IT OUGHT to be simple. Nature is Nature, New 杏吧原创 is New 杏吧原创 and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is鈥ell, PNAS.
But if you think the naming of journals is always so straightforward, then pity the poor librarian who has to deal with finding the right volume and issue when it comes to Comptes Rendus, the journal of the French Academy of Sciences.
Since its inception in 1835, Comptes Rendus has been available with no less than 34 different titles (so far). Its original sections have been spun off again and again over the years, leaving a trail of bibliographical debris so complicated that Patty Carey, a cataloguer at the University of Washington, has created a Comptes Rendus flow chart to help people navigate it.
Advertisement
You can find all 34 past and present incarnations and their multitude of inter-relationships at
But one thing puzzles Feedback. Why did it take the French academicians 167 years before they came up with the six simple, logical names they鈥檝e finally settled on for their august publication 鈥� CR Mathematique, CR M茅canique, CR Physique, CR Chimie, CR Geoscience, and CR Biologies?
IT LOOKS like the SETI@home program has been running longer than people think. Here鈥檚 a message that reader Ian Grant received thanking him for his involvement.
鈥淪ETI@home continues to use the computing power of the Internet to search for life outside Earth. Thanks for being part of this history-making effort! According to our records, you have processed 27 work units, the most recent on December 13, 1901. Your contribution of computer time to SETI@home is greatly appreciated.鈥�
HERE鈥橲 a little gem from Leader of the Band: The life of Woody Herman, by Gene Lees. Many of the sax players who played in Herman鈥檚 bands or 鈥渉erds鈥� went on to be famous in their own right, including Stan Getz, Zoot Sims and Al Cohn. Two quit early, but their names may still sound familiar. Leonard Garment became White House counsel for President Richard M. Nixon. Alan Greenspan now heads the US Federal Reserve.
In the late 1940s, the famous Second Herd featured trumpet player Shorty Rogers and vibraphonist Terry Gibbs. 鈥淭erry talked fast, Shorty very slowly,鈥� Lees recounts. Money was tight, so when Shorty wanted to call his wife long distance he would write out his message and have Terry talk to her. This cut a 12-minute long-distance call to 6 minutes.
Rogers and Gibbs had unwittingly reinvented a wartime trick. Spies would record a message and transmit it at high speed to cut airtime and thus the risk of detection.
JUST what you need when you can鈥檛 access the Internet 鈥� an online technical help service. This is from the latest advert from Tiny Computers: 鈥淲hat makes Tiny stand out from the crowd is their commitment to their customers. If you need help with your PC or can鈥檛 access the Internet, Tiny provide a 24 hour, seven day a week online technical help service so you won鈥檛 be left in the dark for long.鈥�
THE RUSSIANS are trying to market three types of space-launch vehicles from different launch sites. However, their description for the Baikonur launch site in Kazakhstan () may not drum up quite as much business as they hope for. Here is the full text:
鈥淏aikonur is the finest place in the world. The weather is warm 鈥� up tp[sic] +30 Celsium[sic] in the mid of winter. People are strange.鈥�
HERE IS another of those companies that doesn鈥檛 know how many weeks there are in a year. Reader Ian Seymour spotted an advertisement by the American security company Genuity offering 鈥渆xpert proactive monitoring services鈥� that 鈥渉elp secure your network from intruders 24 脳 7 脳 365鈥�.
JUST one of those little things that makes you want to take a hammer to your computer. Trying to access the aruk.co.uk home page, reader Peter Montgomery got this error message: 鈥淵ou might not have permission to view this directory or page using the credentials you supplied. If you believe you should be able to view this directory or page, please try to contact the website by using any email address or phone number that may be listed on the home page.鈥�
READER James Flack was puzzled by the instructions on a 1-litre camping gas cylinder he was about to take on a trip with him. Along with the warnings not to incinerate or to pierce even when empty, the cylinder bore the warning not to flush down the toilet. Flack wondered who had tried this, and with what results. If, on the other hand, it had not been attempted, why had the makers felt it necessary to include this advice?
FINALLY, a press release from biotechnology firm Centagenetix announces: 鈥淐entagenetix scientists and collaborators find links between centenarians and their siblings.鈥� Well, they would, wouldn鈥檛 they?
READER Hayley Edwards recently bought a reversible jacket for her daughter from the Primark chain. The washing instructions say: 鈥淲ash inside out鈥�