Archive for the ‘From the web’ Category
Universal basic income
Here’s Thom Hartmann pointing out that studies have shown that a universal basic income works. In other words, people in poverty given the necessities don’t succumb to laziness the way that Republicans disingenuously warn but instead become productive. How Can Poverty Be Fixed? We Already Know
Ghostwriting and celebrity books
I hadn’t seen anything by this guy before but he has a lot of insightful things to say on this topic. His name is Jack Edwards: the complicated ethics of ghostwriters + celebrity books He points out: some celebrities are more transparent than others about their ghostwriters saying a book was the fastest selling debut […]
Why conservatives don’t understand TV shows
Steve Shives talks about how conservatives don’t understand the shows they watch (or music they listen to). He demonstrates that conservatives miss the point of All in the Family and The Colbert Report — and sometimes even Star Trek. Why is this? He says: conservatives assume that their opinions represent the consensus, ie. other people […]
Why the US democracy is so vulnerable
Here’s David Pakman interviewing Steven Levistky, co-author of Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point. He makes some points that I haven’t heard anyone make before. He points out that old democracies and rich democracies have always lasted. He talks about why the US democracy is more vulnerable than others: the […]
A “balanced” viewpoint isn’t balanced
If you ask Alexa in a certain way if the 2020 American election was stolen, it will answer yes. Alexa is built by Amazon. Here are The Young Turks on this topic: WATCH: Alexa, Was The 2020 Election Stolen? They suspect that developers may have imagined that taking some news from the left and some […]
Good news for nonsmokers at UW & in the UK
The University of Waterloo has decided to go smoke free as of July 2024. Here’s what they say on their website: Moving to a smoke-free university The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak, plans to do what New Zealand is doing — phase smoking out over time. If passed, the law will take […]
Reading for the future
Here’s a post David Brin wrote on his blog about a concept he has about passing the love of science fiction literature on to the next generation: Reach out to teachers and give them good reasons why they should teach science fiction in their classroom. He points out that it was very successful in the […]
Informative videos from AMNH
The American Museum of Natural History has some great videos on their channel. Here are a couple I was particularly interested in. See hominins evolve over millions of years, from bipedalism to controlling fire: Seven Million Years of Human Evolution See human population grow faster and faster over hundreds of years: Human Population Through Time […]
Cosplay as a serious person
I like turns of phrases that put 45 in his place. Brian Tyler Cohen has been reporting the truth about US politics on his channel for a long time, and he is very articulate. Here’s what he says today: “He can cosplay as a serious person with serious reports and press conferences until he’s blue […]
Trumpist realizes “I’m the mark” live on air
Here is a stunning video of a Trumpist named Steve Deace who repeated Trump’s lies on his podcast for years, only to find out now after all this time that they were lies. He realizes that it was a cult. The video is from Meidas Touch: Trump Podcaster REALIZES HE’S IN A CULT during LIVE […]