By the way, I've been griping that the news media haven't answered the most important question about Julian Assange's arrest, namely, what happened to his cat? The Washington Post is ahead of everyone else on this it turns out, with an article headlined (and I'm not making this up):
On Late Night with Seth Meyers (back in February), Don Cheadle recalls the night he, Robert Downey Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, et al decided to walk a few blocks in packed London streets despite an expectation of being mobbed. It didn't quite work out as they expected. As a bonus, Cheadle recalls how he came to meet Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice during the George W Bush administration.
British mathematician, humorist, and author Matt Parker (whose YouTube channel is "standupmaths") describes how rounding can have unexpected effects, even on how the Trump administration tried to get around a provision in the Affordable Care Act to please insurance industry lobbyists:
This PBS NewsHour segment was originally broadcast at the end of January but it's still current because it's about a continuing disaster, namely the collapse of local newspapers and news coverage.
Local television stations and their websites have to some extent kept a degree of local news going, but it's nowhere near as complete. At one time newspapers were by far the biggest form of advertising. If you wanted to buy a house, for example, you looked in the real estate classifieds. Consistent ad revenues let papers hire lots of reporters. Of course, small towns and rural counties didn't have the level of coverage that larger communities did, but the situation is even worse now.
There are no obvious solutions to the problem. Nonprofit news could help to some extent and is being tried a number of places. There have also been proposals for government subsidies. (In fact, many decades ago the post office delivered magazines and newspapers at reduced rate.) But there are both practical problems and political problems with this.
Back at the end of February Christina Hendricks was being interviewed on the daytime television talk show Live with Kelly and Ryan when she was interrupted mid-sentence by a breaking news update. That night when she appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers he asked her about that, and here he explains what happened next. Mildly amusing:
Alex Berenson's book Tell Your Children has provoked a lot of discussion concerning the potential dangers of marijuana. (See this favorable review from Stephanie Mencimer in The Washington Monthlyhere.) I haven't read it, but I gather a Berenson has come in for some legitimate criticism for misrepresenting the research he cites. Of course, the subject excites a lot of passion and pre-judgment on both sides.
Below pediatrician and medical school professor Dr Aaron Carroll, whom I cite a lot here, presents what strikes me as a generally balanced view (though I'm not sure he's right that alcohol is as dangerous as he implies).
Jimmy Kimmel Live's in-house movie reviewer Yehya presents something like a review of Captain Marvel, which I gather released Friday, not that I get out that much.