On the wings of a paradox

I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume no one here is an avid fan of the daily mail.

Today RobManuel posted this link on twitter. The tagline efficiently sums up the project as: 'Help to make sense of the Daily Mail’s ongoing effort to classify every inanimate object into those that cause cancer and those that prevent it.' The articles from which they are sourced are here.

Well.. dunno 'bout you guys, but it's good to be informed that i can reduce my chances of breast cancer by just getting morning sickness, and that radiation can apparently cause it.

Spot how many contradictions occur throughout the table. Red wine seems to be the most frequent, and each time the pill is mentioned it seems to be conclusively responsible for one or the other. Sex is another thing they're undecidedly certain about. Also 'work' re-occurs throughout the 'causes' column, and we know how daily mail readers feel about those who don't work.

I guess the truth is many of these items are responsible for solving one problem, but then cause another. Frankly, that's just the ebb and flow of life, nature and all it touches so far as i can tell.

So i guess the only thing we can learn from the daily mail today is: Sooner or later, one thing or another is going to get you. So why waste your life panicking about it in shitty newspapers?

Thought for the week

I was just reading a page about animal intelligence, and specifically how to assess the intelligence of non co operational creatures, such as cats. It raises a few interesting points and most importantly, discusses the fundamental flaw of human judgement being swayed by human benefit.

Anyway, i just particularly liked this scenario:

An untrained cat and an untrained Border Collie dog are both presented with a group of ducklings. The dog herds the ducklings and protects them. The cat stalks the ducklings and eats one or more of them. Is the cat stupid because it doesn't look after the ducklings? Or is the dog stupid for not taking advantage of an easy meal?


I'd love to go on to talk about how this kind of dilemma sums up the dynamics of human society and relations within it.. but thats boring and shit, i dont have much to say, and you're all intelligent people who i'm sure already understand what i mean by that.

Incidentally, here's another article i saw on the subject of feline intelligence. Apparently their brains are structured just like ours.. no surprise there really.

Oh and here's a cute, topical pic: