Pulling the plug
WE LAST featured veteran British TV presenter and positivity philosopher Noel Edmonds on these pages when he was singing the virtues of the EMPpad, a computerised yoga mat that promises to recalibrate your electromagnetic fields, and shield you from the dangers of electrosmog (22 August 2015).
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This time the Deal or No Deal host has gone further, tweeting a glowing review of the device, which he claimed was 鈥渁 simple box that slows ageing, reduces pain, lifts depression and stress and tackles cancer. Yep tackles cancer!鈥� Unfortunately, this only provoked many patients, cancer charities and scientists to direct their own negative energies at Edmonds.
鈥淎 2000 year old, 10 kilogram lump of butter has been found in a bog in County Meath, Ireland. , rather intriguingly, that the discovery is 鈥渘ot unusual鈥�.鈥�
Meanwhile, the osteopaths behind the EMPpad were positively unhappy with the press. 鈥淭he opinions of Mr Noel Edmonds are his alone,鈥� a glowering banner on their website now reads. 鈥淲e had no discussion, input or prior knowledge of the content of Mr Edmonds鈥� statement and we do not agree with it in any way, shape or form.鈥� Poor Edmonds. Maybe a few minutes on his EMPpad will dispel these negative vibes?
2972 feet square
CONFOUNDING Feedback鈥檚 ongoing examination of strange units of measurement, Richard Koskela writes with the news that Toronto鈥檚 major league baseball stadium, the Rogers Centre, proudly declares that 鈥�743 Indian elephants or 516 African elephants can comfortably fit on the鈥� field.鈥�
that can swing a bat, but Feedback must now include elephants as a unit of both weight and area. We wonder if there are any other units of measurement that serve two different dimensions. A yard of ale, perhaps?
Concealed papers
PREVIOUSLY, Rory Allen asked why UK passports are sent to their recipients with a square yellow label attached, and instructions to 鈥渞emove this label鈥� (4 June). Stephen Jorgenson-Murray suggests that the sticker 鈥渃ontains a mini-RFID tag to make sure that the passport gets sent to the right person.鈥� Though he admits this is strange, as modern UK passports already contain an RFID tag for automated border control booths.
Ian Chapple, however, thinks that the sticker 鈥渋s a shield that prevents the RFID chip in the newly issued passport from being read while the passport is in transit.鈥� Worryingly, Tom Roberts points to a stern warning on the page that 鈥渢ampering with a passport may constitute a criminal offence鈥�. To remove the sticker or not? Feedback thinks it best to avoid all risk and resign yourself to never leaving the country.
Beaver flavour
GUY ATCHINSON alerts us to the fact we have overlooked one of the best-known incongruously fragrant animals, namely the North American beaver, whose anal glands boast a delicious vanilla aroma. The chemical responsible, castoreum, has been variously used as a food additive, medicine and perfume 鈥� though only the latter in any significant amounts these days.
Rana-rama
IMPROBABLE research supremo Marc Abrahams reminds us that the 2005 Ig Nobel Prize for biology was awarded to five researchers 鈥渇or painstakingly smelling and cataloguing the peculiar odours produced by 131 different species of frogs when stressed鈥� ().
Offshore taxes
ANOMALOUS entities have been spotted hovering above the tax collector building in Tallahassee, Florida. This news comes from Thunder Energies, the same folks whose previous discovery of aliens in blurry, abstract images were chronicled by the Daily Express science reporter Jon Austin (10 February).
Is something evil under way? Or are the 鈥渁nomalous entities鈥� merely submitting some tax paperwork? A cautious Feedback is scouring our filing system for tinfoil hats.
Tea test
A KITCHEN sink drama: where do missing teaspoons go (28 May)? Wes Black reports that when he worked at the Burnet Institute in Australia, all the teaspoons were numbered. It turns out this was part of a 鈥渓ongitudinal cohort study of the displacement of teaspoons鈥�.
in the BMJ in 2005, it determined the half-life of teaspoons was 81 days, though this dropped to 42 days for those kept in communal break rooms. 鈥淎t this rate,鈥� the authors conclude, 鈥渁n estimated 250 teaspoons would need to be purchased annually to maintain a practical institute-wide population of 70 teaspoons.鈥�
Diaper diner
FROM the Department of Two Nations Divided by a Common Language, Eleanor Mayfield reports the existence of a catering and restaurant supply business located in the suburbs of Pittsburgh called . Feedback isn鈥檛 sure if this is exactly the kind of delivery we look forward to.
Clocking off time
A POSTER spotted by John Cleveland declares 鈥淣ow hiring. Flexible hours鈥�. He wonders if the company is warping space-time. Feedback can think of many menial jobs we held in our youth where time seemed to drag; perhaps the tedium of the Swiss Patent Office led to a similar revelation?