NOW it can be told. The O. J. Simpson trial was not screened live on TV. What
everyone saw was recorded.
The trial began with truly live transmissions. But after the TV camera
briefly caught a juror鈥檚 face, the judge stopped transmission. A broadcast
engineer came up with the idea of using one of the hard disc recorders that US
company Tektronix sells to TV networks. The networks sometimes need to broadcast
the same programme several times, hours apart, because of the different time
zones across the country. The machines can record and play back at the same
time, with any preset delay.
So the court set the delay to 30 seconds and provided an official with a big
red button. The official watched a screen showing the live feed from the camera,
while TV viewers round the world watched the same pictures half a minute later.
If there was any flash of a juror鈥檚 face, the official had 30 seconds in which
to hit the panic button and blank out the picture before it reached any
transmitters.
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The same system is often used to blank out chat show guests who start
swearing. If it becomes a standard TV practice, bookmakers will have to be on
their guard against winning bets that arrive by phone before the result has
appeared 鈥渓ive鈥� on screen.
A RECENT invention from California provides alarming proof of the
unbridgeable divide between Americans and Brits. According to The
Sacramento Bee newspaper, Anthony Priley, proprietor of a company called
Affinitea, has come up with a new superfast way of making tea鈥攗sing an
espresso machine.
Brewing up with tea bags, it seems, is too much trouble for restaurateurs in
the home of fast food and TV dinners. Priley鈥檚 process places tea in an espresso
machine with an extension tube leading to a large teacup, rather than the tiny
espresso cups the machine usually accommodates. A flow control valve determines
the strength of the tea.
The advantage? It鈥檚 fast, easy and convenient for tired caf茅 owners,
the Bee reports. What鈥檚 more, the process allows restaurants to make
鈥渉ot foamy 12-ounce cups and pitchers of tea鈥�.
No. Sorry, but no. Feedback can say with total confidence that this invention
will never catch on in Britain.
WHAT happens to people鈥檚 brains when they write the messages that computers
are supposed to deliver to their hapless users?
When Colin Hersom鈥檚 computer wanted to switch off his Hitachi CM620ET monitor
to save power, he was told: 鈥淎ttention on signal check input signal connection
or follow power save mode has been enable.鈥�
THE AMERICAN magazine Sky & Telescope is aimed at amateur
astronomers, young and old, with articles on such topics as 鈥淭he scavenger鈥檚
12-inch telescope鈥� which can be built for under $300. The magazine鈥檚
publishers have a nice website at http://www.skypub.com.
But don鈥檛 try to get there from your school鈥檚 PC if the head of IT has
installed one of the 鈥渘et-minder鈥� software-censor programs.Sky &
Telescope reports that because of the frequent appearance of the term
鈥渘aked eye鈥� on its Web pages, some of these search-and-ban programs have blocked
access.
MEANWHILE, a reader who shall remain anonymous was recently humiliated in
public by some 鈥渘anny鈥� software. The information technology department at a
company she was visiting in the US had set up software to monitor Web sites
visited on its terminals.
The software is triggered by search terms such as 鈥淪ex鈥� and 鈥淎dults Only鈥�
which it identifies by looking at the first four characters of keywords.
There was more than a little nudging, winking and embarrassment for our
friend at her first lunchtime meeting when it was revealed that various sites
she had visited that morning during the coffee break had been logged as
鈥淴-谤补迟别诲鈥�.
The truth was almost as embarrassing. Feeling rusty about some of the areas
in which she supposed to be an expert, she had been secretly visiting X-ray
crystallography sites to gen up for the meeting. The software, having spotted
the 鈥淴-ra鈥�, had logged her activity.
IF YOU discover a gene that is responsible for the development of the head in
amphibians, what do you call it?
For Christoff Niehrs and colleagues from the German Cancer Research Centre in
Heidelberg, Germany, the answer was obvious. They called it dickkopf-1,
German for 鈥渂ig head鈥� or 鈥渟tubborn鈥�.
We know about Sonic Hedgehog, Sleeping Beauty and
Tubby but do readers have any other examples of quaint names for genes?
HOW DO you fancy a job on one of Jupiter鈥檚 moons?
Coryn Bailer-Jones was trawling through an online employment listing called
Spacejobs when he came across an advertisement for a post as an International
Systems/Aerospace Engineer, 鈥淟ocation: Europa鈥�.
Unsurprisingly, one of the requirements for this 鈥渆xciting opportunity for
experienced Aerospace engineer looking to expand horizons鈥� was: 鈥淢ust be willing
to travel.鈥�
A NEW mouthwash produced by Warner-Lambert, called Fresh Burst Listerine,
offers 鈥�24-hour protection鈥� against plaque. At the bottom of the label on the
bottle, it instructs you to 鈥渦se twice a day鈥�.
Kevin Smith wonders if this means there are 48 hours in Warner-Lambert鈥檚
day.
FINALLY, John Tranter recently bought a vanilla pod from Tesco, which sells
the pods singly, each in its own jar. The label on the jar declares: 鈥淧roduce of
more than one country.鈥�