A lot of bottle
NOT content with replacing vaccinations with juice cleanses, health devotees in the US have discovered a new way to challenge their immune systems: 鈥渞aw鈥� water. reports a boom in sales of untreated spring water, an apt product for the #nofilter generation of conscious consumers.
Companies such as Tourmaline Spring, Liquid Eden and Live Water are catering to these thirsty masses with water sourced directly from nature. That鈥檚 right, it has nothing added (such as fluorine) and nothing taken away (such as waterborne bacteria).
Advertisement
Chief among proponents, we hear, is entrepreneur Doug Evans, the man who tried to sell the world a $700 Wi-Fi-enabled juicing machine that squeezed a drink from pouches of chopped fruit and veg. Journalists discovered that wringing the pouches by hand worked just as well; the company collapsed soon after.
In a strange re-enactment of Red Cross fundraising adverts, desperate aficionados are trekking miles across California, jerry cans in hand, in their quest for untreated groundwater. Start setting your loose change aside: just 50 cents a day could save the life of a 40-something Silicon Valley executive with dysentery.
鈥淭he scale of the CPU security flaw affecting Intel chips (p 6) is illustrated by one name mooted for the patch fix: 鈥淔orcefully Unmap Complete Kernel With Interrupt Trampolines鈥濃��
Adding H to O
AND there鈥檚 more odd water about. Hot on the heels of the 鈥渕eat manufacturer鈥� in south London (16 December 2017), Will Kemp spies a manufacturer of water in South Australia.
鈥淭he label on my bottle of water claims it contains 鈥楢ustralian made natural spring water鈥�,鈥� he says. We trust it鈥檚 made without unwelcome additives.
Westminster鈥檚 safe space
UK SCIENCE and universities minister Jo Johnson has said that his new baby, the Office for Students, will have the power to fine universities for failing to uphold free speech. With a sharp sense of timing, Johnson waited until the nation鈥檚 academics had switched on their out-of-office autoreplies for the holiday season before breaking the news on 26 December.
In a speech at the Limmud Festival of learning in Birmingham, Johnson told the audience: 鈥淲orryingly in the UK, we have seen examples of groups seeking to stifle those who do not agree with them.鈥�
Whoever could he mean? Probably not his colleagues in Parliament, but in 2011 Johnson was among those who voted for the . This was memorable for including clauses to curtail protest in the public space opposite the Houses of Parliament, largely in response to the anti-war campaign of Brian Haw, who needled MPs鈥� consciences for a decade from his makeshift camp on the square.
The new law also dispensed with the requirement to include scientists on the UK鈥檚 Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. This followed the sacking of pharmacologist David Nutt for pointing out that ecstasy was no more dangerous than horse riding, a statistic the Home Office found rather inconvenient.
Johnson told his audience in Birmingham that 鈥測oung people should have the resilience and confidence to challenge controversial opinions and take part in open, frank and rigorous discussions鈥�. Maybe MPs could do the same?
Not the brightest spark
PREVIOUSLY Richard King noted the existence of 鈥淧ositively No Smoking鈥� signs in the fuel-filled hanger of a Royal Air Force base in Canada (16 December 2017). John Rogers tells us that this reminds him of a story his father recounted about an incident on board an aircraft carrier en route to North Africa in 1942. 鈥淢y father, an RAF Warrant Officer at the time, had the Royal Navy Officer of the Watch escorted off the aircraft deck under armed guard because the said officer had tried to inspect the deck accompanied by a sailor carrying a candle-lit horn lantern 鈥榖ecause Nelson did it鈥�.鈥�
Clandestine math
THE Pentagon claims that a list of information exempt from a freedom of information request is itself exempt from such a request (9 December 2017). 鈥淭hat means it is a set which contains itself as an element,鈥� says Ben Haller. 鈥淚鈥檓 a bit rusty on my set theory, but I think that means it ought to fall prey to Russell鈥檚 paradox, no?鈥�
He says the Pentagon should never have been allowed to construct this set in the first place, since it is in violation of the axiom of regularity. It would be helpful for everyone if the Pentagon and world leaders explained the axioms they are using. Might Feedback suggest Zermelo鈥揊raenkel set theory?
Away with the fairies
鈥淚 WAS very interested to read in Feedback that sightings of elves are on the increase,鈥� says John Orbea (23/30 December 2017).
He tells Feedback that quite a few years ago, as a young man of 18, he happened to look through an arch formed by a fallen oak in Epping Forest, which stretches from the edge of London. Here he was surprised to discover a portal into fairyland, through which he could see a number of elves going about their daily business.
鈥淭his may, I admit, be connected to the fact that I鈥檇 swallowed three tabs of very strong blotter acid about 4 hours earlier,鈥� says John.
鈥淚t鈥檚 fortunate that I retained the mental acuity not to crawl through the arch, otherwise I might still be there,鈥� he says. 鈥淎fter all, you never know, do you?鈥�
You can send stories to Feedback by email at feedback@newscientist.com. Please include your home address. This week鈥檚 and past Feedbacks can be seen on our website.