ONCE again, boring old conventional science has been scooped by a 鈥淪piritual Teacher and Healer, Naturopath and Telepathic Channel鈥�. Moikeha Asar K brings us 鈥� at 鈥� important news about the nature of life itself: 鈥淔or many years carbon was said to be the only living atom on the Earth, but recently all the aspects that allows [sic] carbon to be classed as such have been found in Silica also. This means that by scientific and human means silica-containing substances are alive.鈥�
Like Zacharias Orfanos, who alerted us to this, we feel deep disappointment that these 鈥渟cientific and human means鈥� were not taught to us at school. Meanwhile, not content with rethinking the whole of biology, Mr K also has news for oceanographers: 鈥淟ife forms have been found in the deep oceans of earth that demonstrate all the characteristics of life, even being able to reproduce, without any carbon in them.鈥�
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What, though, is Mr K selling? 鈥淟iquid Crystals are prepared by imprinting a Crystal鈥檚 individual Holistic Planetary vibrational healing signature into water and holding it there with the geometry that creates it.鈥� That鈥檒l set you back a mere A$7.50 for 10 millilitres of, er, water. As Mr K notes, 鈥淎s yet we don鈥檛 completely understand their sacred language of geometric light.鈥� Indeed.
STARTLING news from the European Community Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS): 鈥淭he 鈥楲arge APEX bolometer camera鈥欌�� the world鈥檚 largest for detecting extremely cold astronomical objects, is now in operation鈥� in order to pick up slight temperature fluctuations, the camera must itself be cooled to below absolute zero (-272.85 掳C).鈥�
鈥淔rom the department of disarming honesty: Ben Hill came across a road sign in north Wales that said 鈥淪low Construction Ahead鈥�
Nowhere in the newsletter do we discover how the twin universe-changing feats of altering absolute zero and then going below it are accomplished. But Allan Reese, who spotted this, went to the trouble of digging out the press release from the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere on which the CORDIS piece was based. Here we find the more conventional explanation that the camera is cooled to 鈥渓ess than 0.3 degrees above absolute zero, that is below minus 272.85 degrees Celsius鈥�.
This forgivable slip-of-the-pen explanation is not available, however, to the press office of the UK鈥檚 Science and Technology Facilities Council, which on 7 November issued a press release which opened thus: 鈥淎t 1.9 degrees below absolute zero, colder than outer space, the last interconnection in the world鈥檚 largest cryogenic system was sealed today.鈥� Oops. Or 鈥淓ureka鈥�? Sadly, it seems that officials at CERN 鈥� home of the particle accelerator near Geneva under discussion 鈥� never made such a claim.
WHEN you order something, the arrival of the bill comes as no surprise, but some people in the US who signed up with AT&T for a new iPhone got more than they expected. Part of the deal was to be charged a flat rate each month for internet services, so it would have made sense to summarise that part of the bill in one line. However, AT&T charge other users per minute of internet use as well as for phone calls and text messages, so now they print out all the details for iPhone users too, and send them to every customer who hasn鈥檛 explicitly asked them not to.
It seems the users of older phones don鈥檛 spend much time on the net, but iPhone users do. Now their bills have started coming in, some of them hundreds of pages long and costing several dollars in postage. They list every single minute of internet use 鈥� even though the customers have already paid for them in the flat rate.
鈥淏Y 2010, the production and sale of each bottle of water will actually result in a 120 per cent net reduction of carbon in the atmosphere,鈥� Thomas Mooney of Fiji Water told The Guardian newspaper in London. 鈥淐an nothing be done to stop these people,鈥� Mike Rodgers asks, 鈥渂efore it鈥檚 too late?鈥�
MORE on the subject of liquid electricity (24 November). In the physics department鈥檚 study area at the University of Leeds, UK, Stephen Murray tells us, there are several signs on the wall saying 鈥淒anger! Not drinking water鈥� and 鈥淒o not drink鈥�. However, instead of warning people about the risk of drinking from taps or sinks 鈥� of which there are none in the room 鈥� the warnings are placed next to an array of electrical sockets.
FINALLY, we noted recently that the Service Availability section of the UK Driving Standards Agency website tells us: 鈥淵ou can normally book a theory test online 24 hours a day, every day鈥� and continues 鈥淥utside these hours you may make a 鈥榩ending booking'鈥� (27 October). What we failed to notice at the time, as Paul Meara and Gabriel Jacobs have pointed out, is that at the bottom of the page containing this strange statement are the words: 鈥淭he text on this page has been approved by the Plain English Campaign for clarity.鈥�