to a shocker of an ending, so if you … Continue reading