Constant validation and a long nap
Burger booms, fake doctors, Iggy Pop's bird bops
Morning! I am double vaccinated and (as of this morning) not experiencing any particular side effects, which means I can continue my journey to my post-pandemic self.
This week, I have mostly been watching Channel 4’s The Answer Trap (3pm weekdays), which is a very pleasing quiz show where someone decided that what the world needs is evil Richard Osmans. This is clearly correct. (Even better, those evil Richard Osmans are Bobby Seagull off of University Challenge and Frank Paul off of Only Connect in full British eccentric mode.)
The basic premise is simple - two teams attempt to sort answers into two categories, while avoiding the ones that have been inserted as “traps” to not fit in either category. The whole thing is relaxed, relatively low stakes, and good fun, especially if you are finishing a day of work and don’t want to actively make a decision about something else to stream. It’s also well made - Anita Rani is excellent, and the show does a really good job of making a format that isn’t entirely straightforward seem very easy to follow.
And the Guardian is celebrating their 200th birthday - in typical self-deprecating fashion, they have produced an article compiling 200 years of unfortunate typos. (The following story is one I have heard before, did not believe - it’s too convenient in the way that urban legends so often are - and yet apparently is true.)
Some mistakes become, to use a suitably sporting term, legends. That’s certainly true of this one from 12 August 2003, in which the chairman of a leading English football club appeared to proudly profess his team the worst in the league.
“In our interview with Sir Jack Hayward, the chairman of Wolverhampton Wanderers [yesterday] we mistakenly attributed to him the following comment: ‘Our team was the worst in the First Division and I’m sure it’ll be the worst in the Premier League.’ Sir Jack had just declined the offer of a hot drink. What he actually said was ‘Our tea was the worst in the First Division and I’m sure it’ll be the worst in the Premier League.’ Profuse apologies.”
As long as humans and speed are involved in producing journalism, errors will arise, and just sometimes they may be thought divine. This late entry comes from 2018: “A reader noted that our recipe called ‘Spaghetti with radicchio, fennel and rosemary’ didn’t include spaghetti, fennel or rosemary.”
There’s also an article on their favourite headlines, although in both cases I most enjoyed separate reader contributions.
Let’s get to the tweets.
I always enjoy the BBC Archive Twitter account showing newsreaders talking about a now very normal thing like it’s come from outer space, and this introduction to fast food is a particularly enjoyable example.
I would like to clarify my previous statements on the matter of licking faces: only if I get very overexcited.
This is an excellent thread involving INTRIGUE and POSSIBLY FAKE DOCTORS:
I can’t believe I’m typing this sentence, but of course Iggy Pop’s bird is really into Sleaford Mods.
You can rest assured that all the “Witchita Linesbear” jokes have been made in the replies.
This is the sort of thing I’m going to have nightmares about. (No more detail than that, you’re going to have to click.)
This too:
You may get trapped by the paywall here, but I am enjoying Bloomberg’s use of Pret sales as a measure of how far different cities have come back to life. (Spoiler alert: the City of London has not, London airports have really really not)
This is a video about someone wearing a tall hat. However tall you think the hat is going to be, you are incorrect.
More next week.