Monthly Archives: October 2016

Contemporary American culture is full of characters who, often for a silly reason, get 15 minutes of fame — and then crash.  A man sitting in the front row during last week’s presidential debate/town-meeting, distinguished by his red sweater (which … Continue reading →

The Japanese Transportation Ministry’s coveted “Japan Toilet Award” encourages major highway managers to be creative and generous in providing facilities to the traveling public.  The New York Times last week had a feature about what the Nexco Central Nippon Expressway, … Continue reading →

The New York Times “Insider” column has uncovered another example of government being penny-wise and pound-foolish — as long as it’s what “the people” want.  It costs 1.43 cents to make a penny.  The federal government spent $39 million more … Continue reading →

Aaron E. Carroll, a professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine, published an article last weekend debunking the debunkers who say that the five-second rule is bunk.  The opponents of this time-tested rule claim that food that falls … Continue reading →

Reuters and the New York Times have reported that a secret court secretly asked Yahoo to secretly screen all users’ e-mail for digital “signatures” that reportedly could appear in the messages between potential terrorists.  Yahoo secretly complied and secretly sent … Continue reading →

Spanish thinker José Ortega y Gassett wrote a lot about “mass man.”  In Rebelión de las Masas, he said: “The mass crushes beneath it everything that is different, that is excellent, individual, qualified, and select. Anybody who is not like … Continue reading →