Photographing things that aren鈥檛 there
AN EMAIL from , responding to Paul Brown鈥檚 complaint about a missing part in the toolkit he had ordered, asked him: 鈥淐an you please take a photo of the whole kit and then take a photo of what鈥檚 missing and send it to support@csw.com.au for us to investigate?鈥�
鈥淯nfortunately,鈥� Paul tells us, 鈥渕y EctoplasmicTM Camera (Paranormal Society approved) is currently in an alternative universe (or 鈥榣ost鈥� as you non-paranormals say), so I was sadly unable to photograph the missing piece.鈥�
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After some consideration, he used his normal camera and took a photo of the empty hole in the toolbox in the hope that this would suffice.
An adaptor is listed with 鈥淚tem weight: 499聽g; boxed-product weight: 358聽g鈥�. John Gray is interested in the packaging for its anti-gravity effects
Greenland鈥檚 melting cocktail mix
THANKS to Chris Baldwin for telling us about an article in the Houston Chronicle on 2 December 2011 about a US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report on the Arctic. It stated: 鈥淎 NASA satellite found that 430 billion metric tonnes of ice melted in Greenland from 2010 to 2011, and the melting is accelerating. Since 2000, Greenland鈥檚 widest glaciers shrunk (sic) by nearly 530 square miles, about the equivalent of 22 Manhattans.鈥�
鈥淲hat鈥檚 that in Margaritas?鈥� asked a colleague who read this, while our informant Chris worries about the declining supply of ice for the cocktails of the future.
IN PREPARATION for his Christmas dinner, Bill Ross bought a bag of potatoes labelled: 鈥淢ixed Little Gems 鈥� yellow, red and blue mini-potatoes鈥�. On the back of the bag there was a list of ingredients worded as follows: 鈥淵ellow potatoes, red potatoes, blue potatoes (order may vary).鈥�
Several questions sprang to Bill鈥檚 mind. Were the potatoes put into the bag in the stated order? Was he supposed to take them out in the stated order? Were the potatoes supposed to just fall out of the bag in the stated order? Do the potatoes reorganise themselves while in the bag? If so, is it a cultural thing (reds like to be with reds, blues with blues, etc)? Do the potatoes have a leader who plans and manages the reorganisation? If so, are they elected or do they just seize power?
Feedback also has a question: why would anybody care what order the potatoes were in?
IT IS that time of year in the UK when winter temperatures set in 鈥� and double-glazing firm Everest mounts its annual promotional push. This always involves phrases like 鈥渕ake your house infinitely safer 鈥� and warmer鈥� and it always provokes a batch of protests from Feedback readers such as this from Andrew Garner: 鈥淚nfinitely safer sounds impossible and infinitely warmer is definitely threatening.鈥�
Homeopathic treatment for fish
UNUSUAL question of the week is directed at Homeopathy Plus, a website dedicated to discussing all things homeopathic. 鈥淐an fish be treated with homeopathy?鈥� a correspondent asks.
Can you guess Homeopathy Plus鈥檚 reply? Surprise, surprise, it is: 鈥淗omeopathy works with any living thing, so fish can also be successfully treated by it鈥� Rather than trying to drop a pill down the mouth of a wriggling fish, though, there is an easier way 鈥� just medicate the water in which it swims.鈥�
THOSE celebrities pop up everywhere. Kevin Pereira reports on Australia鈥檚 The Age online newspaper and its attempt to to its readers.
鈥淭he mysterious Higgs bosons,鈥� the paper asserts, 鈥渁re thought to be crammed together in empty space, giving all matter in the universe its mass 鈥� just as hangers-on at a party can weigh down a celebrity moving through a crowd.鈥�
We thought this was just an imaginative bit of journalism, but it turns out the simile has been used by several eminent physicists, including, for example, Ambreesh Gupta in his Compton Lecture 鈥淭he Origin of Mass in Particle Physics鈥� () at the University of Chicago on 2 October 2004.
ISN鈥橳 this the opposite of what they鈥檙e supposed to do? Ken Gibbs was disconcerted to receive an email from the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene entitled 鈥淪potlight on: Infectious Diseases organised by the Royal Society of Medicine鈥�.
The email flags up a forthcoming University of Cambridge conference with the same intriguing title (see ).
FINALLY, is this an ancient business practice that has somehow survived into modern China? Or is it, perhaps, merely a translation error?
Several readers have reacted with surprise to laboratory testing service Sina Analytica鈥檚 advert in 麻豆传媒 (7 January, p 46).
This asks for a general manager possessing 鈥渟trong leadership skills with a proven track record of successful execution of leading employees at various levels and cities in China鈥�.