FEEDBACK always enjoys stories about criminals making crass blunders that lead to their capture. in the Martinsburg, West Virginia, paper The Journal may provide an example. It tells us of a novel kind of fingerprint that was left at the scene of a burglary, and which has landed an alleged culprit in court.
Spotting a computer, an intruder into a house in Martinsburg switched it on and logged into his own Facebook page. Unfortunately for him, he didn鈥檛 bother to logout again. The returning householders found two diamond rings to be missing.
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Some time later, Jonathan G. Parker of Fort Loudon, Pennsylvania, found himself in court charged with daytime burglary. Thanks to identification provided when police read the still-open Facebook page at the burgled house, he was remanded in custody at . As we went to press he appeared to have raised his $10,000 bail. We await the outcome of his trial with interest.
鈥淗aving stumbled upon and its promise of 鈥渢he most affordable solar systems in Australia鈥�, John Hartman says 鈥淚 want a solar system now. Badly.鈥濃��
WHO can guess what this marketing pitch is about? 鈥淯sing carefully controlled energy levels and frequencies, electrons are forced and attempt to enter the dielectric.鈥� Could be free energy or could be a cure-all, so let鈥檚 keep going.
鈥淚magine a high-frequency, high-energy force zipping along the conductor surface in a corkscrew fashion between the conductor and into the dielectric; the malingering electrons and negative charges are then forced to join the procession,鈥� it continues. Feedback very much likes the idea of 鈥渕alingering electrons鈥�. We鈥檙e not sure that forces can 鈥渮ip鈥�, but that probably proves we鈥檙e in the pay of some suppressive conspiracy of pedants.
Going back to the top of the web page that Bob Harris sent us, we discover that 鈥淚t is a well-known fact that high-quality audio and video cables improve over time.鈥� It is? 鈥淐able that has been 鈥榖urned-in鈥� will sound more open, extended and three-dimensional, with a more natural, less sterile performance overall.鈥� It will?
And are cables even supposed to have a 鈥渄ielectric鈥�? We asked a famous web search engine for 鈥渁udio cables dielectric鈥�: the first result was titled 鈥溾��.
Scrolling down the site, we find the obligatory picture of Nikola Tesla making lightning in his Colorado laboratory, and the news that the Blue Horizon Proburn will drench your cable with 鈥渁 sequence of unique ultra-low frequencies鈥� 鈥� unique with respect to what? At the same time, it will burn it in at 鈥�10,000 times the upper frequency limit of a typical CD player鈥�, which would be 200 megahertz, by our calculations: near the top of the FM radio band. So, you get two oscillators in a nice box 鈥� with gold connectors, naturally 鈥� for . Bargain.
BACK in 1991, Janice Russell was being driven through southern England by her brother, a fellow New Zealander who had emigrated to the UK. As they crossed Salisbury Plain, he pointed out a 鈥淭ank crossing鈥� sign and, like Neill Jones (22 August), observed that it collapsed to false every time he looked at it. What conclusion can we draw about the nature of the universe from the fact that as soon as he said this a tank started to cross the road?
Don Jewett writes from California to observe that the locally prevalent 鈥淔alling rock鈥� warning hardly ever collapses to 鈥渢rue鈥�. 鈥淔allen rock鈥� would seem more suitable, he notes, but speculates that it may have been rejected on the grounds that 鈥渕oral issues shouldn鈥檛 be raised by government signs鈥�.
And Peter Borrows asks of the sign 鈥淩oad works ahead鈥�: 鈥淲hat more evidence than holes, barriers, pneumatic drills and piles of soil do you want of a road not working?鈥�
CONTRARIWISE, probably, Peter Davies sends a photo of a signpost near an ancient English university town bearing an indication of a cycle route to 鈥淐avendish laboratory only鈥� and, immediately below and in the same direction, 鈥淐ambridge鈥�. Presumably, just out of shot, the path bifurcates into parallel universes, in one leading to the town and in the other to the famous physics lab, only.
A for the heart drug Tikosyn advises: 鈥淪eek medical attention right away if any of these SEVERE side effects occur when using Tikosyn: Severe allergic reactions鈥� fast, slow, or irregular heartbeat; fainting; heart attack; pale stool; paralysis; pounding in the chest; stopping of the heart; sudden death; yellowing of the skin or eyes.鈥� William Peltz is impressed by the notion of seeking medical attention for sudden death.
FINALLY, when Roly Roper was going through his email on Yahoo, a pop-up appeared telling him that there had been 鈥渁n unexpected problem鈥� and to try again. What he wants to know is: if the problem was indeed unexpected, how come they had a pop-up ready for the situation?