TO BARK, or not to bark? That is the question posed by the latest Expert Verdict catalogue, which offers two contradictory products. The first is a device that sends an ultrasonic signal as a deterrent to barking dogs. 鈥淏ark Free works both indoors and out in a 25鈥� range, so you can use it to stop your own or your neighbour鈥檚 dog barking,鈥� the catalogue tells us.
The second is a radar-operated barking machine. 鈥淒ogs are one of the most effective deterrents, and the Electronic Watchdog sounds just like the real thing, alarming intruders 24 hours a day.鈥�
This, as reader Paul Spicker points out, could also be the answer if your neighbour has purchased a Bark Free device to stop your dog barking 鈥� you could provide electronic barking instead.
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But there is a further commercial opportunity here. What if your neighbour purchases an Electronic Watchdog and it continues to bark when you point your Bark Free at it? Is there nothing on the market yet that can call a halt to electronic barking misery?
PHONE companies should be good at communication, yes? Reader Phil Gilbert recently subscribed to the internet service offered by Yahoo and UK telecom giant BT. When he signed up for it, he set up the mail settings in Outlook Express and then checked to see if his registration emails had arrived. They hadn鈥檛, somewhat to his surprise. But he did have an email telling him that Yahoo/BT had already activated his bulk mail (spam mail) folder.
For a moment he was quite put out. He had only signed up 5 minutes ago, and already he was getting spam email. Then he realised what had happened. BT鈥檚 filter had intercepted its own registration email to him and decided it was spam.
AND talking of spam, the American CAN-SPAM act went into effect at the start of January, imposing a set of rules that companies are supposed to follow when they make mass electronic mailings (see Feedback, 24 January). So far, Feedback hasn鈥檛 seen any slowing of the deluge of electronic junk mail offering assorted enlargements, medications and other irresistible panaceas. However, a company called InfoEdge is peddling a 300-page guide to how to comply with the new law. They are promoting it 鈥� how else? 鈥� by spamming.
THEY say lightning doesn鈥檛 strike in the same place twice. But they (the same 鈥渢hey鈥�?) also say a bolt of lightning is how a miffed deity conveys his, or her, displeasure to a naughty human.
So what are we to make of the fact that Jan Michelini, co-director of The Passion of the Christ, the controversial film about Jesus鈥檚 last hours also directed by born-again matinee idol Mel Gibson, has been struck by lightning 鈥� not once but twice 鈥� while filming? And that the second time, the bolt also hit Jim Caviezel, the actor playing Jesus, who, biblically enough, had 鈥渟moke coming out of his ears鈥�.
The film, due to open in the US in February, has sparked accusations of anti-Semitism, while the Vatican has denied earlier reports that the pope liked it. The pope may or may not approve. We may already have had an electrifying demonstration of what his boss thinks.
NUTRITIONAL information is a good idea. It鈥檚 not always clear, though, that anyone understands all those numbers in small print. Except, of course, Feedback readers like Cedric Lynch, who sent us the details of 鈥淏e Good To Yourself鈥� drinking chocolate from Sainsbury鈥檚 supermarket. 鈥淪alt: 0.0g鈥�, it declares, 鈥渙f which sodium: 0.1g鈥�.
We look forward to the entire workforce of the supermarket going to Stockholm to receive their Nobel prize for the discovery of a form of chlorine with negative mass.
AND while we鈥檙e dealing in negativity, David Ryan sent us a flyer that came through his door promising to 鈥渉elp you save between 50 鈥� 300 per cent鈥� on printer ink. How do they arrange that stupendous top saving? Do they just staple twice the normal retail price to the packet and give it away? Or is this anti-ink with a negative price per kilo, and if so what happens when it meets normal paper?
READER Keith Mckenzie was interested in an email promotion from the Australian magazine Authority. In it 鈥淭he Big Brain Game 鈥� How big is your brain?鈥� included a 鈥渃onversational fact for the day鈥� introduced by the question, 鈥淗ow many years did the Roman Empire exist?鈥�
The answer? 鈥淭he Empire was around for some 2150 years from 700 BC to 2435 AD.鈥� We鈥檝e respectfully asked the Governor of Londinium to dispatch an imperial messenger with an ode pointing out the Empire started in 27 BC 鈥� and a new tally-stick to help Authority with its arithmetic.
From the department of unusual units: 鈥淓very year the average household wastes enough energy to fill 12 hot-air balloons,鈥� says a flyer from Powergen received by reader John Leonhardt. And what does your beer mug hold, in joules?