READER Andy Evans鈥檚 local medical centre happens to be in the Welsh village often given the famously long name of 鈥� and we鈥檙e delighted to be able to print this. Like many such centres in the UK, this one has a touch screen to help lighten reception staff鈥檚 workload. Patients are requested to 鈥淭ouch the screen to arrive for your appointment.鈥�
The day Andy visited the centre, the screen was not working very well. He attempted to 鈥渁rrive鈥� by touching the screen as instructed. Nothing happened. He tried again, still with no success. The screen, he began to suspect, was operating on some kind of quantum principle: he was clearly there, but on the other hand he hadn鈥檛 arrived yet. 鈥淚 had to endure several uncomfortable minutes in this situation until the device started to work again,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut perhaps it had entered some indeterminate state that prevented the collapse of my wave function.鈥�
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Reader Rachel Cave tells us that her local free paper, the Galway Advertiser, has been advertising a property 鈥渓ocated within a hare鈥檚 breath of the beach
READER Kate Hayward draws our attention to a unit of measurement as strange as the elephant standing on a Mini Cooper (2 June). At the Hunstanton Sea Life Sanctuary in Norfolk, UK, she read about the largest species of freshwater fish in Europe, the wels catfish. 鈥淭hey can reach 2.4 metres in length and weigh 225 kilograms,鈥� the note said. 鈥淭his is equivalent to the combined weight of 1000 hamsters.鈥�
Kate is dubious. She used to weigh her hamsters on the kitchen scales: they varied from 100 to 200 grams. She believes this makes them unsuitable as a unit of weight.
PEOPLE who promiscuously mix up incompatible units of measurement seem to be making converts. Following on the comment by Fox Sports pundit Larry McReynolds that 鈥渢he drivers will use every ounce of the width of this track鈥� (12 May), two readers report on signs observed on UK motorways. Derek Cragg saw an overhead gantry on the M4 which announced: 鈥淗eight Restriction 鈥� 7.5 tonnes鈥�, while Robin Moorshead tells of a warning sign on the M40 saying, 鈥淟ow bridge 鈥� Max 7.5 tonnes鈥�.
SEVERAL readers have written to express astonishment over a in London newspaper The Guardian鈥榮 weekend section back in April. Rachel Simmonds, skincare training manager for La Prairie, was interviewed about the firm鈥檚 Cellular Platinum Cream, as part of a feature on why things cost so much. This product costs 拢656 for 50 millilitres.
鈥淭he high cost is because of the platinum colloidal water we use,鈥� Simmonds explained. 鈥淚t is magnetically charged particles of platinum, so it has an impact on the electrical balance of the skin. It helps to realign the water molecules so you have a better receptivity to nutrients. But it also stops vital hydration from being lost.鈥� More strangeness followed, including this peroration: 鈥淏ecause of the magnetic charge each particle contains, it鈥檚 symmetrical within the product and the way those tiny particles 鈥� they鈥檙e submicrons, so they鈥檙e really, really tiny 鈥� that鈥檚 how it spreads evenly on the skin, and that鈥檚 why it is able to shift water molecules and change the electrical balance.鈥�
We expect The Guardian published these unusual notions with tongue firmly in cheek. On the other hand, the discovery of magnetic charge in the wild would startle cosmologists who鈥檝e been working hard to explain why lone magnetic poles are not seen at large in the universe (9 May 2009, p 28). Might this cream of Croesus be in line for a big prize?
ON A recent walk in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, Australia, Rosemary Smith came across an informative noticeboard about the fossilised dragonflies to be found in the area. The photo she sends us confirms that it begins: 鈥淔ossil dragonflies are found in rocks between 360 to 286 years old, some even older.鈥�
Rosemary says she hadn鈥檛 realised that fossilisation worked so fast in Australia. Feedback envisages teams of Aboriginal palaeontologists hunting fossils of the first European colonists, who arrived 224 years ago.
A LEAFLET from Pandit Vijayashantar Sharma came through Beryl Hanley鈥檚 front door. Offering help with many of life鈥檚 problems, including the ability to 鈥渞emove bad luck and black magic鈥�, the leaflet asserts that Pandit V. Sharma 鈥淧redicts the past, present and future鈥�.
鈥淚 can predict the past too,鈥� says Beryl. 鈥淚 wonder whether he wants an assistant?鈥�
To read instruction, see instruction
FINALLY, thanks to John Carpenter for the photo he sends us of the interior of a shuttle bus at London鈥檚 Gatwick Airport. Next to one of the windows is a sign saying 鈥淯se hammer to break glass鈥�. Above it, a glass case with a hammer in it bears the message: 鈥淔or hammer break glass鈥�.