READER Don Bradford was struck by a report in Australiaās Canberra Times on the proposed Square Kilometre Array radio telescope. This informs us that āThe giant radio telescope, with its 3000 antennas, will be so sensitive it would be able to detect an aircraft radar 50 light years away.ā
āOf course,ā observes Don, āwe may have to wait a while before we can check that.ā
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A solar light that Judy and Steve Hanchell saw is āideal for areas where conversational electrical supply is not availableā. We guess at what the label means, but itās not answering questions
Finding a point in pointlessness
READING beyond his expertise in an attempt to catch up on developments in quantum gravity, a colleague was delighted to discover that there is a whole field of mathematical work called āā.
That would be, of course, an approach to the study of properties of objects that are preserved under continuous deformation, which avoids mentioning points. This being pure mathematics, it may be several centuries too early to say whether it has what you might call a point, outside mathematics. But Feedback is very taken with the idea that it may, just, prove central to our understanding of space and time.
Papers must be incomprehensible
TYPOGRAPHY is not just about the creative distribution of dark bits on a page. Correct spacing is essential. Daniel Indyk produces in evidence guidelines for authors issued by the Australian Corrosion Association. āAll papers and presentations,ā they specify, āmust be incomprehensible English, as would be expected at a technical conference.ā
āSilly to expect otherwise,ā says Daniel, ābut after picking herself up off the floor, the person I spoke to at the association assured me sheād get it changed.ā
DO we detect over-reliance on the spellchucker in the headline in Australiaās online on 12 July: āPC sales figures continue to decline as tables take overā?
Feedback can just about remember that one used to be able to perform oneās work and social duties sitting at a table with a pencil, paper, an abacus and, for the modern touch, a Bakelite telephone.
No one had turned the ātablesā into ātabletsā two weeks after publication. So much for Feedbackās hypothesis that retro-proofreading is the main usefulness of āWeb 2.0ā, allowing readers to comment on online articles (17 July 2010).
Archaic units in atomic research
TALK about units in Feedback reminds Tony Emerson of a story from āthe 1950s or 60sā about āa scientist working in one of the atomic establishmentsā. This person got fed up with directives to use different systems of units ā those based on the centimetre, gram and second; those semi-officially based on the metre, kilogram and second; and the very official units of the International Standards Organization. So they reported pressures in stones per acre.
The stone is a traditional English measure of the weight of people or grain ā 14 pounds or 6.35 kg ā and an acre, a unit of area, is 4047 square metres. As Tony says, stones per acre would be āthe original agricultural unitā of crop yield. Its application to atomic research doesnāt bear thinking about.
INSTRUCTIONS with Jenny Russellās new waterproof jacket with inner fleece and hat say it āis sold as a three-part set. Both parts must be returned for you to be fully creditedā. Just in case, Jenny would like help choosing both of three.
FEEDBACK thanks ās Column 8 for this expansion on the nature of the latest entrant to the particle zoo: āA friend was door-knocked the other day by two religious people,ā Jill Martin of Keiraville, New South Wales, told the column. āDid you know,ā they assured their unwilling host, āeven the scientists now acknowledge that there is a God ā they found him in their Hadron Kaleidoscope!ā
SEARCHING, searching for references to the āHadron Kaleidoscopeā online, we were rewarded with a spectrum of musical offerings, ranging from a bedroom-guitar effort to the album ā released on 9 July 2012, a few days after the Higgs boson announcement ā which we must resort to defining as āclassical technoā. Weāre left wondering how it would sound in a large tunnel with the lights out ā probably not the kind of place the religious had in mind.
FINALLY, the tells us: āEcover Bio Concentrated Laundry Liquid is ideal for all the family. It tackles a variety of stains, even at 300 Cā.
Nick Elliott feels pleased that the stains will be gone, but wonders how much of his clothing will be left after being washed at that temperature.