via “Could Quentin Tarantino’s secret weapon be his slate operator?”
Author: Dan
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War. War never changes.
Actual goosebumps. Also #PerlmanFTW.
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We have more mammoths than dodos
It makes sense when you think of population size and location (lots of mammoths stuck in permafrost, not so many dodos on a tropical island) but it still feels weird that we have more preserved remains* of something that (largely) died out over 10,000 years ago than we do of something that died out <400 years ago. I guess there are plenty of things that have died out in my lifetime that we have few samples of. * As in preserved soft tissues rather than skeletons
The only soft tissue specimen of a dodo in the world. Quite mad that this is all we have left; this, a few casts and some skeletons.
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Adventures in Online Dating, Pt 2
More observations:
- Star sign is mandatory. It displays on your profile whether you like it or not. You can also specify that you’re only interested in people of other specific star signs but there’s no option for ‘Astrology is a utter tripe’.
- Lots of people put their age in their username, which can be a little awkward when that’s no longer their age…
- Group photos are an odd choice for your profile. Especially when it’s hard to tell which one the person actually is. Even worse when it turns out they’re the one at the edge largely cut out of the photo. (Special mention for attempts to crop out the ex from a photo leaving a tight close up with a large man-arm draped across her front).
- Lot of people wanting a minimum doctorate level of education in a partner
- A lot of the criteria should clearly be a sliding scale but are instead multiple choice leading to situations where someone is looking for specifically someone trying to quit smoking, or someone who earns either less than $25,000 OR more than $250,000.
- This might just say more about what I look at online but if you put XXX at the end of your username I don’t think they’re kisses.
- Overall the experience across site and app is a bit disjointed. The app looks a hell of a lot nicer and feels nicer to use but but truncates half the responses and is missing most of the search/filter functionality (which is half the point, right?)
- Related: ‘find people with the same birthday as me’ feels a bit stalkerish.
To be honest still find the whole thing a bit weird. I’ve chatted to a few people who seem nice but, yeah, don’t know what to make of it.
‘They abolished the Human Rights Act” sounds like the first sentence of an Aldous Huxley novel. The Conservatives actually campaigned on a manifesto pledge to get rid of human rights and people voted for it. As electoral choices go, it’s not far off choosing to be ruled by a dry, whispering voice taunting you from an antique mirror.
Here, in what may well be the final years of our civilisation, I would like to ask a question that has been worrying me for some time. What if David Cameron is a genius? A shrewd and malevolent psychopath who thinks two moves deeper into the game than any of his opponents? What if there sits in Downing Street today a modern-day Moriarty, living in a world where his schemes are only kept in check by the deductive brilliance of Harriet Harman? As Holmes would say, look at the evidence. Cameron has managed to set England against Scotland, Scotland against Labour. He has given his enemies the referendums they asked for, and won. He has left Nick Clegg looking like one of those terrified mouse faces that you find in an owl pellet. He has successfully pursued an agenda more radical than Thatcher’s with less popular support than John Major.