We’re in the Summer News Doldrums Now…

When this is the main Yahoo headline, get ready for just about anything to show up in the news.

Octopus picks winner for World Cup!

Parakeet begs to differ!

I’ll spoil it for you, the mollusk picked Spain while the bird went for the Netherlands.  If you want the arcana on how they choose, you’ll have to read the articles.  Both of these animals have picked winners correctly in the past, but now one of them will have their reputation destroyed, while the other will appear with Jay Leno in an attempt to help him get the Tonight Show ratings back up.

Sure, yesterday Yahoo sank down to the whole Real ID thing with their usual eye for accuracy.  For example, spot at least two errors in this boilerplate at the end of the article.

World of Warcraft, which was launched in 2004, is the most popular multiplayer online role-playing game with more than 11 million monthly subscribers.

But today?

Today animals predict the outcome of a soccer game!

Meanwhile, NASA is looking into the balls being used for World Cup play.

Hey, NASA, if you want to look into something about soccer, how about figuring out a way to break a tie without that whole crappy penalty shoot-off.  Or just suggest some technologies that FIFA could look into to help them make a few less egregiously bad official calls.

Or, hey, here’s a novel idea… do something related to outer space.  The “S” in NASA stands for “Space,” not “soccer.”

Still, if you feel you have to ride along on the World Cup’s coat tails, at least tells us about what kind of reception they get in the International Space Station or throw out some theories to explain the apparent fascination cephalopods and psittacines have for the game.

(There are your vocabulary words for the day.)

What will tomorrow bring?

53 thoughts on “We’re in the Summer News Doldrums Now…”

  1. spinks

    You think that’s bad? The octopus was born in britain and therefore is on ALL the news here too (it’s like the nearest we have to a world cup winner :) )

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  3. natinanorton

    “Or, hey, here’s a novel idea… do something related to outer space. The ‘S’ in NASA stands for ‘Space,’ not ‘soccer.'”

    Here here!

    First we had 11 MILLION monthly World of Warcraft subscribers, now octopus and parakeets are picking winners in sport? At least we can rest easy knowing humans were crazy BEFORE the World Cup came along. :)

    Natina

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  9. Lulu

    perhaps the German team got affected by his pick~
    We’ll see whether Paul is correct again this time.

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  22. custompaperpoint

    i observe that octopus always select (our) right hand side team or box. what its mean ?

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  27. mostlymath

    That octopus is getting eaten if it’s wrong about the final, it’s already made a few enemies along the way. The fryer and batter might be in order. I always like the quirky stuff NASA do, and with the massive cuts in funding heading their way they’ll be looking for things to keep themselves busy.

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  33. Colin L Beadon

    I’m convinced animals, insects and plants, are way more intelligent than humans. They never screwed up or polluted Earth in any way. What has, in the long run, our intelligence really given us, or the Earth?
    Pollution, wars, coming energy depletion, over population, semi starvation in half the world, wars again, pollution, and the inability to love those who look different, pry to other Gods, seek other goals that don’t seem to fit the way we live.

    Like

  34. historyP.I.

    Who names their octopus Paul. Seriously. I think the article was just a way to generate interest in the World Cup after a string of bad referee calls. This year the World Cup is just nuts. Also, NASA is always complaining how they don’t have enough money to fund space travel but here they are spending their money on soccer balls. Anyways, good to know people are paying attention to the news.
    http://greathistoricalmoments.wordpress.com/

    Like

  39. Jessica Y.

    They’re probably hoaxes, but I must say they’ve been awfully lucky – with soccer, that is. :)
    Yeah, NASA has enough to concentrate on. They must be huge soccer fans, looking at teeny soccer balls instead of those huge, FASCINATING planets. :D

    Like

  40. SKS Joy

    ha..ha..ha.. it is really a cheering criticism on current World Cup. The drama or story (whatever you name it) octopus Paul is ending today.
    It is just a matter of time. We can see with our own eyes.

    Like

  41. mamansherman

    It’s really stupid to believe octopus can foresee the result of the match. It’s just a coincidence

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  42. Ron-Yves Strouteau

    In regards to breaking the tie without the use of penalty shot—How about having an expanding net that slowly gets wider and taller as overtime drags on? That would be fantastic…

    Also, a soccer overtime session isn’t even sudden-death—that’s absurd right? When you’re an hour and forty minutes into the game and someone scores—that shit should be over instantly…

    Still waiting for someone to score in the final—zzzzzzz….

    Like

  44. Debbie

    LOL good article. But you know they can’t report on the huge important things like it raining oil down south, or 500 other things more pressing than where an octopus chooses to sit.
    But I have to admit I’ve always thought octopi were interesting to watch. LOL! I’d rather watch an octopus than soccer. ;)

    http://www.DorkyDeb.com

    Like

  45. sayitinasong

    Well, Spain won. That octopus has just bought a ticket for life out of the calamari frying pan….

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  47. Varsha

    seriously…these days, the FIFA seems to be more about superstitions than the actual games. We have Paul, and the “cursed” Nike advertisement, and the unlucky press meeting authorized by Maradona…The only thing that’s going to come out of all this is proper preservation of Paul and probably more food (and why are they fighting to know where he came from? Come on!!!)

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  48. beachblogger

    Just goes to prove, octopuses are very intelligent. They can open jars and escape captivity too, outwitting humans every time. I think they’re just as newsworthy as a bunch of sweaty men heaving a leather ball around a field …

    Like

  50. Suraj

    Really FiFa FiFa FiFa everywhere.

    I like it, we like it. All like it……………..

    It becomes greatly enjoying when animal comes to choose soccer winner………………..

    new concept………….

    Like

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