14min clip - This country is 17% fake

Road traffic death rates: U.S. vs. Europe

6min 33sec clip - Actors Swap Stories About Their Time Playing The Penguin

found via laughing squid

12min 40sec clip - 1966: SERGE DANOT on THE MAGIC ROUNDABOUT | Late Night Line-Up | Classic Interview | BBC Archive

9min 50sec clip - Banks exist to keep you in debt, and so in misery, for as long as possible.

6min 34sec clip - trio play one drum

found via laughingsquid

Social media is more like a distorting funhouse mirror ....

 

We found extensive evidence that social media is less like a neutral reflection of society and more like a funhouse mirror. It amplifies the loudest and most extreme voices while muting the moderate, the nuanced and the boringly reasonable. And much of that distortion, it turns out, can be traced back to a handful of hyperactive online voices. Just 10% of users produce roughly 97% of political tweets”.

Source - Jay Van Bavel from a paper published with Claire Robertson and Kareena del Rosario - found via the Guardian newspaper 12th July  2025

What does the Buddhist say to the hot dog vendor?

At the 6.47 mark in the linked to clip 

What does the Buddhist say to the hot dog vendor? 

 Make me one with everything 

The hot dog vendor makes him something with everything and hands it over 

So the Buddhist only has as a £20 note so hands that over to the hot dog vendor 

The Buddhist takes a bite of the hot dog and then asks "Where's my change" 

The Vendor says "Change comes only from within"

 

What The Tube Map Could Have Looked Like If Proposals From 1946 Had Been Implemented

Crisis looms on FOI responses

 

In recent years the number of FOI requests in the UK has gone up by some 20% each year whilst the % replied to within 20 days - which is the normal timescale FOI should be replied to - has gone down some 4% per annum.

In 2024 there were some 83k FOI requests and some 70% were replied to within 20 days.

Looking at the 2024 versus 2023 data in the detail, Departments of State experienced a 5% increase p.a. in FOI requests whilst Other monitored bodies faced a 32% increase p.a.  

Comparing 2024 with 2023 replies within 20 days, Departments of State appeared to be hovering around 82% with a trend of a 1% decrease every 2 years, whilst Other monitored bodies replies within 20 days were going down some 6% p.a.

Taking this data and modelling it into the future, the upshot seems to suggest that somewhere around 2028 the number of FOI requests taking 20 days or longer will have crossed over to some 51%. 

 

So it’s possible that by 2028 complaints to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) about the 20 day time limit not being adhered to will be increasing.  Plus, the ICO will have a knotty problem across all public authorities that the required 20 day time limit on replies is no longer being normally adhered to. 

Apparently when a breach of law is found the ICO can issue a Decision Notice explaining the law and what to do, or an Enforcement Notice requiring specific actions to put things right.  Failure to comply with these notices can lead to court proceedings for contempt of court.