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The fine folks (and puppets) of the Glove and Boots YouTube channel propose that September 21, Bill Murray's birthday, be made a national holiday: Link: https://youtu.be/fAW4snew9aw by … Continue reading
Category Archives: History
Filmmaker Brady Haran visits the archive of The Associated Press in London and finds old newsreels of driverless tractors from 1958 and driverless cars from 1972-73. Then there's the creepy Billy the Beacon, a rather creepy robot for teaching British … Continue reading
This summer has been extraordinarily hot and dry in much of Europe, including places where air conditioning is rare. It's been miserable for a lot of residents and tourists, but on the positive side, a side effect has been the … Continue reading
Senator John McCain has died of the same illness that took the life of my youngest brother just short of two years ago. I disagreed with Senator McCain about a lot of things and like all of us he was … Continue reading
Caroline Herschel, sister of William Herschel, was the first female astronomer to be paid for her work and in 1828 was the first woman to win the gold award of the Royal Astronomical Society, where the following video was shot … Continue reading
Novelist and vlogger John Green very succinctly raises the point that humans are often pretty good at dealing with emergencies but often a lot less good at dealing with long-term problems. (But see below.) Link: https://youtu.be/bpyhMMqwX8U Of course, John Green … Continue reading
This was highlighted yesterday on NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day blog. It's a one-minute animation of where we came from starting at the Big Bang and continuing to the present. Details can be found in the YouTube description at … Continue reading
In parallel with the recent debate over Confederate statues and other memorials in the U.S., South Africa has its own debate about memorials to the colonial and Apartheid eras. This 9-minute segment from PBS Newshour (broadcast November 10) presents multiple … Continue reading
Depending on whether you observe it on a weekday (as government offices do) or on the traditional November 11, today or yesterday is Veterans Day. It started as Armistice Day, commemorating the armistice that ended the fighting in World War … Continue reading
As you're probably aware, the partially autonomous Spanish region of Catalonia has voted in favor of independence and the Spanish central government has intervened to block it. I don't know enough to have a strong opinion either way. On principle … Continue reading