Twitter and Ida

 
 

I want to experiment with posts brief enough for Twitter - in case I decide to join Twitter.

So, there is a long piece in The Guardian this morning not quite admitting that it - like very other newspaper -  had been horribly hoaxed by a claim that a fossil called Ida was 'the Eighth Wonder of the World' and the 'evolutionary equivalent of the Rosetta Stone'. Readers of the TLS have known for some time that Ida was a lemur unusual only in her high price to a collector and her beautiful preservation. But who can dispute with Sir David Attenborough and the herd instinct on a matter such as this?

OK. I know that even this brief post is too long for Twitter. But I'm sure I can improve.

Comments

[Matthew]

How Ironic that in latin it was named after Darwin.

[Candadai Tirumalai]

Only the very tough-minded are not taken in by a very plausible hoax. When other luminaries were persuaded by the authenticity of Macpherson's "Ossian," supposedly translated from Scotch-Gaelic, Samuel Johnson stood firm in his refusal (and he did not even know the ancient language).

[Andrew]

I think it's a calumny on our species that in the history of this planet, we've produced a risible seven wonders a long time ago, and this followed by seven less known more recent ones. Fourteen wonders? Pathetic. Now we're trying to boost the numbers with dodgy skeletons, is it? Real or not, a skeleton a wonder of the world? Think of it:
"And here's the hundred and fifty first thousandth wonder of the world."
"It's another f*****g skeleton, isn't it?"
"Emm...yes."