THEY CALL them gotchas. Simple things that jump up and crash the best-laid
plans. It turns out it will be the humble TV remote control that gotchas the
plans laid by governments around the world to make large sums of money by
switching from analogue to digital TV and selling off the old frequencies.
So says an engineer friend who is close to government planners in Britain,
which leads the world in digital TV and is becoming the role model for other
countries starting similar services.
In Britain, viewers who are willing to pay a subscription to watch digital TV
can get a free digital converter box from the broadcasters. But around half the
country鈥檚 25 million households, nearly all with at least one TV set and VCR,
either won鈥檛 or can鈥檛 afford to pay a subscription. They just want to go on
watching and taping free analogue programmes. So the government now realises
that if it wants to switch off analogue transmissions it will have to give away
millions of digital converters, costing at least 拢25 each.
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That鈥檚 bad enough. But the real gotcha is this: these days everyone expects
to change TV channels from the comfort of their sofas using a remote control.
But existing remote controls will not work the digital converters. So each free
converter will need its own remote control to switch digital channels. And this
new remote should also be able to switch the existing TV set on and off and
control the picture and sound. But there are tens of thousands of different
types of TV sets and VCRs, often obsolete, and all mated to different
remotes.
So teams of engineers will have to call at millions of homes all over Britain
to connect free converters and play whatever technical tricks are needed to make
new remotes work with whatever ancient TVs and VCRs are in use.
Think about this the next time you read of grand plans to switch off analogue
by the middle of this decade. More likely it will be the middle of the next
decade, or later still.
FIRST butter is bad for you and margarine is good for you. Then margarine is
bad for you and butter is good for you. One minute bran is essential to your
diet, the next minute too much of it might give you cancer.
Now comes the backlash. Americans are getting so fed up with shifting and
conflicting dietary advice, they鈥檙e beginning to say: 鈥淭o hell with it, let鈥檚 go
back to steaks and hamburgers.鈥�
According to the January issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic
Association: 鈥淭he more negative and confused people feel about dietary
recommendations, the more likely they are to eat a fat-laden diet that skimps on
fruits and vegetables.鈥�
The journal reports a survey conducted by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research
Center in Seattle, Washington. It found that a lot of people 鈥渉ave just plain
had it鈥� with nutritional advice.
And that, according to the study leader Ruth Patterson, is why 鈥渁ll of a
sudden big steakhouses are it, and they鈥檙e not just serving steak, they鈥檙e
serving a 1-pound steak and everything is drenched in butter and blue
肠丑别别蝉别鈥�.
If you think that sounds delicious, then you might just be suffering from
nutrition backlash, too鈥攄efined in the Seattle study as 鈥渘egative feelings
about dietary recommendations, such as anger, scepticism, helplessness, worry
and cynicism鈥�.
THEY ARE committed to diversity at the University of Western Australia
Student Guild. Any students wishing to renew their membership of the guild are
required to fill in a form that asks them whether they are 鈥渕ale鈥�, 鈥渇emale鈥� or
鈥涣迟丑别谤鈥�.
WHETHER or not they got the idea from Feedback we do not know, but Michigan
Law Suit Abuse Watch has been running a 鈥淲acky warning labels鈥� contest.
The winning entry was the label on a pair of shin guards. It stated: 鈥淪hin
pads cannot protect any part of the body they do not cover.鈥�
According to the Ananova news service, Joe Schanderson, who submitted the
entry, beat off 100 rivals to win the $500 competition prize.
鈥淚 picked up the label and found it absolutely ridiculous,鈥� he said.
Of the runners-up, Feedback鈥檚 favourite is this from a jet ski manufacturer:
鈥淲arning: Riders of personal watercraft may suffer injury due to forceful
injection of water into body cavities either by falling into the water or while
mounting the craft.鈥�
FINALLY, we feel it is time to bring to an end our theme of notes on toilet
doors. But we can鈥檛 resist passing on one last example, photographed on the door
of a ladies鈥� loo in the Sequoia National Park in California by reader Liz
Masterman: 鈥淧lease keep door closed to discourage bears from entering.鈥�
You have been warned.