Notes from My Journal:

Yesterday, I topped the issue with a photo of the sunset from the porch of our house here in Nicaragua. Above is a photo I took a few minutes ago from that same porch. The reason for the repetition is that I haven’t left the house since I got here on the evening of the 25th. I haven’t walked to the beach. Or the clubhouse. Or the restaurant. And despite self-promises to the contrary, I haven’t been to the gym at Fun Limón. In fact, the rental car that brought me here from Managua is still sitting in the driveway – just where I left it.

I’m hunkered down here because I have a shitload of work I need to get done before the troops arrive on Saturday. And because I know that if I show my face anywhere around the resort, I will have lots of fun and pleasant conversations, and lots of people coming over to say hi, but I won’t get anything done.

You may be wondering why you are getting another issue just a day after the last one. That is because I made another self-promise: to publish more than eight issues this month.

Yesterday’s was the eighth April issue. And with just one day to go before the end of the month, I had to find something for one more issue that wouldn’t take much time to prepare.

So what I’ve done is sorted through the more than 100 video clips I’ve saved over the past few months and selected about 30 that I thought you might enjoy. To make your picking and choosing easier, I’ve tagged them with the requisite adjectives (Funny, Inspiring, Informative, Disturbing, etc.) and, wherever possible, noted the time it will take to watch each one.

* Fascinating: 10 amazing inventions that were destroyed. (4:18)

* Informative: Sugar can feed cancer cells. You may have heard that. I had. I’ve even read about it. This short clip from a 60 Minutes episode explains it clearly. (1:33)

* Inspiring: A video biography about the short but brilliant life of Maryam Mirzakami, an Iranian mathematics genius.

* Disturbing: How does AI feel about being used for warfare? (2:34)

* Contrarian: “Michael Masterson” on how long you should persist with your great idea. (1.08)

* Unbelievable: Nick Shirley asks New Yorkers about Mayor Mamdani’s White People tax. (28:16)

* Edifying: An Iranian lawyer in exile has a message for all Americans about the Iranian regime. (1:58)

* Worrisome: Reporting on Nigerian scammers hitting up American tourists in Japan. (8:23)

* Impressive and Adorable: Super-cute kid from Manchester proves that he can play an acoustic guitar. (2:38)

* Clarifying: A proud Muslim refutes some common misinformation about Israel.

* Impressive: Woman with a great voice and amazing vocal range does live looping. (0:58)

* Funny and Painful: Gen Z testing university students with some grammar school questions. (10:13)

* Not Surprising: An update on Mayor Mamdani’s $30 million grocery store election promises. (1:47)

* Worrisome: Muslim Sharia horseback police patrol and force British women to wear hijabs. (15:12)

* Head-shaking: How to get yourself a mansion without paying for it. (28:22)

* Affirming: The psychology of people (like me) that don’t follow sports. (9:37)

* Baffling: Ilhan Omar and her $30 million mistake. (50:04)

* Interesting: What killed the transgender movement? (28:16)

* Informative: How streaming platforms detect your AI music. (6.32)

* Satirical: He has created a great persona for pulling off these satires with such humor.

* Heart-warming (from GM): Being chosen by animals is a rare privilege that words can’t fully define. (0:12)

* Interesting: A day in the life of a modern chossid in yeshiva. (29:21)

* Revealing: Iranian model talks about why she left her country and came to the USA. (29:21)

* Alarming: What’s happening in New York City can’t be stopped. Not even by Mamdani, (23:28)

* Impressive: Why Sophie Cunningham has never spent a penny of her NBA salary. (0:58)

* Surprising: Saks Fifth Avenue is going bankrupt. (23:38)

* Ironic: New York State’s governor is begging big taxpayers to come back home. (13:55)

* Incredible: What happens when you put ChatGPT inside a robot? (14:57)

Postscript:

Watch Lyle Culpepper try to teach Candace how to pronounce big words.