CYNICAL observers may feel there is a certain irony in the fact that
Greenpeace has been importing potentially dangerous toxic spores into
Britain.
Back in May, Feedback received, unsolicited, a natty Greenpeace mouse mat
made of Amazon-rainforest rubber and carrying a picture of a parrot in flight.
Naturally, the rubber was sustainably harvested from the forest.
Now Greenpeace has written to everyone who received the mat asking them to
send it back. It turns out that a fungus from the rainforest around the Jurua
River area, where the rubber was tapped, has buried itself in some of the 500
mats Greenpeace sent out to its friends. It 鈥渕ight spread further鈥�, warns the
recall letter darkly. There is a 鈥渞emote chance鈥� it 鈥渕ight provoke an allergic
reaction in some sensitive individuals鈥�.
Advertisement
Despite a few good sniffs, Feedback has yet to develop any untoward
symptoms鈥攁nd it is hard to be sure whether the funny white specks on the
back of the mat are fungal spores or yesterday鈥檚 biscuit crumbs. But time, no
doubt, will tell, because in the interests of research Feedback plans to hang
onto the mat.
Less hardy recipients can rest assured, however, that no fewer than two
universities鈥擡xeter and Brasilia Lateq鈥攁re at this moment working on
producing a new, guaranteed fungal-free Amazon mouse mat ready for shipping 鈥渋n
due course鈥�.
OF ALL the places to drop a piece of aeroplane . . .
We are glad to report that for once nobody was hurt when a 2-by-1-metre
section of flap fell from a Boeing 727 heading for O鈥橦are airport and landed in
a suburban Chicago backyard a couple of weeks ago.
But that鈥檚 not to say nobody was upset. According to the AVweb online
newsletter, the backyard belonged to David Tolemy, the area鈥檚 most vociferous
and best-known critic of O鈥橦are鈥檚 runway expansion programme.
鈥淎nd they talk about adding more runways and adding more flights,鈥� Tolemy
told the media after he recovered from the shock. 鈥淚t just aggravates me.鈥�
One can understand his feelings.
JUST what the world needs? Sony has unveiled a new range of cellphones with a
built-in microchip sound recorder. This lets the owner custom design their own
ring tones. 鈥淵our girlfriend laughing, baby crying or dog barking,鈥� suggests
Sony.
The same phone can also generate multiple tones, like an electronic music
keyboard. And it has a loudspeaker that lets the owner make hands-free phone
calls.
So if you are watching a gripping scene in the theatre and suddenly hear a
dog barking over a tinkly rendition of Chopsticks, followed by the
sound of someone shouting a private conversation, you will know who to
thank.
IF YOU are unsure whether you are male or female, or for that matter whether
you are married or not, then the University of Aberdeen is the place for you.
Its application form for graduate study has a section asking you to tick boxes
in answer to a series of questions. These include: 鈥淢arital Status:
Married/Single n鈥� and 鈥淕ender: Male/Female n鈥�
Just tick the boxes. You can鈥檛 get it wrong.
NICE to know that some parts of the world take a liberal stance on animals
and quarantine. EgyptAir, for example, caters for customers and their pets on
board their planes. Reader Erik Sundstrom noticed this sign on a recent flight:
鈥淚n an emergency, put the oxygen mask over your nose and mouse.鈥�
MULTINATIONAL giant Pitney Bowes makes machines that handle office mail and
electronic communication. Once in a while the company drums up publicity by
publishing reports on how offices make a mess of sending messages.
Feedback recently received a paper invite for the launch of its latest study,
on how we are 鈥渄rowning in communications overload鈥�. It came with a faxback form
already half filled out for someone we had never heard of.
Now Pitney Bowes has followed up with a letter apologising for the forms
which were 鈥減rinted incorrectly鈥�. With the letter comes a new form. This one
also comes partly filled out with the informative words 鈥淣ame Merge Data鈥� and
鈥淧ublication data鈥�.
We eagerly await Pitney Bowes鈥檚 next attempt at printing and mailing a simple
blank form.
TIME is up to its tricks again. This is from budget airline easyJet鈥檚 recent
advertising campaign: 鈥淭he cheapest seats are on the Web! If your flight departs
more than two months ahead of the day you book, you can only buy your seats on
the Internet at easyJet.com.鈥�
FINALLY, here is a product instruction that leaves us intrigued but baffled.
A reader tells us she recently purchased a pair of silk knickers.
In the washing instructions on the label, the manufacturer鈥擧anro of
Switzerland鈥攁dvises: 鈥淭o maintain the fine texture we recommend washing
the silk on the left side.鈥�