Something to think about for you unemployed buskers out there…

You can earn your daily bread by standing in a park and entertaining passersby. But you can also – possibly – develop a second stream of income by taping your work, editing it, and posting it on YouTube. (I’ve shown you clips of Allie Sherlock, who became a phenomenon just in the past several years this way. And then there’s Justin Bieber.)

To make this work, you need a gimmick. Here’s one that has been popping up increasingly on YouTube: A busker (usually a guitarist) sets up shop, and invites passersby to sing along with him. This is more interesting than simply playing or singing, because there is an immediate tension: Will the amateurs be any good? When they are especially good, the posted video tends to go viral. So, you edit out the ho-hum performances and publish only the good ones.

In the video below, the busker takes this gimmick one step further: He pretends he doesn’t know the song (Stand by Me) the amateur wants to sing. I don’t believe that for a second, but I’m sure many viewers do. So, when he not only figures out, in mere seconds, how to play it, but riffs on it amazingly, it makes the show that much better.

Watch it here.

It pays to be smart. I mean high-IQ smart. People with an above-average IQ do better in just about everything from career status to income to net worth – and even to health and happiness. Then there are the super-smart people. People with 150+ IQs.

One such person, Marilyn vos Savant, said to have the highest IQ ever recorded, has been writing the “Ask Marilyn” column for Parade magazine since 1986. She is perhaps most famous for her Sept. 9, 1990 column, where she came up with the answer to a brain teaser that has become known as the “Monty Hall problem”…

A fascinating short lecture by Jordan Peterson on the evolutionary importance of thinking – actual thinking – and why it’s now more important than ever.

Watch it here.

In business and Jiu Jitsu, strength helps, but without technique it is often a net negative. Apparently, the same is true for bull riding.

Baryshnikov was right. Fred Astaire may have been the best dancer who ever lived. And Rita Hayworth wasn’t bad either!

Watch it here.

I don’t know how I feel about this little film. It’s interesting. Thought-provoking. And touching. But then I did the math: only 300 hook removals in 25 years? That’s less than one a month! Who’s paying her… and why?

When Mr. Bean is talking against cancel culture, something is wrong.

I scored 8 out of 10 on this quiz about cult movies. Can you do better? Click here.

Michael Jackson invented his own style of dancing that’s been emulated ad nauseam. SC sent me this clip of James Brown doing his unique way of dancing – some called it “happy feet.” It occurred to me that no one I know has ever even tried to learn it!

Watch it here.

Omeleto, a four-year-old YouTube channel, advertises itself as a “home for the next generation of great filmmakers.” The channel features a wide range of genres and even some notable celebrity cameos, including Maisie Williams, Amanda Seyfried, Nick Offerman, and the legendary Danny DeVito.

I’ve seen several of the short films on Omeleto already, and have become an enthusiastic viewer. Here’s a good example, a story about “how a man’s life begins to unravel when a chatting stranger disturbs his peace”…