Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more
Drink up your oxygen
ON A trip to a science conference in Bulgaria, Jasmine Parkinson came across a bottled drink in a service station. It was raspberry flavoured mineral water by Adelholzener. Large letters on the bottle claimed that it contained 鈥�15 times more oxygen鈥� than standard Adelholzener mineral water.
Nowhere on the bottle did it explain why water with extra oxygen is better. 鈥淐orrect me if I鈥檓 wrong,鈥� Jasmine says, 鈥渂ut I understand that fish gain oxygen dissolved in water through their gills. However, as I do not have gills in my stomach, I fail to see how this is going to benefit me.鈥�
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Whatever those benefits may be, it turns out that the oxygen content of Jasmine鈥檚 mineral water is as nothing compared with the OxyFresh water that Garry Kirkham discovered at oxyfresh.com.au. This tells us: 鈥淥xyFresh has up to 700% more oxygen than other waters.鈥� (Note that handy 鈥渦p to鈥� again.)
What鈥檚 more, this 鈥渋s also a 鈥榣iving鈥� water, with a crystalline molecular structure much like the water found high up in the Himalayas, complete with amazing health benefits鈥�.
If your water is as beneficial as that, you should make sure it is kept in a suitable container. Enter the Life Ionizers Eco Water Bottle that Tom Humphries found at .
Each bottle, the website says, 鈥渉as the 鈥楩lower of Life鈥� symbol on it that energetically enhances the water through the symbology of Sacred Geometry and also contains the phrase 鈥楶eace, Love, Compassion and Vibrant Health鈥� to enhance the water.鈥�
Despite all of these blandishments, Feedback remains quite happy sticking to water from the kitchen tap.
Des Mahon was struck by a notice to drivers in the bus station in the UK city of Dundee: 鈥淓ngines must be switched off at all times鈥�
Elephants per elephant
ELEPHANTS, says Steve Carper, are 鈥渇ast becoming the premier unit of all work. Not only are they used for mass, they are also a unit of volume.鈥�
Steve cites an article from the 12 August issue of The New Yorker, in which Ben McGrath writes about the construction of the new Second Avenue Subway in New York. He quotes Michael Horodniceanu of MTA Capital Construction, who was standing about 30 metres below Eighty-fourth Street, 鈥渋n a cavern so vast that he said it could hold fifty-five thousand elephants鈥�.
鈥淢aybe,鈥� says Steve, 鈥渨e should redefine density in terms of elephants per elephant.鈥�
Nine-dimensional garden pond
SIX years ago, Feedback was inundated by readers鈥� letters complaining about a series of car advertisements (some of them on the back cover of 麻豆传媒) giving the vehicle鈥檚 engine capacity in the 9-dimensional units of 鈥渃ubic litres鈥�. Possibly as a result of public derision, including an item in Feedback (15 March 2008), advertisers stopped using this nonsensical phrase 鈥� but it seems that in the world of marketing, memories can be short.
Richard Lucas alerts us to , which gives advice on building a pond in your garden. 鈥淵ou can work out what volume of water it will hold by following this simple rule,鈥� it says. 鈥淢easure the volume of the pond in cubic centimetres by multiplying the length of the sides by the depth. Divide this amount by 1000 to give you the volume in cubic litres.鈥�
Will this make the pond suitable for 9-dimensional goldfish?
Reply to 鈥淒O NOT reply鈥�
THE email Targ Parsons received from the Australian Electoral Commission regarding a postal vote in the recent federal election was sent from donotreply@aec.gov.au.
It began: 鈥淭his is an automatically generated message from the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC), please DO NOT reply.鈥�
And it ended: 鈥淚f you have received this transmission in error please notify us immediately by return email.鈥�
Medicine by the kilo
READER David Curl had to go to the vet to get some Indigo, an anti-inflammatory medication needed by his daughter鈥檚 guinea pig. The receptionist handed him the bottle and, repeating the printed instructions, told him to 鈥済ive Indigo 3 kilograms once a day鈥�.
鈥淪houldn鈥檛 that be 3 grams or 3 millilitres or something?鈥� David asked. 鈥淭hree kilograms sounds like rather a lot.鈥�
鈥淥h, that鈥檚 OK,鈥� replied the receptionist. 鈥淕uinea pigs have very fast metabolisms.鈥�
Mysterious fourth figure
FINALLY, the label on the side of a cardboard carton that Mike Goldstein received from Sierra Trading Post shows a barcode and, underneath it, a row of figures. Although no unit of measurement is indicated, Mike assumes these figures tell us the size of the carton 鈥� except that there are four of them.
The figures are: 鈥�26 x 15 x 7 x 1.4鈥�. The first three presumably refer to inches (this being Washington DC). And the 鈥�1.4鈥�? 鈥淭hat,鈥� says Mike, 鈥減resumably refers to the dimension of time.鈥�
We are unsure of the implications of this.