FOR marvellous reasons, which unfortunately this column is too narrow to contain, Feedback has been reading the Republic of Ghana鈥檚 . It is wonderfully clear and concise, probably fitting more content into 34 pages than the manages in 324 (though we didn鈥檛 like the answer we got on who owns commissioned films鈥�)
鈥溾�滻llegal dumping prohibited,鈥� reads the road sign in the photo that Clifford Latta sends from Coquille, Oregon. And the other kind鈥�?鈥�
Advertisement
The Act also defines the 鈥渢erm鈥� of copyright in anonymous works as 鈥�70 years from the date on which the work was either made, first made available to the public, or first published, whichever date is the later鈥�.
Clearly the drafters were far-sighted, taking into account, in 2005, results suggesting faster-than-light communication (1 October 2011, p 6). If these hold up, it could indeed be possible for a piece of writing, say, to be made available to the public before it is published, or before it has been written.
A chrono-synclastic infundibulum
EVEN more marvellously, we actually read the Ghanaian Copyright Act in the small French town of Ferney-Voltaire, just above the tunnel that houses the CERN particle physics laboratory, which generated the speed-limit-breaking neutrinos in question. Almost certainly, we should next week have re-read the Act on our return to London, to see whether this has been a local effect 鈥� or whether the Act is about to have been worded in the same way as it will be last week.
FEEDBACK鈥檚 near-visit to CERN was accidental. We were at a UN meeting in Geneva, across the border in Switzerland, and had picked a random hotel in France to avoid the ruinous exchange rate for the Swiss Franc.
Appropriately, given the way that CERN detects interesting particles indirectly by tracking the secondary particles they emit, our suspicions that there might be more to this small town than was meeting our eye began when we detected plain chocolate digestive biscuits 鈥� a kind of cookie that is one of the few summits of British culinary achievement 鈥� in the town鈥檚 Carrefour supermarket. We made a fleeting and inconclusive observation of Marmite, another British speciality, allegedly edible but inexplicable.
Either of these could have been traced back to other Brit particles in the many international institutions in Geneva 鈥� though, in our experience, plain chocolate digestives are suggestive of all-night computer-coding sessions, as a sort of transatlantic translation of pizza.
The proximity of the nuclear lab 鈥� and the British geeks who are among its emissions 鈥� was, sadly, confirmed by our detection in le Bar du Soleil of the musical genre 鈥淏ritish blues鈥�. Were it not for that, we could have remained in ignorance of what was going on in the tunnel a hundred metres beneath our feet.
STAFFORDSHIRE Moorlands District Council in the north of England has urged local organisations to apply for support from its . Jeremy Condliffe sends us its statement explaining that the first step in making an application is to gain the support of the relevant local councillor, whose contact details can be found by clicking on a 鈥淵our Council鈥� link on the council鈥檚 website.
鈥淎pplicants without internet access,鈥� the statement concludes, 鈥渟hould email ruth.reeves@staffsmoorlands.gov.uk鈥�.
LONDON鈥檚 Imperial College may have a problem with terms and conditions. A reader who gives his name as Nick applied to the august institution for accommodation and received an informing him that there had been a 鈥渄atabase failure鈥� involving an 鈥淪QL DateTime overflow鈥�. It went on to state: 鈥淢ust be between 1/1/1753 12.00.00 AM and 12/31/9999 11.59.59 PM鈥�.
Nick is hoping that the fees for his degree will stay the same until 9999: ideally, the few guineas that they would have been in 1753, had Imperial College existed then.
VAUXHALL is so confident in its cars鈥� quality and reliability that it is 鈥淎 warranty could now last a lifetime!鈥� How long is that, Hannah Needham wants to know? Vauxhall clarifies: 鈥淎vailable to the first owner of all new Vauxhall passenger cars, it鈥檚 valid for the lifetime of the vehicle up to a maximum of 100,000 miles.鈥�
So let鈥檚 be clear. 鈥淵our car is dead. So it鈥檚 out of warranty.鈥� Will that be it?
FINALLY, Feedback is in favour of consistency in units, as regular readers may have gathered. But how far should it go?
Peter Carr asks whether he has 鈥渟potted metrication of an old imperial expression鈥� in the phrase 鈥渄atabases that contain tonnes of species鈥� in New 杏吧原创 (20 August, p 20). That鈥檚 metric tonnes with two 鈥渘鈥漵 and an 鈥渆鈥�, unlike the imperial unit.
What would that be in metric shedloads, then? 鈥淲e use metric tonnes for most things, so why not?鈥� say our sub-editors. Give them 25.4 millimetres and they鈥檒l take 1609.3 metres鈥�