Beware of the duck
p. While watching the Stephen Fry comedy quiz “QI” last night, a rather striking question came up:
p. ”Which has been responsible for the most human deaths—the nuclear bomb, or ducks?”
p. Of course, phrased like that, it was fairly obvious what answer they were looking for, and it was not going to be the obvious one. But I was still rather surprised; ducks, it seems were the primary vectors of the “Spanish ‘flu pandemic”:http://www.ninthday.com/spanish_flu.htm in 1918-1919, which is thought to have killed around 30 million people worldwide.
p. So, the moral of this story is that you should stay away from ducks. If they’re not [“mugging you”:http://www.rousette.org.uk/mt-static/blog/archives/000315.html], they’re giving you ‘flu.
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i couldn't believe it when mr fry appeared to be genuinely taken in by the old, "did you know the new edition of the oxford english dictionary doesn't contain the word 'gullible'?"! i really hope he was acting.
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A rather general comment, that has nothing to do with this post in particular, but with the whole weblog you are maintaining.
I have recently started a weblog of my own, and while searching for inspiration resources, I stumbled upon your site. Not only have I found it to be inspiring indeed, but I have also been reading it ever since, and I enjoy it very much.
Thanks!
by Anton Drukh @ 25/10/2003 6:10 pm • Permalink •
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dvd: I know! An Achilles heel for the man with the great brain? I like to think that he has some actually, or it would just be depressing.
Anton: Thanks! Glad to be of service...
by bsag @ 25/10/2003 7:10 pm • Permalink •
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In that case, shouldn't you get rid of that scaryduck on your blogroll?
by helga @ 26/10/2003 9:10 pm • Permalink •
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