FROM the department of signs of the times. Burning books is one of those old American traditions so beloved of fundamentalist churches, who make bonfires of material they believe offends God. These days that can include CDs, videos and provocative clothing as well as books. But when Pastor Scott Breedlove of the Jesus Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, tried to organise an old-fashioned summer book burning, city and county officials wouldn鈥檛 grant him a fire permit.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 want a situation where people are burning rubbish as a recreational fire,鈥� Brad Brenneman, a district fire chief in Cedar Rapids, told Associated Press. Going outside the city wasn鈥檛 an option either, because county air-pollution rules ban hauling material outside the city limits to burn it.
The city fire inspector suggested shredding the offending material, but that didn鈥檛 seem biblical enough to Breedlove, so he decided to dump it into trash cans and light candles 鈥� which don鈥檛 require fire permits 鈥� as a symbolic act of burning.
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BACK on 17 April we noted that showing how relevant your research is to the fight against terrorism might be one way of securing a grant. To the marine geologists, space researchers and silkworm specialists who we light-heartedly suspected of trying this ploy we can now add entomologists, as is shown in this abstract from Eurekalert: 鈥淏y examining the brain activity of moths, researchers have found that the behaviour of these insects isn鈥檛 ruled entirely by instinct. Rather, they can learn which odours mean food. The findings are more than academic: the researchers hope to develop methods for using trained moths to detect odours of interest for the defence industry and law enforcement 鈥� such as odours given off by biological and chemical weapons.鈥�
The cheque is almost certainly in the post already.
FROM time to time we have given examples of truncated email subject lines. Fran Martel writes to point out that truncated messages are not just a phenomenon of the email age. Back in the glamorous 1970s, Martel鈥檚 mother-in-law saw a poster excitingly emblazoned with the words 鈥淎VID SEX鈥� on a pillar in London. On closer examination, she realised that the curve of the column had effectively abbreviated the edges of the poster, which was in fact advertising a performance by the pop singer David Essex.
鈥淭HIS movie is to climate science as Frankenstein is to heart transplant surgery,鈥� writes William Hyde, an atmospheric science expert at the Earth and Ocean Sciences Division of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, about disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow.
The film envisages the world in the grip of a new ice age, with the US and Europe buffeted by three giant Arctic 鈥渉ypercanes鈥� that Hyde likens to avenging angels. 鈥淲hich would explain why they stop at borders, freezing out the evil, polluting Americans and Europeans while not touching Mexico or north Africa,鈥� he explains.
Hyde鈥檚 informed analysis of the movie comes to us courtesy of the Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.sf.written, which collected from its members the $100 Hyde had announced it would take to persuade him to see the movie. He hadn鈥檛 wanted or expected his challenge to be taken up, but once it was it seems he enjoyed himself.
鈥淎s the 鈭�150 掳F air hits Manhattan,鈥� his review continues, 鈥渨e see its motion by the rapid formation of instant frost in the corridors of the NY [City Public] Library. Frost moves, like most movie monsters, just slowly enough for our heroes to escape鈥︹��
AFTER reporting on the Nessun Dorma (鈥渘o one sleeps鈥�) guest house (12 June), we decided to call a halt to what we had dubbed antinyms, or inappropriate names. But we can鈥檛 help reneging on that decision in order to join Lucia Singer in her concern that a certain well-known radioactive waste management company has chosen to call itself 鈥淣ukem鈥�.
AS we all know, it is important to cook chicken thoroughly in case it contains salmonella. Even so, Odette Meddings was startled by the instructions for the chicken breast stir-fry she bought from the supermarket Safeway, which told her: 鈥淢arinade chicken stirfry for 5 minutes. Heat 2 tsp of oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Saut茅 chicken for approximately 4 to 6 months, or until there is no longer pink in the middle.鈥�
FINALLY, hats off to the Superdrug store chain for its innovative use of units of measurement. When Trevor Henry went there to buy a new toothbrush recently, he checked the price on the shelf below and discovered that it was 拢1.44 鈥� equivalent, the note went on to tell him, to 拢7.58 per metre.
A partially obscured sign at a petrol station gives a glimpse of the future, thinks reader Paul Bott: 鈥淚t is illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone鈥�