I'm sorry, French readers. I thought this news story was somehow really funny: PARIS (Reuters) - French schools should teach young people how to appreciate wine, a group of parliamentarians said in a report on Thursday, calling for a

You should see this news video for yourself. It's...Well, I'm not quite sure what to say. Desperate Japanese parents are arranging high-speed blind dates for their unmarried sons and daughters! (Well, maybe we should all hope Cupi

Hey, check this out! The Taiwan Public Mood Index is published every month, so you can keep an eye on the island's "public mood."It's an interesting idea that will provide all kinds of fun for people who love polls and statis

Goofy, but funny! Unfortunately, I have no frozen hot dogs readily available so I can test this theory. Plus, I'm distracted: all this talking about pi and hot dogs is making me hungry!(The Sibling, by the way, is the pi champion of the fam

I first saw this video clip at Between Worlds, and it is so good I can't resist posting it here too. I had emailed it first to some friends and then decided, hey! I should post it so everybody can enjoy.You will have to tell me if you

Here is a very interesting report (link is to an English translation) originally from the China Times. (Link xie-xie to EastSouthWestNorth.)A quote from the news story (boldface is in the original): Law professor He Weifang of Beijing Univers

Every time I think victimhood studies in higher educatuion has reached a low point, things somehow get worse.Check this out: here's a new academic movement to study how fat people are victims of society (link via the indispensable Instapun

Gentle reader, you must see these amazing origami figures!All the origami figures are folded by a very talented Polish fellow who is evidently a science geek too.Really cool.  (All I can fold is an origami frog.)

It's the day after Thanksgiving, traditionally a huge day for shopping!Here is a funny story from Philadelphia, where some vandals managed to glue shut the doors of 16 shops.As for me, did I go shopping?  A little bit, but I didn't buy a

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!We do indeed have much to be thankful for.Here is last year's post (I had more time then to post funny links!).Here is the 2006 presidential turkey pardon and proclamation!The menu for my own Thanksgiving festival-of-

FYI, gentle reader, Thanksgiving is tomorrow, so I have thrown all my books and journals and papers aside.  No more studying!  Instead, let the cooking begin!  As usual for the holiday, I do the majority of the cooking.  This work

Does this make much sense to you?A police chief has suggested that heroin users should be prescribed the drug on the NHS to tackle their addiction and stop them committing crime. Howard Roberts, the deputy chief constable of Nottinghamshire Police, t

My Sibling emailed this goofy news story: Jackie Chan has launched his own line of cosmetics.Jackie has more info (with photos) at his official website.As the Sibling commented, now you can fight like a kung fu master and still look like a model.&nbs

What do you think of this story?And did the Aussie minister of education really call teachers "Maoists"?Also, pop culture mavens, part of me can't help saying this: "That's not a textbook.  THIS is a textbook."

Have you been watching Italy lately?  It has been a depressing display indeed, and I say this as someone who loves that country.Still, this Wall Street Journal piece has a point:Of the Continent's big countries, Italy's ailments are by w

This story is pretty funny!  Check out the PhotoShop craze in China for a chubby kid nicknamed "Xiao Pang" ("Little Fatty").Add it to the increasing files of "Internet crazes" featuring unlikely heroes, like the kid

I had posted on this when the incident occurred in early October.I had said then: "I also have a feeling that Columbia University officials aren't going to do a darn thing, even though the disruptive students are in clear violation of all ki

I don't post much on Ivy League sports, but blogger Tigerhawk is celebrating Princeton's football supremacy, and he's got photos!More from the Daily Princetonian campus paper, where for once you'll see Princeton students happy and ent

No, this blog title is actually not another of my typical attacks on French economic policy.Today's young, charming, eloquent Asian critic of France's fossilized, hopeless economic structure is not me (*giggle*), but Chinese entrepreneur

I found this on Dr. Sanity's blog, and well, here is my result.  Pretty funny!  How about you?

I wish Hanson were wrong about Western elites' loss of nerve.  But I don't think he is.Read this: "Will the West Stumble?"I'm more and more convinced that the real hope for the West lies not in the morally emasculated elite

HOORAY!!!

A previous post about manners for academics generated a lot of fun comments, so I have a follow-up.Inside Higher Ed has a new article about the subject, and it's worth a look !I especially like this comment about some badly-behaved academics:&nb

I found this news story absolutely hilarious! Now you must tell me: am I the only person who thought immediately of this silly TV show from the 1970s and 80s?  Come on, now, it's time to sing the theme song (online here in YouTube glory!).

What is going on over there??There's been the neverending corruption scandal around President Chen. And now I read in the WaPo that Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou is now facing a little financial corruption trouble of his own.   *Sigh*