Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Silly Season

Two bits of silliness from the Pakistani media today.

The first comes from Geo Online (thanks to Huma Imtiaz for pointing it out). Please note the illustration to go with a factual report about a European study that shows that "Further education helps reduce memory loss."



Yes, that would be Homer Simpson. I wonder if the graphics guy is the same who passed off a map of Tolkien's fictitious Middle Earth as a map of Waziristan on Geo News for ages...

The second bit of silliness is from the Express Tribune which carries on its back page a potentially very interesting report about a Pakistani scientist who analyses forensic data from suicide blasts. I say 'potentially' of course because ET's reporter and/or subeditors manage to turn the story into a bit of a funny farce.

For example, this is how they present one aspect of the findings graphically:


Yes, that caption reads: "Just by changing the way a crowd of people stand near a suicide bomber can reduce deaths by 12 per cent." Lovely. I'm sure people would just love to be arranged properly around a suicide bomber.

But wait, there's a slight problem. According to the article:

"The analysis also shows that announcing the threat of a suicide blast in a crowd could result in higher casualties."

...Mainly because people tend to stampede "in one direction", ostensibly away from the suicide bomber, instead of waiting to be arranged in the right formation, stupid gits.

Oops. So the trick would be to get the people to arrange themselves in the correct formation without really knowing that some of them (those not in the 12 per cent) were about to be blown to smithereens. Hmmmm. The actual substance of what the scientist is saying is far more nuanced I can assure you.


14 comments:

Mackers said...

The graphics guy in the first article was perhaps himself suffering from dementia

Anonymous said...

I am at work and laughing like a crazy person on this analysis about suicide bomber. It. is. HILARIOUS! Man, people can be dumb.

Anonymous said...

One thing I forgot to mention pyala is that this guy usmani is one of the Tedx Lahore speakers. So, I am actually intrigued to listen to what he has to say in his talk.

Anonymous said...

lol..but how are we suppose to know who is the suicide bomber..its not like they announce that they are suicide bombers..

Anonymous said...

This is bullshit. Again the people of Pakistan show guts in tackling the issue of the ISI, state with in a state, and the recent leaks.

Do you read the NYT or are you to scared that the ISI will find you at night and take care of you.

Cowards......

XYZ said...

@Anon323: Eh? You forgot to take your Lithium today again, didn't you?

Vanguard said...

Who is this Anon323 and what is he talking about...his comments are more hilarious than the news items

Anonymous said...

A terrorizing post, lol!

Anonymous said...

i think anon323 is homer simpson. without the funny bit.

Anonymous said...

lol
this also explains that how "brilliant" are the TED minds

Anonymous said...

Oi! Cafe Pyala! Wikileaks Par Kuch Likho!

Waqas said...

... they should title the study 'living on the edge - an idiots guide to surviving a suicide blast'

Are we being encouraged to live with these guys? are they gonna show us these videos in our job orientations ?

and shouldn't they be educating people so that they don't become suicide bombers,instead of stressing on further education to prevent memory loss? People are struggling to make ends meet here.

The Me. said...

Haha, loved the way its written. Funny!

Anonymous said...

hahahahaha LOVE IT!!!!
"in one direction", ostensibly away from the suicide bomber, instead of waiting to be arranged in the right formation"


LOL LOL LOL