Odds against James Bond鈥檚 survival
AS CAMP as a row of tents. That鈥檚 Feedback鈥檚 assessment of the James Bond film franchise. Why? Consider this: the transvestite road-movie epic The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert almost certainly contains far fewer flagrant challenges to the reality scientists know and love than any one Bond film does.
This is, we admit, a finger-in-the-wind assessment. But Feedback reader Gordon Stanger has the data at his fingertips. Last year he answered a question put to 快猫短视频鈥榮 The Last Word: 鈥淐an anybody calculate the odds of [Bond] not having taken a fatal hit over the past five decades?鈥� (5 May 2012). Now he has revised his response.
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鈥淎las,鈥� he writes, 鈥渢he most recent film, Skyfall, demands an update. The probability of Bond surviving at least 5026 shots (over the 23 films) are now so slim that the average calculator cannot handle such a small number. It鈥檚 in the vicinity of 1 in 10112 鈥� and that last number is many squintillion times the number of stars in the universe.鈥�
Returning to 鈥渟ensible鈥� numbers, Gordon reckons Bond has now survived 134 blatantly homicidal attacks and seen off at least 214 villains.
We suspect Gordon鈥檚 tongue is firmly in his cheek when he says: 鈥淚t鈥檚 good to see the franchise sticking to 鈥榬ealism鈥�!鈥�
Lynn Moffat sends us a photo of a sign in a hotel lift in Brazil that says: 鈥淲arning! Before entering the elevator, make sure it is on this floor鈥�
READER Richard Mallett is impressed by the capabilities of his Russell Hobbs microwave. As shown on page 14 of the instruction manual, the device can be set to operate at 0 per cent cooking power (see ).
鈥淚 have tested this,鈥� Richard says, 鈥渁nd I can confirm that the 0 per cent power mode actually works. I 鈥榟eated鈥� a cold glass of water for a minute and it remained cold.鈥�
He points out that the oven鈥檚 turntable still spins food around on this setting, but no microwave power is frivolously wasted on heating it up 鈥� thus saving on energy bills.
ONE of 快猫短视频鈥榮 US correspondents did a double-take when he checked the caller ID of an incoming phone call: it read 鈥淢arketing Fraud鈥� and listed a phone number in Las Vegas. He let the call go through to his voicemail, where the caller left a message promoting a 鈥渇ree listing鈥� with a famous search engine.
Our correspondent says: 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the first time I鈥檝e ever seen that degree of honest dishonesty.鈥�
LYING in the bath watching bubbles rising from leg-hairs led a friend of Feedback to idly muse on how beauty products are marketed using concepts such as 鈥渙xygenation鈥� and 鈥減urity鈥�. Was there, she wondered, a product out there that promoted its purity as coming from the depths of the sea?
A moment鈥檚 further thought about how it would be sold led to the idea of 鈥渄eep ocean balm鈥�, and after the bath the miracle of modern technology turned up .
This is apparently a 鈥渃ombination of glacier water, deep ocean water, hyaluronic acid, and aloe vera鈥�. It is priced at $32 for 50 millilitres, leading us to think the ocean water must have been hand-harvested by comely pearl divers.
But is deep-ocean water in fact full of life-giving purity?
Regular readers of 快猫短视频 may recall a recent mention of the importance to ocean ecosystems of the 鈥渂one-eating snot-flower worms鈥�, which thrive on whale carcasses in the deep (30 March, p 7). That just might give you pause.
READER Paul Adkin was feeling a bit under the weather, so his wife gave him a bottle of Source of Life multivitamin and mineral food supplement purchased at their local health food shop.
Examining the label, he was delighted to discover that it contained, among other things, 鈥溾��.
He had no idea whether this would be good for him or bad for him, but reports that 鈥渁t least it tastes like it should be doing me some good鈥�.
FINALLY, readers might be able to help Feedback solve a recursivity problem.
Catherine Walter writes from Oxfordshire in the UK asking for our advice on following her partner鈥檚 horoscope, published in her local newspaper, the Didcot Herald.
The horoscope read: 鈥淭hings don鈥檛 and can鈥檛 always go to plan, but as long as you keep your sense of right and wrong to the fore then your journey can be a good one. In fact, by trusting in your own instincts and not others鈥� advice you can put your life on a far better path this week.鈥�
Catherine wants to know whether or not her partner should trust this advice not to trust other people鈥檚 advice.