Landlocked
LAST seen perched atop Mount Ararat, Noah鈥檚 ark has reappeared in the rolling hills of Kentucky.Christian ministry and mythological re-enactment society Answers in Genesis is putting the finishing touches to Ark Encounter, a full-size replica of the famous ship.
Previously responsible for the Creation Museum, the organisation has constructed the world鈥檚 largest timber-frame structure, a 160-metre-long, 25-metre-high biblical boat, built in part to 鈥渄ispel doubts that Noah could have fit two of every kind of animal onto a 500-foot-long ark鈥�.
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Unfortunately, in the event of any Old Testament wrath the new ark will not float. This may explain why Ark Encounter has positions advertised for zookeepers, shuttle drivers and bus supervisors, but no mention of an opening for captain. A vote of faith in the unlikelihood of catastrophic climate change, or worrying oversight from the ministry of arks?
鈥淏rendon Hooper informs us that the US navy鈥檚 new stealth destroyer, the USS Zumwalt, is commanded by none other than Capt. James Kirk鈥�
Fruits of the sea
FURTHER to previous suggestions of odd-smelling flora and fauna, Ilene Yeomans writes of a particularly fragrant sea creature: 鈥淗ere on the west coast of Canada, we have a hooded nudibranch that smells like watermelons.鈥� Which prompts Feedback to wonder, do ocean-dwelling creatures think that watermelons smell like hooded nudibranchs?
Tag tug
PREVIOUSLY we explored the surprising passport-related facts contained within the Home Office鈥檚 exciting pamphlet Introducing the new UK passport design.
Yet even armed with this, we find ourselves unable to provide an answer to Rory Allen, who writes 鈥渨hen my wife recently renewed her passport, on the last page there was a square yellow label reading simply 鈥楶lease remove this label鈥�. Can Feedback or any of your readers suggest the logic, if any, behind the label and the request to remove it?鈥�
Oxygen thief
JOHN COCKTON reports that delivery vans for Well Pharmacy in Newcastle upon Tyne now announce on the back that, among other items, 鈥淣o oxygen is left in this van overnight鈥�. 鈥淚 assume they use some form of air-fractioning equipment after parking up,鈥� says John. 鈥淥r do they seal the vehicles and fill them with nitrogen?鈥�
Wipe clean
BILL BALDWIN finds a vial of lens cleaner from Vision Clear boasts some extraordinary ingredients on the label. These include 鈥減ropagandist鈥�, 鈥渃ellulose acetate butterfat鈥�, and the chemically confounding 鈥�5-chlorine-2-methyl-4-indianapolis-3-one鈥�.
鈥淚鈥檓 not sure that I want to put any of that on my glasses,鈥� says Bill. Feedback is left to ponder if propagandist is the sort of mind-altering chemical now outlawed by the Psychoactive Substances Act.
Making a splash
JAPANESE artist Megumi Igarashi, who built a kayak modelled on her own vulva, has escaped an obscenity charge for the creation of her body-themed boat.
charges against the artist (better known as Rokudenashiko or 鈥済ood-for-nothing girl鈥�) for her artworks, it upheld a separate charge relating to the distribution of 3D data used to create the boat, which Igarashi had shared with those funding the piece.
Feedback thinks this may be the first time 3D files 鈥� which encode a set of measurements rather than a rendered image 鈥� have been classified as pornography. Are readers aware of antecedents?
House of cards
IAN NAPIER is left puzzled by some out-of-the-box thinking he found in an article from the Independent on how London became the UK鈥檚 capital. Here we learn that the Romans cemented the city鈥檚 importance with a unique 鈥�125-by-90-metre playing-card-shaped fort鈥�.
鈥淎t first I thought that rectangular would have sufficed, but then considered that perhaps it might be the ratio of the sides that is also being described by this odd unit of measurement,鈥� says Ian. However, neither poker cards nor bridge cards match the relative dimensions given. Feedback is stumped 鈥� but then Roman architecture was never our strong suit.
Peak energy
PREVIOUSLY, Feedback pondered the latest celebrity diet, confusingly known only as Celebrity Diet, which recommends eating foods low in calories but high in energy.
Monica Backes discussed possible foodstuffs with her family. 鈥淲e rejected anything ingested as a high-velocity projectile on health and safety grounds,鈥� she says. 鈥淚nspiration was found a few days later: the Celebrity Diet must be composed of food eaten on top of Helvellyn.鈥� Other mountains are available for imbuing food with potential energy, Feedback adds.
Time cop
IF YOU have a pessimistic view of the future and a track record of publishing in high-impact journals, you鈥檒l be perfect for University College London鈥檚 new position, . The winning applicant will head a centre dedicated to 鈥渋dentifying emergent crime and security threats and developing and recommending pre-emptive measures鈥�. Civic-minded clairvoyants, fortune tellers and associated fruitloops: this is your time to shine.
Ocean bounty
WHEN it comes to nominative determinism, there are always plenty more fish in the sea, proves Maya Hussain: 鈥淭he BBC鈥檚 new series on bioluminescence features a marine biologist named Stephen Haddock.鈥�