Monarchy set for interplanetary travel?
THE UK鈥檚 royal family must be stepping up its campaign to present a modern image. On 5 April, the day after Elizabeth Windsor (bless 鈥榚r) received a British Academy of Film and Television Arts award following her appearance in last year鈥檚 Olympic opening ceremony, the front page of the announced: 鈥淨ueen and Duke of Edinburgh to visit Mars鈥�.
鈥淗er Majesty is well ahead of the field for interplanetary transport,鈥� observes reader John Woodley. Feedback has noticed that fun headlines on the BBC site tend to appear at night, only to be made blander when the day shift comes in the following morning. This one lasted into the afternoon 鈥� even after the royal visit to the Mars chocolate factory in Slough, UK, was over.
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An advert for 鈥渢hermodynamic hot water systems鈥� failed to impress Anselm Kuhn. After all, what could make water hot without thermodynamics? They turned out to be mere electric radiators
NEW ZEALAND reader Gary Bedford sends us a photo of a tray of zucchini (courgette) seedlings, supplied by Awapuni Nurseries, that was labelled: 鈥淐ontains 4 plants 鈥� 50% more than most competitors鈥�.
鈥淏y my calculations,鈥� Gary notes, 鈥渕ost competitors apparently sell punnets containing only two and two-thirds plants. But good news: Awapuni adds one and one-third plants. And not a sign of grafting.鈥�
THE pack of razor blade cartridges Matthew Carse bought had a security tag bearing the warning: 鈥淩emove this label before microwaving鈥�. 鈥淚 always wondered,鈥� he reports, 鈥渨hat a hot shave was, and now I know.鈥�
Feedback would have thought microwaving a razor blade would be dangerous enough without worrying about the security tag going 鈥減fft鈥� 鈥� though not perhaps as risky as microwaving an amplifier (2 April 2011). At the very least, the blades鈥� plastic holder might catch fire as the microwaves cause sparks to fly from the metal鈥�
Passive-aggressive cookie laws
THE European Union has regulations on the use of 鈥渃ookies鈥� 鈥� small files which websites store on your computer. Legislators were particularly concerned about 鈥渢hird-party cookies鈥�, placed by one website but readable by others. Their main purpose is to track your wanderings through the online thicket and, not least, to deliver personalised advertisements.
The to pass their own laws obliging website owners not only to ask whether they may store cookies, but also to explain what this question means.
The resulting UK law is so vague, however, that Feedback sees its main value as being to exemplify the pop-psychology term 鈥減assive-aggressive鈥�.
Fittingly, its results have been mixed. Some websites bear notes suggesting that if you don鈥檛 like cookies, you can go somewhere else. Then there is the tortuous warning that Doug Fenna encountered: 鈥淢any companies use 3rd party cookies to remember that you have opted out, so you will need to enable them if you want all of the opt-outs on this page to work.鈥�
鈥淪o,鈥� Doug observes, 鈥渢o close the door on these advertisers I need to open it for lots of others.鈥�
Then the light dawns: 鈥淭his allows the companies concerned to say that they are satisfying some rule by providing an opt-out facility, while doing it in such a way that people are unlikely to use it.鈥�
Passive-aggressive, all over again.
Reply if this isn鈥檛 your email
DID whoever drafted the 鈥淐ontact e-mail verification鈥� sent to Ian Sanderson by the Australian Securities Exchange really think it could work as intended?
鈥淭his e-mail serves as a verification of the e-mail address that you have provided to the ASX. If this is not correct please advise via return e-mail.鈥�
CONCERN to protect the public from tampered goods, or manufacturers from liability, may not always be compatible with our mental 鈥� or indeed dental 鈥� well-being. John Fussell points to the instructions on the packaging of the Aquafresh toothpaste he bought: 鈥淭he ends of this carton have been glued down. Do not use if the carton is open.鈥�
He wonders whether readers have any ideas to help him gain access to a carton that mustn鈥檛 be used if opened. 鈥淢y breath is starting to lose me friends,鈥� he writes, 鈥渁s I wait for quantum mechanics to deliver the goods.鈥�
Feedback thinks that this may reflect the effectiveness of fear-based advertising, of the 鈥淯se this product or your friends will shun you鈥︹�� variety. We have heard, John, that plain salt is as effective as toothpaste 鈥� if you can get into the salt cellar.
FINALLY, time travel has been achieved, according to an email that Ben Webb received. Dated 17 March, it apparently was sent by to inform him that a parcel had arrived for him on 21 March. He was 鈥渁ll set to go to pick it up when I realised I haven鈥檛 ordered any packages鈥� yet.鈥�
Sadly, the message turns out to be another scam that tries to coax the unwary into opening a file that will do evil things to their computer.