Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more
Bringing dark to our lightness
BEING a candidate in a local council election must be demoralising, if only for hearing so many excuses for being ignored while door-knocking: 鈥淚 donate by direct debit鈥�, 鈥渨e鈥檙e atheists鈥� and so on. But Frank Cross tells us of residents eagerly buttonholing a candidate on the doorsteps of Bromley in the south-eastern penumbra of London.
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That might have been pleasing, had the residents not been keen to protest about new high-tech light-emitting-diode streetlights 鈥� on the grounds that they, among other things, are 鈥渄angerous鈥�, 鈥渂ring people out in rashes鈥� and 鈥渟end them blind鈥�.
A quick search reveals the headline 鈥溾�� As always, the question mark begs the answer 鈥渙f course not鈥�. (Parenthetically, does anyone have a counterexample to this rule about headlines?)
According to the Observer newspaper 鈥溾��. Richard Spragg says 鈥淭his has been on the cards since the first horse discovered Newton鈥檚 laws of motion鈥�
Bulb of a conspiracy theory
NOT only do some allege that the scarily new lights cast harm, as above. Frank alerts us to a new light-bulb conspiracy theory.
Sadly, it鈥檚 not as much fun as the spoof-conspiracy of 鈥� an immortal, though determinedly incandescent, inanimate character in Thomas Pynchon鈥檚 novel Gravity鈥檚 Rainbow. According to some of Barack Obama鈥檚 opponents, it was the Democrat president of the US who oppressively outlawed Byron鈥檚 ilk to further an evil plan to combat imaginary climate change.
Of course, that鈥檚 not quite right. Frank sends , which points out that LEDs 鈥渉ave a dark side鈥�, containing heavy metals. They do, in minuscule quantities, so don鈥檛 eat too many. But they look, you know, sciency.
The article further points out that the current phasing out of incandescent light bulbs was mandated in the US by the of 2007 鈥� which was signed into law by none other than Republican president George W. Bush.
It鈥檚 a conspiracy conspiracy!
RAISING the subject of conspiracy theories offers an opportunity to mention one of our favourite paper titles: 鈥�.鈥� Stephan Lewandowsky tells the story at : 鈥淪ome 18 months ago I published with colleagues鈥� that reported a survey of visitors to climate blogs which established a small, but significant, association between the endorsement of conspiracy theories and the rejection of several scientific propositions, including the fact [of]warming from greenhouse gases.鈥�
You can probably guess what happened next. People who reject science deluged Lewandowsky and his colleagues with complaints that the allusion to 鈥渃onspiracist ideation鈥� was a conspiracy: a lovely example of a phenomenon known as 鈥渞ecursion鈥�. They were incandescent at being depicted as exhibiting what we shall call 鈥渘on-standard mentation鈥�.
In the nature of recursion, of course the wonderfully titled follow-up paper attracted second-order fury. Sadly, the journal Frontiers in Psychology then , explaining that its 鈥渋nvestigation did not identify any issues with the academic and ethical aspects of the study [but did] determine that the legal context is insufficiently clear鈥�. In other words they feared being sued. You can still read the follow-up paper, though, at .
The persistence of error
THE persistence of incorrect ideas can be puzzling. While discussing messages hidden in scientific articles, we mentioned the late mathematician John Isbell putting the acrostic peccavi 鈥� Latin for 鈥淚 have sinned鈥� in a draft paper (15 March).
Mike Adams was just one of the readers who reminded us that the word was the entire text of a telegram General Charles Napier sent to inform his superiors that he 鈥渉ad Sindh鈥�, capturing the province in 1843 for British India. Yes, we knew that. We were teasing.
Yet it seems we were wrong; the telegram wording was apocryphal.
At , Bamber Gascoigne鈥檚 Encyclopedia of Britain reports that in 1844, after Napier was berated for his ruthless actions, teenager Catherine Winkworth brightly remarked to her teacher that Napier鈥檚 despatch should have been 鈥减别肠肠补惫颈鈥�. Today, with the sad demise of telegrams, he would have to text it. Or it.
Most learn while alive
WE LEARN something every day of our lives. But is that the limit? Bob Holmes reports of a US Public Broadcasting Service television show on the teenage brain 鈥� that contains the helpful headline 鈥淢ost learning takes place throughout our lives鈥�. He had been looking forward to learning quantum mechanics after his death.
Round and round a help loop
FINALLY, returning to recursion: Jonathan Wallace reports that he looks after a Facebook page for a butterfly conservation group. Having problems logging in, he tried Facebook鈥檚 help centre and was directed to a 鈥溾�� page. Under 鈥渓og in issues鈥� there was a link entitled 鈥淚 can鈥檛 log in鈥� which seemed to describe the problem. Clicking on it took him to 鈥淩eview the known login issues鈥� which took him straight back. We believe he finally escaped the loop.