COULD it possibly be that some of our readers are under-challenged by their jobs? Back in September, New 杏吧原创 letter writers mentioned 鈥渄ust bunnies鈥�, those evanescent collections of fibre that gather under beds and elsewhere 鈥� apparently also known as 鈥渟lut鈥檚 wool鈥� (2 September 2006, p 19). In a clean-up of our filing system, an important message Peter Ratigan sent us from north-west England at the time has resurfaced. He writes: 鈥淚 am quite fond of the bunnies in the office where I work and mourn them when the cleaner occasionally finds them.鈥�
As you would expect, this Feedback reader is not content with aesthetic appreciation. 鈥淲atching them grow and trying to work out what encourages them has interested me for some time,鈥� he adds. 鈥淚t seems that they require dry conditions, gentle draughts, a smooth surface, and lots of dust with fibrous matter. They grow best on smooth linoleum, but also grow on concrete.鈥�
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There are population studies to be done, too: 鈥淭he fastest-growing bunnies I鈥檝e seen, taking maybe a week to grow to mouse size,鈥� writes Ratigan, 鈥渁re in the customer service department of the John Lewis store in Cheadle, Cheshire. They are encouraged by the department having a polished, tiled floor and air conditioning, and being adjacent to the ladies鈥� clothing displays.鈥�
These are, we feel, fascinating observations 鈥� and on second thoughts, please don鈥檛 dismiss the dust bunny issue as mere work-avoidance wool-gathering, as we may have implied above. This sporadic correspondence was originally inspired by a suggestion that planets may form in a similar way to dust bunnies (New 杏吧原创, 23 July 2005, p 29). If letters continue to trickle in at this rate, who knows, a brilliant idea about the origins of our solar system may emerge鈥� eventually.
鈥溾�漀ew 鈥榮uper-Earth鈥� found in space鈥�, BBC online announced last month. 鈥淎s opposed to where?鈥� Will Shaw asks. 鈥淏ehind the sofa?鈥濃��
A CLASSIC 鈥渃onfused about science鈥� story has been going round the internet and has been copied to us by Mark Weber. It consists of a letter published earlier this year in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
鈥淵ou may have noticed that March of this year was particularly hot,鈥� the letter begins. 鈥淎s a matter of fact, I understand that it was the hottest March since the beginning of the last century鈥�
鈥淭his should come as no surprise to any reasonable person. As you know, Daylight Saving Time started almost a month early this year. You would think that members of Congress would have considered the warming effect that an extra hour of daylight would have on our climate.
鈥淥r did they?
鈥淧erhaps this is another plot by liberal Congress to make us believe that global warming is a real threat. Perhaps next time there should be serious studies performed before Congress passes laws with such far-reaching effects.鈥�
It comes as something of a relief to discover that this letter is in fact a spoof that the Democrat-Gazette fell for. The urban legends website tells us that the author of the letter, Connie Meskimen, 鈥渋s a Little Rock lawyer known for penning sarcastic letters with tongue firmly planted in cheek鈥�.
We know the arguments of global-warming deniers can be pretty flaky, but it still seems surprising the Democrat-Gazette failed to see through this.
DO WE detect the hand of the mischievous spellchecker in the following apologetic note from the April issue of Contemporary Sociology? 鈥淚n the January issue鈥� in the review written by Elizabeth Gorman of The Work and Family Handbook: Multi-disciplinary perspectives and approaches, edited by Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, Ellen Ernst Kossek and Stephen Sweet, the contributors鈥� last names should have been spelled 鈥楰aren Gareis鈥� instead of 鈥楰aren Agrees鈥�, 鈥楲aura Beavais鈥� instead of 鈥楲aura Beavers鈥�, and 鈥楪erstel and Sarkisian鈥�, not 鈥楪retel and Sardinian鈥�. We regret the errors.鈥�
THE BBC鈥檚 online news site recently carried a report entitled 鈥淒rive to close the attainment gap鈥�. It stated that the UK鈥檚 education secretary, Alan Johnson, currently a contender for the deputy leadership of the Labour party, 鈥渋s to push for new targets to close the attainment gap between disadvantaged and more affluent pupils鈥�. The report goes on to say that Johnson 鈥渨ants an extra 拢1 billion spent on closing this gap by 2011. In a speech later, he will say research shows children from poorer homes hear 15 million words by the age of 5, compared with 45 million for those from 鈥榖etter鈥� homes. He believes the government must be accountable for addressing this issue.鈥�
Chris McManus, who alerted us to this report, wonders if this will be done by politicians uttering the required 30 million extra words.
FINALLY, using the public facilities in a shopping centre in Christchurch, New Zealand, Russell Pearse was confronted with a sign above the urinal instructing 鈥淎im Higher鈥�. The effect was not, probably, what Victoria University in Wellington had in mind when it launched its recruitment campaign.