Spirit communication with the UK government
THE aged mother of one of Feedback鈥檚 colleagues is, purely in case of future need, setting up what in the UK is called a 鈥減ower of attorney鈥� so that he can, for example, handle her bank account if she forgets where it is. Very thoroughly, the UK government鈥檚 wrote to ask whether our colleague wants to exercise this power 鈥� even though he had already signed a form saying that he agreed to be 鈥渢he Attorney鈥�.
An accompanying sheet, headed 鈥淗ow to object鈥�, explained that he can 鈥渇ill in Form LPA7 within 5 weeks of receiving this notice鈥� to 鈥渁sk the Office of the Public Guardian to stop registration鈥� if, among other things, 鈥渢he Donor is bankrupt鈥� or the Attorney is dead鈥�.
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Does the Public Guardian see much spirit-writing on Form LPA7, then? Or do they engage a medium?
鈥淭oilets for people with disabilities at the Heights of Abraham park in Derbyshire, UK, are, according to the sign Jon White sends, 鈥渋n Tree Tops鈥�
Don鈥檛 they weigh babies any more?
EVEN sponsored supplements in newspapers need loving editorial care. The Guardian in the UK 鈥� often a staunch defender of the National Health Service 鈥� on 4 November carried a report of a seminar on child obesity, published 鈥渋n conjunction with鈥� , which turns out to provide private health insurance.
鈥淪ome experts believed it was too late to leave it until children reached school age before their weight was measured,鈥� the report reported, 鈥済iven the uncertainty over what remedies are effective, and it should be done from birth, as that is when weight gain often begins, especially in girls.鈥�
Peter Hambleton finds this advice surprising and is trying to reconcile it with his memories of what happened when he was a baby. We find it surprising too. We recall starched National Health nurses meticulously weighing newborn infant siblings every week without fail. Did an editor check the words against the world 鈥� has all that been stopped?
BROWSING for a new thermocouple thermometer, as one does, Chris Edwards was startled to see, down in the small print of the specifications for the Digitron range (), that the company鈥檚 鈥渢ype J鈥� works from -750 掳C to +750 掳C.
You鈥檇 have thought the company would have shouted louder about measuring a temperature 477 degrees below absolute zero. Thermodynamics will never be the same again. For one thing, at such a temperature the entropy of the thermometer 鈥� loosely, the measure of its disorderedness, and often equated with its information content 鈥� would have been large and negative.
Perhaps we have, after all, an explanation for the paucity of information about this breakthrough: it was annihilated on contact with a quantity of negative information.
FEEDBACK fully understands that 鈥渃ommon sense鈥� is often wrong, and the importance of carrying out empirical studies to test any belief, popular or unpopular.
Nevertheless we were startled to be told in the press release issued jointly on 1 November by the University of California, San Francisco, and the University of California, Merced, that: 鈥溾�aving oral sex increases likelihood of intercourse among teens鈥�. Who鈥檇鈥檃 thunk it?
COMPOSING witty error messages has long been one of the ways, we noted back on 22 May 2004, in which geeks try to show their human side. We鈥檙e not so sure what species of side is exhibited by the geeks responsible for the nLab, a website devoted to 鈥渃ollaborative work on Mathematics, Physics and Philosophy鈥� in the context of 鈥渃ategory theory鈥�, which is鈥� er鈥� a set of mathematical tools for describing general abstract structures in mathematics and relations between them. And the general abstract relations between those relations, and so on up鈥�
It is perhaps inevitable that the holding page they have prepared for times when the nLab site isn鈥檛 working () announces that it is 鈥渃urrently experiencing some difficulties due to local fluctuations in reality. The Lab Elves are working hard to patch reality. In the meantime, edits on the nLab have been temporarily disabled since the fundamentals of mathematics may vary during these spasmodic variations. Normal service will be restored once we are sure what 鈥榥ormal鈥� is.鈥�
A FRIEND of a friend of Feedback, Ralph Clague, was waiting for a delayed train to London somewhere in deepest south Bedfordshire when he noted the arrival on platform 1 of a paradox. The delay gave him plenty of time to ponder whether 2500 years of philosophy had equipped us to ascertain whether the message presented to him was true or false: an information screen was informing him that 鈥淭he information screens may be showing wrong information at present.鈥�
Ralph鈥檚 train was not late enough for him to arrive at a definitive answer.
FINALLY, did they really mean to say this? A press release from the University of Buffalo announces the 鈥淲orld鈥檚 first geologic hazards facility being developed near Buffalo, New York鈥� and goes on to say that this will 鈥渁llow for study of full-scale volcanoes, other hazards, in controlled setting鈥�.
Full-scale volcanoes? That must be quite some lab.