Issue 2 Identity

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I’m sure you’ve all heard of the WWF or the RSPCA, two very famous animal charities who fund and protect Pandas, Tigers and Leopards everywhere. But who looks after the Jumping Slugs, the Kakapos and even the Blob fish. There must be a charity for those creatures right? Correct! Luckily in October 2012 Biologist, writer and TV presenter Simon Watt started up the Ugly Animal Preservation Society. A society making people aware of those animals who go unnoticed and unloved. Recently an online vote was held to choose which of 11 ugly animals should be the society's global mascot. 11 election style presentations were given and after thousands of people had voted the winner was……….. The Blob fish! The society’s website is filled with funny and educational videos and to check it out go to: uglyanimalsoc.com. The Blob fish The blob fish is well, you’ve guessed it, a fish, specifically, a deep sea fish. This little guy is generally found in deep waters off the coasts of Australia and Tasmania. They are typically shorter than 30cm and are basically living jelly as their bodies are mainly a gelatinous mass, slightly less dense than water meaning they can float. Unfortunately scientists fear that they may become endangered because they die in deep sea fishing nets.
T he six degrees of separation is an idea claiming that everybody in the world is linked by at most six friends. It doesn’t matter if two people live in a different country, never have met or never will, because through six or less acquaintances, they are connected. Apparently. Does it seem a little complicated? Well, meet Paul and his best friend Paulo. Paul has another friend called Pauline, who has never met Paulo (don’t ask me why, perhaps Paul knows that Pauline likes Oasis and Paulo likes Blur, and thus obviously need to be kept apart). You’d think that Paulo and Pauline, having never met, would not be linked in any way. Because of their ties with Paul, this actually means they are separated by one degree. But ah, the plot continues, because Paulo has a friend called Paula, who has never met Pauline nor Paul! Ignoring the fact that everybody involved in this web of deceit, lies and Britpop are terrible friends, Paula is linked to Paul by one degree of separation (through Paulo) and to Pauline (through Paulo, then Paul) by two degrees. This fantastic theory was thought up by Frigyes Karinthy, a Hungarian author, poet and journalist, in 1929 in a short story called Chains. The six degrees concept was explored in the 1967 Small World experiments, lead by Stanley Milgram. The investigation looked at how many degrees on average people are linked. Letters about the experiments were posted to random members of the American public along with the name of another random person. If the recipient knew the person, they were instructed to post the letter to them. If not, then they were told to send it to another person who perhaps had more of a chance of knowing the person. The experiment was complicated by the fact that out of the 296 letters sent, 232 didn’t reach their destination, and this is put down to people not passing on their letters. The 64 letters that did reach their destinations showed that the average number of times the letter was passed on was in fact 5 or 6, proving Karinthy correct. However, the test was deemed unfair by Judith Kleinfeld, who argued that the ‘random’ people were actually chosen by the fact they considered themselves well connected. Also because it is more likely for a longer chain to be broken by an unwilling participant. People disputing the six degrees theory, calling it an ‘urban myth’ also say how isolated tribes who only interact within themselves quash the idea. Social networking and mutual online friends have broadened this theory into popular culture. It was calculated that everyone on Twitter is linked by 3.43 users on average. Although it may not be true worldwide, it’s still a pretty interesting idea, and something that does carry a little weight, in terms of less people.
Page 1: Here is issue 2 of Snippet magazine
Page 6 and 7: The Man Who Survived Ebola The dead
Page 8 and 9: Debate Nature vs. Nurture One of th
Page 11 and 12: A day in the Life of an identity-co
Page 13 and 14: We are mid-way through the newest s
Page 15 and 16: ger; nobody cared how he did it, as
Page 17 and 18: Launch 5/9/77 Launch 20/8/77 Voyage
Page 19: Could Why the you interrobang shoul
Page 23 and 24: Look out for the answers in the nex

Issue 2 Identity

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