How often students have group sex
鈥淔EMALE art students more sexually active than male science nerds,鈥� blared the headline on an Agence France-Presse story published by . Wondering who thought this was somehow, you know, news, Feedback almost missed a quote from the original paper in the Australian journal Sexual Health by Bernadette Zakher and Melissa Kang: 鈥淢ales in the study were less likely to have had sex as a group compared to the group of females in the sample.鈥�
Would that be as a Lie group, perhaps, or a more generic Abelian group? Or some more interesting type of group that Feedback missed when dozing off at the back during a mathematics lecture?
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Hercule the unbreakable hamster
THE packaging of the exercise ball Edward Tripp bought for his hamster, Hercule, states: 鈥淥nly Runner Medium is made from high impact non-toxic polystyrene which makes the hamster very robust and unbreakable.鈥� Tripp is delighted to know he is the owner of Hercule the unbreakable hamster.
FEEDBACK readers 鈥� you鈥檙e an odd lot, and we like you. Normal people just mutter 鈥測eah, whatever鈥� when new software presents them with a licence agreement, and happily hit the 鈥測es鈥� button that means 鈥渏ust let me sign away my firstborn child, if any, and play, NOW鈥�. But you 鈥� you read them.
Oliver Taylor, for example, came across the following. It was all in capital letters, but in case you鈥檙e reading this in a quiet place we鈥檝e removed the shoutiness: 鈥淭he Apple software is not intended for use in the operation of nuclear facilities, aircraft navigation or communication systems, air traffic control systems, life support machines or other equipment in which the failure of the Apple software could lead to death, personal injury, or severe physical or environmental damage.鈥�
鈥淭he instructions on Alistair Anderson鈥檚 mini flashlight say: 鈥淒ifferent types of batteries or new and used batteries are not to be mixed.鈥� It takes a single 鈥淎AA鈥� cell. Help in breaking the rule would be appreciated鈥︹��
Feedback does not claim to be totally up to speed with the technicalities of nuclear power station control software, but we do have a teensy and amateur suspicion that running one using Oliver鈥檚 iTunes program might indeed prove unfortunate.
OUR fruitloopery of the week award goes to the TRV University, which, Peter Day has discovered, tells us at that: 鈥淣ow you can convert ANY rollerball style pen to operate like a Magic Pen capable of downloading precise and accurate information about the future, the past or anything you want to know 鈥� anywhere on the planet鈥� It鈥檚 a mind technology called Technical Remote Viewing and anyone can learn this formally top secret skill and for less than a dollar convert an ordinary pen into a magic pen worth millions.鈥�
Elsewhere, at we are told that the pen can 鈥減robe the mind of Osama Bin Laden in real time鈥� and 鈥渇ind out what is hidden underneath the Sphynx in Egypt鈥� or if life ever did exist on Mars鈥�.
Wonderful value for the price of a pen 鈥� available exclusively with the $1295 basic training course.
THE UK government has developed a bad habit of losing discs and memory sticks that contain citizens鈥� confidential personal information. Now it has lost the name of its security advice centre.
Security specialist company Sophos has discovered that when the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) was shut down in April 2006 and replaced by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), the British government let go of the registered website name, . Not realising this, other websites including the BBC still link to the NHTCU site. But, after a legitimate purchase by a German company, now offers private high-tech crime information resources.
And what happens if the firm legitimately sells the site name on? 鈥淚n the worst possible scenario,鈥� Sophos says, 鈥渇raudsters could use the site to鈥� try and harvest confidential information鈥�. Then SOCA would have to warn people about the risks of using the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit website.
THE New Zealand Post sold David Blest a small box in which to mail a gift. Its internal dimensions were 140 millimetres 脳 130 mm 脳 25 mm. Outside, it bore the warning 鈥淢aximum weight 20 kg鈥�. Feedback has checked Blest鈥檚 calculation, and that box鈥檚 volume of the densest material you can actually buy 鈥� either osmium or iridium (we鈥檙e not joining that fight) 鈥� would barely break the 10 kilogram mark, though it might break the bank.
So what does New Zealand Post know that physics doesn鈥檛?
FINALLY, when Sandra Lloyd was about to put her new 鈥淧ure & Natural鈥� jumper in the wash, her husband John checked the side seam for the washing instructions and found that it was indeed 鈥減ure鈥� 鈥� 100 per cent, no less. However, John says that in 60-odd years on this planet he has never come across a 鈥渘atural鈥� acrylic sheep.