BEN HUR 鈥� how big? On 3 September we expressed our puzzlement over a landslip blocking a road in the Manawatu gorge in New Zealand. It was going to take a week to clear and was described in the New Zealand Herald as 鈥渂igger than Ben-Hur鈥�.
Several readers from that part of the world wrote to inform us that, in Tom Sutton鈥檚 words, 鈥渢he saying is part of our local language, a colloquialism, started when the 鈥榖ig production鈥� of the film occurred.鈥� As Andrew Ross amplifies, 鈥渋t was bigger than any movie since way back when, as I well recall (being old).鈥�
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The metaphor is illuminated further by Paul Jefferson鈥檚 discovery of a sold in New Zealand called the 鈥淏en Hur鈥�. Large though this looks in the online photo, 鈥渁 week still seems a long time,鈥� as Paul notes, 鈥渢o move a sofa and two armchairs.鈥�
Our perhaps over-literal attempts to visualise a landslip as a heap of furniture is interrupted by a suggestion that the saying is the metaphorical equivalent of 鈥渂igger than mega鈥� or 鈥渂igger than giga鈥�: the film simply stands in for a multiplier. This comes from Malcolm Shute, who extends the multiplier theme by informing us that his office in Vaucluse, France, is about a megametre from ours in London, and wonders why more use is not made of the standard big multipliers. We, for our part, have already suggested that the UK budget deficit be reported in gigapounds, global trade in teraeuros, and so on (11 September 2010).
The promotional postcard Steve Wright received from Daisy Dry Cleaning promised 鈥淗2O Dry Cleaning鈥�. 鈥淭hat would be 鈥榃et Dry Cleaning鈥� then,鈥� Steve observes
Harmonically restructured water
HERE鈥橲 a new one. Several Australian readers, including Sara Bowen, Michael Burgun and Mog Bremner, have come across a company that claims to 鈥渞estructure water鈥�.
Sara quotes a sample for us from an advert in an Australian magazine: 鈥淭C Energy Design products are masterpieces of form and harmony 鈥� beautiful mouth blown glassware uniquely shaped to revitalise and restructure water. Created from musical compositions converted into spatial dimensions and moulded into balanced, harmonic glassware, the shapely form of the glassware generates an energising resonance pattern that restores water with subtle waves of harmonic sound鈥︹�� You can read more at .
Sara says: 鈥淚 wonder what we鈥檝e been doing to water all this time that it needs harmonic restructuring?鈥� She goes on to say that the part of Australia she lives in seems to contain equal numbers of hard-line evangelical Christians and credulous New Agers 鈥� presumably the kind who would be interested in restructured water 鈥� with just a few rational people in between.
鈥淚 very much like the reaction I get when reading your magazine in public,鈥� Sara says.
UNLIKELY product of the week is the 鈥渋ntelligent鈥� shampoo and hair conditioner produced by Fuente and retailing at 拢275 a pop. Given lavish feature treatment in 鈥� where else? 鈥� the London , the Truffle hair care range contains 鈥渢he skin of white truffle, pure diamond dust and meteorite extracts鈥�, and, no, we鈥檙e not kidding.
These ingredients, we are told, react 鈥渋ntelligently鈥� to the 鈥渟pecific needs of each individual hair type鈥�, making Truffle a 鈥渞evolutionary 鈥榮elf-thinking鈥� product鈥�.
Some people, it seems 鈥� and in this case that鈥檚 some very rich people 鈥� will believe anything.
Beetle鈥檚 penis sets noise record
HOW did we miss this? A BBC Nature news report on 30 June this year carried the engaging headline 鈥溾�楽inging penis鈥� sets noise record for water insect鈥� (see ).
The report went on to explain that a tiny water boatman, Micronecta scholtzi, 鈥渋s the loudest animal on Earth relative to its body size鈥�. Researchers from France and Scotland made underwater recordings of it 鈥渟inging鈥� at up to 99.2 decibels, 鈥渢he equivalent of listening to a loud orchestra play while sitting in the front row鈥�.
The insect makes the sound by rubbing its penis against its abdomen in a process known as 鈥渟tridulation鈥�. The researchers say its song is a courtship display performed to attract a mate.
Freda Hennessey鈥檚 email alerting us to this fascinating report got lost somehow in our piling system and has only just resurfaced.
The queue you are in does not exist
FINALLY, yet another one we missed. Two readers, Paul Cornock and William Pedder, were listening to the BBC鈥檚 cricket commentary on the last day of the England versus India test match series three months ago. What they claim in separate emails to us is, we feel, of sufficient interest to merit a report even this long after the event.
Both Paul and William say that, according to the BBC, a policeman with a megaphone was shepherding the dense crowds outside Lords cricket ground who had come to watch the match. What he told them through the megaphone was: 鈥淟adies and gentlemen, the queue you are in does not exist. THE QUEUE YOU ARE IN DOES NOT EXIST.鈥�