Like most people, I find Wikipedia to be quite useful. It has grown on me over time and I have donated to their fund drives as I think it serves a valuable function and is also a great experiment in open-source knowledge and the wisdom of the crowds. I have found that on topics that I know something about, it has often been quite good. I generally tend [Read more…]
Rush Limbaugh seems to think that with the perception that the economy is improving, the best strategy for Republicans would be to wage yet another ‘culture war’ election. He says, “Something tells me, that if the upcoming election could be decided on social issues, the Republicans could win that in [Read more…]
In a post yesterday I wrote about the dumbing down of news in America by replacing news coverage with [Read more…]
Stephen Colbert got a lot of comedy mileage by creating his own Super PAC. Colbert is the latest in a long line of such political satirists. Older readers may recall the Youth International Party (or ‘Yippies)’ that ran a boar hog named Pigasus for president in the 1968 elections under the slogan “Pork power!” Or perennial candidate Pat Paulsen, with his woebegone [Read more…]
The Daily Show finds that Time magazine’s cover stories vary with the different editions for the various regions of the world. This is not surprising in itself except for the fact that it seems as if Time believes its American readers are more [Read more…]
My daughter just sent me the link to this ad for a new line of LEGOs being marketed to girls. She saw it as a retrograde step in attitudes towards women. I have to agree, mainly because of what the new LEGO figurines are portrayed as interested in doing.
It seems like there are many parents who [Read more…]
I saw the latest Muppets film over the holidays and it was fun, though not great. But because the villain was an evil oil executive named Tex Richman (played with relish by Chris Cooper), Fox News seemed to think that the film was a brazen [Read more…]
France’s parliament has just passed a law that forbids denying that the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915 constituted genocide. This has infuriated Turkey which has suspended military, economic, and political ties with France.
Outlawing points of view, however much you disagree with them [Read more…]
I am aware that the embedded clips that I put of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are not viewable in some other countries.
It seems like you can watch them though, at least in Canada, via this site and this site.
Another site suggests ways of viewing them in the UK.
This website (suggested by commenter freetheworld) seems to show an easy way of watching those two shows as well as Real Time with Bill Maher, though I am not sure if it works only for the UK.
Reader F in a comment to an earlier post has one suggestion for getting around national boundary restrictions:
Using a proxy address can help. One geo-associated with the U.S., in this case. You can even get browser extensions or small programs that make this really easy if you have occasion to proxy much.
I use proxies occasionally to watch AU, NZ, or UK items. Oddly, I don’t think I’ve ever needed one for content from any other country.
If there are readers of this blog in other countries who have yet other ways of seeing these clips, please let me know in the comments so that I can at least compile a list to help other readers.
Thanks.
Update 1: Josh Andrews in the comments adds:
All you have to do is modify the X-forwarded-For header field to a US ip address. I use the modify headers extension for firefox to do this.
For full instructions
http://ohryan.ca/blog/2009/08/15/how-to-watch-comedy-central-videos-from-canada/
Update 2: Jeremy in the comments adds:
If you search “hotspot shield” and use the free version, you will have access to a US-based VPN that allows you to access anything as if you were in the US. I use it to watch The Daily Show and Colbert, as well as Pandora, Netflix, etc.
Update 3: Danielle in the comments adds:
TunnelBear has made my life a lot easier. It’d be very difficult for me to get my Daily Show fix, otherwise.
Update 4: Watching in Canada
The Daily Show can be seen here and The Colbert Report can be seen here.
Update 5:: Synfandel gives a strong recommendation for Proxmate which can be downloaded here.
One reason that politicians and other officials can avoid addressing hard questions at press conferences is because each journalist is usually given the chance to ask just one question. The politician can answer evasively or dismissively and [Read more…]