Carefully crafted subliminal suggestions
SILENT CDs are not the only form of 鈥渟ubliminal鈥� fruitloopery to be found on the net (17 April). A palaeontologist browsing Amazon stumbled upon a 鈥淪uperior Subliminal鈥� CD at which would enable you to 鈥淟earn Paleontology now Faster and Easier with Subliminal Programming鈥�. The palaeontologist, who had spent years studying the subject, wrote sorrowfully on a palaeontology forum: 鈥淚f only they鈥檇 had this when I was in school.鈥�
Feedback had to investigate. The palaeontology CD is only one of some offered by a company called Lavish Life. Topics range from 鈥淭he Patois Language鈥� and 鈥淚ncome Taxing of Conduits鈥� to 鈥淐ivil Engineering鈥� and 鈥淎strobiology鈥�. Each contains six 10-minute sessions of 鈥渟ubliminal suggestions carefully crafted by hypnotist Alex Armani鈥�, although no words are audible. There is even the inevitable legal disclaimer: 鈥淚t DOES NOT actually teach income taxation of conduits because it primes your brain for rapid learning and implementation only.鈥�
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According to customer feedback, the Lavish Life CDs contain quiet music and birds singing. It may well be that listening to such CDs might aid one鈥檚 ability to learn any subject more than, say, listening to death metal bands at 120 decibels 鈥� but 鈥淧aul G鈥� was dismayed to hear rainforest sounds when he expected to be taught civil engineering. Perhaps the lesson to be learned here is not to try subliminal marketing on engineers 鈥� they鈥檙e not trained to do magic.
鈥淭he BBC news headline 鈥淪tar owner 鈥榳ants to buy the Sun'鈥� (4 June) was not about galactic trading, notes Richard Mallett. The Daily Star and The Sun are both UK newspapers鈥�
What metaphors do blue whales use?
ODD units get odder all the time. A reader points out that Feedback recently quoted the sentences: 鈥淭he average bacon packet was nearly 15 grams and we [in the UK] eat about 50 million packets of bacon a year. That鈥檚 7500 tonnes of packets, the equivalent of 50 blue whales鈥� (15 May).
We delved deep into the Feedback piling system and verified that those were indeed the words written by consumer magazine Which? that Mary Vango sent us. Insulated from the surrounding world by the magic of quote marks, they had made it onto the page without anyone here spotting that 50 million 15-gram packets actually weigh 750 tonnes.
Or are we being speciesist here? Who is to say that blue whales, communicating over the vast reaches of the oceans for millions of years, have not developed their own number system, in which the sentence is correct? What right do we humans have to impose our own arithmetic on them?
For that matter 鈥� when or if blue whales sing to each other of very large numbers, for what metaphors do they reach? Do the depths ring to the question 鈥淲hat鈥檚 that in squids?鈥�
The difference an apostrophe can make
WHAT a difference an apostrophe can make. Chris Beynon was perplexed and disturbed by a notice in a cafe in Poole on the English south coast which said: 鈥淲e are very sorry due to health and safety regulations we are not able to heat babies鈥�.
Thinking that surely there were more fundamental concerns here than health and safety, he read on. The next line on the sign explained all. It said: 鈥渂ottles or baby food of any description鈥�. Just add the missing apostrophe.
READER Bob Carr鈥檚 interest in nanotechnology led him to receive an email about a forthcoming conference on the subject. It told him: 鈥淭he Talk Abstract deadline is June 12 for our Nanoscience conference, in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, on the shores of the Caribbean sea, February 19 to February 22, 2011鈥︹��
Bob wants to know if it is lubrication from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill or global warming that has accelerated plate-tectonic activity so much.
World Cup competition: what鈥檚 your excuse?
FINALLY, you still have two weeks to enter our competition to win an official World Cup football, designed and made by Adidas.
Following the feature article 鈥淲orld cup highs and lows鈥� on the strange effects of altitude on football and how they can affect performance (5 June, p 35), our competition invites you to send us up to 50 words on the theme of: 鈥淲hat is your best scientific or technological excuse for having lost at sport?鈥�
The winning entry will be the one the editors judge the wittiest and most inventive. You can enter by post to Feedback, by email to feedback@newscientist.com, or online at newscientist.com/article/dn18983. The winning entry will be chosen from entries received by 5pm GMT 5 July 2010. No entries will be accepted after that time.
The winning entry and the best runners-up will be published in the 31 July issue of New 杏吧原创. Come on you inventive losers, let鈥檚 hear your excuses!