According to Forbes, the highest earning YouTube star in 2018 is a seven-year-old boy. Ryan (last name unknown) earned $22 million in 2018, thanks to the billions of views his Ryan ToysReview videos have garnered. The videos, which began when Ryan was just three years old, feature Ryan playing with and unboxing toys and mystery eggs … Continue reading Making $22 Million Is So Easy, a Seven-Year-Old Can Do It
Did you ever wonder how many total gifts someone receives as a result of the song the 12 Days of Christmas? Or what individual gift was the most popular? What about Santa Claus and his delivery schedule? How many houses does he visit? How fast does he have to be traveling? How heavy is his … Continue reading Fun Christmas Math
My favorite Christmas song is O Holy Night; I think at one point I had at least 20 different versions in my iTunes playlist. So I thought I'd write a blog post that contains links to a variety of versions of the song so that I would always have easy access to them. At the … Continue reading Music Monday: O Holy Night – from Josh Groban to Cartman
I've noted before that Christmas commercials in the U.K. are like Super Bowl commercials in the U.S.; it's one of the highlights of the advertising world. I've already written about my favorite British Christmas commercial of 2018, the ad by John Lewis featuring Elton John. If you missed it, here it is; if you've seen it before, … Continue reading The Best of Britain’s 2018 Christmas Commercials
Our oldest son is in town for a few days for the holiday, so we thought we'd try and do a few touristy things while he's here. For the past few years, we've driven into Philly to watch the Comcast Holiday Spectacular. The 15-minute show takes visitors on a festive, musical journey featuring classic favorites like Carol … Continue reading I Don’t Think This Will Become a Holiday Tradition
A few years ago I wrote a short blog about Neil Patrick Harris's opening number at the 2013 Tony Awards: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne2KoHAaE8A Well in a somewhat similar vein, earlier this week James Corden, with the help of Lin Manuel Miranda & Emily Blunt, did a tribute to Broadway musicals which I thought was spectacular. The tribute covers … Continue reading 22 Musicals in 12 Minutes
You may have heard about the quality control problem Hershey is having with its kisses. Apparently, a few of them are missing the tip, as shown in the picture above. “The iconic, conical shape is one of the reasons families have loved Kisses for generations," according to Jeff Beckman, a Hershey spokesman. "We shape the … Continue reading Hershey May Have to Change the Logo on Its Kisses
Phoebe Smith of the UK has been given the rather pleasing job title of the “world’s first sleep storyteller-in-residence” by Calm, a leading app for meditation and sleep. Smith was a travel writer and journalist when she was approached last year by Michael Acton Smith, co-founder of the sleep app Calm. She’d written an article … Continue reading I Think I’ve Just Found the Job I Was Meant to Do
Apparently, Amazon's Alexa is so easy to use, even a parrot can use it. Rocco, an African grey parrot, was caught using the virtual assistant to play his favorite music, tell jokes and even order snacks, The Times of London reports. Unfortunately for Rocco, its owner had put parental controls on Alexa, and none of … Continue reading This Polly Wants Way More Than a Cracker
I was at a wonderful retirement dinner for one of my colleagues last night, and as part of his speech the honoree took out his trumpet and began to tell a story of how much the trumpet meant to him, how it has been a part of his journey through life for the past 4o … Continue reading Music Monday: An Amazing Rendition of Hallelujah
Borden's Blather 