EAGLE-EYED readers have pointed us to an intriguing offer. The US website for Japanese electronics giant Denon is inviting consumers to pay $499 for what appears to be a 1.5-metre network cable of the type that usually costs only a few dollars. So what鈥檚 so special about Denon鈥檚 ?
According to Denon鈥檚 website it has 鈥渨oven jacketing to reduce vibration鈥� and the cable structure is 鈥渄esigned to thoroughly eliminate adverse effects from vibration鈥�. In addition, 鈥渟ignal directional markings are provided for optimum signal transfer鈥�. Plus, the AK-DL1 is made from 鈥渉igh purity copper鈥� which 鈥渨ill bring out all the nuances in digital audio reproduction鈥�.
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As puzzled as our readers, we emailed Denon via the website to ask for an explanation of what causes vibration in a network cable, what the adverse effects are, why signal directional markings optimise signal transfer, and how high-purity copper wire brings out the nuances of a digital signal.
Within minutes an email winged back that failed to answer any of our questions. Although the AK-DL1 may look like an ordinary ethernet cable, it told us, 鈥渢he similarities end there鈥� the cable is designed in such a way that vibration is all but eliminated so that sound being passed is as pure as possible鈥� That being said, this cable is not going to provide you with much of a difference unless used with top of the line equipment across the board.鈥�
鈥淐hristopher Sait recently heard this at St Pancras railway station in London: 鈥淐ustomers must stay with their luggage at all times, otherwise they will be taken away and destroyed.鈥� Presumably their luggage will be left intact鈥�
Denon helpfully gives some examples of such equipment, including a DVD player that costs $3800 and an amplifier costing $7000. So all we have to do to check Denon鈥檚 claims for the $500 cable is pay $10,800 for something to plug it into. Isn鈥檛 that nice?
Shortly after this exchange with Denon, we came across an item on the BoingBoing gadget site at . It quotes 鈥渂rilliant鈥� reviews of the Denon cable from what BoingBoing describes as 鈥減erhaps the best Amazon [reader] reviews page of all time鈥�. Our favourite is this: 鈥淎 caution to people buying these: if you do not follow the 鈥榙irectional markings鈥� on the cables, your music will play backwards.鈥�
THE Swedish recipe website told Angi Mauranen, who was asking it to calculate his body mass index: 鈥淲eight must be a number in kilograms between 4.9 脳 10-324 and 1.7976931348623157 脳 10308, for example: 1999999鈥�. (Of course it said it in Swedish.)
鈥淥K,鈥� says Mauranen, 鈥淚鈥檓 lighter than the known universe and heavier than an electron 鈥� yet that鈥檚 just a tiny fraction of the given mass scale.鈥� And why, we wonder, is the example roughly the mass of a small asteroid?
WHEN Chris McManus published a paper in Medical Education (vol 36, p 35) he received a puzzling email from GenWay Biotech which said: 鈥淒ear Dr. McManus, From your article titled 鈥楬ow consultants, hospitals, trusts and deaneries affect pre-registration house officer posts: a multilevel model鈥欌�� we learned of your research with BAD and thought you might be interested in knowing that GenWay currently has an antibody against this target as part of our catalog of products鈥︹��
However, McManus鈥檚 paper says nothing at all about antibodies or even blood 鈥� and least of all about BAD, which stands for the protein 鈥淏cl2 antagonist of cell death鈥�. So what was GenWay talking about? The answer can be gleaned from the paper鈥檚 abstract, which says: 鈥淭wenty per cent of PRHO [pre-registration house officer] posts were described as excellent and 34 per cent as very good, through to 6 per cent reported as not very good, poor or bad.鈥�
GenWay, it appears, is sending the email about this unfortunately named protein and its antibody to whoever happens to have used the word 鈥渂ad鈥� at any point in their abstracts. There must be quite a few of these. McManus says it took him only a few seconds to find there are 18,825 in the Pubmed archive alone.
CONTINUING the theme of very large measurements: on the Duravit bathroom products website, the weight of the multi-functional shower unit number #730002 is given as 鈥�530,000 kilograms鈥�, or 530 tonnes. Anoushka Haas is concerned that the website says nothing about reinforcing the foundations of your house before installing it.
FINALLY, the holiday competition run by Virgin and Prima magazine that Richard Townsend entered closes at the end of September 2008. Presumably to prevent any foolhardy attempts at time travel, the rules emphasise that you cannot take your holiday in July or August 2008.