The German publication Der Spiegel has published yet another revelation from the Edward Snowden documents. These reveal that the NSA and the British GCHQ have been spying on the OPEC countries. [Read more…]
The infamous Richie Incognito, who was suspended indefinitely from the Miami Dolphins football team when his racist and violent telephone messages to teammate Jonathan Martin were revealed, has broken his silence and given an interview to Fox News with his side of the story. [Read more…]
Dave Allen was a comedian of Irish origin. He was a very funny guy, doing both standup and sketch comedy and I have linked to clips from his shows before. He was a master storyteller who died in 2005 at the age of 68. In May of this year they released a one-hour long documentary of his life. I discovered that he was also a serious actor and documentarian as well. [Read more…]
Unless you are eating at a really expensive place, the 20% tip you leave will be less than $10. So a wait staffer who gets a $10 tip is likely to be very pleased. But they should not rejoice too soon. Apparently some people leave what looks like a $10 bill but is in reality a fake with some kind of religious message on the back. (You can see a clear image of the bill and message here, posted by a wait staffer who got one of them.) [Read more…]
Today is Veteran’s Day in the US where the country is encouraged to recognize the members of its armed forces. I have become aware that members of the general public, when they encounter service members in public, will often tell them “Thank you for your service”. [Read more…]
As atheists, we tend to take a hard-headed attitude towards god and the afterlife. Neither exists and we view those who believe in them as being either mistaken or clinging to them out of a need for a comforting illusion. While I am convinced that telling the truth about the non-existence of any gods is always desirable, I am not as sure about the afterlife and am willing to be persuaded that, under very limited circumstances, maintaining the fiction may be justifiable. [Read more…]
People who speak in public but want to avoid dealing with pesky questioners use two techniques. One is to say that they will not take any questions. But that would reveal that they are scared or cannot defend their position and few people choose to do that. What they sometimes say instead is that they have another engagement immediately after the allotted time for the event and then they speak so long as to fill up the time. But another tactic is to demand that people submit their questions in writing in advance to a moderator and then have the moderator select only the friendly ones. [Read more…]
On The Daily Show Jon Stewart and Larry Wilmore have one of their periodic discussions on the state of race relations in America and how black Americans who become successful (and in the US this means rich) are confronted with having to deal with conflicts that set their personal financial interests against taking a stand for what is right. [Read more…]
I am sure that I don’t have to tell readers about the mayor of Toronto Rob Ford’s shenanigans. Each day seems to bring some revelation of outlandish behavior of drug and alcohol abuse and uncontrolled rages, with increased public incredulity at the fact that he seems determined to not only not resign but also plans to run for re-election. He seems to be increasingly detached from reality. [Read more…]
Today is a fall Sunday in the US and this afternoon about a thousand large and muscular men are going to spend three hours pounding the stuffing out of each other to the cheers of the crowd. What is becoming increasingly clear is that with each hit, the players are receiving brain injuries that down the road will lead to many of them suffering from symptoms akin to dementia. I wrote about this before (see here and here) but now more disturbing stories are coming to light. [Read more…]