More consumption than a city
AN ARTICLE about the world鈥檚 top 500 supercomputers on website informed reader George Neil: 鈥淭he Chinese National University of Defence Technology houses the 3.12 million core Tianhe-2 cluster, which has 1 petabyte of RAM, uses a proprietary interconnect dubbed the TH Express 2 and consumes 17.8 GWatt [gigawatts] of electricity.鈥� It was still saying this at the time of writing.
鈥淲ow! That鈥檚 a computer!鈥� George comments.
Readers puzzled by his reaction may like to know that, in round numbers, the total UK peak electricity demand is 60GW on behalf of a population of 60 million people 鈥� so London, with 8 million, could be expected to have a peak demand of 8GW, less than half of the stated consumption of the Tianhe-2 cluster.
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Or, to put it another way, a European electric kettle uses a shade over 3kW, so 17.8 GW would be the equivalent of 6 million kettles. We do not have the figures for the equivalent in blue whales.
Georgina Seaman sends us a photo, taken on a road near Newbury in the English countryside, of a sign that says: 鈥淎ccess to Wasing鈥檚 secret walled garden 350 yards鈥�
Carrot dream comes true
THE spirit of 鈥渁rtistic鈥� product reviews is spreading more widely than websites offering gadgets like banana slicers and books about 鈥渉uge ships鈥� (11 May). Clint Blight stumbled across a site where you can download the app for the company鈥檚 mobile devices that run the Android operating system. When we looked there were 42,935 reviews of the app, giving an average rating of 4.3 stars out of 5.
Clint鈥檚 favourite, beyond those asserting the obvious benefits of the app in helping achieve world peace, is the one that states that it made a user鈥檚 dreams of becoming a carrot come true. And here we were at the curmudgeonly, unimaginative Feedback desk, thinking it was merely the most mundane of apps, allowing messages to pop up on a screen.
Make the parcel fit the sack
WITHIN days of our item about a one-dimensional parcel appearing online, six readers wrote to chastise us (8 June).
Tim Walker had been puzzled at specifying 鈥溾�� 鈥� but the readers point out that it is traditional for postal services to specify an 鈥渋ndex鈥� of maximum volume in units of length. You take the longest dimension of the parcel and add to it double the width and the height. Mark Dowson suggests this is a measure of 鈥渢he difficulty of handling and packing the parcel鈥� and River Att has a plausible detailed explanation: it 鈥渙riginates with the need to fit the parcel into a standard sized postal sack鈥�.
We still find it a bit odd and pedantic. We are reminded of a very, very boring afternoon reading the old UK Post Office Guide and wondering why it was forbidden to send 鈥渜uinine coloured pink鈥� to India.
Bees鈥� 鈥渋nfinite life force鈥�
THE title of the sign William Pedder photographed at the Caledonian hotel in Edinburgh, UK, is 鈥淎beille Royale Wrinkle Correcting Facial鈥�. The sign invites hotel guests to 鈥淚nitiate your face to the high performance of this 鈥榚xpert鈥� lifting and firming treatment that distils its infinite life force within the skin for a smoother and firmer face. 拢150.鈥�
William鈥檚 internet investigations revealed that Abeille Royale is royal jelly from bees, but he failed to find anything to explain the mysterious claims made for it on the sign.
Pickpocket training courses
SPURRED on by Feedback鈥檚 reference to announcements by disembodied voices on London鈥檚 Underground (8 June), Jonathan Singer tells us of one he heard at the city鈥檚 Victoria main-line station:
鈥淐ustomers,鈥� the voice began (鈥渨e were once called 鈥榩assengers鈥�,鈥� Jonathan laments) 鈥渁re warned that unofficial pickpockets are operating on the station.鈥�
鈥淒oes this mean there鈥檚 a course they can take to legitimise the profession?鈥� Jonathan wonders.
Wandering hyphens
CONGRATULATIONS to Ben Buckton for achieving a truly stupendous performance while training for the recent London Revolution cycle ride. His son Sam sends a screen-shot from a smartphone app that records Ben cycling 2.4 kilometres at 882.3 kilometres per hour. Feedback is wondering whether the app would work for buses. Sam is more concerned that the device will be 鈥渃onsidered as illegal as performance-enhancing drugs鈥�.
Masterful design
OUR item about missing hyphens, featuring 鈥淎nti-skin ageing sun cream鈥� (15 June), reminded Peter Groome of a conference advertised on the UK Ministry of Justice intranet recently on the subject of 鈥淎nti-people trafficking鈥�.
FINALLY, Bob Seymour sends us a picture of a notice on a hydrofoil sailing between Sorrento and Capri. The notice details the 鈥淎ssistant Procedures for persons of reduced mobility鈥� travelling on the boat. It assures passengers that 鈥渢he persons with reduced mobility will be received by personnel designed by the master鈥�.
鈥淎ren鈥檛 we all?鈥� Bob muses.聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽