On this week's show, U. Nebraska journalism professor Matt Waite admits to having childlike fascination with drones. He recalls being at a conference in San Diego last summer, where a demo video for the Gatewing X100 left him positively giddy.

Today marks ten years since the passing of Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy's. [Full disclosure: The "Frosty," the restaurant's signature frozen dessert, is a particular favorite of our host, Bob Garfield.] Thomas gained fame not only as Wendy's CEO, but also as its folksy TV pitchman, appearing in more than 800 ads. Though his legacy was tainted by some bad calls, it's hard to overstate his skill as a businessman and marketer. 

This anniversary got me thinking about the TV spokespeople I remember most vividly. I came up with a list of ten who've made an indelible impression on my psyche, for better or for worse.

On Wednesday of last week, Rick Perry’s campaign posted a video on YouTube that caused a bit of a stir.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a Christian, but you don't need to be in the pew every Sunday to know there's something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can't openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school.

A week after the video was posted, it had 6.5 million views, 22,000 “likes,” and 675,000 “dislikes,” making it the most disliked political video in YouTube history. (For anyone keeping track, Justin Bieber’s “Baby”  still holds the crown for the most hated non-political video.) Perry’s ad quickly spawned a slew of parodies, featuring an array of personalities, from Jesus to Voldemort.

Big things have been happening in South Africa since Bob went there last month. On November 10, the ruling ANC party suspended its high-profile young firebrand, Julius Malema, for five years. Then this past Tuesday—labeled "Black Tuesday" by protestors—Parliament passed the Protection of State Information Bill, which will allow the government to imprison anyone who discloses state secrets for up 25 years. The bill lacks any clause to protect whistleblowers who disclose secrets in the public interest.

At about 1:30 AM Tuesday, as the NYPD was evicting protesters from Zuccotti Park, Tim Pool picked up his cell phone and started streaming video to his Ustream channel. Twenty-one hours, 100,000+ views, and countless batteries later, the 25-year-old activist put down his camera and found he had been declared “the eyes of the movement.”