麻豆传媒

Spouting hot air

IBM found itself badly singed when a campaign to encourage an interest in science among girls ignited a furore on social media. The 鈥淗ack a Hair Dryer鈥� campaign sought to dispel the myth that science and engineering is a man鈥檚 world, by taking the view that women could only relate to these topics via styling equipment.

Feeling the heat, IBM withdrew the offending videos, and admitted that they had 鈥渕issed the mark鈥� 鈥� a welcome change from the usual 鈥渃reating a conversation鈥� cliche peddled by errant PR departments.

Feedback had hoped that after such misfires as EDF鈥檚 Pretty Curious campaign (Science: It鈥檚 a Girl Thing! video, we鈥檇 make it a little further into 2016 without reporting on another dubious cosmetic effort to address the gender divide in science. Roll on 2017!

鈥淒erek Woodroffe reports that after installing Windows 10, an error message tells him 鈥淭he wait operation has timed out鈥�. So, er, what should he do next?鈥�

Holy water

OUR friends at Improbable Research keep a close eye on the patent filings for interesting developments. They flushed out the 2009 patent application CN301200531 S, which describes packaging labels for 鈥溾��.

Thankfully the delightful Language Log is on hand to explain that this isn鈥檛 a religious-powered prank liquid for spraying into a .

Rather, it is itch-stopping eau de toilette. The 鈥渟ix Gods鈥� in the name refer to a vitalist concept of six organs in the human body and their spiritual component 鈥� a sort of toilet humour, if you will.

Heisenberg鈥檚 hokum

WITH great aplomb, marketing firm Ogilvy & Mather unveil their , a portentous (or do we mean pretentious?) reimagining of Rousseau鈥檚 original work. The core message is that digitally native teenagers are an alien species (and perhaps implicitly, that you should hire Ogilvy & Mather as your guide when navigating their habitat).

But it was this passage on creators and their fans that caught our eye: 鈥淭his is an ecosystem that follows Heisenberg鈥檚 uncertainty principle, only modified like this: You can鈥檛 know the social structures of the superfans without knowing the creator, nor can you know the creators without understanding the superfans.

The uncertainty principle must be one of the most widely abused ideas in science, so much so that Feedback really ought to catalogue the worst offences in a warrant book. We鈥檙e fairly sure a copy is already floating around the office, somewhere.

Turn on, tune out

TURNING a deaf ear (off): a poster at the British Academy of Audiology鈥檚 annual conference in Harrogate discussed a trial of wireless-enabled cochlear implants for young people with severe hearing loss, allowing them to listen directly to the output of a telephone or microphone over a Bluetooth link.

Not everyone was convinced by the technology, however. A report from one participant鈥檚 mother read: 鈥淭his has been good and bad for me. During hospital visits we could have more private conversations, as I am not having to speak loudly for him to hear. The bad point is he turns me off when not interested.鈥�

Gunning for firearms

IDEAS may be bulletproof, but are ideas about bullets so invincible? Authorities in New South Wales are taking no chances: the Australian state has to possess not just guns, but digital files that can be used to create guns using a 3D printer or milling machine.

Anyone found in possession of such files faces up to 14 years in prison 鈥� the same sentence as those found in . Feedback鈥檚 advice is that for any readers living in New South Wales, don鈥檛 even think of a gun.

Know it all

MICHAEL Zehse brings to our attention 鈥渋nternational visionary and energy healing practitioner鈥� Douglas Ballard, who claims the 鈥渞emarkable and automatic ability to accurately answer any question鈥�, much like a regular person holding a smartphone.

A visit to Ballard鈥檚 reveals a frantic showing random words flying across the screen; occasionally these words will ricochet into phrases, such as 鈥渃uriously receiving knowledge鈥� 鈥� we know the feeling. However, the website only left us with more questions, instead of answers.

If the ability to answer any question is true, 鈥渢his guy ought to be on the staff of the Last Word鈥�, says Michael. To which we say: thank you, but Jon Richfield has that role amply filled.

Here, chair, everywhere

LAST November, Feedback mused over the curious description by Vue of their Aberdeen cinema as having 鈥渁pproximately 1531 seats鈥� (28 November 2015).

Chris Jack writes to say: 鈥淚鈥檝e seen quite a lot of approximate seats in my time, actually. Seats that I look at and wonder if anyone would actually want to sit on them, seats missing backs or bottoms, seats covered in substances I鈥檇 rather not know about, and seats covered in plastic awaiting repair.鈥�

A philosophical Chris reminds us of other approximate seats, such as 鈥渢he kitchen step that can double as a seat at a pinch at a crowded party.鈥�

Which leads Feedback to conclude that anything is a seat, provided you can perch on it 鈥� a fact no doubt familiar to London鈥檚 well-squeezed rail commuters.

(Image: Paul McDevitt)