the day after the deadline: can the union survive brexit and other deep questions

It was 'Soul of an Octopus' and it's right at the top of my reading list right now.

they have heartbreakingly short lifespans for such intelligent creatures tho, as anyone who remembers paul the world-cup-result-predicting octopus, who died a couple of months after the 2010 world cup, will attest

yeah it was sy montgomery's 2011 article which got me interested in octopuses (and stopped me eating calamari): https://orionmagazine.org/article/deep-intellect/

lol at how evolution so-called news merely dodges the from-another-planet theory via "no one thinks that" -- iirc i think that therefore it's science's job to prove me wrong with science i'm waiting

(xp) Paul was the real trailblazer though, I feel.

octopuses and mushrooms are both alien intelligences iirc

Blue Planet II brought the definitive octo-smarts mindblowage.

srsly

I bought my wife a book about the interior life of octopuses at the weekend, key finds are a) they can recognise individual human faces and b) their potential for petulance and spite is quite astonishing.

― Matt DC, Wednesday, January 24, 2018 2:31 PM (forty-one minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Which book was it?

Octopuses obv best creature ever

I am terrified of octopuses and squids, they make me feel really nervous, they seem smart and capable of scary damage and the whole alien-DNA thing is something I don't want to think about

octopuses are v good boys, squid can fuck off and die imo

Happy to eat all the squid.

also i think there was an episode of River Monsters where they ate children or something idk

i'm not saying the kids deserved to be eaten by octopuses, i'm just saying can we be sure they didn't deserve to be eaten by octopuses

river monsters has def introduced me to some cthulhoid nightmares i'd much rather have remained in blissful ignorance about ybh

meanwhile back at the scuzzface:

From the Independent on Sunday, 24 Jan 2010. "Tucked into the girls". No one gave a toss, apparently. pic.twitter.com/u0Kxq8m77i

— India Knight (@indiaknight) January 24, 2018

eurgh

also 'coat-hanger tycoon' is a thing apparently

interesting that harvey goldsmith is named as being there in 2010 after his pearl-clutching response to this year's event in the ft piece

felix salmon: https://causeandeffect.fm/regrettable-1822371840

coathangin's too good for 'em.

you don't even wanna know how much they overcharge octopuses for those things

I watched this doc about huge apocalyptic blooms of jellyfish consuming all life in their path, fucking hideous alien bastards they are. I thought all life is ultimately og extra terrestrial apart from Frank Field tho.

They’re all just sorry they got caught and normally they can be found clutching something mauvish that ain’t pearls.

Again: David Walliams is a sleazy tosser.

That Amia Srinivisan LRB review of those Octopus books from last year was fucking banging, going straight to order that book before I forget again

thread has taken a delightful turn from spineless cowards to spineless heroes

i for one welcome our new octopoid overlords

also 'coat-hanger tycoon' is a thing apparently

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQChiYxsdcU

I’d highly recommmend Stung! by Lisa-Ann Gershwin if you want to know more about jellyfish and how they are going to take over the world.

for the purposes of siphoning off this thread's good content in a fun-hating way:
D'AWWWWCTOPUS: post yr images of adorable octopuses here (no squid allowed)

surprise secondary market in charity auction prizes:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-24/boe-says-presidents-club-prize-was-an-unauthorized-re-auction

i guess this isn't the right detail to complain about at this point but the hostesses were paid £150, an effing paltry amount.

“The bank has a clear policy on the charities with which it is associated and this does not include the Presidents Club“, as of .5 milliseconds before the issueing of this statement.

Camilla Long seeking out the Hopkins market

I'd be pretty depressed if I were the FT and a report on some idiotic tits gala was the all-time most-read piece

— Camilla Long (@camillalong) January 24, 2018

Presidents Club disbanding now.

She does understand that the rest of the FT is behind a paywall, right?

She's trying to make the case that this is a nothing story, that everybody knew about it, it was just some hands on hips lets be cool, that this won't change anything, it's just clickbait -- basically like it's 2010 and feigning not caring about anything is still a good look.

Comparing it to the Spearmint Rhino is particularly dishonest given it's pretty obvious that a lot of the women involved here had absolutely no idea what they were letting themselves in for.

largely i think she's positioning herself for contrarian talking-head roles on this and similar topics

the thought of a intelligent Oakeshott/Hopkins fills me w/dread

isn't that just peter hitchens?

lol!

Camilla Long isn’t even an intelligent Camilla Long.

bingo

It just occurred to me that you can actually polish a turd, when it starts glistening is when it has transformed into a Hitchens.

beginnings of a guest-list:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/24/guest-list-presidents-club-all-male-charity-gala?CMP=share_btn_tw

Camilla Long isn’t even an intelligent Camilla Long.

― kim jong deal (suzy), Wednesday, January 24, 2018 1:17 PM (twelve minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hahaha

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2767360/Journalist-Camilla-Long-claimed-shamefully-molested-Dave-Lee-Travis-five-months-arrested.html

... it lays bare exactly how a bearded pipe-smoking hippy believed he had the right to behave exactly as he pleased in the company of women.

"The allegation resulted in The Chuckle Brothers – his co-stars in the 1990 panto at a theatre in Crawley, Sussex – coming to court in his defence."

at least one Chuckle Bro has form for this iirc

blobbytoilet.jpg

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/economy/2018/01/child-poverty-statistics-are-george-osbornes-final-legacy

(apologies for link to the new statesman's fuck-awful website)

https://foodfoundation.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/F23.jpg

This UNICEF graph tells you where the UK is at r/n.