On Chimps, Pullman, and amusing Old Stuff (Updated)
I don't see how the news that chimps beat university students in memory test necessarily means that chimps are cleverer than previously thought. I think it simply suggests that undergraduates are the same in Japan as they are in Britain.
Watching a video of the memory test on Telegraph TV, however, reveals an astonishing and much more remarkable photographic memory than I thought when I just read the news on the BBC.
I just read an interview with Philip Pullman in Der Spiegel Online. He came up with this wonderful quote which I have to backtranslate in English because it's just brilliant. To understand the quote in its entirety, you have to know Erich Kästner and his children's book Emil and the Detectives but I'm sure anybody will get the gist anyway:
KulturSPIEGEL: Have you actually ever read the Bible?
Pullman: A fascinating book. Exciting to study, full of interesting stories and with this enthralling, complex and mysterious main character called God, the most fascinating figur that's ever been invented. But I prefer reading "Emil and the Detectives".
ACE!
The 271 inhabitants living on the remote volcanic South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha describe themselves as living in the world's most isolated settlement. However, the news that most of them have developed virus-induced asthmatic problems with the medical supplies running low is not what caught my attention. No, the narticle I want to share is old stuff indeed but still somewhat amusing.
In the BBC's "See Also" section of the article above, there was link to the story that the islanders got their own postcode in 2005 because they wanted to participate in online shopping. The article and related picture of the first internet shopping parcel to be received on the island sound and look like they were inspired by the Area Man articles from The Onion. I just found that funny. That's all.
The Onion Headline of the Day:
"Man Finally Put In Charge Of Struggling Feminist Movement"
Comic of the Day:
Watching a video of the memory test on Telegraph TV, however, reveals an astonishing and much more remarkable photographic memory than I thought when I just read the news on the BBC.
I just read an interview with Philip Pullman in Der Spiegel Online. He came up with this wonderful quote which I have to backtranslate in English because it's just brilliant. To understand the quote in its entirety, you have to know Erich Kästner and his children's book Emil and the Detectives but I'm sure anybody will get the gist anyway:
KulturSPIEGEL: Have you actually ever read the Bible?
Pullman: A fascinating book. Exciting to study, full of interesting stories and with this enthralling, complex and mysterious main character called God, the most fascinating figur that's ever been invented. But I prefer reading "Emil and the Detectives".
ACE!
The 271 inhabitants living on the remote volcanic South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha describe themselves as living in the world's most isolated settlement. However, the news that most of them have developed virus-induced asthmatic problems with the medical supplies running low is not what caught my attention. No, the narticle I want to share is old stuff indeed but still somewhat amusing.
In the BBC's "See Also" section of the article above, there was link to the story that the islanders got their own postcode in 2005 because they wanted to participate in online shopping. The article and related picture of the first internet shopping parcel to be received on the island sound and look like they were inspired by the Area Man articles from The Onion. I just found that funny. That's all.
The Onion Headline of the Day:
"Man Finally Put In Charge Of Struggling Feminist Movement"
Comic of the Day: