Feedback
1
FEEDBACK FEEDBACK always enjoys stories about criminals making crass blunders that lead to their capture. A report in the Martinsburg, West Virginia, paper The Journal may provide an example. It tells us of a novel kind of fingerprint that was left at the scene of a burglary, and which has landed an alleged culprit in court. Spotting a computer, an intruder into a house in Martinsburg switched it on and logged into his own Facebook page. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t bother to logout again. The returning householders found two diamond rings to be missing. Some time later, Jonathan G. Parker of Fort Loudon, Pennsylvania, found himself in court charged with daytime burglary. Thanks to identification provided when police read the still-open Facebook page at the burgled house, he was remanded in custody at West Virginia’s Eastern Regional Jail. As we went to press he appeared to have raised his $10,000 bail. We await the outcome of his trial with interest. WHO can guess what this marketing pitch is about? “Using carefully controlled energy levels and frequencies, electrons are forced and attempt to enter the dielectric.” Could be free energy or could be a cure-all, so let’s keep going. “Imagine a high-frequency, high-energy force zipping along the conductor surface in a corkscrew fashion between the conductor and into the dielectric; the malingering electrons and negative charges are then forced to join the procession,” it continues. Feedback very much likes the idea of “malingering electrons”. We’re not sure that forces can “zip”, but that probably proves we’re in the pay of some suppressive conspiracy of pedants. Going back to the top of the Blue Horizon web page that Bob Harris sent us, we discover that “It is a well-known fact that high-quality audio and video cables improve over time.” It is? “Cable that has been ‘burned-in’ will sound more open, extended and three-dimensional, with a more natural, less sterile performance overall.” It will? And are cables even supposed to have a “dielectric”? We asked a famous web search engine for “audio cables dielectric”: the first result was titled “Top ten signs an audio cable vendor is selling you snake oil”. Scrolling down the site, we find the obligatory picture of Nikola Tesla making lightning in his Colorado laboratory, and the news that the Blue Horizon Proburn will drench your cable with “a sequence of unique ultra-low frequencies” – unique with respect to what? At the same time, it will burn it in at “10,000 times the upper frequency limit of a typical CD player”, which would be 200 megahertz, by our calculations: near the top of the FM radio band. So, you get two oscillators in a nice box – with gold connectors, naturally – for £695. Bargain. BACK in 1991, Janice Russell was being driven through southern England by her brother, a fellow New Zealander who had emigrated to the UK. As they crossed Salisbury Plain, he pointed out a “Tank crossing” sign and, like Neill Jones (22 August), observed that it collapsed to false every time he looked at it. What conclusion can we draw about the nature of the universe from the fact that as soon as he said this a tank started to cross the road? Don Jewett writes from California to observe that the locally prevalent “Falling rock” warning hardly ever collapses to “true”. “Fallen rock” would seem more suitable, he notes, but speculates that it may have been rejected on the grounds that “moral issues shouldn’t be raised by government signs”. And Peter Borrows asks of the sign “Road works ahead”: “What more evidence than holes, barriers, pneumatic drills and piles of soil do you want of a road not working?” CONTRARIWISE, probably, Peter Davies sends a photo of a signpost near an ancient English university town bearing an indication of a cycle route to “Cavendish laboratory only” and, immediately below and in the same direction, “Cambridge”. Presumably, just out of shot, the path bifurcates into parallel universes, in one leading to the town and in the other to the famous physics lab, only. A fact sheet for the heart drug Tikosyn advises: “Seek medical attention right away if any of these SEVERE side effects occur when using Tikosyn: Severe allergic reactions… fast, slow, or irregular heartbeat; fainting; heart attack; pale stool; paralysis; pounding in the chest; stopping of the heart; sudden death; yellowing of the skin or eyes.” William Peltz is impressed by the notion of seeking medical attention for sudden death. FINALLY, when Roly Roper was going through his email on Yahoo, a pop-up appeared telling him that there had been “an unexpected problem” and to try again. What he wants to know is: if the problem was indeed unexpected, how come they had a pop-up ready for the situation? You can send stories to Feedback by email at [email protected]. Please include your home address. This week’s and past Feedbacks can be seen on our website. 80 | NewScientist | 7 November 2009 For more feedback, visit www.NewScientist.com/feedback PAUL MCDEVITT Having stumbled upon BeyondBuildingEnergy.com and its promise of “the most affordable solar systems in Australia”, John Hartman says “I want a solar system now. Badly.”
Transcript of Feedback
FEEDBACK
FEEDBACK always enjoys stories about criminals making crass blunders that lead to their capture. A report in the Martinsburg, West Virginia, paper The Journal may provide an example. It tells us of a novel kind of fingerprint that was left at the scene of a burglary, and which has landed an alleged culprit in court.
Spotting a computer, an intruder into a house in Martinsburg switched it on and logged into his own Facebook page. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t bother to logout again. The returning householders found two diamond rings to be missing.
Some time later, Jonathan G. Parker of Fort Loudon, Pennsylvania, found himself in court charged with daytime burglary. Thanks to identification provided when police read the still-open Facebook page at the burgled house, he was remanded in custody at West Virginia’s Eastern Regional Jail . As we went to press he appeared
to have raised his $10,000 bail. We await the outcome of his trial with interest.
WHO can guess what this marketing
pitch is about? “Using carefully
controlled energy levels and
frequencies, electrons are forced
and attempt to enter the dielectric.”
Could be free energy or could be a
cure-all, so let’s keep going.
“Imagine a high-frequency,
high-energy force zipping along the
conductor surface in a corkscrew
fashion between the conductor and
into the dielectric; the malingering
electrons and negative charges are
then forced to join the procession,” it
continues. Feedback very much likes
the idea of “malingering electrons”.
We’re not sure that forces can “zip”,
but that probably proves we’re in the
pay of some suppressive conspiracy
of pedants.
Going back to the top of the Blue
Horizon web page that Bob Harris
sent us, we discover that “It is a
well-known fact that high-quality
audio and video cables improve over
time.” It is? “Cable that has been
‘burned-in’ will sound more open,
extended and three-dimensional,
with a more natural, less sterile
performance overall.” It will?
And are cables even supposed
to have a “dielectric”? We asked a
famous web search engine for “audio
cables dielectric”: the first result was
titled “ Top ten signs an audio cable
vendor is selling you snake oil ”.
Scrolling down the site, we find
the obligatory picture of Nikola Tesla
making lightning in his Colorado
laboratory, and the news that the
Blue Horizon Proburn will drench
your cable with “a sequence of
unique ultra-low frequencies” –
unique with respect to what? At
the same time, it will burn it in at
“10,000 times the upper frequency
limit of a typical CD player”, which
would be 200 megahertz, by our
calculations: near the top of the FM
radio band. So, you get two oscillators
in a nice box – with gold connectors,
naturally – for £695 . Bargain.
BACK in 1991, Janice Russell was being driven through southern England by her brother, a fellow New Zealander who had emigrated to the UK. As they crossed Salisbury Plain, he pointed out a “Tank crossing” sign and, like Neill Jones ( 22 August ), observed that it collapsed to false every time he looked at it. What conclusion can we draw about the nature of the universe from the fact that as soon as he said this a tank started to cross the road?
Don Jewett writes from California to observe that the locally prevalent “Falling rock”
warning hardly ever collapses to “true”. “Fallen rock” would seem more suitable, he notes, but speculates that it may have been rejected on the grounds that “moral issues shouldn’t be raised by government signs”.
And Peter Borrows asks of the sign “Road works ahead”: “What more evidence than holes, barriers, pneumatic drills and piles of soil do you want of a road not working?”
CONTRARIWISE, probably, Peter
Davies sends a photo of a signpost
near an ancient English university
town bearing an indication of a cycle
route to “Cavendish laboratory only”
and, immediately below and in the
same direction, “Cambridge”.
Presumably, just out of shot, the path
bifurcates into parallel universes, in
one leading to the town and in the
other to the famous physics lab, only.
A fact sheet for the heart drug Tikosyn advises: “Seek medical attention right away if any of these SEVERE side effects occur when using Tikosyn: Severe allergic reactions… fast, slow, or irregular heartbeat; fainting; heart attack; pale stool; paralysis; pounding in the chest; stopping of the heart; sudden death; yellowing of the skin or eyes.” William Peltz is impressed by the notion of seeking medical attention for sudden death.
FINALLY, when Roly Roper was going
through his email on Yahoo, a pop-up
appeared telling him that there
had been “an unexpected problem”
and to try again. What he wants to
know is: if the problem was indeed
unexpected, how come they had
a pop-up ready for the situation?
You can send stories to Feedback by
email at [email protected].
Please include your home address.
This week’s and past Feedbacks can
be seen on our website.
80 | NewScientist | 7 November 2009
For more feedback, visit www.NewScientist.com/feedback
PA
UL
MC
DE
VIT
T
Having stumbled upon BeyondBuildingEnergy.com and its promise of “the most affordable solar systems in Australia”, John Hartman says “I want a solar system now. Badly.”
