Why should we care about royal protocol?

Some years ago in a post titled God save us from the queen, I wrote about the absurd obsession that even people in the US, especially in the media, have with observing the ridiculous protocol rules that the British royal family tries to impose on everyone who comes in contact with them. That post was prompted by the US media getting the vapors and reaching for their smelling salts when the Obamas violated some absurdly trivial protocol rule when they visited Buckingham Palace, caused by Michelle Obama touching the Queen.
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How to finely chop an onion

I am not a foodie. I do not seek out gourmet eating experiences and am happy to eat pretty much a limited range of dishes cooked at home, do not watch any of the many cooking shows on TV, nor am I particularly interested in talking about food. But ever since I read the book Soul of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman that I wrote about here, I have been impressed with how rigorous the training is that chefs receive and the precision operation of restaurant kitchens.
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Diversionary tactics

Jon Stewart made an error in one of the examples he gave of police killings of black people and of course Fox News seized on it as if it discredited his entire thesis, which it did not. This illustrates a popular diversionary tactic of the right and especially Fox News and that is to try and find an error, however slight, in anything that reflects badly on them, their heroes, or the positions they take (whether be race, rape, the NSA, torture, etc.) and then try make the discussion all about that error.
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The religious suppression of women

When we think of the most misogynistic societies where the freedoms of women are severely curtailed, one tends to think of Islamic countries. But it turns out that any society that takes the religious beliefs of its holy books seriously tends to repress the rights of women, and this includes Christianity and Judaism as well. If anyone needs a single reason as to why religion should have no role in public life, it is because religious doctrines are incompatible with democratic values. Once you let religion get a foothold in setting government policy, it will steadily encroach, demanding more and more concessions to its beliefs
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New The Daily Show correspondent is from South Africa

Trevor Noah, the newest correspondent to join The Daily Show, hails from South Africa and he used his introductory appearance to highlight one thing that really bugs me and that is the way that Africa is often portrayed in the west, as a continent that consists of wilderness or villages that have none of the features of modern society. People in the US need to be reminded of how rapidly the rest of the world is changing while the US shows all the signs of a decaying empire.
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