Today is the 321st day of 2022. There are 44 days left in the year. TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS
1993: The US House of Representatives approves the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Can.
The Earth is spinning faster than ever and no one knows why. New Bubble Wool packing material made from discarded wool. “Recommendmeabook.com” lets you try out first pages of books. Graphene foam-based sensors for better prosthetics and robotics. New site tells you in what year you can reuse a calendar. A 3D-printed flip clock that uses playing cards to display the time. A redesigned door key that makes it easier to orient. Interactive map lets you find famous people from your hometown. A flock of self-driving cars mysteriously show up at the same corner and idle…ominously. Remember when urban legends and conspiracy theories spread by fax? The first hot air balloon-based restaurant. “La Dolce Velveeta” heads to happy hour with the “Veltini.” All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.
It will come as a surprise to many Americans, justly proud of the unparalleled right to free expression granted them by their Constitution, to learn that the first country in the world to abolish censorship was Denmark in 1770. Well over 200 years later, the Danish government and people held admirably firm in defense of this heritage when a group of imams whipped up thousands of their co-religionists around the world into a violent rage over a Danish newspaper’s publishing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Today, according to Reporters Without Borders, Denmark ranks as the fourth-best country in the world in terms of press freedom.