Last week I read an interesting blog post from Kevin Drum based on two sets of U.S. crime data collected two different ways by separate parts of the Justice Department. Data derived both from large-scale population surveys and from police … Continue reading
An article on the Vox website (link) argues that in many ways the world is getting better, vastly so in comparison with 200 years ago. For example: In 1820 about 90 percent of the world population lived in what we … Continue reading
In French class in high school I heard about a popular Paris newspaper called Le Canard Enchainé, the Enchained Duck, a name that’s hard to forget. It turns out that Le Canard turned a hundred in 2016, having been started … Continue reading
A German postal clerk discovers a lost letter that proves to be an unusual one. (Running time 1 minute and 22 seconds.) Otto "The Letter" from Ryan Mack on Vimeo. Link: https://vimeo.com/148808087 The German phrase at the end, “Weihnachten ist … Continue reading
Here’s another amusing short film with a Christmas theme, this one from the UK, where cats are often called Moggie. (Running time 3 minutes and 20 seconds.) Sainsbury's 'Mog’s Christmas Calamity' from Outsider on Vimeo. Link: https://vimeo.com/145612004 by … Continue reading
In this charming short film sponsored by the Spanish national lottery, a night watchman does things to amuse the daytime workers he never sees. (Running time 3 minutes and 32 seconds.) loteria de navidad 2015 from againstallodds on Vimeo. Link: … Continue reading
To put it mildly, not everything about 2016 has gone well. But as novelist and polymath John Green points out here (in a video originally posted August 16), there have been some items of pretty good news as well, many … Continue reading
This video does a nice job of highlighting some weird aspects of human vision in just three minutes. Link: https://youtu.be/0NPH_udOOek This first oddness it mentions is the blind spot, a place on the retina devoid of imaging cells where the … Continue reading
In his latest blog post (link) my friend Bruce Arthurs recalls an incident from his military service in the 1970s when someone bragged to him about molesting a woman in their photography class, and Bruce’s later regret not to have … Continue reading
Polymath, entrepreneur, and fast talker Hank Green offers up a really very useful set of YouTube tricks and techniques. Link: https://youtu.be/XUNriZD1OvQ Here are the keys he mentions: j – Jump back 10 seconds k – Pause and un-pause playback l … Continue reading