Are wind turbines really fans?
WHY didn鈥檛 we think of that? The only way we can do justice to a that John Gledhill forwards from the Leamington Courier newspaper is to reproduce it in full:
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鈥淚t is blindingly obvious and I am amazed that an 鈥榚xpert鈥� has not pointed this out.
鈥淔act 1: Most of the ash trees in Denmark have died, or are dying from the fungal disease, Chalara fraxinea.
鈥淔act 2: The Danish company Vestas is the world鈥檚 largest manufacturer of wind turbines.
鈥淎s a country, we purchase and erect these huge fans all over our rural landscape, from where they then spread the fungal plague indiscriminately. It鈥檚 an ill wind indeed!鈥�
It may be best not to credit the author here. All we can add is: Huge fans 鈥� no thanks!
BALLYGOWAN mineral water, Barry Cash was startled to read, is 鈥渇iltered through calcium-enriched limestone鈥�. Barry asks, 鈥淗ow can you enrich it with more calcium?鈥�
鈥淜EEP back from the platform edge,鈥� begins a sign from Penrith railway station sent by Alan Storer from Victoria, Australia, who assigns it to Penrith, New South Wales, Australia. Feedback鈥檚 fine eye for typography and railway architecture places it firmly in Penrith, Cumbria, UK, in the time of standardised British Rail signs using the Helvetica font. Searching, we find readers of The Guardian newspaper in 2006 of its location.
And why might it have gone viral all over the interweb and undergone such memetic mutation? Because we more frequently see a sign that assumes some knowledge of physics in expressing the reason for keeping back, such as: 鈥淧assing trains cause air turbulence.鈥�
The sign in Alan鈥檚 photo is in plain English and finishes, simply, with: 鈥溾�r you may get sucked off鈥�. Feedback wants an explanation for the giggling we hear. This is serious.
FEEDBACK reported John Gledhill鈥檚 confusion over whether 鈥渄on鈥檛 know鈥� fits into the continuum of ordinal numbers (1 December). The notion of 鈥渄on鈥檛 know鈥� as a number reminded a colleague of the UK government鈥檚 thoughts on the subject of the cost to authors of rules that allow other people to use their work without asking or paying 鈥� so-called 鈥減rivate copying鈥�.
When he looked for info on such costs, our colleague found that civil servants in the Intellectual Property Office had that they don鈥檛 know. The IPO estimated the gross business benefits to be about 拢141 million a year and so proceeded to subtract 鈥渄on鈥檛 know鈥� 鈥� the amount of authors鈥� losses 鈥� from this, coming up with an estimate for a net benefit of, guess what, 拢141 million. This seemingly places the value of 鈥渄on鈥檛 know鈥� at zero.
Our colleague felt pretty confident that, in this context, even if the value of 鈥渄on鈥檛 know鈥� could not be specified, it was certainly not zero. So about the role in applied mathematics of the special value 鈥淣ot a Number鈥�, or 鈥淣aN鈥� 鈥� as specified in the from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. In fact, the correct answer to 鈥溌�141 million minus NaN鈥� is 鈥淣aN鈥�.
It was at this point, we understand, that the IPO鈥檚 collective eyes glazed over.
THE above-mentioned colleague hears that the same Intellectual Property Office civil servants have since moved on from mangling applied mathematics to logic.
A scurrilous rumour spread by a former civil servant holds that their recalculation of the costs and benefits of permitting use of authors鈥� works for the purposes of parody starts from the assumption that 鈥渢here is currently no parody in the UK鈥�.
If true, this would be a fine example of a sentence which is its own disproof.
OUR piling system throws up in Canada鈥檚 Globe and Mail online telling us that in October President Bashar al-Assad of Syria 鈥渁pproved a law on the health security of genetically modified organisms鈥� to regulate their use and production鈥�.
SANA, the state-run news agency, explained that the law鈥檚 purpose was to 鈥減reserve the health of human beings, animals, vegetables and the environment鈥�.
The same report mentions that 鈥渕ore than 33,000 people have been killed in 19 months of conflict鈥� in Syria, 鈥渕ost of them civilians鈥�. Clearly, al-Assad is, despite that, the kind of guy who cares.
FINALLY, several readers were inspired to respond to our report of a psychic fair 鈥渃ancelled due to unforeseen circumstances鈥� (6 October). Tony Lang is reminded of the organisers of similar 鈥減sychic鈥� events in Ewell, Surrey, UK putting up large banners 鈥� and he wonders, 鈥淲hy do they need to advertise?鈥�
Barrie Wells, meanwhile, wonders whether the organisers of such events may have an arrangement with Virgin Trains, the railway operator that sent a promotional email advising him to, 鈥淏ook before today, and save for tomorrow鈥�.