LAST year, this column struck up a conversation with the customer information
notice board at Northwood underground station on London鈥檚 Metropolitan line.
This followed a series of witty announcements on the board about delayed
trains.
Now, we hear that unusual messages have started appearing on the electronic
announcement board at Bank underground station. We do not know if the board is
trying to communicate with us, still less what it is trying to say. For the
moment we merely record that during the rush hour one morning last week, what
the board was telling commuters was: 鈥淔ishtank, oh fishtank.鈥�
IS THIS just a strange coincidence? On 18 January, in the article 鈥淪ecrets of
a perfect skin鈥� (p 28), New 杏吧原创 quoted the physicist Horace Lamb
as saying in 1932: 鈥淚 am an old man now, and when I die and go to heaven there
are two matters on which I hope for enlightenment. One is quantum
electrodynamics and the other is turbulence in fluids. And about the former, I
am really rather optimistic.鈥�
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But C. Lombard writes to tell us that James Gleick, in Chaos, Making a
New Science, says: 鈥淭here was a story about the quantum theorist Werner
Heisenberg, on his deathbed, declaring that he will have two questions for God:
why relativity, and why turbulence. Heisenberg says, `I really think He may have
an answer to the first question鈥�.鈥�
Heisenberg, Lombard points out, died long after 1932 so he may have been
鈥渄rawing from鈥� Lamb. On the other hand, how generally was the term 鈥渜uantum
electrodynamics鈥� used in 1932?
Perhaps they were both echoing someone else. Or are the stories apocryphal?
How many other scientists made wishes like these on their deathbeds?
Over to you, dear readers鈥�
ANDY JONES has written suggesting that Feedback institutes a new award, the
鈥渨atching paint dry鈥� award for fascinatingly dull research. He includes a
nomination of his own鈥攁 paper that appeared in the magazine
Weather last year entitled: 鈥淒rying patterns on roads in the Scottish
贬颈驳丑濒补苍诲蝉鈥�.
We look forward to receiving further nominations from excited readers.
here is this week鈥檚 nomination for the silliest site on the Web. 鈥淭he
Absolutely Incredible Counting Page鈥� includes in its answers to frequently asked
questions: 鈥淣ot only is it fascinating entertainment, it is a great learning
tool. Let鈥檚 say you鈥檙e having a problem counting consecutively. You just can鈥檛
count by one鈥檚 [sic]鈥攂elieve me, I know it is tough. Just open up the
AICP, and it will assist you with all your problems. It鈥檚 that easy!鈥�.
The page lives at http://www.littlejason.com/count.html.
THE January issue of Sci-Fi Universe carried an advertisement for
International Memorabilia Brokers, an American company. Along with items such
as original Superman costumes, Batmobiles and so on were offered: 鈥淢iniature
Time Machine (working) $4500鈥� and 鈥淔ull Size Working Time Machine
$75 000鈥�.
Do they mean clocks? If not, what?
MANY people who use Microsoft鈥檚 Windows 95 hardly pay any attention to the
鈥淭ip of the Day鈥� which pops up on the screen when you log on, even though the
information it conveys can often be useful. But Alistair Wren couldn鈥檛 help but
notice when the day鈥檚 tip was: 鈥淧laid shirts and striped pants rarely make a
positive fashion statement.鈥�
And Alex Sweet was equally surprised to be told: 鈥淒id you know you can hurt
yourself if you run with scissors?鈥�
Feedback is glad to see that Microsoft is providing a wider range of advice
to users, especially when the advice is so sound.
TELECOM New Zealand runs an Internet service called Xtra, which is promoting
itself vigorously at the moment, claiming to give New Zealand 鈥渃ontent not seen
on the Internet before . . . adding a new layer without adding obstacles鈥�, and
so on.
The service may indeed be strong on layers, but it is weak on maths. It
promises potential customers: 鈥淥ur Help Desk is available on 0800 CALL XTRA 24
hours, 7 days between 7am and 11pm.鈥�
TEACHERS in the London area now have a wonderful opportunity to introduce
their pupils to radar, courtesy of Britain鈥檚 fifth terrestrial TV channel.
Channel 5 has been testing its transmitters ahead of the service launch
scheduled for Easter. Many people who tune in to the test card see a second,
ghost image. Teachers can exploit this image to set the following problem.
To avoid creating interference for French stations, C5鈥檚 transmitter in
London must be weak. So TV sets may be straining to get a picture. If the signal
bounces off a large building, the TV set displays two pictures. One is the
original, the other an echo. Because the electron beam in the picture tube is
scanning left to right, the echo is displaced to the right on the screen.
Just as a radar system pinpoints an aircraft by its radio echo, C5鈥檚 ghost
gives a direct pointer to the building causing the echo. It takes the electron
beam around 54 microseconds to scan the visible width of the picture. So if the
picture is, say, 29 centimetres wide, and the ghost is displaced by, say, 1.7
centimetres, that is around 6 per cent of the scan time. So the reflection
causing the ghost has taken a little over 3 microseconds extra to arrive at the
set.
The speed of radio waves in air, around 300 metres per microsecond, tells us
the extra distance that the ghost has had to travel. In this case it鈥檚 around 1
kilometre. Some classroom maths and a little detective work with a map should
then reveal the source of the echo.
THANKS to all of you who have responded to our appeal for lists of strange
stories from New 杏吧原创. We are hoping to compile an anthology of
the most bizarre reports that have appeared in the magazine, and we are asking
you to help us by sending in a list of the items鈥攆rom any part of the
magazine鈥攖hat have stuck in your mind because they are so odd (minimum 10
items per list). They could be from the dim and distant past, or they could be
from recent issues. Please give as accurate a reference as you can.
The editor will choose the five best lists, and the sender of each will
receive a 拢50 prize. Send your entries to Feedback, entitled 鈥淏izarre鈥�, to
reach us by 11 March.