
Love bug
is in the air this week – albeit in a heavily commercialised and somewhat forced way. Those of a cynical bent may wish to take advantage of an offer from a zoo in Sevenoaks, UK. For a measly £1.50, members of the public can name one of the Hemsley Conservation Centre’s cockroaches after their ex.
To keep things relatively civil, only the first name will be written on a board outside the roach enclosure. Feedback has never been happier to be pseudonymous.
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Star-crossed lovers?
OVER at èƵ towers, Feedback is setting aside such misgivings in the hope that a secret valentine has bought us a heart-shaped meteorite.
The 10-kilogram lump of “iron and coarse octahedrite” is a fragment of the Sikhote Alin meteorite that scorched through the skies over Siberia in 1947. Boasting a “rich caramel patina”, auction site Christie’s claims it is one of the finest meteorites in private hands.
“The heart of space” is expected to sell for up to $500,000 on 14 February. Feedback will be waiting by our mailbox.
Stream queen?
SPEAKING of gifts, Christmas has come early for Feedback with the news that Gwyneth Paltrow is returning to our screens.
The Sliding Doors star is bringing her vaginal-steaming, psychic-vampire-fighting luxury wellness brand Goop to Netflix for what you might call alternative reality TV. The documentary-style episodes will feature doctors, researchers and people who are neither, but have strange, profitable ideas about health. Pass the spirulina popcorn!
Plastic fantastic?
IMAGINE our excitement when we clapped eyes on the headline “Mattel to offer new scientist Barbie line”.
“A driver who claimed he crashed after swerving “to avoid an octopus” on a stretch of road 5 kilometres from the coast has been arrested on suspicion of drug-driving, reports BBC News”
Who will they be modelled on? What accessories will they come with? Perhaps they might carry a èƵ mug and tote bag? With the perils of the media industry ever increasing, it might be a smart move to diversify into doll accessories.
Sadly, the “product line and content centered around exploration, science, conservation and research” comes not via this illustrious organ, but National Geographic. Sindy, if you’re reading this, let’s talk.
Bomb de terre?
and mash? Workers at a Hong Kong snack factory discovered a grenade dating to the first world war in a consignment of potatoes from France. The 1-kilogram explosive was handled with a particularly delicate touch as the pin had been pulled some 100 years ago. Now that is what we call a delayed fuse.
Bomb disposal experts were quickly called to the scene, and detonated the misplaced munition in a nearby trench, which was probably the original plan, come to think of it.
Cash pipeline?
of sinkholes, once a phenomenon confined to geology textbooks and mining operations, seems to have exploded recently, appearing suddenly in our news feed like, well, sinkholes.
With new sinkholes opening at a rate that leaves Starbucks executives envious, it is no surprise that geology once again got the blame when a metre-wide hole appeared in a street in Pembroke Pines, Florida. On closer inspection, however, the “hole” turned out to be a 50-metre tunnel running from a wooded area towards the local bank.
The mystery mole didn’t make themselves known to take the rap for the fallen-in road. The FBI would also like a word about an attempted bank robbery.
Handle with care?
owners have been warned not to kiss or snuggle their pets after 11 people in the US contracted a rare strain of salmonella. Ten of the 11 had close contact with hedgehogs before becoming ill, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Infection with the bacterium can cause diarrhoea, fever and stomach cramps, and death. It is almost as if covering themselves in spikes wasn’t warning enough.
Hue and cry?

Trump’s apricot glow is simply the result of “good genes”, according to . An anonymous source at the White House said the official line was that Trump’s tangerine complexion was natural, and not the result of a bad choice in bronzer.
Previous accounts have told of a tanning bed in the president’s official residence – something denied by other staff members. Feedback could be persuaded that an orange face with pale eyes is down to genetics, but only if those genes belong to a red panda.
Big bad bird
was summoned to a police station in Shivpuri, India, after repeatedly attacking a neighbour’s daughter, provoking an official complaint to the local authorities. NDTV reports that the bird attended the station in the company of its owners, who told police they would rather be jailed than allow its arrest.
The couple, with no children of their own, said the chicken was “like a child” to them. They were allowed to take their feathered family member home after promising to lock it up in future.
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