Today is Juneteenth, named in honor of the 19th day of June 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger of the United States Army, newly arrived on Galveston Island, issued a declaration that the Emancipation Proclamation would be enforced in Texas. … Continue reading
The eternal debate on when decades start In the comic above, Ponytail accuses White Hat of being pedantic. Hah. I'll show you pedantic. The 21st century began on the first day of 2001. This has nothing whatsoever to do with … Continue reading
There was so much written, said, and broadcast about John McCain in the week after his death August 25 that I decided to delay publishing this until today. It's a short interview with his longtime aid and close friend Mark … Continue reading
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
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