Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more
Dodging the Nutribullet
THE Nutribullet 鈥渋s the world鈥檚 first Nutrition Extractor鈥�, claims the flyer that Barry Cash has. Earth鈥檚 first life form would have something to say about that, were it to have a voice.
The flyer exhorted Barry to spend 拢99.99 on what appears to be a kitchen blender with added marketing 鈥� and was nicely timed to coincide with the collapse of New Year鈥檚 resolutions to eat more vegetables. Barry observes that the flyer also promotes a 鈥渞ange of specially selected Superfood Powders that can take your Nutriblasts to another level鈥�. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know I had a Nutriblast,鈥� says Barry, and wonders: is it a euphemism for, er, passing wind?
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Sunraysia Pure Squeezed Prune Juice informs Richard Lucas that it is 鈥渕ade directly from crushed prunes brought in from our farmer鈥檚 fields鈥�. Ah, the prune fields of Sunraysia鈥�
Never going to let you down
FEEDBACK admires the effort in an essay on a famous scientist. It begins: 鈥淣ever has a man influenced physics so profoundly as Niels Bohr in the early 1900鈥檚.鈥� The next line reads just a shade oddly: 鈥淕oing back to this time period, little was known about atomic structure; Bohr set out鈥︹��
A reason for the oddness is revealed when we see that the succeeding lines begin with the words 鈥渢o, give, you, up, never, going, to, let, you, down鈥� 鈥� yes, the essay is an acrostic of a song performed by Rick Astley, in an ingenious example of the internet phenomenon known as rickrolling.
Do readers know of other acrostic or similar stunts in science?
Axiom pulpit
IN THE email inviting Anne Franklin to attend the 鈥�3rd International Conference on Biodiversity & Sustainable Energy Development鈥�, on 24 to 26 June in Valencia, Spain, organisers Omics Publishing Group describe it as 鈥渟pecifically premeditated with a unifying axiom providing pulpit to widen the imminent scientific creations鈥�. Feedback now definitely wants an axiom-providing pulpit; but we don鈥檛 think we鈥檒l be attending any Omics conferences 鈥� 鈥� and we鈥檙e still trying to work out the economics of the organisation鈥檚 300 鈥渙pen-access journals鈥�.
Piece of PEE
AN INVITATION to another conference was saved from the wastebasket only by a colleague doing a double take at the title: 鈥淧EE 2014鈥�. It turns out that PEE is the 鈥�2014 International Conference on Power Engineering, Energy and Electrical Drives鈥�. Our scepticism about its academic status is fuelled by its being co-located in Singapore with the 鈥�2014 3rd International Conference on Micro Nano Devices, Structure and Computing Systems鈥�.
We are curious: are infelicitous invitations becoming a deliberate feature of such events?
Start of dubious relationship
THEN Feedback received another email: 鈥淪JP is a broad-base open access journal publisher鈥� We welcome submission of Original articles in basic and applied research鈥� You are receiving this email because of your relationship with SJP.鈥� And thus begins said relationship, with the very deepest of scepticism on our part and suggestions of self-destructive tendencies on theirs鈥�
The wheels of diplomacy
DIPLOMATIC language, meanwhile, contains many wonderfully obscure and precise constructions. A colleague sits in the cheap seats at the back of a UN institution. Recently, a country representative, who must remain anonymous, suggested discussion of steps that might be taken 鈥渋n order not to move the discussion unnecessarily forward鈥�.
Prescient records
WHAT is the secret behind the advert that James Sandeman found online?: 鈥淪earch RAF Records,鈥� it says, 鈥� 鈥� records from 1350 through to WW1 and WW2. Free search.鈥� This seems to suggest that the UK鈥檚 Royal Air Force 鈥� and therefore powered flight as a whole 鈥� is somewhat older than historians of technology have suspected.
Sing a song of nucleic acid
WHILE discussing the death of Phil Everly, one of the eponymous Brothers, last month, singer that 鈥渢he information of your DNA is carried in your voice, and you can get a sound [with family members] that you never get with someone who鈥檚 not blood-related to you鈥�. Reader Lance Andrewes notes that 鈥渕uch as Linda is my all-time favourite artist, I do believe her quote comes from fa la la land鈥�. Feedback started to hope that we could reconstitute Billie Holiday from the 鈥淒NA鈥� in recordings of her voice, but the lo-fi nature of many records made us fear that we would not get who we were hoping for.
Erase with extreme prejudice
FINALLY, the manual for a JVC camcorder, Michael Pavitt reports, contains the following warning about the effects of its delete function: 鈥淭he data is not completely erased from the recording medium,鈥� and a suggestion: 鈥淚f you want to completely erase all of the data, we recommend either using commercially available software that is specially designed for that purpose, or by physically destroying the camcorder with a hammer etc.鈥�
Michael supposes that this may help the company make future camera sales to those who record something they would rather forget completely, whether for legal or aesthetic reasons.