Hasan Minhaj’s latest show was on internet content moderation

In the last show before he goes on break until 2019, he tackled the topic of the dangerous spread of false information on the internet and how companies like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter are conveniently switching between portraying themselves as publishers and platform providers to escape responsibility for not doing much to stop it.

Conan O’Brien gets a new family

Readers may remember when I wrote about this business in Japan founded by Ishii Yuichi that will supply you with a fake family or friends that will meet your specific needs.

So far, Yuichi has amassed about 800 employees to fulfill just about every role imaginable. Yuichi himself has been keeping up elaborate lies for years. Since the early days of the business, he has been pretending to be the father to a young girl, whose biological father left when she was just a baby. The girl believes Yuichi is her real dad.
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Why do news shows invite non-scientists to talk about science?

Trevor Noah asks the right question but the answer is obvious. These shows are not interested in informing the public but in pleasing their sponsors and getting ratings and they know that stupid people who reinforce ignorant views draw audiences, Donald Trump being the prime example. It is just a human version of David Letterman’s ‘stupid pet tricks’ segment on his former show.

Why Bob?

I found this Speed Bump cartoon by Dave Coverly funny but it also highlights something I’ve noticed and that is that the name ‘Bob’ is used very often in comics to label someone who is the butt of the joke. For some reason, there just seems to be something funny about the name.

Ted Danson learns how to floss

I have written before about my admiration for the comedy series The Good Place. During a break in the shooting one of the actors William Jackson Harper tried to teach Ted Danson how to floss, which is apparently the name of a dance move. Danson does it about as well as an old out-of-it guy like me might be expected to do, much to the amusement of two other actors in the show Kristin Bell and D’Arcy Carden.