WE ARE distressed to hear that hungry insects are trying to eat New
Orleans.
The historic city is being attacked by a creature called the Formosan
termite, which arrived from Asia on the Gulf coast of Louisiana and Texas 35
years ago.
鈥淭his species gets my vote for the most important structural pest of the new
millennium,鈥� says Mark Hunter, an ecologist at the University of Georgia. 鈥淭he
Formosan termite appears determined to consume the historic French Quarter of
New Orleans. These termites destroy creosote-treated utility poles and wharves,
the switch boxes of underground traffic lights, underground telephone cables,
live trees and shrubs and the seals on high-pressure water lines.鈥�
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And that鈥檚 just for their hors d鈥檕euvres. Wait till they get down to the main
course.
THE LEADER of Britain鈥檚 National Farmers鈥� Union (NFU) bears a heavy
responsibility. The following synopsis of the Countryfile TV programme
for 30 January appeared on the BBC鈥檚 Ceefax teletext service: 鈥淎 look at the
tough choices facing the new NFU President. Including weather for the week
补丑别补诲.鈥�
So we now know who to blame when our walk in the countryside is spoilt by
torrential rain.
尝翱狈顿翱狈鈥橲 enormous Millennium Dome, built on the Meridian Line near Greenwich,
seems barely to have been out of the news for the past few months鈥攎ost
recently because the number of visitors in January was way below the average
needed for it to break even. So Feedback decided to pay a visit.
We were able to witness first-hand how the exhibit 鈥渮ones鈥� inside look as if
they were constructed in a hurry, on a tight budget, to satisfy committees of
bureaucrats. The resultant mishmash offers neither theme-park excitement nor
science fun and education.
BT鈥檚 Talk Zone boasts mock-ups of future phones, with stuck-on pictures
instead of screens, and no useful explanations. The Money and Learning Zones had
crashed computers. Even with the disappointing attendance, the bottleneck Body
Zone, where people get to go inside a giant model, had long queues.
The Self-Portrait Zone, sponsored by Marks & Spencer, celebrates those
things that give the British their unique identity. In the sphere of science and
technology are the likes of Clive Sinclair, Patrick Moore and 鈥淪tephen Hawkins鈥�.
That鈥檚 right. They spelt the name of Britain鈥檚 most famous living scientist
wrong.
The Mind Zone is the biggest disappointment. Its stated purpose is 鈥渢o
encourage youngsters to consider a career in science and technology鈥�. But many
of the exhibits were unfinished or already broken. Infrared cameras peered into
a smoke-filled cabinet that was waterlogged because the Dome is colder than
expected. There were no signs to explain how a computer-generated starfish
learns from human touch by infrared sensors and neural networking. Bewildered
visitors are funnelled through a room with electronically generated sound, but
given no guidance on what it is for. Projectors screen large maps that show
Internet signal routing, with no clue as to what they mean.
Trying to get a fix on what has gone so wrong with the whole sorry
exhibition, Feedback asked Marconi, sponsor of the Mind Zone, for comment. After
two weeks and much nagging, Marconi said: 鈥淭here have been some operational and
design issues which need further adjustment.鈥�
Feedback can suggest one such
adjustment: shut down the Dome, and divert visitors to the Science Museum.
A LEAFLET from Volkswagen promoting 鈥渢he New Golf Estate鈥� recently fell into
the hands of reader Mark Longford. It included a competition linked to a
marketing survey with a prize of a 拢3000 holiday. One of the tick-the-box
questions was: 鈥淲ill your next car be new or used?鈥� The choice of boxes to tick
was 鈥淵es鈥� or 鈥淣o鈥�.
鈥�WHAT do Eric Clapton, Mother Teresa, Federico Fellini and Charles Dickens
have in common?鈥� asks a press release from Springer, the publisher. The answer
is that they all have asteroids named after them.
Springer鈥檚 Dictionary of Minor Planet Names lists some 10 000 names
and explains how each asteroid gained its monicker. Sadly, many astronomers are
still in the habit of giving orbiting objects boring names like RX4.
But invention still thrives, as in the work of E. Bowell, who has managed to
name many of the asteroids he has discovered after famous composers.
Feedback also liked the name Melancholia, chosen by its discoverer P. Wild to
commemorate 鈥渢he gloom besetting astronomers when the sky remains overcast for
weeks on end鈥�.
FINALLY, how strong are walls in houses these days? We only ask because Mark
Lines-Davies recently bought a small wall-mounted phone for his kitchen. The
instructions for the Telcom Compact Gondola phone include the prominent warning:
鈥淢ake sure the wall is able to support the weight of the telephone.鈥�
The phone weighs all of 340 grams.