Flirt with science: the Feedback competition 2007
ROMANCE. SEDUCTION. SCIENCE. These are the themes of this year鈥檚 Feedback end-of-the-year competition. Imagine meeting the person of your dreams at a festive season party. Your eyes meet across the crowded room. It is your moment to seduce with science. What would your science-related chat-up line be?
You may submit more than one entry. All entries must reach us by Monday 3 December 2007 and should be no longer than 30 words each. Send entries by post to: 快猫短视频 Feedback Competition, Lacon House, 84 Theobald鈥檚 Road, London WC1X 8NS, or by email to: feedback@newscientist.com 鈥� please write 鈥渃ompetition鈥� in the subject line 鈥� or enter online at www.newscientist.com/feedbackcomp.
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Ten lucky winners will each receive a 快猫短视频 goody bag consisting of: one 128-megabyte USB stick, a set of the three 快猫短视频 best-selling books (How to Fossilise Your Hamster, Why Don鈥檛 Penguins鈥� Feet Freeze? and Does Anything Eat Wasps?) plus a fabulous 快猫短视频 bag (vibrant blue on the outside with a zingy red lining, a zipped pocket under the main flap and an internal pocket to secure your laptop).
The results will be published in the 22/29 December issue of 快猫短视频. The editor鈥檚 decision is final.
鈥淩oger Henry was surprised to learn from a downloadable leaflet on the website of insecticide manufacturer that: 鈥淔lies start to breed within 48 hours of completing their life cycle鈥�
IT MUST have seemed like a good idea at the time when Nokia let journalists into its R&D centre at Oulu in the north of Finland last month. The hacks were lent the latest Nokia multimedia phones and encouraged to send text messages with questions and comments for real-time display on a giant screen during speeches by head tech guru Tero Ojanpera and his engineers.
Before long the screen had taken on a life of its own, as the audience began using it as a communal message board.
鈥淚 slept through the last speech,鈥� wrote one.
鈥淵es, so did I, and I dreamed I saw Elvis.鈥�
鈥淣o, Elvis has already left the building.鈥�
鈥淲as he using a Nokia phone?鈥�
鈥淣o. Motorola.鈥�
鈥淵ou are reminded not to use forbidden words.鈥�
鈥淥K, but can the moderator please put up a list of words that are forbidden?鈥�
鈥淪amsung, Sony.鈥�
鈥淎pple. iPhone.鈥�
鈥淪teve Jobs鈥︹��
From there it was downhill all the way until Ojanpera had to admit to one of his speakers that 鈥減eople seem more interested in what鈥檚 on the screen behind you than what you are saying鈥�.
Afterwards a Nokia person confided to a Feedback colleague who attended the meeting: 鈥淲e used the system for an internal meeting last week, and all the questions and comments were very sensible. We were surprised at how different it was today.鈥�
Our colleague politely pointed out that Nokia鈥檚 employees would have been using their own phones, so their comments would have been instantly traceable. The visiting journalists were on borrowed phones, so their comments were anonymous.
We suspect there are staff all over the world who wish they could do the same thing during their bosses鈥� speeches.
Impossible-to-fulfil instruction
WHILE he was looking for an updating tool on the Avast antivirus website, Felix Faber came across this curious, : 鈥淧lease download the following file only if you really need it: (e.g. if your computer does not have any internet connection).鈥�
On similar circular lines, when Gareth Wolff was trying to access the internet via a wireless broadband connection, he got this message: 鈥淚f you want Windows to configure this wireless connection, start the Wireless Zero Configuration (WZC) service. For information about starting the WZC service, see article 871122 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base on the 飞别产蝉颈迟别.鈥�
WHEN Paul Deards walks into work, he is confronted by a road sign that instructs him to 鈥淭hink pedestrian鈥�. He self-deprecatingly tells us he is not the most creative of persons at the best of times, but says it鈥檚 quite a challenge to become really dull and unimaginative every time he sees the sign.
THE pot of Avalon Organics Daily Moisturiser that Linda Hatfield uses promises 鈥渨eightless hydration鈥� of her skin. She says she couldn鈥檛 quite get her head round this concept, so she decided to test it by experiment. Lo and behold, it turned out to be true. She weighed herself on her bathroom scales before and after putting the cream on her face and could see no difference in her weight. 鈥淗ow does the stuff stay in the pot?鈥� she asks in awe.
FINALLY, the subject line of an email received with a certain amount of surprise by our colleague Jeff Hecht last month told him: 鈥淭he Planetary Society congratulates China on launch of Moon.鈥� There was, however, an additional word in the sentence when he opened the email: 鈥淢ission.鈥�