- Say what you see: Is University Challenge biased?
- We have now entered the plastic age
- Are you kind to AI?
- New Pepsi, who dis?
- April Fools Day
Say what you see: Is University Challenge biased?
Currently on its 52nd series and its 61st year on air the question has finally been asked, is University Challenge biased towards the Oxbridge Institution? Spoiler alert: They’re not hiding it, but kudos to Frank Coffield emeritus professor of education at University College London for putting in that information request and campaigning for fairer entry rules for the show.
Both Cambridge and Oxford have over 30 colleges and each of them are all eligible under the entry criteria, with the current series of University Challenge featuring the lowest number of entries from across the Oxbridge institution…eight. While other Universities of multi colleges are not eligible.
Not the only complaint about University Challenge this month, with the age of a certain UCL competitor of question, even against the average age of the opposing team. I know its not very on brand, but University Challenge has always been very much say what you see…Questionable “students” from many a fine but usually Oxbridge or other legacy red brick institution.
We have now entered the plastic age
So here we are, its happened. The geology of the Trindade Islands is now made up rocks made of plastic debris…Trindade being an uninhabited volcanic island off the coast of Brazil that is a site of great significance for the protection of green turtle populations.
So while there is no one on the island purchasing and discarding said plastic, no island is immune from marine currents. The rocks found upon testing were made up of a mix of sedimentary sand and debris that was held together by melted and fused plastic from fishing nets. Once dislodged and washed ashore with the rises in temperature the plastic melts and fuses with natural beach material.
Pollution reaching geology is alarming, it’s now in the Earth’s geographical record…and history does what history has done…the stone age…stone, the ice age…ice and now we have plastic in the record.
New Pepsi, who dis?
So I’m one of those rare ones who answers the question “is Pepsi okay?” with its better! Ahead of its 125th birthday Pepsi is rebranding, again. I say again unfairly, it’s been 15 years since the last rebrand but that feels like minutes because I’m old now & I didn’t (& don’t still) love the current design, it’s just not my thing, it feels too flimsy and it’s kind of funny looking.
Fortunately for me, focus groups around the new birthday redesign strongly favoured the earlier designs from the 80’s and early 90’s with the name into the logo & the bolder look. The new design certainly delivers. First launching in North America this year but being let loose on the rest of the world in 2023, the new logo feels like a very bold design, tangibly digital and very lift and shift stick on anything anywhere which I think is the point, hello licensing options. It is very early mid 90’s soda stream vibes.
Pepsi has always trailed Coke for market share and since the spin off of both its juice brands in recent years it’s revenue growth is entirely down to pricing strategy and increase in customers, does this new design give away any ideas of what lies ahead?
Are you kind to AI?
I think you might have had to be living under a rock to have missed the open letter from the Future of Life institute from some pretty big players in the field of AI proposing a hold on development in order to avoid “loss of control of civilisation” amongst some other things…And if you have been living under the rock is there room for one more because I’m tired.
But is now the time to invoke Roko’s basilisk just to hedge ones bets? While a thought experiment now might be the time to start thanking your AI of choice for its contribution to the world, just in case it really does go on to create a virtual reality simulation to torture anyone who didn’t contribute to its advancement or development.
I’ve yet to ask a question or make a direct contribution to the current wave of AI bots, of which in March alone…exploded exponentially, but I figure in terms of the digital footprint my lifetime has seen, there is probably enough data to consider that I’ve made a contribution. Much like the Enron corpus you have to thank for predictive text, everything we do online creates fodder and I over contributed to group work as a kid, never again.
April Fools Day
Can we all agree its awful and just cancel it? On account of it being dreadful and now just marketing cringe. PLEASE?
It’s fair to say I also think its quite mean spirited it, in a world that is quite frankly mostly awful pranks and jokes are just well not funny and I do find them the exclusive preserve of people I don’t really like. Mostly because I am what other people would call “gullible” and what I like to think of as everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt even the people I don’t really like to be allowed to trustworthy even if I don’t trust them.
That aside it’s now just unfunny marketing jokes that then have to recounted for days and its just tiresome. Can we just call is March 32nd and be done with it?
Current watch: Ross Edgley attempts 72 hours non-stop swimming world record – If you’ve never heard of Ross Edgley, get comfortable and prepare to be amazed. Ross’ latest adventure he attempted the longest non-stop open water swim in Loch Ness, the outcome was either win or nearly die trying. This gorgeous short film by GymShark Originals captures the challenge perfectly.
Ross Edgley is no stranger to weird and wild challenges, Triathlon carrying a 100lb tree? Nailed it. Marathon pulling a 1.4 tonne car? Nailed it. 100 miles barefoot with a 50kg backpack? Nailed it. Climbed the equivalent of Everest up a rope? You can guess. And there is more.
Current read: Fight Like A Girl by Clementine Ford – A no holds barred walk through 21st century feminism and should be essential reading for everyone. It’s not an easy read, harrowing statistics alongside awkwardly honest anecdotes really do act as a call to arms to march on with the emotionally draining task of showing up in the world as a women and challenge the patriarchy and fighting for equality for all.
Most Impactful Listen: People I (mostly) Admire – Adding Ten Healthy Years To Your Life – Another podcast from the Freakonomics podcast, Steve Levitt talks to Physician Peter Attia, for his second appearance on the show about longevity, in a world obsessed with living the longest but still fairly rare to focus on making sure those years are worth living.
The hour is spent discussing the limits but also the potential for modern medicine and Peters best advice on playing the aging game, the discussion around medicine 3.0 was fascinating. The Hippocratic oath of economists also made me laugh and is something I think I shall endeavour to remember in times of strife.
Rachael McKelvey 
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