28 August 2013

Not an urban legen: just an on-line editor

Click on the picture below, read it and then proceed to the post.


When you read the first few lines of the WaPo article, it is not difficult to understand that the main participants of the story are: a monitor lizard, police officer that shoot it, police Lt. Michael T. Finkelstein and a resident that called 911.

Wouldn't you assume that the picture, seemingly attached to the article, should depict one of the four heroes of that article? Using the elimination method, one can easily conclude that a) this is not a monitor lizard, since the latter usually locomotes on all four; b) it is not a patrolman, since no mere patrolman will allow himself to appear on a photoshoot out of his uniform; c) this could hardly be the anonymous 911 caller, they are usually too shy to appear in newspapers.

So the picture is obviously of the somewhat eccentric Lt. Michael T. Finkelstein... Right?

No, because only after wasting your precious time on that superbly executed logical exercise, you notice the words: Photos of the day under the picture and realize that the picture, after all, doesn't have anything to do with the article.

Now, if you try to match the picture to the following text that offers a few possibilities: Syria agrees to..., Mubarak on trial, Yosemite fires, March on Washington..., you shall find yourself facing the same conundrum as before. No match, right? Unless March on Washington... nah.

So, all things considered, I prefer the eccentric Lt. Michael T. Finkelstein version. The least damaging to my sanity, I say.

I am, probably, going to raise myself a monitor lizard, training it from scratch. When it grows to the length of 8 feet, I shall take it to visit the WaPo building in search for the people responsible for the design of that page. Then we shall see...

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