Monday 29 May 2017

Entertainment stuff from the period 12/12/16 - 28/7/17


Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday Tapejara, happy birthday to me...


This blog is now five years old (plus one day, at time of publication) so i suppose now's as good a time as any to break the silence, and throw some stuff onto the internet.

Last time i posted a new article to this blog, i'd missed three months. This time, it's five. So maybe i'll see you again in December? LOL. BTW, yes, i'm using the same excuse. And maybe one day you'll get to find out what i've been doing with the time.

Anyway, here's a collection of some of the things that have happened - some serious, some asinine - if you're familiar with the blog, you'll know what to expect. Let's get cracking...


Three months ago, my headlines were that a certain person-of-color was leading their way-hey-hey in the USA, and well, they're still doing that; with even more lead in their pencil water than before;

There was also a certain internet-based video-hosting company that seemed determined to shoot itself repeatedly in its own feet, and well, they're still doing that;

And there was also a prize ceremony for research that makes you laugh and then makes you think. Well, presumably they're doing that as well; we'll find out at the end of the year :D

'YouTube is asking me how accurate their record keeping is? 0.o'
https://youtu.be/bcQctoWymb4


Now, should i start with the downers or the uppers? Hmmm...

OK, i'll mix it up.


'Why Red Crosses Aren't Allowed In Video Games' - Censored Gaming
https://youtu.be/vOAq26xCefY

The red cross, contrary to many people's belief, is not a symbol of medicine. Did you know that?

It's not a symbol of medicine at all. In fact, i'll go as far as to say that you won't find a genuine hospital or ambulance or paramedic worker in the entire world, that is legitimately branded with the red square-sided four-fold-rotational-symmetry cross.

Why? Because all legitimate medical organisations will care that the legal protection of the red cross symbol is upheld, for the sake of those who might be aided by it, in military or otherwise politically dangerous situations.

The red cross is in fact a symbol of humanitarian aid - not just a symbol of medical aid. When a military field ambulance, for example, is painted with a red cross on a white background, that doesn't mean it's a medical ambulance, it means it's a politically neutral vehicle, on a politically neutral mission, to provide humanitarian aid.

The red cross, and respect for the red cross, is intended to ensure the neutrality of, and safety of, people who are trying to save others in conflict zones, and other socially precarious locations.

And so you will not find it on any hospital ambulance near you. If you're unfortunate enough to meet a paramed at work, you will not see it on them either.

They will probably have a six-pointed blue star on them, and their kit might be green, with a white cross on it - that is the design of First Aid* kits - but you will not see a red cross on a white background.

It's a canard. Red crosses are nothing to do with medicine, and everything to do with factionalistic neutrality. White crosses are the symbols of medicine.

If you're finding this confusing, and slightly overwhelming (you probably still associate the red cross with medicine, even though you've read this far) spare a thought for certain members of the armed forces, who see and drive vehicles that are called 'ambulances' and have the red cross on their sides, front and rear.

They can easily be more confused than you, because they drive a vehicle emblazoned with a symbol that they always thought meant 'medicine' but actually doesn't.

It's a bit like when people put furry dice on the rear view mirror, in their first car. If you always see furry dice in people's new cars, you might think it symbolises the driver's success at passing their driving test.

Then what on Sagan's pale blue dot does the red 'P' on the back mean? And what does it mean... if the red 'P' isn't there? Do the furry dice mean it, instead?

Confusion reigns.

So remember: red cross means neutrality. White cross means medicine.

But what does any of this really have to do with gaming? Well, it's fiction in general really. Films, and TV, and comics, are just as guilty of getting it wrong.

But fiction doesn't really change anything. And i don't think that it does. I'm no Mary 'Feminist' Whitehouse, after all. So why do red crosses that are erroneously presented in computer games, or any fictive content, really matter?

Well, they don't. But the fact that people thought it was a good idea to put them there, does. You can't hurt people in real life, by hurting a non-existent person in fiction, but if you put something in your film/game because you believed it was true, then you might act alike in a non-creative context.

In 'real life'.

In other words, the International Committee of the Red Cross suing gaming developers for misusing red crosses, doesn't have genuine utility because 'video games impose notions of normalcy' but because discouraging the devs from misusing the red cross means real people in the real world have learned a lesson - the devs, not the gamers.

Plus, if a YouTube channel dedicated to censorship publicises the debacle, then many thousands, even millions, of people might find out that the red cross has been misused again and again and again and again....

And then they might stop doing it themselves.

So maybe it is a good idea that the Red Cross sues fiction creators for misusing the red cross - not to influence the real world via fiction, but to influence the real world through the real people who make it.

Stuff that in your pipe and smoke it, all you anti-censorship whiners in the above-linked video's comments section :-P

*People commonly misremember what a First Aid kit looks like. The background colour is green, and the cross is white. The cross is always white. Only shonky suppliers will have them the wrong way around.


Here's a downer: How bad can one person's year be?

Falsely accused of rape, falsely accused of murder, and consequently a year without employment - a year without income.

'2016 - CJ de Mooi'
https://youtu.be/1RRLuaYGCE4

This is an awful but brilliant example, of the horrendous consequences of what happens when people think they can impose justice without evidence.

Even the idea that holding someone in a cell could be a better option than spending £4 to find out whether the claim was true, is shockingly stupid!

But CJ's by far the only one to suffer the injustice of verdict by superstition. It could be any one of us tomorrow.

If this isn't one of the most persuasive arguments in favour of skepticality, then there must be a bloody good case that i don't know about!

Superstition makes people ruin others' lives, while thinking they have the moral high ground.

'How one tweet can ruin your life | Jon Ronson'
https://youtu.be/wAIP6fI0NAI


And here's an upper: Potatoes, it turns out, don't cause cancer.

'It’s too soon to say browned toast and crispy roast potatoes cause cancer'
http://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2017/01/23/its-too-soon-to-say-browned-toast-and-crispy-roast-potatoes-cause-cancer/

Why on Sagan's pale blue dot has the UK Food Standards Agency made a campaign advising people not to eat toast and roast potatoes?

Well, the mechanism of concern is explained in the article, but finite hazards are not necessarily significant hazards. The conclusion of Cancer Research UK's reviewers is that toast and potatoes are not worth worrying about - the fags and booze will kill you much quicker than the toast and tatties!

So why did someone(s) at the UK Food Standards Agency think it was worth 'going national' with this hypothetical threat?

I don't have an answer. But it's my working hypothesis that their PR department/consultants, or somebody who now works for them, and used to work in PR, have told them that a 'media campaign' would be a good idea, to 'raise their profile' [gags].

TV 'news' is splattered with doe-eyed women and depressed researchers, forlornly pleading for a massive, global, billion-pound campaign, to work out what one sick kid actually has.

I mean, 1500 people die on the UK's roads every year, as a result of road traffic unsafety, and millions of lifeyears are lost to obesity and lack of exercise; but hey, the millions can screw themselves because one lone kid's more newsworthy.

Pure drama, eh, BBC? (That's their new slogan, BTW)

A 'campaign' for a completely hypothetical effect has nothing to do with scientifically-reasoned public health advice. It's the hallmark of nauseating PR merchants, desparately pleading for popularity, and rarely through their own merits.

Consequently, this kind of 'story' is perfect material for the "everything causes cancer, cures cancer, or both, you insecure middle-aged women who read our publication, so keep on reading or you won't know what to be scared of" mantra of the Daily Fail / Fail on Sunday.

But it isn't genuinely useful for informing people about how to look after their health.

Anyone have déjà vu about media orgs making claims about potatoes and cancer? Oh yeah...


Here's a slightly-downer: Elon Musk's scientific standards are slowly sliding.

'Entire Hyperloop could be destroyed in SECONDS!'
https://youtu.be/Z48pSwiDLIM

Elon Musk got his billions from software - he has no formal training/education in Physics, or Engineering. But at least he's shown that one guy with massive amounts of enthusiasm, and massive amounts of money, can really make an impact on the world.

He started with electric cars (anyone noticed that adding 'hi' to 'electric cars' gives you 'electric chairs'?) which are based on old technology (see EEV's video on the 30+ year old Sinclair C5) and so require no great leaps of technology. Tesla Motors is born. Familiar technology; pragmatic business.

Next, he moved onto space flight: travel in, and into, outer space. You'll notice that this is something that's been done before too, but Space X has been doing it a bit differently. So with a lot of hand-holding from NASA, they've had modest success. Less familiar technology; semi-pragmatic mostly-hypothetical business.

And now he's moved onto ground-level, above-ground, supersonic travel. "Supersonic?" i hear you say? Well, what do you think the speed of sound is, in a vacuum, or near-vacuum? Obviously, it's zero in a vacuum, because sound can't propagate in a vacuum at all; but in a near-vacuum, the speed of sound is much lower than at RTP (room temperature and pressure) because the air is less dense.

The basic idea of the hyperloop is to treat passengers like bullets. You put the bullets in a cartridge/sabot (the train) and shoot them down the barrel - the Loop. And eventually, if all goes well, they hit the bullseye at the other end.

Even if it works, and everything goes well, you might have noticed that shooting bullets down barrels produces huge amounts of noise. That noise is an inevitable consequence of the process that accelerates the cartridges down the barrel, to achieve their bullet-esque speeds.

And that noise would be created every time a train left the station. That massive amount of noise would be made every time a train left... in a public place.

I mean, what's the point of a transport link that doesn't link two places where people are? You can't hide the noise by making the thing remote, because it's useless if it's remote.

The number of fails realised in the all-hype-rloop project is only going to go up, as long as it stays on this... um, this awful pun :-P

The Hyperloop is the least tried-and-tested project that Musk has taken on, so far, and it is the least pragmatic, given the already-known limitations of Physics.

What we're essentially considering when we think of the Hyperloop, is an above-ground underground - a gigantic tube, through which some metal-things-with-people-in trains run. So why not just build a trainline? Because the vacuum is intended to reduce friction, thereby reducing energy costs, and increasing the maximum speed and acceleration of the bullet train capsule whatever they call them now.

An above-ground vacuum tube is inherently dangerous, because it is so easy to rupture. Any mad conspiracy theorist 'sovereign citizen' can shoot a hole in it, with lethal results. So how about this solution...

Build it underground.

Why not build your over-ground-underground underground? It'll be an under-over-under-ground. Then you can pump the air out of the tube, and it'll be safe and secure. A la the LHC.

Reciprocally, there's another barmy project that could be benefitted from being raised while the Hyperloop is lowered...

The Solar Freakin' Roadways.

The whole problem with the Hyperloop stems from its being built above ground. The whole problem with solar roadways stems from its being built in the ground.

All that has to be done, is to build a roof over the road (roofs are a tried, tested, and successful technology, after all) with solar panels on the roof (again, a tried, tested, and successful technique) which can be angled to gather an extra third of sunlight. Then all of the LED signs and beacons and things, that are so difficult to see in direct sunlight, would be under the shade of the roof, and thereby be actually visible to traffic.

It also means the road surface can continue to be made of the most efficient, effective material available - bitumen-mix.

So by raising the SFR above the ground, the integrity of the road surface can be retained, the solar power can be increased, the LED lighting will be more visible, the electrical componenets will not be subject to physical degredation underneath the road traffic, and... you won't need huge amounts of energy to melt fallen snow, because roofs keep snow off the ground quite well enough already!

See? All problems fixed, in just a few sentences. Now, with a plan so easily debunked and superceded as SFR, it must be very difficult to con people into something even worse. Surely?

'Plastic Roadways BUSTED!'
https://youtu.be/Sj_FZduqblo

Oh.


Anyway, let's move on. Downer or upper? Downer or upper? The coin says... downer

'The REAL reason Milo Yiannopoulos was betrayed by his base!'
https://youtu.be/FC3HElx-CQ0

How can you tell when someone's lying? One method: wait and listen. Eventually, they contradict themselves. All you have to do is notice, and remember.

As far as i'm concerned, Yiannopoulos is a Poe who's been so dumb as to pursue a joke, without making it clear that it was a joke. I mean, let's take a comparator, to see the difference between someone clearly pretending to be a bigot, and someone who's maybe pretending to be a bigot.

'Richard Herring "Hitler Moustache" Racist Liberal'
https://youtu.be/mwEi5Dpq6zs

There are two major differences between Richard Herring, and Milo Yiannopoulos: one's intelligent and funny, and the other's... well, Milo.

By making all of the claims that Richard Herring does, on a stage, in what is clearly a stand-up comedy show, he can claim pretty much anything he likes. And when he turns around and says "i'm only joking" it would be you who'd be the idiot, if you decided he weren't. I mean, it's his job to joke. I'd be pretty disappointed if he didn't, at least twice per hour. Or even once. He's getting old, you know. (Aside: I wouldn't. I'd be very glad. Rrrooom, rrooom, and all that)

Whereas Milo has made absolutely no effort to make it clear that he's been joking at any point. He has no stage show. He has no posters. He has no Twitter profile saying "Professional Troll"... Well, he certainly doesn't now :-P

But let's take another example. A kind of mid-way house. A character who has no stage-and-screen pedigree. No stand-up career. But someone who does clearly present themself as a Poe.

This guy was picked up by a female supremacist at the BBC, and was invited on to her programme to noise off feministly, because she couldn't tell that he wasn't sincere. His name was: Godfrey Elfwick.

Elfwick didn't make any explicit statements that he was joking, but did he really have to? His tweets were so funny that he didn't have to explain. Or did he?

Need i remind you that Poe's Law is defined thusly: "The crazier an ideology becomes, the more difficult it is to distinguish a mockery of it, from a sincere presentation"? No, of course i didn't. I was just humouring you.

So how do we really know that Godfrey Elfwick, a "Genderqueer Muslim atheist. Born white in the #WrongSkin. Itinerant jongleur. Xir, Xirs Xirself" who "Filters life through the lens of minority issues" and says things like:

"I was born white but realised later in life that I was #WrongSkin and transitioned mentally to black"
 

"Don't want to be labelled a rapist? Then respect women's boundaries and remember that consent can be revoked at any time. Even after sex"
 
"I used to identify as #atheist as I don't believe in God but when I saw how racist the movement has become I converted to moderate Islam"

 
"Men will be men. There's no changing their nature. Thank God I'm a trans woman, so it doesn't apply to me"
 
"I've never actually seen #StarWars but the fact that the bad guy was all black and ate watermelons was unbelievably racist even for the 70's"

And more recently:

"For those who say "the Quran is full of violence!" - it took me just under an hour to find a verse that wasn't. Checkmate Islamophobes" [link]
 
"It's exhausting defending and justifying the reasons for Islamic terrorist attacks. Thank goodness my Wokebody Yoga class was cancelled" [link]
 
"It is better to spread progressive lies, than #Islamophobic truths. #lovenothate" [link]
 
"Before blaming Islamic terrorism on Islam, please read this and educate yourself:[infographic]" [link]

So it makes us laugh. Does that mean he doesn't believe it? How could we tell? It's an old Creationist canard, that something that 'looks' designed, must have been designed. But complexity doesn't mean intentional construction, and funnyness doesn't mean intentional ridiculousness.

Ultimately, we can only judge things by what we can actually see. If Godfrey Elfwick got into hot water over one of the things he'd said on Twitter, then how could anyone defend him? He deliberately only says ridiculous things that sound like they could be sincerely stated by other people.

I'm prepared to consider that maybe Yiannopoulos just let a joke get out of hand; but ultimately, he brought it all down on himself.


OK, so that was a downer. Now here's an upper: Ben Goldacre. He's always good for a pick-me-up :-D

'“Transparency, Beyond Publication Bias”. A video of my super-speedy talk at IJE.'
http://www.badscience.net/2016/10/transparency-beyond-publication-bias-a-video-of-my-super-speedy-talk-at-ije/


And now a downer again. Are you spotting a pattern? :-P

'Burzynski ruling is in (Update: Pathetic punitive actions imposed)'
http://doubtfulnews.com/2017/03/burzynski-ruling-is-in-stan-saddled-with-a-overseer/

So the guy who injects people with piss, while telling them it's their cancer treatment, is let free? And his business, through which all the crimes have been perpetrated, is permitted to continue its fraudulent, abusive and dangerous operations, in order to continue harming people?

I call that a travesty of justice.

Justice is not about the sadistic pursuit of vengeance - it's about making the world better, for the future. Prosecuting and/or humiliating Burzynski is not the point - stopping his company is what really matters.

In the same vein, here's some quackery news:

'Researchers warn of dire effects of herbal remedies'

http://www.skeptics.com.au/2017/02/06/researchers-warn-of-dire-effects-from-herbal-remedies/

"The predominant user group of complementary medicines in Australia comprises younger women (under 35 years old) with a tertiary education. People with chronic diseases or co-morbidities such as cancer, diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders or mental illness, frequently use complementary medicines"

If you take herbal potions, then stop. And tell your GP what you've taken. They can be directly harmful, and they can interact with any medications you might be on. Including contraceptives. On a side note, don't rub any of the 'natural/essential oils' like Teatree Oil, Coconut Oil, etc, into your skin. They're actually the primary cause of dermatological allergies - not parabens, sodium laureth sulfate, aluminium, etc.

'Wide condemnation of pro-acupuncture research paper on infant colic'
http://www.skeptics.com.au/2017/01/22/wide-condemnation-of-pro-acupuncture-research-paper-on-infant-colic/

“The statistical analysis in the paper is incompetent. This should have been detected by the referees, but wasn’t... For a start, the opening statement, ‘A two-sided P value =0.05 was considered statistically significant’ is simply unacceptable in the light of all recent work about reproducibility.”

Don't accept any 'treatment' for 'colic' at all. 'Colic' is a catchall term for any situation in which a baby (under 4 months, usually) is crying, but there's no apparent cause. In other words, colic is not a medical condition - it can not be treated. In studies, the only consistent correlate with 'relief' (the baby stopping crying) is affection - just pick them up and pet them.

If there are no symptoms, it's almost always wind, or a headache, or something banal like that. Babies being smaller, they're more susceptible to heat stress; and without much experience of extra-uterine life, pretty much anything can upset them. So as they age, it's quite sensible to think that tummy aches become banal to them, where previously they were new and scary. Etc, etc, etc.

'Chiropractor found guilty of making false claims of curing cancer'
http://www.skeptics.com.au/2017/02/15/chiropractor-found-guilty-of-making-false-claims-of-curing-cancer/

"Ken McLeod said that he and Peter Tierney have put in complaints against more than 700 chiropractors; Prof Ken Harvey said that he and Mal Vickers have put in complaints against about 800 chiropractors; and the Friends of Science in Medicine has submitted complaints against 400 websites, involving as many as 1200 chiropractors. For many of these cases, McLeod says, there has been little or no response from AHPRA or the CBA"


As if it would just be one! I can hear the PR gurus working on #chiropractophobia as i write. As if a crime being rare somehow excuses the ideology that caused it.

Frankly, chiropractors are making false claims if they declare they can treat anything. It's annoying that people only behave as if that matters, when it's cancer or HIV.


More Oz. And more satire... (if indeed the last lot, up ^ there, was satire...) ...this is supposed to be an upper, by the way... :-D

'Coopers recall bottles featuring bible quotes condemning alcohol'

http://chaser.com.au/national/coopers-withdraws-products-featuring-bible-quotes-condemning-alcohol/

'Outrage at inclusion of gay character in film about woman-buffalo romance'
http://chaser.com.au/world/outrage-at-inclusion-of-gay-character-in-film-about-woman-buffalo-romance/

'“Humans aren’t meant to drink milk” claims woman slamming tequila'
http://chaser.com.au/world/humans-arent-meant-drink-milk-claims-woman-slamming-tequila/


And a contemporary downer:

'Atheist Ireland's John Hamill on Sky News discussing blaphemy charge against Stephen Fry'
https://youtu.be/zQVj6h6tmpw

'The Stephen Fry Blasphemy Case - Michael Nugent in Helsinki'
https://youtu.be/WgjKk5m9LHo

Having checked Michael's citation of Richard Dawkins' letter to the Irish Times (mentioned at the end of the second video) i was 'recommended to' another article, written by an arse with a made-up qualification: the 'Social Theology Officer' of the 'Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice'. I almost choked on my own facial expression when i read his conclusion:

"There is no theological warrant for a blasphemy law and no religious desire for one"

OMFSM!!! The only cause for the existence of blasphemy laws is religious superstition! If there were no religion, there would be no blasphemy laws. Religious desire to purport theological 'warrants' is the only attempted justification for such blasphemy laws.

Religion is entirely to blame for the embarrassment that this has brought upon Eire, and the threat that it has presented to the rest of the world, by peer-pressuring other nations - principally Islamic ones, led by Pakistan - to push for the 'recognition' of their blasphemy laws in every other nation in the world.

Kevin Hargaden, you are up there (or is it 'down' there?) with Mehdi Hasan, a pseud who purports to believe in winged horses who can fly sadistic, murderous, warmongering, pedophilic rapists into outer space when they die, and somehow reach 'heaven' from there; when it comes to intellectual veracity. Tapejara awards both of them: "nul points"

Oh yeah, and ants can talk, too. Apparently... :D

'Shabir Believes Ants Can Talk - Hyde Park, UK'
https://youtu.be/OHhSoK1QuEU


But here's a huge upper: Zimmers, the Dawkster, and more...
😄

"Worst Ancestors Ever" - Roy Zimmerman, and his around-the-world orchestra
https://youtu.be/5AnVQjwIxlY

And an up-and-downer too:

'It Looks Like Rain In Cherry Blossom Lane with Sir Roger Moore, Igudesman & Joo & Friends'
https://youtu.be/rQEXiDMwmSI

RIP Roger Moore. I shall always think of you as the third best James Bond, and the oneth best Simon Templar. And the guy someone said ran like a duck.


Some other news:

'First living example of giant ancient mollusc found in the wild'
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2128009-first-living-example-of-giant-ancient-mollusc-found-in-the-wild/

Yet again, shock and gasping eschewes from those who've heard that ten's the thing, and five's not jive. Yes: advice is now that you should eat ten portions of fruit per day. Well, the truth is that advised fruit intake has long been, rather cynically, understated for decades. The only reason it's usually "five portions" is because the local organisation responsible thinks the local people wouldn't manage more, and so would get dejected. In other regions, convention is more than five. In Scotland, it's only three. In actuality, you should eat as much fruit as practicable, while maintaing a good tooth-cleaning regimen, to minimise harm from the acidity of fruit and fruit juice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egKxYHdf6-Q

'Kiai Masters VS Reality! Can Magic Help You Win A Fight?'
https://youtu.be/3-ZZxlcskYs


There's something cathartic about seeing these kinds of idiots getting the shit kicked out of them. I think it's just because they've consented to it, that makes such a huge difference. Martial Arts are essentially just choreographed fighting. As the name implies, it's 'art' not 'science'. It's not really about training people so they can defend themselves - it's about spiritualist goons pretending they have 'special' powers. So the further up the hierarchy of martial arts bullshit you go, the more choreographed it becomes, until right at the top, you get these airheads that actually think their 'students' aren't being stooges, and that they can actually use 'qi' or 'the force' to knock their enemies down. Tapejara judges them to be: "most amusing" :-D

------------------------------------------------------ contemporary stuff

'The origin of M19 - Deep Sky Videos'
https://youtu.be/P92B1Mkt49A

'Honey bees in the Infrared! THEY GLOW!!!'

https://youtu.be/aw1deys67vM

'How to spot a broken wrist with a thermal camera!'
https://youtu.be/PLwOdjmtNJU

'Can 1000C Gummy Melt GOLD??'
https://youtu.be/u9oCG_SRj1k

'It costs 70 MILLION dollars per kg! But why?'
https://youtu.be/UiDsZ4TZAGs

'Glass blowing. Why do you need special glasses?'
https://youtu.be/Mwbd1qGvTeQ

'HUGE Solar Flares through specialist telescope'

https://youtu.be/Bh7zXrmRcA4

'Hammer vs DIAMOND: Will it smash?'
https://youtu.be/o9uCh8LRtvI

'Skyscraper that hangs from asteroid -BUSTED!'
https://youtu.be/RyTjdkNEgV0

'DIY Doppler Sonar'
https://youtu.be/5KtOvtH6d_w

'High Voltage Phosphorescence'
https://youtu.be/3u91eCZW59E

'High Voltage and Phosphorescence (part 2)'
https://youtu.be/0iW3cslXSiQ

'Climate: What did We Know and When Did We Know it?'
https://youtu.be/ox5hbkg34Ow

'Lysenkoism' - C0nc0rdance
https://youtu.be/AK1PnV_xEI8

'Do cell phones cook your brain?'
https://youtu.be/qAfKeHB9Gq4

'Degrees of Doubt: The Claims and Credentials of Ravi Zacharias (TTA Podcast 325)'
https://youtu.be/ncrIBxj1OGI

'NOAA vs Mail on Sunday -- FACT CHECK'
https://youtu.be/kQph_5eZsGs

'Swisse Update' - The Checkout
https://youtu.be/56tD0NTxnHM

'Fish Oil' - The Checkout
https://youtu.be/pxh1B7GBC9Q

'RAW: VIOLENT ANTI-TRUMP protesters near inauguration!?'
Dumbest. Reporter. Everrrr.
https://youtu.be/DoQMav6alLo

'Trumps UNHINGED press conference'
https://youtu.be/sNn5R4dhkeM

'Lauren Southern: YES DISHONEST AS HELL!'
This degree of duplicity is newsworthy on its own! #FireKuenssberg
https://youtu.be/vkA876B6TFY

'IDIOTS REACT TO #BLMKidnapping'
https://youtu.be/mYtB4smQkaE

'Testing Flattards - Part 2'
https://youtu.be/TeMooNFtFJk

'11 Chemistry Tattoo Fails'

https://youtu.be/xmNfdcFFO5A

'Top 5 Chemistry Fails by the Food Babe - Jeff Holiday Guest Video'

https://youtu.be/7ITj4IRys58

'Homeopathic Toothpaste? – Myles Reviews'
https://youtu.be/9SYhFOVwuDI

'The Speaker's seat - Why is there no election in Buckingham?'
https://youtu.be/EqGoJN-zNXk

'Trichroic Prism'
https://youtu.be/GbZ1GSlBDGY

'The Transparent Man: Quirkology Investigates'
https://youtu.be/o4DRJLQDn1w

'Nerd³ Plays... The VR Museum of Fine Art - Chiseled'
https://youtu.be/jo0Z3W5Fft8

'Product vs Packshot: Jetstar Noodle Soup' - The Checkout
https://youtu.be/B4kO__rb3EE

'Product vs Packshot: Peppa Pig Icecream' - The Checkout
https://youtu.be/j2T_a4Rf0gU

'Signs of the Time' - The Checkout
https://youtu.be/FQQ4h1i9r3Q

'Christian Reilly on AIOTM - 'I'm Dreaming Of A Traditional Christmas'' (my upload)
https://youtu.be/rV_BQZu4-e8

------------------------------------------------------ of the weeks

Word Of The Week: jimp -- slender, trim, delicate; scant; barely sufficient. Usage dates from the beginning of the 16th century, in northern Britain

Etymology Of The Week: stationery/stationary -- the word 'stationery' derives from the profession of the 'stationer' who sells them; their job title comes from the fact that their ancestors used to be the exception against the rule, who had stationary shops, from which they sold books - most vendors would be travelling salespeople, as they had to go to the products (there was no 'special delivery' in those days) and then transport the goods to the potential customers.

Quote Of The Week: "All the world is queer, except thee and me. And i'm not too sure about thee. Come to think of it, i'm not too sure about me, either" - Dave Allen's corruption of a quote attributed to Robert Owen

Fact Of The Week: North Korea has a grand total of 28 websites, according to a slip-up made by the North Korean government, in September 2016

{I know this FOTW's a bit late, but i thought i'd claim it while it still had a chance of not being wildly wrong :P }

Epidemiological Joke Of The Week: How many epidemiologists does it take to change a lightbulb?

"We’ve found 12,000 switches hidden around the house. Some of them turn this lightbulb on, some of them don’t; some of them only work sometimes; and some of them work sometimes, but twenty years after you flick them. Some of the switches only work, sometimes, twenty years later, if one of the other switches is flicked too (and at the right time). In any case the wiring’s rusty, everything’s completely different in the house next door, and by the way there are lots of people selling spare bulbs who tell lies about houses, switches, and fingers. We can change the lightbulb, but I’m not sure that’ll stop you dying from cancer in this metaphor."

------------------------------------------------------ non-contemporary stuff

'ATP Tennis - Creating the most Unorthodox Player - The Serve (HD)'
https://youtu.be/bYSNITmbGZU

'Let's not get into semantics'

http://imgur.com/gallery/bw3Pi

'Ever get that sinking feeling..?'
https://twitter.com/davidclewis/status/848449398627606528

'QI Unaired: The Grammatical Terminator'
https://youtu.be/ff3YVruoTgs

'Islam is Shrinking'
https://youtu.be/-sIDphS0R6c

'Koran Textual Criticism 1 - The Clear and Easy Koran'
https://youtu.be/G79-853Ky04
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