http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/ The Magazine's recommended daily allowance of news, culture and your letters. en Copyright 2009 Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:50:58 +0000 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=4.1 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Welcome to the Weekly Bonus Question. Each week the news quiz 7 days 7 questions will offer an answer. You are invited to suggest what the question might have been. Suggestions should be sent using the COMMENTS BOX IN THIS ENTRY. And since nobody likes a smart alec, kudos will be deducted for predictability in your suggestions. This week's answer is A FOX OR A DOG. But what's the question? http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/07/weekly_bonus_question_11.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/07/weekly_bonus_question_11.shtml Housekeeping Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:50:58 +0000 Welcome to the Weekly Bonus Question. Each week the news quiz 7 days 7 questions will offer an answer. You are invited to suggest what the question might have been. Suggestions should be sent using the COMMENTS BOX IN THIS ENTRY. And since nobody likes a smart alec, kudos will be deducted for predictability in your suggestions. This week's answer is A SINGLE PENNY FROM 1982. UPDATE 1607 BST: The correct question is, what was inside a stolen wallet found 27 years later in a Central Park tree trunk. More details (Daily Telegraph) http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/07/weekly_bonus_question_10.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/07/weekly_bonus_question_10.shtml Housekeeping Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:30:15 +0000 Welcome to the Weekly Bonus Question. Each week the news quiz 7 days 7 questions will offer an answer. You are invited to suggest what the question might have been. Suggestions should be sent using the COMMENTS BOX IN THIS ENTRY. And since nobody likes a smart alec, kudos will be deducted for predictability in your suggestions. This week's answer is DOUBLING AS SAUNAS. UPDATE 1800 BST: The correct question is, what have London buses been doing this week because drivers have been stopped from turning off the heaters during the heatwave? http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/07/weekly_bonus_question_9.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/07/weekly_bonus_question_9.shtml Housekeeping Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:52:25 +0000 Welcome to the Weekly Bonus Question. Each week the news quiz 7 days 7 questions will offer an answer. You are invited to suggest what the question might have been. Suggestions should be sent using the COMMENTS BOX IN THIS ENTRY. And since nobody likes a smart alec, kudos will be deducted for predictability in your suggestions. This week's answer is POPPY PADDOCKS. UPDATE, 1750 BST: The correct answer is this is where wallabies have been making crop circles, after eating opium poppies and then hopping around "as high as a kite". http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/06/weekly_bonus_question_8.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/06/weekly_bonus_question_8.shtml Housekeeping Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:28:23 +0000 Of all the subjects in the school curriculum, English literature is perhaps the hardest to test. Why? Because answers are frequently up for discussion. While doing today's Magazine GCSE English test may instantly transport you back to a stuffy school hall on a sunny June afternoon, one key difference is there's no room in our online quiz to discuss and elaborate on your answers... until you landed on this page. Use the comment box at the bottom of this post to discuss the answers to our quiz - it could mean the difference between an A and an A*. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/06/discuss_our_english_quiz.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/06/discuss_our_english_quiz.shtml Housekeeping Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:54:37 +0000 Welcome to the Weekly Bonus Question. Each week the news quiz 7 days 7 questions will offer an answer. You are invited to suggest what the question might have been. Suggestions should be sent using the COMMENTS link below. And since nobody likes a smart alec, kudos will be deducted for predictability in your suggestions. This week's answer is A WONKY JAW. UPDATE, 1605 BST: The correct answer - what was one of the identifying marks on a cat which went missing from a vet's surgery in Cheltenham (and which the vet distributed 20,000 posters trying to find). http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/06/weekly_bonus_question_7.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/06/weekly_bonus_question_7.shtml Housekeeping Fri, 19 Jun 2009 09:15:35 +0000 Welcome to the Weekly Bonus Question. Each week the news quiz 7 days 7 questions will offer an answer. You are invited to suggest what the question might have been. Suggestions should be sent using the COMMENTS link below. And since nobody likes a smart alec, kudos will be deducted for predictability in your suggestions. This week's answer is JAI HO! UPDATE, 16.47 BST: The correct answer is, what is the 999,999th word recorded by The Global Language Monitor. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/06/weekly_bonus_question_6.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/06/weekly_bonus_question_6.shtml Housekeeping Fri, 12 Jun 2009 10:26:56 +0000 Is eating children worse than tucking into a fry-up? Having set out this philosophical conundrum in his most recent column, David Bain responds to a selection of readers' comments: This month's Brain Strain concerned the fictional Mr Cronus who, like his Titan namesake, kills and eats newborns. Only two centuries ago, remember, some thought it was okay to enslave one group of sentient beings (black people) but not another (white people). Yet none of them could cite a difference justifying their contrasting attitudes. Many of this month's contributors face a parallel challenge. They think that it's okay to kill for food one group of sentient beings (pigs) but not another (human newborns). Are there differences they can cite to justify these contrasting attitudes? Some said it's riskier to eat humans than pigs. But sky diving is riskier than golf yet no less permissible. Nor do we (unlike Eskimos) need to eat any meat. We're only after the taste. But taste is just the point, says DisgustedofMitchum, who tells us, with slightly alarming authority, that newborns don't taste as good as bacon. But they do to Mr Cronus, and remember it's his actions that were at issue. Squaremind mentions the afterlife. But, as Naomith asks, if only humans have an afterlife, isn't that a reason to be more careful of pigs' lives, not less? But some will say that God allows us to eat pigs, but doesn't want us to eat newborns. But it's hard to tell what God wants without first deciding what he should want. Hence we're back where we started, looking for justifications of contrasting attitudes. BlackIsleJag and others invoke more human purposes. Pigs are bred and farmed in order to be killed and eaten. They owe us their lives. But (as HappyHippyMabel suggests) think how this argument plays out in other cases. Was slavery less bad in the case of slaves born into it? Would you be happier with Mr Cronus if he "bred" newborns to eat? If God's no help, what about Darwin? Eating newborns, some readers who left comments warned, would threaten the species. But not, surely, if it were properly managed. Perhaps the idea is that natural selection is responsible for the widespread urge to eat meat but not humans. But urges are neither permissions nor obligations. That many feel an urge not to copulate with their own sex doesn't make it wrong for homosexuals to do so. PerfectCookieJar reminds us that our species has evolved so that most of its adult members are self-conscious, highly intelligent, and future-oriented. But, remember, some humans lack these features. Tragically, as a result of the most profound brain damage, a few will never have them. The Cronus challenge is about them. But they are not "them" but "us", some will say. They'll suggest we have special obligations to our immediate families simply because family members are "us"; and they'll extend some similar moral notion of "us" to all humans, but not to pigs. But the worry with such strategies is avoiding brute tribalism, avoiding leaving an open door for racists or sexists to justify discrimination by deciding that the relevant "us" is actually whites or men. Suppose, finally, that the challenge we've been grappling with, of justifying killing pigs and not (orphaned) newborns, cannot be met. That would leave two options: that killing either is permissible, or (as Smallrabbit and other vegetarians claim) that killing neither is. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/06/david_bains_brain_strain_refra.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/06/david_bains_brain_strain_refra.shtml Housekeeping Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:22:02 +0000 Dear friends Public service announcement follows. It's now easy to follow the Magazine elsewhere. To follow us on Facebook, click here (and then click on the words "Become a fan"). To follow us on Twitter, click here (and then click on the word "Follow"). But please don't have nightmares. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/06/dear_friends_repeat.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/06/dear_friends_repeat.shtml Housekeeping Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:58:30 +0000 Welcome to David Bain's Brain Strain - a forum for Monitor readers to debate philosophical matters and, in so doing, find a worthy distraction from the demands of the workplace. Last month, he asked when does the Cutty Sark stop being the Cutty Sark? The month he's on to cannibalism. Read on and then add your thoughts to the debate using the comments form. Remember, this is philosophy - there IS no right or wrong answer. (The brain strainer will read all your comments before, in a couple of days, returning to offer his thoughts on the debate.) UPDATE, 10 JUNE: Read David Bain's responses here. Shocking breakfast news: a certain Mr Cronus has been killing and eating human newborns for snacks. To take our minds off it, we focus on our bacon and eggs. But is bacon the right comfort food? Think about why we're outraged. It turns out that Mr Cronus kills only orphans, and does so painlessly. But, even so, his victims were living beings, sentient and innocent. Killing them for snacks is obviously and seriously wrong. Fair enough. But pigs were killed for our breakfast. And they're living beings, sentient and innocent. So some fancy footwork looks to be required if we're not to be hoist over the breakfast table by our own petards. Not very fancy, you might say. There's an obvious difference: the newborns were humans, the pigs not. But that can look as unpromising as the following: "It's worse to kill white people than black people because white people are white and black people not." If colour differences aren't important, why are species differences? Because, you might reply, species differences correlate with other differences. We humans are smarter than pigs. We're self-aware. We anticipate our futures and engage in long-term projects. So, when killed, we're harmed in ways pigs can't be. But even if that's true of you and me, what about the newborns Mr Cronus was snacking on? Pigs are more intelligent than dogs and perform impressively in many cognitive tests. They wouldn't give you or me a run for our money, but they would a newborn. Yes, you might say, but newborns will develop into people more intelligent, self-aware, and future-oriented than pigs. True, and so will foetuses. But why is such potential relevant before it's realised? Perhaps there's a good answer to that. But even if potential is relevant, what about those newborns who sadly lack it? If Mr Cronus killed only them, would that be okay? And, if not, isn't it equally wrong to kill pigs for bacon? David Bain is a lecturer in the philosophy department of the University of Glasgow. Find out more about him by clicking here. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/06/david_bains_brain_strain_1.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/06/david_bains_brain_strain_1.shtml Housekeeping Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:49:36 +0000 Welcome to the Weekly Bonus Question. Each week the news quiz 7 days 7 questions will offer an answer. You are invited to suggest what the question might have been. Suggestions should be sent using the COMMENTS link below. And since nobody likes a smart alec, kudos will be deducted for predictability in your suggestions. This week's answer is FOLLOWED IN A LORRY ON THE FIRST PUB OUTING. UPDATE 1620 BST: The correct question is... What did Bill Turner's wife, Tracy, do when he took his zebra for a drink? http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/06/weekly_bonus_question_5.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/06/weekly_bonus_question_5.shtml Housekeeping Fri, 05 Jun 2009 09:28:57 +0000 Dear friends Public service announcement follows. It's now easy to follow the Magazine elsewhere. To follow us on Facebook, click here (and then click on the words "Become a fan"). To follow us on Twitter, click here (and then click on the word "Follow"). But please don't have nightmares. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/06/dear_friends.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/06/dear_friends.shtml Housekeeping Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:25:00 +0000 Welcome to the Weekly Bonus Question. Each week the news quiz 7 days 7 questions will offer an answer. You are invited to suggest what the question might have been. Suggestions should be sent using the COMMENTS link below. And since nobody likes a smart alec, kudos will be deducted for predictability in your suggestions. This week's answer is SPRING LOADED BOX TRAPS. The real question will be added here on Friday afternoon. UPDATE 1735 BST: The correct question is... What does grey squirrel hunter Paul Parker use to catch his prey. More details (the Guardian) http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/05/weekly_bonus_question_4.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/05/weekly_bonus_question_4.shtml Housekeeping Fri, 29 May 2009 11:06:54 +0000 Welcome to the Weekly Bonus Question. Each week the news quiz 7 days 7 questions will offer an answer. You are invited to suggest what the question might have been. Suggestions should be sent using the COMMENTS link below. And since nobody likes a smart alec, kudos will be deducted for predictability in your suggestions. This week's answer is GREY, KHAKI AND SEPIA. The real question will be added here on Friday afternoon. UPDATE 1705 BST: The correct question is... In what shades did film director McG shoot his new movie Terminator Salvation? http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/05/weekly_bonus_question_3.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/05/weekly_bonus_question_3.shtml Housekeeping Fri, 22 May 2009 11:25:13 +0000 Welcome to the Weekly Bonus Question. Each week the news quiz 7 days 7 questions will offer an answer. You are invited to suggest what the question might have been. Suggestions should be sent using the COMMENTS link below. And since nobody likes a smart alec, kudos will be deducted for predictability in your suggestions. This week's answer is ONE POUND OVER. The real question will be added here on Friday afternoon. UPDATE: The answer is that a boy of five has been dubbed too fat by health officials because he is one pound over his ideal weight. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/05/weekly_bonus_question_2.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/05/weekly_bonus_question_2.shtml Housekeeping Fri, 15 May 2009 09:20:29 +0000