what Dave thinks about movies, books and everything
Among the things we should get rid of in the 21st century? Monarchy. Note that I’m not talking about a specific monarchy, or specific people. Any specific monarch might be a nice person — that is irrelevant to my point. Regardless of their niceness, or usefulness, they should get off their throne. As for the […]
You might have wondered, particularly over the last 5 or 6 years, why incompetent people don’t realize they’re incompetent. For example, 88% of drivers think they’re better than average at driving — which is mathematically impossible. It happens with all kinds of things. And the people who are the least competent overrate themselves to the […]
From the people who brought you Information is Beautiful, now there’s Beautiful News. The subtitle is “unseen trends, uplifting stats, creative solutions.” The regular news is mostly bad, but there are good things happening in the world — things you should know about. Here’s the main page: Beautiful News There are lots of great infographics. […]
New Zealand has a unique and bold plan to phase out smoking. The smoking age will be raised every year — until it covers the entire population. Here’s The Damage Report on this topic: New Zealand Phases Out Cigarettes In Country-Wide Ban The video then moves on to a second topic, which is also interesting: […]
{5/5} “Sometimes a wrinkle runs through the city, and it rears up on its haunches like an ugly monkey ready to strike.” — Officer Don 3rd Rock from the Sun season 2, aired in 1996-97 Dick wants to tell Mary that he’s an alien, but Sally thinks it’s a bad idea. Sally’s having trouble understanding […]
{5/5} “Old of heart traveled to the town, and came back not just younger, but smarter and happier. Ideas radiated from the town: weaving machines, gearboxes and windmills, factory postures. Something new had happened in this place. It wasn’t the inventions. It was the people that Woodcarver had midwifed, and the outlook he had created.” […]
I’ve mentioned David Pakman before, as someone who has brilliant videos on US politics. Here he’s interviewing Amanda Montell, a linguist who’s written a book called Cultish. They have a fascinating discussion about cults, in which she brings up this term “thought terminating cliché.” It means a phrase that always ends the debate, and is […]
{5/5} “Excuse me, but there’s something about the thickness of your neck and the broadness of your shoulders that makes me think you’d be an agile hunter and provide well for our children.” — Sally 3rd Rock from the Sun season 1, aired in 1996 Dick, Sally, Harry, and Tommy are from another planet — […]
I stayed at a house on Patterson Lake, and from there went hiking at various places. My friend James joined me at Rock Dunder. The first photo is of the lake, from the place where I was staying. The next 2 photos are taken from the side of the road. After that the photos are […]
{4.5/5} “He should have known it would be no use arguing with her. She wasn’t interested in assessing the odds of success. She wasn’t even balancing payoffs, weighing Atlantis against the rest of the world. The only variables she cared about came from inside her own head, and neither guilt nor obsession were amenable to […]