FOUR years ago we noted that the web is a very dynamic place, with some sites changing content every few minutes (4 February, 2006). But at the same time, some individual web pages stay put forever, no matter how inconsequential they may be. For example, David Viner wrote to us celebrating a page about turnips he had come across in 1996 that was still available in its original pristine glory 10 years later.
That page, put up by Vancouver Community Network in 1996, was merely part of a demonstration about coding web pages 鈥� but, as David said, it was still nice to know that it had withstood the ravages of time.
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Now, demonstrating the kind of serendipity that we love so much here at Feedback, Richard Smith, a board member of that same Vancouver Community Network, tells us that he only recently happened to be reading that particular 2006 issue of New 杏吧原创, including the item about the turnips page.
鈥淚 am pleased to report,鈥� Richard writes to tell us, 鈥渢hat not only is our organisation still alive, but so is the web page. And it is still as remarkably uninteresting as ever.鈥�
This last remark deserves explanation. As we reported first time round, the page is notable for its brevity as well as its longevity. As you can at , it consists simply of a one-word headline followed by a single line of text that reads: 鈥淭urnips are not very interesting.鈥�
鈥淪ending us a photo of a shop tag for his 鈥淗ello Kitty 3-D mug鈥�, Colin MacLeod wonders about the feasibility of drinking from a mug in any other number of dimensions鈥�
READER Bijal Shah writes to tell us of an amusing website belonging to the (bit.ly/hifispectre). It鈥檚 another of those sites selling exorbitantly expensive hi-fi equipment 鈥� in this case, something called a Blackbody. This costs $959 and 鈥渢akes advantage of the quantum nature of particle interaction, and is therefore able to permeate metal, plastic, wood, and other barriers to affect the circuitry inside your components鈥�.
There鈥檚 much, much more, and a large part of it is incomprehensible. Bijal particularly enjoyed trying to understand this sentence: 鈥淚t is the object of the LessLoss Blackbody to divorce completely the spectral aspect from this mandatory interaction to provide an elegant solution to the problem of spectral interaction of proximate materials and their associated coloration of the resulting sound quality in high fidelity sound systems.鈥�
鈥淣ice, clear and concise,鈥� Bijal observes. 鈥淎bsolutely no evidence of wool being pulled over eyes here then.鈥�
HERE is a delicate question that may or may not involve set theory. Gerben Wierda鈥檚 daughter Renske, aged 9, reads a Dutch-language educational magazine called Taptoe. The most recent issue had as its theme 鈥渃rooks and criminals鈥�. It included a quiz. Gerben鈥檚 translation of one of the questions reads: 鈥淩obber, rascal, poacher, scoundrel, blackguard鈥� There are many words for criminal. Which one of the next list is not one of them?
鈥渁. villain, b. banker, c. bandit.鈥�
Tricky. Very tricky.
TECHNOLOGY simplifies life, yes? Jo Kelly was left wondering about the truth of this proposition when she received this online confirmation of a taxi booking: 鈥淵our order from Arrow Private Hire has been successful. The unique reference for this transaction is:6e20aca6accc84ecd29f52ccaea74a0e. Thank you for your order鈥︹��
Jan Rockett was left in a similar state of wonderment on receiving an error message on her computer. In a window headed 鈥済etPlus+(R): Error鈥� she was told: 鈥淥perating system error! (16253.202.285 鈥� 7337312. 80004002.FFFFFFFF ,8000402).鈥�
Simplicity itself.
WHEN Andrew Brooker registered with the UK鈥檚 site, which allows users to sign up for online government services, he was sent a card with a reminder of his login ID on it. It said (though the number we give here is not the actual number of Andrew鈥檚 ID): 鈥淢y User ID 1234 1234 1234 not case sensitive.鈥�
Just as well, Andrew thought. Otherwise he would have been searching all over the keyboard for a lower-case 4.
READER Michael Kellock tells us of the manual for an iPhone that carries the warning: 鈥淒o not drop, disassemble, open, crush, bend, deform, puncture, shred, microwave, incinerate, paint or insert foreign objects into iPhone.鈥�
鈥淭akes all the fun out of it really,鈥� he complains.
FINALLY, pharmaceuticals company Bayer Schering Pharma is to make a series of online films to 鈥溾��, Ronnie Somerville notes.
And what better-named company could it choose to produce them than the award-winning ?