IT seems the latest fashion among American scientists and technologists is to embrace the new conservatism. The Progress & Freedom Foundation, favourite thinktank of the new Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich, heads its latest press release 鈥淎n Amazing Three Months鈥�, presumably referring in particular to the pleasure of suddenly having so many friends in government.
The document ends with a list of 鈥渟upporters鈥� who have rushed to give the foundation financial support as the wind of political change in the US has blown to the right. As well as companies like Coca-Cola and Ford (no surprises there) we find AT&T. Burroughs Wellcome, Cox Cable Communications, Electronic Magnetic Sciences, Glaxo, IBM, Scientific Atlanta, Siemens, Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Space Master International and, most surprising of all, those laid-back whiz kids of the West, Wired magazine.
Why so many pharmaceuticals companies among the techies? Well may you wonder. Perhaps a clue is to be found in the foundation鈥檚 belief that the Food and Drug Administration should be replaced with 鈥渁 substantially more private sector process for approving drugs and medical devices鈥�. The foundation also believes, incidentally, that the welfare state should be replaced, though it doesn鈥檛 yet know what with.
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Meanwhile, the foundation has found two new figureheads to boost its thrust into a future of Victorian values. Alvin and Heidi Toffler were the star performers at its conference at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington DC on 10 January. Sharing the honours with them on the platform was 鈥� who else? 鈥� Gingrich himself.
GOOD to see that the Red House School Book Club includes some books about science in its catalogue, with titles like 1001 Facts About Space. One hopes, however, that the text of this book is a little more accurate than the blurb about it. 鈥淒id you know,鈥� we are asked, 鈥渟everal million tiny particles called neutrons will pass through you while you read this sentence鈥�?鈥� We hope not.
FEEDBACK has no particular grudge against British Telecom, and would be quite happy never to run any more stories about the company 鈥� except that it keeps on making such a mess of things. We already pointed out, on 17 September of last year, that BT had failed to take its own advice with its Phonebase electronic directory inquiries, and was still using the old telephone dialling codes instead of the new ones that come into force on Phoneday, 16 April.
Now we discover that BT has done the same thing with its printed telephone directories for 1994/1995. The North London Yellow Pages, at any rate, has just been delivered to its subscribers, and it only uses the old codes 鈥� even though the new codes come into operation during the lifetime of the book. Feedback is genuinely surprised at such cack-handedness.
鈥淭HESE days nothing is sacred to Washington lobbyists 鈥� not even the Ig Nobel prize,鈥� complains Marc Abrahams, chairman of the Ig Nobel board of governors and editor of the Annals of Improbable Research. His magazine and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Museum jointly sponsor the annual prizes, which honour those whose achievements 鈥渃annot or should not be reproduced鈥�. Tongue firmly in cheek, they announce the winners at an annual ceremony at MIT, where they have become part of a tradition of scientific silliness.
It seemed like good clean fun 鈥� until last month when the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine announced Ig Nobel prizes of their own. Hiding behind that responsible name is a strident animal rights group best known for claiming that milk is bad for children. The pressure group gave its awards for what it saw as last year鈥檚 鈥渨orst鈥� human and animal experiments. 鈥淲e鈥檝e never even heard of the [other] Ig Nobel prizes,鈥� a spokesman told a somewhat disbelieving Feedback. He added that the pressure group was emphatically not the same organisation that publishes what he called 鈥渁 strange magazine鈥�.
Curiously, the editors of the strange magazine were even more adamant in washing their hands of the other group, telling Feedback: 鈥淲e cannot permit them to appropriate the good name of the Ig Nobel prizes.鈥�
BACK on 5 November of last year we reported on the circular sequence of definitions beginning with 鈥淎rchetypal form: see primordial image 鈥︹�� in Arthur Reber鈥檚 Dictionary of Psychology (Penguin). But Gail Russell and Andrew Cooper of the University of Leeds library tell us that this device is not a new one. Geoffrey Jaggard, in his Wooster鈥檚 World (Macdonald, 1967) used the same trick with euphemisms for inebriated, beginning with 鈥淎wash: see Blotto 鈥︹�� and continuing through the alphabet with, for example, 鈥淥ssified: see Pie-eyed 鈥︹�� as far as Woozled: see Awash鈥�.
Russell and Cooper wonder, with Feedback, whether any readers can report on even earlier sightings of the device.
CERN, Europe鈥檚 particle physics laboratory, is moving ever closer to the funding and construction of its Large Hadron Collider. Gordon Fraser, editor of the CERN Courier, writes to tell us of the strangely culinary nomenclature of the bits and pieces to be put inside the barrel of the LHC鈥檚 Atlas detector. These include: 鈥渟tiffening rib鈥�, 鈥渃old voussoir鈥�, 鈥渨arm intercoil braces鈥� and a 鈥渄ouble pancake stack鈥�.
FLORIDA has a new tourist attraction 鈥� the Miami crime tour. According to the press release, it鈥檚 鈥渋ntended primarily for journalists, photojournalists and other morbidly curious types with strong stomachs鈥�.
Every evening, starting at 11 pm, anyone interested can ride along with a Miami TV news photographer on his nightly rounds. From the (relative) safety of a Ford Explorer, participants will monitor police scanners and respond to crime calls, fires and accidents. 鈥淓xperience the excitement of shooting news, interviewing cops and witnesses, and distributing crime scene video to the local TV stations,鈥� the press release exhorts us.
Most usefully, during lulls in the action, you will be able to retrace the routes of murdered tourists and see for yourself where and how such attacks occur. 鈥淚f you are planning to drive a rental car in south Florida, take this tour first 鈥� it might save your life,鈥� the press release advises. And that鈥檚 not all. On top of all this excitement, you can 鈥渓earn also what distinguishes an average Dunkin Donuts from a really good one鈥�.