Ah, no wonder you're extinct!
Hello saucepot.
I was offered a job this week. I’m EXTREMELY excited about it. It’s Content Creator for UPFRONT (a confidence course and nigh-on movement) that I’ve mentioned before as a reason I resigned from my full-time job to go freelance. There’s a lot to be said (and you know me, I’ll say it) about finding ‘your’ community and becoming part of it as Vox will tell you.
In other news, I’ve been thinking about people who are so attractive that they make it difficult to concentrate. It’s Mr Alexander Skarsgard’s fault. He’s been talking about his new film, The Northman, all Vikings and vengeance and mud. As someone who, according to Ancestry.com, is apparently 8% Scandinavian, I’d like to pretend I have a personal interest…but I’m blatantly objectifying the guy, aren’t I?
So that was my week. How was yours? Hit reply and let me know.
Signing off before I lose concentration again,
Let’s dabble!
A mountain’s range
The first thing I thought when I saw this headline – ‘How tall will Mount Everest get before it stops growing?’ was, Mount Everest is still growing?? Then I felt a bit stupid for not knowing that, and remembering that plate tectonics are a thing. But curiosity is more important than being right, so here we are: Mount Everest grows 4mm a year, but apparently global warming (what else?) means it is simultaneously being eroded, meaning it could technically stop growing altogether. The Pocket Polymath: looking stupid so you don’t have to.
Don’t mind if I doh
Did you know that the invention of Play Doh was a happy accident (as was, while we’re at it, modern glitter)? Yep, originally created in 1914 to clean soot off wallpaper, it was reinvented as a kids’ toy when it was no longer making any...dough (hee hee!). Maybe the thought of its original purpose will discourage you from putting it in your mouth in future (don’t look like that; we’ve all done it). Or, if you’re still tempted, grab yourself some Play Doh perfume and make do with that.
Bread teacher
Mmm, carbs. Tempted to leave my insightful analysis there, but I know you expect a little more from me, so click here to find out how baguettes came to be long, why a certain Icelandic loaf makes you fart like a trooper, and how knocking out some braided bread became an acceptable alternative to being buried with your husband. See, that third hot cross bun last Sunday was almost a feminist act.
A Jurassic lark
I watched the original Jurassic Park film five times at the cinema. I had velociraptor posters all over my bedroom wall, despite the fact they gave me recurring nightmares. So naturally I was keen to know the answer to this important question: would Usain Bolt beat the dilophosaurus in a race? Turns out, according to this study, that he would. The researchers also concluded that a T-Rex couldn’t outrun a jeep, and that “even the speediest dinosaur was still slower than the fastest animal today”. This is consolation to a person who’s still scared velociraptors might, you know… come back.
And finally…
DOUBLE BURN.