Chatting with multiverse
READERS of a certain age will recall the televised adventures of Dr Sam Beckett, a physicist forced to hop through time 鈥渢o put right what once went wrong鈥� in the series Quantum Leap. Fans will be thrilled to hear that US mystic Burt Goldman is offering a master class in Quantum Jumping, a similar technique that offers students 鈥渁 universe of infinite possibilities鈥�.
Quantum Jumping gives you the chance to put right what once went wrong in your own life, by tapping into the accumulated wisdom of the many alternative versions of yourself living in the multiverse. Goldman says this wisdom rests in your subconscious, so there鈥檚 no need to run the risk of climbing into a malfunctioning time machine like Beckett did.
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Feedback can鈥檛 help but wonder if there really were infinite versions of us 鈥渨anting to connect鈥�, it could be to ask advice instead of offer it. What if we are already living in the best of all possible worlds? .
鈥淲hile searching for information about sleep apnoea, Jeffrey Noel Ethridge discovered eminently qualified expert Dr Farkas in New York 鈥� first name Gaspar鈥�
Freshly aged
CHRIS SMITH finds food for thought in a block of Anchor mature cheddar. On the one hand, the packaging鈥檚 boast that it is 鈥淪lowly Matured / Since 1886鈥� may be more than he bargained for. Yet the packet also provides a zip-seal to 鈥渓ock in the freshness鈥�.
Chris wonders 鈥渨hat criteria are used to decide when it is mature enough for sale, but hasn鈥檛 lost its freshness?鈥�
Sour grapes
RESIDENTS of Bristol, UK, are kicking up a stink over the city council鈥檚 decision to use vinegar to control weeds, reports John Pidgeon.
The pungent herbicide was selected after environmentalists campaigned against the use of glyphosate and .
But a trial run of the alternative has prompted complaints that corners of the city now smell like a fish and chip shop. The delicious smell of success?
Touching down
JOHN WARD is keeping one eye on the skies after receiving an email from the travel planning site Orbitz that told him 鈥淔lights to San Diego are dropping鈥�.
鈥淪hould I dig an underground shelter?鈥� worries John. 鈥淚 know I won鈥檛 be flying into or out of San Diego airport until this situation is remedied.鈥� However, Feedback thinks that boarding a flight that never dropped might prove tricky.
Floating an idea
PREVIOUSLY the Helen as a unit of beauty was recalled by Andrew Harper, with the more practical subunit of the milli-Helen, defined as the amount of beauty necessary to launch a single ship (23 April).
Brennan Wilson writes that the expression dates back to at least 1958. When his sister Helen was christened, his grandfather Malcolm 鈥渃racked 鈥� or repeated 鈥� the joke that a milli-Helen was all that could be wished for in any individual case.鈥�
Brennan adds that 鈥渕y own sister has undoubtedly lived up to expectations, as she has competed in the Irish national dinghy sailing team, and has thus launched a number of ships or boats.鈥�
Dial Hn for beauty
MEANWHILE, Richard Mellish is more concerned with the correct use of the unit. 鈥淎lthough it is obviously not an SI unit, the same conventions should apply, so it should be helen, not Helen鈥� he attests. This however throws up the problem of competing standards, 鈥渨ith H already being used for henry, the unit of inductance鈥�.
How about Hn, offers Richard, 鈥済iven the precedent of a few SI units already having more than one letter?鈥�
Sinking feeling
鈥淲ITH a small sense of shame and no little cringing embarrassment,鈥� writes Bryn Glover, 鈥淚 have to confess that we schoolboys in the late 1950s did indeed use the milli-Helen as the unit of choice to rate the desirability of members of the opposite sex.鈥�
鈥淪hame on us,鈥� admits Glover, 鈥渂ut we were only spotty adolescents鈥�.
To Helen back
IN FACT, the phrase appears to have provenance in our own magazine, as Stuart Butler notes, where a similar discussion occurred on the letters pages almost 60 years ago (). Feedback apologises to any long-term subscribers left feeling short-changed by this recycling of content.
And finally, we must credit David Morgan-Mar鈥檚 2005 observation that while it crops up with some frequency, the milli-Helen is an irregular unit, with David arguing 鈥測ou can鈥檛 mix metric prefixes with Troy units like that.鈥�
Machine overboard
of The Mind Club recounts the anecdote of Descartes having a mechanical copy of his deceased daughter made, only to see her thrown overboard by the crew during a sea voyage (April 23, p 44).
Craig Gaston wonders if the philosopher was prompted to exclaim 鈥淪he sinks, therefore she is not鈥�.
A lot of bottle
PREVIOUSLY Feedback wondered about the capacity of a 750 ML wine bottle 鈥� that is, 750 mega-litres (19 March). Having done the maths, Charles Daniels says this 鈥渢urns out to be almost the size of the Empire State Building, whose shape is a bit like a wine bottle. Perhaps Godzilla could be the sommelier?鈥�