TWO FINE old timber-framed pubs in Manchester are to be moved lock, stock and
barrel down the road. The Old Wellington Inn and Sinclair鈥檚 Oyster Bar next door
are in the way of a new pedestrian thoroughfare through the centre of the city.
But rather than knock down these historic places of refreshment, the city
fathers decided to dismantle them bit by bit and then put them back together a
couple of hundred metres away.
Feedback heartily applauds such far-sightedness, especially if the pubs are
to be reassembled in exactly their original state. And this, according to
New Civil Engineer, the magazine of the Institution of Civil Engineers, is
what will happen.
鈥淲ooden flooring will remain uneven,鈥� says NCE. 鈥淛oint imperfections
will be retained and tests are under way to determine the best way to reinstate
nicotine staining on the Sinclair鈥檚 low ceilings.鈥�
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Now there鈥檚 attention to detail for you.
SAD TO SEE this nonsense in The Sydney Morning Herald last month:
鈥淏iological weapons are now becoming so advanced that experts predict the
production of `ethnic weapons鈥� that can kill a specific race of people by
targeting differences in their genetic makeup鈥︹��
Feedback is reliably informed that the concept of such 鈥渆thnic weapons鈥� has
indeed been floated鈥攂ut there is no one on this planet who has any idea
how they could possibly work.
Perhaps what The Sydney Morning Herald should really have said was:
鈥淓xperts will predict just about anything if they think there鈥檚 a chance it will
secure them a grant from the Ministry of Defence or the Pentagon.鈥�
OUR STORY on 7 February about the two Cray computers at the British
Meteorological Office called Ronnie and Reggie was apparently old hat, as
several readers have informed us. The twins were replaced with superior models
quite some time ago. But Andrew MacCormack points out that it isn鈥檛 only
meteorologists who give their computers names. When he was at Edinburgh
University, all the computers used by his fellow students were named after
brands of whisky.
Subsequently, at the microelectronics firm where he now works, computers have
been named in clusters according to themes such as The Hobbit (Bilbo,
Strider, Gandalf); birds (falcon, 鈥淜itty Hawk鈥�); flowers (buttercup, cowslip);
Star Trek(Kirk, Chekov, Khan); Las Vegas hotels (MGMGrand, Riviera,
Excalibur) and spaceships (Challenger, Galileo, Viking and Liberator). The most
recent addition has been a set of Sun UltraSparc machines named after spices
(cinnamon, chilli, old, Baby, Posh, Sporty, Scary and Ginger).
This opens up a whole new world to Feedback, who has never thought of a
computer as needing a name. Don鈥檛 be shy, now, readers. Tell us what your
computer is called.
BT HAS BEEN onto a nice little earner with Phone Disc, a CD-ROM that stores
all listed telephone numbers in Britain, but costs at least 拢200, only
runs on one PC and only works for a year.
CD-ROMs now cost less than 30p to press and last year Oftel, Britain鈥檚
telecoms watchdog, pledged to crack BT鈥檚 monopoly and allow competition. Far
from concerned, BT responded by leaving Phone Disc at the same price for 1998
and putting up the price of phoning Directory Enquiries.
So Feedback was thrilled when a magazine called PC Format
(拢4.99) gave away a free CD-ROM called UK-Info that stores 鈥渁 staggering
42 million surnames, initials and street names, plus phone numbers for virtually
every UK citizen鈥�.
We gladly paid the fiver and installed the disc on a Windows PC. It seemed to
work smoothly, but when we searched for some names we knew were not
ex-directory, UK-Info denied their existence, or gave no phone number.
The disc gave two helpline numbers. One was constantly engaged. The other
rang and rang, before answering with voicemail. We left a message but did not
hear back. An e-mail produced no useful reply either.
But the disc comes with a helpful piece of paper. This offers users the
chance to upgrade to the 鈥淧ro鈥� version of UK-Info for a special price of around
拢180.
It looks as if BT can go on raking in the profits on Phone Disc for a little
longer.
THE TROUBLE with urban myths is that if they gain sufficient currency they
are bound, in the end, to be taken up by someone somewhere who, in passing them
on, gives them the stamp of authority. Thus it was that the normally reliable
computer magazine Infoworld carried the story of Sabena Belgium World
Airlines magnetising the folding tables on its Airbus 340s.
Unfortunately, that story, which was repeated here on 14 February, turns out
to be untrue. A blushing Feedback apologises both to Sabena and to this column鈥檚
readers. Whoops! Fooled again鈥�
WHAT CAN can this possibly mean? The introduction to the author index in the
Oriental Institute Research Archives (http://www-oi.uchicago.edu) tells
us: 鈥淭his is an author index to resources relevant to the study and presentation
of the Ancient Near East. It includes, in general, only documents for which a
human author is listed. A number of other resources, where authorship is less
clear, can be found in the Project Index.鈥�
What do they know that the rest of us don鈥檛?
FINALLY, Jonathan Potter bought a potted basil plant from his local
Woolworth鈥檚 recently. It carried this helpful warning: 鈥淥nly eat the leaves and
stems of this plant. Do not eat the roots or soil.鈥�