Fun and/or Interesting
755 articles filed under Fun and/or Interesting.
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Fun and/or Interesting
Six Quick Bites
Six Quick Bites * Interesting. The WHO issued greatly reduced Monkeypox case and death numbers on Aug 28. Click here. * Interesting. The worm turns. The Biden administration put Tulsi Gabbard on “Quiet Skies,”…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Five Quick Bites — August 28, 2024
Five Quick Bites * Interesting. Smartphone-free schools? A thought-provoking proposal. What do you think? Click here. * Interesting. Elon Musk on commercial space flights. Click here. * Interesting. Bill Maher…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Five Quick Bites — August 19, 2024
\ Five Quick Bites * Interesting. Dogs may have evolved to read emotions. Click here. * Fun and Interesting. Can ChatGPT be funnier than humans? You be the judge. Click here. * Interesting. Night owls may beat…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Bet You Didn’t Know This
Bet You Didn’t Know This I rarely find anything on Quora that merits more than a moment’s attention, but I did find this about “famous actors with unbelievable backgrounds” to be worth the 90 seconds it took…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Five Quick Bites — August 6, 2024
Five Quick Bites * Interesting. I’ve always wondered whether Yelp matters to the restaurants it reviews. I don’t use it, because I don’t want hundreds of people I don’t know and trust prejudicing my opinion…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Five Quick Bites — July 30, 2024
Five Quick Bites * Interesting. Thanks to TS for this clip – restored film of Paris during its prime, originally shot by the famous Lumiere brothers, who preserved so many beautiful images of the world at this…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Five Quick Bites — July 22, 2024
* Interesting. One of the things I was writing about while I was in Japan is how incredibly efficient the Japanese are. Here’s a perfect example: an airport that hasn’t lost a single piece of luggage in 30…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Five Quick Bites — July 9, 2024
Five Quick Bites * Interesting. Elon Musk on the Hamas-Israel confrontation. Click here. * Interesting. Between 2000 and 2024, food experienced an average inflation rate of 2.83% per year. In other words, an…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Five Quick Bites — July 3, 2024
Five Quick Bites * Fun. Is Oslo really a city? This brilliant tourism ad features a resident of Oslo describing – in the most hilariously deadpan manner possible – why nobody should visit. * Interesting. Why…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Five Quick Bites — June 25, 2024
Five Quick Bites * Fun and Interesting. The greatest prank in academic history. Click here. * Interesting. Rachel Maddow doesn’t understand the first thing about how our Constitution was formed. Click here. *…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Five Quick Bites — June 17, 2024
Five Quick Bites * Interesting. Scientists confirm that elephants have a very sophisticated language, which includes particular names for individual elephants. Click here. *Interesting. There are still plenty…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Five Quick Bites — June 10, 2024
Five Quick Bites * Interesting. In the new world of AI and brain implants, will this be how we learn to speak foreign languages? * Fun: When it comes to keeping on top of the latest trends in Woke culture, I…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Mad Max and Meme Thinking (Especially Among the Educated)
Mad Max and Meme Thinking (Especially Among the Educated) This essay by one of our favorites essayists, Freddie deBoer, begins with an argument about Mad Max’s role in Fury Road and then slips into a…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Five Quick Bites — May 28, 2024
Five Quick Bites * Interesting. Peter Diamandis reports: “WTF Just Happened in AI?” Click here. * Interesting. Fact and fiction, right and wrong – Hannah Arendt on Totalitarianism. Click here. * Fun. Edgar…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Five Quick Bites — May 20, 2024
Five Quick Bites * Interesting. Makes your head explode! How much did we spend on illegal immigrants in 2023? How about homeless veterans? Click here. * Fun. Shark Tank’s best pitch ever. Click here. *…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Five Quick Bites — May 13, 2024
Five Quick Bites * Interesting. Get ready for hybrid thinking. Click here. * Interesting. Days passing too quickly? Here’s how to slow down time… maybe. * Fun and Interesting. German trains will soon feature…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Five Quick Bites — May 6, 2024
Five Quick Bites * Interesting. How Ronald Reagan reacted to “mostly peaceful” student protests. Click here. * Fun. The Hobbit read in what is apparently the style of a BBC Radio 4 Shipping Forecast. Click…
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Fun and/or Interesting
The Unlikely Story of a Soon-to-Be Billion-Dollar Business
The Unlikely Story of a Soon-to-Be Billion-Dollar Business I only occasionally read stock-market-related stories about companies in which I’m not invested. But I found this piece on “Uncrustables” worth the…
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Five Quick Bites
1. Tying the Knot. At a wedding recently, two groomsmen and I spent a fun half-hour arguing about the easiest way to tie a tie properly. Here’s a super-easy way to do it that I’ve never seen before. 2. Sweet…
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Fun and/or Interesting
10 Quick Bites
1. The best visual explanation of the April 8 solar eclipse that I’ve seen. Click here. 2. Why I can’t listen to NPR any longer: A political liberal and long-time editor of National Public Radio explains how…
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Fun and/or Interesting
5 Quick Bites
1. The hair whips are the best part! I took ballroom dancing lessons for about a year when I was in my early 50s. I managed to get to the level where I knew the basic steps and could execute the basic turns…
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Who Says Fat Guys Can’t Fight!
Roy Nelson is a big guy, but most of his weight is around his waist. When he began his career as an MMA contender, he came to the arena as a fat guy who had a powerful overhand right. But none of the experts…
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How English Became the Common Global Language
How English Became the Common Global Language Today, 1.5 billion people speak English. But in the 12th century, the language was almost extinct. So, how did English survive and spread so widely? Is there…
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What’s Good About Menopause?
What’s Good About Menopause? This is something that surprised me. Most mammals remain fertile throughout their lifespan, allowing them to maximize the number of their offspring. Only humans, chimpanzees, and…
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Speaking of Fasting…
Did you hear that several incredibly brave pro-Palestinian Harvard students went on a hunger strike to support some pro-Palestinian Brown students who went on a hunger strike the day before? The Brown students…
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Ten Quick Bites
1. Talk about curious! Woodworker Justin Davies, after learning that, in the 19th century, some bakers would put sawdust in their bread to cut costs, gave it a try. Click here for the results. 2. Boys will be…
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Ten Life Hacks I Haven’t Tried Yet
I came across this in a magazine someone left in an airport. It’s from Bruce Wilson, who self-identifies as a social researcher and world traveler. I thought it was pretty good and worth passing on to you. 1…
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Ten Quick Bites…
* Crazy: It costs about three cents to produce a single penny. And the US lost more than $93 million producing pennies in 2022 alone. Click here. * Scary: Last week, I reported that 2023 was the hottest year…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Quick Bites: Ka-Ching!... Pant! Pant!... Splish-Splash!... OMIGOD!
* Intriguing: First Costco… then Walmart. Why have these major retailers suddenly begun selling gold? Click here. * Weird: It’s not your imagination. 2023 was the hottest year since scientists began tracking…
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Three Unexpected Trends Taking Over The Internet
Quick Bites: A Rabbit Hole You Probably Don’t Want to Go Down… A Survival Tactic You Probably Don’t Need to Know… Tap, Tap, Tappety-Tap! * A new YouTube rabbit hole: People recording themselves getting fired!…
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Quick Bites: Hot Stuff… Dumb Stuff… and an “Impossible” Challenge Smashed
Quick Bites: Hot Stuff… Dumb Stuff… and an “Impossible” Challenge Smashed McDonald’s Under Attack! You may have seen video clips of McDonald’s customers being harassed by pro-Palestinian protestors. It’s…
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Quick Bites: UFOs?… Airborne Criminal… Just When You Thought Sports Couldn’t Get Crazier… a Powerful Motown Cover
Quick Bites: UFOs?… Airborne Criminal… Just When You Thought Sports Couldn’t Get Crazier… a Powerful Motown Cover * I’m not up on my UFO history… although I do know that the topic has been getting more…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Quick Bites: Something I Don’t Understand... Something I Never Knew... Something Nobody’s Ever Heard Before
Quick Bites: Something I Don’t Understand... Something I Never Knew... Something Nobody’s Ever Heard Before * A Question: What do people mean when they characterize the US as a “wealthy” country? How can a…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Quick Bites: Historical Photos… Baby Names… Cleaning the Lincoln Pool
* Ancient Earth is a very cool tool that lets you input an address and see how the area has changed over the past 750,000 years. Click here. * Number 3 Son and wife are pregnant and figuring out baby names…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Quick Bites — December 15, 2023
TERF Wars… Hero of the Year?... Christmas Carol Mash-up… Regrets Men are truly taking charge. Transwomen (i.e., biological men who “identify” as women) have succeeded in taking charge of feminism by redefining…
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Brooklyn Artist Secretly Upgrades City's Homemade Flyers
Quick Bites:Phantom Artist… Dictionary Stand-Off… Chevrolet Meets Hallmark… Pop Quiz! Left: Max Kolomatsky’s version of a small business’s sign above the original in a storefront window; right: a redesigned…
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What Changed?
Quick Bites: Race Relations… Weight-Loss Drugs… Tricky Words Paul Kix and his family What Changed? Paul Kix is a journalist. His wife is Black. He’s White. When they got married in 1972, his progressive…
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Quick Bites — November 25, 2023
Emissions rising from a coal-fired power plant in Kansas After reading so many cogent arguments, essays, and research reports on the climate change debate… I no longer have an opinion on the key questions…
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Quick Bites — November 21, 2023
Scott Young Have you noticed that some people are able to learn things – languages, facts, lyrics, etc. – much faster than others? Learning about learning – i.e., the science of learning – has been a…
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Quick Bites — November 17, 2023
Oct. 7, 2023 – The Day the Delusions Died. In 1987, Thomas Sowell published A Conflict of Visions, which, among other things, provided an intriguing explanation of why people disagree about politics. The…
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Quick Bites — November 14, 2023
“Wow, big news!, AS write in a recent email. “They are changing the names of certain species of birds because their names are offensive. I don’t know about you, but I have had many sleepless nights knowing how…
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Quick Bites — November 12, 2023
Cats vs. Dogs… About the “Shema”… A Debate at the Fed… Smuggling Migrants… Swederland? Oro, a Golden Retriever K and I occasionally care for, has a very expressive face. He has, in fact, at least a dozen…
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Quick Bites — November 8, 2023
Quick Bites: Abe Lincoln’s Beard… 690 New Words… Gaga!... the Latest from Freddie DeBoer… and WS Merwin’s Garden Thought to be the last beardless photo of Abraham Lincoln, taken in 1860 The little girl that…
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Quick Bites — November 5, 2023
Quick Bites: Young American Minds for Sale... Everyone Can’t Do Everything... Another Example of Inclusive Idiocy... So, You Don’t Believe in Book Banning... How Much Do You Know About Central American…
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Quick Bites — October 31, 2023
A Primer on Inflation... Three Ways to Lose Money in 2024... A Heated Debate... Mike Tyson’s Profound Wisdom... The Dark History of the Werewolf * Doug Casey on the Destruction of the Dollar. From a recent…
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Scientists have discovered that the moon is 40 million years older than previously thought
Quick Bites: Age Is Just a Number… Spooky!... Putting the Kibosh on CRT... An Unbreakable World Record... How Good Are You at Acronyms Scientists have discovered that the moon is 40 million years older than…
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Quick Bites — October 24, 2023
Rethinking Slavery… Reconsidering Virginia Woolf… Child Abuse and the Catholic Church... Joe Rogan’s Secret... Another Insurrection Thwarted The long history of slavery. For most of my life, I thought of…
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This is not nice
Quick Bites: New border scam… “Ebony Alerts” in California… Netflix pop-ups… A sort of sensible trans debate… Test yourself on the history of water sports This is not nice. As you know, I think Biden’s open…
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I’ve started following a few vlogs and blogs from defectors from North Korea
Quick Bites: The “Voice of North Korea,” Bye Bye Biden, Bots in the Boardroom, the Return of the Panther, and a Lot of Hot Air I’ve started following a few vlogs and blogs from defectors from North Korea…
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Why mosquitos seem to bite some people more than other
Quick Bites: Bzzzzz…, Shopping!, Woke Colleges vs. Testing, a Challenging Life, and Some New Crazy Karen Clips Why mosquitos seem to bite some people more than others. I’ve long theorized that everyone gets…
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