BACK on 7 June 2003 we mentioned the Library Hotel in New York, whose rooms are catalogued according to the Dewey decimal system and are furnished with appropriate reading and viewing. Shortly afterwards, it seems, things started to get complicated 鈥� and we sincerely hope our story had nothing to do with bringing this about.
Given the likely involvement of some of America鈥檚 sharpest legal minds, we think it best to quote verbatim this press release we stumbled across: 鈥淥nline Computer Library Center, Inc. and The Library Hotel (New York, New York) have reached a settlement agreement regarding the use of the Dewey Decimal Classification system 庐 trademarks by The Library Hotel.
鈥淥n Sept. 10, 2003, OCLC filed a trademark infringement complaint against The Library Hotel in federal court in Columbus, Ohio. Under the settlement terms, The Library Hotel will receive permission from OCLC to use the Dewey Decimal Classification 庐 trademarks in its hotel and in its marketing materials, with an acknowledgment that OCLC is the owner of the Dewey 庐 trademarks. The Library Hotel will make a financial donation to a non-profit organization that promotes reading by children.鈥�
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So now you can sleep soundly in room 027.42 鈥� that鈥檚 the Dewey classification for 鈥淟ibrary outreach programmes鈥�, by the way.
FEEDBACK hates helpful computers. Being merely obedient is what computers are for. Whenever a computer smirks 鈥淚t seems you鈥檙e writing a letter鈥︹�� we start snarling. We know perfectly well what we鈥檙e writing, thank you.
But sometimes a supposedly helpful computer can be downright cruel. A friend of reader Andrew Ferguson, whom he is delicate enough not to name, was using her boyfriend鈥檚 computer to search for ideas for a surprise 30th birthday party for him. As she began to type 鈥減arty planning鈥� into Google, the auto-complete function kicked in to help her 鈥� and suggested instead 鈥減ainless break-up鈥�.
IN the abstract of their paper in Physics Education (vol 38, p 320), Dominic Dickson and Laura Grant tell us: 鈥淭his article describes how putting physics words to well-known songs can provide a valuable, innovative and fun approach for presenting, promoting and learning physics.鈥�
The title of their paper asks the question: 鈥淧hysics Karaoke: why not?鈥� Without trying too hard, we can think of several reasons.
WHAT is it about African elephants 鈥� it is never the Indian ones 鈥� that makes them such a popular unit of measurement?
Brian White received his water bill from the Three Valleys supplier in south-east England the other day. With it was a booklet entitled What are you paying for? It told him that during the summer of 2003, 鈥渢he average demand for water increased by 360 million litres per day. This meant we had to push the equivalent weight in water of 200,000 fully grown African elephants through 14,000 kilometres of water mains鈥�.
And the bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs that was bought by Rosalind Fisher told her: 鈥�1.25 billion Mini Eggs are produced every year. This is equivalent in weight to 625 African elephants.鈥�
MEANWHILE, at the other end of the scale, congratulations to PC Advisor magazine for inventing the most unusual unit of measurement we have come across yet. David Way discovered in the magazine鈥檚 April issue that Intel鈥檚 new Prescott chip is manufactured from transistors 鈥渙nly 90 nanometres across 鈥� thinner than a flu virus鈥�.
But how big is a flu virus? PC Advisor doesn鈥檛 tell us, but Andrew Roberts informs us that researchers at Purdue University in Indiana have worked out a way of weighing one. According to the website of the UK鈥檚 Institution of Electrical Engineers, they have built a machine that is so sensitive it can weigh a single virus particle 鈥渨eighing as little as a trillionth of a grain of rice鈥�.
ON 31 January we playfully asked: 鈥淲hat does your beer mug hold, in joules?鈥� We didn鈥檛 expect any replies, but Ian Dickson tells us a quick search using Google gave him 200 kilocalories per pint of beer and around 4 joules to the calorie, so the answer is a little more than 800 kilojoules 鈥� though it鈥檚 not clear if this is for lager, ale or stout.
WHAT are sensibly known as grade crossings in the US are called level crossings in the UK, and this can give rise to perplexing road signs like the one spotted by Dennis Newland near Betchworth station in Surrey. 鈥淯neven level crossing,鈥� it said. Newland wonders how this is possible.
FINALLY, the Shropshire branch of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain has a monthly meeting for its members. Stephen Dunning writes to tell us that in April it is holding a wine-tasting social. The following month the subject for the lecture is 鈥淎lcoholism and liver disease鈥�.
While looking for a watch strap, reader Neil Richmond came across a tray of them on a market stall with the accompanying advice: 鈥淭o be worn around the wrist鈥�