OK, we haven’t had a Phligm Phlagm post since mid-October, and the world was a different place back then.

I’ve been busy all right? Anyway, here’s the first load of links to catch up on. Feel free to take your time over them…

Christmas Reading List 2025

The Red Dwarf theme tune has secret lyrics, and they've only just been discovered. (But they’re ( Read more... )

"We can all put aside our partisan differences for a moment and agree that this Trump-Clinton “Dirty Dancing” duet is the best thing to come out of the debate."

Don't trust "factcheckers". Maybe it’s just my innate cynicism and a background as a professional sceptic that always makes me doubt someone who claims to be “unbiased” when giving you “the ( Read more... )

Three good things that Obama is doing in his last days as President.

What's the opposite of 'Grimdark' fantasy? Noblebright fantasy.

The Thoughts and Prayers App

A reasonable stab at classifying various types of leftists.

Interesting story about the man who was the janitor at the US Air Force Academy in the 1970s.

Jeremy Paxman reveals that University ( Read more... )

Seven Fantasy / SF Epics That Can Inform You About The Real-World Political Scene

The Jewish Chronicle gets hold of the report into Labour anti-semitism that the Corbynistas tried to bury

Headline of the Month (1)

Getting onto Stanford's MBA course. (I’m not involved in admissions, but I can’t imagine that any of my MBA students had to do anything ( Read more... )

A useful summary of how many types of people disapprove of Pokemon Go. (Christians, muslims, moral guardians, leftards, gaming purists, conspiracy theorists, nanny-statists, more leftards, SJWs, puritans…)

Remember when the Democratic National Convention used a photo of Russian warships by mistake? No? That's because it got very little coverage over ( Read more... )

Why bad ideas refuse to die.

Whatever happened to William 'The Refrigerator' Perry?

No, the British did not "frantically" google what the E.U. is hours after voting to leave it.

New Robin of Sherwood audio drama with original cast. (We’re working our way through the boxed set in preparation!)

Gordon Murray has died. No, not the bloke who designed the ( Read more... )

Prescription drug or Tolkien elf? Take the quiz! (What, you mean there isn’t a prescription tinnitus remedy called ‘Tinfang Warble’…?)

The American fake hate crimes epidemic.

The Game of Thrones theme played by a (very good) jazz band.

Millions of Americans are _not_ living on $2 a day.

Wrexham's new central defender has the best footballer name ever.

( Read more... )

Shortish fantasy novels featuring an ordinary 20th century bloke transported to two different fantasy worlds as the heroes Erekose and Urlik Skarsol. Perhaps more high-fantasy in feel than Moorcock's more famous fantasy heroes ( Read more... )

The Untold Story Behind Saudi Arabia's 41-Year U.S. Debt Secret

Have we reached peak Waitrose?

Guide to Figuring Out the Age of an Undated World Map

Street Fighter and Philosophy

The unexpected treasure found on an abandoned liner on the North Wales coast

...and more on that story.

How to predict the Referendum result

Man almost goes into ( Read more... )

Testing Godwin's Law

The McLaren F1 needs a 20 year old Compaq laptop

The pilot episode of Korgoth of Barbaria. Why didn’t this make it as a series? It’s great!

The Game of Thrones title sequence, done with slime moulds

Those Finns sure like their metal.

"Dr Heimlich saves choking woman with manoeuvre he invented."

Kim Jong-Un's aunt runs a drycleaning ( Read more... )