WONDERING whether to plan a day outdoors, reader Chris Shaw went, as one does
these days, to the BBC鈥檚 weather website at www.bbc.co.uk/weather. He was a
little alarmed to read that the outlook for the west of England and Scotland and
the whole of Wales and Ireland included 鈥渟unny spells鈥�.
The overnight outlook, that is. 鈥淚 had been planning to get some sleep
tonight,鈥� he wrote at 01.46 am on 3 September, 鈥渂ut in view of the sunny
intervals, I think I鈥檒l top up my fading tan.鈥� You can see proof that they did
say that鈥攐r, this being the wicked Web, that Chris knows a very good
digital faker鈥攁t www.chrisshaw.co.uk/ britainsummary.jpg.
LIKE MANY companies, the BBC likes to put confidentiality clauses on the
faxes it sends out. Reader Paul Gorton received a misdirected fax from the
corporation recently. At the bottom in bold type, it stated: 鈥淐onfidentiality:
This is a private facsimile transmission for the named recipient only. If you
are not the named recipient, you must not read, copy or use the contents, or
disclose them to any other person, and should please notify the sender
immediately by telephone that you have received the transmission in error.鈥�
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Gorton points out that he normally reads from the top of a page to the
bottom. So he had disobeyed the warning before he reached it. What鈥檚 more, he
had to read all the way through before he found who the sender was. So, sorry
BBC.
YOU DON鈥橳 GET a 鈥渢rue scientific breakthrough鈥� every day, so it was with
mounting excitement that we read the Penta Water website
www.pentawater.net/pages/what_is.html.
Water forms large clusters of H2O molecules, the site says, and we
can鈥檛 argue so far. These clusters apparently have to be broken down by the
cells in our body to make use of the water, but as we get older this breakdown
process, well, breaks down.
Now the breakthrough bit. Bio-Hydration, the company behind Penta Water, has
developed a process that 鈥渞estructures the large molecular formations usually
found in nature into the less common small clusters鈥�. This increases the
clusters鈥� ability to hydrate our cells. The process is accomplished by means of
advanced physics, without the use of any chemicals or additives, so it must be
good.
鈥淭he result is Penta-hydratetm [sic], a water like none other.鈥� We are
astounded, having lived under the delusion that the highly transient nature of
the hydrogen bonds that link individual molecules of H2O offers no
serious barrier to the absorption of water by our cells.
The invention of Penta-hydrate must be a breakthrough: it will apparently
reduce stress, improve physical and mental performance, and reduce free radical
damage. Moreover, 鈥淭here are no limits to how many bottles you can drink each
day鈥� and 鈥淚t鈥檚 best to drink the whole bottle at one time鈥�, at $45 for 24
half-litre bottles, plus $9.95 shipping within the US.
We wonder how closely this breakthrough material is related to that 1960s
favourite, 鈥減olywater鈥�, and the processes involved in cold fusion.
READER David Moore recently joined The Camping and Caravanning Club, and duly
received the 鈥渘ew members鈥� package, which included a catalogue of items he might
want to purchase. One of these was a Pir intruder alarm, which, according to the
catalogue, has adjustable sensitivity detecting 鈥渦p to 7.5 mm鈥�.
That鈥檚 as much use as a chocolate teapot, unless you carpet your caravan with
about 10,000 of these gizmos. Then you鈥檒l have a fair chance of detecting a
burglar鈥攎ostly by the sound of crunching alarms underfoot.
DUE credit to the designers of the IBM Compact Flash Microdrive, the
ultra-miniature hard drive for digital cameras. The packaging tells us that it
鈥渨ithstands a shock of 1500G鈥�.
This is an enormous shock, so the drive must be tough indeed. Or is it? In
the instruction manual for the drive, we are advised: 鈥淲arning鈥攄o not
诲谤辞辫.鈥�
Where from? The top of the Empire State building?
DIGITAL formats like CD and DVD have killed off the vinyl disc, right? Wrong.
Or so Feedback recently learned from one of Britain鈥檚 most respected cutting
engineers, who transfers music from tape to grooved LP disc with a diamond
cutting lathe.
One thing digital technology still cannot provide is the hands-on feel that
DJs need to mix, match, preview and 鈥渟cratch鈥� grooved records with a mechanical
pickup live in cutting-edge dance clubs.
So there are now more lathes in London than ever, our engineer tells us,
around 45 in all.
TUFF STUFF CARPETS from Natco are, according to the label, made with 鈥�100 per
cent undetermined fibre鈥�. How do they know?
THERE WERE two warning labels on the 鈥淟acing Fun鈥擠eluxe beads鈥� set that
was given to reader Stuart Corney鈥檚 daughter for her fourth birthday. On the top
of the packet on the left-hand side was a standard age indicator for toys, which
said 鈥淔or ages 4 and up鈥�. And on the right-hand side was a sign that said:
鈥淲arning. Choking hazard鈥擲mall parts. Not for children under 8 years.鈥�
Corney has been in a quandary ever since. Is it safe to let his daughter play
with the set, should he wait until she is eight, or should he go for the average
and wait until six?
A COUPLE of weeks ago we reported on the Queensland state government press
release that promised 鈥淓 for Everyone鈥�
(25 August).
On similar lines, we鈥檝e just come across a headline that appeared in the May issue
of Chemistry in Britain: 鈥淟ords call for speed in cannabis trials鈥�.
FINALLY, another example of Feedback鈥檚 uncanny power to exercise a
synergistic influence on the course of events. On 4 August we ran an item
mentioning how Paul Robeson used to give concerts down the telephone when he was
banned from leaving the US in the 1950s. Three weeks later, leading indie rock
band Manic Street Preachers released their new single鈥擫et Robeson
Sing.